- Education Finance Commission Finally Forming
- Obama Prepares to Revamp ‘No Child Left Behind’
- Upcoming FOCUS Workshops
Education Finance Commission Finally Forming
The Washington Post
By Bill Turque
September 21, 2011
Remember the Public Education Reform Commission Establishment Act of 2010? To review:
The D.C. Council passed it in July of that year, authorizing the mayor to hire an independent consultant to form a panel that would study the city’s uniform per-pupil funding formula. Many public charter leaders have long asserted that their sector is shortchanged because charter schools must dip into the per pupil kitty to pay for services-- such as legal and maintenance costs --that are covered through a separate funding stream at the DCPS schools. The difference persists even though the charter schools are also public, although operated independently of DCPS.
The plan was for the commission to deliver an “equity report” to the council no later than Jan. 31, 2011. But the election, the transition and what Deputy Mayor for Education De’Shawn Wright called the “cumbersome” District procurement process, kept the commission from launching, he said.
With fiscal year 2011 winding down — along with funding available for the study--the panel is getting some traction. Two firms have been selected to run the process, and Wright said he hopes to have findings by the end of November, in time to inform the FY 2013 budget cycle.
So what does the District hope to learn about school finance that either he or Mayor Vincent C. Gray don’t already know?
“I think we’ll learn a great deal,” Wright said Wednesday. “Seventy-five percent of it we sort of know, 25 percent of it is nuance that has to get worked out.”
Wright cautioned that whatever recommendations grow from the study, it won’t be a matter of simply determining the difference in funding and balancing it out.
“This isn’t ‘Charters get X and DCPS gets X.’ It’s a starting point for the conversation,” he said. If charters ultimately receive more money, he said, it won’t come without strings.
“There are tradeoffs,” Wright said. “Charters chose to go the route of charters for a reason. Those [extra] resources and supports are going to come with a greater degree of accountability.”
This is one of two major outside studies overseen by Wright that could have a significant impact on the future shape of the city’s school system. The District has asked the Illinois Facilities Fund, a firm with close ties to the charter movement, to measure how well neighborhoods are served by schools and to make recommendations that likely will inform an expected big round of school closures next year.
The school spending analysis will be conducted by The Finance Project, a D.C.-based firm that has published a number of studies on the economics of state and local government programs and charter schools. It was selected over a consortium with a fairly intimate knowledge of the DCPS and charter world, including Mary Levy, Thurgood Marshall PCS co-founder Josh Kern, and the Urban Institute.
Another consultant, Collaborative Communications, will run the “public outreach” segment of the project. The firm has worked with cities and school districts (San Diego, Boston, Prince George’s County) to convene and organize public discussion of education issues. Collaborative Communications will select the 13 commission members in consultation with Wright’s office. The law requires representation from the deputy mayor, the chief financial officer, the budget office, the council’s Committee of the Whole, the D.C. Public Charter School Board, DCPS, OSSE, two local charter schools, three community-based organizations and a national or local expert in education financing.
A list of the members will be available Thursday, a Collaborative Communications spokeswoman said Wednesday.
Because financing of the $60,000 project will straddle two fiscal years, it’s been broken into two phases. These two firms may or not be in the picture in a few weeks as the next phase is put out for bidding.
“Their work is teed up so that there will be a seamless transition,” Wright said.
The law also requires that all commission meetings be public. The first scheduled session is Tuesday, Sept. 27, from 4:30 pm to 7 pm at the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Library, 901 G Street NW, room A-10.
Obama Prepares to Revamp ‘No Child Left Behind’
The Washington Post
By Lyndsey Layton
September 21, 2011
President Obama is poised to broaden federal influence in local schools by scrapping key elements of No Child Left Behind, the Bush administration’s signature education law, and substituting his own brand of school reform.
While unpopular with Republicans in Congress and some in the educational establishment, the move is drawing applause from governors around the country struggling to meet the demands of the nine-year-old law.
Obama and Education Secretary Arne Duncan are scheduled Friday to detail plans to waive some of the law’s toughest requirements, including the goal that every student be proficient in math and reading by 2014 or else their schools could face escalating sanctions.
In exchange for relief, the administration will require a quid pro quo: States must adopt changes that could include the expansion of charter schools, linking teacher evaluation to student performance and upgrading academic standards. As many as 45 states are expected to seek waivers.
For many students, the most tangible impact could be what won’t happen. They won’t see half their teachers fired, their principal removed or school shut down because some students failed to test at grade level — all potential consequences under the current law.
“It’s a momentous development,” said Jack Jennings, president of the nonpartisan Center on Education Policy. The White House is essentially rewriting the law, he said, leaving Congress on the sidelines.
Duncan said the administration has no other choice, driven by mounting pressures on schools caused by the law and no clear sign that Congress will fix its flaws. Lawmakers have been trying for four years.
“I feel compelled to do this,” Duncan said as he rode a bus two weeks ago to tour schools in Michigan, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania and Ohio. “My absolute preference is for Congress to fix it for the entire country. But there's a level of dysfunction in Congress that’s paralyzing. And we’re getting to the point that this law is holding back innovation, holding back progress. We need to unleash that. We need to get out of the way.”
For Duncan, one of the most visible members of Obama’s cabinet, the move is likely to cement his reputation as arguably the most powerful education secretary in the department’s history.
Duncan already has propelled school systems across the country to make sweeping changes by awarding a record $8 billion, provided by the economic stimulus package, to states and districts that embraced Obama’s agenda.
Even states that didn’t win money through the best-known of those programs, called Race to the Top, changed policies and laws to compete for the funds.
Duncan “walked into office and was handed a big pot of money and very few congressional restrictions,” Jennings said. “Congress went off and got into health reform, the budget, all these other issues that sucked up their attention. He was left alone with his money, and took advantage of the opportunity. Now he’s got another opportunity.”
Some say the administration is reaching too far.
FOCUS Workshop: Designing and Financing Your Facility
October 12th, 4 - 7pm
Thinking about renovating your current facility or moving into a permanent location? This two-part workshop will help you think through the architecture and design components of a charter school facility and then give you the perspective of the lenders themselves, who will host a panel discussion about lending to charter schools. Panelists include representatives from a regional non-profit lender, a local bank, and a national bank to give you a range of insights.
Cost: $50 for VSP schools, $100 for non-VSP schools.
Click here to register or go to www.focusdc.org/workshops.
FREE! FOCUS Professional Development Series: Reading Comprehension Strategies (online module)
Register by Sept 30th!
FOCUS is partnering with WestEd to provide public charter school science, math, history, and English teachers with reading comprehension professional development through an online module featuring interviews, classroom video, and multimedia presentations. This module, which is aligned with the common core state standards, is open to school teams (2 or more) with middle or high school students. Participants will be expected to complete online classes on their own schedule by logging on weekly from early October through early December.
Cost: FREE
Click here to register or go to www.focusdc.org/workshops.