I think you will find many teachers “moonlighting” at Sylvan who teach during the day or are teachers who are staying-at-home moms during the day who go to work in the evening when their husbands get home. I don’t believe there are many who do this as their primary source of income, but I could be wrong.

I have no doubt that this is true – and this enormous “bang for the buck” is all the more reason that advocates of responsible spending should CELEBRATE the availability of AP courses, as they provide a tremendous benefit to taxpayers at no incremental cost (of which I am aware) to the town.

Here’s why. If every AP course offered in West Hartford were eliminated tomorrow, the students enrolled in those courses would still be showing up at school every day, and we would still be paying the same number of teachers, administrators, support staff, maintenance, etc. on the same salary schedules. Thus, the savings realized by the town by dropping AP offerings would essentially be zero.

On the other hand, and as you have demonstrated, if every AP course were dropped from the curriculum tomorrow, the taxpayers with children enrolled in those courses would suffer a significant financial loss– with no attendant savings realized by the town. I would think that such an outcome would be abhorrent to advocates of responsible spending.

Your focus on the financial benefits realized by students in AP courses suggests that you view those benefits as somehow representing a cost to the town. I just don’t see it that way.

I do agree, though, that we should move on to other ideas.

Low income families receive assistance for the AP Tests now, I would think the same assistance would be available to take the course. This becomes a non-issue.

Again, there is an honors program in the schools which is perfectly acceptable for college bound students.

The savings to the students from the AP courses is very real. I believe every AP course equates to roughly $1500/course. And if enough are taken it can equate to a full year of college.

The Tax me more crowd shouldn’t object to it.

We are in a situation where nobody wants to cut anything, nobody wants to fire teachers or increase class size, the Board refuses a management audit to look for waste, and the system can not sustain annual 6.5% increases.

Good or Bad this is just one idea. So let’s have some other ideas.

The idea that we would start charging for curricular opportunity challenges the bedrock of public education and only serves to confirm my worst fears.

How could the town possibly justify a charge for AP courses, but not for shop courses? Or fine arts courses?

I am not aware that it costs the town more to teach a student AP history or AP mathematics than it costs to teach that student regular track history or mathematics – I understand that teachers salaries are determined by seniority and education level (i.e., whether the teacher holds a Masters’ degree, etc.), and not by course assignment. If the town pays the same amount to teach my kid algebra as it pays to teach your kid AP calculus, why should you be expected to pony up an extra fee that I don’t have to pay?

Meanwhile, what about students from low-income families who have demonstrated ability and motivation, with the potential to get themselves accepted into a top-flight university, but without the resources to pay that extra fee for courses that could give them the best opportunity to make the most of themselves (while reflecting favorably on the town and its schools)? There may be issues of constitutionality here.

Even if we could legally impose a charge for AP courses, what kind of message would this send to our families and to the world: “Here in West Hartford, we want our kids to do pretty well – but if they want to do REALLY well, that’s gonna cost them.”

I also fear that the few dollars that I might save in taxes due to the assessment of such a fee would be DWARFED by the negative impact on my property values when word gets out that the West Hartford school system disincentivizes high academic achievement.

I cannot state it more plainly – an extra charge for AP courses is a terrible, terrible idea.

If you think about it, what is wrong with a charge for AP courses.

Kids can qualify for college with Honors courses, they don’t have to take AP courses.

The potential financial savings to a family whos’ child piles up AP courses is very large and very real. Kids have entered college with enough credits to eliminate a full year of college, that is a savings of anywhere from $20K to $55K.

UConn charges for its’ Early College Experience program, which generates a UConn transcript for High School students.

The College Board charges for the AP tests.

So why not place a charge on AP Courses. (At this time, I believe the State doesn’t allow it, but that is another question.) And the system seems to always offer financial aid to those that need it, so no one would be left out.

So is it worth it pay a fee of $100-$200/course for a program that can save you big bucks. I’m willing to pay it.

I guess I’ll let that speak for itself.

You know, the reason I sought these two posts was because I’m an undecided voter, and because I believe a lot of West Hartford is both undecided and seeking more information. But the more “No” voters open their mouths (here and across our local blogosphere) , the more I’m thinking I have to vote “Yes.” If “No” really believes teachers are overpaid, and if “No” really believes AP classes (
see 9/27 at 3:11) should come at a charge to students, I can’t imagine why on earth I would vote “No.”

You know, I really respect the folks running WH FIRST and the WHTA. Unfortunately, it’s neither of their arguments that are swaying me. It’s the comments of those who represent their positions that are swaying me, and they’re swaying me to vote against a position (“No”) more than they’re swaying me to vote for a position. Our local democracy, like our national democracy, reduced to the lowest common denominator …