There were no real surprises this morning as the Public Employees’ and Retirees’ Benefit Sustainability Commission voted in favor of recommendations to the General Assembly that would reduce educator benefits and shift pension costs to the local level. Be on the lookout for a more detailed analysis in the coming days.
The following statement was just released from AFSCME, AFSCME 67, AFT, SEIU, and MSEA.
Today’s Recommendations of the Public Employees’ and Retirees’ Benefit Sustainability Commission:
Joint Statement by Maryland Labor Organizations
AFSCME Maryland, AFSCME 67, AFT Maryland, the Maryland State Education Association, and SEIU Maryland are deeply disappointed in today’s recommendations by the Public Employees’ and Retirees’ Benefit Sustainability Commission, which would saddle hundreds of thousands of Maryland’s working families with the responsibility for covering up the shortcomings of Wall Street and the State’s broken funding promises. The Commission’s recommendations are frighteningly short-sighted and would be detrimental to the stability and quality of Maryland’s public schools and public services. The Commission’s recommendation to shift the cost of teacher pensions to local school systems in particular would have a devastating impact on local funding, resulting in layoffs, additional cuts in local services, critical dollars out of the classroom, and seriously jeopardizing our children’s education and future.
State workers keep us safe, maintain our roads, and provide quality services for children and families. Despite under-staffing, pay cuts, and furloughs, these dedicated employees work hard every day to provide the vital services that keep moving Maryland forward. Haphazardly slashing our already modest benefits will burden the State with massive recruitment and retention issues, as well as dooming many retirees to a future with insufficient retirement funds and healthcare coverage, creating additional long-term problems for state and local governments.
Despite the challenging fiscal climate, there are viable solutions worth investigating together that have not been adequately addressed by the Commission. We urge the General Assembly and the Governor not to make the same mistakes when they take up this issue in January.
Maryland’s public employees have kept their promise by increasing their contributions to the system and by providing outstanding public schools and services. We will work with the General Assembly and the Governor to ensure that elected officials keep their promise of a secure retirement for employees, exceptional public services for our citizens, and world-class public schools for our children.
Monday, December 20, 2010
Thursday, December 16, 2010
The Superintendent’s Recommended FY12 Operating Budget
• MCEA supports the recommended operating budget. We know that the budget is inadequate to meet the needs of our students or to adequately compensate staff. But we also know that in these challenging fiscal times, it is unrealistic to expect more. Even funding this recommended budget will be a challenge. Public services across the county, the state and the nation are facing huge cutbacks.
MAINTENANCE OF EFFORT
• The proposed budget simply maintains the same per-pupil spending. That is what is meant by a “maintenance of effort” budget. Next year, there will be more than 3,300 additional students in MCPS. The county is expected to “maintain its effort” if it wants to get increased state aid. Next year, MCPS anticipates $27 million in additional state aid. The state simply says to the counties that if you want increased state aid for education, you cannot then decrease local aid for education. You can’t use increased state education aid to supplant local dollars that the county government wants to spend on other things.
• It has become fashionable among some county politicians to condemn the maintenance of effort law and call for changes. This is misguided. How can Montgomery County ask the state for increased aid for education but expect the state to allow the county to essentially use that increase in state education aid to cover non-education expenses?
• Montgomery County continues to be the 10th wealthiest county in America. Our local elected officials complain that the county doesn’t get enough state aid. What kind of credibility do we have when virtually every other county in Maryland has still been able to meet maintenance of effort, despite the severe recession, but Montgomery County claims it can’t afford to meet the same requirement?
THE COUNTY’S ERODING SUPPORT FOR PUBLIC EDUCATION
• The other “inconvenient truth” about county funding for MCPS is that, as a percentage of the county’s locally generated revenues, the percentage spend on MCPS has been dropping for almost a decade.
o From FY02 to FY11, the county government’s local tax supported revenues increased 59%
o From FY02 to FY11, the county’s spending on MCPS increased only 37%
As student enrollment has continued to steadily increase, the county government’s contribution to the school budget has grown in absolute dollars but – as the above numbers indicate - the county’s contribution to our schools has actually shrunk as a percentage of the county’s revenues. Most of the growth in the school budget has been funded by increases in state and federal aid for education. If the county were still providing MCPS the same share of local revenues that they did in 2002 – MCPS would be receiving $240 million more per year. Given that the county’s spending binge has been in other areas, and not on public education, the county should not now target MCPS for a disproportionate share of budget cuts.
SPENDING CUTS IN MCPS
• Over the last three years, MCPS has reduced spending by more than $300 million, eliminating 400+ positions, increasing class sizes, and foregoing employee cost-of-living adjustments and salary step increases. The central office has been shrunk by 20% in the last three years, including the elimination of 187 fulltime positions.
• Some on the county council call for increasing the cost of health insurance to MCPS employees, arguing that we should pay 20% of the premiums just like county employees. They choose to ignore the fact that – according to the Council’s own recently released report – the county government pays less for health insurance for each MCPS employee than they do for each county government employee; despite the fact that the county only pays 80% of their costs versus an average of about 93% in the school system. This budget maintains the current premium cost-sharing formulas.
