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--- Wednesday --- June 26, 1996 --- Vol. 6 --- No. 58 ---
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THE NATIONAL UPDATE ON AMERICA'S EDUCATION REFORM EFFORTS
A service of the National Education Goals Panel
__________ __________
"SECOND TO NONE" | SPOTLIGHT |
California High School | |
Networks Project member schools | THE ALL-TOO-COMFY COUCH |
are gathering in Los Angeles to | |
share success stories about | American children are |
their efforts to reinvigorate | becoming couch potatoes; |
the state's public high schools | snuggled up on their sofas, |
(California DoEd press release, | eyes glued to show after |
6/17). | television show, according |
The project is an outgrowth | to many reports. |
of a 1992 report, "Second to | |
None," which culminated in six | A recent study found that |
themes central to a strong high | more black fourth-graders |
school. The themes include: | watched six hours or more |
creating circular paths to | television daily than their |
success; developing powerful | white counterparts. |
teaching and learning; | Researchers differ over |
establishing a comprehensive | whether the finding is |
accountability and assessment | based on economic or |
system; providing comprehensive | cultural differences.(#10) |
support for all students; | |
restructuring schools; and | Another T.V. rift is over |
creating new professional | the quality of children's |
roles. | television. President Bill |
The 153 high schools that | Clinton recently joined the |
comprise the project are | fray at the Federal |
grouped into 16 networks | Communications Commission, |
"committed to setting high | which has been unable to |
standards." According to the | agree on children's |
DoEd, the project schools learn | programming regulations. |
through singular and collective | Clinton has urged |
efforts; and their work serves | broadcasters to add three |
as catalysts for other | hours of children's educa- |
statewide reform efforts. | tional programming a week. |
|_____________________________|
============== QUOTE OF THE DAY ==============
"If they were having trouble with bowel and bladder problems, it
would be an ideal setting." Robert Kennedy, director of
educational improvement for the N.H. DoEd, attempting to defend
one school district's practice of operating a special education
class in the bathroom. (#8) ________________________________
| 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 |
|
|_______________________________________________________________|
============== TABLE OF CONTENTS ==============
MONEY MATTERS
DETROIT'S DRACONIAN CUTS: Parents protest new budget. (#1)
TEXAS' JACKPOT: Lottery surplus and public schools. (#2)
APPLESEED SEEKS AUDIT: Group organizes petition drive. (#3)
BUILD IT, AND THEY WILL DESEGREGATE: Abuse of law in Mass.(#4)
LOOKING FOR HIGH DONORS: Update on Annenberg grant. (#5)
THE PRIVATE EYE
EAI: Back in business. (#6)
CHARTING A NEW COURSE
MISSION IMPOSSIBLE: Dade County charter schools. (#7)
FROM COURTHOUSE TO SCHOOLHOUSE
LIVE FREE OR DIE: N.H. defends bathroom classroom. (#8)
TAKING OVER
WILMER-HUTCHINS TAKEOVER: An update. (#9)
CHILDREN AND TELEVISION
WATCHING TELEVISION: The new racial divide. (#10)
BREAKING T.V. HABIT: Words of wisdom from one principal. (#11)
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===== MONEY MATTERS =====
*1 DETROIT'S DRACONIAN CUTS: PARENTS PROTEST NEW BUDGET
Soaring health-care and labor costs have tipped the Detroit
school system closer to financial disaster (Robles, Detroit FREE
PRESS, 6/14 and 6/19). Parents are outraged that the district
has proposed eliminating buses for 8,000 children, increasing
class size for special-education students, and halting orders for
the purchase of new textbooks.
"A lot of kids won't be coming to school," complained
Dorothy Powell, chair of the Local School Community Organization
at Berry Elementary School. "It's too expensive for parents to
send kids to school in cabs. They should cut from the top and
not bother the kids," she added.
However, one unnamed district administrator questioned why
the district is not willing to privatize transportation.
"They're trying to save $8.4M by cutting services," said the
paper's source. "But they can save $20M without eliminating any
bus services."
According to the paper, the district must cut $79M from its
proposed $1.4B budget. Other cuts and savings include: hiring
fewer consultants -- $8M; adult education -- $20M; elimination of
vacant staff and teaching positions -- $9M.
*2 TEXAS' JACKPOT: LOTTERY SURPLUS AND PUBLIC SCHOOLS
A state lottery surplus of more than $500M could be targeted
to public schools and to reduce property taxes on homeowners,
according to a plan recently revealed by Lt. Gov. Bob Bullock (D)
(Stutz, THE DALLAS MORNING NEWS, 6/19). "We can relieve pressure
on locals school taxes by turning the success of the state
lottery into a jackpot for Texas taxpayers," explained Bullock.
