LWVUS to Study Federal Role in Public Education
July 15th, 2010 by lwvkitsap“Federal Role in Public Education” Study Committee Application
Online
In accordance with the approval of delegates at Convention 2010,
the LWVUS will undertake a study of the “Federal Role in Public
Education.” The study would focus on the role of the federal
government in education policymaking, with possible consideration
of funding, common standards and/or governance relationships among
all levels of the government. Members of the committee will be
responsible for developing study materials and consensus question,
participating in reviewing/ tabulating all of the responses
submitted by participating Leagues, and based on those,
recommending position language to the Board. The LWVUS Board is now
seeking applications from members who are interested in being on
the study committee. Please complete the online application form
(including your resume), no later than August 16, 2010.
Tags: education
Ann Strosnider is communications chair for the League of Women Voters of Kitsap.
Scripps Interactive Newspapers Group
July 16th, 2010 at 2:39 pm
Wouldn’t it be quicker to have the NEA feed you talking points? Or is the “study” to provide the appearance of objectivity?
July 16th, 2010 at 3:42 pm
If individuals have the time and the energy to engage in real education reform, then they need to focus on programs and studies that will fix it at the State Level. Increased interference at the Federal Level only complicates problems at the State Level.
For example, because Federal Stimulus dollars were provided to the State of Washington for the funding of education, the State of Washington simply turned around and used those federal dollars in lieu of dollars designated for education (I-728) from the Washington State budget. This allowed the State of Washington to ignore for two more years the very reasons behind the education shortfalls that occurred at the State Level in the first place. It was a shell game of the worst sort and a bait and switch on a massive scale.
Our elected leadership at nearly every level here in Washington State has set in a very clear manner by their collective example the self serving way in which they would use and manipulate Federal rules and funding. It would NOT be in the best interest of the children and it would not be in the best interest of the local community. Fixing education in a real long term way without band aids or gimmicks starts with boots on the ground working the bottom up instead of from the top down where the end results and original intentions is watered down shadow of what it should be.
July 17th, 2010 at 8:54 pm
The state League of Women Voters has done many studies on education – focused on state funding – and we are present during each legislative session working to get the funding (unfortunately not very successful yet). We were one of the first community organizations to join the group that became NEWS and successfully won the lawsuit against the state over fully funding basic education. But, LWVUS has never done a study on federal funding and therefore we’ve never had a position – pro or con. I’ve seen the damage caused at the local level by NCLB and see the potential damage that could be caused by Race to the Top. I hope to participate in the national study and to be a voice for researching and presenting both pros and cons.
Colleen, I always appreciate that you’re willing to use your real name on the blogs and present some actual information on the issue. Thanks.
Catherine Ahl
LWV Kitsap president
LWVWA Education chair
August 2nd, 2010 at 9:00 am
Bluelight poses a good question. Has the LWV taken a position on 2-year tenure?
I actually think Bluelight’s anonymity is 100 times less offensive than someone coming on this forum listing all their various titles. This internet forum is a true democracy. Everyone that posts here is equal. Everyone.
And by the way, Bluelight answers questions directed at him/her. Even dumb questions. Even questions from Democrats.
August 3rd, 2010 at 8:59 am
Ok, Catherine Ahl, I’ll have this conversation with myself. Have you read the President’s speech to the Hispanic Chamber of Commerce from March, 2009? If not, here it is. If so, read it again.
http://www.whitehouse.gov/the_press_office/Remarks-of-the-President-to-the-United-States-Hispanic-Chamber-of-Commerce/
The Race to the Top funds are a reward for being innovative. What is the potential damage you speak of? School districts might have to shake off the dust and cobwebs and wake up from their archaic slumber? Treat the idea of ‘preparing students for the 21st century global society’ as more than a soundbite?
August 3rd, 2010 at 9:08 am
And there you go, Catherine Ahl. This from last week.
“The Status Quo is Morally Inexcusable”
http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/2010/07/29/president-obama-education-status-quo-morally-inexcusable
You do know the Race to the Top is voluntary, don’t you? Don’t spend too much time studying the pros and cons of a voluntary program.