• It is wrong to believe that the county can cut its way out of the current budget crisis. Yes, there will have to be additional cuts in programs and services. And yes, employee compensation will have to absorb some cuts. (Let’s not forget that the deferral again of the 5.3% COLA we had negotiated for FY10 will save the county another $78 million). But cuts alone cannot solve the problem. The county needs to find a balanced solution that raises revenues, cuts back on capital spending, as well as reduces programs and services. County Council members need to be honest with voters that the county cannot maintain programs and services in these times without increased revenues.
• The county cannot fund continuation of programs and services that tax-payers expect by continually reducing the salaries and benefits of public employees. That is not sustainable.
NEXT STEPS
Wednesday January 12th, MCEA will be testifying at the Board of Education’s public hearing on the proposed FY12 operating budget.
Concerned education voters can and should be writing personal emails to county council members urging them to seek a balanced solution – including revenue increases – and not to balance the budget simply by cutting employee compensation. Go to www.mcea.nea.org/action for links to email your council members.
Stay informed, by regularly checking the MCEA Blog – School Notes.
MAINTENANCE OF EFFORT
• The proposed budget simply maintains the same per-pupil spending. That is what is meant by a “maintenance of effort” budget. Next year, there will be more than 3,300 additional students in MCPS. The county is expected to “maintain its effort” if it wants to get increased state aid. Next year, MCPS anticipates $27 million in additional state aid. The state simply says to the counties that if you want increased state aid for education, you cannot then decrease local aid for education. You can’t use increased state education aid to supplant local dollars that the county government wants to spend on other things.
• It has become fashionable among some county politicians to condemn the maintenance of effort law and call for changes. This is misguided. How can Montgomery County ask the state for increased aid for education but expect the state to allow the county to essentially use that increase in state education aid to cover non-education expenses?
• Montgomery County continues to be the 10th wealthiest county in America. Our local elected officials complain that the county doesn’t get enough state aid. What kind of credibility do we have when virtually every other county in Maryland has still been able to meet maintenance of effort, despite the severe recession, but Montgomery County claims it can’t afford to meet the same requirement?
THE COUNTY’S ERODING SUPPORT FOR PUBLIC EDUCATION
• The other “inconvenient truth” about county funding for MCPS is that, as a percentage of the county’s locally generated revenues, the percentage spend on MCPS has been dropping for almost a decade.
o From FY02 to FY11, the county government’s local tax supported revenues increased 59%
o From FY02 to FY11, the county’s spending on MCPS increased only 37%
As student enrollment has continued to steadily increase, the county government’s contribution to the school budget has grown in absolute dollars but – as the above numbers indicate - the county’s contribution to our schools has actually shrunk as a percentage of the county’s revenues. Most of the growth in the school budget has been funded by increases in state and federal aid for education. If the county were still providing MCPS the same share of local revenues that they did in 2002 – MCPS would be receiving $240 million more per year. Given that the county’s spending binge has been in other areas, and not on public education, the county should not now target MCPS for a disproportionate share of budget cuts.
SPENDING CUTS IN MCPS
• Over the last three years, MCPS has reduced spending by more than $300 million, eliminating 400+ positions, increasing class sizes, and foregoing employee cost-of-living adjustments and salary step increases. The central office has been shrunk by 20% in the last three years, including the elimination of 187 fulltime positions.
• Some on the county council call for increasing the cost of health insurance to MCPS employees, arguing that we should pay 20% of the premiums just like county employees. They choose to ignore the fact that – according to the Council’s own recently released report – the county government pays less for health insurance for each MCPS employee than they do for each county government employee; despite the fact that the county only pays 80% of their costs versus an average of about 93% in the school system. This budget maintains the current premium cost-sharing formulas.
• It is wrong to believe that the county can cut its way out of the current budget crisis. Yes, there will have to be additional cuts in programs and services. And yes, employee compensation will have to absorb some cuts. (Let’s not forget that the deferral again of the 5.3% COLA we had negotiated for FY10 will save the county another $78 million). But cuts alone cannot solve the problem. The county needs to find a balanced solution that raises revenues, cuts back on capital spending, as well as reduces programs and services. County Council members need to be honest with voters that the county cannot maintain programs and services in these times without increased revenues.
• The county cannot fund continuation of programs and services that tax-payers expect by continually reducing the salaries and benefits of public employees. That is not sustainable.
NEXT STEPS
Wednesday January 12th, MCEA will be testifying at the Board of Education’s public hearing on the proposed FY12 operating budget.
Concerned education voters can and should be writing personal emails to county council members urging them to seek a balanced solution – including revenue increases – and not to balance the budget simply by cutting employee compensation. Go to www.mcea.nea.org/action for links to email your council members.
Stay informed, by regularly checking the MCEA Blog – School Notes.
Friday, December 10, 2010
An Inconvenient Truth
The County pays less for health insurance for each MCPS employee than they do for each county government employee; yet the County Council appears intent on cutting funding for health insurance for MCPS employees.
Earlier this week the County Council’s Office of Legislative Oversight issued a report entitled “Achieving a Structurally Balanced Budget in Montgomery County: Options for Long-Term Fiscal Balance”. While the report was a data rich compilation of information about the county budget, it was woefully imbalanced. Of the report’s more than 200 pages, only seven pages were devoted to analyzing the county's revenue issues and only three pages are devoted to the county's burgeoning debt service expenses.