He added that the extra money could be used to increase teacher
salaries, purchase new equipment or meet construction needs.
Bullock also noted that the unexpected revenue also could be
used to "ease the impact of the state's share-the-wealth school
finance system on high-property-wealth districts," reports the
paper.
Gov George W. Bush (R) concurs with Bullock. "The lion's
share of new money coming into the state, no matter what the
source, should go to our schools because our children's education
is our number one priority," he said. Property tax relief is
high on Bush's 1997 legislative agenda, writes the paper.
According to the NEWS, the additional lottery revenues come
from two sources: better than expected growth in lottery
proceeds and administrative cost savings.
Bullock plans to ask a Senate committee to review his
proposal before the 1997 legislative session, according to the
paper.
*3 APPLESEED SEEKS AUDIT: GROUP ORGANIZES PETITION DRIVE
Project Appleseed, "the national campaign for public school
improvement," is seeking nearly 2,000 signatures of citizens in
University City, Mo., to demand a state audit of the district's
public schools (Project Appleseed press release). "This is an
effort to build confidence in the school system, not from the top
down, but from the bottom up," said Kevin Walker, district head
of Project Appleseed. He added that the purpose of the petition
drive was to get resident input.
The CITIZEN JOURNAL, serving Clayton, Olivette and
University City, reports that voters recently passed a tax-
rollback waiver of 42 cents per $100 assessed valuation (Carbery,
6/16). However, they also voted down a tax hike that has left
the district with "continued financial problems," writes the
paper. Significant budget cuts ensued that have crippled the
school system, according to Walker. "We decided to give the
school district a chance to go to the voters to get the money
they needed, and that failed," said Walker. "The voters are
sending a signal that we want more accountability."
Superintendent of University City Schools Lynn Beckwith
remarked that while she does not disapprove of an audit, she
questions its relevance. "My question is, other than it might
give residents more confidence, what is the reason for this? I
don't think the results from an audit will give residents any
more confidence or any less confidence." Walker explained his
position. "What I expect to do in University City -- and hope to
do around the country -- is that those districts that can't pass
a tax levy can start from scratch." A state audit includes both
a financial and performance assessment, while a typical school
district audit merely reviews financial statements, explains the
paper.
Project Appleseed announced the opening of its campaign's
site on the World Wide Web at http:://www.projectappleseed.org.
*4 BUILD IT, AND THEY WILL DESEGREGATE: ABUSE OF LAW IN MASS.
School districts throughout Mass. are using desegregation
funds to solve an overcrowding problem (Zernike, BOSTON GLOBE,
6/20). The racial imbalance law, on the books since 1974, pays
90% of new school construction costs in districts "where even one
school is close to half minority," writes the paper. However,
districts that do not qualify for desegregation aid receive only
65% of the cost. While districts seeking school construction
funds may face a long wait to receive their funds, desegregation
monies are immediately forthcoming from the state.
"What the racial imbalance law was supposed to do was focus
the attention of school systems on adequately serving minority
students," explained Charles Glenn, who directed the state Office
of Education Equity when the law was drafted. "Now, schools are
using it to meet their needs for new buildings. I'm not saying
they don't need new buildings, but they don't need them because
of any racial balance issues," he added
The state Board of Education last week challenged Framingham
schools for tapping desegregation funds purely as a way to get
construction monies, reports the paper. According to the GLOBE,
Revere and Salem school districts used desegregation funds to
build new buildings during the past five years.
Malden school Superintendent George Holland concedes that
his district sought desegregation funds as a quick fix for their
overcrowding problem. "It was overcrowding and aging buildings
more than desegregation," he said. "Any superintendent looks at
it and figures that's the way to go. You'd be derelict not to
take advantage of it," he noted.
Mass. Education Commissioner Robert Antonucci promised to
review the law to "see if it still makes sense."
*5 LOOKING FOR HIGH DONORS: UPDATE ON ANNENBERG GRANT
South Florida school leaders anticipate using their share of
a grant from billionaire Walter Annenberg to fund a five-year
project to create mini-systems of three to seven schools (Lim,
MIAMI HERALD, 6/20). However, their piece of the pie hinges on
the success of the private sector to produce matching funds.
The Annenberg Foundation calls for a two-to-one match to its
$50M grant to South Florida, "which means $50M would have to come
from government contributions and another $50M from private
sources," explains the paper. The government match already has
been secured; but the business community has raised only $13M,
according to the paper.
Robin Reiter, senior vice president at BankAtlantic, is not
daunted by his task of finding private sources to match the
Annenberg grant. "We haven't really done a campaign to appeal
for private money," he said. So far, private donations have been
pledged by firms including American Bankers, The Dreyfoss Group
and the Dade County Youth Fair.
