Yesterday, in response to a reader in Ohio, I posted an “Ohio Alert,” warning that the State Board of Education in Ohio would soon consider eliminating teachers of art, music, and physical education, librarians, social workers, and nurses in elementary schools.
Several commenters on the blog have disputed the claim and said it was not true..
This article seems to offer a definitive explanation.
It is NOT TRUE that the vote will be taken this week. The state board will vote on this question in December. Forgive my error!
What will the vote be about?
Patrick O’Donnell of the Cleveland Plain Dealer writes:
The state board will vote in December, not this week as some have claimed, on whether to eliminate requirements that local districts have a certain number of elementary art, music or physical education teachers, school counselors, library media specialists, school nurses, social workers and “visiting teachers.”
Administrative code requires districts to have at least five of these eight positions per 1,000 students in what some call the “5 of 8” rule. The state board is considering wiping out that rule and allowing districts to make staffing decisions on their own.
Tom Gunlock, the board’s vice chairman, said this morning that the proposed change isn’t to eliminate those positions, as some are charging, but to let districts make their own choices.
Should the state require districts to have these classes and services? Or is that a local decision? Tell us below.
“I’m sure they’ll do what’s right for their kids,” Gunlock said.
He added: “For years, people have been telling me about all these unfunded mandates and that we’re telling them what to do. They keep telling me they know more about what their kids need that we do, and I agree with them.”
Susan Yutzey, president of the Ohio Educational Library Media Association, is urging her members to oppose the change. In a presentation on the change posted online, Yutzey said she and other organizations are “concerned that local boards and administrators will see this as an opportunity to eliminate art, music, physical education, school counselors, library media specialists, school nurses and social workers.”
So, if we read Mr. Gunlock’s view correctly, the state will consider changing its requirement that elementary schools must fill five of these eight positions. Requiring that all elementary schools have teachers of the arts, nurses, librarians, physical education teachers, and social workers is “an unfunded mandate.” Schools facing budget cuts could get rid of the school nurse or the teachers of the arts or teachers of physical education or social workers or librarians. The choice would be theirs as the state code would no longer require that every school must fill at least five of these eight positions per 1,000 students.
If I were a parent of an elementary school age child in Ohio, I would be very alarmed that the state board is making these positions optional. For warning that the state board is even considering such a nonsensical “mandate relief,” I offer no apology.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
I had thought that most on this blog were in favor of giving local school districts more control over what happens in district schools. What should be determined at the state (or national) level and what at the district level?
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How about getting rid of the tests at the discretion of the community and the districts? Parents would likely agree, but that choice won’t be available will it.
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That is the question at hand: at what level are which decisions about education to be made?
Poster Karen Wolf calls these bare minimum requirements that need to be enforced by the state or presumably the Federal Government if states fail to act. What number of teachers will satisfy this bare minimum requirement? Is requiring that all high school graduates be literate part of the bare minimum? How can we make a principled decision about this?
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In Ohio, the changes are in the “operating rules for districts” allowing districts to modify staffing patterns for “specialists.”
Contrary to the Cleveland Plain Dealer article quote here, the official State Board of Education website lists the “operating rules” as up for discussion today.
( see: http://education.ohio.gov/getattachment/State-Board/State-Board-Meetings/State-Board-Meetings-for-2013-1/Nov-2014-Time-Schedule.pdf.aspx )
Misinformation? Disinformation? In any case there are advocates for not changing the rules. The Ohio rules were hard to come by from the get-go.
I hope the advocates are not confused about the dates and that they are allowed to speak.
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Laura, it appears that operating standards discussion was part of a committee meeting this afternoon. Is that correct? What did the committee decide to recommend? Or did the full state board discuss these operating standards today?
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Here’s an article I wrote for our local newspaper several years ago that describes what an “adequate” education would look like. In my opinion, State Boards have a responsibility to set standards that would result in every student in the state having access to an adequate education as set forth in this essay. State legislatures have a responsibility to provide the funds needed for districts to make this possible. http://waynegersen.com/2012/06/23/adequacy-equity-and-broad-based-taxes/
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Wgersen,
I think you have put together an interesting list an I applaud the effort to flesh out the idea of a minimly adequate education. The only required courses you have though are art, music, and PE, and those are only required in elementary schools. Would you leave things like high school graduation requirements up to the individual districts or should we add to your list?
