LWVeducation
Last week the Alachua County school board faced some harsh realities. The teacher shortage has hit home. We now have long term substitutes for positions we cannot fill. Board members attended the Rally in Tally to support our schools and teachers. They announced that 4,000 people were there.
Perhaps the most hopeful moment at the board meeting came when a parent, Kanh-Lien Banko spoke.
The constitutional amendment to create a state charter school system passed the House K-12 subcommittee this morning. We really do not want this. Contact your legislators. It would take a 60% vote in the Florida House and Senate to put it on the November ballot.
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I just saw a post from Diane Ravitch citing a New York Daily News report. Parents have organized against Success Academy Charter Schools in New York. I wondered when this lawsuit would happen. The charges include:
Capital Intrigue: Tallahassee Democrat January 16, 2016. In response to the rally in Tallahassee for tax credit scholarships for private schools, the League of Women Voters received the……
–Florida League of Women Voters President Pamela Goodman
This session the legislature has bills ranging from accountability to discipline and sex, according to the Tallahassee Democrat. The State LWV Florida sent out a helpful list of education bills that will be heard in committee tomorrow. The Tallahassee Democrat overview is helpful to understand the legislative priorities.
Are charter schools an emotional response by inner city low income families to long standing state funding inequities? A University of Virginia Law Review article addresses concerns that school funding inequities in Black urban areas lead to a tolerance of unfettered growth in charter schools.
The federal government support for charters also feeds the expansion without sufficient regulation. The net result may be a bubble and crash much like the recent financial crisis. What should be done to avoid a cataclysmic fall that could destroy communities?
Mother Jones summarizes the three practices that lead to serious mismanagement. I add a summary of the status Florida’s legislation to address these concerns.
A Gainesville parent with four children teamed up with a granddad who is a retired teacher. They are spreading the word by organizing PTA and School Advisory Council meetings across the city. Their campaign is to support the Citizen for Strong Schools lawsuit.
The lawsuit comes to trial in Tallahassee in March 2016. The suit contends that Florida is shortchanging our children. We are the third largest state with next to the bottom level of support for our schools.
They are passionate about public schools. Read Rik’s article in the Gainesville Sun this week. It is called: Ensure Florida Adequately Funds Education.
There is now a website called Five for Change . It has lots of information. http://www.5forchange.org/ . They are asking for a five dollar donation to support the lawsuit. Think what could happen if a thousand people sent in a donation. What a boost in morale it could be. You can be counted. Your organizations can be recognized on the webpage.
Florida League President, Pam Goodman endorses the campaign. You can too where ever you live. The suit helps all schools in Florida!
They are holding meetings all over the county. Everyone interested in supporting public education is welcome. The first one was at Eastside high school. The next ones are in the media rooms at 6:30 pm on:
January 21st: Santa Fe High School
January 26th: Gainesville High
February 2nd: Hawthorne High
February 9th: Buchholz High
February 11th: Newberry High
Close to 3,000 public school supporters turned out for the Florida Education Association rally today. It was their largest crowd ever. They were determined to let the legislators know that public schools need support. I was there. I jotted down some slogans.
Here is one that made the crowd cheer:
EDUCATE, ADVOCATE, MOTIVATE!
Another speaker chanted his opposition to the current policy. He called the policy the:
STACK THEM DEEP, TEACH THEM CHEAP approach to education funding.
There were lots of signs. Here are two:
The message was clear. Over and over the crowd chanted: ENOUGH IS ENOUGH!
Equity means providing resources, not just equally, but adequately for all children to succeed. There is no ‘one size fits all’ curriculum. Yet, there is a tension between providing opportunity for all students, regardless of their backgrounds, and the efficient allocation of limited resources. School choice was supposed to give better options, but too often, the choices are no different and ineffective.
The Citizens for Strong Schools lawsuit in Florida is about equity, but this is also a national issue. I found a blue ribbon panel report that addresses equity and provides direction for educational policy.
In time, Florida may be required to focus on these six directions. They give us a vision of what could be.
Jeff Eakins, Superintendent in Hillsborough County warns parents that the meaning of school grades is not only different, it is inaccurate. The school grade formula is new this year. The test on which the grades are based is also new.
This is not the real problem with this year’s grades.
