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--- Friday --- May 10, 1996 --- Vol. 6 --- No. 44 ---
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THE NATIONAL UPDATE ON AMERICA'S EDUCATION REFORM EFFORTS
A service of the National Education Goals Panel
__________ __________
LESS FILLING -- TASTES GREAT | SPOTLIGHT |
Mich. students this fall will | |
feast upon cafeteria foods that | TAX-FREE EDUCATION REFORM? |
are less filling -- lower in | |
fat and more nutritious | Better schools and lower |
(Anstett, Detroit FREE PRESS, | taxes are every politicians |
5/3). New federal requirements | dream. But local school |
-- School Meals Initiative for | officials and courts are |
Healthy Children -- that go | telling them to dream on. |
into effect 1 July call for | |
healthier school lunches. | N.H.: The state is |
To prepare for the new regs, | fighting a lawsuit brought |
some schools are sending their | by school districts that |
food-service coordinators to | seek school finance equity. |
seminars, like a three-day | Some state leaders claim |
workshop held last week at | the suit is a "ploy" to win |
Michigan State U and sponsored | approval for a broad-based |
by the state DoEd. Partici- | tax. They want to keep |
pants got to test and taste | N.H. -- which does not have |
recipes from a booklet produced | a sales or income tax -- as |
by the U.S. Department of | tax-free as possible. (#5) |
Agriculture and Penn State U. | |
According to the paper, there | PITTSBURGH: Some politi- |
are "key impediments" to | cians have balked at the |
improving school lunches: | school board's re-district- |
schools lose money on school | ing plan because it would |
lunch; there are large numbers | require higher taxes. (#2) |
of children that must be served | |
quickly; and the brief amount | NEW JERSEY: Gov Whitman |
of time children spend eating | wants the state's new |
lunch. | student standards to |
Disney's Lion King characters | supplant a court order's |
are marketing the program and | "dollar-driven definition |
Scholastic Inc. has developed | of parity." (#6) |
school nutrition materials. |_____________________________|
============== QUOTE OF THE DAY ==============
"The state cannot possibly be put in the position of ensuring
every teachers is a good teacher." -- Leslie Ludtke, N.H.'s
lawyer in a school equity lawsuit. (#5)
_______________________________________________________________
| 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 ==============
STATESIDE
LOTTERY SCHOLARSHIPS: A go, but no dough in Florida. (#1)
CITY HALL
SCHOOL REDISTRICTING: Battle over taxes in Pittsburgh. (#2)
STANDARD BEARERS
RAISING THE BAR IN FLORIDA: Standard-raising legislation. (#3)
CHARTING A NEW COURSE
READY, SET ... : But charters not ready to go in Fla. (#4)
FROM COURTHOUSE TO SCHOOLHOUSE
TAX FREE: But school funding unfair in N.H.. (#5)
HE SAID, SHE SAID
EQUITY & STANDARDS: Will bring reform to N.J. schools? (#6)
===== STATESIDE =====
*1 LOTTERY SCHOLARSHIPS: A GO, BUT NO DOUGH IN FLORIDA
Fla. lawmakers passed legislation creating a scholarship
program using lottery funds (Date, ORLANDO SENTINEL, 5/7). The
program is based on Ga.'s HOPE scholarship. Any high school
graduate who earned a 3.0 average in college preparatory work
would receive free tuition at a state community college or
university and $300 for books, under the plan. Students could
receive up to $2,000 a year.
The lottery scholarship program is scheduled to go into
effect for the 1997-1998 school year. However, it is up to next
year's Legislature to find the funds for the program. "It's a
good idea, but there's no money," said state universities
Chancellor Charlie Reed.
Lawmakers who endorse the bill promise to fully fund the
program next year. The SENTINEL reports that it would take
$16.5M to pay for an estimated 25,000 community college and state
university scholarships. The figure would increase after three
years to nearly $80M a year.