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NH, the state contemplating a definition for “adequacy”, already had rigorous graduation standards in place. Some districts added to that list.Also, NH has several small districts that do not have HSs…
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Wgersen,
So your recommendations were in addition to the existing state standards for graduation? That makes sense, but given that people here are arguing that folks have a right to a basic education, it would seem worthwhile to spend some time thinking about what constitutes a basic education.
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To my way of thinking adequate = basic… so the list I prepared was intended to reflect why I believe constitutes the basics…
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TE – That is an excellent question. Who decides? And what do they decide?
Obviously, many of us feel the Department of Education in the Federal Government has over stepped their bounds by their actions (or should I say black mail attempts), especially since it is the states who constitutionally determine education policy.
But how far should the states go? I’ve noticed that some states have an elected State Superintendent. In NYS we have a Commissioner and a Board of Regents, both which are appointed by the Governor. The Regents makes the policies the individual school districts must follow. I believe any mandates must be voted on by the state legislature. I assume other states have a similar system.
I suppose if we agree with the policies created by the Regents, then their mandates are a good thing. However, in recent years the Regents has come up with some questionable requirements which have negatively impacted education in NYS, especially in the urban areas. And this was before NCLB and CC showed their ugly heads. In that case, I consider their dictates harmful.
I guess it boils down to whether we trust the local school districts to provide the appropriate services to schools without guidelines or mandates. Or if we trust voters in a given district to support school budgets which go beyond the basic 3Rs. By law, the education provided throughout NYS must be fair and equitable (it’s not). Can this be done ad hoc?
The next question is what services are deemed appropriate and necessary and whether these services should differ from district to district or state to state or even from child to child. Based on the Common Core the implication is that “all children need to learn the same things in the same ways at the same time”. Is there a viable alternative to this type of mandate?
Definitely something to think about.
And while we’re pondering the current state of affairs, let us explore exactly what information or skill every child should learn and which book titles every child should read in order to become contributing members of society.
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OIC, it’s all about CHOICE.
Funny how some people’s CHOICEs just keep impoverishing other people’s choices.
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CHOICE – Cut, Hack, Obliterate, Incapacitate, Crush Education
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Jon,
When a school board faces budget constraints, mandating expenditure in one area REQUIRES reductions of spending in other areas. There is no free lunch.
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When I was in grade school, lunch was 35¢ and you could get an extra chocolate milk for a penny more.
That was because our nation’s leaders in those days grasped the simple fact that the health and smarts and well-being of the nation as a whole was entirely based on the health and smarts and well-being of its citizens from the youngest to the oldest.
That is they used to mean by “There Is No Free Lunch”.
Sadly, all too sadly, way too many of our so-called leaders today don’t have the effing brains to grasp that simple truth
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Jon,
As you well know, our leaders in those days cared about some students a good deal more than other students.
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Plunderbund has an excellent article about the proposed Ohio changes under consideration, in the context of the education budget cuts. Taxpayers’ money intended for education, is providing a free lunch for charter school operators and for-profit companies, raking off exorbitant operating costs.
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Linda, the idea that public school mandates are being cut to ease up funding so more money is available to the Charter Schools, adds another dimension (and a slap in the face) to this discussion.
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We all known what is happening in Ohio. This latest pretense merely allows the the state to further cut funding to schools in Ohio. It has nothing to do with local control, unfunded mandates, freedom, personal liberty, free markets, tyranny, or big gubbermint. It is odd when leaders seek to destroy what they are supposed to lead.
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According to the Cleveland newspaper, the state board is not going to vote on cutting funding to district public schools, nor is it cutting any teachers.
The state board is going to vote on a proposal that would give greater discretion to local district school boards over how to spend $.
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Sure, Joe, I was born early in the morning, but I wasn’t born early this morning.
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Joe, why do you consistently support intiatives deceptively cloaked?
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Reading exchange, I consistently support more efforts to give public schools (at the school site) more discretion about how to reach state approved standards.
