Archives for category: Budget Cuts
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Will Philadelphia Be Able to Afford to Open Schools This Year?

By dianeravitch
August 8, 2013 //
44

This letter was sent today by Superintendent William Hite to staff members in Philadelphia.

The only conclusion to be drawn is that the leadership of Pennsylvania and Philadelphia don’t care about children and whether they get an education.

What are they thinking? My child is okay, tough for yours.

Shameful!

 

Here is the letter:

 

Dear Colleagues,

For weeks, the District has been awaiting additional funding from the
city that will allow us to restore the crucial services and staff
needed to open and manage schools.

With the first day of school only a month away, if the District does
not receive at least $50 million by Friday, August 16, we will be
forced to consider delaying the start of the 2013-14 school year. This
may involve delaying the opening of all schools, opening a partial
number or operating on a half-day schedule. We will not be able to
open all 212 schools on Monday, September 9 on a full-day schedule in
the absence of additional funds for supports and staff.

I must be able to tell parents that when their child is walking
through the hallways, eating lunch or at recess, an adult will be
supervising them. I must be able to tell parents that counselors will
be available to serve children in our largest and neediest schools,
and that an assistant principal will be on hand to resolve any
disciplinary issues that keep children from learning. I must be able
to tell parents that the principal can leave the office to address
issues and support staff in other parts of the school. At this point,
I cannot do so.

We will continue to keep you abreast of what will hopefully be a swift
resolution to this urgent matter. I appreciate your continued patience
and support.

Sincerely,
William R. Hite, Jr., Ed.D.
Superintendent

Categories Budget Cuts, Philadelphia

Who Got Pink Slips in Chicago?

By dianeravitch
August 6, 2013 //
15

In Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s budget cuts, the ax fell most heavily on teachers of the arts, physical education, bilingual education, foreign languages, special education, and librarians.

The next time the Chicago mayor goes on a national television talk show to boast of his dedication to children and education reform, remember his priorities and if you have the chance, ask if he would want this kind of bare-bones education for his own children.

Categories Budget Cuts, Chicago, Emanuel, Rahm

An Open Letter to Tom Torlakson

By dianeravitch
August 6, 2013 //
8

A teacher in California sent this letter to State Superintendent Tom Torlakson. California recently announced that it was prepared to spend $1 billion implementing Common Core, although the state’s public schools have not recovered from the billions of dollars cut during the Schwarzenegger era.

Here is the letter:

August 1, 2013

Dear Superintendent Torlakson,

Thank you for your commitment to increasing funding for California’s six million public school students, working tirelessly to improve education in the Golden State, and for being an uncompromising advocate for teachers.

Your efforts have not gone unnoticed: last year, esteemed education historian Diane Ravitch wrote in her blog, “California has another great asset in its State Superintendent Tom Torlakson… He is one of the most enlightened–if not THE most enlightened state education chiefs in the nation. He understands that rebuilding the public system is a high priority.”

I am a high school English teacher at Edgewood High School in West Covina where I teach in our school’s International Baccalaureate Diploma Programme and serve as our IB Diploma Programme Coordinator. My involvement with the IB curriculum reinforces the core pedagogical beliefs I acquired while earning my MA at Claremont Graduate School twenty one years ago: children learn best when they are given the latitude and guidance to discuss and discover ideas and experiment via engaging learning activities. Deep learning is achieved via authentic, teacher-designed assessments.

While I admire the performance-based nature of the Common Core State Standards, and while the SBAC assessments do indeed require students to engage in performance-based tasks, I am gravely concerned by the exponential increase in high stakes testing that will no doubt accompany the SBAC assessments. I am alarmed by the developmental inappropriateness of the CCSS, particularly at the elementary level.

I suggest that you and your staff personally take the SBAC practice tests that can be accessed online. I believe that the length of the tests and their developmentally inappropriate demands will more than give you pause– you will become as fearful for our students’ wellbeing as I am.

