Your School Your Choice

States Open to Education Reform See Stimulus Money

2009-07-20T09:49:00.000-07:00

Attention states: Allow for education reforms, and you will see stimulus dollars. Expanding charter school options and allowing for merit pay are two ways the stimulus dollars will make way into states. Many states have changed laws in order to make this an option. By allowing merit pay, lifting caps on charter schools, or overhaul troubled schools; certain states will reap the benefits. Now...when will Missouri do this???

From the Wall Street Journal:
Mr. Duncan has warned states in recent months that they are unlikely to qualify for the grants if they don't move toward changes such as merit pay for teachers and lifting caps on charter schools -- measures that unions have either opposed or tried to limit....

"We have been talking about these gaps for years while children wait," Gov. Patrick said Thursday....

Teachers are starting to adjust to the new landscape. They are "both feeling the pressure and willing to think about doing new things," said Jane Hannaway, director of education policy at the Urban Institute, a left-leaning research group. "It's a new world."

Race to the Top

2009-07-08T10:55:00.000-07:00

As Arne Duncan came out saying states need to be more charter friendly to get access to some stimulus money, states have been getting their act together. Perhaps Missouri will see the light too!

– Illinois. On Tuesday, April 14th, Duncan kicked off his nationwide “listening tour” in Chicago, saying “business as usual, to be clear, would basically eliminate Illinois from [Race the Top] competition” and citing funding inequity, a limit on the number of charter schools, and marginal efforts to police teacher quality as the biggest areas in need of change. In the wee of hours of June 1st, the Illinois state legislature answered Duncan’s call and ended its session by approving 45 new charter schools for Chicago, 5 of which would reserved for high school dropouts, and an additional 15 charter schools for the rest of the state. As a result, about 13,000 students now on charter school waiting lists or in otherwise low-performing schools will be enrolled in high-quality charters subject to stricter accountability requirements than other Illinois schools.

– Colorado. Gov. Bill Ritter took the unusual step of appointing Lt. Gov. Barbara O’Brien (a member of the DFER-Colorado advisory board) to serve as “Race To The Top Czar,” to make sure the state was positioned with enough progressive education policies to win the race outright.

– Tennessee. In late May, Duncan said Tennessee would “not be helping its chances” for Race to the Top funds if it continued arbitrary caps limiting the growth of charter schools. This set off a chain of events in which the state legislature held a special session and Democrats were freed to reverse their positions against charter school expansion from their leadership (and given a pass from the Tennessee Education Association), culminating in approval of charter school expansions in six school systems on a lopsided vote of 79-15.

– Rhode Island. On Monday, June 22 at a conference attended by thousands of charter school parents, teachers, and Administrators, Duncan said, in response to a question from the audience, that Rhode Island risked eligibility for Race to the Top funding if it continued to roadblock efforts to establish and equitably fund charter schools. On Friday June 26, just after 2 a.m. the Rhode Island legislature approved a final budget deal that fully restored funding for a system of “mayoral academies” that will serve students attending some of the lowest-performing schools in Providence. The first school, set to open this Fall, will be run by Democracy Prep, a Harlem charter operator. The lottery for slots will be held the first week of July.

– Connecticut. Duncan’s comments regarding Rhode Island rippled out to Connecticut, when on June 26, virtually simultaneous with Rhode Island’s action, Connecticut reversed its decision to cut charter school budgets, and moved toward an agreement that would fully restore charter school funding.

The victory was hailed not only by charter school advocates, but also by those who are working on behalf of statewide school reform efforts, like Alex Johnston, Chief Executive Officer of the Connecticut Coalition for Achievement Now (ConnCAN): “The education reform movement in Connecticut is gratified that this budget averts the tragedy of half-completed public charter schools so that they can continue their work to close Connecticut’s largest-in-the-nation achievement gap.”

– Massachusetts. On Monday, June 29, Massachusetts Secretary of Education Paul Reville announced that Gov. Deval Patrick will soon introduce legislation to lift the cap on charter schools in school districts in the lowest 10 percent on performance exams. Earlier this year Patrick said he was opposed to lifting the cap on the number of charter schools – proposing instead to increase spending on them in the lowest-performing districts.

– Louisiana. On Thursday, June 25, on the last day of Louisiana’s legislative session, Rep. Walt Leger III, a New Orleans Democrat, introduced legislation lifting the cap on charter schools. The state Education Department’s press release indicated that states that lift caps on charter schools will be viewed more favorably by the federal government in the Race To The Top.

– Indiana. The new state budget approved by the Legislature this week lifted the cap on charter schools and allows student performance to be used in teacher evaluations. Duncan had warned Indiana legislators that a failure to remove obstacles to reform, like charter caps, would jeopardize the state’s standing in the contest. These are encouraging developments.

Cartel, the Movie

2009-07-02T09:36:00.000-07:00

A new movie to be released soon demonstrates the many failures of the public education system in the U.S. "Cartel: A Feature Documentary on How American Public Education Serves Its Employees, Not Its Children" shows how the American public schools have been growing worse and worse.
"According to the U.S. Department of Education national testing, only 35% of American high school seniors are proficient in reading. And fewer than one-in-four, 23%, are proficient in math. On the global stage, America ranks last in educational effectiveness among large industrialized countries despite the highest spending per student in the world."
Check out http://www.thecartelmovie.com/ to watch the trailer and read the many other destructing yet motivating facts about the US public school system.

Op-Ed: Need Education Reform to Move Missouri Forward

2009-06-24T10:35:00.000-07:00

In today's Springfield News Leader, Joe Knodell, a retired superintendent and a consultant for the Missouri Education Reform Roundtable Foundation, spells out the need for education reform and gives praise to the big steps taken in this past legislative session. He feels the 2009 session will hopefully be the beginning of education reform ideas to become reality. Missouri falls behind the other states in several educational testing areas, and this evidence may be the reason legislators are finally trying to change.

The best indicator that the legislature is ready to act was the passage in the last session of Senate Bill 291. Among other things, the bill calls for a study on open enrollment by the Joint Committee on Education. SB 291 also included measures involving charter schools, teaching standards, transparency, virtual schools and a parents' bill of rights . All should move us in the right direction.

Sen. Rob Mayer of Dexter introduced a bill on open enrollment that received a considerable amount of support in the Senate. But senators decided to study the matter first and reconsider the matter next year. Sen. Mayer, who is chairman of the Senate Education Committee, should be commended for his forward thinking.

We live in a world where kids know more about technology than most adults and many teachers. We cannot continue to educate children the way we were educated years ago. We must use the technology that is available and encourage talented people to become teachers. A well- educated work force is the key to prosperity. Kudos to our legislators who grasp this fact.

Charter School Students in MO Doing Better than Others

2009-06-16T09:57:00.000-07:00

A recent report done by the Center for Research on Education Outcomes at Standford University found that Missouri charter schools are, on average, doing better than their peers at traditional public schools. From this national study, only 5 states show higher learning gains for charter school students, and Missouri is one of them.
Missouri charter schools are doing well and the children there are outperforming other students, yet we still only have charter schools in St. Louis and Kansas City. It is reports like these that should force these restrictions to be lifted and allow charter schools to go state wide.
This results are posted in the Kansas City Star.

“The results in the CREDO report are clearly encouraging for Missouri charters, though there are areas for improvement,” said Aaron North, executive director of the Missouri Charter Public School Association.

“Charter schools are not an experiment or a passing trend. They educate 31 percent of all public school students in Kansas City and 26 percent in St. Louis.”

Charter schools are helping thousands of children throughout Missouri get a better education, what would happen if thousands more could???

Milwaukee School Choice Program Under Attack!

2009-06-12T09:31:00.000-07:00

School choice gives parents and children the right to chose where they attend school. With so many failing public schools, it gives thousands of children a chance. In some cases, the public school may not be failing, but is not the right fit for that child. Children from more successful families may have the luxury of attending a private school. Sadly, not all children can afford the top of the line luxury schools. In Milwaukee, a hugely successful voucher program has granted thousands of lower income families rights to chose their schools. Unfortunately, now they want to cut the number of students that can have a choice. Where is the sense in that? A successful program where the kids are achieving an excellent education, laying the groundwork for the rest of their lives, and the state might decrease the children they allow to use it? It is not more expensive for a child to attend another school...the money follows the child, money that would have been at one school or another. Why would someone want to take this opportunity away from children???

Chicago Tribune: Milwaukee school choice numbers may drop

Associated Press

9:13 PM CDT, June 11, 2009

MADISON, Wis. - Assembly Democrats want to lower by 3,000 the number of students who can participate in the Milwaukee school choice program.

Democrats voted Thursday night in a closed door meeting to lower the cap on the program from 22,500 to 19,500 over the next two years. The current lid was agreed to in 2006 by Gov. Jim Doyle and Republican lawmakers.

But now Democrats, many of whom want to do away with the program, are in control of the Assembly.

Under school choice, students from low-income families can attend private schools at state expense.

The enrollment change was added to the state budget that will be debated by the Assembly on Friday. It must also pass the Senate and be signed by Doyle to become law.

School Choice Movement Faces Strong Opposition

2009-05-22T09:36:00.000-07:00

The school choice movement is running into new obstacles, despite it's proven success. Reading the USA Today blog, I came upon an editorial that describes the downfalls with the current administration and it's stances on school choice. The Obama administration will allow the children currently in the DC Scholarship program to continue through graduation, it will not let more children grow and succeed in it.
School Choice Movement Faces Strong Opposition

So it was curious that when President Obama recently allowed 1,716 of Washington's neediest schoolchildren to keep, until graduation, the vouchers they use to escape their failed public schools for higher-quality private ones, he also closed the program to new applicants. All this occurred as the Education Department reported that voucher participants show superior skills in reading, safety and orderliness. The news was buried in an impenetrable study released without a news conference.

Why the ambivalence? Because teacher unions, fearing loss of jobs, have pushed most Democrats to oppose vouchers and other options that invite competition for public schools. Put another way, they oppose giving poor parents the same choice that the president himself — along with his chief of staff and some 35% of Democrats in Congress — have made in sending their children to private schools.

Vouchers have improved the math and reading of inner-city children from Dayton, Ohio, to Charlotte, N.C., various studies show. The Washington vouchers improved the reading of girls and younger kids by about half a school year, though results for other groups were iffier. Yet opposition is so fierce that few voucher experiments survive past the seedling stage.

So school choice is in fact helping these children learn better...given them a better shot at being productive and successful citizens. So why stop it? Teacher unions?

As an Education Department spokesman says, "The unions are not happy." But 20 million low-income school kids need a chance to succeed. School choice is the most effective way to give it to them.

Op-ed In Springfield News Leader

2009-05-12T10:08:00.000-07:00

"Missouri Needs Education Reform Now", an opinion piece in the Springfield News Leader, once again shows the urgent need to reform education in Missouri! This is written by Joe Knodell, the state coordinator for the Missouri Education Reform Council:

The state legislature is currently considering school reform issues such as open enrollment and the expansion of charter schools. Performance pay, or merit pay as it is sometimes called, is in the mix, as well.

Missouri is behind many of our neighboring states when it comes to implementing school reform. I could list the statistics that show Missouri lags behind in student achievement and how the USA stacks up against other developed countries in math and science -- but these facts have been in front of us and in the media for quite some time.

We have a new president who advocates reform and is promoting performance pay and charter schools. Time will tell whether President Obama will match the rhetoric with results. New Secretary of Education Arne Duncan also has the credentials of a reformer because of his past work in Chicago.

With all of the momentum for school reform going forward, why is it so hard to pass legislation addressing our failing schools and the need to increase student achievement? Lawmakers from other states that have enacted education reform, including Arkansas and Iowa, can testify that it was not easy. Teachers' unions and the education establishment as a whole do not embrace reform and usually oppose it vigorously. That means state legislators and governors have to enact the needed reforms in spite of the intense lobbying efforts of educators and their organizations. This takes a great deal of intestinal fortitude. Governmental leaders have to look beyond the self interests of the education community and do what is best for students and parents. Whether this can be done in Missouri remains to be seen.

Why does the education community oppose reform? As with any endeavor, there are exceptions to the rule: There are many forward-looking teachers and administrators who understand that the status quo in education is not good enough. They are willing to try new ideas that have proven successful in other states.

But other groups remain opposed to such reforms. Teachers' unions are against the idea of performance pay because they prefer that all teachers make the same salary, no matter the quality of their work. To some, "accountability" is a bad word.

Administrator organizations oppose reforms because they fear the unknown. They wonder if a new charter school, for instance, would hurt their enrollment.

The next couple of months will show Missourians how serious lawmakers are about changing the way our educational system works. Will they send the message that we must do better? Or will legislators bow to the pressure from the establishment and do nothing?

We shall see.

US Chess Tournament Begins

2009-05-08T13:10:00.000-07:00

The US Chess Championship begins today. Excitement all over St. Louis and the Central West End as the players begin playing today. The Chess Club and Scholastic Center of St. Louis is where the games will take place, and where the players will show their moves.
Preceding the start of the games were great events st SLUMA; Wednesday evening was the Marcel Duchamp Art and Chess show and Thursday evening was an amazing reception outside SLUMA where the drawing of the colors took place, with red and white wine glasses set up on a chess board. An incredibly talented teenager will be competing in the tournament (although he refrained from picking up a wine glass). Mayor Francis Slay and Lt. Governor Kinder welcomed the players and the crowd during the opening remarks.
The next week and a half will surely be exhilarating to watch!
Visit http://www.saintlouischessclub.org/ for live coverage of the tournament.

Caroline Hoxby Speaking at SLU about Charter Schools

2009-05-04T12:21:00.000-07:00

Caroline Hoxby, a charter school scholar, will present on the Promise of Charter Schools.
The Show Me Institute is sponsoring this event; the fourth speakers series hosted at St. Louis University. It will take place at the John Cook School of Business Anheuser-Busch Auditorium: 3674 Lindell Boulevard.
There is a reception at 5:30 and the presentation at 6pm.

Click here to see event details from the Show Me Institute.

Jay Greene's Update on Effects of Vouchers

2009-04-28T08:56:00.001-07:00

Jay Greene, author of "Education Myths, What Special-Interest Groups Want You To Believe About Our Schools - And Why It Isn't So", updates his blog about the systemic effects of vouchers. He has been studying and evaluating the effects of the various voucher programs throughout the country. The article quotes and links several studies about programs in Florida and Milwaukee, with final commentary depicting vouchers in a good light.

The bottom line is that none of the studies of systemic effects from voucher programs finds negative effects on student achievement in public schools from voucher competition. The bulk of the evidence, both from studies of voucher programs and from variation in existing competition among public schools, supports the conclusion that expanding competition improves student achievement.

2009 U.S. Championship Chess Club & Scholastic Center of St.Louis

2009-04-22T19:25:00.001-07:00

It is important to support programs that support our schools. On that note, the Chess Club and Scholastic Center of St. Louis will host the 2009 U.S. Chess Championship this May 7-17. The organization offers many chess resources for our local schools, including an in-school chess curriculum and an after-school chess program.

For more information on both the up-coming Championship and how your school can benefit from chess programs check out their website at: www.saintlouischessclub.org. The tickets are FREE, but you must RSVP on the website.

St. Louis City Could Be in More Trouble

2009-04-16T09:22:00.000-07:00

With the economy hurting and the failing schools popping up, why would one city decide to restrict the sale of closed schools? There is no logic in that!

Vouchers Students Testing Better Than Others

2009-04-06T09:37:00.000-07:00

The US Education Department released a study yesterday, giving voucher proponents a stronger leg to stand on (if they needed one). It found that DC District students who were given a voucher to attend a private school, they outperformed public students on reading tests. Those scores put them about 4 months ahead of the public school students.

