Tuesday Open Thread
From the great West Seattle Blog, a comprehensive wrap-up of the discussion at Director Harris' community meeting.
I was in Olympia yesterday to work with Washington's Paramount Duty, visiting legislators. Boy, that place was hopping. You'll be glad to know that nearly all the legislators we visited are just flummoxed by trying to figure out how to fund McCleary. But no one particularly wants to worry about it this session.
I testified at the Senate Committee for K-12 Education which was hearing input on several bills including SB 6195, the "plan with a plan" for McCleary. There were really only a couple of groups that truly supported the bill and those were LEV, the Washington State School Board Directors Association and the Association of Washington Business. LEV's testimony was in sharp contrast to nearly every other speaker as they said it was "gratifying" that this bill had a "sense of urgency."
There were a lot of "other" testimony (meaning, not "pro" or "con") saying thanks for the effort but
1) there should be some money in there and there isn't and that's another year of public education in Washington State that isn't fully funded
2) that districts will find it hard to budget for 2017-2018 with little to go on from this bill
But the star was 9-year-old Asher who attends school in SPS who came to complain about how he has to get his homework done on time so why doesn't the Legislature? He said his building is overcrowded and they have no real playground and the boiler overheats and then they have to go outside and have their learning time interrupted. See about minute 37. My own testimony starts about minute 23:00.
What's on your mind?
I was in Olympia yesterday to work with Washington's Paramount Duty, visiting legislators. Boy, that place was hopping. You'll be glad to know that nearly all the legislators we visited are just flummoxed by trying to figure out how to fund McCleary. But no one particularly wants to worry about it this session.
I testified at the Senate Committee for K-12 Education which was hearing input on several bills including SB 6195, the "plan with a plan" for McCleary. There were really only a couple of groups that truly supported the bill and those were LEV, the Washington State School Board Directors Association and the Association of Washington Business. LEV's testimony was in sharp contrast to nearly every other speaker as they said it was "gratifying" that this bill had a "sense of urgency."
There were a lot of "other" testimony (meaning, not "pro" or "con") saying thanks for the effort but
1) there should be some money in there and there isn't and that's another year of public education in Washington State that isn't fully funded
2) that districts will find it hard to budget for 2017-2018 with little to go on from this bill
But the star was 9-year-old Asher who attends school in SPS who came to complain about how he has to get his homework done on time so why doesn't the Legislature? He said his building is overcrowded and they have no real playground and the boiler overheats and then they have to go outside and have their learning time interrupted. See about minute 37. My own testimony starts about minute 23:00.
What's on your mind?
Comments
Ballard Parent.
http://www.theamericanconservative.com/dreher/chaos-room-314-education-family/
"The New York Post writes about a new book out by Ed Boland, a wealthy gay white man who decided to leave his lucrative career in mid-life and go teach some of the neediest high school kids in the city."
The original New York Port article:
http://nypost.com/2016/01/17/my-year-of-terror-and-abuse-teaching-at-a-nyc-high-school/
SouthEnd
I don't think they have to finish their work on McCleary, or have finished legislation on how the state distributes funds to ensure equity across the state, but they need to make a dent in the estimated cost.
No passed legislation, then it is summer school 2016 for the legislature.
-NNNCr
Sdy
MS Vacation
The district's policy is to leave it up to the principal so ask your principal because you may not even be able to get your child excused. (I did not support this policy because of vagaries of principals setting their own rules.)
Or, you may get your child excused but the teachers may not give him/her makeup work and their grades will suffer.
Be sure you know what the policy is at your school.
MS Vacation
Under this ruling, it is illegal for Seattle Public Schools to use levy money to fund teacher salaries; however, they are trying to sell this operations levy to the public by allotting 25.2% of the overall budget to just this. The literature that has been sent out to the public obfuscates this fact. Furthermore, the District says it has cut the budget of Central Administration to 5.8%, but have in actuality have separated it out of the “school administrative budget” (6.1%) In total that is almost 12%.
If the District wants to play the shell game with public dollars, it's our responsibility to reject this levy. They pull at the public's heartstrings by saying, “but it's for the children. “ But according to their lack of transparency, we aren't who the money is for. Until Seattle Public Schools can better, (and legally) account for where your levy dollars go, I would encourage a “no “ vote on this levy on February 9, 2016.
https://www.gofundme.com/scfjbxtk
http://seattlepublic2013.blogspot.com/
https://www.facebook.com/Vote-NO-on-The-The-Operations-Levy-536589806500688/
Nick Esparza
The chamber passed Senate Bill 6194 on a 27-20 vote Wednesday, and the measure heads to the House. The bill mirrors the voter-approved 2012 initiative that created charter schools, with a change in the way the schools are financed.
Done deal
The phoniest statistic in education
Let’s just stop pussyfooting around and say it out loud:
The “historic” peak in the country’s high school graduation rate is bullshit.
According to federal data released late last year, and dutifully trumpeted ever since (including in last night’s State of the Union address), the nation’s high school graduation rate has hit an all-time high, with 82 percent of the Class of 2014 earning a diploma. “As a result, many more students will have a better chance of going to college, getting a good job, owning their own home, and supporting a family,” crowed then-Secretary of Education Arne Duncan.
Isn’t it pretty to think so?
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Yet NAEP, SAT, and ACT testing shows no similar improvement