So what's the rest of the report about? Employee salaries and benefits. In contrast to the paucity of options concerning county revenues and county debt expenses, the report contains dozens of recommendations for cutting employee salaries, cutting employee health insurance, and cutting employee retirement plans.
Many members of the County Council seem obsessed that MCPS employees generally pay 10% of their health insurance premiums while county government employees generally pay 20%. But those numbers obscure a more important fact buried in the very same report.
The fact is that the Montgomery County Government pays more per participant for employees in the county government’s health plans than the school board pays per participant for MCPS employees.
The MCPS premium structure is a 90/10 split on the point-of-service plans as well as the dental, vision and Caremark drug plans. The split on the HMOs is 95/5. This was done intentionally in order to provide an incentive for participants to enroll in lower cost, more tightly managed health care plans.
The good news is that this voluntary incentive has worked. Approximately 60% of MCPS employees participate in one of the HMOs.
The Council’s own staff report confirms that the county pays less for health insurance for each MCPS employee than it does for each county government employee:
NOTE: Bold = Plan with highest enrollment
Source: Montgomery County Council, Office of Legislative Oversight, “Achieving a Structurally Balanced Budget in Montgomery County: Options for Long-Term Fiscal Balance”, page 108, December 7, 2010.
That's right. Even despite the fact that the county only pays 80% of their costs versus an average of about 93% in the school system, the per capita employer costs for health insurance within MCPS are lower. The county typically pays $500 more per month per family for health insurance.
Why? That's the question the county government should be asking.
Part of the answer is because for 20+ years the MCPS unions have worked in partnership with the school district to promote cost containment (not cost shifting). We have created a number of incentives in the plan to encourage the use of the most cost effective health care options: incentives for generic drugs and mail order drugs, disincentives for emergency room use, incentives to enroll in lower cost, more tightly managed HMOs.
To increase the employee share of HMO premiums to a flat 20% would eliminate the incentive for enrolling in these lower cost, more tightly managed health care plans. Eliminating that incentive would likely increase overall plan costs.
Such a change would also have a disproportionate impact on employees in the HMOs. Quadrupling the cost of their share of insurance premiums would cost them an additional $2,343 a year. For a bus driver earning $25,000 a year – that’s almost a 10% cut in pay.
As the old saying goes - people who live in glass houses shouldn't throw stones. MCPS - in partnership with the unions here - have done a much better job of controlling the overall cost of health care than the county government has. The County Council should be encouraged to find out why the county government's insurance is costing the county more than MCPS' insurance. That's the real question.
Earlier this week the County Council’s Office of Legislative Oversight issued a report entitled “Achieving a Structurally Balanced Budget in Montgomery County: Options for Long-Term Fiscal Balance”. While the report was a data rich compilation of information about the county budget, it was woefully imbalanced. Of the report’s more than 200 pages, only seven pages were devoted to analyzing the county's revenue issues and only three pages are devoted to the county's burgeoning debt service expenses.
So what's the rest of the report about? Employee salaries and benefits. In contrast to the paucity of options concerning county revenues and county debt expenses, the report contains dozens of recommendations for cutting employee salaries, cutting employee health insurance, and cutting employee retirement plans.
Many members of the County Council seem obsessed that MCPS employees generally pay 10% of their health insurance premiums while county government employees generally pay 20%. But those numbers obscure a more important fact buried in the very same report.
The fact is that the Montgomery County Government pays more per participant for employees in the county government’s health plans than the school board pays per participant for MCPS employees.
The MCPS premium structure is a 90/10 split on the point-of-service plans as well as the dental, vision and Caremark drug plans. The split on the HMOs is 95/5. This was done intentionally in order to provide an incentive for participants to enroll in lower cost, more tightly managed health care plans.
The good news is that this voluntary incentive has worked. Approximately 60% of MCPS employees participate in one of the HMOs.
The Council’s own staff report confirms that the county pays less for health insurance for each MCPS employee than it does for each county government employee:
NOTE: Bold = Plan with highest enrollment
Source: Montgomery County Council, Office of Legislative Oversight, “Achieving a Structurally Balanced Budget in Montgomery County: Options for Long-Term Fiscal Balance”, page 108, December 7, 2010.
That's right. Even despite the fact that the county only pays 80% of their costs versus an average of about 93% in the school system, the per capita employer costs for health insurance within MCPS are lower. The county typically pays $500 more per month per family for health insurance.
Why? That's the question the county government should be asking.
Part of the answer is because for 20+ years the MCPS unions have worked in partnership with the school district to promote cost containment (not cost shifting). We have created a number of incentives in the plan to encourage the use of the most cost effective health care options: incentives for generic drugs and mail order drugs, disincentives for emergency room use, incentives to enroll in lower cost, more tightly managed HMOs.
To increase the employee share of HMO premiums to a flat 20% would eliminate the incentive for enrolling in these lower cost, more tightly managed health care plans. Eliminating that incentive would likely increase overall plan costs.