The Washington Post lays out the study findings and how certain elected officials feel about the program. While the article said Obama does not intend to pull students out of the program, but he does not support the continuation.

Since it began, the voucher program has awarded scholarships to more than 3,000 students from low-income families, granting up to $7,500 a year for tuition and other fees at participating schools. This school year, about 1,715 students are participating.

The Bush administration, and many Republicans, have championed the program as a "lifeline" for students in struggling schools.

Supporters hailed the congressionally mandated study as proof the program works. "With concrete evidence in hand that this program is a success, we look forward to reauthorizing it as quickly as possible," Rep. Howard P. "Buck" McKeon (Calif.), the top Republican on the House education committee, said in a statement.

The study, conducted by the Education Department's research arm, the Institute of Education Sciences, compared the performance and attitudes of students with scholarships with those of peers who were eligible but weren't chosen in a lottery. Parents of students in the program were more satisfied with their children's new schools and considered the schools safer, the report found. Students showed no difference in their level of satisfaction.

Open Enrollment Bill

2009-04-02T07:24:00.000-07:00

According to the Springfield News-Leader, a recent open enrollment bill is being debated in the House. With all the controversy between school choice, vouchers and scholarship tax credits, this bill seems like a great compromise. It would actually allow for parents, with the school boards, to decide if they want to right to choose. As a parent, I would like some decision making power in the way our state delivers education. I would also like the right to choose where my child attends school.

Part of the article is seen below. Notice the line "I'm not claiming this is going to solve all the problems in the schools," said Schoeller, a Republican from Willard. "But it would be an option for parents who feel their children are not getting the education they need."
Enough said. We need to start somewhere to help all the parents who are trapped in watching their children attend failing schools. How can those kids have a fighting chance if their school is failing? How can we sit by and hope someday the school will just fix itself without granting them a chance to get out?!

School transfer bill sparks controversy

Critics argue bill fails to solve issues.

Gregory Trotter • News-Leader • April 2, 2009

A bill allowing parents to send their children to public schools in other districts -- and even private schools --with state funding, stirred debate Wednesday in the House Elections Committee.

Rep. Shane Schoeller presented his open enrollment bill, House Bill 959, saying it would empower parents and provide options beyond failing school districts.

"I'm not claiming this is going to solve all the problems in the schools," said Schoeller, a Republican from Willard. "But it would be an option for parents who feel their children are not getting the education they need."

Under HB 959, school boards could elect to put open enrollment on the ballot. Voters could also petition -- with 100 signatures or 10 percent of registered voters -- to put the issue on the ballot.

If then passed by a two-thirds majority vote, parents could send their children to other districts or private schools.

Can We Have a Choice?

2009-04-01T09:37:00.000-07:00

Who am I? Well, let's see. First and foremost, I am a mother. No matter what job I ever hold, what activity I ever do, or what hobby I may pick up, I will be a mother first. For me, being a mother means more than having a baby and sending them on their way. My child is my whole life...when I am away from him, I think of him all day long. I look forward to the welcome home hug at the end of the day, and even when this is followed or preceded by the fun toddler tantrums, I still have an overwhelming feeling of love for him. Yes, it is true, it's not all kisses and hugs. There are those times that can drive any parent crazy...and I have had my fair share of those.
Being a parent, you try so hard to make them smile; try so hard to keep them healthy. And as time goes on, you try to do what is best for him/her, even when that means they leave home...even if it's only for kindergarten!

You spend the first several years teaching them to walk and talk, then on to the ABCs and the colors of the rainbow. So much time and thought is investing in developing your child's brain and motor skills. Then what? You send them off to school and hope a teacher can continue on with what you have started. Will they do it right, will they teach him well, will the school be the right fit for him...are all questions a parent might wonder all day long.

As a parent, I feel very strongly that we should be able to decide where our children spend their days and where they develop more of their intellect that will take them through adulthood. The lines that divide up cities should not determine whether my child gets a great education or an average education. Missouri needs to allow parents everywhere that choice.

Open Enrollment Should Be Law

2009-04-01T09:04:00.001-07:00

St. Louis Schools Need Help Now

2009-03-25T09:53:00.001-07:00

School Vouchers Proven Helpful

2009-03-24T10:46:00.000-07:00

School Choice Illinois posted about a study that shows the positive effects of vouchers on public schools. The study is from the Friedman Foundation for Educational Choice. With all the evidence, we need to stimulate changes within our public schools. Children are failing at alarming rates...and they need our help!
Empirical evidence shows school vouchers have positive effect on public schools

A newly published report collects all available empirical studies on how school vouchers affect academic achievement in public schools. The conclusion finds that the school choice programs improve public schools in a variety of ways such as racial integration, fiscal impact and academic achievement.

For instance, “A Win-Win Solution: The Empirical Evidence on How Vouchers Affect Public Schools,” authored by Greg Forster, Ph.D., took a total of 17 empirical studies, which have examined how vouchers affect academic achievement in public schools, and found that 16 showed that vouchers improved public schools. The remaining study found no visible impact on public schools.

Click here to download a copy of the full report from the Friedman Foundation for Educational Choice.

Charter school Excellence

2009-03-16T10:12:00.000-07:00

Hello its me once again. Today I want to talk about how children everyday are being robbed of an education. A school is a place were we go to learn stuff we previously do not know. However in an effort to see who does the best, some schools have become uber competitive in the attempt to reign supreme as the best school in the country. Out of this fierce competition the children who are not as fast learners as the braniacs are left behind. However Charter schools which in a sense are hybrids of schools combine instilling tons of knowledge into a child’s brain while also not being competitive and gradually easing the child through the process of learning in an effort to confirm that the child learns the knowledge and is able to maintain it throughout his or her life.

2009-03-10T09:09:00.000-07:00

My education

2009-03-05T12:31:00.000-08:00

Since first grade I have been in a suburban saint Louis school. I moved here from New York and had no idea what kind of education I would be receiving. However being a first grader at the time I could not care less for my education. Upon starting my first day of school I was amazed by the amount of attention that not only myself but all the other students received. I noticed this from first grade to where I am now, a second semester senior in high school. The point that I am making is that I have had ADHD my entire life and the amount of help I received from my teachers was amazing and led me to where I am now, a happy and successful student preparing to go on to a prominent four year college. This all adds up to the fact that without all that help and attention my teachers showed me I was able to become a successful student. My final point being that if the kind of attention and help I received was available in all schools and available to all children then we would see a vast increase in the amount of children that go on to college and the amount of children getting good jobs after college.

Stimulus Taking Education Choice Away?

2009-02-26T09:13:00.000-08:00

Do you ever wonder why thing always go one step forward and three steps back? That is all I can think of these days. So, the economy is in the dumps. The government is throwing out stimulus money left and right. Now what do they want to do? Take educational options away from children! Not only will these children have to pay for this spending later on, but many of them will be trying to do this with a sub par educational background. What sense does this make?!
According to CNS.com, the House approves a $410 billion spending bill, while eliminating school vouchers in DC.
Democrats also inserted a provision into the bill to end a program that allows students in the District of Columbia to use federal funds to attend private schools of their choice. Boehner, who helped establish the program as part of a political bargain several years ago, called the move "hideous."

Is it Jealousy?

2009-02-17T12:04:00.000-08:00

I know jealousy is a negative feeling to have, nonetheless, I face it today. I live in Missouri, and while I love and appreciate this amazing place, I know there are states out there with virtues I wish my home state would possess.
This is taken from the Examiner:

Shopping for Charter Schools

February 17, 5:33 AM
by Karin Piper, Colorado Charter Schools Examiner
Is a charter school a good fit for your family? If so, which one in your community may be the best fit?
The Indystar reports on the Charter School Community Fair at the Indianapolis Artsgarden, which allows parents to peruse area charter schools in search of those answers.

Dozens of parents picked up literature and interviewed staff from the 17 alternative public schools in the city, searching for the best matches for their children for the 2009-10 school year.
Sponsored by Mayor Greg Ballard, the first-of-its-kind fair allowed parents to supplement their research on the schools with one-stop shopping convenience.

What a fantastic idea! Answering whether or not a charter school is right for your family or not, may be difficult if you don’t know which one of the 150+ unique charter schools you are speaking of. So why not make a list of what you are looking for in a school?
One parent in the Indystar article says she is searching for “focus on academics but also a broader selection of extracurricular options and a diverse student body.” While another expresses her son's needs for a program strong in math and the arts.
Wish lists are also often inclusive of criteria such as class sizes, student/teacher ratio, scheduling, graduation rates, SAR ratings, academic performance, and so on. Customize the list to suit your child's needs.
To my knowledge, there is not a charter school community fair, such as the one mentioned above, scheduled in Colorado in the near future. But don’t let that discourage you from doing your homework now. Visit the Colorado League of Charter School Finder for the schools near you. It’s a great place to begin your research. You will find that charter schools are like snowflakes, and there are not two which are identical. The goal is to find if and which one is right for your kids.
Remember, regardless of which school you choose (private, traditional, magnet, charter, homeschooling), you are exercising a parent’s right to school choice.

I look forward to the day Missourians statewide can go school-shopping for our children.

Missourians Should Be Outraged!

2009-02-10T09:11:00.000-08:00

Ban on sale of St. Louis schools stirs anger

By David Hunn
ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH
02/10/2009

ST. LOUIS — When leaders of the St. Louis Public Schools prepared to sell a slew of old school buildings a year ago, they moved to ban a few businesses from buying. They barred liquor stores, landfills, distilleries, as well as shops that sell "so-called 'sexual toys.'"

They also blackballed charter schools.

Now, as the school board debates closing as many as 29 more buildings in the shrinking city district, and as new charter schools search desperately for space, a swell of anger is rising up against that restriction.

Legislators have readied resolutions in Jefferson City asking the district to remove the ban. Pro-charter and school-choice groups have sent around press releases. Residents worry about the empty buildings that will rot their neighborhoods.
And charter school leaders continue to grumble that they are public schools and should be able to use public buildings.

"It's not about getting anything for free," said Aaron North, director of the Missouri Charter Public School Association. "Charter schools just want to use those buildings to educate children."

City schools board member and CEO Rick Sullivan said the board will likely revisit the subject, with all this recent hoopla.

But, on further discussion, he chuckles a little. It's not like this is an unusual restriction, he says, in the business world. Companies often bar sales to direct competitors.

And, according to the district, that's exactly how this restriction got started.

INKING THE BAN

Leaders of the St. Louis Public Schools aren't sure whether they had a written policy before 2007 that banned charter schools from district buildings.

But, with charters booming — taking students and dollars from the district for the last decade — charter school leaders say there was certainly an unwritten rule.

"We tried to buy three," said Susan Uchitelle, board member at Confluence Academy, a charter school with three campuses and 2,700 students in St. Louis.

"We finally just gave up," Uchitelle said. "It was made very clear they weren't going to sell to us. They'd show them to us. They'd let us walk through them. But then they'd take them off the market."

Then, in April 2007, developer Sam Glasser engineered the purchase of King Tri-A school, on North Kingshighway, with no hint as to his intentions.

The district says he passed the building to Imagine Schools, a national company that starts and runs charters across the country. Glasser says he was acting on behalf of Imagine all along. Regardless, district leaders weren't happy.

"They wrote a letter to my law firm saying you're not supposed to do that," Glasser said Monday.

And the next fall, Imagine opened its Academy of Careers Middle School there.

That year, St. Louis Public Schools chief operating officer Deanna Anderson contacted district lawyers and asked for a new sale contract, with a deed restriction barring sales to charter schools for 100 years.

The board approved the new contract at the end of 2007.

FINDING A BUILDING

Now, Anderson says, the district has six properties on the market for more than $7 million, not including 15 others that had previously been closed and mothballed.

Meanwhile, charter schools continue to multiply.

There are 17 campuses in the city now, serving 9,500 students, or about one-quarter of the city school population, and charter leaders expect eight more to open by the fall of 2010.

Of those, six are still looking for school buildings — including two that plan to open in the fall.

"It's still hard to find a place for your schools," said Rhonda Broussard, executive director of St. Louis Language Immersion Schools, set to open this fall. "The consequences to us are largely monetary. It means we need to raise more money and spend more money in order to have a viable school facility for our students."

Broussard said she could buy an old St. Louis Public Schools building for between $800,000 and $1.5 million. But converting nonschool buildings? $2 million to $6 million, she said, state dollars that could go to the classroom.

The topic is so difficult, she can't even bring it up with others who hope to start charters, she said, with whom she shares nearly everything else. "Facilities is taboo — because we know how hard they are to find."

Broussard says her school is nearly ready. Her French- and Spanish-immersion program is set. Families are already interested. She has even begun hiring. But her building?

"That's the only thing, at this point," she said, "that's uncertain."

HURTING THE CITY

But neighborhoods across the city see far more uncertainty.

State Rep. T.D. El-Amin, a Democrat who represents much of north St. Louis, recently toured the neighborhoods with closed — or possibly closing — schools.

El-Amin is backing a resolution to pressure the district to reverse its policy. He pointed out schools that shut long ago, and ones that just closed their doors, some separated by just a few streets.

He understands that the district has shrunk sharply over the last decade, and can't possibly keep all its schools open. But schools, in so many neighborhoods, he said, are often the only anchor left.

"I'm telling you," he said. "Some of these streets, you just hear shots, all night long."

Residents — on their porches, watching their children, washing their cars — stopped to lament the loss with him.

"You losing all these schools," said Lamarr Paige, 38, a father of six. "And all the buildings just sitting there, just sitting there!"

It's not only the vandalism, theft and violence a vacant building draws, they all said.

There's something deeper.

It can change a kid's perspective on all schools, El-Amin said, not just the vacant ones.

The kids look up, he said, and they don't see children on the playground, or in the classroom, faces peering out of the tall school windows.

They see grass growing up through cracks in the asphalt.

They see broken glass, stones, and target practice to come.

Missouri Ranking Below What It Should Be

2009-02-05T11:56:00.000-08:00

From the Office of Representative Timothy Jones, 89th District:

Missouri ranks 28th in National Education Study as Students Fail Key Testing Measures

State legislative group targets new ways to fund education given tough economic times and state budget woes

Jefferson City, MO—A majority of students in Missouri public schools failed to meet proficiency levels in fourth- and eighth-grade mathematics and reading, and SAT and ACT scores stagnated, despite decades-long increases in public spending, according to a new report by the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC).

Using nationally recognized test results, the ALEC Report Card on American Education ranked the 50 states and the District of Columbia accordingly, one being the best and 51 the worst. Minnesota placed first in the unique ranking, Washington, D.C. last, and Missouri 28.

“Missouri students are barely above the national average in test scores, and they are well below national proficiency levels. This is unacceptable,” said Rep. Tim Jones (R-District 89). “The high cost and lackluster results of Missouri public education can be curbed by common-sense reforms rooted in accountability and choice. Such programs have proved cost-effective and successful in states across the country and popular among parents and students.”

The report also provides extensive data from 1987-88 to 2007-08 on state and federal funding, school resources, graduation rates, GED completion rates, and school-choice initiatives, including tax credit, scholarship, and charter school programs—alternatives to public education ALEC supports. With the federal administration expected to ramp up education spending through a host of new public programs, the evidence is undeniably clear: Further government funding does not produce corresponding results.

“If legislators are concerned about funding public education, not to worry,” said Jeff W. Reed, director of ALEC’s Education Task Force. “States across the country have proved that through education reforms rooted in freedom and accountability, more can be done with less. But it is up to state lawmakers to give parents and students the opportunity to choose what works best for them in securing a promising future.”

