From the Tampa Bay Times
by Jeff Solochek
A bill on the Florida Education Association's hit list has advanced out of the Florida House on partisan lines.
Teacher union leaders suggested that the purpose of the proposal, nicknamed the Teacher Protection Act by lawmakers, is to allow professional associations onto school campuses without having to follow the state's rules for unions. Democrats took up that call during debate.
But the Florida Times-Union reports that the Republicans saw it otherwise.
“This bill is really the anti-union arm twisting bill,” said state Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Shalimar. “There is fear inside this chamber and outside this chamber that if this bill passes, that won’t be effective anymore.”
It passed the House 78-38. Its future is unclear, though, as the Senate version has not advanced to all its assigned committees.
http://www.tampabay.com/blogs/gradebook/content/teachers-professional-associations-are-not-unions-florida-house-bill-states
Thursday, March 1, 2012
Cheaters will prosper if the Florida Legislature gets it way
From the Orlando Sentinel
A probe last year into shenanigans at another major football program turned up the usual dirt: Falsified documents. Improper benefits. Ineligible transfers.
But this wasn't the NCAA going after the likes of USC or Ohio State. It was the Florida High School Athletic Association nailing perennial state powerhouse Lakeland High.
Among other sanctions, the FHSAA ruled ineligible several football players who gave bogus addresses and enjoyed free housing when they transferred.
Yet, Rep. Kelli Stargel reckons boys will be boys. The Lakeland Republican introduced HB 1403, a bill that ostensibly punishes coaches and other adults for recruiting violations — but largely spares students. Yet, by eroding FHSAA's authority over player eligibility, the bill opens the door to college-like recruiting wars and nomadic athletes backed by mercenary parents less interested in education than ensuring their children suit up for the top teams.
Lawmakers should punt the measure when it's likely to be considered by the full House next week before the legislative session wraps up.
We have no beef with cracking down on unscrupulous coaches who use ineligible players, and forcing those coaches to reimburse schools for penalties imposed.
Meanwhile, though, students — and by extension their parents — would be held less accountable. The bill allows students who transfer during the school year to receive immediate eligibility instead of sitting out a year. Those who are found to be ineligible wouldn't be benched during appeals. And only transfer students who received improper inducements or who falsified documents would forfeit eligibility.
"I want to make sure that the children are able to play," Stargel said.
Yay team!
Problem is, rule-breakers might play out the season before a decision's rendered.
Worse, in the long term, FHSAA chief Roger Dearing correctly notes the measure would "benefit those with a predisposition to cheat — by tearing down barriers that exist to keep those few unscrupulous coaches from improperly recruiting impressionable young athletes."
"Student-athlete" shouldn't be an oxymoron. That belief spawned the current rules drafted and endorsed by an assembly representing the 788 state schools in the FHSAA.
A string of Lakeland ineligibilities alerted Stargel to "the problem." A problem that isn't. Statewide, Dearing said, only 74 transfer student-athletes out of 263,000 in 2010-11 were declared ineligible.
Numbers not screaming for legislative intrusion. And proving that legislating from the cheap seats isn't the best way to make public policy
http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/opinion/os-ed-sport-eligibility-022912-20120228,0,3789480.story
A probe last year into shenanigans at another major football program turned up the usual dirt: Falsified documents. Improper benefits. Ineligible transfers.
But this wasn't the NCAA going after the likes of USC or Ohio State. It was the Florida High School Athletic Association nailing perennial state powerhouse Lakeland High.
Among other sanctions, the FHSAA ruled ineligible several football players who gave bogus addresses and enjoyed free housing when they transferred.
Yet, Rep. Kelli Stargel reckons boys will be boys. The Lakeland Republican introduced HB 1403, a bill that ostensibly punishes coaches and other adults for recruiting violations — but largely spares students. Yet, by eroding FHSAA's authority over player eligibility, the bill opens the door to college-like recruiting wars and nomadic athletes backed by mercenary parents less interested in education than ensuring their children suit up for the top teams.
Lawmakers should punt the measure when it's likely to be considered by the full House next week before the legislative session wraps up.
We have no beef with cracking down on unscrupulous coaches who use ineligible players, and forcing those coaches to reimburse schools for penalties imposed.
Meanwhile, though, students — and by extension their parents — would be held less accountable. The bill allows students who transfer during the school year to receive immediate eligibility instead of sitting out a year. Those who are found to be ineligible wouldn't be benched during appeals. And only transfer students who received improper inducements or who falsified documents would forfeit eligibility.
"I want to make sure that the children are able to play," Stargel said.
Yay team!