August 3rd, 2010 at 10:06 am
Rewards for innovation are one thing, program sustainability beyond the application and initial implementation stage is quite another.
Do existing basic core programs and departments suffer when district time, staff and resources are reduced for them and instead allocated towards non-existent innovations?
Does the constant seeking out and researching of possible future innovative programs validate the continued need and reasoning behind maintaining inflated Administration staffing numbers and subsequent salaries in many school districts?
How ready for innovation is Washington State when six out of ten voters rejected the measure for charter schools in 2004?
Lack of existing charter schools and innovative choices OUTSIDE of the public education system is a primary reason that Washington State was rejected for RTT.
RTT maybe a good fit and a successful program for some states. For Washington State and the current Status Quo, it would have done nothing and forced nothing to shake the cobwebs off and wake up. It would have just be a quick new revenue stream for districts to create unsustainable dog and pony shows this year that would only go away in the “cliff” of 2011-2012.
Damage to kids? Yes. Transitioning from a basic education environment to an innovative one and then back to the basic education environment again in a short period of two to three years would be confusing for them and potentially damaging to their education.
Catherine, thank you for the kind words.
August 3rd, 2010 at 10:59 am
Colleen, you seem to be arguing a point I didn’t make. Washington State doesn’t appear interested in competing for Race to the Top Funds so it’s kind of a moot point.
Does innovation have a single, common meaning? I would think it would be different for every school district. What are we going to do? Sit back and wait for the studies and the Federal government to tell us what innovation means in regards to public education? You’re kidding, right?
This isn’t rocket science. I’m not talking about some earth-shattering reform that shakes the foundation of the public school system as we know it. Which probably wouldn’t be such a terrible thing. I’m talking about little things. Providing the enrichment programs students actually want and administering them in an equitable fashion. Stop using the classroom as a political platform. Implement a no cut soccer program like they are doing in the South Sound to engage students where they live and where their interests are. Ask what the school district ‘patrons’ or ‘customers’ really want to see in a community school. I don’t think any of these suggestions would cost a dime.
Colleen, I don’t think we are on the opposite sides of an issue here, I think our interests lie in decidedly different aspects of the issue.
August 3rd, 2010 at 11:18 am
Hey Karen,
Well Washington may not as a whole be particularly interested but the Bremerton SD was practically drooling at the possibility of the funds. Superintendent Herndon has several programs ready to implement based on recently awarded grant funding that only lasts 2 to 4 years. The policy of implement it, cross our fingers and hope for pie in the sky future funding is alive and well.
You bring up a good point with the “customer satisfaction” comment. I have been watching and participating in a League of Education Voters blog that I was invited to participate in. While I do not agree in many ways with their endorsements or politics they have many participating individuals who really nail some of these issues on the head.
Two things pretty much everyone outside of the hard core, inner circle of public education and the unions can agree on is this:
Immediately stop the practice of staffing districts and classrooms based on seniority and internal politics…
and…
Instead base staffing and salaries on a combination of seniority, assessment scores for both the educator and their students and on customer (parent/community) member satisfaction.
That would be a relatively inexpensive start on the road to reform.
August 3rd, 2010 at 11:33 am
Thank you for that information, Colleen. I’m not educated about the budgets or the financial aspects of running a school district like you are so I can’t opine on that. I do appreciate the time you put into it and your willingness to share your information.
I approach public school issues like I did parenting. Think long and hard about what is best for the kids and then do it. Pretty simple. Sometimes not the most fun or self-gratifying route, but it worked.
I have to say, regardless of what I think of Michelle Rhee or what she is doing with the public education system in our nation’s capital, one thing she said in an interview struck me and stays with me. She said “The disparity in the quality of the public school system in Washington DC as opposed to Georgetown, right across the river, is inexcusable. This is America.”
I can apply that logic to the CK School District and the SK School District. Although the disparity isn’t as dramatic, it’s there. Just across the bay. This is part of the reason people call for consolidation of school districts. They may not really understand what consolidation is or what the long term ramifications are, but one school district gets mentioned in the top 500 public high schools, the other, not so much.