Such a change would also have a disproportionate impact on employees in the HMOs. Quadrupling the cost of their share of insurance premiums would cost them an additional $2,343 a year. For a bus driver earning $25,000 a year – that’s almost a 10% cut in pay.
As the old saying goes - people who live in glass houses shouldn't throw stones. MCPS - in partnership with the unions here - have done a much better job of controlling the overall cost of health care than the county government has. The County Council should be encouraged to find out why the county government's insurance is costing the county more than MCPS' insurance. That's the real question.
Tuesday, December 07, 2010
MCEA Issues Statement in Response to County Council Report
This morning, the Montgomery County Council's Office of Legislative Oversight issued a Report entitled Achieving a Structurally Balanced Budget in Montgomery County. The report compiles a vast amount of data and information. Yet, of the more than 200 pages in the report, only seven pages are devoted to analyzing the county's revenue issues and only three pages are devoted to the county's burgeoning debt service expenses.
So what's the rest of the report about? Employee salaries and benefits. In contrast to the paucity of options concerning county revenues and county debt expenses, the report contains dozens of recommendations for cutting employee salaries, cutting employee health insurance, and cutting employee retirement plans.
MCEA released the following press statement in response to the OLO Report, and will be providing additional information in the coming weeks to the public and to the County Council in response to the clear agenda of targetting public employees to solve the county's budget problems.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Tuesday, December 07, 2010
FOR MORE INFORMATION CONTACT: Doug Prouty (301)294-6232
There is no doubt that Montgomery County, like the rest of the state and the nation, faces continuing difficult economic times. Montgomery County’s educators – like millions of other Americans – have felt this directly. Over the last two years employees of the Montgomery County Public Schools have sacrificed over $100 million dollars in scheduled cost-of-living increases and longevity steps. We have also faced increased workloads as MCPS has increased class sizes and cut back on staffing levels. We understand that everyone must share in the burden of these tough times.
It is a mistake to blame the current budget crisis on public employees. It is wrong to do so at the federal level, and it is wrong to do it here. The average benefit in the teacher pension system is just $17,484 a year – hardly an extravagance after 30 years of service to our students.
“The Montgomery County Council is misguided if they believe that the can cut their way out of the current problem”, said Doug Prouty, President of the Montgomery County Education Association. “Cuts along cannot solve the county’s budget shortfall.”
Montgomery County voters did not elect the Tea Party, and they do not expect the members of the County Council to act like the Tea Party.
It will take a fair balance of spending cuts and revenue increases to get through the current budget problems. It is time for political leadership willing to share that honest truth with county residents.
Montgomery County remains the tenth wealthiest county in the nation. Surely we have the wherewithal to find the right balance of solutions so that we are not shortchanging the next generation, nor shortchanging the poor, the elderly and the neediest amongst us.
So what's the rest of the report about? Employee salaries and benefits. In contrast to the paucity of options concerning county revenues and county debt expenses, the report contains dozens of recommendations for cutting employee salaries, cutting employee health insurance, and cutting employee retirement plans.
MCEA released the following press statement in response to the OLO Report, and will be providing additional information in the coming weeks to the public and to the County Council in response to the clear agenda of targetting public employees to solve the county's budget problems.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Tuesday, December 07, 2010
FOR MORE INFORMATION CONTACT: Doug Prouty (301)294-6232
MCEA Statement on Release of OLO Recommendations
There is no doubt that Montgomery County, like the rest of the state and the nation, faces continuing difficult economic times. Montgomery County’s educators – like millions of other Americans – have felt this directly. Over the last two years employees of the Montgomery County Public Schools have sacrificed over $100 million dollars in scheduled cost-of-living increases and longevity steps. We have also faced increased workloads as MCPS has increased class sizes and cut back on staffing levels. We understand that everyone must share in the burden of these tough times.
It is a mistake to blame the current budget crisis on public employees. It is wrong to do so at the federal level, and it is wrong to do it here. The average benefit in the teacher pension system is just $17,484 a year – hardly an extravagance after 30 years of service to our students.
“The Montgomery County Council is misguided if they believe that the can cut their way out of the current problem”, said Doug Prouty, President of the Montgomery County Education Association. “Cuts along cannot solve the county’s budget shortfall.”
Montgomery County voters did not elect the Tea Party, and they do not expect the members of the County Council to act like the Tea Party.
It will take a fair balance of spending cuts and revenue increases to get through the current budget problems. It is time for political leadership willing to share that honest truth with county residents.
Montgomery County remains the tenth wealthiest county in the nation. Surely we have the wherewithal to find the right balance of solutions so that we are not shortchanging the next generation, nor shortchanging the poor, the elderly and the neediest amongst us.
# # #
Thursday, December 02, 2010
Today's recommended reading comes from Anne Geiger, A resident of Arlington Virginia and a self described “recovering school board member”.
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Messrs. Duncan and Gates- Why are you promoting a factory model for our children?
On the subject of public education, the first words out of politicians' and business leaders' mouths are "America's public schools are failing." They point to the need to raise test scores and graduation rates. They then reliably say that our children must be prepared for the 21st century. In recent speeches, Secretary of Education Arne Duncan and our shadow Secretary of Education, Bill Gates, declared that our schools must move from the "factory model" and institute a menu of business reforms that includes compensating teachers more on their students' test scores than their academic credentials or experience and using more on-line and virtual schooling. But there's a grave disconnect in their rhetoric and their ideas.