There may be more to this recommendation than I understand. If you think so, please share. I’d also welcome knowing more about your experience, as a teacher, parent, or…
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In my district, administrators are using their increased discretion to hire TFA and others uncertified in the areas they are teaching. Is this a win or a loss for our struggling students?
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Private schools are full of teachers that are uncertified in the areas they teach. Maybe the one percent is just looking to make sure that what is good for their children is available to all students.
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TE, then the 1% wouldn’t be mandating endless tests and providing enrichment built into the curriculum. Not exactly doing that.
And seriously, what a juvenile response.
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Steve K,
There is a meme here that the “one percent” want to impose things on other peoples children that they do not want for their own children. Among the things that the “one percent” get at private schools is no requirement that teachers be certified in anything.
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TE,
Your point about the 1% using non-certified teachers in their private schools simply demonstrates how out of touch and odd their thinking is, along with their willingness to pay thousands of dollars a year for that type of education.
They clearly do want to bring that type of education to the masses. How awful!
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I always wondered why parents would want their children taught by someone with no training and no experience. After putting four kids through school, I had early on come to the decision that I preferred teachers with at least five years under their belts. And no matter how much potential an individual teacher has, that doesn’t mean they have the know how in their first few years to recognize and assist students who have issues in a given subject.
Plus, in high demand areas such as math and science, I question whether the private school teachers are qualified in the more difficult topics, such as Chemistry, Physics, Trigonometry, Geometry, or Calculus.
Do you want pre-qualified individuals teaching your children?
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Ellen,
I think parents want qualified teachers, but they may think teacher qualifications need not be the standard one for public schools. For example, my middle son learned calculus from a senior graduate student at my local university. The graduate student was “unqualified” to teach mathmatics in the high school, but his deep knowledge of mathmatics made him the best mathmatics teacher my son had up to that point.
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TE – not all graduate students or even college professors are good teachers. Just because you are an expert in your field doesn’t make you good at sharing this knowledge. Anyone who has been through college knows this.
And your son is an exception. Someone as bright as he is could be placed on a desert island with a set of college texts and be rescued with a degree.
My daughter, however, had an algebra teacher without a limited education background who was extremely competent in math, yet she had difficulty mastering the subject from his teaching style (luckily her father has a degree in math). The district liked him because he was good with computers, but he left teaching to work at Texas Instruments after three years in the classroom. And this was in a top notch school district.
Ultimately, the skill set of an uncertified, inexperienced teacher is a crap shoot – and I don’t gamble with my children’s education,
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Ellen,
When you said your daughter “had an algebra teacher without a limited education background” was it a typo or did you mean that he had a broad education background? Was he, by the standards of the local school district, qualified to teach?
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TE – sorry for the double negative, it was a typo. He had taught for a year in the Buffalo Public schools before moving to the suburbs. I’m not sure of his certification status. I just know I was unimpressed.
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Ellen, TE and others, not sure of your experiences. In my experience, neither traditional licensure nor alt route guarantees that a new teacher will be strong in her/his first 2-3 years.
I’m impressed by suggestions that a new teacher should be mentored by an outstanding teacher – perhaps National Board Certified or other measure assessment – and that a new teacher should not have a full teaching load in first year or two.
Sadly show statistics show almost 50% of new teachers, whether TFA, alternative route or traditionally licensed, now are leaving the profession in their first five years….for a variety of reasons.
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Joe, I agree with you. New teachers need mentors. Teaching is not an easy profession. You wouldn’t let a student fresh from medical school operate on a patient. No, they are eased in with help from experienced doctors. The fact that graduates with teaching certificates are thrown in and expected to sink or swim is not the best way to train our future faculties. If so many are quitting after the first few years, obviously we are doing something wrong.
Remember Harry Wong – he claims it takes five years to but our stride as professional teachers. The first year or two is simply survival. And that was before this assessment nonsense.
Now teachers are prey and the government is the lion. And the children are caught between the two.
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Local control does not removing bare minimum requirements–and certainly the funding that goes along with any of it. Give me a break.
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*does not mean removing…
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I’m still waiting for ed reformers in Ohio to do something good for public schools. I’ve been waiting 15 years. We got charters and vouchers and we got endless testing and then we got funding cuts, but we still haven’t gotten anything positive for public schools.