Problem is, rule-breakers might play out the season before a decision's rendered.
Worse, in the long term, FHSAA chief Roger Dearing correctly notes the measure would "benefit those with a predisposition to cheat — by tearing down barriers that exist to keep those few unscrupulous coaches from improperly recruiting impressionable young athletes."
"Student-athlete" shouldn't be an oxymoron. That belief spawned the current rules drafted and endorsed by an assembly representing the 788 state schools in the FHSAA.
A string of Lakeland ineligibilities alerted Stargel to "the problem." A problem that isn't. Statewide, Dearing said, only 74 transfer student-athletes out of 263,000 in 2010-11 were declared ineligible.
Numbers not screaming for legislative intrusion. And proving that legislating from the cheap seats isn't the best way to make public policy
http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/opinion/os-ed-sport-eligibility-022912-20120228,0,3789480.story
The bill no parents wanted passes the Florida House
From the Tampa Bay Times
by Jeff Solochek
Despite criticism from several parent and teacher groups, the Florida House has approved a "parent empowerment" bill that would give parents the right to petition for a specific turnaround option for schools deemed failing in the state's school grading system.
The bill also would prevent schools from assigning students in two consecutive years to teachers evaluated as needing improvement.
"This bill gives that parent who is so vested in the success of their child a stronger voice," sponsor Rep. Michael Bileca, R-Miami, said to close debate.
The 80-34 vote went mainly along party lines, with Rep. Tom Goodson the sole Republican to vote against the measure.
The House rejected a Democrat-sponsored amendment that would have given parents at charter schools the same opportunity to petition to convert their school, if failing, into a traditional public school.
The fate of the Senate version of this bill remains in question. It has not made it to its final committee stop, Budget, and Sen. Evelyn Lynn, R-Ormond Beach, filed a complaint against the way it was handled in the Pre-K-12 Appropriations committee, where it narrowly passed 4-3.
http://www.tampabay.com/blogs/gradebook/content/parent-empowerment-act-clears-florida-house
by Jeff Solochek
Despite criticism from several parent and teacher groups, the Florida House has approved a "parent empowerment" bill that would give parents the right to petition for a specific turnaround option for schools deemed failing in the state's school grading system.
The bill also would prevent schools from assigning students in two consecutive years to teachers evaluated as needing improvement.
"This bill gives that parent who is so vested in the success of their child a stronger voice," sponsor Rep. Michael Bileca, R-Miami, said to close debate.
The 80-34 vote went mainly along party lines, with Rep. Tom Goodson the sole Republican to vote against the measure.
The House rejected a Democrat-sponsored amendment that would have given parents at charter schools the same opportunity to petition to convert their school, if failing, into a traditional public school.
The fate of the Senate version of this bill remains in question. It has not made it to its final committee stop, Budget, and Sen. Evelyn Lynn, R-Ormond Beach, filed a complaint against the way it was handled in the Pre-K-12 Appropriations committee, where it narrowly passed 4-3.
http://www.tampabay.com/blogs/gradebook/content/parent-empowerment-act-clears-florida-house
10 Things Duval Public Schools should do if they want to be successful
They are also things they should have done a long time ago.
Stop factoring referrals into principal evaluations. Doing so encourages then to cajole, browbeat and scare teachers to stop writing referrals. It encourages administrators not to process referrals and overall it hurts discipline. Things that hurt discipline hurt the learning process.
End grade recovery as it is now. Make it just for students who tried hard but just didn’t get it and for kids who have multiple legitimate and documented absences. Kids that never come, make no effort or just disrupt class should have this crutch taken away from them.
Make being on time and attending relevant. When kids are adults those things will be relevant and they should be in school too. In nine weeks 10 tardies should be a letter grade and 10 absences should be an instant fail. An appeals process to hear legitimate reasons would be available.
End the A/B block scheduling, ninety minutes is too long for most of our kids and every other day is to infrequent.
Announce that teachers with satisfactory evaluations will not be let go and teachers that are let go will be told why. Teachers can be fired in Duval County and they aren’t required to be given a reason and last year hundreds of teachers with satisfactory evaluations who were not on success plans, meaning for the most part they had no idea they were in danger of losing their jobs, were fired.
Create an Ombudsman position that is outside the sphere of influence of the superintendent and school board. I hear stories all the time from teachers about numbers being fudged, funds disappearing, teachers being bullied or cajoled into doing things they know are wrong but when I ask them to go on the record for the most part they back off. They say they are afraid for their jobs or about retaliation. If they had a person they could go to anonymously, who could investigate their concerns, we could eliminate many of their concerns.
