Apparently the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences did not find "Waiting for Superman" to be worthy of an Oscar nomination in the documentary category (see below).
I'm sure Michele Rhee and Bill Gates will be both surprised and disappointed. Lots of folks assumed that the film was headed for an Oscar and that the award would be used to expand the roll out of the film - and the propaganda campaign. (So far it has only opened in a limited number of strategically chosen markets - mainly markets with large charter school sectors: Washington DC, New Orleans, Ohio, etc.).
But apparently not only was it a grossly misleading film, it was apparently not a very well done one either.
The folks at Rethinking Schools have been compiling a lot of the commentary and analysis on the problems with "Waiting for Superman" at http://notwaitingforsuperman.org/.
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The Academy Award for Documentary Feature is among the most prestigious awards for documentary films. Here are the nominees:
Documentary (Feature)
"Exit through the Gift Shop"
"Gasland"
"Inside Job"
"Restrepo"
"Waste Land"
Tuesday, January 25, 2011
Sunday, January 23, 2011
The Governor Gets It Wrong on Pensions
While we very much appreciate the Governor's decision not to support an increased shift in the costs of teacher pensions onto local counties, we believe he is listening to bad advice on how to restore the long term financial health of the pension plan. It is not necessary to gut the plan's benefits in order to 'save' it.
Understanding the State Teacher Pension Plan Issue
1. What is referred to as the state teacher pension plan covers most school system employees as well as most employees of the state’s public libraries and community colleges.
2. In 2000 the state teacher pension plan was fully funded.
3. In 2004, the General Assembly voted to begin underfunding the plan: each year contributing less than the actuarially determined funding level. (One estimate has calculated the underfunding at close to one billion dollars).
4. In 2006, the General Assembly voted to increase employee contributions from 2% to 5% to pay for improved benefits. The improvement was to be phased in over 22 years. The increased employee contribution paid the full cost of the improvement going forward. The General Assembly agreed to make the improvement retroactive eight years back to 1998. They took no further action to improve funding.
5. In 2008 the economy and investment markets crashed. The plan’s asset values dropped by twenty percent. There is general agreement that the market crash accounts for about 85% of the last report on the unfunded accrued liability, which the General Assembly’s underfunding formula accounts for the other 15%.
6. In 2011, The Governor has proposed reneging on the 2006 agreement. His proposal would have plan participants paying more than they are now, for benefits that are as bad as they were before 2006 – when Maryland was recognized as having one of the worst teacher pension plans in the nation. For a retirement benefit that teachers paid 2% of their annual salary for in 2005, teachers would now have to be paying more than three times that amount – at 7% of their annual salary. Not only would teachers lose the phase in of the improved pension benefit approved by the General Assembly in 2006, they’d essentially end up with a 5% pay cut to maintain the same inadequate retirement benefit they had before 2006.
7. There are adjustments that can be made in the pension plan to improve its long term financial health. Issues of the vesting period and early retirement rules can and should be reviewed. The State Retirement Board itself has proposed changes in corridor funding and smoothing rules that both could reduce the unfunded accrued liability. The Board is also conducting an experience audit this spring that will update plan assumptions about salary growth, retirement age, etc;, and it is expected that the audit will improve the plan’s financial outlook as well.
8. In 2010 the markets have recouped more than half their losses The Dow Jones Industrial Average is back above 11,000. These market improvements will begin to be reflected in the pension plan's next annual valuation. As State Treasurer Nancy Kopp has so accurately observed, the timing of the state’s annual plan valuation in relation to the peaks and valleys of the market, has a significant and random impact on the plan valuation. It is simply a snapshot in time.
9. Just as it was a mistake for the General Assembly to begin underfunding the plan on the heels of the booming investment market; it would be a mistake for them to gut pension benefits based on worst point in the recent bear market.
10. It is in all our interests that the state pension plan be restored to its former financial health. But it doesn’t have to be done by slashing promised retirement benefits to teachers, librarians, janitors and school bus drivers.
Tom Israel, MCEA Executive Director
Understanding the State Teacher Pension Plan Issue
1. What is referred to as the state teacher pension plan covers most school system employees as well as most employees of the state’s public libraries and community colleges.
2. In 2000 the state teacher pension plan was fully funded.
3. In 2004, the General Assembly voted to begin underfunding the plan: each year contributing less than the actuarially determined funding level. (One estimate has calculated the underfunding at close to one billion dollars).
4. In 2006, the General Assembly voted to increase employee contributions from 2% to 5% to pay for improved benefits. The improvement was to be phased in over 22 years. The increased employee contribution paid the full cost of the improvement going forward. The General Assembly agreed to make the improvement retroactive eight years back to 1998. They took no further action to improve funding.
