Reading, Writing, Arithmetic

Let me preface the following rant with first saying that I am not a fan of cutting funding to schools. I believe our teachers are already not paid enough for the important job they do. Furthermore, it is disheartening to hear of anyone, let alone teachers, losing their job in this economy. But...
When I recently read in the news a story with the headline “Schools ending Reading Recovery program” and the subhead “Literacy support will be left up to classroom teachers” I was confused (which manifested itself in the form of laughter). The article highlighted the fact that Durham public elementary schools will be losing a reading instruction model that has employed 46 literacy instructors since 1994. In the program’s place, stimulus money will provide funds to temporarily employ 44 elementary coaches for one year to train our administrators to teach kids how to read.
Hmmmm...now wait just a minute. I thought that teachers were already supposed to know how to teach our children how to read. I was under the impression that teachers went to school and got degrees and teaching certificates that proved their expertise in providing instruction in reading, among other subjects.
The soon-to-be-banished Reading Recovery program offered daily personal instruction for struggling first-grade readers – those falling into the lowest 20 percent of the class. I understand this sounds good. But I’ve always believed that schools should only be accountable for so much. If a child is struggling, should it not be the parents’ responsibility to provide additional support. I grew up hearing commercials for Hooked on Phonics. I assume that is one route still available for a parent to go.
The other question this brings up is why is the stimulus money going to pay for a year’s worth of jobs, but taking away just as many permanent positions? Ultimately the stimulus money (our tax dollars) is paying money to get rid of these jobs. But hey, that’s a whole other topic for a whole other day.