Work with teachers to create a teacher bill of rights. Teachers should only be asked to give one free hour a day, not the 15-20 hours a week that most teachers give, teachers should not be talked to in a fashion by administrators that would get them fired if they talked to students the same way and pass fail rates and referrals written should not be used to influence evaluations. I am not saying we should ignore those things but we should delve behind the numbers to find out the causes. If it’s the teacher, then let’s help them improve and if they don’t show them the door but if it’s the kids, let’s give them legitimate, rigorous opportunities to improve or fail and discipline them. They need to learn these things and where is better than school to teach them.
Suspend repeat discipline offenders indefinitely until one of their parents comes and spends the day with them. They would be allowed to return the very next day if the parent came with them, or they could stay out for the rest of the year but now the onus is on parents being parents not on schools raising kids.
Rescind the contracts with KIPP until the first school shows improvement, you will forgive me if their word isn’t enough and with Teach for America, we have teachers and college of ed grads here who can’t find jobs, let’s give them the first crack and then if we still have a few openings we can ask TFA for assistance.
Find the money for legitimate summer school. So many of our kids need more time to both master material and less time between school years so they don’t lose what they learned. We need summer school so much more than three additional public relations persons.
Then next year every school should offer at least one section of drama, yearbook newspaper and creative writing. We cannot continue to make school drudgery for kids and then scratch our heads wondering why they are doing so poorly.
Explore bringing back curriculums that teach the trades, skills and arts. Not every kid is going to go to college and that should be okay but we should still help prepare them for their future.
Stop factoring referrals into principal evaluations. Doing so encourages then to cajole, browbeat and scare teachers to stop writing referrals. It encourages administrators not to process referrals and overall it hurts discipline. Things that hurt discipline hurt the learning process.
End grade recovery as it is now. Make it just for students who tried hard but just didn’t get it and for kids who have multiple legitimate and documented absences. Kids that never come, make no effort or just disrupt class should have this crutch taken away from them.
Make being on time and attending relevant. When kids are adults those things will be relevant and they should be in school too. In nine weeks 10 tardies should be a letter grade and 10 absences should be an instant fail. An appeals process to hear legitimate reasons would be available.
End the A/B block scheduling, ninety minutes is too long for most of our kids and every other day is to infrequent.
Announce that teachers with satisfactory evaluations will not be let go and teachers that are let go will be told why. Teachers can be fired in Duval County and they aren’t required to be given a reason and last year hundreds of teachers with satisfactory evaluations who were not on success plans, meaning for the most part they had no idea they were in danger of losing their jobs, were fired.
Create an Ombudsman position that is outside the sphere of influence of the superintendent and school board. I hear stories all the time from teachers about numbers being fudged, funds disappearing, teachers being bullied or cajoled into doing things they know are wrong but when I ask them to go on the record for the most part they back off. They say they are afraid for their jobs or about retaliation. If they had a person they could go to anonymously, who could investigate their concerns, we could eliminate many of their concerns.
Work with teachers to create a teacher bill of rights. Teachers should only be asked to give one free hour a day, not the 15-20 hours a week that most teachers give, teachers should not be talked to in a fashion by administrators that would get them fired if they talked to students the same way and pass fail rates and referrals written should not be used to influence evaluations. I am not saying we should ignore those things but we should delve behind the numbers to find out the causes. If it’s the teacher, then let’s help them improve and if they don’t show them the door but if it’s the kids, let’s give them legitimate, rigorous opportunities to improve or fail and discipline them. They need to learn these things and where is better than school to teach them.
Suspend repeat discipline offenders indefinitely until one of their parents comes and spends the day with them. They would be allowed to return the very next day if the parent came with them, or they could stay out for the rest of the year but now the onus is on parents being parents not on schools raising kids.
Rescind the contracts with KIPP until the first school shows improvement, you will forgive me if their word isn’t enough and with Teach for America, we have teachers and college of ed grads here who can’t find jobs, let’s give them the first crack and then if we still have a few openings we can ask TFA for assistance.
Find the money for legitimate summer school. So many of our kids need more time to both master material and less time between school years so they don’t lose what they learned. We need summer school so much more than three additional public relations persons.
Then next year every school should offer at least one section of drama, yearbook newspaper and creative writing. We cannot continue to make school drudgery for kids and then scratch our heads wondering why they are doing so poorly.
Explore bringing back curriculums that teach the trades, skills and arts. Not every kid is going to go to college and that should be okay but we should still help prepare them for their future.
Does W.C. Gentry want to keep you in the dark?