Additionally, I am highly concerned about the significant cost of preparing for and administering the SBAC tests. Doug McRae, a retired executive in the testing field, projects the final cost of Smarter Balanced tests at close to $40 per student– triple what California is currently paying. It is no secret that many districts lack the bandwidth and hardware required to administer the SBAC assessments. As a result, cash strapped districts will be forced to divert funding that would otherwise be spent on students into upgrading their infrastructure to prepare for this next incarnation of high stakes testing.

Lastly, and most importantly, nearly one in four children in California live in poverty. It is well documented that the real crisis in education is the pernicious effects of poverty—socioeconomic status and school and test performance are inextricably entwined. The money spent on this brave new world of SBAC high stakes testing will make it impossible to provide the wraparound services that we know will improve the lives of poor children and therefore improve their educational experiences and outcomes: food security, health services, counselors, quality before and after school daycare, well-stocked and staffed libraries. The list goes on and on.

Last May, I proudly accompanied a group of my colleagues to the ceremony where you celebrated our recognition as a California Distinguished School. In your address, you fondly reminisced about your experiences as a science teacher, taking your students on field trips. At another point, you received enthusiastic cheers when you asked, “Who would like to see the arts back in California classrooms?” Unshackling our schools from the overwhelming financial burden of SBAC assessments will once again allow field trips, music and the arts to become a reality in California public schools.

In closing, I ask you to secure your legacy as a principled State Superintendent who unwaveringly advocates for that which is best for children. Please follow the lead of other State Superintendents who have chosen to withdraw from SBAC and PARCC assessments, and let’s allow the money our taxpayers opted to allocate to public schools go to those who are most deserving: our children.

Thank you for your consideration—

Warm regards,

Jeanne Berrong

Categories Arts Education, Budget Cuts, California, Common Core

Breaking News: Philly May Sue Banks for Fraud Losses

By dianeravitch
August 5, 2013 //
11

Investigative journalist Daniel Denvir reports that the Philadelphia school district may sue banks and Wall Street firms that sold defective financial instruments to the school district, causing massive losses.

Denvir writes:

“Philadelphia and other cities have filed similar lawsuits, contending that such “interest-rate swaps” — billed as a protection against rising borrowing costs — were tilted in banks’ favor through the fraudulent rigging of the London Interbank Offered Rate, or Libor.

“The School District took out swaps with Wachovia (purchased by Wells Fargo in 2008), Merrill Lynch, Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley. But a lawsuit could name more banks as defendants. Philadelphia’s lawsuit names banks that were direct counterparties and also those that are accused of rigging Libor, including Citi, JPMorgan, RBC, Bank of America, Barclays, Credit Suisse, Deutsche Bank, RBS and UBS.”

Categories Budget Cuts, Philadelphia

Does It Help to “Throw Money” at Schools?

By dianeravitch
August 4, 2013 //
66

I occasionally get a comment on the blog that says something like this: “Throwing money at schools doesn’t work. We already spend too much. …” The other day, I responded to a comment of this sort by pointing out that the people who say this have no issue “throwing money” at the schools their own children attend. Meanwhile, in Philadelphia, the city and state will no longer “throw money” at the public schools; the students will have large classes, no art, no music, no sports, no librarians, no guidance counselors, etc. meanwhile, the corporate reformers and tycoons are still throwing money at the schools where they send their own children, to make sure their every need and wish is satisfied.

A regular reader, known as KrazyTA, added the following comment:

“Throwing money at a problem doesn’t solve anything?

For the edubullies and their edupreneur backers, let’s see what that means when it comes to THEIR OWN CHILDREN…

Harpeth Hall, home to at least one of Michelle Rhee’s children. Please go to their website for the info and quotations below:

http://www.harpethhall.org/podium/default.aspx?t=151797

Fine Arts: multiple arts courses, including art, music, theatre [their spelling!] and dance.