About ALEC

The American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) is the nation’s largest nonpartisan, individual membership organization of state legislators, with more than 2,000 state legislative members from all 50 states, and 78 former members serving in the U.S. Congress. Its mission is to advance the Jeffersonian principles of free markets, individual liberty, and limited government.

Stimulus Package to Help Education?

2009-01-29T07:14:00.001-08:00

The current Obama administration and Congress is trying to advance a $825 billion stimulus package. The details are exhausting and tedious. I am here to focus on the education section of it.

This excerpt is taken from an opinion analysis in the Wall Street Journal:
"...Oh, and don't forget education, which would get $66 billion more. That's more than the entire Education Department spent a mere 10 years ago and is on top of the doubling under President Bush. Some $6 billion of this will subsidize university building projects. If you think the intention here is to help kids learn, the House declares on page 257 that "No recipient . . . shall use such funds to provide financial assistance to students to attend private elementary or secondary schools." Horrors: Some money might go to nonunion teachers."

Does anyone seriously believe more money dumped into education will fix the failures of the entire system? More and more money has been consistently poured into it over the years and there has been no improvement.

Two points: stop wasting money on a broken system and start looking for ways to fix it.

School Choice....Who Favors?

2009-01-22T12:11:00.000-08:00

The critics of school choice are very quick to jump on any bandwagon to keep portraying choice as a negative movement. Personally, I don't quite understand why people can be against every child getting a great education. I attended private school all my life and feel I gained a tremendous advantage over those who attending sub par public schools. Why should I have that leg up in life just because my parents could afford it? Aren't I already given more advantages in life? Shouldn't all children have access to the excellent education?
Now I think of the Obama family. I would never expect a family of their means to ever send their children to failing schools just to prove a point. Would I ever want to hold my children back just to make some statement? Absolutely not! However, I think President Obama, while he looked into the schools to put his children in, should see that many of the public schools in Chicago and DC are not great. If they are not good enough for his kids, why are they good enough for millions of other kids? Why shouldn't all those kids be given choices like his?
This was taken from CNS News:

School Choice: The Real Test
Monday, January 12, 2009
By Ed Feulner

It’s official: President-elect Barack Obama’s two daughters are attending Sidwell Friends School in Washington, D.C.

The decision comes as no surprise. That elite private school launched former first daughter Chelsea Clinton on the path to success years ago. And the Obama girls are certainly used to attending a private school.

The Obamas steered clear of the Chicago’s failing public schools, where 34 percent of the students fail state reading tests and only about half the pupils graduate from high school. So there was never any reason to expect the Obama family to subject Sasha and Malia to D.C.’s failing public schools.

Yet as president, Obama will have some promises to keep. Not only to his daughters, but to all Americans. During his campaign, he vowed, “We cannot be satisfied until every child in America -- I mean every child -- has the same chance for a good education that we want for our own children.”

And the best way to give students that chance is to give their parents a choice. If parents were allowed to pick their children’s school (as the Obamas have now done twice), they’d pick the best available school, not merely the one that happens to be in their neighborhood.

Obama’s decision should serve as a teaching moment for his administration’s education policymakers. Lesson number one would be that spending doesn’t equate to success.

D.C. spends some $14,000 annually on each child in its public schools. A lot of that funding comes from the federal treasury, which means all American taxpayers are subsidizing the D.C. public schools. That’s one of the highest per-pupil costs in the nation. Yet if the District were a state, it would rank 51^st -- dead last -- in test scores.

To address these failings, Congress created the D.C. Opportunity Scholarship program four years ago. The plan provides low-income children the chance to attend a school of their parents’ choice. Some 1,900 disadvantaged children now attend private schools in the District.

Parents are happier with the schools they’ve picked, and the students are making progress, too. A testing evaluation shows that participating students scored higher than their peers who remained in public school.

Sadly, candidate Obama seemed to be leaning in the wrong direction. “What I do oppose,” he told the American Federation of Teachers, “is spending public money for private school vouchers. We need to focus on fixing and improving our public schools, not throwing our hands up and walking away from them.”

Yet real reform would involve expanding the D.C. Opportunity Scholarship program so that all children in the District can have the chance to attend a safe and effective school. That’s not “throwing up our hands.” That’s doing something. Something other than simply throwing more money at a problem. We’d be expanding a successful program, so students could attend better schools and their parents could be more involved in their education.

The Obamas are already a role model for this, of course. They arrive in D.C. as an intact family, and both Barack and Michelle are clearly involved in their children’s education. The key is to take this to the next level by making school choice available to all parents in the nation’s capital.

Powerful politicians of all stripes routinely exercise school choice. A recent survey of Congress found that 37 percent of representatives and 45 percent of senators had sent at least one child to private school. The Obama administration could pave the way for a better education system nationwide by extending school choice to those less fortunate than Washington’s elite power brokers.

That would be a change Americans deserve.

Charter School Video

2009-01-21T11:37:00.000-08:00

This video shows the benefits of charter to parents, children, and the community. This school looks wonderful and the kids are showing great achievements because of it.
Charter schools are a great way to give parents and children choices beyond the public schools in their area. If I lived in Kansas City, I would most definitely want my children to go there.
It is wonderful Kansas City and St. Louis can have charter schools; why should the rest of the state be denied those same rights?

Florida's Education Reform Methods Paying Off

2009-01-15T08:47:00.001-08:00

Some states fare better than others in education and I have been closely following the ones that succeed. Florida has been on my radar because of what I believe are strong reform methods. I know they allow for charter schools and grant special needs children school choice. Florida has been one of my strong examples that reform do help and others states should look for guidance. Unfortunately, not everyone is going to listen to me.
These are some crucial excerpts from the Washington Times:

But if President-elect Barack Obama wants to improve our education system, he should look at what Jeb Bush did in Florida, ...
Three years before NCLB was enacted, then-Gov. Jeb Bush decided to set clear accountability standards, and to back them up with school choice for students and meaningful rewards for good teachers.

The National Assessment of Education Progress (NAEP) is the gold standard of national education achievement tests. It is not a state-designed test. Over the past decade, NAEP reading scores for Florida fourth graders have soared nine percentage points - more than twice the national gain. Florida's eighth-grade reading gains were also almost double the national average. Math scores also registered solid gains, exceeding the national average.

Most impressive has been the success of minorities. Scores among Florida's low-income black and Hispanic students have risen much faster than the national average. Hispanic fourth-graders in the Sunshine State now boast reading scores higher than the all-student average in 15 states, including California.

How did Jeb Bush get results so much better than his brother's national program? Four simple but effective ideas.

First, the state didn't play games with test standards. Florida's test methodology measures what students actually knows, not just how well they do compared with other Florida students. And each public school in the state gets its own A-F report card annually. Successful schools get bonuses. Failing schools get tough remedial action.

Second, Florida ended "everyone-passes" social promotion at the third grade. Failing students get early remedial help, not a free pass.

Third, Florida got serious about school choice, promoting a range of public and private options. For instance, 20,000 students with disabilities now receive private-school scholarships. And more than 100,000 children attend charter schools.

And, it turns out, school choice delivers an added bonus. The Urban Institute, a leading national think tank in Washington, found that competition spurred a general improvement in student achievement in Florida's "F" schools. When faced with accountability pressure and choice, these schools tried new and better ways to raise standards.

Fourth, Jeb Bush acted to reward good teachers, while circumventing union-devised red tape that often keeps excellent educators out of the classroom. The state awards large bonuses to teachers with demonstrated success. And Florida instituted alternative paths to teacher certification in order to attract top-flight educators who would be stymied by the normal bureaucratic rules. Today, about half of all new Florida teachers use the alternative certification route.

Overwhelming Support for Parental Options

2009-01-12T12:01:00.000-08:00

Polling results from Richmond, Petersburg, and Norfolk neighborhoods in Virginia show support for more parental options. According to the press release by the Thomas Jefferson Institute and Black Alliance for Educational Options, (BAEO), parents in these areas have high levels of dissatisfaction with their public schools and are hugely in favor of school choice.
These results are quite similar to those released in Missouri in 2007. The Show Me Institute released those results here and findings were that parents overwhelming supported choice in Missouri as well.
Here are the details about Virginia's study.
My question is...if so many parents are in support of choice, why won't the unions and legislators let them have it?!

Black Neighborhoods in Richmond, Petersburg Norfolk:
Support for More Parental Options

1/9/2009 - Parents in majority black Petersburg, Richmond and Norfolk neighborhoods have high levels of dissatisfaction with their public schools and overwhelmingly support school choice for parents in their school division.

That's the conclusion of a recently-completed survey of more than 2,200 voters in overwhelming African-American voting precincts, conducted by the Thomas Jefferson Institute for Public Policy and the Black Alliance for Educational Options (BAEO).

More than 57 % of survey respondents with school-aged children were dissatisfied with their public school system, versus only 31.2% who were satisfied.

More importantly, 76.3% of all respondents (parents and non-parents alike) favored giving parents more educational options for their children, including support for tax credits for businesses making donations to K-12 scholarship funds for low income students (65.1% support), personal tax credits for donations to K-12 scholarship funds for low-income students (68.3%), grants to allow students with disabilities to attend the private school of their choice (88.8%) and public charter schools (70.3%).

BAEO President Gerard Robinson, contributing author of Educational Freedom in Urban America: Brown v. Board After Half a Century, said the results contradicted what often passes for conventional wisdom. "Opponents of school choice often raise the specter of segregation in opposing choice, and it is true that choice was once used as a weapon to oppose integration. But what I think we're seeing now is a new generation whose focus is on educational excellence for their children, rather than re-fighting battles that have largely been won."

"There are a whole range of successful options available that have never been used in Virginia," Robinson continued. "Parents and non-parents alike know it is time to provide new opportunities for Virginia children at risk of failure."

Jefferson Institute vice president Chris Braunlich noted support for choice was highest where student performance was at its worst. "The levels of support for all parental choice options was highest in Petersburg, where only one of seven schools is fully accredited. After years of watching the education system fiddle around the edge of reform without results, Petersburg voters are very clear: they want to see wholesale change take place. The children of Petersburg are still without the opportunity to learn and to graduate with the skills that will make them successful."

Obama's New Education Secretary

2008-12-17T13:34:00.000-08:00

President Elect Obama's new choice for Secretary of Education, Arnie Duncan, will hopefully be a breath of fresh air to the education debate in this country. One person who sent this link to me likened it to Nixon going to China. I don't know if I would go that far, but Mr. Duncan has been successful with some education reforms in Chicago and seems to be open minded to reforms that include charter school expansion and school choice.

President Elect Obama has voiced his approval of charter schools and hopefully his Secretary of Education will work at a federal level to see that they can expand and be funded at the same level as their traditional district model counterparts.

Dropout Rates Alarming

2008-12-09T10:12:00.000-08:00

An article in today's St. Louis Post Dispatch sounds a loud alarm about the state of public education in St. Louis and Kansas City. Data released by the state shows that 22% of St. Louis Public Schools students dropped out last year. Kansas City reports 28% of their students dropped out.

This shows the abject failure of these districts to show to the students that the education they are providing is worth staying in school for. Unfortunately, unlike in a business situation, these students have few other options to move elsewhere so they just drop out altogether.

Increasing choices for students and their families in both cities is one way to improve dropout rates.

Michelle Rhee Profile

2008-12-01T10:36:00.000-08:00

Add Time Magazine to the long list of national media taking notice of Washington, D.C. Public Schools Chancellor Michelle Rhee. Chancellor Rhee has been featured in several publications and television stories in the past few months as she tries to drastically reform public schools in our nation's capital. The video that accompanies this article is very interesting as well. It is refreshing to see an administrator get a ground level view of the school system and meet with students for feedback. Also important is the fact that Rhee has the backing of Washington DC's Mayor.

More people with the will and determination of Michelle Rhee are what is needed to reform America's public education system. She is giving others like her the encouragement they need to come forward and lead our country's education system back to world prominence.

Why Is School Choice Not Good for All?

2008-11-24T13:49:00.000-08:00

Recently Randi Weingarten, President of the American Federation of Teachers, stated that President- elect Barack Obama has "every right to make a decision that works for their family" when asked if he and wife Michelle should send their children to public schools.

Why is this typically not the message we hear from the teachers unions when referring to the average American family? Doesn't the average family deserve school choice as much as the Obamas? Shouldn't they have the right to make decisions that work best for their family?

Alternative Teacher Certification

2008-11-19T08:01:00.000-08:00

A recent Education Next study by Paul Peterson confirms what many education reformers have suspected for awhile: genuine alternative teacher certification processes improves education. The study shows that more minority teachers are hired and student learning is more rapid in states that have genuine alternative teacher certification processes.

From a common sense perspective this seems obvious to me. Why make it difficult for someone who has worked in a field for a number of years to teach that subject? I would rather my child learn from someone who has practical experience in a field of study or work rather than someone who has only studied the theories on the subject in a classroom. I am sure that lessons in classroom management and lesson planning are needed for professionals wishing to become teachers. But in many cases these people have managed and trained employees in the same field so teaching students should not be much of a stretch for them.

Thankfully Missouri passed alternative teacher certification legislation last legislative session. It is already drawing high quality professionals into the classroom as noted by this St. Louis Post Dispatch article.

Walking the Walk

2008-11-12T14:43:00.000-08:00

This press release from the Today and Tomorrow Educational Foundation is just one more example of moving a child from a bad school to a good school working. TTEF gives scholarships to children in St. Louis Public Schools to go to private schools. According to this release 1,100 children benefit annually from TTEF scholarships.

I would hope the anti school choice advocates take note of the Sinquefield's contribution to helping these children get into schools where they are receiving a good education. A Harvard study, also noted in the release, has demonstrated students progressing more than a grade level past their peers in reading and math after transitioning schools. Mr. and Mrs. Sinquefiled are clearly walking the walk and backing up their advocacy by donating to TTEF. Real examples of the lives of real children being positively changed. I invite the anti education reform movement to show where they are helping children in SLPS in such a monumental way by maintaining the status quo.

Preach What You Practice!

2008-11-07T09:58:00.000-08:00

I thought this OpEd was an appropriate follow up to the election results. It is ironic that many elected officials, both nationally and locally, oppose school choice but yet send their kids to private schools. Why shouldn't poor families have choice also? It is frustrating to hear school choice opponents say that these programs only help the rich and high performing students. Many choice programs are specifically aimed at children with special needs or in low income families.

When a business is not providing a quality service at a good price you take your business, and dollars, elsewhere. Why should it not be the same option with schooling? I look forward to the day when more elected officials will practice what they preach (or in this case preach what they practice) and support more school choice for children.

Presidential Election 2008

2008-11-03T09:32:00.000-08:00

Tomorrow Americans will go to the polls to elect the next President of the United States, as well as vote on many state and local candidates and issues. Voting is the great equalizer in our country. Our votes count the same as Warren Buffett's, Bill Gates' or President Bush's. Voting is blind to color, gender and ethnicity. The ballot does not know if you are young or old or rich or poor.

Both of the presidential candidates in this election, John McCain and Barack Obama have outlined their plans for education on the web and in speeches across the country. Unfortunately, education has been far overshadowed in this election as an issue by the ecomomy and the wars and should have received much more coverage and investigation. I watched all three debates and the only question on education was at the end of the last debate.

No matter what your background is, I hope you will strongly consider education reform as a top issue when you go to cast your ballot. America is lagging behind many other developed countries in K-12 education. This trend has to stop!