W.C. Gentry, who is seeking reelection by the way, wants there to be less transparency from the school board. He seems to want you the citizens of Jacksonville to know even less about the workings of 1701 Prudential Drive or what teachers call the hole of doom and despair.
In a times union article ironically enough about school board transparency, Gentry said he has even advocated for district staff to be less specific in some of the notes and minutes they take on meetings.
LESS SPECIFIC!?!
Mr. Gentry may not like it but a citizen shouldn’t have to be at a meeting of elected officials to know what happened at the meeting. If anything the school board should be more transparent and if they were maybe they would not have made some of the truly terrible decisions that they have.
The truth as I see it is the board long ago stopped representing the city’s children, teachers, and stakeholders and became only concerned with misrepresenting the job they have done.
In a times union article ironically enough about school board transparency, Gentry said he has even advocated for district staff to be less specific in some of the notes and minutes they take on meetings.
LESS SPECIFIC!?!
Mr. Gentry may not like it but a citizen shouldn’t have to be at a meeting of elected officials to know what happened at the meeting. If anything the school board should be more transparent and if they were maybe they would not have made some of the truly terrible decisions that they have.
The truth as I see it is the board long ago stopped representing the city’s children, teachers, and stakeholders and became only concerned with misrepresenting the job they have done.
Betty Burney jumps the shark
In television jumping the shark refers to the episode of Happy Days where the Fonz on his motorcycle literally jumped a shark. That was also the episode where the viewing audience tuned out Happy Days; its steep decline readily apparent.
Betty Burney jumped the shark (again?) when she told the Times Union; We have always been open, honest and transparent with regards to everything that we’ve done as a board. This board was doing the business of the public, in the public and it is unfortunate that individuals who have concerns about this did not attend the meeting.”
Um, Mrs. Burney do you think if you would have put on your meeting notice, discuss the future of Pratt-Dannals, or firing the super, nobody would have come? On the contrary it would have been standing room only. You hid it from the public on your meeting notice and your lack of note keeping about the biggest meeting the school board has had in years belittles your assertion you and the board are being honest and transparent.
The school board has jumped the shark and now it is time they with Pratt-Dannals left the building.
Betty Burney jumped the shark (again?) when she told the Times Union; We have always been open, honest and transparent with regards to everything that we’ve done as a board. This board was doing the business of the public, in the public and it is unfortunate that individuals who have concerns about this did not attend the meeting.”
Um, Mrs. Burney do you think if you would have put on your meeting notice, discuss the future of Pratt-Dannals, or firing the super, nobody would have come? On the contrary it would have been standing room only. You hid it from the public on your meeting notice and your lack of note keeping about the biggest meeting the school board has had in years belittles your assertion you and the board are being honest and transparent.
The school board has jumped the shark and now it is time they with Pratt-Dannals left the building.
Betty Burney tells a whopper, W.C. Gentry doubles down on it
Board Chairwoman Betty Burney acknowledged that the minutes wouldn’t inform someone not at the meeting that the board had decided not to renew Pratt-Dannals’ contract but said the law didn’t require such detail.
“The minutes do not have to be verbatim and we listed the major facets of that meeting,” she said.
Um firing the superintendent wasn’t a major facet of the meeting? What were they talking about then? Ending third grade, having the district go bookless, what could have been a bigger facet than firing the superintendent?
Board member W.C. Gentry, who took the minutes, doubled down on Burney’s whopper and agreed with Burney that the board complied with the law.
“It’s my understanding that we’re to take minutes that describe the general subject matter of the meeting and that’s what’s I did,” said Gentry, a lawyer. “We’ve been talking with the superintendent for weeks about evaluations and succession and certainly his contract is part of that.
So was firing him part of the general subject matter of that meeting or not?
Why the cover up? Why not just say, hey we blew it and we should have taken better notes. Why is it so hard for these people to admit mistakes?
Some of above was taken from the Times Union article: http://jacksonville.com/opinion/blog/479262/topher-sanders/2012-02-29/few-details-meeting-where-duval-school-board-decided
“The minutes do not have to be verbatim and we listed the major facets of that meeting,” she said.
Um firing the superintendent wasn’t a major facet of the meeting? What were they talking about then? Ending third grade, having the district go bookless, what could have been a bigger facet than firing the superintendent?
Board member W.C. Gentry, who took the minutes, doubled down on Burney’s whopper and agreed with Burney that the board complied with the law.
“It’s my understanding that we’re to take minutes that describe the general subject matter of the meeting and that’s what’s I did,” said Gentry, a lawyer. “We’ve been talking with the superintendent for weeks about evaluations and succession and certainly his contract is part of that.