Athletics: “Harpeth Hall athletes have won 11 state championships in cross-country and 14 state titles in track–both state records for the most championships won by any school, boys or girls; Harpeth Hall varsity teams have also won championships in basketball, golf, lacrosse, swimming, tennis, and volleyball. Middle School teams have recorded conference championships in basketball, cross country, tennis, track, and volleyball.”

Exchange Programs: “For several years, Harpeth Hall has offered an international exchange program for our students with schools in China, France, Germany, New Zealand, and South Africa.”

Library and Technology: “The Ann Scott Carell Library, the centerpiece of Harpeth Hall’s campus, was dedicated on November 18, 2001. This 20,000-square-foot facility serves as the information and technology hub of the campus, housing traditional library services along with the school’s network and technology support team.

Comfortable and inviting spaces are available for all who enter the doors to the Ann Scott Carell Library. A fireplace, surrounded by comfortable seating, is the central feature of the reading area on the main floor. Six group study rooms provide quiet areas where individuals or small groups can work together, do research, read, or study. Non-fiction spaces include tables, workstations, and window seats.

The lower level includes two classrooms for library and technology instruction, and the Bear Cave, our laptop help desk. Also on the lower level are the Archives room, and a meeting room with state-of-the-art equipment.”

I invite viewers of this blog to peruse “Academics” and other areas at their leisure.

And to just include one more detail, this one from Cranbrook:

“The Summer Theatre School, our oldest summer program, presents classic theater skills like character acting, lighting, dance, voice, costuming, set design and other stage crafts. The Theatre School operates from Cranbrook’s beautiful Greek Theater grove, an outstanding full sized stone replica of a classic outdoor Greek theater setting nestled in a mature pine forest. Evening outdoor theater productions attract ample crowds from neighboring communities.”

Link: http://schools.cranbrook.edu/podium/default.aspx?t=146451

I guess that clinches it: throwing money at education doesn’t solve A thing—it solves
ALMOST everything.

For those who still don’t get it, heed these words of Marx:

“A child of five would understand this. Send someone to fetch a child of five.” [Groucho Marx]”

Categories Accountability, Budget Cuts

Matt Farmer: “”You will hear our voices in your sleep.”

By dianeravitch
August 3, 2013 //
13

Parents in Chicago complained about budget cuts to their schools. CPS blames the cuts on pensions, but parents don’t believe them.

Attorney Matt Farmer warned that parents would go to the streets. He said to CPS officials: “You will hear our voices in your sleep.”

Categories Budget Cuts, Charter Schools, Chicago

NC Governor: Phony Claims About Education

By dianeravitch
August 2, 2013 //
22

Governor Pat McCrory presented his budget and boasted it was the largest education budget ever.

But it isn’t true. Adjusted for inflation, North Carolina is spending half a billion dollars less than in 2008.

The fibs just kept on coming at a news conference.

“Gov. McCrory also repeated a claim he made as he signed his tax reform package into law that teachers making between $40,000 and $45,000 annually will actually get 1% of their earnings back, thanks to tax reform.

“But according to tables that accompanied the tax reform bill, citizens don’t get a 1% tax break until they have a household income of $250,000.

“McCrory also said that teachers are not able to get raises in this budget because of high Medicaid costs. He did not address the fact, however, that state revenue availability was reduced by $684 million over the biennium as the result of tax cut package he signed into law.

“When talking about the state of teacher pay, McCrory said that North Carolina ranked “in the 40′s” in 2010, just as we do now.

“Again, however, this does not comport with the facts. North Carolina actually ranked 27th in teacher pay in 2005-06 and has dropped to 46th in the nation in less than 10 years.

“Governor McCrory took no questions at the conclusion of his remarks.”

– See more at: http://pulse.ncpolicywatch.org/2013/08/01/mccrory-claims-nc-education-budget-largest-in-history/#sthash.VTz1cy2t.dpuf

Categories Budget Cuts, North Carolina

If CPS Has a Billion Dollar Deficit, Why Is It Funding These Programs?

