The responsibility to educate its citizens is a responsibility of each state. That is, each state must develop minimum standards to which they expect the children in the state to be educated, and has the responsibility to fund the educational system to produce those results. Often, however, local school districts want their children educated to a higher level than the minimum level set by the state. Thus virtually every school system in Florida is funded similarly by the state, but differently by the local county.
Just as each county is different in its funding patterns, many are also different in the way they fund and operate agriculture programs. In larger schools the agriculture teacher might report to the head director of a unit. In a typical educational situation, the agriculture teacher reports to the principal, who in turn reports to the superintendent, who reports to the local board of education, who is held responsible for the delivery of educational programs by the general public. Thus, education is very closely tied to the local constituency.
Because of the contact that agriculture teachers have with parents and the community, they often are in a unique situation to affect change. In many rural school districts, the majority of school board members may be farmers or merchants that are active in the agriculture program.
Agriculture programs are very different in the way they are funded. For example, some receive a great deal of their funding from the school district, however, many receive little or no funding and must raise their own funds. Likewise teachers are paid at different levels. In many places, agriculture teachers are on 12-month contracts, whereas in other school districts agriculture teachers are funded at the same level as other teachers, yet are expected to "coach" FFA activities, participate in SAE programs, and keep their technical skills upgraded by attending workshops and seminars.
In this lesson we will examine the structure of the school system, and identify some ways of funding an agriculture program. A successful teacher should understand how the system works.
2. Analyze the causes of funding inequity and the consequences of such.
3. Recognize the federal government’s role in American education.
4. Understand the official and unofficial roles of school governance.
5. Describe how teachers’ are responsible for school governance.
6. Identify ways to involve the community in your program.
7. Describe the governance of agricultural education.
You may also want to compare Florida to other states. See Oregon, Ohio, and Missouri.
2. Please read "Your School Board + You" at The Illinois Association of School Boards web site to learn more about local school boards. What are the roles of school boards in school governance?
3. One of the ways agriculture programs are funded are
through grants. Review the article, "Grant
Writing 101" from the TECHNIQUES magazine.
1.Tell the instructor whether you think the state superintendent of education should be appointed or elected and explain your rationale.
2. Go the following web sites and read the biographical sketch of each state superintendent of education. Two are elected and two are appointed. After reading their biographical sketches, explain whether or not the state superintendent should be elected or appointed.
- North Carolina Superintendent of Education (elected)
- Texas Commissioner of Education (appointed)
- Wisconsin State Superintendent of Public Instruction (elected)
3. Identify how teachers in your school and county participate in the governance of education in your county. What are ways that you could be involved?
4. Talk to other teachers in your district. What are the most effective means they have used to involve members of their community in their program?
5. Talk to other teachers in your district. From these conversations, how would you describe the governance of agricultural education in Florida? Specifically, what are the roles of the state supervisor of Ag Ed, the state FFA executive secretary, FAAE (teachers), university faculty in Ag Ed, the FFA Foundation, and the FFA Alumni?
6. Describe an idea that would be appropriate to apply
for grant funding.