I genuinely do not know why I’m paying anyone at the state level. I don’t know why any public school parent or supporter is paying them.
It’s just hit after hit after hit for public schools. They’re not going to be able to do 1/4 of the things they’re mandating WELL as it is, and they just keep adding more “innovations”! It’s like there’s no one in that movement who knows how to say “no”. Everyone gets everything they want, all the time, and the whole mess is dumped on local public schools.
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The education line is an expensive one that Governors want to trim so they can divert funds to other areas.
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As someone who has lived through the Lansing School District’s decision to eliminate elementary art, music and PE last year, here’s my take on what is happening in our neighboring state of Ohio…
1. Don’t trust the local newspapers to report accurately on the situation. Our local media sources all responded to early rumors of the cuts by proclaiming it much ado about nothing–and then the cuts were made and there was never a retraction or critical word about what had happened.
2. Claiming that the reports of cuts in Ohio are inaccurate because the vote will be taken in December rather than next week hardly constitutes a full-throated rebuke or denial of the veracity of the claims regarding the cuts. It just delays the swinging of the ax.
3. Get ready for even more spin from the state school board and the governor’s office about how they have no intention of cutting teachers. In Lansing, the superintendent denied that the AMPE (art, music and PE) program would be cut, and then 27 AMPE teachers lost their jobs. Her “strategy” was semantic–she didn’t cut the “program,” just the teachers. These subjects are now being “taught” by classroom teachers in exchange for giving up their planning periods and receiving a $500 stipend. I wonder what the administrative response would be if the decision was made to eliminate all principals and vice-principals from a school system, but denied there was a cut to administrative services. I think we all know that answer.
What the Ohio school board’s explanation has done is give the education community more time to form a vigorous response to this plan. It’s hard to believe that any Ohio parents would see this plan as a good idea for their children’s education. So the sooner and louder our collective response pushes back against this plan, the better.
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Part of the problem is the “snapshot” effect. New parents coming in don’t know that Ohio schools used to have art in elementary schools and field trips and social studies.
They don’t know what the school was like prior to “reform”. It’s gradual. They’re chipping away at it.
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Very well said. The take-away lesson is to always listen very carefully to what’s said and what’s not said. And even more important is to watch what they do.
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As soon as I read the disingenuous “unfunded mandates” excuse I knew that the original alert was correct. I trust very few people in the OH legislature to tell me the truth, or any board. Even the Ohio Art Education Association bought the “no problem here, stop over-reacting” line. And that’s the story coming out of OEA’s Facebook page as well. What is it with the leadership of these organizations? Are they hoping they’ll snag a job with the Republicans when they have no more members? I am beginning to think so…..
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Mitchell Robinson: yes, watch out for rhetorical tricks that set us up for sucker punches!
You make many excellent points, but let me focus on just the thrust of #3.
If I may rephrase it, the educrats and edubullies and edufrauds use and abuse language, e.g., redefine commonly used terms and phrases in such a way that they can mislead and distract without ‘technically’ lying.
Why? Because they are usually loathe to publicly say in plain language what they really think and mean to do.
I refer back to a bit of something I posted earlier on this blog today under a posting entitled “Andrea Gabor Interviews Stuart Magruder About the Dysfunctional Politics of LAUSD.” What follows is an excerpt from the Gabor interview.
[start excerpt]
Magruder is convinced that Deasy saw iPads as a way to solve the “teacher problem”—an all-too-familiar refrain of ed-reformers. The plan was for Pearson, the education technology and text book giant, to load the iPad’s with curriculum materials and lessons that, Magruder says, “were aimed at making teacher’s “less pro-active and engaged” in the lesson-planning process.
[end excerpt]
Link to interview in the original comment.
Note “teacher problem” and re making teachers “less pro-active and engaged” in genuine teaching.
Such impolitic statements are far more honest than such empty catch phrases as “the soft bigotry of low expectations” and “poverty is not destiny.” But don’t expect the self-styled “education reformers” to let any more cats out of the bag than they have to. $tudent $ucce$$ is on the line.
No, today, tomorrow, and forever, it’s stick to their Marxist guns—
“The secret of life is honesty and fair dealing. If you can fake that, you’ve got it made.”
