“Mrs. Maloney, why do you have to leave us?” Her big gray eyes looked up at me pleadingly as she hugged me tight across the middle as if to stop me from exiting the classroom door.
My heart was torn – I didn’t really want to leave! I love my days spent teaching my fifth graders about the joys of reading, the expression of writing, and the importance of learning history. And any teacher knows that it is always easier to be in school than to write sub plans. So why was I leaving?
I was appointed to the Governor’s Classrooms First Council last summer. I am the one teacher on a Council made up of state and local superintendents and district and charter school business and finance officials. No pressure there! Work on the Council involves bi-monthly meetings (during the school day, of course), weekly phone meetings, and lots of reading and learning as we draft recommendations to the Governor and Legislature regarding our current school funding formula and other policies to improve educational outcomes and make school finance more transparent and uniform.
Rewind to 7:15am this morning. I had an IEP transfer meeting for a student who came from out of state. Her mom, being an excellent advocate for her student, had many questions about our special education teachers and programs. This student is also an English Language Learner and her mom spoke highly of the language immersion school she had previously attended with a class size of less than ten. Her mom expressed shock that I fulfill English Language Learner and many special education objectives and goals in the general education classroom.
But this IEP meeting illustrates exactly why I have to leave my classroom early. It is because I am the one teacher on the Council. I am the only teacher in the room. As a result I am in the unique position of guiding policy, and also seeing the impact of policy directly where the rubber meets the road…in my classroom with my students.
I’ve witnessed how the deep cuts in education funding since 2008 have negatively affected our students. The cuts have led to loss of support for students who often have greater needs and less help from home due to the same financial downturn. Arizona ranks 46th among U.S. states in a gauge of child poverty and other key indicators like health and education across the country (Source: http://www.aecf.org/m/resourcedoc/aecf-2015kidscountdatabook-2015.pdf). I’ve watched prevention strategies and programs for our most at-risk students get cut just when our students need them the most. Not to mention the nurses, resource officers, counselors, and countless other support staff positions that have quietly been budgeted out through the years. As the cuts in funding get closer and closer to the classroom with each passing budget and failed override, the teachers of Arizona can only hold back the assault for so long before it starts to reach the students.
You, my students, are ten and eleven years old and have never been to a fully funded school in Arizona. This entire generation of children has over $1 billion dollars of education that was never provided to them. I will be part of the solution. This is personal.
So why do I have to leave you? Because you are my priority.
Beth Maloney
I am in my twentieth year of teaching and enjoy every minute of my time in the classroom. I have taught kindergarten, third grade, and currently teach fifth-grade science and social studies in Surprise, Arizona. I am an enthusiastic public school advocate. I am a National Board Certified Teacher and a Candidate Support Provider for the Arizona K12 Center, where I coach and mentor other teachers undergoing the rigorous National Board certification. I am the past president and co-founder of the Arizona National Board Certified Teacher Network and president and founder of the Arizona Chapter of the National Network of State Teachers of the Year. I am honored to be Arizona’s 2014 Teacher of the Year and appreciate having the opportunity to represent the teachers of Arizona. I love talking with and learning from other teachers around the world. I strongly believe that teacher voice in the public education dialogue is the best way to make change for the better for all students.
Comments 5
This post illustrates the importance that teachers are at the table when decisions are made. No one else understands how ‘the rubber meets the road’ quite like teachers. Yes, it is hard to prepare to be out of our rooms, but the work you are doing is crucial to our profession. It seems like as schools offer our students less and less, teachers have to step up and do more and more.
Thanks for noting that, Donnie. If we aren’t at the table, then our profession and most importantly, the students we serve, will be on the menu!
Beth this post illustrates the way I have been feeling lately as some of my opportunities have taken me out of the classroom. I love the response that you are leaving because they are your priority. I also appreciate that the work you do, that may take you away from being in the classroom, shows that your priority is ALL of Arizona’s students! Thank you for sharing!
Your post eloquently describes how important your insight is in bringing teacher voice into an arena that would otherwise be silent. Thank you for putting teachers and students first, even if it means taking a temporary step out of the classroom.
Thank you for your service to the profession.