5. In 2008 the economy and investment markets crashed. The plan’s asset values dropped by twenty percent. There is general agreement that the market crash accounts for about 85% of the last report on the unfunded accrued liability, which the General Assembly’s underfunding formula accounts for the other 15%.
6. In 2011, The Governor has proposed reneging on the 2006 agreement. His proposal would have plan participants paying more than they are now, for benefits that are as bad as they were before 2006 – when Maryland was recognized as having one of the worst teacher pension plans in the nation. For a retirement benefit that teachers paid 2% of their annual salary for in 2005, teachers would now have to be paying more than three times that amount – at 7% of their annual salary. Not only would teachers lose the phase in of the improved pension benefit approved by the General Assembly in 2006, they’d essentially end up with a 5% pay cut to maintain the same inadequate retirement benefit they had before 2006.
7. There are adjustments that can be made in the pension plan to improve its long term financial health. Issues of the vesting period and early retirement rules can and should be reviewed. The State Retirement Board itself has proposed changes in corridor funding and smoothing rules that both could reduce the unfunded accrued liability. The Board is also conducting an experience audit this spring that will update plan assumptions about salary growth, retirement age, etc;, and it is expected that the audit will improve the plan’s financial outlook as well.
8. In 2010 the markets have recouped more than half their losses The Dow Jones Industrial Average is back above 11,000. These market improvements will begin to be reflected in the pension plan's next annual valuation. As State Treasurer Nancy Kopp has so accurately observed, the timing of the state’s annual plan valuation in relation to the peaks and valleys of the market, has a significant and random impact on the plan valuation. It is simply a snapshot in time.
9. Just as it was a mistake for the General Assembly to begin underfunding the plan on the heels of the booming investment market; it would be a mistake for them to gut pension benefits based on worst point in the recent bear market.
10. It is in all our interests that the state pension plan be restored to its former financial health. But it doesn’t have to be done by slashing promised retirement benefits to teachers, librarians, janitors and school bus drivers.
Tom Israel, MCEA Executive Director
Friday, January 21, 2011
90 Teachers Achieve/Renew National Board Certification
Last night over 200 teachers, family and friends came to the MCEA Center for Leadership and Learning to take part in a pinning ceremony honoring 71 teachers who achieved National Board certification, and 19 teachers who renewed their certification. School board members Chris Barclay and Mike Durso were present for the occasion, as well as Dr. Lacey, Deputy Superintendent of Schools.
MCEA Vice President and NBCT Chris Lloyd provided the following remarks:
MCEA Vice President and NBCT Chris Lloyd provided the following remarks:
Broadcast Journalist Dan Rather said, “The dream begins with a teacher who believes in you, who tugs and pushes and leads you to the next plateau, sometimes poking you with a sharp stick called ‘truth.’ “ For those of us who teach, who are entrusted with the care of this community’s children, we indeed have days where we tug to help move a child along…where we push in order to bring a level of confidence in the unseen…and where we lead to new learning, often through difficult and challenging lands. Indeed the schools we all attended are no longer reflections of the schools that exist today.
Being a teacher is soulful, passionate, and artful work – that too often goes unrecognized and yet always has a profound impact on a community and its children. So this afternoon is indeed a wonderful occasion, because we recognize accomplished teaching – and in doing so, recognize the complexity of the craft. President Doug Prouty and I are proud of you, the work you do, and this certification. We applaud you, and the difference you are making with children.
Being a National Board Certified teacher is all about being a reflective practioner. You have demonstrated that through a rigorous professional process, to which you voluntarily “subjected” yourself. This past year I’m sure was one filled with all kinds of emotions. But you persisted, carried on, and can now join the ranks of 634 NBCTs here in MCPS. You are examples of teacher leaders.
If you’ve been subjected to me long enough, you’ve heard me quote Peter Senge. He’s a systems thinker…and a great mind. Senge writes that, “Leadership is the capacity of the human community to shape its destiny, and to sustain the significant processes of change required to do so.” I love this quote, because not once does it frame leadership in terms of position. Leadership is about vision, and moving the arc of history, and sustaining through some really tough times.
And if ever we face tough times, and we need leaders – it is now. Make no mistake, the stakes are high on so many fronts. We have a state superintendent who believes that evaluating teachers is as easy as looking at a test score, which doesn’t honor the complexity of our craft. We find it to be a simplistic and frankly demeaning look at the work of our 12,000 members. The National Board standards and propositions we know so well – they honor that craft.
And in these tough economic times we need leaders – we need advocates for children. Any influence I have as an NBCT is magnified over 600 times with all of you and our colleagues around the county, and we need to make our voices heard now.
