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--- Friday --- March 22, 1996 --- Vol. 6 --- No. 29 ---
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THE NATIONAL UPDATE ON AMERICA'S EDUCATION REFORM EFFORTS
A service of the National Education Goals Panel
__________ __________
BE THERE | SPOTLIGHT |
Washington, D.C., area | |
residents wanting to catch a | THE FINANCIAL PAGE |
first-hand glimpse of the | |
comings and goings of next | Some school board members |
week's Education Summit are | and others appear to des- |
invited to attend a Viewing & | perately need a course in |
Discussion event at the U.S. | finance 101 to move their |
Chamber of Commerce. Attendees | districts into the black. |
will watch a C-span broadcast | |
of the event. | ITEM: The Wilmer- |
The session begins with the | Hutchins school district |
opening press conference, from | soon will be taken over by |
12:00 p.m. to 1:00 p.m., | the state of Texas. The |
followed by the opening plenary | primary reason for the |
session, from 1:00 p.m. to 2:30 | takeover is not academic |
p.m.. | failure, but deficient |
Wed.'s events begin with the | financial planning. (#7) |
plenary session on technology, | |
from 8:15 a.m. to 9:00 a.m. | ITEM: A review of the |
President Clinton's remarks are | Corporation for National |
scheduled from 12:00 p.m. to | Service's bookkeeping found |
1:00 p.m. The rest of the | records in such disarray |
summit will be shown from 1:15 | that the agency's inspector |
p.m. to 5:00 p.m. | general found it |
Summit policy papers will be | "inauditable." (#6) |
available. Refreshments | |
provided. | ITEM: Perhaps the most |
Please fax back an RSVP. | controversial financial |
Include name, organization, | calamity is Hartford versus |
address, phone, fax, and number | EAI. The firm is on the |
of people planning to attend to | verge of suing the city |
the attention of Michell | over breach-of-contract and |
Griffen at 202/463-4730. | failure to pay fees. (#3) |
|_____________________________|
============== QUOTE OF THE DAY ==============
"It's difficult to say you want a continuing relationship and say
in the same breath you are planning a $100M lawsuit." -- Hartford
School Board member Donald Romanik, on EAI's threat of a lawsuit.
(#3)
_______________________________________________________________
| A service of the National Education Goals Panel |
| Published by the Education Policy Network |
| 1255 22nd Street NW; Wash, D.C.; 20037; 202/632-0952 |
| The DRC hereby authorizes further reproduction and |
| distribution with proper acknowledgement. |
| Publisher: Barbara A. Pape |
Staff Writer: Elizabeth Gage |
|_______________________________________________________________|
============== TABLE OF CONTENTS ==============
GOAL THREE: STUDENT ACHIEVEMENT AND CITIZENSHIP
NO PASS, NO PLAY: Not ready, in Fulton County, Ga. (#1)
PARTNERS IN EDUCATION
EDUCATION AND BUSINESS: Strengthening the bond. (#2)
THE PRIVATE EYE
SEE YOU IN COURT: EAI threatens lawsuit. (#3)
EDUCATION SUMMIT
EDUCATION SUMMIT II: Spotlight on standards and tech. (#4)
SUMMIT II: Why it will fail. (#5)
SERVING THE COMMUNITY
"UNAUDITABLE:" The Corporation for National Service. (#6)
TAKING OVER
DOOMED FOR A TAKEOVER: Wilmer-Hutchins under state control.(#7)
===== GOAL THREE: STUDENT ACHIEVEMENT AND CITIZENSHIP =====
*1 NO PASS, NO PLAY: NOT READY, IN FULTON COUNTY, GA.
Fulton County, Ga., school board members retreated from a
plan to "significantly strengthen" the state's no pass-no play
policy for athletes (Evans, THE ATLANTA JOURNAL/CONSTITUTION,
3/15). Instead, the board agreed to a policy that only requires
students in competitive extracurricular activities to earn one
more credit each year than the state already requires, writes the
paper.
Current policy demands that student athletes and others
participating in competitive extracurricular activities pass five
out of six classes, which the paper reports could be five D's and
an F. Students also must earn enough credits to be on track for
graduation, writes the paper.
Several board members earlier this year let it be known that
they preferred raising the number of credits students must earn
each year and raising the minimum grade-point average. However,
coaches and principals protested the higher standard because it
could disqualify hundreds of students from their chosen
activities.
A recent survey of Fulton students found that those engaged
in extracurricular activities were less likely to have academic
problems than their non-active counterparts, notes the paper.