Computer programs, virtual classrooms, teachers trained to teach students how to pass standardized tests----->Teachers compensated by how many students pass tests----->Students graduate by passing standardized tests----->Students prepared for the 21st century.
Right?
Wrong.
Let's try it again.
Computer programs, virtual classrooms, teachers trained to teach students how to pass standardized tests----->Teachers compensated by how many students pass tests----->Students graduate by passing standardized tests----->Students prepared to take tests.
Students wired to think, "Is this on the test? What is the basic information I need to know to get by?
~What does "factory model" mean?
A factory is a building that employs laborers who process materials to manufacture products.
Using that definition....
~A school is a building in competition that uses technology and minimally trained teachers to process students for manufacturing good test-takers.
~What does "preparing students for the 21st century" mean?
Students who are literate and able to communicate well,
who can think intuitively, creatively, critically, flexibly and collaboratively,
who have working knowledge of literature, history, math, science, physics, geography, civics and the arts, and
who are ready to be engaged, informed citizens.
~So a school should be.....
a building linked to a community that houses well-educated teachers who work creatively and collaboratively to educate students to be literate and able to communicate well,
think intuitively, creatively, critically, flexibly and collaboratively,
have a working knowledge of literature, history, math, science, physics, geography, civics and the arts, and ready to be engaged, informed citizens.
Technology has its important role to play in this dynamic kind of learning, but so do books, rich curriculum, hands-on materials and tools, real-life experiences...
Some questions for Sec. Duncan, Mr. Gates and their alliance of corporate reformers (who are well supported so far by President Obama)....
~If you honestly and genuinely want students to be prepared for the 21st century, why are you promoting a "factory model" of educating our children?
~Why do you not facilitate in our public schools the kind of whole-child, dynamic education provided in the private schools where most of you enroll your own children?
~Why do you think it's OK for other children to be taught by a young college graduate without an education degree and trained to teach in five weeks when you would never accept that for your own children?
~Why do you misuse the examples of top-ranked Finland and Singapore who reject the factory model of education and provide ample safety nets for its citizens' families?
~Why do you stubbornly dismiss the fact that poverty affects learning most profoundly?
~Why do you insist that teachers who teach in urban and rural schools most challenged by poverty should shoulder the entire burden of reversing the conditions of poverty?
~Why do you cling to the idea that a four-year graduation rate should be the rigid (shall I say, "factory model") time frame for all students, especially those who are learning English, live in poverty, have learning exceptionalities or experience life-altering circumstances?
~Why do you promote the myth to Americans and the world that our schools are failing when that is not true?
~Why do you tell Americans that there are simple formulas for educating children and simple ways to measure the effectiveness of teachers when neither are true?
Despite their rhetoric that their reforms are "putting kids first," these corporate reformers are defining kids more as data points than unique, complex human beings. And you know why? Because education based primarily on test score data is cheaper and more replicable. Sounds more like a factory model than 21st century thinking, doesn't it?
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Messrs. Duncan and Gates- Why are you promoting a factory model for our children?
On the subject of public education, the first words out of politicians' and business leaders' mouths are "America's public schools are failing." They point to the need to raise test scores and graduation rates. They then reliably say that our children must be prepared for the 21st century. In recent speeches, Secretary of Education Arne Duncan and our shadow Secretary of Education, Bill Gates, declared that our schools must move from the "factory model" and institute a menu of business reforms that includes compensating teachers more on their students' test scores than their academic credentials or experience and using more on-line and virtual schooling. But there's a grave disconnect in their rhetoric and their ideas.
Computer programs, virtual classrooms, teachers trained to teach students how to pass standardized tests----->Teachers compensated by how many students pass tests----->Students graduate by passing standardized tests----->Students prepared for the 21st century.
Right?
Wrong.
Let's try it again.
Computer programs, virtual classrooms, teachers trained to teach students how to pass standardized tests----->Teachers compensated by how many students pass tests----->Students graduate by passing standardized tests----->Students prepared to take tests.
Students wired to think, "Is this on the test? What is the basic information I need to know to get by?
~What does "factory model" mean?
A factory is a building that employs laborers who process materials to manufacture products.
Using that definition....
~A school is a building in competition that uses technology and minimally trained teachers to process students for manufacturing good test-takers.
~What does "preparing students for the 21st century" mean?
Students who are literate and able to communicate well,
who can think intuitively, creatively, critically, flexibly and collaboratively,
who have working knowledge of literature, history, math, science, physics, geography, civics and the arts, and
who are ready to be engaged, informed citizens.
~So a school should be.....
a building linked to a community that houses well-educated teachers who work creatively and collaboratively to educate students to be literate and able to communicate well,
think intuitively, creatively, critically, flexibly and collaboratively,
have a working knowledge of literature, history, math, science, physics, geography, civics and the arts, and ready to be engaged, informed citizens.
Technology has its important role to play in this dynamic kind of learning, but so do books, rich curriculum, hands-on materials and tools, real-life experiences...