So was firing him part of the general subject matter of that meeting or not?
Why the cover up? Why not just say, hey we blew it and we should have taken better notes. Why is it so hard for these people to admit mistakes?
Some of above was taken from the Times Union article: http://jacksonville.com/opinion/blog/479262/topher-sanders/2012-02-29/few-details-meeting-where-duval-school-board-decided
Did the Duval County School Board break the law?
It started with a firing and now it has turned into a cover up. A week ago Monday the school board decided to fire the superintendent and all the flowery language in the word cannot hide that. They did so at a board meeting that they failed to record either with audio or complete notes.
In a Times Union article about the cover up, Barbara Petersen, president of the Florida First Amendment Foundation, an open government advocacy group, said the board at a minimum ran afoul of the spirit of the law and possibly violated it.
“If they are saying that during that meeting we all agreed that we are not going to renew the superintendent’s contract, then there should at least be some mention of that in the minutes,” Petersen said. “It doesn’t have to be a verbatim transcript, it doesn’t have to be an audio recording, but it has to be an accurate reflection of what occurred.”
Since there is no audio recordings, the minutes are the only record of the discussion around the board’s decision. The minutes for the Feb. 24 follow-up meeting reference the board’s discussion about Pratt-Dannals on Feb. 20 but are also light on details about the discussion.
This was the biggest (and one of the few good ones) decision the board has made in years. It had to dominate the meeting and to say otherwise flies in the face of logic and they decide not to take notes?
What are they hiding and why?
To read the whole article check here,
http://jacksonville.com/opinion/blog/479262/topher-sanders/2012-02-29/few-details-meeting-where-duval-school-board-decided
In a Times Union article about the cover up, Barbara Petersen, president of the Florida First Amendment Foundation, an open government advocacy group, said the board at a minimum ran afoul of the spirit of the law and possibly violated it.
“If they are saying that during that meeting we all agreed that we are not going to renew the superintendent’s contract, then there should at least be some mention of that in the minutes,” Petersen said. “It doesn’t have to be a verbatim transcript, it doesn’t have to be an audio recording, but it has to be an accurate reflection of what occurred.”
Since there is no audio recordings, the minutes are the only record of the discussion around the board’s decision. The minutes for the Feb. 24 follow-up meeting reference the board’s discussion about Pratt-Dannals on Feb. 20 but are also light on details about the discussion.
This was the biggest (and one of the few good ones) decision the board has made in years. It had to dominate the meeting and to say otherwise flies in the face of logic and they decide not to take notes?
What are they hiding and why?
To read the whole article check here,
http://jacksonville.com/opinion/blog/479262/topher-sanders/2012-02-29/few-details-meeting-where-duval-school-board-decided
In Florida education is no longer the great equalizer
From the Washington Post's Answer Sheet
By Jean Clements
Horace Mann called public education the “great equalizer.” Quite simply, he believed that without a strong system of public schools in this country, the elite would get an education while the middle class and poor would not.
This week, a vote by the Florida State Board of Education makes it nearly impossible for public schools to be “great equalizers” in the Sunshine State. This vote, along with education legislation pending in the state capitol, together threaten the future of Florida’s public schools. The state’s actions are “almost cataclysmic,” said Okaloosa County Superintendent Alexis Tibbetts.
Horace Mann must be rolling over in his grave.
The proposed legislation, commonly called “the parent trigger bill,” is a vehicle that allows parents of students at low-performing schools (so graded by the state) to petition the state or school district to allow these schools to be taken over by private companies or charter school operators.
Most major parent groups in Florida such as the Florida PTA, Orlando-based Fund Education Now, Support Dade Schools, Save Duval Schools, and 50th No More, oppose this measure. Research shows and parents know that real school improvement comes from strong collaboration with school leaders, teachers, parents and others. Reform should be a collaborative discussion and decision-making process.
In contrast, the parent trigger is designed to give private companies and charter management organizations an open invitation to exploit parents and take over schools — destroying school communities. Rather than a grassroots process, it’s an Astroturf mechanism by which companies circulate petitions to take over schools. This idea is being pushed by former Florida governor Jeb Bush’s education foundation, with support from the Cato Institute, the Heritage Foundation and the James Madison Institute.
The parent trigger becomes dangerous for Florida’s public schools when it is combined with a State Board of Education rule change adopted this week. Board members changed the grading system for the state’s schools, dramatically increasing the number of “F” schools, although not as severely as what was initially planned. Initial projections would have increased the number of schools receiving Fs from 38 to 268 — a 700 percent increase. The new rules will require full inclusion of the scores from the most challenged students, including those in their first year of speaking English, who used to be omitted from the totals, and students with disabilities.