And of course it’s Groucho, the most famous Marx by far.
😎
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Mitchell, thank you for giving us the perspective of someone who has been through something similar in another city – it helps!
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So true Mitchell.
In Buffalo the Buffalo News is anti- teacher and anti-accurate.
And the spin from our NY State Government makes you dizzy with all the mistruths.
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They want cut-rate test score outlets, and anyone who didn’t see this coming is bought or blind.
They want to cut taxes again. They aren’t going to be able to pay for the public schools we have now with less revenue, so they’ll cut programs and call it “innovation!”
You have to pay for things. When you cut revenue, you can’t pay for those things anymore.
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They should cut the tests and they would have plenty of money for all of the positions mentioned PLUS students who would love learning and teachers who would love to teach again.
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Ultimately, Chiara, you get what you pay for. And that’s the scary part.
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Basic rights should not be subject to “local control.” Should local school boards be able to decide whether children of all races and ethnicities receive equitable access to education? Should public school boards be able to deny an education to a student based on that student’s gender, or sexual orientation? Of course not.
This plan is nothing more than a strategy to slash education funding by pretending to accede more control over finances to local school districts. If the state really believed in letting local school districts make their own decisions, then why isn’t the choice of whether to administer standardized tests, or to adopt the Common Core, left up to the discretion of individual school districts and boards of education?
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Is there anything here that suggests the state is denying a student an education based on gender? I would add sexual orientation, but the last time I posted in favor of society being neutral about that I was accused of being a bigot by poster Chris.
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the point is that the state is claiming to turn over curricular decisions about whether to offer music, art, PE and other “specials” to local school boards–if access to quality music/art/pe instruction delivered by a certified, qualified teacher is considered a basic educational right, then it should not be up for a vote on the district level any more than English, math or reading should be.
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Mitch,
That was most definitely NOT the point of poster mrobsmsu post. That poster asks if the school board “deny an education to a student based on that student’s gender, or sexual orientation?”
What does the student’s gender have to do with the proposed action? What does the sexual orientation have to do with it?
As a side note, how would we know that a student’s right to a musical education has been satisfied?
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It’s pretty easy to follow mrobsmsu’s argument that basic rights should not be subject to local control. (S)he equates having art, music, PE, and nurses in schools as basic educational rights, akin to the human rights accorded to those of different gender, race, ethnicities, and/or sexual orientation. No one would think to deny rights to those of different genders, races, etc, so why would anyone want to deny basic educational rights to a child?
Perhaps that thesis is a stretch for some, but the basis of the argument was clear.
For myself, I agree there are basic educational rights that all in this country have. They haven’t been codified in some jurisdictions, but collectively our nation has agreed on some of them. Ohio did, insofar as they required it for every 1000 or so students. The inclusion of art, music, PE in the education of our nation’s students has long been considered part of the basic education every citizen must have, at least by most people.
Sadly, the few who disagreed have become powerful enough to impose a minority’s views on the majority.
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Right, so now schools will have to decide whether they value a librarian more than a school nurse. That’s what happened in LAUSD. And guess what? Turns out, they value if the marker is whether they can find their own funding for it.
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Sorry, too fast.
Right, so now schools will have to decide whether they value a librarian more than a school nurse. That’s what happened in LAUSD. And guess what? Turns out, they value neither if the marker is whether they can find their own funding for it.
The point is, the state is supposed to fund education and if it’s in the state ed code, they’re held accountable for doing it. If it isn’t, they force districts to get by on less and less.
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Karen,
Increased funding is not an option for the school board. They have to work within the confines of the resources they have and perhaps campaign for more resources in the future. Sometimes they win those additional resources like they did in Boulder, Colorado this past election, sometimes they do not get those additional resources, for example when the state of Colorado voted not to increase taxes to fund education ( See the NYT article: http://www.nytimes.com/2013/11/07/us/politics/loss-on-school-tax-stings-colorado-democrats.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0)
What would you have the school board do?
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“What would you have the school board do?”
Simple. Ditch the tests, the test prep and all computer hardware and software associated with tests. Should leave plenty of money for everything else.