Schools seeking Annenberg funds would apply to a tri-county
foundation and would be allocated grants based on student
enrollment, writes the paper.
Walter Annenberg is a retired publisher and former U.S.
ambassador to Great Britain. In 1993, he announced a $500M grant
to improve American public education. (See DRC )
===== THE PRIVATE EYE =====
*6 EAI: BACK IN BUSINESS
One Washington, D.C., elementary school is on the verge of
hiring Educational Alternatives Inc. to manage the school this
fall. Last year, the Board of Education agreed to allow
individual city schools to seek contracts with private firms.
(See DRC ). The school superintendent must approve of the
contract, but the board is not required to take a vote, explains
the WASH TIMES (Ferrechio, 6/25).
According to the TIMES and the WASH POST, school
Superintendent Franklin Smith would sign-off on the plan (Brown,
WASH POST, 6/26). "If some of these schools don't reach out and
get some support, I'm going to take over the schools and get that
support," said Smith.
Birney Elementary School Principal Yvonne Morse has asked
the Minneapolis-based firm for help in several areas, including
staff development, building repairs and computers. However, the
proposal does not include EAI's curriculum, Tesseract, which
"calls for a teacher and an aide in every classroom and develops
a personal education plan fo reach child," reports the POST.
Mae Gaskins, a senior vice president for EAI, said the plan
does not yet come with a price tag, but it would be a three-year
contract. Smith, when broached with EAI's problems in Hartford
and Baltimore, responded that D.C. should not encounter the same
difficulties because any privatization will occur school-by-
school, not systemwide. "This is not a wholesale takeover of any
number of schools," said Smith.
Drucille Stafford, EAI's East Coast director of partnership
development, said the company has learned many lessons from
Hartford and Baltimore. "The better approach is where the school
makes the decision that EAI is what they want, rather than
getting it from the top down," she explained. "When people buy
into the change, they see value in it."
===== CHARTING A NEW COURSE =====
*7 MISSION IMPOSSIBLE: DADE COUNTY CHARTER SCHOOLS
Few Dade County educators anticipate any charter school
openings by this fall (Walters, Miami HERALD, 6/18). "It's going
to be almost impossible," said Russell Wheatley, associate
superintendent for alternative education. "I think legislators
had good intentions but I just don't think they were thinking
about the tight time lines."
According to the paper, charter schools must open at the
same time regular public schools begin, which is 26 August. A
key-date list published by the paper reveals that on 19 June the
Dade County School Board for the first time voted on regulations
that will govern charter schools. Charter school applications
must be submitted by 10 July, and 24 July is the deadline for
school administrators to present completed applications to the
school board.
Other school districts and states experimenting with charter
schools have found start-up costs, finding a location and other
hurdles formidable obstacles. Coupled with the time constraints
imposed by Fla. legislators, it is nearly impossible for many
charter school supporters to get their schools off the ground.
"We don't think it's feasible at this point," said T. Willard
Fair, president of the Urban League of Greater Miami, who had
planned to open a charter in Liberty City. "Rather than put our
foot out there, we're just going to make sure we're in line for
next year," he added.
Fair planned to open his school in conjunction with the
Foundation for Florida's Future, a conservative think tank
founded by former gubernatorial candidate Jeb Bush. The school
would have stressed the basics and "strict discipline," reports
the paper. Typical of other charter school struggles, Fair is
having difficulty finding an appropriate location for the school.
===== FROM COURTHOUSE TO SCHOOLHOUSE =====
*8 LIVE FREE OR DIE: N.H. DEFENDS BATHROOM CLASSROOM
Robert Kennedy, director of educational improvement for the
N.H. DoEd, was forced to answer questions regarding the
appropriateness of using a bathroom as a classroom for special
education (Hall, N.H. MONITOR, 6/18). "If they were having
trouble with bowel and bladder problems, it would be an ideal
setting," said Kennedy.
Kennedy's testimony was delivered during a trial in which
five school districts sued the state over school financing.
Their lawyers resurrected the bathroom classroom scenario as
evidence that certain N.H. school districts do not receive enough
funds to provide an adequate education for students, reports the
paper.
Kennedy explained that the state provides about $16M to
districts for special education. He also pointed out a 1994
federal report that said the state should "monitor its cases more
efficiently and stop distributing aid to districts that didn't
meet all the requirements," writes the paper.
Another witness, revenue analyst Philip Blatsos, testified
that the five districts "fall near the state average of median
income spent on school property taxes," reports the paper.
However, the district's lawyer, Andru Volinsky, argued that
Blatsos did not consider the equalized school tax rates of each
town. Blatsos countered that the tax rate is not a measure of
tax burden. Burden is better measured by the percent of income a
person pays to taxes, said Blatsos.