Currently, the lottery's $830M pays for operating expenses
at public schools, community colleges and state universities,
writes the paper. Lawmakers would have to find money in the
state budget to fund these expenses if part of the lottery
proceeds are earmarked for the scholarship program.
Rep Dean Saunders (D) fashioned his bill after Ga.'s lottery
program, which pays for prekindergarten classes, technology and
the scholarship program, reports the paper.
==== CITY HALL ====
*2 SCHOOL REDISTRICTING: BATTLE OVER TAXES IN PITTSBURGH
The updated Pittsburgh school redistricting plan recommended
by school board members met with disapproval from a group of City
Council members and state legislators from Pittsburgh (Lee, Belko
and Reeves, PITTSBURGH POST-GAZETTE, 5/1). The plan would cost
$10.7M over three years, which might require a tax increase.
"Instead of city parents getting schools in their
neighborhoods, the board wants to give city parents a tax
increase," complained Councilman Joseph Cusick. "What a way to
help keep taxpayers living in the city." He added:
"Unfortunately, the majority of board members are more concerned
with costly social experimentation and transportation rather than
education."
The board's plan calls for creating three new neighborhood
schools for the 1996-1997 school year. Additional neighborhood
schools would be phased in later. Several magnet programs would
be established in certain schools to "improve integration ratios
and to encourage parents to send their children to schools in
their neighborhood," writes the paper.
Cost is a factor because the district already faces a
possible deficit for 1997. The POST-GAZETTE reports that it
would take an additional 2 mils of taxation each year to cover
the costs of the board's program.
Cusick and state Sen Jack Wagner (D) plan to introduce a
referendum on neighborhood schools on the ballot to determine
public support for the idea, reports the paper.
==== STANDARD BEARERS ====
*3 RAISING THE BAR IN FLORIDA: STANDARD-RAISING LEGISLATION
Legislation to raise student standards for high school
graduation is expected to pass in Fla. (Griffin, ORLANDO
SENTINEL, 5/3). While several bills are being debated, the "most
notabl[e]" is a House bill (HB 1041) that would require C average
for graduation or for participation in extracurricular
activities. Currently, a 1.5 grade-point-average is required.
Ken Bovio, a lobbyist for Seminole County schools: "The
only real change here is that they're going to have to work
harder. You're going to see more folks doing their homework."
Under the proposed legislation, students also would be
required to pass Algebra I or an equivalent course, and the
number of "Level 1" classes would be limited. Students also
would find it more difficult to earn a D grade: a new grading
system changes the lowest D mark from a 65 to a 70. "These are
reasonable standards that will impact a generation of students,"
said Sen Don. Sullivan (R). "If we demand quality, we'll get
quality."
According to the paper, the proposed bill would phase in the
standards -- next year's ninth-graders would face the higher
standards when they are seniors.
===== CHARTING A NEW COURSE =====
*4 READY, SET ... : BUT CHARTERS NOT READY TO GO IN FLA
Charter school legislation passed the Fla. Legislature this
week; but few charter schools are expected to open their doors
soon, according to some observers (Badie, ORLANDO SENTINEL, 5/6).
"It will be a slow burner," said Orange County schools
Superintendent Donald Shaw, an advocate of charter schools.
"It's a mammoth undertaking to plan to open a school, determine
what it will offer and who to offer it to," he added. "We have
no concrete plans to form a charter school, but if qualified
groups are interested in the idea, we'd discuss it with them."
Fla.'s legislation would permit up to 239 charter schools to
form: seven each in district with more than 100,000 students;
five each in districts with 50,000 to 100,000 students; and three
each in districts with fewer than 50,000 students, reports the
paper. Charter requests would have to be approved by local
school boards; but applicants could appeal to the state Board of
Education.
The law also grants charter schools the same per-pupil
expenditure it gives to public schools. Charters would not
receive state funds for start-up costs. However, the federal
government operates a $20M fund for charter school seed money,
writes the paper.