Maybe the Kitsap League of Women Voters could study and do an analysis of that. Something local and pertinent.
August 3rd, 2010 at 11:49 am
I think the idea of an invitation only, exclusive education blog highly undemocratic, don’t you? I understand people’s insecurities and the need to belong to something exclusive, but where is the education, the teaching, and the sharing in that? Keeping the uneducated masses uneducated? It’s not how government should work an it’s not democratic. So, I guess if the idea is to come to a consensus on how public schools should be run, it should be public.
August 3rd, 2010 at 1:44 pm
I would just like to correct one factual error — Washington state did take part in the latest round of Race to the Top competition for funds. But our state lost out, probably partly because we don’t allow charter schools here.
Below is part of an article from The News Tribune of July 28, 2010.
Area educators lament losing Race to the Top bid
Disappointment was the most common reaction of education advocates at Tuesday’s news that the state had lost its bid for federal Race to the Top dollars.
DEBBIE CAFAZZO; STAFF WRITER
Published: 07/28/10 6:58 am | Updated: 07/28/10 6:59 am
Comments (5) Recommend (0)
Disappointment was the most common reaction of education advocates at Tuesday’s news that the state had lost its bid for federal Race to the Top dollars.
“Initial concerns about Washington state’s competitiveness suggested we would not receive Race to the Top funding because our state doesn’t allow charter schools,” said Tacoma Public Schools Superintendent Art Jarvis. “We believed programs like Tacoma’s SOTA (School of the Arts) and SAMI (Science and Math Institute) provided exceptional evidence that nontraditional public schools could be just as innovative and successful as any charter school.”
Read more: http://www.thenewstribune.com/2010/07/28/1280339/area-educators-lament-losing-bid.html#ixzz0vZr45IB4
August 3rd, 2010 at 2:46 pm
No Karen. I don’t think an invitation only blog is wrong or un-democratic. In fact it is their democratic right to keep it private if they want. Everyone should have multiple choices and options. I don’t get miffed when I am not invited. I don’t get miffed if I am not allowed access to everyones facebook page or private blog.
I support choices in education such as private schools, Montessori schools and charter schools in addition to public ones. Some could say that I am elitist or un-democratic with my support of private schools many of which are by application/invitation only. But I am not and they are not. It is simply just another option and choice.
Here on the Kitsap Sun Blogs everything is a mixed bag of a sometimes anonymous free for all. Which has a certain appeal and serves its purpose.
On the LEV blog, it is like sitting at the table with a known, name recognized group of involved friends discussing common issues immediately at a level that is quite advanced, informational and elevated in ways that are seldom allowed to occur for any length of time on this site.
One of my biggest problems with the existing education system is that it is geared towards building a foundation on the lowest achievers and neediest performers. I find that I don’t particularly like those same type of low expectations governing all of my blog dealings as well. So I have choices depending on my mood or the topic at hand.
August 3rd, 2010 at 3:14 pm
Thanks for posting that information Ann. It continues to amaze me that career entrenched public educations officials still miss the most important point which is that real reform and competition comes from…
Innovative education options OUTSIDE the total control of the traditional public education system and its leadership.
Really how deeply innovative can a group of people be who allow themselves to continue to be bullied, in this advanced day and age, by the unions into keeping and antiquated agrarian calendar of school days that does not best serve the learning of the children buy only best serves the ease in which district employees can serve out their careers on the public dime?
August 3rd, 2010 at 3:33 pm
lwvkitsap, I know the State participated after having rejected charter schools. I guess I can construe that as not participating. And I’m not advocating charter schools, I don’t know enough about it to do so.
Colleen, let me say then that it is not very leaderly to come on this very public forum and choose to not engage with certain people for whatever militant mommie reason and then lure people away from this very public forum to a private, handpicked forum to form a ‘consensus’. Think about it. Is exclusivity perhaps one of the problems with public education? Apparently, some students aren’t able to learn because of their social problems which we compound by shutting them out of everything?