Tomorrow I will vote for the candidates, Presidential and statewide, that I think will do the most for education reform in our country and the state where I live. This includes candidates who support expanding education choice and greater accountability for teachers, administrators and policy makers. I hope everyone else does the same.

17th District Race

2008-10-30T14:55:00.000-07:00

This article in the Kansas City Star highlights a close State Senate race in the Northland area of Kansas City. State Senator Luanne Ridgeway is under fire from her opponent, Sandra Aust for being a supporter of scholarship tax credits. Aust incorrectly labels scholarship tax credits as vouchers and takes the status quo approach that more money dumped into the same system will fix the problem. Aust then goes on to say tax credits are perfectly good ideas for corporations looking to locate in Missouri.

I would really like to see Mrs. Aust look into the eyes of a parent with a special needs child or a parent who's child is trapped in an unaccredited school and tell them that a big corporation is worth a tax credit but someone trying to help their child is not. It would be unbelievable, but it is the same worn out approach that opponents of scholarship tax credits have always taken. I would also like Mrs. Aust to refer to our previous blog dated October 14th that links to an article about a girl who is thriving under Rhode Island's scholarship tax credit program. After looking at REAL stories about REAL people, instead of the education establishment's talking points, the evidence is clear that scholarship tax credits do help students!

Thinking Outside of the Board

2008-10-20T09:50:00.000-07:00

Something that is necessary for 21st century education reform is to think outside of the box when looking at options to help educate children. Many skills employed in chess, like strategic thinking, are necessary to be successful in society. For this reason the Chess Club and Scholastic Center of St. Louis can be a great avenue for educating children. This center opened in July of 2008 and has already garnered great media attention in the community both in print, television and radio media.

Chess would be a great game to promote in our schools as an educational tool. Ideas like this is what is needed to transform schools in a 21st century environment.

Scholarship Tax Credits Work!

2008-10-14T12:22:00.000-07:00

Today I came across an article from the Providence Journal. The article told the story of a girl who, along with her parents, are refugees in the US from the civil war in Liberia. After doing poorly in the local school she received a tax credit scholarship to go to a Catholic High School where she thrived. She is one of 278 students to receive one of the scholarships in the program's first year.

This scholarship tax credit program in Delaware has many of the same features that previous legislation in Missouri sought to enact. It is very frustrating that this option is not out there for low income Missouri students who are often trapped in failing and unaccredited schools. I dare any of the opponents of scholarship tax credits in Missouri, including Jay Nixon, to look this girl and her family in the eyes and tell them that her daughter should not have had this opportunity.

This is just one example of how scholarship tax credits really work. They are not always intended to help wealthy kids pay for private school. They are, in fact, targeted at low income students who can thrive if given the opportunity to move out of the local schools. Missouri legislators should make this option available to low income and special needs children in Missouri in the 2009 legislative session.

Missouri's Education...Worse than I Thought

2008-10-12T23:06:00.000-07:00

As a mother of young children, it is impossible for me to stay away from the depressing news of the failures of many of Missouri schools. Being that my children are not yet in school, I may be a little naive on all the facts. I am sure, like many other parents, reading about the lack of education in some of the bigger cities brings a sense of sadness for all those parents. Yet, not living there, I have felt a little secure in my bubble outside the cities. Even though I have always known things could be better here, I never knew how bad they really were. Reading the Missouri Policitical News Service, I came across an op-ed written by Dr. Jeanne Sinquefield, titled "Who Needs Help; K-12 Education in Missouri". Some new facts that may surprise you are: Fact: Most minority students do not go to school in the metro areas. Only 30% of black students go to school in St. Louis or Kansas City. Fact: Most poor performing minority students do not live in Metro areas. 67% of black students testing basic or below go to school outside Kansas City and St. Louis City. Fact: A small percentage of poor performers live in metro areas. Only 10% of all students testing basic or below go to school in Kansas City and St. Louis. Fact: Most poor performing students don’t live in metro areas and are white. Almost 70% of children testing basic or below and living outside St. Louis and Kansas City are white. What does this data mean? That solving the minority, metro problem will only affect less than 6% of students in Missouri. Solving the education problem will require an expanded focus on all schools from the bad to the great. Many minority children do poorly outside the metro areas. Almost half of white students need help. So much emphasis has been placed on the metro areas and not enough on areas outside the cities. While I know it is important for those cities to improve, I also agree with Dr. Sinquefield that the entire state needs improvement. This news definitely gives me the feeling my little bubble has popped and I hope, for the sake of my children and the rest of the children, things are done to improve education for all.

You Read my Mind!

2008-10-09T13:02:00.000-07:00

I was on Missouri Political News Service (MOPNS) today and saw this article defending charter schools and Kenny Hulshof's education plan for Kansas City and St. Louis schools. It is indeed great to see someone like the Children's Education Council of Missouri promote charter school expansion as a means of education reform in Missouri. Charter schools provide much needed choice and alternatives to the failing schools in St. Louis and Kansas City.

I am glad that Mr. Simms took the time to fully and accurately explain charters. Many in the public who rail against charters do not realize that charter schools ARE public schools and often do as well, or better, than traditional district counterparts with much less funding. They should be expanded into other areas besides St. Louis and Kansas City.

Hopefully Jay Nixon will get a clue and realize that what parents across the state, especially in KC and St. Louis, need are more education options for their children. Thanks to Kenny Hulshof for being an advocate for expanding charter schools.

Breakfast of Champions

2008-10-01T08:15:00.000-07:00

When going down the cereal isle at any grocery store there are hundreds
of different brands to choose from. Why are these companies always
coming out with new flavors, improved ingredients and tempting aesthetic
gimmicks? The answer: COMPETITION. This same marketplace philosophy of
improvement though choice MUST be applied to St. Louis schools. With
parental choice options public schools will be forced to finally begin
must-needed system-wide revamping to maintain students. Private schools
will also be motivated for high-quality achievement in order to entice
local families. With a school choice model, children win. They would
no longer be stuck in failing schools. Some try to argue that school
choice will hurt public schools-which is simply not true! Great schools
will not be affected. (Aren't there still Cheerios and Wheaties?) It
is only the schools that are currently unacceptable that will be forced
to improve. Though the future of our children is obviously an extremely
more important and sensitive subject than breakfast food, today's
economy forces even the most passionate institutions to face this
market-driven society. The bottom-line is: our children deserve a
first-rate education and this is possible using school choice!

The Ethical Choice

2008-09-25T13:20:00.000-07:00

Increased choice is desperately need for parents whose children are trapped in schools which have failed to educate their children. Why should a single mother be unable to make the same educational choices for her children that so many Members of Congress make for their own? Legislators must put their political agendas aside and make the ethical decision to promote fairness and quality in the extremely important and sensitive area of education.

Kudos to Confluence Charter Schools

2008-09-22T23:56:00.000-07:00

Anyone who claims that charter schools are the root of the problem for failing St. Louis public schools should think again. More often than not, when the state begins to strongly support charter schools, this becomes the foundation for a better school groundwork to get settled in.
The Confluence charter schools seem to be urging their counterpart St. Louis public schools to begin a reconstruction process of their own, as Confluence is just about to open up a charter high school (Confluence Preparatory Academy) with excellent standards and goals. Confluence is focused on a steady yearly improvement of their students, regardless of ethnicity or poverty level, and has the resources to do this. Charter schools seem to have accomplished something St. Louis public schools fall short of: providing a pristine educational environment with the necessary resources to aid children from different backgrounds.
http://www.stlbeacon.org/issues_politics/education/confluence_high_school

Education Reform is a Non- Partisan Issue

2008-08-26T11:23:00.000-07:00

Marketwatch.com reported recently that multiple groups including Democrats for Education Reform and the Reverend Al Sharpton gathered in Denver to push for education reforms on the eve of the Democrat National Convention. Many of the reforms that this organization calls for are centered on school choice and other creative ideas that have too often been labeled right wing attempts to end public schooling.

This once again shows that education reform is not a partisan issue, but an issue of concern for all Americans as we continue to see our childhood education system fall behind many of the other developed countries in the world. The reforms advocated by this group, including expanded access to charter schools and increased accountability measures, will greatly help those currently in hopeless education environments achieve their potential.

No matter who is elected to be our next President in November education should be a prominent part of their domestic agenda. Implementing reforms centered on school choice will bring our K-12 education system in line with our country’s world renowned university system.

Inequality and Test Scores

2008-08-20T10:27:00.000-07:00

Edudiva is a great site to visit for analysis on standardized test scores. The following is from her post after the recent announcement of Missouri’s MAP scores:

Fareed Zakaria, in The Post-American World, explains the U.S. math score mediocrity.

But even if the U.S. scores in math and science fall well below leaders like Singapore and Hong Kong, the aggregate scores hide deep regional, racial, and socioeconomic variation. [...] The difference between average science scores in poor and wealthy school districts within the United States, for instance, is four to five times greater than the difference between the U.S. and Singaporean national averages. In other words, America is a large and diverse country with a real inequality problem.

This inquality is highlighted in the St. Louis County MAP scores. The 10th grade math scores ranged from 81.4 percent of a school scoring proficient or advanced at Clayton to 0 at Wellston. OK, that is pretty extreme. The top five scoring districts averaged 71.6 prof/adv.; while the bottom five districts (excluding Wellston) averaged 15.6. I excluded Wellston because it has had its accreditation stripped and students may go elsewhere. In fact several go to Clayton. The elementary math numbers aren’t any better. I chose 5th grade because I felt that gave students several years to get used to testing. The top five districts averaged 75.02 prof/adv; whereas, the bottom five averaged 18.76.

How can we fix this problem? Let’s start by analyzing our test scores like Edudiva to find out what they really indicate. Then let’s stop isolating kids in schools where they are drastically underserved and expand the choices they have.

Inadequate

2008-08-14T12:32:00.000-07:00

‘Adequate’ is not nearly a strong or positive enough word to describe something as important as our children’s education. Yet, the St. Louis schools, along with districts in the St. Louis and St. Charles counties, all failed to make federally defined “adequate yearly progress!” This is simply unacceptable! Our children not only deserve, but desperately need educational reforms and improvements. Progress must be continually achieved.

Many other states and even surrounding counties—such as Dunklin, Jefferson, St. Clair, New Haven and Franklin school districts—have been able to obtain AYP. Proving that AYP—which includes standards to help ensure students are on grade-level in both reading and math—is definitely obtainable.

These children and the future of the St. Louis area depend on achieving educational progress. Parents and non-parents alike must look into proposed school reforms and not settle for the current inadequate status quo.

The definition of insanity

2008-07-30T18:57:00.000-07:00

The Kansas City Star, while reporting on a local State Representative race, noted that campaign material attacked Curt Dougherty of Independence for “voting for vouchers.” Vouchers, as Dougherty notes, are prohibited by the state’s Blaine Amendment, so he couldn’t have voted for a voucher.

This is not just an attack on a particular candidate’s position: it’s just one front in the war against improvement in education. The state of education from urban to rural communities is so dire that not taking reform measures is an attack. It is, in my opinion, ethically equal to doing nothing while a child drowns. We have children who every year are damned to poverty, unable to secure jobs or a college path, and often turn to crime. Many statistics document higher incarceration rates for non-high school graduates. The scope of this problem defines us when we refuse to take measures to give less fortunate children the basic means to pursue their own American Dream, and it damns us in turn when we let the bureaucracy of education dictate what we can and can’t do to help all children get—at the very least—an accredited education.

“That has nothing to do with education money,” Dougherty said, adding that the state has approved tax credits for a wide variety of initiatives, such as automobile assembly and historic preservation.

“These people try to villainize someone with a word, such as ‘vouchers.’”

We can do it for cars, but not kids? When are we going to get over the irrational fears we’ve been fed about education reform and start trying alternatives like scholarship tax credits to see if they can work here like they work in Florida, Ohio, Wisconsin, Arizona and many other states? They say the definition of insanity is doing the same thing again and again, expecting different results. By that measure, we’re insane NOT to try a tax credit program for education.

Choices are Made Everywhere...I would Like Some Too!

2008-07-30T12:43:00.000-07:00

With many political issues to face during campaigning, I am most of all focused on one's education plans. If someone feels our public education system is going great, they will never get my vote. Then, if someone admits there is a problem, I am listening. Next, if someone will fight for vouchers or education choice for children, they will usually get a check next to their name on the ballot. This is not to say this is my only concern, but one of my main ones. Schools are failing all over the country and the ones that are most affected by it are those children in lower income families or ones with special needs. These children already have disadvantages, why should the lack of educational choices make it that much worse? I am yet to see schools improving with the status quo, isn't it about time to try something new? The idea of choice has been around for many years and is being used in few cities. I understand it takes time for change, takes time for people to warm up to the idea, but that time should be now. Those cities that have forms of choice are seeing substantial improvements in education achievements from their students. Why are so many people fighting it? Some worry about the what-ifs, but what about worrying about the problems now. Doing something the same way over and over again and expecting the same results is not a smart move. Meanwhile, millions of children are losing their chances day by day to become educated and successful citizens.

In this article in the Columbia Tribune/AP, McCain makes his opinions very clear.

Jul 16, 9:45 PM EDT

McCain at NAACP pledges more education options

By DEVLIN BARRETT
Associated Press Writer

CINCINNATI (AP) -- John McCain told the NAACP and some skeptical black voters Wednesday that he will expand education opportunities, partly through vouchers for low-income children to attend private school.

The likely Republican presidential nominee addressed the annual convention of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, the nation's oldest civil rights organization.

In greeting the group, McCain praised Democrat Barack Obama's historic campaign, but said the Illinois senator is wrong to oppose school vouchers for students in failing public schools. It is time, McCain said, to use vouchers and other tools like merit pay for teachers to break from conventional thinking on educational policy.

Obama, he said, has dismissed support for private school vouchers for low-income Americans.

"All of that went over well with the teachers union, but where does it leave families and their children who are stuck in failing schools?" the Arizona senator asked. "No entrenched bureaucracy or union should deny parents that choice and children that opportunity."

If: more failure = more money; then: less money = less failure?

2008-07-08T15:02:00.000-07:00

Things that don’t make sense for 200:

“Because the state-funding formula is based on attendance, the district loses money whenever a child enrolls in a charter school. Charters are also publicly supported.”
Now, I’ll admit that the state’s school finding formula is one of the more oblique pieces of legislation in Missouri’s history, but this particular statement from the Post-Dispatch makes me want to pat all the board members on the head and give them lollipops. This is the argument against opening more charter schools—that they cost the St. Louis Public Schools money. I find that farfetched, and hope someone really looks into the fiscal impact of charters on city schools, but regardless: the SLPS has had ample resources from the state and city to make improvements without any lasting, systemic success. So what in heaven’s name would cause board members to believe that money diverted into another school would have any affect whatsoever on the quality of education in our public schools? Given the recent trend, it would be much more reasonable to assume that the less money the district receives, the better academics we’ll see. Why? Because of competition. Competition would force the district to tighten its belt and become more efficient in getting results. I think SLPS would achieve substantially if dollars-per-student was not a given, and they had to earn each student just like the charter schools have to do.
Meanwhile, the board is doing what it always does, no matter who is in charge: behaving as if students are dollars, not individuals with rights. If we, as a city, can offer a better education through the proliferation of charter schools and other alternatives, then by ALL means we should. The board has essentially said: “we don’t want your ***** solutions. Even if you are better able to educate a child, we’re not going to support it if it takes money away from our enterprise. We’re more concerned about our benefit than the benefit that child might get. We’d rather see a child fail in our schools than lose money sop that he can succeed somewhere else.” The effect that charter schools have is no different than the effect of families moving outside city limits and going to Clayton or Brentwood in reaction to SLPS’ loss of accreditation. It is not the fault of charter schools, but up until now SLPS was ensured the money from every family who couldn’t afford to move to a more expensive neighborhood.
I’m sick of it, and I’m sick of money rhetoric. How much more are we going to spend while SLPS asks us to just wait a few more years, a few thousand more children, till they get it right? There are schools already getting it right and getting results.

