SCHOOLS SEEK FUNDING FOR MISSION IMPOSSIBLE
by Marsha Richards
Three dozen school district superintendents signed an open letter to legislators this month in which they asked for more education dollars to accomplish a mission they claim “has changed from providing universal access [to a quality education] to insuring universal success for all students.” [emphasis added]

They need the same reality check many critics have wisely voiced in the face of President Bush’s federal education mandates: No amount of money or time will ever make it possible to achieve universal academic success. Period. There is no virtue in denying this reality. Utopian ideals may sound nice, but few things are more destructive than utopian policy. ... [Read full commentary]

Note: I received several notes in defense of the superintendents featured above, arguing they have no choice but to try to get enough money from taxpayers to pursue the mandates decreed by state and federal officials. I beg to differ. They do have another choice: If they can lift their voices to demand more money, they can lift their voices to demand real reform. The question is: Do they want to?

PARENTS GET INVOLVED IN FEDERAL WAY
Who better to seek meaningful education reform?
A group of parents and concerned citizens in the Federal Way School District has decided to walk the talk when it comes to meaningful education reform. Their mission is "to bring a quality education to every child in Federal Way Public schools with appropriate citizen action, including influencing public policy and volunteer service." Members of Citizens for Student Learning (CSL) "value academics and morality, and feel a duty to ensure a quality education for the children in our commmunity."

The group's website states: 1) "Of all the factors determining student success, parent involvement is the number one key element." 2) "We believe the primary purpose of our schools is to educate children." 3) "We believe that morality is choosing good over evil."

Membership in CSL is open to "all people, no matter what race, religion, or nation you come from, but who live and work in our community."

This kind of citizen involvement is inspiring. If you're part of a similar effort in your own district, please tell us about it! And please feel free to use and distribute any of the research and policy recommendations we publish.

ONLINE SCHOOL REPORT CARD
Find out how your school is doing
Our state Superintendent of Public Instruction (OSPI) has a very helpful online school report card for anyone interested in checking the performance and demographics of their local schools. (Or any school in the state.)

One interesting exercise is to find out how much of a school's academic "performance" is due to OSPI's decision to lower the WASL standards last year. In some cases, schools can claim "increases" of up to 15 percentage points in the number of students "proficient" with no actual change in performance. Here's how you can find out:

1. Go to the online School Report Card.
2. Choose your school district from the menu.
3. Choose your school from the list.
4. Click on the "WASL" tab at the top of the page.
5. Click the drop-down menu that says "Trend" at the top of the page, and select "Detail."
6. In the tables showing details for Grades 4 and 7, Subjects Reading and Math, compare "Percent Who Met Standard" (top of box) to "Percent Meeting (using 2003 standard)" (bottom of box).

The difference between the two figures (percent proficient based on old and new standards) is the "progress" that can be attributed to lowering the academic bar.

HOW 'BOUT THOSE WEA SALARIES?
How much do union officials pay themselves?
In the last issue of ER we talked about state teacher pay (average total compensation: $62,653), so it seemed fitting to talk about the pay of their self-appointed representatives in the Washington Education Association (keeping in mind that public school teachers must pay the salaries of union officials or find another career).

In 2002-03 (the most recent data we have), the average WEA employee took home $103,146 in salary and benefits. WEA president Charles Hasse was at the high end, of course, with total compensation of $187,289.

A 1995 memo circulated by WEA officials stated that "WEA employees currently have excellent salary, benefits and employment protection in their contract which if widely known by the membership would cause significant unrest within the Association." Back then, union employees took home an average compensation of $76,229.

No one is against fair compensation, of course, but what is fair? Is it fair when union officials use the force of government to provide themselves with jobs at teachers' expense? Is it fair when they artificially limit the salary potential of excellent teachers so they can artifically enhance their own?

From last week's issue: The WEA lobbied for the state's current rigid salary structure because, after all, it's much easier to "represent" teachers when they're coralled into one homogeneous unit than when they have free range to pursue individual potential.

FOOD FOR THOUGHT
A note from the Federal Way Education Association
The following quotes are from a six-paragraph newsletter article written by Shannon Rasmussen, president of the Federal Way Education Association (local WEA affiliate).

“Instead of ‘No Child Left Behind’, which focuses only on improvement on tests and heavy-handed sanctions, our school system should be more interested in seeing that every child have [sic] an opportunity to excel – at something valuable. Although reading, math, science and writing are extremely important, they are not a complete education.”

"It is our job to educate our public."

“Federal Way should create a school system that we are able to stand behind and defend to the parents of our children.”

“Our parents want their children to have the same kind of education that kids get in private schools.”

“The best part of investing in the school system kids truly deserve is that the very programs we are finding it necessary to eliminate while playing the game are the ones shown to actually improve the very test scores we know don’t accurately indicate our children’s potential.”

Best-guess translation: Our public, and the parents of our children, seem to think reading, writing and math are the main reasons our school system exists. Our parents seem to think their children should be able to demonstrate progress in those areas by scoring well on tests. They're wrong. Tests are misguided and overrated. Our public should get a clue and spend more money on non-academic programs because then our children will do better on the misguided and overrated tests!

(Don't feel bad, we don't get it either.)

EDUCATION LEGISLATION: STILL ALIVE...
Update: As of April 5, 2005
Alive: HJR 4205 - Remove the super-majority (60%) requirement to pass school levies.
Alive: EHB 1068 - End state's participation in norm-referenced student assessments.
Alive: SB 5441 - Require a finance study for K-12 and Higher Education.
Alive: HB 1484 - Allow counties to run permanent property tax levies to provide pay increases for school employees.
Alive: HB 1282 - Require schools that choose to teach sex education to use state-developed curriculum.

For more information about each of these bills, visit www.washingtonvotes.org.