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Dienne,
How much would that save? Remember that spending on public education is well over a half a trillion dollars. I don’t know how much is spent on private education.
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The estimate for failing charter school funding, is predicted to reach $1 bil. in Ohio.
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trollingeconomist, Stats 101: absolute dollars out of context have little meaning in serious discussions. Normalize and get relative, dude. The U.S. spends about 5.5% of GDP on education. Not the highest, not the lowest.
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MathVale,
I am not talking about absolute dollars, I am talking about an absolute measure. There is a difference.
Think about measurements of poverty, for example. Using a relative measure of poverty like UNICEF’s measure of poverty (% of households with a disposable income of less than 50% of the median income of a country), poverty has increased in China over the last 50 years. Using an absolute measure of poverty, for example consuming less than $1.25 of goods and services a day (of course adjusted for inflation and more importantly purchasing power) or a physical quality of life indicator, poverty has decreased in China over the last 50 years. In this case I think the absolute measure of poverty is telling the true story of China over the last 50 years.
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It should get interesting, because private schools in Ohio piggyback on public school music programs. Religious schools can go to the local public school and their students can participate in the public programs. It’s one of the things private (religious) schools advertise- that students there won’t have to give up the public school music program(s), which are really more like community programs.
Maybe we can have the religious schools lobby.
They seem to be getting a lot more lawmaker attention than the (currently) unfashionable public schools in Ohio 🙂
“Clout-heavy”. Public schools don’t seem to have much clout these days.
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A paper from Trinity College definitively stated that Catholic school enrollment declines are a result of charter school growth. The founders of Iams pet food (Mathile Foundation) just won an award for supporting Catholic education. It’s puzzling that they also fund the Fordham Institute, advocates for charters (EdExcellence website).
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“For years, people have been telling me about all these unfunded mandates and that we’re telling them what to do”
The problem is written right here, Unfunded. How is this action going to take care of that!
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Mis-information about dates on Ohio’s actual vote may be a blessing if it allows people time to organize.
Maybe– but the December vote also collides with the distractions of the holiday season.
As I see the Ohio proposal as just one of a bunch of forthcoming efforts to modify state constitutions long in place. Most state constitutions hold the state responsibile for providing a basic and comprehensive (or thorough and efficienct) education to students.
If that language can be challenged directly or by nibbling at so-called “frills,” then mission accomplished for the people in power–Republicans_and corporations and billionaires.
I have not checked ALEC, but this is a likely source if multiple states are following the same path.
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Why no posts about the NYTimes story about blowback from parents about overtesting?
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Clue us in FLERP. I don’t know what article(s) you are referencing.
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Gracias.
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Really doesn’t look good for public schools in Ohio. Not a good environment for public schools in my state.
Here’s Mr. Gunlock, who was quoted in the article:
“He was on the board of directors for Richard Allen Schools in Dayton from 2005-06. The privately run Richard Allen management organization operated four publicly funded schools at that time. During his tenure, the state auditor cited all four schools for failure to comply with regulations that they receive a federal nonprofit status and failure to adequately monitor finances.
He said he didn’t recall the findings, but knew there were some after he resigned the charter school board to join the state board.
“I was just a board member. I mean, we had a board meeting once a quarter or something and I listened to the financial statements and all the reports by all the professional educators like all the rest of the board members,” he said.”
He listened to the financial statements! What more do you people want?
http://www.ohio.com/news/local/thomas-gunlock-family-of-republican-donors-takes-a-lead-role-on-state-board-1.445420
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Chiara,
Thanks for the verbal cartoon. Republican hypocrite and ditto head, illustrated
A guy shows obliviousness to his responsibility and then, gets on a high horse to talk about accountability.
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Chiara –
It was the former Superintendent of Dayton’s Public School District who ended up in the Buffalo Public Schools. Dr. Williams was the one who eliminated all school librarians, except those in the high schools, his second year as Superintendent. He had to hire some back when it was discovered that middle school librarians were also mandated by NYS. It was a massive lay off which took years to undo.
During his tenure we also learned about variances or permission to ignore mandates. So I guess there is a way to get around those pesky “rules”.
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Awful I am running out of adjectives. One little ray of hope. One of the new elected members of the State School Board in Ohio is an experienced art teacher. Just elected, she is not on the Board yet.