Some questions for Sec. Duncan, Mr. Gates and their alliance of corporate reformers (who are well supported so far by President Obama)....
~If you honestly and genuinely want students to be prepared for the 21st century, why are you promoting a "factory model" of educating our children?
~Why do you not facilitate in our public schools the kind of whole-child, dynamic education provided in the private schools where most of you enroll your own children?
~Why do you think it's OK for other children to be taught by a young college graduate without an education degree and trained to teach in five weeks when you would never accept that for your own children?
~Why do you misuse the examples of top-ranked Finland and Singapore who reject the factory model of education and provide ample safety nets for its citizens' families?
~Why do you stubbornly dismiss the fact that poverty affects learning most profoundly?
~Why do you insist that teachers who teach in urban and rural schools most challenged by poverty should shoulder the entire burden of reversing the conditions of poverty?
~Why do you cling to the idea that a four-year graduation rate should be the rigid (shall I say, "factory model") time frame for all students, especially those who are learning English, live in poverty, have learning exceptionalities or experience life-altering circumstances?
~Why do you promote the myth to Americans and the world that our schools are failing when that is not true?
~Why do you tell Americans that there are simple formulas for educating children and simple ways to measure the effectiveness of teachers when neither are true?
~ Pablo CasalsThe child must know that he (or she) is a miracle, that since the beginning of the world there hasn't been, and until the end of the world, there will not be another child like him (or her).
Despite their rhetoric that their reforms are "putting kids first," these corporate reformers are defining kids more as data points than unique, complex human beings. And you know why? Because education based primarily on test score data is cheaper and more replicable. Sounds more like a factory model than 21st century thinking, doesn't it?
Wednesday, December 01, 2010
Ravitch v. Gates
Diane Ravitch, a former Undersecretary of Education in the first Bush Administration, has emerged as one of the most eloquent critiques of the No Child Left Behind Act. Reprinted below - from Valerie Strauss' Blog at the Washington Post - is a column where she replies to questions posed by one of NCLB's most prominent advocates, none other than billionaire Bill Gates.
News Date: 11/30/2010
In a paean to Bill Gates, Newsweek's Jonathan Alter calls Diane Ravitch the Microsoft founder's "chief adversary."
It's the world's richest (or second richest) man vs. an education historian and New York University research professor.
Gates, through his philanthropic foundation, has invested billions of dollars in education experiments and now has a pivotal role in reform efforts. Ravitch, the author of the bestselling The Death and Life of the Great American School System, has become the most vocal opponent of the Obama administration's education policy. She says Gates is backing the wrong initiatives and harming public schools.
In the Newsweek piece, Gates poses some questions aimed at Ravitch. I asked her to answer them. Below are the questions Gates asked, in bold, and the answers, in italics, that Ravitch provided in an email.
Gates: “Does she like the status quo?"
Ravitch: "No, I certainly don't like the status quo. I don't like the attacks on teachers, I don't like the attacks on the educators who work in our schools day in and day out, I don't like the phony solutions that are now put forward that won't improve our schools at all. I am not at all content with the quality of American education in general, and I have expressed my criticisms over many years, long before Bill Gates decided to make education his project. I think American children need not only testing in basic skills, but an education that includes the arts, literature, the sciences, history, geography, civics, foreign languages, economics, and physical education.
"I don't hear any of the corporate reformers expressing concern about the way standardized testing narrows the curriculum, the way it rewards convergent thinking and punishes divergent thinking, the way it stamps out creativity and originality. I don't hear any of them worried that a generation will grow up ignorant of history and the workings of government. I don't hear any of them putting up $100 million to make sure that every child has the chance to learn to play a musical instrument. All I hear from them is a demand for higher test scores and a demand to tie teachers' evaluations to those test scores. That is not going to improve education."
Gates: "Is she sticking up for decline?"
Ravitch: "Of course not! If we follow Bill Gates' demand to judge teachers by test scores, we will see stagnation, and he will blame it on teachers. We will see stagnation because a relentless focus on test scores in reading and math will inevitably narrow the curriculum only to what is tested. This is not good education.
"Last week, he said in a speech that teachers should not be paid more for experience and graduate degrees. I wonder why a man of his vast wealth spends so much time trying to figuring out how to cut teachers' pay. Does he truly believe that our nation's schools will get better if we have teachers with less education and less experience? Who does he listen to? He needs to get himself a smarter set of advisers.
"Of course, we need to make teaching a profession that attracts and retains wonderful teachers, but the current anti-teacher rhetoric emanating from him and his confreres demonizes and demoralizes even the best teachers. I have gotten letters from many teachers who tell me that they have had it, they have never felt such disrespect; and I have also met young people who tell me that the current poisonous atmosphere has persuaded them not to become teachers. Why doesn't he make speeches thanking the people who work so hard day after day, educating our nation's children, often in difficult working conditions, most of whom earn less than he pays his secretaries at Microsoft?"
Gates: "Does she really like 400-page [union] contracts?"
Ravitch: "Does Bill Gates realize that every contract is signed by two parties: management and labor? Why does management agree to 400-page contracts? I don't know how many pages should be in a union contract, but I do believe that teachers should be evaluated by competent supervisors before they receive tenure (i.e., the right to due process).