===== PARTNERS IN EDUCATION =====
*2 EDUCATION AND BUSINESS: STRENGTHENING THE BOND
A group of national business organizations are sponsoring a
joint effort with the mission of strengthening America's schools.
The Business Coalition for Education Reform includes the National
Alliance of Business, The Business Roundtable, the U.S. Chamber
of Commerce, the Black Business Council, the U.S. Hispanic
Chamber of Commerce, The Conference Board and other
organizations.
According to BCER materials, "by supporting and expanding
business involvement in education at the national, state, and
local levels the BCER works to increase academic achievement for
all students."
Three activities are essential to the BCER mission:
"raising academic standards for all students; ensuring standards
reflect the academic and workplace skills needed for sustaining a
growing economy;" and "helping the public understand the critical
need for best-in-the-world academic standards and necessary
changes needed for school systems to deliver them," writes the
BCER. In order to spread the news of successful education
efforts, BCER has created a network of state and local
organizations to "facilitate the sharing of resources and to
coordinate efforts at the national level among BCER member
organizations."
Listed among BCER resources are: a Business Leadership Kit
on Standards, which includes pamphlets, videos, resource guides
and glossaries to "educate the business community on the
importance of ALL students achieving high academic standards;" a
standards video; a three-part publication series on standards
that includes "The Challenge of Change," which outlines
principles of education standards, "Standards Mean Business,"
which links high standards with the needs of business, and
"Closing the Gap," which discusses connections between academic
and skill standards; and other material.
The BCER also sponsors regional forums that "link business
coalitions and leaders involved in education with their
counterparts in other states." BCER also boasts a Home Page on
the Internet (http//:www.bcer). The Goal Line subscription
service, sponsored by the Coalition for Goals 2000, also offers
information on BCER activities.
For more information, contact Aimee Guidera at the National
Alliance of Business; 1201 New York Avenue NW; Suite 700;
Washington, D.C. 20005; 800/787-2848.
===== THE PRIVATE EYE =====
*3 SEE YOU IN COURT: EAI THREATENS LAWSUIT
John Golle, president of Education Alternative Inc., is
threatening the city of Hartford with a $100M lawsuit unless it
is granted a "second chance" to work with the city's public
schools (Green and Frahm, Hartford COURANT, 3/15). "We have a
very strong claim against the board, the city and the individuals
[on the board] who acted in bad faith," said Golle. EAI is
willing to share legal opinions from four law firms that maintain
EAI has a "powerful" breach-of-contract case against the city,
reports the paper.
After months of disputing over payment of bills, the
Hartford Board of Education voted to oust EAI from the city
schools. Hartford Mayor Michael Peters and others tried to
persuade board members to settle with EAI, but to no avail.
Golle claims the Hartford dismissal has "devastated" his firm,
writes the paper. "The loss of this business in Hartford has
impacted dramatically our business elsewhere," said Golle. "Just
take a look at our stock price before and after." According to
the paper, EAI's stock closed at $6.25 a share on 22 Jan. The
next day, after Hartford's announcement that it wanted to fire
EAI, stock fell to $4 a share, and has not recovered.
Board member Donald Romanik said the threat of a lawsuit and
the city's dismal financial situation are obstacles for further
discussions with EAI. "It's difficult to say you want a
continuing relationship and say in the same breath you are
planning a $100M lawsuit," he said.
==== EDUCATION SUMMIT ====
*4 EDUCATION SUMMIT II: SPOTLIGHT ON STANDARDS AND TECHNOLOGY
Education Summit II, convened by Wis Gov Tommy Thompson (R)
and IBM Chairman Louis Gerstner, will focus on standards and
technology. The WASH TIMES writes that the summit, scheduled for
26-27 March in Palisades, N.Y., is intended to "jump-start the
faltering national standards movement and focus on the role of
technology in improving the work force." (Innerst, 3/21).
The nation's governors and business leaders will attend the
summit, which "aims to finish the business begun at the 1989
Education summit in Charlottesville, Va., that produced the
National Education Goals, reports the TIMES. Several groups have
produced documents on the urgent need for standards and
technology learning, which include sundry recommendations.
