by Charles R. Waggoner
Principal, September/October 2010

“There is no money!” This can be a morale and idea killer for a public school building staff if there ever was one. As school boards issue pink slips to teachers and staff across the nation, the morale of districts, individual schools, and communities plummets. The dismissal of teachers as a result of the recent economic downturn means larger class sizes, loss of some programs and, due to tenure, the loss of newer faculty members who might be among the best and most enthusiastic teachers in the building. All of these cuts impact student achievement from the pre-kindergarten program all the way to high school. And it will have an effect for many, many years in the future.

The controversial 1966 Coleman Report, however, found that school funding and per-pupil expenditures have little effect on student achievement. There are, according to the report, other factors at play that are much more critical than money spent on education. In his book Does Money Matter, Gary Burtless argues that other factors such as the home environment of the student have a stronger effect on student achievement than district expenditures per pupil. The coming fiscal year might test the limits of school funding theories.

If Coleman, Burtless, and others are correct, the fact that money is in very short supply should not impact student learning. Principals cannot allow themselves or their staffs to fall into the trap of deterioration. Because generally 80 percent or more of a school district’s expenditures come Strapped for Cash—and Morale in the form of salary and benefits, it is teachers and staff members who feel the weight of the money crisis, and because these folks impact instruction the most, kids will suffer as well.

Ensure Instruction Isn’t Impacted

Your responsibility as principal is to inspire hope and confidence in your staff so that students will not unduly suffer educationally. This might be a Herculean effort in morale uplifting to be sure, particularly when many of your first-, second-, and third-year teachers have been laid off. These are staff members you hired for their enthusiasm and pedagogical talents and now they are gone. The positive culture of your building you were establishing with new hires is also gone and you might be left with some staff members who are just hanging on, have lost their instructional pizzazz, or have become even more disgruntled. Unfortunately, laying off the newer, nontenured teachers might send a message that the quality of education is not a priority when some tenured teachers, who everyone knows are just not very good, must be retained.

With the almost certain depletion of staff, principals must take this opportunity to step up the teacher evaluation process of teachers who are not doing their jobs. Most teachers were determined to be satisfactory and granted tenure prior to you becoming principal. If there are teachers who are not providing the quality of instruction you feel is necessary, give them unsatisfactory evaluations. Visit their classrooms often, have discussions concerning instructional techniques, and mentor them into becoming the instructor you want students to have. I have come to believe from my discussions with principals and from research conducted on tenured teacher dismissals that it is easier to leave marginal teachers alone, or place them where they can do the least amount of harm. However, with teacher reductions everywhere, it is now almost impossible to hide an underperforming teacher, particularly in smaller districts.

You still will have excellent teachers in your building, teachers who will work harder than ever in a classroom of more than 30 students when in the past they might have had only 24 students and an aide—and will never complain. Also, you will have those staff members who find the economic downturn another reason to be miserable and to bring misery to anyone unfortunate enough to listen. The times will not allow principals to be compliant to mediocrity.

If you have not been a supportive principal in the past, now is the time to give as much consideration and support to the needs of your excellent teachers as possible. Teachers tell us it is often the little words of encouragement that mean the most. If school improvement is going to occur, it is going to happen within individual classrooms in your school building and it is going to happen because of good people, not a money crisis.

Charles R. Waggoner is an associate professor of education at Eastern New Mexico University.

Copyright © National Association of Elementary School Principals. No part of the articles in NAESP magazines, newsletters, or Web site may be reproduced in any medium without the permission of the National Association of Elementary School Principals. For more information, view NAESP's reprint policy.