"Once they have due process rights, they have the right to a hearing when someone wants to fire them. The reason for due process rights is that teachers in the past have been fired because of their race, their religion, their sexual orientation, or because they did not make a political contribution to the right campaign, or for some other reason not related to their competence.
"Gates probably doesn't know this, but 50% of all those who enter teaching leave within the first five years. Our biggest problem is not getting rid of deadbeats, but recruiting, retaining, and supporting teachers. We have to replace 300,000 teachers (of nearly 4 million) every single year. What are his ideas about how to do this?"
Gates: "Does she think all those ‘dropout factories' are lonely?"
Ravitch: "This may come as a surprise to Bill Gates, but the schools he refers to as "dropout factories" enroll large numbers of high-need students. Many of them don't speak or read English; many of them enter high school three and four grade levels behind. He assumes the schools created the problems the students have; but in many cases, the schools he calls "dropout factories" are filled with heroic teachers and administrators trying their best to help kids who have massive learning problems.
"Unless someone from the district or the state actually goes into the schools and does a diagnostic evaluation, it is unfair to stigmatize the schools with the largest numbers of students who are English-language learners, special-education, and far behind in their learning. That's like saying that an oncologist is not as good a doctor as a dermatologist because so many of his patients die. Mr. Gates, first establish the risk factor before throwing around the labels and closing down schools."
Gates: "If there's some other magic way to reduce the dropout rate, we're all ears.”
Ravitch: "Here's the sad truth: There is no magic way to reduce the dropout rate. It involves looking at the reasons students leave school, as well as the conditions in which they live. The single biggest correlate with low academic achievement (contrary to the film Waiting for Superman) is poverty. Children who grow up in poverty get less medical care. worse nutrition, less exposure to knowledge and vocabulary, and are more likely to be exposed to childhood diseases, violence, drugs, and abuse. They are more likely to have relatives who are incarcerated. They are more likely to live in economic insecurity, not knowing if there is enough money for a winter coat or food or housing. This affects their academic performance. They tend to have lower attendance and to be sick more than children whose parents are well-off.
"The United States today has a child poverty rate of over 20%, and it is rising. This is a national scandal. The film compares us to Finland, but doesn't mention that their child poverty rate is under 5%. Mr. Gates, why don't you address the root causes of low academic achievement, which is not 'bad teachers,' but poverty. It won't involve magic, but it would certainly require the best thinking that you can assemble. And if anyone can afford to do it, surely you can.
I don't mean to suggest that schools as they are now are just fine: They are not. Every school should have a rich and balanced curriculum; many don't. Every child should look forward to coming to school, for his or her favorite studies and activities, but those are the very studies and activities likely to lose out to endless test preparation. Schools need many things: Some need more resources and better conditions for teaching and learning; all need a stable, experienced staff. Teachers need opportunities for intellectual growth and colleagueship. Tests should be used diagnostically, to help students and teachers, not to allocate bonuses and punishments. Teachers, principals, administrators, parents, and local communities should collaborate to create caring communities, and that's happening in many places. I know that none of this is the "magic way" that you are looking for, Mr. Gates, but any educator will tell you that education is a slow, laborious process that requires good teachers, able leadership, willing students, a strong curriculum, and willing students None of that happens magically."
I also asked Ravitch about her reaction to the strange comparison Alter made in calling her "the Whittaker Chambers of school reform." She wrote:
"I wondered if Alter knows much about history. Whittaker Chambers renounced Communism and embraced American patriotism. Was Alter suggesting that Bill Gates is the Alger Hiss of school reform? I thought it was a weird analogy.
News Date: 11/30/2010
In a paean to Bill Gates, Newsweek's Jonathan Alter calls Diane Ravitch the Microsoft founder's "chief adversary."
It's the world's richest (or second richest) man vs. an education historian and New York University research professor.
Gates, through his philanthropic foundation, has invested billions of dollars in education experiments and now has a pivotal role in reform efforts. Ravitch, the author of the bestselling The Death and Life of the Great American School System, has become the most vocal opponent of the Obama administration's education policy. She says Gates is backing the wrong initiatives and harming public schools.
In the Newsweek piece, Gates poses some questions aimed at Ravitch. I asked her to answer them. Below are the questions Gates asked, in bold, and the answers, in italics, that Ravitch provided in an email.
Gates: “Does she like the status quo?"
Ravitch: "No, I certainly don't like the status quo. I don't like the attacks on teachers, I don't like the attacks on the educators who work in our schools day in and day out, I don't like the phony solutions that are now put forward that won't improve our schools at all. I am not at all content with the quality of American education in general, and I have expressed my criticisms over many years, long before Bill Gates decided to make education his project. I think American children need not only testing in basic skills, but an education that includes the arts, literature, the sciences, history, geography, civics, foreign languages, economics, and physical education.
"I don't hear any of the corporate reformers expressing concern about the way standardized testing narrows the curriculum, the way it rewards convergent thinking and punishes divergent thinking, the way it stamps out creativity and originality. I don't hear any of them worried that a generation will grow up ignorant of history and the workings of government. I don't hear any of them putting up $100 million to make sure that every child has the chance to learn to play a musical instrument. All I hear from them is a demand for higher test scores and a demand to tie teachers' evaluations to those test scores. That is not going to improve education."