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Don’t get you hopes up, Laura. He is one lone voice which will,be squashed if he doesn’t toe the line.
But perhaps he’ll be one of Diane’s heroes. We will wait and see.
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NOW they let the districts decide? What about CC, what about PARCC testing, and OTES? We should very well be alarmed. This is obviously going to affect low-income kids in cash-strapped districts. Did we act too soon? Did we jump the gun? Maybe in saying that there would be a vote this week to eliminate music, art, and gym…but honestly, it’s just a matter of time. It’s better to play offense than defense against this formidable enemy of reform.
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Summer4jul,
Who should make the decisions is a very interesting question. Do you have some incite into a principled way to determine which decisions are made at the federal, which made at the state, which made at the district, which at the building, and which at the classroom level?
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TE, I swear that you just post here to be contrarian. You simply advocate the opposite of what people say or pose question that are designed to lead people down the path of your choice and away from the issue mentioned in the post. (I’ll wait for the obligatory zip code schools Walton Rural Life Charter reference which shockingly has not come up yet in this thread.)
I’ll make it simple. I’ll even type slowly for you.
In case you haven’t noticed, the decisions are all related to $. All related to $ and who gets it. Districts get no choice in test administration but then they’re given choice in staffing. Why? Because of where the money goes. One of the primary goals of ed reform (if not THE primary goal) is to have a cost-effective education. The quality of that education is not a consideration in this formula. They’ll cloak it in terms of what’s good for kids but that’s a ruse.
Is it hard to actually argue that PE and school nurses aren’t good for kids? That these things lead to better health? Is it hard to argue that having a functioning library / media center isn’t important to kids who have a sense of curiosity? That music and art aren’t important for a lot of kids as a creative outlet? (I teach high school and I have a number of kids who come to school primarily because of band or art. They’d come to school less without those subjects and that would affect their knowledge in core subject areas.)
But, you see those things cost $. So do tests, endless glorious tests. But we mustn’t discard those. It’s so funny because people like to claim that there was a time when American education was so good. Like when I went to school over 30 years ago. I took Iowa tests in middle school and the ACT in high school. No other tests. But then again, it wasn’t a major for-profit industry then.
So here’s what you can do with this post, directly answer the main point of the post. Main point: onerous financial mandates are unavoidable but cuts and savings are the district’s choice. Example, my state (Michigan) wants all tests to be on computers, but they won’t give us any money for the classroom to make it happen. We must find the money from our already reduced and stressed budget. No choice!! We have old buildings desperately in need of upgrades. We’ve reduced our k-12 district staff by 30% since 2010. Doesn’t matter. Buy the technology. (So we can use it for testing!)
Don’t choose a phrase and latch onto it. Don’t pick a distractor and try to lead one down the rabbit hole. If you respond, address that problem / issue.
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Steve K,
You are correct that resources connect all decisions about education. In fact they connect decisions about education and decisions about many other things and education as well.
The important point of this post is WHO should be making WHICH decision? That fundamental question is at the heart of many of the discussions on this blog. Typically it is argued that decisions should be made by local school boards. Here is an example of allowing local school boards to make some decisions that people are now arguing local school boards should not be allowed to make. Coming up with a principled position on which decisions should be made at the local level, which at the state level, and which at the national level would seem to be an important task that I think would be useful.
Once it is decided who should decide what anyone with an internet connection is, of course, free to criticize the decisions made at each level.
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It seems ludicrous, doesn’t it summer. Either let the school districts decide how they want to run their schools with TOTAL control, or keep the mandates. Don’t pretend you are giving control back, but still keep them under your thumb with costly requirements (in time and money) such as the assessments.
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If you’re in Ohio and you want to contact your representative on the state board, the cpunty map and list are here:
http://curmudgucation.blogspot.com/2014/11/clarifying-ohio-situation-or-not.html
I’ll write a letter because I think they’re generally more responsive to letters as compared to emails.
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Maureen Reedy, who is leading the battle for public schools, in central Ohio, also requested Ohioans contact their reps.
For fun, I contacted the at-large Kasich appointee, Gunlock from Centerville, who is apparently proud of his former zealous efforts, as a charter school board member.