Catherine Ryan Hyde wrote a book called “Pay It Forward.” It was made into a movie, and the premise is quite simple. The character chooses 3 people, does three good deeds, and then asks those people to do the same – resulting in 9, and 27, and 81 good deeds – and so on – in an exponential pyramid of good will. If ever a book described what we do as teachers, this is it…30 children, who will impact hundreds more, who will impact thousands more.
I challenge you this afternoon to “pay it forward” to National Board candidates as yet unseen. Recruit them, become involved, support them, coach, and guide. See yourself not just as a leader in your classroom, but as a leader in our system, in our community. The profession of teaching demands nothing less. There is a moral calling right now that we must heed. Education is at the end of the day about social justice, and National Board certification is not the end of a journey, but a beginning. Congratulations to each and every one of you on this accomplishment, so richly deserved, so humbly accepted – Doug and I thank you for all of the work you do each and every hour, as leaders bending the arc of history.
Find more information on National Board certification.
Thursday, January 13, 2011
Budget testimony to the Board of Education
Montgomery County Board of Education
Public Hearing on the Proposed FY11 Operating Budget
January 12, 2011
Testimony of
Doug Prouty, MCEA President
Good evening President Barclay, members of the Board, and Dr. Weast. Thank you for this opportunity to testify on the Superintendent’s Recommended Operating Budget for Fiscal Year 2012. I am Doug Prouty, president of the Montgomery County Education Association which represents 12,000 teachers and other non-supervisory professional educators. I appreciate this opportunity to comment tonight. We are also deeply appreciative of the continuing commitment you have made to work together with us and other stakeholders to craft the best possible MCPS budget in this exceedingly difficult circumstance.
Dr. Weast asked in his introduction of the FY ’12 budget what a child’s education is worth. That is exactly the right question, especially when one considers that each of our students, and the students to come, do indeed get only one chance at that education. As you debate and finalize this budget and send it on to the County Executive and Council, keep in mind that question, as you always have in the past. Even were it not required by state law, sending forth a maintenance of effort budget is the right thing to do. It is your responsibility – your duty – to advocate for the needs of our students. A maintenance of effort budget simply maintains the current level of per-pupil spending. Recent hand wringing about this law notwithstanding, our children deserve this most modest of efforts.
We realize that there will be cuts to all agencies in Montgomery County when the budget process concludes in May. Our efforts together last year resulted in an outcome that was, while far from ideal, better than what might have been. A similar, perhaps even more Herculean, effort will be needed this year. You will hear tonight and next week from teachers, parents, students, other MCPS employees, and community members about specific programs that deserve to avoid paring or elimination. The problem is that, at the end of the day, most if not all of them are right. What we have should be enhanced. What a sad thing that instead we will have to decide on what cannot even be maintained. And in this year of increased class sizes and decreased levels of support for schools, our employees have given 110% to maintain quality. They have sacrificed not only money but also time to ensure that students get the best education. But we cannot assume it is reasonable, or even feasible, to continue to ask more to be done with fewer resources.
The Board of Education, the Superintendent, the employees, and the community have worked together to create a model school system. Indeed, we have entertained visitors from a wide range of states and countries who want to know about our work as a means of improving their own. Further proof of the fruits of our collaboration came last week. I meet and communicate with the other local presidents in Maryland frequently. An email was sent by one president asking if the rest had received an invitation from the U.S. Secretary of Education to attend a conference next month to learn about the experience of ten districts from around the country which had improved student achievement through labor-management collaboration. I tried to be humble in replying that yes, Montgomery County had been invited- in fact, we were selected to be one of the ten to share our story.
But collaboration itself has not resulted in the progress we have made. Rather, it is the focus on the people in MCPS that is to be credited. Education is about people. This seems obvious, given that what we do is help the young prepare to be the people who will shape our country next. But too often these days it is the people in public education who are accused of being the problem. We have recognized that, much as education is the best and most sound investment we as a community can make, investing in our workforce is the best investment we can make. Even in flush times, something as complex and controversial as the Teacher Professional Growth System is difficult to undertake. And yet we have managed to keep this system in place, not as robustly as we could were revenues not as poor as they have been, but nonetheless still going strong. I believe there is a direct link between our ongoing commitment to enhancing the skills of our workforce and our ability to improve student success and close the achievement gap.
We have a Professional Growth System and Professional Learning Communities that discuss the role that race plays in student achievement in a frank and honest way that others shy away from because it is so hard.
These are the kind of investments in the skills of the workforce that make the most difference for kids.