I’m sorry, I think the private, invitation only blog is undemocratic, lacking in leadership, and a little manipulative if you look at it from the Kitsap Sun and its readers’ point of view. Don’t want to have those dum-dums peering in at our very self-important work. Or are they hiding their individual viewpoints from someone? God? The TU?
August 3rd, 2010 at 3:50 pm
Isn’t a private, invitation only blog another form of anonymity?
August 4th, 2010 at 8:37 am
Karen, you are welcome to your opinion. The fact that it differs from mine is perfectly ok with me. On the other hand, if you are only going to use it as a vehicle to disparage my personality then I will lead by saying our conversation on this issue is concluded. You are correct that I have the right to avoid and or disengage from certain people and their specific arguments and pick and choose where and when I participate, so that is exactly what I am going to do.
August 5th, 2010 at 10:06 am
Here is an excellent link that puts two charter school theory’s (one for and one against) to the test…
http://www.eduwonk.com/2010/08/putting-charter-theories-to-the-test.html
August 5th, 2010 at 12:37 pm
How am I disparaging your personality? I’m flabbergasted. I’ve always been complimentary and grateful to you. Perhaps I was making a veiled reference to the LWV’ president, certainly not to you. No one could argue the fact that you are an asset to your community, to this blog, to the public school system. Your ability to ingest information and your willingness to share it is invaluable and priceless. Maybe we don’t agree on what should be done with that information, but I don’t believe we’ve ever had a huge disagreement over anything, have we?
My cynical mind makes me think you might be being played a little in regards to this private education blog and you know what they say about cynics – disappointed idealists.
August 5th, 2010 at 12:47 pm
Thank you for the links. I have been following the progress of two charter schools in East LA County, I think one is a KIPP and the other not, but they are doing amazing things. Maybe that’s where the focus of charter schools should be, in challenged communities and schools. It’s a thought.
Sure wish I could edit that post to say “..are invaluable and priceless.”
Have a nice weekend, Colleen.
August 5th, 2010 at 1:17 pm
Colleen, I hope you don’t stop posting to this blog, but I would understand if you did. You’ve done a lot. People change, their lives change, and their interests change.
There was a time, not that long ago, when all I cared about was the value of cooperative preschools and the philosophy of the NAEYC. Now my interest in university studies is waning.
Perhaps you’ll serve as a conduit for information from that self-appointed think tank to the general public.
Consider, for a minute, that your inclusion in that private education blog is an attempt to silence you. Accept it, reject it, but please don’t get offended by the suggestion.
Cheers.
August 8th, 2010 at 10:54 am
Whoa!
I hopped over here to read up on the Women’s Celebration (we have the vote, Ladies) only to read garbage when I checked here to see what Karen and Colleen had to say.
The exact reason I stopped reading anything or responding to anything concerning education here is because the education writer wouldn’t post what I thought were good posts from me and, no doubt, others. Therefore, anything she wrote on education here I considered probably slanted to whatever point she wanted to make and not worth my time to read it.
A good reporter wants all views… a bad reporter, as a bad politician is blind sided… and, my opinion, without merit to the subject at hand.
Colleen…I thought you better than that….
Thanks Karen…another eye opener….
Sharon O’Hara
“Colleen, let me say then that it is not very leaderly to come on this very public forum and choose to not engage with certain people for whatever militant mommie reason and then lure people away from this very public forum to a private, handpicked forum to form a ‘consensus’. Think about it. Is exclusivity perhaps one of the problems with public education? Apparently, some students aren’t able to learn because of their social problems which we compound by shutting them out of everything?
I’m sorry, I think the private, invitation only blog is undemocratic, lacking in leadership, and a little manipulative if you look at it from the Kitsap Sun and its readers’ point of view.”
August 8th, 2010 at 11:12 am
“…Apparently, some students aren’t able to learn because of their social problems which we compound by shutting them out of everything?”
Karen, I have a great grandson who is autistic with progressive parents who insisted their son not be set aside.