In another matter, nearly 50 N.H. schools stand to lose
millions of state dollars because they have not met state
education standards (Moore, AP/MONITOR, 6/18). The state DoEd,
"after nearly a decade of revisions and extensions," is on the
verge of enforcing the standards and denying funds to the
districts, writes the paper. "I think we are at a point where
the importance of the minimum standards is certainly going to be
made clear," said Education Commissioner Elizabeth Twomey. "If
there are going to be standards, there needs to be a stick
attached to them or there is no point."
==== TAKING OVER ====
*9 WILMER-HUTCHINS TAKEOVER: AN UPDATE
Two state monitors have agreed to severe personnel cuts in
the Wilmer-Hutchins school district (Barrionuevo, THE DALLAS
MORNING NEWS, 6/18). Cyrus Holley and Dr. Lois Harrison-Jones,
both appointed by the Texas Education Agency to oversee the
schools, announced that 50 employees of the district will be laid
off as part of a plan to eliminate a $2M budget shortfall.
"This is really a gut-wrenching process for these people,"
acknowledged Holley. "But we have to balance the budget."
Harrison agreed. "What is coming is really serious," she said.
"We are no longer into the fat. We are into the bone now."
According to the paper, district goals are to cut personnel
costs by 25% and nonpersonnel costs by 35%. The staff cuts are
made on the basis of saving money, not on performance, write the
paper. The school board will consider recommendations at its 8
July meeting.
Three factors contributed to the district's budget crisis,
according to the paper: staff spending "beyond the district's
means;" students not showing up for class; and an overestimate by
the district of student enrollment. However, an outside audit
also suggested that employee abuse and "outright theft" also led
to the district's demise.
==== CHILDREN AND TELEVISION ====
*10 WATCHING TELEVISION: THE NEW RACIAL DIVIDE
One out of two black fourth-graders watch six hours or more
of television daily, which is more than three times the rate
reported by their white classmates (Jeter, WASH POST, 6/23). The
1994 study was conducted by the National Center for Education
Statistics of the U.S. DoEd. Twenty-seven percent of Hispanic
fourth-graders said they watched six or more hours of television.
Some studies have linked high levels of television viewing
with low academic achievement, reports the paper. For example,
the average score on a math proficiency exam attained by the 22%
of all fourth-graders who said they watched at least six hours of
television daily was 203 out of 300. Students who reported
watching only one hour of television daily scored 220.
A debate has ensued over whether the television-viewing gap
between black and white children is due to poverty or cultural
differences. "It's not really race that's behind this but
class," said Steve Gorman, a researcher for the National Center
for Education Statistics. "Too often race is a surrogate for
poverty." Gorman explained that more black mothers are managing
a single-parent home. Their children watch television while they
are at work, while wealthier white parents are better able to
provide after-school activities to occupy their child's time.
Many black mothers also are afraid to let their children
play outside because of neighborhood violence. Sherri Parks, a U
of Maryland professor: "If I'm a poor mother, then I'd rather my
child be alive. Television is a way of keeping your child
physically safe."
However, Parks adds that the distinction is more cultural
than based on poverty. According to Parks, African-Americans are
"more drawn than whites to the spoken word, and television
viewing habits are largely a manifestation of a long-standing
oral tradition that has endured the middle passage, slavery and
the invention of television," writes the paper. She concedes
that research in this area is limited, but some studies have
found that black children retain more information when it is
spoken than white children. "Part of why black children watch so
much television is that the form fits their aesthetic equation,"
she explains. The POST notes that Parks is black.
Earlier this month, President Bill Clinton urged television
broadcasters to add three hours of educational programming a week
to their children's programming (Harris, WASH POST, 6/12).
Clinton also announced that he will host a meeting next month at
the White House to discuss "how to improve the content and expand
the amount of educational programming for children," writes the
paper.
*11 BREAKING THE T.V. HABIT: WORDS OF WISDOM FROM ONE PRINCIPAL
Alison Lankenau, elementary school director at the Berkeley
Carroll School in Brooklyn, N.Y., offers parents advice on how to
unplug the television. Berkeley Carroll School three years ago
assigned students the task of turning off their television as a
class project.
Lankenau: "That experimental program found that temporarily
turning it off has long-lasting effects on both children's and
parent's behavior." Parents reported to Lankenau that the
school's program also resulted in increased reading, family game
playing and conversation. "Even fourth-graders were surprised by
the improved quality of their lives after the TV was switched
off," she writes.
Lankenau recommends several tips for parents: set limits;
organize fun family projects during the time your child normally
watches television; join your child as he or she watches
television and discuss the story; watch educational channels;
tape T.V. programs your child wants to view in order to watch
them together; discuss with your child the importance of watching
T.V. critically; use reward to encourage your child to give up
T.V.
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