The war on teachers

Over the weekend there were a few articles of note about the war on teachers and the profession itself. Over the last several years, we have seen more and more attacks leveled by the corporate "reformers" and their celebrity endorsers at teachers as being under worked and overpaid. Just ask Bill Gates and some researchers at the Heritage Foundation. 

Anthony Cody and Eric Shieh penned two great pieces that highlight the need for teachers to get even more organized and to look deeply at what is happening around them. The many schemes that states and school districts are developing to use student test scores as part of educator evaluations and even in determining budget based lay-offs is alarming. A lot of these schemes are results of securing Race to the Top funding and/or applying for NCLB waivers. 

You can also read this piece that highlights how teachers seem to be ignored in the reform debate. 

Teach to the test! No wait. Don't!

From President Obama's State of the Union address:

“Teachers matter. So instead of bashing them, or defending the status quo, let’s offer schools a deal. Give them the resources to keep good teachers on the job, and reward the best ones. In return, grant schools flexibility: To teach with creativity and passion; to stop teaching to the test; and to replace teachers who just aren’t helping kids learn.”

Why does the President ask that people stop teaching to the test when his policies continue this mandate? In his signature Race to the Top program, states are required to create tests to measure student achievement and it is expected that those test scores will be used to evaluate educators whether they teach a tested subject or not.

While all states did not apply for or win RTTT grants, many are applying for waivers from the penalties that will be imposed for failing to meet NCLB requirements. Those waivers carry with them many mandates that are the same as those imposed by RTTT.

The President cited a study that has been making the rounds that says a good teacher can add $250,000 to the lifetime earnings of a student. But as has been pointed out by economist Bruce Baker:

“One of the big quotes in The New York Times article is: ‘Replacing a poor teacher with an average one would raise a single classroom’s lifetime earnings by about $266,000, the economists estimate.’ This comes straight from the research paper. BUT ... let’s break that down. It’s a whole classroom of kids. Let’s say ... for rounding purposes, 26.6 kids if this is a large urban district like NYC. Let’s say we’re talking about earning careers from age 25 to 65 or about 40 years. So, $266,000/26.6 = $10,000 lifetime additional earnings per individual. Hmmm ... no longer catchy headline stuff. Now, per year? $10,000/40 = $250. Yep, about $250 per year.”

What continues to be ignored is that while teachers have a great impact inside of the school, what goes on outside of school has a larger influence. If we don't address the issues of poverty and the impact that it has on students coming in, we will see students who continue to struggle and the corporate "reformers" will continue to blame teachers and the unions. 

 

Shifting teacher pensions jeopardizes education funding

Last week Governor O'Malley discussed plans to shift a portion of the cost of teacher pensions back to the local counties as a way to improve the state budget. Part of the state's argument has been that the pension fund is troubled.

From today's Frederick News-Post:

Teacher pension fund now sustainable

     In its editorial, "Sharing the cost of teacher pensions," The Frederick News-Post states that "many believe" Maryland's pension system is "inarguably unsustainable."

      This conclusion must be challenged in light of last year's legislative session when the pension system underwent major reform. As a result of these reforms, actuaries for the State Retirement and Pension System as well as the General Assembly now project that the system is on a path for sustainability, expected to reach 80 percent funding by fiscal year 2023 and 100 percent funding in fiscal year 2030.

     This was accomplished by increasing state employee contributions to their retirement by 40 percent; reducing benefits for service earned after June 30, 2011; increasing vesting for new employees from five to 10 years; and reducing the annual Cost of Living Adjustment for service earned on and after July 1, 2011.

     To the contrary, the actions of Gov. Martin O'Malley and the General Assembly have provided a state pension system that is sustainable.

R. DEAN KENDERDINE, executive director, Maryland State Retirement and Pension System

Shifting any of the cost of teacher pensions back to the county will do nothing but hurt the counties and their schools systems if the state's broken Maintenance of Effort law is not fixed, ensuring that counties fulfill their obligation to fully fund their school systems. For more information on MOE, go to www.mceanea.org/action/moe.php or www.marylandeducators.org/moe/.