“Schools with 30, 40, 50 or 60 percent of students who are not native English speakers are going to be at a disadvantage in terms of this as a performance metric,” Miami-Dade School Superintendent Alberto Carvalho told The Miami Herald . “That does not mean there is not quality instruction taking place in that school.”
These changes will immediately demoralize teachers, discourage students and their families and taint the great gains we have made in improving Florida’s public schools. Equally significant, the grading change will ensure that more schools are seen as failing, thereby giving additional opportunities for private companies and charter management organizations to take over schools, as provided for in the parent trigger bill.
The trigger bill and the Board of Education’s grade change, when considered together, constitute the education equivalent of a land grab. The changes to the grading system would guarantee that Florida’s schools, even those heretofore very successful by the state’s own definition, would be labeled as failures. The parent trigger bill would then allow corporations to take over the newly designated “failing schools.”
Politicians say they are doing this “for the children.” The real goal for some state politicians appears to be awarding favored business interests with state tax dollars while stripping a public institution of resources.
Private school operators see $30 billion in state funds and local property taxes as an untapped market. Private companies would not only get cash flow from every student captured in this process, they’d also get their hands on school land, buildings, equipment and other assets paid for by taxpayers.
Public schools educate all students. Private school operators can toss out students and parents who don’t fit their criteria, undermining the efforts of real reformers who work every day to transform diverse, inclusive schools.
The parent trigger law is misnamed as a “Parent Empowerment bill.” It should rightly be called the “Corporate Empowerment bill.”
Florida parents don’t want to see their children become pawns in a political game that benefits out-of-state interests and Tallahassee’s corporate friends at the expense of local public schools.
Before any state government pulls the trigger, it should carefully consider the consequences of hitting its target.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/answer-sheet/post/what-florida-is-doing-to-its-public-schools/2012/02/29/gIQADTYDjR_blog.html?wprss=answer-sheet
By Jean Clements
Horace Mann called public education the “great equalizer.” Quite simply, he believed that without a strong system of public schools in this country, the elite would get an education while the middle class and poor would not.
This week, a vote by the Florida State Board of Education makes it nearly impossible for public schools to be “great equalizers” in the Sunshine State. This vote, along with education legislation pending in the state capitol, together threaten the future of Florida’s public schools. The state’s actions are “almost cataclysmic,” said Okaloosa County Superintendent Alexis Tibbetts.
Horace Mann must be rolling over in his grave.
The proposed legislation, commonly called “the parent trigger bill,” is a vehicle that allows parents of students at low-performing schools (so graded by the state) to petition the state or school district to allow these schools to be taken over by private companies or charter school operators.
Most major parent groups in Florida such as the Florida PTA, Orlando-based Fund Education Now, Support Dade Schools, Save Duval Schools, and 50th No More, oppose this measure. Research shows and parents know that real school improvement comes from strong collaboration with school leaders, teachers, parents and others. Reform should be a collaborative discussion and decision-making process.
In contrast, the parent trigger is designed to give private companies and charter management organizations an open invitation to exploit parents and take over schools — destroying school communities. Rather than a grassroots process, it’s an Astroturf mechanism by which companies circulate petitions to take over schools. This idea is being pushed by former Florida governor Jeb Bush’s education foundation, with support from the Cato Institute, the Heritage Foundation and the James Madison Institute.
The parent trigger becomes dangerous for Florida’s public schools when it is combined with a State Board of Education rule change adopted this week. Board members changed the grading system for the state’s schools, dramatically increasing the number of “F” schools, although not as severely as what was initially planned. Initial projections would have increased the number of schools receiving Fs from 38 to 268 — a 700 percent increase. The new rules will require full inclusion of the scores from the most challenged students, including those in their first year of speaking English, who used to be omitted from the totals, and students with disabilities.
“Schools with 30, 40, 50 or 60 percent of students who are not native English speakers are going to be at a disadvantage in terms of this as a performance metric,” Miami-Dade School Superintendent Alberto Carvalho told The Miami Herald . “That does not mean there is not quality instruction taking place in that school.”
These changes will immediately demoralize teachers, discourage students and their families and taint the great gains we have made in improving Florida’s public schools. Equally significant, the grading change will ensure that more schools are seen as failing, thereby giving additional opportunities for private companies and charter management organizations to take over schools, as provided for in the parent trigger bill.