Study Shows Special Needs Children Benefiting From Scholarship Programs

2008-07-08T15:01:00.001-07:00

School choice opponents have several arguments against choice, none of which hold any ground. School choice comes in many sizes and colors, all with their own perks. Opponents of choice try to use the same arguments against each option, with nothing to back it up. Some cities or states have passed a broad sense of choice, others have narrowed down the scope. One area that takes my interest in special needs scholarships. These scholarships can be used by children with special needs to attend either public schools or approved private schools, varying program by program. According to a recent study, The Effect of Special Education Vouchers on Public School Achievement: Evidence from Florida's McKay Scholarship Program" by Jay Greene and Marcus Winters of the New York based Manhattan Institute, Florida's McKay Scholarship Program for special needs children is showing a strong positive impact on the relationship between school choice competition and the academic achievement of these students. The McKay Scholarship for Special Needs Program is the oldest and largest program of its kind in the country. Their study finds that children with special needs who were granted choices to other options, their math and reading scores were higher than those without choice. Children with "Specific learning Disabilities" were the most positively affected by the program, which categorizes the highest percentage of children with disabilities around the country. SLD children are scoring higher now than before McKay came along and children who have easier access to McKay scholarship schools are scoring higher than those who do not.
Greene and Winters took it a step further and analyzed the competitive forces behind programs such as these to see if there would be a scientifically valid correlation between school choice and student achievement. While they make it perfectly clear their study does not give the exact reasoning behind the increase in student achievement, they can say that is it helping. They feel the cause itself is not important to the policy debate. In a nutshell, choice, vouchers, tax credits, whatever you find, instead of harming public schools, they are improving the education the children are receiving.
Since McKay was started, four other states have enacted laws for children with special needs; Ohio, Utah, Arizona, and Georgia have all created some type of special needs scholarship program. I envision many more to be created in the future. Thousands of children are being served by these programs...finally.

Special Needs Children Should Get Better Options

2008-07-08T14:37:00.000-07:00

Looks like Virgina is in the same boat as Missouri. We need and want legislation passed that would give children with special needs the opportunity to chose their schools...private or public. The 2008 legislative session, a bill was debated that would do just that. Unfortunately, it did not pass. The blame for this should be on the teacher unions and their fear of school choice. When someone thinks of teacher unions, they may think, well they are teachers, they must be looking for the best solution for the children...Wrong! They are out to serve themselves and the heads of these unions are making huge salaries while the children are still suffering. The unions are strong and powerful, have millions of dollars in lobbying efforts, and make people think they know what is best. Teachers are not bad...in fact, I love and appreciate them, however, the unions make it difficult for them by negatively influencing their opinions...like a little brainwashing powerful machine. Its quite unfortunate.
This article, taken from The Daily Press, discusses the benefits to a choice program for special needs children:

Grants boost special ed

July 2, 2008

Thomas Jefferson, a strong proponent of public education in Virginia, believed that every child should "be in reach of a central school." More than 200 years later, Jefferson's vision has been realized, but the nearest public school is not always the best for every child. This is especially true for children with physical or mental disabilities. Virginia parents tell sad stories of inadequate services at public schools, where students can fail despite having their own individualized educational programs. Dissatisfied parents' current only recourse, besides paying for private tuition on top of their property and other taxes, is a due-process hearing or lawsuit, which is time-consuming, stressful and costly for all involved.

Several states have begun to address these challenges by offering scholarships to special-education students. One of the most successful of these programs is Florida's McKay Scholarship Program for Students with Disabilities. Recipients receive scholarships to attend the public or private schools of their choice; scholarship amounts are equivalent to what the taxpayers would have spent on their education in their local public schools. During the 2006-07 school year, it provided scholarships to 18,273 special-needs students becoming the largest educational-choice program in the United States.

For three consecutive years, state Sen. Walter Stosch has sponsored legislation to create a similar program in Virginia, which would provide a grant of up to $10,000 annually for any special-education student to use at a nonsectarian Virginia school of his family's choice.

A program like Stosch's could give Virginia's disabled students and their families more choice to seek out the best education for their individual situations, for example by selecting a school with a small staff that specializes in certain disabilities, such as autism or emotional disturbance. At the same time, such a scholarship program could actually help school districts save tax dollars. According to a study by Susan Aud, if Virginia provides tuition assistance grants of $5,000 apiece to parents of students with special needs, "the average school division would gain a net fiscal benefit of $5,214 from revenue sources that do not vary with enrollment (leaving these funds in school divisions even after students depart), and an additional net fiscal benefit of $6,729 because their reduction in special-ed costs would greatly exceed their reduction in per-student funding." That adds up to $11,943 in financial gain to the school district for each student in the first year of participation.

Special-education spending varies widely across Virginia school districts. Applying Aud's statewide average of $11,943, and assuming a 4 percent participation rate (based on Florida's experience with McKay scholarships), we can paint an impression of how much tuition assistance grants, TAGs, might save individual districts.

Richmond, Norfolk and Newport News each had approximately 5,000 special education students in 2005. If 200 of these students, or 4 percent, left their districts, the district would gain more than $2 million in the year the students departed, based on Aud's figure of $11,943 each. A district the size of Roanoke County, with more than 2,000 disabled students, could gain more than $1 million. A smaller district like Fredericksburg, with around 400 special-ed students, could gain nearly $200,000.

As with any needed service, freedom of choice is vital to quality education. This is especially true for students whose needs require customized instruction. Unlike public schools, which have limited funding to provide special services, private schools have incentives to satisfy families.

Allowing Virginia families to enjoy the same opportunities as their Florida counterparts to use at least part of the funds that would be spent on their children in public schools on education in the setting of their choice would better meet the needs of these students, save taxpayers' money and further the spirit of Jefferson's vision.

Carbone is an adjunct scholar at The Lexington Institute in Fairfax.

St. Louis' Today and Tomorrow Foundation helps students move to parochial schools in the city

2008-06-20T11:45:00.000-07:00

The St. Louis diocese currently has the seventh largest enrollment numbers in the nation. There were 48,820 area students registered in the 2007-08 school year. This is in the face of a nationwide steady enrollment decline and 212 Catholic school closings.

The resistance to Catholic schools is disappointing in the face of growing research on the benefits of private education. Overall, private schools proved to outperform their public counterparts using significantly less money per-pupil on average ($4,689 vs. $8,032 in 1999-2000). For example, Catholic private schools specifically have 97% of students go onto college. Public schools only have 34% of students who leave high school even statistically-determined qualified with the skills necessary to attend college in 2002.

Organizations such as the Today and Tomorrow Education Foundation understand the importance of helping students in failing public schools. TTEF has specifically teamed up with the archdioceses of St. Louis to grant scholarships to needy families.

http://www.usatoday.com/news/education/2008-04-09-catholic-schools_N.htm

St. Louis Post Editorial Right on the Mark

2008-05-06T14:04:00.000-07:00

Its not everyday I get to read something I agree with, especially something controversial. Drinking my morning coffee, preparing myself for the day, and reading the paper I found my day getting brighter by an editorial piece that said all the things I was thinking. Yes, the Bombardier deal. First, they were asking for $800 million in tax credits. Good to know they lowered this amount. However, they still want millions of dollars. This money would decrease the amount Missouri takes in through revenues, which will lower the amount we can give out or we would have to pay higher taxes to offset it. We should not have to offer such large incentives to bring a business here, especially one from Canada. We should focus on our own businesses and citizens.
Anyways, without further ado, here is part of theeditorial I think everyone should read.
Last week, the state Senate chopped the offer down to a more reasonable size; the Senate deal would allow Bombardier to use only $155 million in state credits at any one time. If Bombardier really does hire 2,100 people, that would amount to about $74,000 per job. That's not an unheard-of investment to acquire the kind of good, blue-collar manufacturing jobs that once formed the backbone of the middle class.

The state would pay Bombardier through tax credits, which offset state income taxes. Every dollar in tax credits is a dollar that doesn't go into the general revenue fund. That means less money for Missouri schools, police, health care and other state services.

World Trade Organization rules say such government help must be repaid, and the Senate is demanding 5 percent in annual interest. Bombardier would pay the state a commission on each plane it sells.

If the deal works as advertised, it would produce a net gain for the state in economic activity. But there's a lot of "ifs" in this deal.

The state Department of Economic Development is being vague with details such as what sort of guarantees and timetables Bombardier would be required to meet. Also, Standard & Poors rates Bombardier's debt a weak BB-plus, which is on the border of junk bond territory. The Fraser Institute, a Canadian think tank, says Bombardier has taken in $745 million (Canadian) in subsidies since 1982, and paid back only $188 million. Missouri might well kiss its money goodbye.

And then there's the fact that the airline industry faces an era of uncertainty, with high fuel prices leading to bankruptcies and mergers. The C-series jetliners will be short-haul aircraft that compete with Boeing's 737 and 717 jetliners. Should the state help a foreign firm undercut a U.S. firm that has a big presence across the state?

Video: Today and Tomorrow Foundation scholarships offered in St. Louis

2008-05-06T08:57:00.001-07:00

U.S. School Choice growing leaps and bounds

2008-04-07T19:47:00.000-07:00

The Alliance for School Choice reports that in the last 5 years, enrollment in private school choice programs such as vouchers or scholarship tax credit programs have increased by 84%.

This increase comes from 16 different choice programs in 9 states and the District of Columbia, while 40 states introduced legislation providing for school choice. It looks like momentum is gathering to introduce education options across the country—it’s not a fanatic minority but a groundswell of multi-faceted support.

All told, 150,000 children are being educated under these programs and guess what! The public schools have not come crashing down around our ankles. Ohio’s program doubled in just one school year, and I’ve visited Ohio recently—public schools are not one fire and brimstone is NOT raining from the heavens.

The most shocking part of the Alliance for School Choice’s report for Missourians will be the fact that ¾ of programs passed by state legislatures over the past 2 years have happened because of Democratic support. Yes, I said Democratic support, but which I mean many legislators across the country with a “D” after their name voted for school choice programs in their state. We really can’t say this is a “right-wing” effort by people who want to destroy public schools: it’s clearly bipartisan across the country with a substantial number of democrats, the stalwarts of the public schools, realizing that for kids to succeed, some changes have to be made.

I’m a left-leaning Dem, but I like to think of myself as being logical more than party-affiliated, and more loyal to my values than I am to any institution or party line. I see the potential right now for “change” if you’ll pardon the buzzword, and it’s inexcusable to repeat the epithet that schools will change if we just ______, or kids will succeed if we can just ______. We don’t have time, however, to wait or a trickle-down effect, because we’re losing an entire generation of children as we speak. We need better options for students now, and we have them all over the country. All we have to do is say “You’re allowed to move out of your neighborhood to find a school. If you don’t have enough money, we’ve got some that we’re supposed to use on your education anyhow.” It is really that simple.

Quotable

2008-04-03T14:53:00.000-07:00

Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal:

"If we do not dramatically transform the way we train our high school graduates, the gap between the skills of our work force and the work will widen and cripple our economy. And more Louisiana families will continue to leave our state in search of opportunities to pursue their dreams," Jindal said.

This quote speaks volumes about the need for drastic reforms in education. I might call it a drastic case of the Peter Principle (which happens when a worker is promoted to the level of his own incompetence) but I may get into rhetorical trouble. Our business economy, in all its resplendence and diversity and vitality, has left behind the component that makes that possible: a diverse, vital and well-trained work force. They call it a “force” for a reason—because nothing happens without it. Nothing is pushed or pulled in any direction and no entities have cause to interact. There is no trade, no commerce, no invention and no production.

Because education is how we prepare a generation to, put simply, work—or participate in society and economy, it makes sense that education should mirror some of the characteristics that make a strong workforce. Choice, competition and reward come to mind as areas where education has not taken its cues from the marketplace, and it has resulted in a weakness and a lack of preparedness that is affecting many generations of children.

Henry Clay once said, “Of all human powers operating on the affairs of mankind, none is greater than competition.” Yes, he’s the dueling one. And he facilitated the Missouri Compromise.

Harnessing that power to improve and sharpen public education seems a worthwhile endeavor. Many critics claim that people will abuse their choice, but quite frankly that’s not a good enough argument against a “right”. Most rights can be abused, and we can curb and punish abuse, but the fear of abuse has never held up in this country as a reason not to extend a right.

Rep. Scharnhorst discusses Bryce's Law

2008-03-31T11:09:00.000-07:00

Missouri Education: In need of reform

2008-03-31T11:07:00.002-07:00

The need for autism education reform in Missouri (Part 2)

2008-03-31T11:07:00.001-07:00

The need for autism education reform in Missouri

2008-03-31T11:05:00.000-07:00

Bryce's Law WILL make a difference

2008-03-27T19:37:00.000-07:00

Dwight Scharnhorst talks about one of the best reasons to support Bryce’s Law—mainstreaming special needs and autistic children back into public schools through the great and strident benefits of early detection.

When it comes to autism, the window of opportunity to change their prognosis happens very early on in their development and without early intervention the possibilities of overcoming obstacles decreases year by year: it is very much a race against time.

The results of early intervention are obvious to parents and those who work closely with autism in a school or medical setting.

Laurie Stephens, Ph.D., has some points in EARLY INTERVENTION IN AUTISM: Forging the Architecture for Change that deal with best practices for early intervention. She says that between 25 and 50% of recipients of early intervention will move into mainstream education and many more will need significantly fewer services in the future.

She notes that the most notable factor of the effectiveness of a program is the intensity, in areas such as duration, individualization of the plan, and parental involvement. A teacher-student ratio of 3:1 is preferable, and she stresses that the child not be made to fit the program, but instead the program must be made to fit the child.

The results of this format were:

-Over 80% of students met annual IEP goals
-In 2005; 50% of graduates entered a district based Kindergarten program
-20% entered special ed. programs for children of average to borderline intelligence
-7of 10 non-verbal students acquired at least 3 functional words within 9 months

Missouri families need the ability to seek out this kind of help—and they are able to with the choices available to them before Kindergarten for early intervention. But once they enter mainstream public education, that choice goes away. Someone obviously thought giving parents the leverage to find a program that offers that low teacher-students ratio and is catered specifically to their child, and if it helps children at 6 years it can help at seven, eight, and on up.

A study of Texas estimates that the state could save over 2 billion dollars in autism education by shifting their budget towards some highly intensive, highly successful early intervention programs. So we have testimony from doctors, parents and teachers that early intervention makes a world of difference. We have very encouraging results and the fiscal benefit of a net decrease in services needed. We have individual children who have been able to move beyond their disorder. Let’s make Bryce’s law a priority, because we will see a difference.

Building on school choice

2008-03-25T11:15:00.000-07:00

Some excerpts from Ohio show how school choice is benefiting all students:

In the past three years, more than 1,000 families throughout Youngstown, Ohio have taken advantage of the state's open-enrollment law, charter schools, and new statewide voucher program for students in chronically failing schools. Experts say students' increasing academic success there demonstrates the benefits of choice.

Chad Aldis, executive director of School Choice Ohio (SCO), said that's what happens when parents get involved.

"Being able to choose school placement creates parent involvement," Aldis said. "That is one of the leading indicators of the success of students."