For example, Albert Shanker, president of the American
Federation of Teachers, said "most states are working on raising
their academic standards. But so far what we see are mostly good
intentions, not rigorous standards like the ones students
overseas must meet." The AFT and the National Center for
Improving Science Education this week released a study showing
what Americans expect of students compared to expectations of
people from other countries, reports the paper. Among the
findings: 25% to 36% of students in other nations meet the high
standards "reflected in their tests," while only 8% of U.S. 18-
year-olds take the Advanced Placement exams and only 5% pass;
school curricula in other countries typically are developed or
coordinated nationally, which means students are held to common
standards; and serious consequences are attached to the exams of
other nations, affecting a student's future college or work
opportunities, according to the paper.
"High stakes have got to be part of the national
discussion," said Shanker. "People here are afraid to touch the
issue of college admissions. In other countries, kids work hard
so they can get into college. Here higher education is
considered an entitlement," he added. Shanker also pushed for a
national curriculum standard that he claims is appropriate for
the nation's highly mobile society.
The Council of Chief State School Officers also released a
statement of recommendations for action by the governors and
business leaders who participate in the summit. They include,
for standards: establish a nationwide process for reviewing
state standards to determine whether they are internationally
competitive and of challenging quality; support continuous
improvement of the quality of state standards; and support multi-
state projects to develop comparability among state standards and
assessments so that student achievement results and practices may
be compared among the states nationally and internationally.
For technology, the council recommends that: each state
should commit to provide universal access to technologies through
the schools with reduced rate service through the new, universal
service provisions for education in the Telecommunications Act of
1996; provide support for education professionals to learn to use
technology in their teaching; and expand private/public
partnerships with major technology and telecommunications
companies to develop learning technologies throughout the
schools, writes the release.
A full text of the recommendations are available on the
Council of Chief State School Officers Web Page:
http//:www.ccso.org. They also will offer a special link to the
summit.
The Education Commission of the States, which is chaired by
Gov Tommy Thompson, has produced a document, "Standards and
Education: A Road Map for State Policymakers," which is meant to
inform the discussion at the summit but also to be used more
broadly at the state level, according to an ECS spokeswoman. The
publication provides an overview of the standards movement, three
case studies (Del., Iowa and Colo.), and sections on aligning
state and district policy. A bibliography and list of resource
organization also is included.
Copies of "Standards and Education: A Road Map for State
Policymakers" is available for $10 plus postage and handling from
the Education Commission of the States Distribution Center; 707
17th Street; Suite 2700; Denver, Colo. 80202-3427; 303/299-3692.
Ask for No. SI-96-3
Parts of the summit will be broadcast by C-SPAN. Check local
C-SPAN listings.
*5 SUMMIT II: WHY IT WILL FAIL
Next week's Education Summit of governors and business
leaders is doomed to fail primarily because of its bipartisanship
goal, which leaves only secondary issues to be deliberated by
attendees, pens Myron Lieberman, senior research scholar, Social
Philosophy & Policy Center at Bowling Green State U (THE WEEKLY
STANDARD, 3/25). Lieberman points to the domination of the
National Education Association and the American Federation of
Teachers in education politics and policy as the primary reason
for the summit's "pseudo" school reform agenda.
For example, technology is one of the key issues to be
discussed at the summit. However, "the solution to the
ineffective use of technology is anything but bipartisan," writes
Liberman. He adds: "Schools don't use technology because
teachers have no incentives to use it and teachers' unions have
abundant incentives not to use it, at least when it reduces labor
costs." According to Lieberman, "technology is acceptable if it
makes the teacher's job easier, but not otherwise."
Lieberman also charges that the appearance of reform is more
important to political and education leaders involved in
education summits than the substance of reform. Lieberman claims
that "their reelection or reappointment depends on the public
perception that they are 'doing something' to remedy our
education deficits. This perception is their primary need;
actual improvement, or laying a genuine foundation for it, is
desirable but not essential." For this reason, education reform
is a "growth industry," writes Lieberman.
Another problem is the "anti-entrepreneurial, anti-market
culture of public education," according to Lieberman. The author
points out that both unions spend millions every year to
"demonize 'privatization'." And he chastises Microsoft's Bill
Gates for awarding $3M to the NEA, "perhaps the most anti-
entrepreneurial organization in the United States."
Lieberman: "Regrettably, the business leadership of the
summit offers little hope for a more realistic approach to real
problems." For example, Lieberman is curious whether the
summit's business contingent will agree with the "fashionable
cliche that effective school reform must be 'bottom up,' not 'top
down.'" He notes that business leaders would not "accept this
nonsense in their own companies."