By dianeravitch
July 31, 2013 //
7

Chicago school officials and the mayor have a mantra: CPS is broke. CPS has a deficit of $1 billion dollars.

With that rationale, CPS lays off thousands of teachers and closes dozens of schools.

But at the same time that officials plead poverty, they still find the money to do what they want to do.

Here is this Chicago blogger’s top ten.

It includes the bizarre expenditure of $1.6 million for Teach for America at the same time that CPS is laying off veteran teachers.

There may be others.

And the list doesn’t even touch on frivolities like a new $55 million stadium.

True, it is not from the school budget, but then Chicago has mayoral control and the mayor funds what he favors.

Categories Budget Cuts, Chicago

Bruce Baker: Three Smokescreens to Avoid Talking about Resources

By dianeravitch
July 30, 2013 //
5

In another great post, Bruce Baker explains the smokescreens that reformers use to divert attention from resource inequality.

One smokescreen is choice. The idea is that liberty should replace equality. But says Baker, choice is highly inequitable. “But these arguments are merely a diversion, sidestepping whether, when applied in practice, adequate alternatives are equitably distributed.

“One problem with this assertion is that variation in resources across private providers, as well as across charter schools tends to be even greater than variation across traditional public schools (Baker, 2009, Baker, Libby & Wiley, 2012). Further, higher and lower quality private and charter schools are not equitable distributed geographically and broadly available to all. At the extreme, in New Orleans following Hurricane Katrina where traditional district schools were largely wiped out, and where choice based solutions were imposed during the recovery, entire sections of the city were left without secondary level options and provided a sparse few elementary and middle level options (Buras, 2011).

“Baker, Libby and Wiley show that in New York City, charter expansion has yielded vastly inequitable choices. Table 1 shows the demographics, spending and class sizes of New York City charter schools, by their network affiliation, compared to district schools. Most New York City charter school networks serve far fewer children qualifying for free lunch (<130% poverty level), far fewer English language learners and far fewer children with disabilities than same grade level schools in the same borough of the city. These patterns of student sorting induce inequities across schools. But, these schools also have widely varied access to financial resources despite being equitably funded by the city. Some charter networks are able to outspend demographically similar district schools by over $5,000 per pupil, and to provide class sizes that are 4 to 6 (or more) students smaller.”

Another is the claim that we are spending enough or spend too much.

As Baker writes, “Finally, an argument that reoccurs with some consistency in debates over the adequacy of education funding is that there exists little or no proof that adding more money would likely have any measurable positive effects. This argument hinges on the oft repeated (and as frequently refuted phrase that there exists “no systematic relationship between funding and outcomes.” This argument fails to excuse the facial inequity of permitting some children attending some schools to have twice or more, the resources of others, especially where, as in New York State, higher need children are the ones with systematically fewer resources.”

Categories Budget Cuts, Charter Schools, Poverty

Join NC’s Moral Monday Protest Against Assault on Public Schools

By dianeravitch
July 27, 2013 //
7

Supporters of public schools in Virginia will be car-pooling to join the weekly protest at the North Carolina state Capitol called Moral Monday. If you can be there to support public schools, to oppose budget cuts and privatization, please join them.

This comes from Rachel Levy in Virginia:

“There is going to be a big Moral Monday event in support of public education & in protest of education cuts in NC: http://www.ncae.org/whats-new/moral-monday-protest-walk-join-us/

The VEA in neighboring Virginia will be hosting car pools to the event. From the VEA: “car pools are forming at VEA headquarters, 116 South 3rd Street, Richmond, at 11:15 am for a noon departure. The rally is being organized to protest steep cuts to North Carolina public education. The North Carolina Association of Educators HQ, the pre-rally meeting spot, is at 700 South Salisbury St. NCAE asks that you wear RED. Get more information at http://www.ncae.org.&#8221;

Categories Budget Cuts, North Carolina, Vouchers
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