What I Learned Today, Part One
Today I engaged with Washington State and Seattle public education issues. A lot. I listened to a League of Education Voters (LEV) panel, followed by an hour-long call with a couple of people from a progressive group that wanted input on the Board elections, and, to end the day, listening to the Board's Ad Hoc Committee talking about "public engagement." As you can see from the timestamp of this post, I'm starting to write now at 7:30 pm.
This is NOT what I want to be doing frankly. But what I heard today makes me very upset. Here goes with Part One.
The title of the LEV webinar was Washington Education Funding and School District Budget Challenges.
As federal stimulus dollars start playing a smaller part in school budgets, school districts across Washington state face challenging decision points. Many districts are exploring consolidating resources and serving students with fewer staff. In this webinar, we will examine why districts are in this situation and discuss possible pathways forward at the state and local level.
Panelists include:
* Dr. Adam Swinyard, Superintendent of Spokane Public Schools
* Dr. Kurt Buttleman, Assistant Superintendent – Finance / CFO at Seattle Public Schools
* Dr. Melissa Beard, former Chief of Finance and Operations at Steilacoom Historical School District and a board member of the Tumwater School District
* Dr. Tanisha Brandon-Felder, Director of Equity and Family Engagement at Shoreline Public Schools
* Sarah Thornton, Assistant Superintendent at the Pasco School District
* Dr. David Knight, Associate Professor of Educational Foundations, Leadership & Policy at the University of Washington College of Education
I was interested in listening in for two reasons. One, to see if I might learn something new about district budgeting and two, to listen to Dr. Buttleman who is new to SPS. What I learned:
- The other four panelists who are at school districts are really good, especially Dr. Swinyard at Spokane SD.
- Buttleman didn't say much in specific (but he's been in SPS 5 minutes) but he did acknowledge the importance of communicating to parents and the public what a well-resourced school is. Dr. Brandon-Felder as well as Dr. Beard stressed the importance of student voice in that communication and I agree.
- Earlier this week, Superintendent Reykdal used the term "perfect storm" in a story in the Seattle Times, talking about budgeting. Two other people on the panel used it as well. So I asked in the chat about how severe a storm it could be. Dr. Knight answered like this:
Washington State is one of the wealthiest states in the nation in terms of state GDP per capita. This is a storm we can weather.
This comes from the one person on the panel who is NOT having to deal with budget problems in a district. Just because some parts of Washington are well-off doesn't necessarily mean that extends to the entire state. And, if that's true, how come so many in public education are using that term?
- Dr. Beard said one thing that her district is doing is NOT hiring teachers until they have the enrollment numbers. She said they hate doing it like that but they cannot afford to hire teachers if the enrollment numbers are not there. They do not want to start kids with one teacher and then move them to another.
- Dr. Swinyard made an interesting observation which is that the scope of the mission of any particular district has gotten wider and wider and "when everything matters, nothing matters." He said districts may have to rethink what they can do and be AND communicate that to the public at large.
- One thing I learned that I had not known about levy dollars raised by a district. Not sure when this came into being but apparently districts cannot spend more than $2500 per student from levy dollars. So, when a district loses enrollment, they don't just lose state funding, they lose the funding from the levy that was attached to that student.
- Finally, the issue about what legislators think. It was suggested that some legislators think districts get plenty and are either using funding wrong or inefficiently. I can see that thought pattern but what can be done except be more transparent with your spending.
Comments
Parent
David Knight was a clown. An out of touch ideologue, as far as I could tell. This idea that we can weather the storm...well, we can only if we tap that huge GDP, which requires the legislature to raise taxes on the rich and big corporations, which LEV doesn't want and which Knight never mentioned.
Knight also at one point said that everything will be fine once districts adjust to smaller enrollment, which is code for "close schools and layoff teachers, it'll all be ok."
Finally, Knight showed no familiarity at all with the 2017 McCleary fix, which suggests he is either incompetent at his job or just straight out lying. I was also surprised that nobody else on the panel seemed to want to talk about how what the legislature did in 2017 screwed districts and set up this mess.
Also, it is true that many legislators think that schools are swimming in money but that it's misspent. It's how legislators justify to themselves underfunding the schools. I guess everyone has to tell themselves sweet little lies so they can sleep at night. But it doesn't help when districts like SPS are opaque in their accounting.
Tango