May 7 , 2009

Assignments without consent 

Even before the Wake County school board voted this week to stop sending consent forms to families assigned to year-round schools, critics of the district declared it a pivotal issue in this fall’s school board elections.

That might be true – or maybe not. October is still a long way off and voters have notoriously short memories. But if the board’s decision triggers meaningful debate, it would be an excellent time for parents and school board members to think about the delicate balance between family choices and the needs of a school system.

School board members say they must retain authority to require students attend year-round schools or they will lose the ability to control school overcrowding. The parent group Wake CARES argued the district has no right to force such large disruptions as a year-round calendar on family schedules.

The state Supreme Court ruled 4-3 in favor of the school system. The school board promptly voted 5-2 on Tuesday to quit sending consent forms. A quick look at the numbers makes it obvious this fight is not about disrupting multitudes of families. It’s about who gets to make the final call on school choice and how that power is handled.

When the system sent consent forms last year to students assigned to year-round schools, more than 90 percent of parents consented. Those who didn’t consent were encouraged to apply to magnet programs. Of those who did, 95 percent found seats in traditional-calendar schools. By that accounting, the school system satisfied most parents.

But the process – which included 1,200 students who did not consent and did not apply to a magnet program – left empty seats in some year-round schools and overcrowding in other traditional-calendar schools. It also left district officials generally unable to make such basic long-range plans as how many teachers to assign a given school. An efficient school system clearly needs control over that kind of detail.

Similarly, families want control over their routines. Recognizing that, district staff offered to work closely with parents who request transfers this year out of mandatory year-round school assignments. School board members delayed voting on the offer, saying it was more important to first establish the rules of assignment without consent.

That is an important step – for school board members. But it’s more important to parents that they believe the school district won’t abuse its new court-sanctioned authority. If parents really believe that, consent forms for year-round schools won’t matter much come election day.

A budget cutter’s request: “More, please.”

If school and county officials start dragging their feet on cutting budgets for 2009-2010, they have an obvious excuse. It appears they aren’t done yet cutting this year’s budget.

State education officials sent letters to local school leaders this week telling them another round of cuts will be needed to balance the current year’s budget. The cut of about $27.75 per student amounts to about $3.9 million for Wake County’s public schools. The system made a combined $11.2 million in state and local cuts earlier this fiscal year.

Superintendent Del Burns said Wake should be able to make the $3.9 million reversion without layoffs or employee pay cuts. Less certain is how the school is going to handle Gov. Beverly Perdue’s order that all state employees take 10 hours of unpaid time off to compensate for reduced pay in May and June.

The State Board of Education wants teachers to take the furloughs when students aren’t in school – an approach teachers say is almost impossible this late in the year.

Instead, Wake County is seeking permission from the state to cut the school year by one day. It’s nearly impossible for employees such as bus drivers and cafeteria workers to take 10 hours off unless students don’t need to ride a bus or eat lunch for a day, according to the school board and the district’s employee association.

If decisions aren’t reached soon, the cuts of this year will overlap next year’s proposed reductions. County Manager David Cooke is expected to release his recommended budget May 18, calling for no increase in local school funding, a 10 percent cut in many county agencies and the possible closing of some library branches.

Curriculum, standards getting far more attention

It’s too early to call it a consensus, and people pushing for real change hope it’s not a bandwagon, but an increasing number of state and national leaders are talking about the need for a more rigorous school curriculum and a push toward national and international standards.

State leaders recently posted an update on their plan to redefine the North Carolina Standard Course of Study for all students, calling it “the most important and significant work of the State Board of Education and Department of Public Instruction in a generation.” The five-year program is intended to produce new learning standards, new student tests and a new school accountability model.

Meanwhile, leading education groups and government officials agreed at a congressional hearing April 29 that adopting common academic standards across all states might be the way to give U.S. students an advantage in an increasingly competitive and international marketplace. Former North Carolina Gov. Jim Hunt was among those offering testimony.

The federal government’s role in the process hasn’t been decided. Many people involved in education policy, however, expect the $5 billion Race to the Top Fund that was part of the federal stimulus package will be used as a catalyst for districts and states willing to make changes.

Groups from the National Governors Association to the Council of Chief State School Officers have also become increasingly interested in using data from international exams to improve instruction in the United States.

Given the traditions of public schools, it’s clear some of the changes could take years to unfold. But those pushing for international standards say schools can’t outlast the call of this reform because global pressures have permanently changed the landscape.   

Noteworthy…

…Leaders of the Wake County Democratic Party selected state Rep. Dan Blue on Wednesday evening to fill the seat of Sen. Vernon Malone. Malone, a Partnership trustee and key player in the history of Wake’s public schools, died April 18. Rosa Gill, chairman of the Wake County school board and also a Partnership trustee, was interested in Malone’s seat. She can be considered to fill Blue’s House seat, but Blue has indicated he does not intend to resign that seat immediately.

… The persistent achievement gap in America’s schools “imposes on the U.S. the economic equivalent of a permanent national recession,” according to a report recently released by the global consulting firm McKinsey & Co. The report, found here, predicts the U.S. gross domestic product would be $1.3 trillion to $2.3 trillion higher if the achievement gap between the U.S. and its international peers had been closed in 1998.
 
… The recession recently landed on the door of Durham Public Schools with a thud when the superintendent suggested cutting 226 teaching positions and 81 teacher assistant jobs to save $13.6 million. The cuts, which are currently being debated before a recommended budget is sent to Durham’s commissioners, would be the biggest in the district’s history.