The EdChoice Scholarship, now in its third year, allowed approximately 7,000 students to choose a better educational environment during the 2007-08 school year, up from 3,000 students in 2006-07.

"I agree with Gov. [Ted] Strickland's statement in the 2007 State of the State address," Aldis said. "[He said] 'Where you grow up in Ohio should not determine where you end up in life.' The EdChoice Scholarship is an important tool in preventing this inequality by giving children in failing schools a path to a better education."

Across the country there is an obvious groundswell of support and appreciation for school choice and the range of benefits it offers. Parents are no longer happy to just wait for their schools to offer what they need, and policy-shapers have recognized that this is an important way to improve education across the board without the waiting game that happens when implementing large scale public school initiatives.

Tax Credit of the week

2008-03-20T22:03:00.000-07:00

Governor Matt Blunt touts the Missouri ETV program.

The Missouri Education and Training Voucher Program offers funds to foster youth and former foster youth to enable them to attend colleges, universities and vocational training institutions. Students may receive up to $5000 a year as they pursue higher education. The funds may be used for tuition, books or qualified living expenses. These funds are available on a first-come, first-served basis to students out of the Missouri foster care system.

With other programs across the state like this, it is a wonder that more Missourians don’t understand why we need assistance for special needs families offered by HB 1886. We recognize that there are children who need more than they can afford. Missouri is turning a blind eye to the fact that families with special needs children need help and need choices as well if they are going to reach their true potential (something no amount of pragmatic norms should deny them).

I ran across KOMU’s “Combating Autism from Within” blog by Ashley Reynolds. Many of the parents commenting had more than one autistic child.

The American Institute of Research estimates the annual cost to educate an autistic child in public school is between $15,900 and $21,700. That is in line with a National Education Association estimate of $16,900 for special education. That amount doesn’t even touch healthcare costs, diagnosis or intensive treatment and therapy that often involves some of the most expensive and state of the art equipment and/or one-on-one therapies and exercises.

The monetary cost, in turn, doesn’t begin to touch the cost to the physical and emotional resources of parents, and the daily struggle they face meeting their child’s needs: from getting them to eat, to keeping them safe to finding the appropriate education and therapy and getting the right diagnosis, IEP, teacher, tutor, playgroup, medication. The need is there. Ideas about ways to help exist and have been tested, both in other states and for other high-need groups in Missouri. “How wonderful it is that nobody need wait a single moment before starting to improve the world.” ~Anne Frank

Why make it harder for special needs children?

2008-03-18T13:19:00.000-07:00

It is hard to believe that some journalists would publish things that were not true. It is hard to understand why they would print something that could hurt our children. It seems to me that the authors of such articles against the special needs legislation are being swayed by superintendents or teachers' unions. Then I try to understand why they are trying to prevent this legislation from passing. Their arguments have nothing to stand on. They say it will take money away from the public schools, NO it will not! The problem is that when people hear that, they start to believe it. The money used for the scholarships will come from private donors, not money allocated for the schools. Some may say it is unconstitutional, but it is not. Testimony during the hearings in February proved it is not.

They say the private schools are not regulated like the public schools, but no one is forcing any child to enter into the schools or use the scholarships. The parents can make that decision, not the government.

I am a parent of a special needs child. I know parents like myself would really benefit from a program like this. It is extremely expensive to attend the private schools and even more expensive to attend the special schools. I am aware that some public schools do a great job of educating their special needs students, but not every public school does it well. We need to be looking out for those students...ones who are not getting what they need.

This scholarship tax credit program for special needs will allow the children to attend a public school in another district or use the money for an approved private school. Repeat: approved private school...not just any school will be allowed, meaning unstable, unreliable or unhealthy schools will not make the cut. This is another one of those false accusations floating around. Opponents say that the scholarships could be used at any private school, which could be a horrible school. Some people are even saying that if this passes, then it will allow the state to control the private schools...again, NOT TRUE!

Here is my point, all of the arguments I have heard are not accurate. The opponents are spreading false accusations which will only hurt the children of Missouri. We need to get the truth out there and encourage support for this legislation! The children need this support; their parents need this support.

Post-Dispatch letters dismiss concerns of parents

2008-03-17T20:21:00.000-07:00

It was sad to see the letters in today’s Post-Dispatch criticizing parents of special needs children for not doing enough, and misconstruing the effects of a bill that would benefit Missouri’s special needs students. I don’t know if they were sent out of fear or ignorance, but I hope the Post-Dispatch gives parents a chance to respond.

One letter was from Kenneth Eigenberg, the Secretary of the Special School District Board of Education, which advocates against choices for special needs parents. The Post-Dispatch already aired their complaints last week, and this looks like much of the same political rhetoric.

I’ll touch on some points:

First, Eigenberg says “Legislation creating tuition tax credits or vouchers — in particular Senate Bill 993 and House Bill 1886 — potentially harms special education students, removes public oversight and protections and detracts from other programs that could better serve student needs. The proposed legislation lacks accountability needed to protect vulnerable children and to ensure public-supported funds are well spent. Investigating a similar model program in Florida, the Palm Beach Post reported that ‘77 percent of participating schools have no special programs for disabled children.’”

Once again, the Post-Dispatch allows a tuition tax credit to be called a voucher, when in reality they are quite different. Secondly, the funds are not publicly supported, because they are not vouchers: the fund would be from donations, and those donors would receive a tax credit for 80% of their donation. Schools would be accountable to parents through regular reporting and would be subject to non-discrimination and various other financial and achievement benchmarks which, if not met, would keep a school from being eligible to receive scholarships from this program. Furthermore, it allows the amount spent on a special needs child to be used at the best school for their disability, which can make a huge difference in a child’s life, as Patrice Cahalan would tell you.

Florida’s Program tells a much different story than presented here. The McKay scholarship tax credit has grown leaps and bound in both funding and enrollment. This type of program even helps children who want to attend a public school outside of their residential district by assists families by not forcing them to move in order to get a certain program. There is an overwhelming level of satisfaction from parents with new schools as compared with the previous assigned public school, which suggests that parents were by far happier with their child’s success at the school they chose even if it wasn’t created for disabled students—an interesting thought to consider.

To sweep up the few remaining points, we use tax credits all the time—they are not new. We use them for almost every public good BUT K-12 education. Eigenberg is wrong to say that tax credits cost revenue—they are revenue neutral, and Florida has actually seen a budget savings of $113 million from their McKay scholarships.

I believe that the Special School District offers parents in the area a much-needed choice, and serves them well. But offering more choices for parents can only ensure that every child is getting the best education available, and that should be at the core of the SSD’s values and advocacy.

Missouri: No more lost potential

2008-03-15T21:47:00.000-07:00

Alexa Cahalan did not fit in to any of the schools publicly available to her. This video illustrates why Bryce’s Law and SB 993 are so needed in Missouri. To require families with special needs children to move in order to get the right environment they need to succeed is absurd and antiquated. Then, consider situations like Alexa’s where moving actually hurts their condition (this is especially true with Autism Spectrum Disorder)—what could be simpler than allowing them to go to the best school, regardless of where they live? What could be simpler than offering a scholarship to a family who has the added responsibility of achieving an appropriate education for their child?

For all of the detractors out there that say offering a tax credit for this public good will cost too much or isn’t worth it, consider that there are 130,000 other IEP students in Missouri just like Alexa who can thrive if they are matched with the right school. Senator Crowell is right about the potential that in so many cases gets locked away during critical years of development—we need that. We can talk about the potential burden (other states have actually saved money through scholarship programs like this) or we can talk about the potential good. I think when talking about a child’s future, all other concerns need to fall by the wayside: I’m sure that’s how Missouri’s parents of special needs children feel.

Learning from Parents

2008-03-06T14:23:00.000-08:00

Jason Grill has done some notable work in the Missouri House this year on the education front. He’s working on “Missouri Books from Birth” in which DESE would work with a non-profit provider to make sure all children are receiving books before they enter Kindergarten. He’s attached a proposal for tax credits for stay-at-home parents, which I think is a great idea. There are very few benefits in the workplace for parents who stay at home with a young child, and more and more it seems that families need a dual income to make ends meet.

Here is a link about a Family University day Grill participated in to talk about some issues common to many parents in the Parkville area, like bullying, substance abuse, diversity and autism and behavioral disorders. He’s visited students at local libraries and the Developmental Disabilities Council, and hosted Parkville students at the state Capitol.

I find this kind of information very useful as a voter—I am delighted to see Representatives doing more in their communities than just talking about what they want to see happen. When a legislator can not only shape policy but engage students and communities in learning and being involved with the process, we are very lucky. I hope that Rep. Grill has gotten a chance to talk to the community about the current special needs legislation, HB 1886. This is very important for special needs parents to be able to get the best education for their child, and I think that Rep. Grill’s record shows that children with special needs are more important than special interests.

Carry on the tradition

2008-03-04T08:25:00.000-08:00

I have been impressed with the support that Representative Jason Browne has given many important bills in our state: bills providing tax credits for cervical cancer prevention, higher education standards for early childhood schools, and countless others. I hope he continues this tradition by supporting House Bill 1886.
HB 1886 provides help for families with special needs children. Kids that are diagnosed with conditions such as Asperger’s, or Autism, learn differently than the average number of children. There are many centers and schools that offer services more tailored to their needs, only sometimes the expense is too great for the child’s family. HB 1886 creates scholarship money for these kids and families. Citizens would be able to donate and receive a tax credit, like that for cervical cancer.
Carry on your tradition of good service, Rep. Browne, and vote YES for HB 1886.

Shifting the burden—Will Charlie Shields help families this year?

2008-03-02T20:25:00.001-08:00

I was reading an article about tuition assistance for Veterans. Rep. Charlie Shields was talking adamantly about the burden falling back to the students or the University, and that the state should take a more active role in shouldering that burden.

It’s contentious, of course—everyone wants to assist veterans in college, because we owe them honor for their service, but a good-intentioned program could have unintended consequences if the burden was shifted back to students some other way.

It struck me that I haven’t seen him come out vocally for the education of special needs children in the same way. Rep. Shields has an opportunity to support HB 1886 which would help families of special needs students (another group of students Missourians feel an especially intense responsibility for) pay for the cost of private tuition when they are unable to succeed in a tradition public school setting. This bill provides a tax credit for charitable donations up to 80% to a scholarship fund for special needs students. In many cases, students with learning disabilities simply need a period of education specific to their difficulty which they may not find in their district’s public school, and are eventually able to catch up to classmates and join mainstream public education.

Not offering another option for these families means that children will be left behind their classmates and kept at arms length from the chance to move past a disability and succeed.

Rep. Shields from St. Joseph has a record of speaking out for children and students, from early childhood education to college, and helping to widen options for anyone who can’t afford it. What about out special needs students? This is one step the state can take for learning disabled, developmentally disabled and Autistic children across the state that helps them get the services they need without leaving a family stranded and strapped financially.

Donnelly: will she break rank for special needs children?

2008-03-02T16:03:00.000-08:00

Gone Mild has an unusually tough attack on Margaret Donnelly. Most of the reports I’ve seen have given her a downy dusting of approval, but it could just be the residual effect of constantly standing so close to Jeff Harris.

“When asked how she intends to appeal to outstate voters, Donnelly had no real answer. She claimed that her legislative record regarding Medicaid would somehow help her win voters, but was unable to articulate why she thought that would be a major issue for the Attorney General's race, against a candidate who will undoubtedly be smart enough to voice support for health care.

Margaret Donnelly seems like a fantastically dedicated and fine Democrat. She is not, however, a particularly good candidate for Attorney General. She has no relevant experience, and she does not project the toughness and solidity Missourians want to see in their chief law enforcement officer. She seems to think that Clayton is mid-Missouri.”

In my playbook, she hasn’t made a distinctive play at all. She seems quite nice, but unwilling to rock the boat in any way. She hides in Jeff Harris’ shadow without making any distinctive statement, and it looks like her motto is “what would the democrats do?” That kind of single-mindedness is not a good quality for an attorney general, and I’d like to see her break out of that shell.

She’s been echoing Harris’ attack on Chris Koster and towing the line on school choice, but in this cycle, that position would have her voting against a tuition tax credit bill in the House, 1886, that would provide much-needed assistance to families with developmentally disabled children. While this mirrors Harris to a T, it seem like something she could have made a statement by voting for it and distinguishing herself as the candidate who puts kids first.

She may be historically the first woman to run for Attorney General, but she’s not bringing anything new to the table that appeals to me.

Keeping students engaged with choice

2008-02-26T21:13:00.000-08:00

Mary Institute County Day School is a private school in Ladue, broadly considered to be the cream of the proverbial crop of St. Louis private schools has this compelling new program which gives students a new way of learning non-traditional course subjects in a hands-on way. It seems that being able to see oneself as part of a larger community is a vital catalyst for success in education. The mini-term allowed students to study in depth subjects like sewing, furniture making and construction and give something back to the community at the same time: quilts went to benefit the American Cancer Society and benches were made for the campus. The feedback was overwhelmingly positive. Teachers felt the mini-term provided a variety and a renewed energy for regular classes. Teachers were able to use other skills they have, such as the biology teacher who instructed the furniture-making class, and many students got a better, practical sense of what they might like to do after graduating.

This sounds like a great opportunity, and I liked that MICDS has a respect not just for academics but for physical labor that can be rewarding and necessary but that few students get a chance to experience. I love seeing innovation like this, yet we don’t see enough of this kind of curriculum innovation in a public school setting where it could be just as helpful and rewarding for students. I don’t even know that it’s possible with the restrictions endemic to public schools—but I’d love to see something like it that has been shown to keep students engaged.

Charters not a silver bullet, but one good option of "education wishlist"

2008-02-25T18:28:00.001-08:00

Though she acknowledges they are not a 'silver bullet', Harvard economics professor Caroline Hoxby weighs in again in support of charter schools.

"Charter schools accelerate students ’ academic performance while creating a competitive environment that strengthens the traditional schools around them, a researcher said Friday.

"The schools are gaining momentum across the United States, Hoxby said. There were no charter schools in 1992. Today, there are more than 4, 000 charter schools in the United States."
Though supporters of the status quo (read 'board of education' and 'teachers' unions') will oppose charter schools, Ms. Hoxby claims, in this and previous writings, that the competition presented by charter schools not only does NOT destroy the public school system in which they exist (as opponents love to cry), but their presence actually causes the public schools to improve:
"As a result of the increased competition, the traditional schools nearly doubled their yearly gains in math and reading comprehension after the charter schools open, the study found.
Administrators at traditional schools see charter schools as a motivating factor to eliminate ineffective teachers from their staffs and to implement instructional techniques that may not have been favored without the concern of decreasing enrollment, Hoxby said."

Release My Child!

2008-02-25T18:16:00.000-08:00

Blogger Dana Goldstein (in San Fran) argues that if parents from the 'burbs are given great options to place their children in diversified public academic environments in, even in economically challenged urban neighborhoods, that they would place their children there (The Progressive Case for Public School Choice). While Cal Linear, also of San Fran, argues she missing the point. He claims no parent from the 'burbs would do so~that's why they paid more money to live in the suburbs where schools tend to have decent resources and schools.

I would argue they are BOTH missing the point. We have examples of exceptional urban schools that accelerate minority children from low-income homes, inspite of all the disadvantages that these children bring to school with them on a daily basis~take Chicago, for example. Many parents, given choice, would prefer to keep their kids in their own zip code. What they would prefer is a voice and a choice in those shcools. The situation now is that the main voice in schools is that of school boards, superintendants who answer to them, unions, etc. The missing voice is that of the parents and the teachers~the teachers, BTW are kept busy filling out forms and 'teaching to the test', thanks to the legacy of 'No Child Left Behind'.