Today he is successfully doing well in CK school district and is one of the most interesting persons I’ve ever talked with. He is direct, to the point, engaging and forthright. He doesn’t waste his time or mine on anything other than ideas…but his directness is something I’ve not known before. He doesn’t understand nuances or calling something fake, “faux.”
Thanks for your input…Sharon O’Hara
August 9th, 2010 at 10:08 am
Sharon, better than what? I am not an education reporter for the Kitsap Sun and I have no control over the comments that get chosen to be posted here or not other that what I submit just like everyone else does.
August 9th, 2010 at 10:56 am
I thought the education reporter did a good job. She was for the most part unbiased, a couple of times I thought I noticed her personal views coming through, maybe it was something she felt strongly about. That was on the blog, though, and I think it’s considered OK for reporters to have opinions on blogs. She never wrote much about my community’s school, but I figured it wasn’t her call.
Thanks for that story about your great grandson, Sharon. Success story on all sides, involved parents, receptive school district, and a happy, well-adjusted child.
August 9th, 2010 at 11:10 am
Well, Marietta Nelson is no longer with the Kitsap Sun as of the end of July. So right now it does not appear that there is a designated education reporter. I also thought Marietta was more than fair in her converage and her posts on the Kitsap Education blog which for clarification this blog we are currently posting on is not. This is the League of Womens voters blog. So I am not sure which blog Sharon was having a problem with getting her comments posted on or which blog she did not like the tone of the education coverage on????
Maybe she can clarify.
August 9th, 2010 at 12:26 pm
“…which for clarification this blog we are currently posting on is not.”
Colleen, are you saying this is not the education blog or that this blogger is not fair? I assume the former.
The original post was about education even if this isn’t an education blog and the thread has obviously meandered. That’s what happens in conversation.
August 9th, 2010 at 1:38 pm
No Karen, my comment was to Sharon who stated that she does not post on education here anymore because the education writer/reporter has slanted views. I just want to know if she was referring to just education topic on this particular blog or education issues reported by the Kitsap Sun as a whole and that the individuals who control the posts on the education blog and the League blog are separate people. That’s all.
August 9th, 2010 at 1:43 pm
Back on the topic at hand, here is a great column in USA today in regards to techer merit versus seniority. Give it a read..
http://www.usatoday.com/news/opinion/forum/2010-08-05-column05_ST1_N.htm
August 9th, 2010 at 8:15 pm
Colleen… My comment was based on Karen’s comment,
““Colleen, let me say then that it is not very leaderly to come on this very public forum and choose to not engage with certain people for whatever militant mommie reason and then lure people away from this very public forum to a private, handpicked forum to form a ‘consensus’. Think about it. Is exclusivity perhaps one of the problems with public education? Apparently, some students aren’t able to learn because of their social problems which we compound by shutting them out of everything?
I’m sorry, I think the private, invitation only blog is undemocratic, lacking in leadership, and a little manipulative if you look at it from the Kitsap Sun and its readers’ point of view.”
The reason I stopped commenting or reading few articles on education here in the Sun was due to the same issues Karen mentioned. I don’t mind and have on occasion, appreciated a reporter not using a comment. That is rightly so, their prerogative and it doesn’t matter. Usually.
However, if I make a point no one else has mentioned that I think is important to the subject and slanted differently than my perception of what the writer wants and it isn’t used, then I know the writer isn’t interested in looking at all views of the subject…all else being equal.
I particularly admire Chris Dunagan’s management of his blog and care about the subject matter – our waterways. His management style somehow gets professionals explaining in a manner that educates the rest of us. You know, the regular folks out there…all done without belittling the non professional or attacking them.
He makes reading what he writes worthwhile knowing that he will respect the comments enough to post them.
Hiring and keeping teachers due to teacher merit v seniority is simple IF people keep the end result in mind. Is it to retire the teacher or educate the student?
Get rid of teacher tenure and pay according to performance and we’ll turn around the non educating of our kids.
As I see it… Sharon O’Hara