Day 17 of Year 16:  I just heard on the news that teachers across the board will be getting a 3% raise this coming year.  After finding out a few months back that our district was 49th in the state of Texas in education (and pay, I believe), this is news comes with mixed feelings.  I should be happy - overjoyed, in fact - but the comments I heard pertaining to the raise made me more sad than ever.  The public seems to not understand that educators are not only leaving the district due to a lot of negative issues, mandated testing, over capacity in the classroom and more administrative tasks then ever, but we are leaving the field of education all together.  Education has come to a point where everyone is losing.  The students hate school once they get past the 2nd or 3rd grade, parents expect more than seems humanly possible to give sometimes, and the system is broken.  School is essential but not all students can handle the structure, the pace - either trying to catch up or trying to keep ahead - and there seems to be no end in sight for teaching to the test.  New test, old rules still apply.  I am going to the studio to paint.  To find peace.  To wish the public understood that 3% fixes nothing.  I would gladly forfeit the 3% if change in the system would really happen.

Off to paint.

And life is grand out here...