But even a school in the suburbs, that may be considered a great, school cannot be expected to serve each and every single child that happens to live a certain zip code~some children simply have very specific needs. For this reason, the MOST IMPORTANT reason, children should be allowed to attend a school sought out by that child's parents~regardless of the zip code. These families should NOT being moving from one community to another just to educate ONE child under their roof. Broad reform is called for~I'm talking tuition tax credits, like what is being debated right now in Missouri legilature, virtual schooling, open enrollment, charter schools, home~schooling~options that Missourians are seeking to support what they consider to be in the best interest of their individual child.

The people leading the public education system in Missouri seem to think they know what is best for the children that they see listed on their spreadsheets or in their files. They argue that parents don't know what options are out there and there are plenty. Yet we hear, if we listen, parents crying out that their child would be best served elsewhere or are not being best served in their shcool and they dismiss that parent and say, 'Oh, but we CAN serve them.' Or they say 'If that child leaves our school, we will lose money!"

The way I see it, is if a child is not served and the school cannot step up, they should release the child. As that child that leaves, they also take with them the burden and expense that the school couldn't manage to begin with. And if a school fails to produce, let it close and let another step up to replace it or allow the parents to choose another school that CAN serve their child.

At the end of the day, the argument that public education reform is necessary is painfully obvious to me.

Margaret Spellings speaks to Missouri BOE

2008-02-21T18:28:00.000-08:00

Some food for thought on education in Missouri and the US:

Accountable to whom?

2008-02-20T18:22:00.000-08:00

This excerpt was taken from an opinion section in the Los Angeles Times: The first sentence is so crucial to the fight for education in our country.
In all the controversy over how to improve education in America's failing public schools, one thing seems to be missing: the idea that schools and teachers should be accountable to parents, not to the government.

If politicians are concerned with raising achievement among children currently enrolled in government schools, one important thing they can do is to give parents the option to enroll their children in a private school of their choice. This can be done, for example, by giving parents tax credits to be spent on their children's education. The tax credits could be equivalent to what the government spends per student in its schools.

With tax credits in hand, parents would be able to shop around for the best private schools. They would be able to get their kids out of failing government schools and into schools they believe would give their children a much better education.

If parents later find that their choice of school was mistaken, they would still be able to try other schools. This freedom of choice would not guarantee a good education for their children (even private schools can do a poor job) but at least it would give parents control and put pressure on government schools to improve the quality of the education they provide.

Government schools that failed to improve would likely lose their students — and justly so.

If any politician really wants to improve the education of students currently attending government schools, he can start by doing a simple thing: Set their parents free.

The endless debate...vouchers

2008-02-20T18:21:00.001-08:00

Vouchers, school choice, whatever you want to call it, is not only about giving those children choice, removing them from bad public schools and putting them into good private schools. It is also about creating incentives to improve the public schools. This is a major piece opponents are missing. In various studies such as this one in Florida, it shows that "...we find that schools receiving an “F” grade are more likely to focus on low-performing students, lengthen the amount of time devoted to instruction, adopt different ways to organize the day and learning environment of the students and teachers, increase resources available to teachers...". Incentives do matter, competition will matter, and schools can improve. We only need to create the atmosphere for change. While this program in Florida focuses only on the schools that received a F grade, it shows there is the possibility of change. Now imagine, if we could manipulate this program and create a national program, or at the very least implement similar programs on the state level. Wouldn't it be wonderful to have a great education system in the U.S.?
We have been shown over and over again through our markets that competition does work. Why can't people welcome change? What are they afraid of? The only thing to fear is fear itself, right?

Cooperating School Districts: not very cooperative

2008-02-20T18:20:00.000-08:00

Recently I read a few talking points that the CSD posted online regarding the special needs bills that are pending in the Missouri legislature this year. I found their arguments interesting, but filled with lots of holes.

1. They don't seem to be able to distinguish between the words "voucher" and "tuition tax credit." These words have very different meanings and to dismissively use "voucher" to describe all of the special needs bills is negligible. As defined by the Alliance for School Choice: "School vouchers allow parents to direct all or part of the funds set aside for education by the government to send their children to a school of choice. Education tax credits allow families to recover some of the expenses incurred in choosing a non-government-run school for their child’s education."

2. The CSD raises concerns about raising the quality of education and insists that the pending legislation makes no effort to ensure that. Yet, what I find interesting is that St. Louis County is currently home to the Special School District which openly contracts out with private schools now. When the school and IEP team feel it necessary, the SSD will send a child to a private school which can serve the child better. My question is: how does SSD ensure quality? How does SSD ensure accountability? If it's good enough for SSD to do, then why not parents too?

3. Missouri has modeled its legislation after other states that have successfully created special needs scholarship programs. The CSD has the "chicken little syndrome" insisting that the sky is falling - by implementing a scholarship program, the CSD is assuming that every eligible child will leave his/her current school. While research shows us from the other states that it's more likely that between 3 and 5 percent of eligible children participate. That is significantly less than what CSD would have us believe - it's not going to be a mass exodus out of public schools.

4. CSD says that these programs would give schools the power to choose instead of parents. They are saying that private and parochial schools have the right not to accept all students while public schools are mandated to do so. In effect, SSD is already using school choice - every time they decide whether a special needs child should remain in SSD or if the child could be better served elsewhere. CSD is assuming that parents are not intelligent enough to select a school that would be best suited to educate their children. These bills are not about trying to put a square peg into a round hole - it's not about enrolling in a private school because of its reputation, it's about finding schools that can provide an educational setting conducive to the needs of special needs children.

Kitchen Talk

2008-02-18T20:01:00.000-08:00

If politics were for dinner, I’m not sure I would want to eat it. That isn’t to say that all politicians are bad chefs. I have more than oft eaten a mighty meal prepared by some of them, so I can’t place them all in the category of bad. It’s just that when it comes to the makings of politics, too often the politicians show up with only the ingredients of their party and refuse to cooperate in the kitchen. So nothing really gets made. Well, if anything does, it is by chance that it has any flavor or substance.

Now this may be seem an exaggeration to you, but I can’t help but laugh sometimes when I see politicians acting not unlike the Swedish Chef trying to make meatballs, only to end up in a match with the Muppet Show’s resident critics, Statler and Waldorf.

But again, sometimes there are the exceptions.

In Philadelphia last Wednesday, John O. Norquist, a democrat and “self-professed liberal,” addressed the conservative audience of the Allegheny Institute for Public Policy. The former three-term mayor of Milwaukee has been noted for cutting taxes 6 years in a row, streamlining city government, and promoting economic growth. He is also known for the successful institution of school vouchers in Milwaukee, and it is about this subject that he spoke. According to Jack Markowitz of the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, Norquist told his audience, "You can lose your country if people fall behind in global competition."

"It's weird," said Norquist, who now heads a Chicago think tank. "The United States is practically the only advanced country with an education-financial monopoly."

Far more socialistic west European economies have offered school choice for years, and their students, as well as Asian countries, out-perform U.S. kids in testing.

So what does this have to do with the kitchen?
Well, even though legislation wasn’t being enacted, people from both parties were found talking sensibly and supporting the key ingredient needed in preparing a better educational system for our nation: school choice.

And it is with that that dinner may be served.

Choice for Springfield

2008-02-18T19:56:00.000-08:00

There seems to be hope for some schools in Southern Missouri. A program, called "SPS Choice" and should enroll 25% of students by 2019. According to the Ozark News Leader:
District officials said when students select a program, they're more likely to get engaged in learning — which can improve academic achievement.
The district has offered "open enrollment" at schools for a long time, but it is only recently that the district started actively promoting unique programs in part to encourage students to transfer out of their assigned school.
Some suggest the unique programs may be a way to attract families to the district, improving the lagging enrollment numbers.
The school board, however, has yet to have a full discussion about which existing programs are designed as "choice" programs, and if there are objectives for adding the choices that go beyond engaging students. In some communities, choice schools seek to attract student populations that have specific economic-class or racial balances.
Existing programs that many consider "choice" programs have different origins.

There is a lot of room for improvement in the schools in Missouri. Maybe this step will encourage other school districts across Missouri to follow suit. Springfield students can really succeed if they are offered choice, real choice!

Head count on Missouri's adequacy trial: who's in and who's out?

2008-02-15T11:56:00.000-08:00

Support of the Adequacy Trial is throwing good money after bad. Reformation of our public education system, though not an EASY solution, is truly the only REAL solution.

According to the Childrens Educational Alliance of Missouri, "The Missouri school funding adequacy trial has already cost taxpayers millions of dollars that should have been used for their children’s education. Judge Callahan of the Cole County circuit court recently upheld the State’s funding formula, but the plaintiff school districts have said they will continue to sue the state for an additional billion dollars, despite the judge’s opinion that the constitution doesn’t allow the courts to usurp lawmakers on this issue."

In the unlike event that the appeal is successful, Missourians will be handed a billion dollar tax hike. When we've already doubled our spending on education over the last 30 years, it is highly unlikely that MORE taxpayers' hard earned money will fix a broken system.

Congratulations to the following school districts for finally withdrawing from the Adequacy Trial Appeal~It's unfortunate that they wasted our education dollars prior to doing so, but at least they've finally come to their senses. The districts and the lost monies are as follows:

Greene County, Ash Grove R-IV: $ 878.00
Polk County, Bolivar R-I: $2,502.00
Carroll County, Carrollton R-VII $1,039.00
Boone County, Columbia 93 $16,402.69
Audrain County, Community R-VI $325.00
Jefferson County, Fox C-6 $11,459.00
Stone County, Hurley R-I $264.00
Clay County, Liberty 53 $9,018.00
McDonald County, McDonald County R-I $3,728.00
Montgomery County, Montgomery Co. R-II $1,316.00
Ripley County, Naylor R-II $390.00
Howell County, Richards R-V $385.00
Buchanan County, St. Joseph $11,447.52
Bollinger County, Zalma R-V $241.00

When all the above schools chose to drop out, I have to ask why the following schools elected to join?!

LaFayette County, Odessa R-VII $2,200.00
Reynolds County, So. Reynolds Co. R-II $555.00

The Childrens Educational Alliance of Missouri says:

"We believe that it is our moral imperative to allow parents to remove their children from failing schools and place them in schools that provide better educational opportunities. "
In out state Missouri, where the choices are limited, edcuational alternatives should be offered. One little school can help many, but not all. For those that cannot be helped through traditional methods, successful alternatives should be supported. Instead of boxing children into an inept environment, virtual schooling, homeschooling, tutoring, mentoring programs or even allowing a child to access another neighboring public school district can bring tremendous opportunities to children and alleviate burdens that a small school cannot address because of their limited tax dollars. Everyone benefits~even the schools~when we think outside the box.

Status Quo--a recipe for disaster

2008-02-13T19:05:00.000-08:00

Clearly our public education system is not delivering what has been promised and what every Missouri child has a right to~a quality education. That is not to say that ALL parts of our system are broken...just some of it. Or maybe we are missing something. As a concerned citizen and taxpayer, I believe in investing in our children. Though I don't live in the city (I live in a suburb), I believe that children are entitled to, and deserving of, educational alternatives.

If you cannot care on an emotional level, you certainly could begin to care on a financial level. In an article, entitled Bridging the Gap in the Columbia Daily Tribune, it's obvious that we're not reaching all of the kids, early enough, and that our system is not set up to do it.

If we know this, then why can't we move towards solving this problem? I think that the words 'education reform' scare people.. But they shouldn't~'Education status quo' are the words that should scare people.

Making the best school board

2008-02-13T18:58:00.000-08:00

An Education reform group is quizzing potential school board members on their views of school choice. They feel many people are only elected based on name recognition, but they want them to be elected based on the issues only. They strongly support school choice and feel the school board should also support such an idea. The reform group then made recommendations as to which candidate best fits into a school choice supporter. This type of group would be a great asset to any school district.
A clip of the article, or to read the entire article:
One issue means the world to a group of Frederick County parents this election season.
Members of Frederick Education Reform, a collective of parents who organized last winter, want new Frederick County Board of Education members to believe in school choice.
The crux of the group's philosophy is that many educational challenges, including curriculum content and teaching technique, can be addressed with more choices in public education, such as charter schools.
Frederick County is home to Maryland's first charter school -- Monocacy Valley Montessori Public Charter School.
In Maryland, charter schools are created as part of public school systems and provided funding through their annual budgets.
Tom Neumark, the group's spokesman, said members are looking for Board of Education candidates who support school choice in Frederick County -- namely charter schools.
"I'm really hoping that this year's Board of Education campaign will really be about issues, important issues" Neumark said. "Too often these elections are decided by name recognition."
Twelve school board candidates are competing in today's primary election, which will reduce the field to six who will compete for three open seats in the Nov. 4 general election.
In preparation for the primary, Neumark and other parents sent a questionnaire to the candidates in the school board race.
They subsequently interviewed 10 of the candidates who responded to the questionnaire. The group made election recommendations based on those interviews.
Candidates were identified as supporting public school reform, against reform or not clearly in support of or against reform.

Legal and Logical

2008-02-11T14:33:00.001-08:00

I came across this site who was commenting on the wonderfully written story in the NY Sun, Vouchers, Legal and Logical. The author clearly portrays vouchers as something that is not only beneficial to the students and the parents and why it is needed, but also shows that it is in fact legal. In our country, we pride ourselves on the fact that we have freedoms, choices, and rights. "We readily recognize that parents in a pluralistic society like ours have a right to raise their children as they see fit, within the bounds of law, instilling in them the values they hold dear. In Judaism ― and surely other belief systems and philosophies ― that is not only a right but a responsibility. Choosing the right school for a child should be seen as an essential expression of that right and responsibility." We are the ones responsible for our children, why can't we use that responsibility to decide such an important thing for our children. Is it fair one child gets to attend a great school and another attend a failing school? Then the parents get blamed, not to mention that it decreases the chances of future success for that child. "Education, after all, is much more than the transfer of information, much more, even, than training minds to think. It is the imparting of attitudes, ideals, and values as well..." Education is the forefront of growth, emotionally and otherwise for a child. It is one of the most important steps in a person's life.
"There is straightforward justice in empowering parents to choose how their children are educated, to exercise what is perhaps, the most important civil right of all." This final concluding sentence sums it up well. Hopefully, the ones who feel vouchers are so wrong, will someday let go of that fight, and try to see what can really help the kids.

Rick Sullivan: cutting ties to bad practices in St. Louis Public Schools

2008-02-11T07:40:00.000-08:00

SLPS’ Sullivan seeks a fresh start was the headline of a Dec 31st story in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch about Rick Sullivan’s bid for chief executive of SLPS’ Special Administrative Board (the one with the power to actually make decisions for SLPS). The point of the state takeover was to break with everything administratively and policy-wise that simply wasn’t working for the district. Rick Sullivan seems to want to be the director of that change: the man who can lead this difficult time of transition and massive legislative and procedural overhauls, and then carry that change back to a locally controlled board. This is certainly what needs to happen—and Sullivan could breach the gap between the needs that St. Louisans have within the community and the changes that the state wants to implement, but only if—and this is a big if—he can truly make a fresh start. Sullivan is ostensibly still in favor of a four-year-old battle suing taxpayers for billions in education funds, and defended it during his confirmation hearing. It’s the opinion of the state that the former school board (who voted to be part of this suit) has a track record of poor decision-making that has not helped the district recover accreditation—and if Sullivan does want to make a fresh start, a re-examination of involvement in this lawsuit is in order. The Special Administrative Board should have an opportunity to decide if continuing with a costly lawsuit (over half a million so far) is the best course of action for a school district in crisis. What’s even more important, though, is letting the community have a real voice in this decision as the Special Administrative Board has promised will happen as it moves forward. If they are serious about that claim, this would be the appropriate place to start.