===== FROM COURTHOUSE TO SCHOOLHOUSE =====
*5 TAX FREE: BUT SCHOOL FUNDING UNFAIR IN N.H.
Five N.H. school districts charge that the state's system of
funding education is unfair and inadequately serves children in
disadvantaged communities (Ford, BOSTON GLOBE, 5/7). Opening day
of this "landmark" case, which initially was filed in 1991, was
Monday, writes the paper.
According to the GLOBE, property taxes pay for 90% of N.H.'s
education bill, "meaning that poor districts have far less money
to spend per pupil than wealthier ones." However, critics claim
the suit is a "ploy" to enact a broad-based tax, which would end
N.H.'s reign as the only state without a sales or income tax,
notes the paper.
Merrimack County Superior Court Judge George Manias
originally ruled against the plaintiffs in 1992. The GLOBE
reports that Manias claimed there was no constitutional mandate
for "equity, uniformity or even adequacy of education." However,
the state Supreme Court unanimously overruled Manias' decision in
1993. Chief Justice David Brock wrote that the state
constitution unequivocally states that the state must provide an
adequate education. Brock: "Given the complexities of our
society today, the state's constitutional duty extends beyond
mere reading, writing and arithmetic. It also includes broad
educational opportunities needed to prepare citizens as ...
competitors in today's marketplace of ideas."
Leslie Ludtke, the state's lawyer in the suit, told the
GLOBE that the plaintiffs must first demonstrate the inadequacies
in disadvantaged districts and then show that the state is to
blame for the problems. "Maybe the teacher is inadequate," she
said. "The state cannot possibly be put in the position of
ensuring every teachers is a good teacher."
==== HE SAID, SHE SAID ====
*6 EQUITY & STANDARDS: WILL THEY BRING REFORM TO N.J. SCHOOLS?
Education reform is like a box of chocolates, writes a
PHILADELPHIA INQUIRER editorial (5/5). "You'll pay a price if
you swallow the pieces without checking first to see what's
inside," writes the paper. The INQUIRER refers to the state's
education commissioner, Leo Klagholz's, new core-curriculum
standards.
On the surface, the drive for higher education goals for
students appears laudable. But along with Klagholz's "earnest
dreams" is the Supreme Court's ruling on school finance and Gov
Christine Whitman's (R) "political priorities," according to the
paper. Whitman's primary goal is cutting state taxes and
spending. However, the court ordered N.J. to ensure that as much
is spent to educate a child from a disadvantaged school district
as is spent per child, on average, in the state's 120 wealthiest
districts, writes the paper.
Whitman has followed through on one part of the court's
decision: the court deemed it unconstitutional to send state aid
to wealthier school districts while poor schools were
underfunded. "So she reduced such aid each year," writes the
paper. However, Whitman so far has dodged the court's main order
-- "that state money be the guarantee of parity in spending
between poor and affluent districts," writes the paper. Instead,
Whitman's policy has forced "well-off districts to spend less,
not enable poor districts to spend more," according to the
INQUIRER. From the paper: "It's against this backdrop that Mr.
Klagholz rolls out his new "Core Curriculum Content standards."
And Whitman has "been frank" that she would like the standards to
"supplant the court's dollar-driven definition of parity," writes
the paper.
The switch might be possible "in a perfect world," but
unlikely in the real one, editorializes the paper. Whitman has
call for letting the core standards "take care of the needs of
poor districts, but let[ting] taxpayers elsewhere spend what they
want on 'frills.'" The paper cautions that this strategy would
widen the gap between rich and poor schools, which will be down
to 12% next year "as a result of Supreme Court pressure."
The INQUIRER concludes: "Money alone is no guarantee of
better education. But more money, combined with the kind of
ambitious curriculum standards Mr. Klagholz seeks, would give
underprivileged kids a guarantee of educational opportunity that
no political wind could destroy."
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