Lieberman concludes by prodding summit participants to ask
IBM's Gerstner, who called for the summit, "what there is to show
for the millions of dollars RJR and its foundation have spent on
education reform." Gerstner formerly was CEO of RJR Nabisco.
Lieberman: "The answer may explain why Gerstner is an
appropriate choice to lead the parade of futilitarians at
Palisades."
==== SERVING THE COMMUNITY ====
*6 "UNAUDITABLE:" THE CORPORATION FOR NATIONAL SERVICE
The corporation for National Service's accounting system was
declared "unauditable" by the agency's inspector general (Larson,
WASH TIMES, 3/20). The corporation houses President Clinton's
"highest-profile" program, AmeriCorps, writes the paper.
"Instead of committing itself to developing a high-quality
accounting system to ensure the integrity of taxpayer funds, [the
corporation's] first priority was spending every dollar as
quickly and as indiscriminately as possible," charged U.S. Rep
Peter Hoekstra (R-Mich.). Hoekstra chairs the House Economic and
Educational Opportunities Oversight and Investigations
Subcommittee, which is reviewing the accounting problems of the
corporation.
An official from one of two outside accounting firms that
examined the corporation's books claimed that mangers "failed to
use basic accounting techniques, such as reconciling accounts,
and officials 'forgot' to record $262 million in federal funds in
their ledgers," writes the paper. Other findings by the auditor:
the corporation kept inaccurate or incomplete financial records;
allowed free access to financial records by many people,
providing opportunities to change data; failed to segregate
financial duties -- one person could authorize purchases, secure
cash to pay for them and record the transaction; and failed to
maintain a central ledger to track all financial transactions.
The firms recommended 102 items to be corrected prior to an
audit.
The corporation's Chief Executive Officer, former U.S.
Senator Harris Wofford, said he already has implemented 20 of the
firm's recommendations, and intends to have more than half in
place by July. "I am second to none in my commitment to making
the corporation ... cost-effective and a sound steward of public
funds," he testified before the subcommittee.
The TIMES reports that the corporation's "bookkeeping woes
provide more ammunition for its critics on capitol Hill." The
House Republican Conference recently produced a statement that
called AmeriCorps the "President's AmeriCost Program." Wofford
countered that the GOP statement was "full of factual errors and
misleading statements." However, he conceded that "to succeed in
this endeavor the corporation must solve its problems of
financial systems and management controls."
Wofford added that the corporation's attempt to consolidate
antiquated systems while it was embarking on establishing a new
organization, AmeriCorps, "severely strained the corporation's
limited financial personnel and systems." The paper also notes
that the corporation "inherited a hodgepodge of accounting
systems from nine service programs, some established as long as
30 years ago," when it was created in 1993.
==== TAKING OVER ====
*7 DOOMED FOR A TAKEOVER: WILMER-HUTCHINS UNDER STATE CONTROL
Texas' Wilmer-Hutchins school district will be under state
control as soon as the state obtains clearance from the U.S.
Justice Department, announced Texas Education Commissioner Mike
Moses (Barrionuevo, THE DALLAS MORNING NEWS, 3/19). The district
is the first during Moses' tenure to have its accreditation
status lowered because of school board problems that were
discovered by a Texas Education Agency investigation, notes the
paper.
In a letter declaring the takeover, Moses wrote that "the
inability of the district to determine its current financial
solvency is a serious matter." On 8 Feb., the TEA lowered the
district's accreditation status to "accredited warned," which
means the district has two years to improve or it would be
dissolved. Wilber-Hutchins trustees appealed the decision on 4
March, but the appeal was denied on 7 March. One trigger to the
takeover was the board's lax attitude toward putting together a
budget -- it had waited until this month to develop a budget,
which is "seven months after most districts," and it still
remained unclear whether the district would have to borrow funds
to make it to year's end, reports the paper.
The MORNING NEWS also notes that while two-thirds of the
district's budget comes from state funds, other districts raise
on average two-thirds of their spending locally. Besides
financial problems, the district also is plagued by low academic
performance. Two of the district's eight schools were rated as
low-performing last year.
Justice Department clearance is necessary because the state
management team "will usurp the authority" of the locally elected
school board, explained deputy education commissioner, Dr. Joe
Neely. He does not expect any difficulty in obtaining the
clearance.
Neely also pointed out that the state management team will
have the "ability to take over any part of the administration,
including the business office," which is besieged with
bookkeeping problems. According to the paper, TEA officials will
review the district's progress every 3 months to determine when
to remove the management team.
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