And so I conclude by commending you for all you have done, all that we have done together. And I implore you, each of you and as a body, to continue to work with MCAAP, SEIU Local 500, our PTAs, and MCEA, to advocate for our students.
The challenges we will face over the next several months to minimize the damage to the MCPS budget are worth it because a child’s education is worth it, because all of our students are worth it. Time will tell which of them becomes a NIH researcher, which becomes a Pulitzer prize winning journalist, which becomes a second grade teacher helping the next generation- I could go on- but they have to have the chance. They depend on us to ensure that chance.
Thank you for your time, hard work, and commitment to this most worthy of endeavors.
Public Hearing on the Proposed FY11 Operating Budget
January 12, 2011
Testimony of
Doug Prouty, MCEA President
Good evening President Barclay, members of the Board, and Dr. Weast. Thank you for this opportunity to testify on the Superintendent’s Recommended Operating Budget for Fiscal Year 2012. I am Doug Prouty, president of the Montgomery County Education Association which represents 12,000 teachers and other non-supervisory professional educators. I appreciate this opportunity to comment tonight. We are also deeply appreciative of the continuing commitment you have made to work together with us and other stakeholders to craft the best possible MCPS budget in this exceedingly difficult circumstance.
Dr. Weast asked in his introduction of the FY ’12 budget what a child’s education is worth. That is exactly the right question, especially when one considers that each of our students, and the students to come, do indeed get only one chance at that education. As you debate and finalize this budget and send it on to the County Executive and Council, keep in mind that question, as you always have in the past. Even were it not required by state law, sending forth a maintenance of effort budget is the right thing to do. It is your responsibility – your duty – to advocate for the needs of our students. A maintenance of effort budget simply maintains the current level of per-pupil spending. Recent hand wringing about this law notwithstanding, our children deserve this most modest of efforts.
We realize that there will be cuts to all agencies in Montgomery County when the budget process concludes in May. Our efforts together last year resulted in an outcome that was, while far from ideal, better than what might have been. A similar, perhaps even more Herculean, effort will be needed this year. You will hear tonight and next week from teachers, parents, students, other MCPS employees, and community members about specific programs that deserve to avoid paring or elimination. The problem is that, at the end of the day, most if not all of them are right. What we have should be enhanced. What a sad thing that instead we will have to decide on what cannot even be maintained. And in this year of increased class sizes and decreased levels of support for schools, our employees have given 110% to maintain quality. They have sacrificed not only money but also time to ensure that students get the best education. But we cannot assume it is reasonable, or even feasible, to continue to ask more to be done with fewer resources.
The Board of Education, the Superintendent, the employees, and the community have worked together to create a model school system. Indeed, we have entertained visitors from a wide range of states and countries who want to know about our work as a means of improving their own. Further proof of the fruits of our collaboration came last week. I meet and communicate with the other local presidents in Maryland frequently. An email was sent by one president asking if the rest had received an invitation from the U.S. Secretary of Education to attend a conference next month to learn about the experience of ten districts from around the country which had improved student achievement through labor-management collaboration. I tried to be humble in replying that yes, Montgomery County had been invited- in fact, we were selected to be one of the ten to share our story.
But collaboration itself has not resulted in the progress we have made. Rather, it is the focus on the people in MCPS that is to be credited. Education is about people. This seems obvious, given that what we do is help the young prepare to be the people who will shape our country next. But too often these days it is the people in public education who are accused of being the problem. We have recognized that, much as education is the best and most sound investment we as a community can make, investing in our workforce is the best investment we can make. Even in flush times, something as complex and controversial as the Teacher Professional Growth System is difficult to undertake. And yet we have managed to keep this system in place, not as robustly as we could were revenues not as poor as they have been, but nonetheless still going strong. I believe there is a direct link between our ongoing commitment to enhancing the skills of our workforce and our ability to improve student success and close the achievement gap.
We have a Professional Growth System and Professional Learning Communities that discuss the role that race plays in student achievement in a frank and honest way that others shy away from because it is so hard.
These are the kind of investments in the skills of the workforce that make the most difference for kids.
And so I conclude by commending you for all you have done, all that we have done together. And I implore you, each of you and as a body, to continue to work with MCAAP, SEIU Local 500, our PTAs, and MCEA, to advocate for our students.
The challenges we will face over the next several months to minimize the damage to the MCPS budget are worth it because a child’s education is worth it, because all of our students are worth it. Time will tell which of them becomes a NIH researcher, which becomes a Pulitzer prize winning journalist, which becomes a second grade teacher helping the next generation- I could go on- but they have to have the chance. They depend on us to ensure that chance.
Thank you for your time, hard work, and commitment to this most worthy of endeavors.
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