The trigger bill and the Board of Education’s grade change, when considered together, constitute the education equivalent of a land grab. The changes to the grading system would guarantee that Florida’s schools, even those heretofore very successful by the state’s own definition, would be labeled as failures. The parent trigger bill would then allow corporations to take over the newly designated “failing schools.”
Politicians say they are doing this “for the children.” The real goal for some state politicians appears to be awarding favored business interests with state tax dollars while stripping a public institution of resources.
Private school operators see $30 billion in state funds and local property taxes as an untapped market. Private companies would not only get cash flow from every student captured in this process, they’d also get their hands on school land, buildings, equipment and other assets paid for by taxpayers.
Public schools educate all students. Private school operators can toss out students and parents who don’t fit their criteria, undermining the efforts of real reformers who work every day to transform diverse, inclusive schools.
The parent trigger law is misnamed as a “Parent Empowerment bill.” It should rightly be called the “Corporate Empowerment bill.”
Florida parents don’t want to see their children become pawns in a political game that benefits out-of-state interests and Tallahassee’s corporate friends at the expense of local public schools.
Before any state government pulls the trigger, it should carefully consider the consequences of hitting its target.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/answer-sheet/post/what-florida-is-doing-to-its-public-schools/2012/02/29/gIQADTYDjR_blog.html?wprss=answer-sheet
The high cost of tuition shrinks the middle class
From the Huffington Post
by Robert Reich
Last week Rick Santorum called the president "a snob" for wanting everyone to get a college education (in fact, Obama never actually called for universal college education but only for a year or more of training after high school).
Santorum needn't worry. America is already making it harder for young people of modest means to attend college. Public higher education is being starved, and the middle class will shrink even more as a result.
Over just the last year 41 states have cut spending for public higher education. That's on top of deep cuts in 2009 and 2010. Some public universities, such as the University of New Hampshire, have lost over 40 percent of their state funding; the University of Washington, 26 percent; Florida's public university system, 25 percent.
Rising tuition and fees are making up the shortfall. This year, the average hike is 8.3 percent. New York's state university system is increasing tuition 14 percent; Arizona, 17 percent; Washington state, 16 percent. Students in California's public universities and colleges are facing an average increase of 21 percent, the highest in the nation.
The children of middle and lower-income families are hardest hit. Remember: The median wage has been dropping since 2000, adjusted for inflation.
Pell Grants for students from poor families are falling further behind; they now cover only about a third of tuition and fees. (In the 1980s, they covered about half; in the 1970s, more than 70 percent.)
Student debt is skyrocketing -- the New York Federal Reserve Bank estimates it at $550 billion. Punitive laws enforce repayment, and it's almost impossible to shed student loans in bankruptcy. There is no statute of limitations for non-repayment.
And yet, Santorum's rant notwithstanding, good-paying jobs in America are coming to require a college degree. Globalization and rapid technological change are putting a premium on the ability to identify and solve new problems. A college degree is also a signal to prospective employers that a young person has what it takes to succeed.
That's why the median annual pay of people with a bachelor's degree was 70 percent higher than those with a high school diploma in 2009 (the latest Census data available).
But public higher education isn't just a private investment. It's a public good. Our young people -- their capacities to think, understand, investigate, and innovate -- are America's future.
We used to understand this. During the great expansion of public higher education from the 1950s to the 1970s, tuition at public universities averaged about 4 percent of median family income (compared to around 20 percent at private universities).
Young Americans received college degrees in record numbers -- creating a cohort of scientists, engineers, managers, and professionals that propelled the economy forward and dramatically expanded the middle class.
But starting in the 1980s, as in so many other areas of American life, we took a U-turn. Tuition at public universities began climbing. By 2005, it was more than 10 percent of median annual family income. Now it's approaching 25 percent -- still a good deal relative to private universities (where it's nearly 70 percent), but high enough to discourage many qualified young people from attending.
Public higher education has been the gateway to the middle class but that gate is shutting -- just when income and wealth are more concentrated at the top than they've been since the 1920s, and when America needs the brainpower of its young people more than ever.
This is nuts.
What's the answer? Partly to make public universities more efficient. Every bureaucracy I've ever been associated with (and I've been in some very big ones) has some fat to be trimmed. Yet universities are necessarily labor-intensive enterprises; research and teaching can't be outsourced abroad or turned over to computerized machine tools.
Another part of the answer is to raise tuition and fees for students from higher-income families and use the extra money to subsidize medium and lower-income kids. Even now relatively few pay the official sticker price; many receive some discount proportional to family income. But this won't solve the underlying problem, either.
A big part of the answer has to be more government support for public education at all levels. This requires more tax revenues -- especially from Americans who are best able to pay.