Save our State report

After the great event held in Rockville last week, the coalition Save Our State issued a letter and report to state legislators detailing the need for a balanced approach to solving Maryland's budget woes.

http://www.mceanea.org/pdf/letter.pdf

http://www.mceanea.org/pdf/SOSreport.pdf

Maintenance of Effort issue getting plenty of notice

One way that the State can help education is to fix the Maintenance of Effort (MOE) law that requires counties to fund education at the same rate as it did the previous year. The law was put in to place so counties would supplement their education budgets when the state increased education funding and not supplant funds that were meant for schools. You can see our background information here.

The Governor, Speaker of the House and President of the Senate have publicly stated that they want to fix the law.

We have had great success in getting press coverage on the statewide MOE push. But we must stay vigilant. Check back often to get the latest news.  Here is this week’s press rundown:

Baltimore Sun: Almost one-third of counties aren’t meeting school funding requirements, state says

Baltimore Sun: Miller, Busch warn counties to maintain school spending

Baltimore Sun: Officials say maintenance of effort needs to be revamped

The Enterprise: Legislators say look to counties to boost school funding

Gazette: For Montgomery school leaders with eyes on Annapolis, money talks

Examiner: Montgomery County delegation seeks money for transit, schools

Patch: Maryland Schools Receive Top Rating, Still Face Obstacles

MDReporter: MD schools get top grade for fourth year in a row, but still not #1 in student achievement

NCLB 10 years on

As we have just passed the 10 year mark of the existence of NCLB, there have been a number of articles written about the law and its affects.
Diane Ravitch shares her thoughts about the "wreckage" the law has left in it's wake, including this nugget:

"In Massachusetts, the nation's highest-performing state by far on NAEP, 81 percent of the schools failed to make AYP. But in lower-performing Louisiana, only 22 percent of the schools did not make AYP. Yet, when you compare the same two states on NAEP, 51 percent of 4th graders in Massachusetts are rated proficient, compared with 23 percent in Louisiana. In 8th grade, again, twice as many students in Massachusetts are proficient compared with Louisiana, yet Massachusetts has nearly four times as many allegedly "failing" schools! This is crazy."

There is also news on the NCLB waiver front. States are starting to become more skeptical of the scheme as there is still concerns about the strings that are attached to the waivers and questions about what a new NCLB law may look like. We tackled those issues here and here. How will swapping one bad policy for another bad policy help our students and educators achieve greater success in the classroom? This law may be haunting us for years to come.

What aren't we learning from Finland?

The Atlantic recently published an article titled, “What Americans Keep Ignoring about Finland’s School Success” 

A very interesting piece considering how often people like you point to Finland's educational success when discussing American education policies.    

http://www.theatlantic.com/national/archive/2011/12/what-americans-keep-ignoring-about-finlands-school-success/250564/ 

Who has been left behind?

Valerie Strauss shares with us Diane Ravitch's speech from the 2011 Opportunity to Learn Summit in today's Washington Post. 
As we approach the 10th anniversary of NCLB, Ms. Ravitch's speech is another fine illustration of how those policies have failed students and educators and is now being used by the "corporate reformers" who want public dollars to pay for their private charters and virtual schools. Very worth reading!

Save Our State looks to save social services

Save Our State a coalition of  progressive and community groups have organized community conversations that are focusing the state budget debate away from more cuts and towards a more balanced approach for our future.

Save Our State is encouraging lawmakers to find ways to enhance revenues while protecting the working and middle class of Maryland. Possibilities include closing corporate tax loopholes and raising the income tax rate on high wage earners (over $1million). Over the last five years, $7 billion has been cut from the state budget. While that affects everyone, it hits the working and middle class the hardest. 

Please share and visit www.saveourstatemd.org for more information about upcoming events and to send a message to legislators about the importance of seeking a balanced approach to address the state’s budget woes while also protecting critical funding priorities. You can use this link to contact your legislators. 

There will be an event in MoCo:
January 5, Thomas Farm Community Center, 700 Fallsgrove Drive, Rockville, MD, 6:00 p.m.−8:00 p.m.