Gates: "Is she sticking up for decline?"
Ravitch: "Of course not! If we follow Bill Gates' demand to judge teachers by test scores, we will see stagnation, and he will blame it on teachers. We will see stagnation because a relentless focus on test scores in reading and math will inevitably narrow the curriculum only to what is tested. This is not good education.
"Last week, he said in a speech that teachers should not be paid more for experience and graduate degrees. I wonder why a man of his vast wealth spends so much time trying to figuring out how to cut teachers' pay. Does he truly believe that our nation's schools will get better if we have teachers with less education and less experience? Who does he listen to? He needs to get himself a smarter set of advisers.
"Of course, we need to make teaching a profession that attracts and retains wonderful teachers, but the current anti-teacher rhetoric emanating from him and his confreres demonizes and demoralizes even the best teachers. I have gotten letters from many teachers who tell me that they have had it, they have never felt such disrespect; and I have also met young people who tell me that the current poisonous atmosphere has persuaded them not to become teachers. Why doesn't he make speeches thanking the people who work so hard day after day, educating our nation's children, often in difficult working conditions, most of whom earn less than he pays his secretaries at Microsoft?"
Gates: "Does she really like 400-page [union] contracts?"
Ravitch: "Does Bill Gates realize that every contract is signed by two parties: management and labor? Why does management agree to 400-page contracts? I don't know how many pages should be in a union contract, but I do believe that teachers should be evaluated by competent supervisors before they receive tenure (i.e., the right to due process).
"Once they have due process rights, they have the right to a hearing when someone wants to fire them. The reason for due process rights is that teachers in the past have been fired because of their race, their religion, their sexual orientation, or because they did not make a political contribution to the right campaign, or for some other reason not related to their competence.
"Gates probably doesn't know this, but 50% of all those who enter teaching leave within the first five years. Our biggest problem is not getting rid of deadbeats, but recruiting, retaining, and supporting teachers. We have to replace 300,000 teachers (of nearly 4 million) every single year. What are his ideas about how to do this?"
Gates: "Does she think all those ‘dropout factories' are lonely?"
Ravitch: "This may come as a surprise to Bill Gates, but the schools he refers to as "dropout factories" enroll large numbers of high-need students. Many of them don't speak or read English; many of them enter high school three and four grade levels behind. He assumes the schools created the problems the students have; but in many cases, the schools he calls "dropout factories" are filled with heroic teachers and administrators trying their best to help kids who have massive learning problems.
"Unless someone from the district or the state actually goes into the schools and does a diagnostic evaluation, it is unfair to stigmatize the schools with the largest numbers of students who are English-language learners, special-education, and far behind in their learning. That's like saying that an oncologist is not as good a doctor as a dermatologist because so many of his patients die. Mr. Gates, first establish the risk factor before throwing around the labels and closing down schools."
Gates: "If there's some other magic way to reduce the dropout rate, we're all ears.”
Ravitch: "Here's the sad truth: There is no magic way to reduce the dropout rate. It involves looking at the reasons students leave school, as well as the conditions in which they live. The single biggest correlate with low academic achievement (contrary to the film Waiting for Superman) is poverty. Children who grow up in poverty get less medical care. worse nutrition, less exposure to knowledge and vocabulary, and are more likely to be exposed to childhood diseases, violence, drugs, and abuse. They are more likely to have relatives who are incarcerated. They are more likely to live in economic insecurity, not knowing if there is enough money for a winter coat or food or housing. This affects their academic performance. They tend to have lower attendance and to be sick more than children whose parents are well-off.
"The United States today has a child poverty rate of over 20%, and it is rising. This is a national scandal. The film compares us to Finland, but doesn't mention that their child poverty rate is under 5%. Mr. Gates, why don't you address the root causes of low academic achievement, which is not 'bad teachers,' but poverty. It won't involve magic, but it would certainly require the best thinking that you can assemble. And if anyone can afford to do it, surely you can.
I don't mean to suggest that schools as they are now are just fine: They are not. Every school should have a rich and balanced curriculum; many don't. Every child should look forward to coming to school, for his or her favorite studies and activities, but those are the very studies and activities likely to lose out to endless test preparation. Schools need many things: Some need more resources and better conditions for teaching and learning; all need a stable, experienced staff. Teachers need opportunities for intellectual growth and colleagueship. Tests should be used diagnostically, to help students and teachers, not to allocate bonuses and punishments. Teachers, principals, administrators, parents, and local communities should collaborate to create caring communities, and that's happening in many places. I know that none of this is the "magic way" that you are looking for, Mr. Gates, but any educator will tell you that education is a slow, laborious process that requires good teachers, able leadership, willing students, a strong curriculum, and willing students None of that happens magically."
I also asked Ravitch about her reaction to the strange comparison Alter made in calling her "the Whittaker Chambers of school reform." She wrote:
"I wondered if Alter knows much about history. Whittaker Chambers renounced Communism and embraced American patriotism. Was Alter suggesting that Bill Gates is the Alger Hiss of school reform? I thought it was a weird analogy.
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