Most Americans still believe in the ideal of equal opportunity. And most harbor the patriotic notion that we have responsibilities to one another as members of the same society.
The two principles lead to an obvious conclusion: America's richest citizens have a duty to pay more taxes so kids from middle and lower-income families have chance to make it in America.
A pending initiative in California would raise taxes on millionaires and use the proceeds to fund public education at all levels. It's a good idea, and it comes at the right time. Other states should follow.
Robert Reich is the author of Aftershock: The Next Economy and America's Future, now in bookstores. This post originally appeared at RobertReich.org.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/robert-reich/santorum-snob_b_1310458.html
by Robert Reich
Last week Rick Santorum called the president "a snob" for wanting everyone to get a college education (in fact, Obama never actually called for universal college education but only for a year or more of training after high school).
Santorum needn't worry. America is already making it harder for young people of modest means to attend college. Public higher education is being starved, and the middle class will shrink even more as a result.
Over just the last year 41 states have cut spending for public higher education. That's on top of deep cuts in 2009 and 2010. Some public universities, such as the University of New Hampshire, have lost over 40 percent of their state funding; the University of Washington, 26 percent; Florida's public university system, 25 percent.
Rising tuition and fees are making up the shortfall. This year, the average hike is 8.3 percent. New York's state university system is increasing tuition 14 percent; Arizona, 17 percent; Washington state, 16 percent. Students in California's public universities and colleges are facing an average increase of 21 percent, the highest in the nation.
The children of middle and lower-income families are hardest hit. Remember: The median wage has been dropping since 2000, adjusted for inflation.
Pell Grants for students from poor families are falling further behind; they now cover only about a third of tuition and fees. (In the 1980s, they covered about half; in the 1970s, more than 70 percent.)
Student debt is skyrocketing -- the New York Federal Reserve Bank estimates it at $550 billion. Punitive laws enforce repayment, and it's almost impossible to shed student loans in bankruptcy. There is no statute of limitations for non-repayment.
And yet, Santorum's rant notwithstanding, good-paying jobs in America are coming to require a college degree. Globalization and rapid technological change are putting a premium on the ability to identify and solve new problems. A college degree is also a signal to prospective employers that a young person has what it takes to succeed.
That's why the median annual pay of people with a bachelor's degree was 70 percent higher than those with a high school diploma in 2009 (the latest Census data available).
But public higher education isn't just a private investment. It's a public good. Our young people -- their capacities to think, understand, investigate, and innovate -- are America's future.
We used to understand this. During the great expansion of public higher education from the 1950s to the 1970s, tuition at public universities averaged about 4 percent of median family income (compared to around 20 percent at private universities).
Young Americans received college degrees in record numbers -- creating a cohort of scientists, engineers, managers, and professionals that propelled the economy forward and dramatically expanded the middle class.
But starting in the 1980s, as in so many other areas of American life, we took a U-turn. Tuition at public universities began climbing. By 2005, it was more than 10 percent of median annual family income. Now it's approaching 25 percent -- still a good deal relative to private universities (where it's nearly 70 percent), but high enough to discourage many qualified young people from attending.
Public higher education has been the gateway to the middle class but that gate is shutting -- just when income and wealth are more concentrated at the top than they've been since the 1920s, and when America needs the brainpower of its young people more than ever.
This is nuts.
What's the answer? Partly to make public universities more efficient. Every bureaucracy I've ever been associated with (and I've been in some very big ones) has some fat to be trimmed. Yet universities are necessarily labor-intensive enterprises; research and teaching can't be outsourced abroad or turned over to computerized machine tools.
Another part of the answer is to raise tuition and fees for students from higher-income families and use the extra money to subsidize medium and lower-income kids. Even now relatively few pay the official sticker price; many receive some discount proportional to family income. But this won't solve the underlying problem, either.
A big part of the answer has to be more government support for public education at all levels. This requires more tax revenues -- especially from Americans who are best able to pay.
Most Americans still believe in the ideal of equal opportunity. And most harbor the patriotic notion that we have responsibilities to one another as members of the same society.
The two principles lead to an obvious conclusion: America's richest citizens have a duty to pay more taxes so kids from middle and lower-income families have chance to make it in America.
A pending initiative in California would raise taxes on millionaires and use the proceeds to fund public education at all levels. It's a good idea, and it comes at the right time. Other states should follow.
Robert Reich is the author of Aftershock: The Next Economy and America's Future, now in bookstores. This post originally appeared at RobertReich.org.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/robert-reich/santorum-snob_b_1310458.html
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