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Different states have different mandates. NYS only requires a librarian for grades 7-12. This non-mandate was used to totally eliminate school librarians from the elementary schools in the Buffalo Public Schools about ten years ago, but they were re-instituted part time back into the schools the following year. Currently the number of days per week a librarian is present within an individual building is based upon the principal’s recommendations.
In NYS, the confines of funding placed on School Districts by Governor Cuomo, has resulted in tighter budgets and the elimination of non-mandated positions. Thus many local school districts in Western New York (and I assume other parts of the state) have either reduced or eliminated the librarian from their elementary schools. This seems foolish to me. There is a call for greater literacy, yet access to the school libraries with an updated collection of books and materials, plus the expertise of a trained/certified school librarian, is being denied to the very children who desperately need these services.
Silly me. Here I was expecting the rules and procedures of our educational system to make sense.
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My district is primarily concerned with computer literacy rather than the old fashioned hold a book in your hand type. Reading excerpts and responding to confusing questions are in vogue. Critical thinking is an outdated notion.
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NJ Teacher – the school librarian should be much more than a keeper of the books. Their literacy skills should include computer savvy and they should be the expert on research skills, including best practices for use of the Internet. Much of the CC is a part of their particular expertise. And the library should contain a bank of computers for research as well as for teaching basic computer literacy as a part of the library curriculum.
It’s not your father’s library anymore.
Some University Libraries don’t even have books (or a limited selection) on the shelves.
The future: books kept in warehouses and cherry pickers are used to select a specific volume on request. No browsing allowed. (And that future is here).
Sent from my iPad
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Ellen,
The future is now: http://mansueto.lib.uchicago.edu/
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Amazing, TE. The University of Chicago obviously values libraries – as a structure as well as a place of learning.
My dream would be to tour the world to see all the incredible architectural wonders which house libraries. I could easily start in the United States. (I’ve already been to the Library of Congress – but I would love to visit it again.)
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Ellen,
By one poster’s standards (Karen Wolfe), NYS does not live up to the minimal standards for education. Would you allow the Federal Government to require all states to live up to Karen Wolfe’s minimal standards? Would you allow the Federal Government to go beyond what Karen Wolfe believed was minimal?
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TE – the Federal Government needs to keep their nose out of education. It was one thing to fund the purchase of books or provide materials for Title I programs (for children with learning issues) or even help fund girls’ sports – it’s another to get involved with the nitty gritty of what happens in individual classrooms across the country.
That’s just creepy.
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Ellen,
I assume you would make exceptions for the federal government enforcing federal education law. Is that correct? It seems to me that to make sure students are getting access to a suitable education the Federal government may be required to define what is a suitable education, look into the classroom and see if the schools are providing it, and demand that it be provided if a state/district/school is falling short.
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TE – the Feds had their shot and messed it up. I just hope their incompetence in creating educational policy doesn’t extend to other areas of the government.
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It’s the American way – we are all expected to do more with less. Less services, but better results.
So, if the police department cuts back three officers when the number of phone calls for assistance is increasing, then the people in Amherst, NY should still expect to remain a community with one of the lowest crime rates in the country.
And if a snow plow breaks down and is not replaced, the people in the same town should expect clear streets after the next snow storm.
And if the children in the Buffalo Public Schools do not have a Computer Teacher in the building to teach word processing skills or to maintain the new computers to be purchased from the recently voted on Proposition to borrow money in order to fund technology, then we should expect these students to be proficient at the upcoming online assessments.
And if the state of Ohio does away with everything but the three Rs, then their future citizens will be well rounded, contributing members of society.
Seems reasonable to me.
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Young Reporters Explore Music Education Cuts
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They are a sneaky lot
http://www.dispatch.com/content/stories/local/2014/11/10/school-board-mandatory-requirements.html
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http://www.10tv.com/content/stories/2014/11/11/columbus-ohio-ohio-board-of-education-members-walk-out-when-public-comment-time-changed.html
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Cincinnati’s channel 12 reported the same walk-out.
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Plunderbund, today, posted a letter to the Ohio State Board of Education, opposing the “5 out of 8” rule change.
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