Choice will help...let's give it a shot!

2008-02-10T14:22:00.002-08:00

The Heritage Foundation has been observing school choice practices and has come to the conclusion that giving choice to parents and the children dramatically helps them get a decent education. According to the Heritage Foundation:

A growing number of American students are benefiting from school choice policies. Twenty years ago, few states and communities offered parents the opportunity to choose their children's school. Today, millions of American students are benefiting from policies that enable parental choice in education.

This year, 13 states and the District of Columbia are supporting private school choice. Approximately 150,000 children are using publicly funded scholarships to attend private school.[1]Millions more are benefiting from other choice options ranging from charter schools and public school choice to homeschooling and virtual education.
Still, an estimated 74 percent of students remain in government-assigned public schools.[2]

If given the opportunity, many more children could benefit from school choice options. To improve education in America, Congress and state policymakers should reform public education laws to allow greater parental choice.

The rest of the article discusses more in depth about choice and the many areas that are allowing parents to have a choice. Reading this article, strengthens my belief that implementing some sort of choice program will help the children and help the entire education program. What I keep thinking is...nothing else seems to be working, lets give this a chance.

Believe in human rights? Let parents choose.

2008-02-08T14:15:00.000-08:00

I’ve been looking at school choice for a while—on statistical, philosophical and common sense levels—and inevitably someone hits me once a week with a new angle I hadn’t considered.

This week I looked up (okay. North) and, like Newton and the apple, I got schooled.

Nova Scotia’s Chronicle Herald has an op-ed chronicling the pivotal differences between Atlantic area schools and the rest of Canada that have caused their unusually poor student performance. The main difference seems to be their funding policies, and the Nova Scotian writer pokes fun of Atlanic for not getting the school choice memo:

“When compared to most provinces, Atlantic Canadian education is trapped in a unique monopoly funding model, a model closely associated with administrative inefficiency and poor student outcomes.

Many Atlantic area school board members are still unaware of how unusual monopoly funding policies are, and often less aware that publicly funded school choice is the norm in all provinces west of the Maritimes. Choice-based funding is available to over 92 per cent of Canadian students, in school systems that have secured some of the best educational outcomes in the world.

Internationally, Canadian-style choice-based funding is being increasingly cited for the remarkable success of most Canadian students, when compared to the dismal outcomes of the American melting-pot monopoly model. Unfortunately, Atlantic Canada has adopted the American-style funding model – and for our students, tragically similar outcomes.”

Well, okay, my patriotism surges for a bit and I think, okay, so what if we’re not #1 in education—we’re really good at other stuff. Except that without a strong education, in 50 years we’ll look like the twilight of the Roman Empire. Plus that’s my line when I let someone down: “But I’m a good friend in other ways…” But we are doing a lot to work on our public schools, I thought. And then another scolding:

“Funded school choice is the democratic norm not only in most of Canada, but worldwide. With the exception of the U.S., virtually all healthy democratic societies fund school choice – even the former Soviet Union does so. The result of such funding for most Canadians is both real choice for all students and, very importantly, a public school management culture that effectively responds to the competitive pressures of choice-driven school systems.

The pattern that competition brings out the best in public education is not only a Canadian observation. According to OIDEL, an international research organization in Geneva, all top performing countries in the PISA international literacy tests – Finland, Canada (93 per cent), New Zealand, Australia, Ireland and South Korea – fund school choice.”

That’s a compelling argument. IS the reason we’re so far behind on many of the basic educational imperatives because we don’t have universal school choice? I don’t think it’s that simple. We’ve tried a lot of alternatives—tax methods, desegregation, No Child Left Behind, Head Start, not to mention massive spending increases from state and federal budgets—but we’ve never changed the system in which we’re operating, and Canada seems to think that’s the crux of whether students are able to succeed or not.

But, if that wasn’t enough of a gut-punch from our neighbors to the North, this is the real kernel of reckoning:

”Funded school choice is a well-recognized human right. The International Declaration of Human Rights states in article 26.3: "Parents have a prior right to choose the kind of education that shall be given to their children." Article 2 assures choice is a right for all, not just a privilege of those who can afford tuition fees. Funded choice is further reinforced in articles 7, 18, 26, 28 and 30. The human rights law on funding choice is so well-defined that individuals "inciting discrimination" against funded school choice are violating that law (see article 7, DHR) in the same manner as if they were opposed to women voting or advocating the return of slavery.

A host of international human rights laws further protect funded school choice, including the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights and, most importantly, the Convention against Discrimination in Education.”

On a macro level, this is pretty significant. I’ve thought about being able to choose one’s education as a political right, or a civil right—but it is even more basic than that. This article notes that most developed societies fund school choice, and ignoring the human rights law is a choice to preserve bureaucratic control of funding: a choice against student success when it would mean a loss of that control.

And, for you scorekeepers out there, human rights trump all the other types of rights—as in, no one has the right to take them away from any person.

Virtual Star Wars

2008-02-06T21:33:00.001-08:00

Among the many possibilities that school choice can offer children, one that is still being debated is that of virtual schools, or online learning. I must admit that I was, at first, skeptical of this idea. Having been raised in a small town in the Ozarks in a time when computers were rarely used, I did not have much of a reference point by which to gauge this sort of thing. That is until my nephew Ethan started learning his alphabet at a very rapid pace and by first grade was reading at a third grade level.

I know that this was partially a result of his mother reading to him every night at bedtime, and I can’t discount his insatiable desire for knowledge. But much of his learning happened at the helm of a computer he started using at an early age. With educational software, he not only began to quickly read and spell words in English, he also took an interest in the Spanish language, became rather adept at basic math, and well, the rest is history.

With online programs, he became interested in the history of dinosaurs, planes, trains, and Star Wars; the movie, that is. Okay, so all of this might not fit into the realm of traditional education, but I couldn’t deny that it wasn’t extremely beneficial. So now when I listen to, or read about, school choice and the possibilities of virtual education, I’m not as skeptical. Now I have that reference point. The great thing is that he is still a very active child. He is on a soccer team, loves to go camping and climbing, and he even likes to play with “old school” Star Wars figures as if it was 1977 all over again.

A February 1st New York Times article entitled Online Schooling Grows, Setting Off a Debate, by Sam Dillon says “Rural Americans have been attracted to online schooling because it allows students even on remote ranches to enroll in arcane courses like Chinese.”

I definitely know that Ethan would not be in the advantageous position he is now had it not been for his virtual education. My skepticism has waned. I believe that virtual education, when applied appropriately, can have positive applications for many different children. Think of the realm of possibilities! They are our children; shouldn’t it be our choice?

Independent Women's Forum

2008-02-05T16:47:00.000-08:00

As a single mother, I was very delighted to see the Independent Women's Forum was in support of education reform, mainly school choice. Being a parent is a stressful yet rewarding job. I am constantly worried about my children and always wanting the best for them. I make choices for them on a daily basis that I think will positively impact the rest of their lives. I am very concerned with health and nutrition, and make the time to encourage exercise and healthy eating habits. We cook together and I educate them on the need for a well rounded diet that is full of whole grains, veggies, fruit, and lean meats. I like to encourage respect for all life and compassion for others. We are involved in several charities in our community and volunteer on a regular basis. In my home, we have regular homework time and my children know the value of learning..they truly enjoy it. One thing I cannot choose for them is where they will go to school. As a single parent, I do not have the resources to send them to the private school (which offers a much better education). I find it frustrating they are stuck in one school that cannot educate them properly. I plan to move in order to switch school districts, but this can be expensive and hard to do without help. I should be able to decide where they attend school and not be controlled by my street address. Some parents love our school, and others do not. Point being, every school is not a one size fits all place.

I applaud the Women's Forum for their support in school choice! They have given me hope there is still a chance that someday I can make those choices for my children.

Fight or Flight

2008-02-05T16:37:00.001-08:00

I graduated from high school second in my class. I received a full academic scholarship to a small, regional state university in Missouri and graduated from there with honors. In high school, I had a science teacher who told me I may be at the top of my small, rural class - but when I got to college I would find that I was just average. Some pep talk. Actually, it made me want to fight hard to prove that I deserved my high GPA and other accolades.

Now my two step-sisters are another story. They went to a different school (still small and rural) but they were both in the gifted program at their school. Both scored a 30 or higher on their ACT and received the Missouri Bright Flight program. They attended a highly selective Missouri university and have both since earned Master's Degrees in Education. I doubt any of their teachers told them they were average.

I know that they worked hard in college and studied, etc. But it wasn't a fight. See, they were on a flight - the Bright Flight. (Notice my play on words there fight and flight, I digress...). I only bring this up because of an announcement in President Bush's 2008 State of the Union Address. He talked about a program for elementary and secondary kids that would operate like a Federal Pell Grant (a need-based program used now for entering college students) and it just reminded me a lot of Missouri's Bright Flight program.

Here's the rundown:

· Graduating seniors who take the ACT by June of their senior year and score a composite score of 30 or above receive a renewable $2000 scholarship from the state that they may apply to any school of their choice. (I know a few kids who used Bright Flight to make a truck payment). The ACT score will be raised to 31 for the 2008-09 school year.

· Here's the cool part - these high achieving students can use Bright Flight at any participating Missouri college or university. What a concept!

It seems to me that President Bush is making a pretty good argument. The Federal Pell Grant program is great and helps a lot of college students nationally. Why not use it as a model for K-12? But even better, would be for Missouri to bring it closer to home. Why not model a program for the elementary and secondary kids in Missouri after the Bright Flight program? It doesn't have to be limited to high achieving kids - but instead opened up for low income kids or used in school districts that are failing. I've never heard anybody complain about Bright Flight - it's a great incentive to keep Missouri's brightest students in our state. Couldn't we use the same incentive to strengthen our public schools by introducing choice? If a kid can choose which school to attend - it could introduce a little friendly competition between schools and in the end we'd all be better off. If this makes sense to me - an average mind - then why wouldn't it make sense to some of the greatest minds in our state? I should ask my step-sisters what they think.

A liberal education

2008-02-03T20:20:00.000-08:00

A quick thought on scholarships:

As I was looking at colleges, my thought—and my parents’ thought—was quite simply “what college is right for me?” My criteria were challenging academics, strong foreign language and music programs. Some of my friends cared about class size or certain specialty majors or sports. I chose an expensive school—much more expensive than what my family could ever afford, but I had academic, service and need-based scholarships and financial aid that made the price reasonable.

Some of my money came from the federal government—grants I could have used for any school I chose, even a religious school. I even wrote an admissions essay for a religious college about faith-based initiatives and the origins of the establishment clause—a subject I studied extensively in high school. Right now, Pell Grants, the G.I. Bill and Hope Scholarships are federal monies, paid by taxpayers, that college students use to pursue the best higher education for them, and our legislators work diligently to expand that to give enough aid to offset the rising cost of college.

It seems—and is—that we have no problem with tuition aid for private colleges but when it comes to extending that to public schools we balk, even though the ideology and mechanics are identical. What’s the hold up? It’s the epitome of a double standard to say that students pursuing higher education can choose where they attend college while extending the same option for the same reason to public school students is seen as a ‘dismantling’ of public education. It hasn’t dismantled higher ed. It’s even worse, in a way, because a child’s k-12 education determines what kind of future is available to them after graduation.

"Individualism is going around these days in uniform, handing out the party line on individualism."

"Education is coming to be, not a long-term investment in young minds and in the life of the community, but a short-term investment in the economy."

Wendell Barry

Closing the Opportunity Gap

2008-01-30T18:56:00.000-08:00

A Missouri University study Featured this week in EdNews finds that out of 46 countries studied, the US has the fourth-highest Education Opportunity Gap—defined as the difference between high and low socio-economic status students and their access to qualified teachers.

The study says, and is based on the premise, that students with similar backgrounds, even low-income, achieve significantly higher when taught by highly qualified teachers.

Other findings included:

• 29.7 percent of U.S. eighth grade math teachers did not major in mathematics or mathematics education; the international average is 13.2 percent.
• 60.3 percent of U.S. eighth graders are taught mathematics by teachers with full certification, who were mathematics or mathematics education majors and had at least three years of teaching experience; nearly 40 percent of U.S.

eighth graders do not have access to highly qualified teachers.
• In the United States, 67.6 percent of high-socioeconomic status students are taught by highly qualified teachers, compared with 53.2 percent of low-socioeconomic status students. This opportunity gap of 14.4 percent is significantly larger than the international average of 2.5 percent.

This article made me think of a book report I did Sophomore year of high school on Edward Bellamy’s Looking Backward, about a man who wakes up from a trance to find the wealth gap virtually closed by socialist practices. I know, I will really create a huge uproar by even mentioning that word, but hear me out!

The book espouses a fix that many agree will not work, and will certainly not work in a government construct, and is a “utopian fiction” genre popular at the time as a vehicle showing the best and purest outcomes of a particular ideology. But the book is poised at the confluence of the 19^th and 20^th centuries largely to demonstrate that the wealth gap emerging between the two centuries is a drasic problem and inherently wrong. It influenced a climate of change that we know today as a social justice movement (not socialist), and we take from that a great desire to, at every level, alleviate poverty, hunger and homelessness. I also wrote a research paper on why the socialist movement failed in the US after the WPA and the end of the depression.

My point is two-fold. I believe that closing that gap (as ever-present) comes from expanding choices, not by limiting them, and that choice offered in the beginning—that is to say, as a person is beginning the education that influences their future and livelihood—does the most to keep people out of poverty and generational poverty. A good education means a good workforce, a better economy, and quite literally the ability to make choices for their own destinies.

Working together for education

2008-01-24T18:06:00.000-08:00

EduDiva (St. Louis blogger) brings up a great point: we have a decent amount of education options in St. Louis. The city has great private schools and many highly respected colleges to encourage students to continue their education. She makes the point that St. Louis likes options, and is pretty intent on supporting that. Perhaps that is because there is a necessity for other options when public schools are letting students down at a blistering rate. But unlike a lot of reporting on the subject that stops after stating the problem and pontificating that there should be a solution, EduDiva brings up some very salient solutions, like offering tuition tax credits as proposed by the Show-Me Institute and an aggressive plan for proliferation of Charter School in the city. She quotes a great series of 5 discussion-starters from Education Sector, all of which encourage opening up choices for St. Louis students in a responsible way.

This series of recommendations hints at one of the central issues I’ve noticed surrounding school choice, to wit: it is not an either/ or conversation but a question of “how much”. School choice opponents are not, in essence and in general, against school choice. Rather they are against possible downsides: how it would affect public schools, how it would burden healthy schools, and misconceptions, buzzwords, tax concerns. It seems to me that rather than both sides standing with their backs turned, an exchange of ideas and yes, even concessions may be in order. It would go something like this:

“What are your concerns?”

“Oh, thanks for asking. Here are a few.”

“Okay. Let’s work together.”

I know, it sounds like a Sesame Street sketch. But forming partnerships that, however unusual, can result in sincere, well-vetted policies. One thought in the study was Transition Aid for Facilities, not as stodgy as it sounds! It offers a trade between public schools and Charters, recognizing that operating costs stay the same even if students leave a public school. For St. Louis that has several empty facilities, aid to supplement a loss of some students would be given for access to space. That’s what I call a win-win, with the benefits for students. And there are many more where that comes from if conversations are about strengthening all educational options on the table for students.