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Middle school parent wins 'Mentor of the Year' award
capitalgazette.com
Elizabeth Kleinchester - For The Capital
Mikio Manuel, at right, accepts an executive citation from David Abrams, an aide to County Executive John R. Leopold at the third annual Mentoring Awards and Fair.
By LESLIE HUNT, Staff Writer
Published October 25, 2007
Mikio Manuel, parent of an eighth-grader at Severna Park Middle School, was honored last Thursday at the third annual Mentoring Awards and Fair at Anne Arundel Community College.
Mr. Manuel's work with the Black Youth Summit at the school was the reason for his nomination by the school and for his new title as "Mentor of the Year."
The awards, sponsored by the Volunteer Center For Anne Arundel County and the Anne Arundel Mentoring Roundtable, honor mentors and mentoring projects that have had the most impact in Anne Arundel County and the city of Annapolis.
Mr. Manuel has been a parent involved with the school for four years. He used the ready-made Black Youth Summit program at his church and brought it to the school, said Principal Sharon Morell. The purpose of the group is to help students recognize and identify solutions to meet life's challenges.
"It's about goal setting and where you want to go in life," she said.
In addition to his work with individual students, Mr. Manuel is one of the founders of African American Park Pride Parents at the school, working to provide opportunities for greater parental involvement. Mr. Manuel is planning to introduce this program to Severna Park High School, said Mrs. Morell.
"All of our mentors are deserving in their own way. He seemed to impact the school community in Severna Park, not only mentoring youth but also parents," said Pam Youngs, coordinator for the Anne Arundel Mentoring Roundtable.
"To get the parents involved, he mentors the whole community."
Mr. Manuel meets with a group of five African-American students and sometimes their parents in the early evening at the school. "He did this on his own time. The commitment from the parents and the students says a lot for them both," said Mrs. Morell.
Nominations were accepted from any group in Anne Arundel County involved in mentoring; communities, schools, faith and business-based. "They came from all sorts of venues. It is amazing the nonprofits that are doing wonderful things. It goes across the board in all aspects of our community," said Ms. Youngs.
Mrs. Morell said they grasped the chance to nominate Mr. Manuel early on.
Nancy Galetski, assistant principal at Severna Park Middle School wrote this opening line on Mr. Manuel's nomination form: "True to the meaning of the word mentor (a trusted counselor or guide) Mr. Manuel demonstrates how the power of one individual can begin to transform a community student-by-student and parent-by-parent."
"The essence of the nomination is that he not only works with students as a guide and mentor but also with parents as well," said Ms. Youngs.
Mr. Manuel and two finalists were recognized that evening along with five mentoring programs from different categories.
"It is amazing what good things are happening out there when you read the nominations. These annual awards celebrate the Mentors and Mentoring programs that make a difference in their communities and in the lives of their mentees and introduce their accomplishments to the greater community," said Ms. Youngs.
For information about the Anne Arundel Mentoring Roundtable call Pam Youngs at the Volunteer Center for Anne Arundel County at 410-897-9207 or visit www.VolunteerAnneArundel.org .
A 5K Halloween Walk sponsored by the Robert A. Pascal Youth and Family Services center begins with registration at 8:30 a.m. Saturday at Park Plaza in Severna Park.
Participants are encouraged to wear costumes. The walk will begin at 9 a.m. in the back parking lot and continue over to the Baltimore & Annapolis Trail for a one-mile walk. There will be prizes and a bike raffle after the race.
The entry fee is $20 for pre-registered walkers, $15 for students, $25 on race day and no fee for children ages 10 and under.
All of the proceeds will benefit the nonprofit Youth Services Bureau, which provides mental health services to children, youth and families in Anne Arundel County. Call 410-975-0067 or visit www.rpascal.org to register.
E-mail your Severna Park news to lhunt@capitalgazette.com or call 410-280-5944.
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Study: Private schools don't hold edge
Poor, urban students did about as well in public high schools
By Lisa Schencker
The Salt Lake Tribune
Salt Lake Tribune
Article Last Updated:10/11/2007 01:22:41 AM MDT
Poor, urban students with similar family and economic backgrounds generally don't do any better in private high schools than in public ones, according to a Center on Education Policy study released today.
It's a finding Jack Jennings, president of the center, which is pro-public schools, said has implications for debates about voucher programs nationwide.
Utahns will vote in November whether to implement a program that would give voucher money to students who want to transfer from public to private schools, start kindergarten in private schools or low-income students who are already in private schools.
"We may be arguing about the wrong thing," Jennings said. "We should be looking at whether parents are helping kids do well in school."
According to the study, three main factors influence how well a student will do in high school: how well a student does before high school, the income and resources parents provide and parental involvement in school-related activities.
The study looked at achievement data, such as SAT scores and assessment results, for 1,003 low-income, urban students from 1988 to 2000 to reach its conclusions.
Representatives from different sides of Utah's voucher debate said they agree the argument shouldn't be about public versus private schools.
"The campaign has never been focused on one being better than the other," said Parents for Choice spokeswoman Leah Barker. "Our campaign has always been about offering parents the opportunity to choose a good education for their children."
Kim Campbell, president of the Utah Education Association, which is against vouchers, said the findings of the study are no surprise.
"I think this points out what we've been saying all along," Campbell said. "This isn't about public versus private. It's not about school choice. This is about who pays for the choice and who pays for private school enrollment."
According to the study, the only type of private schools that generally show greater achievement than public ones are Catholic holy order schools, meaning schools run by orders such as the Jesuits, but not by a diocese. Only 34 of the 1,003 students studied attended such a school. Also, students who attend independent, private high schools also tended to have higher SAT scores than those in public schools.
That finding suggests that private schools aren't any better at teaching subjects but might give students better test-taking skills or enroll students with higher IQs, according to the study.
Derek Keenan, vice president for academic affairs at the Association of Christian Schools International, said about 400 largely minority schools in his association do perform better on some national tests than students in public schools. Students at those schools are generally 12 to 14 months ahead of their peers on average nationwide, he said.
"The private school advantage is nimbleness," Keenan said. "We can move on things."
The study also found that students who went to private high schools had no more job satisfaction at age 26 than their peers who went to public high schools.
Study author Harold Wenglinsky said his findings show schools and families should focus on getting parents more involved and creating more activities and programs to support students.
"We're arguing about adult issues," Jennings said. "Let's look at kids and see what helps them do well."
lschencker@sltrib.com
The Salt Lake Tribune
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California achievement tests harder than most others', study finds
Nanette Asimov, Chronicle Staff Writer This article appeared on page B - 3 of the San Francisco Chronicle
Thursday, October 4, 2007
For years, California's top educators have claimed that their statewide achievement tests were harder than almost any other state's - an easy explanation, perhaps, for why fewer than half of students score "proficient" in English and math.
Now a new study comparing statewide exams in 26 states reaches this conclusion: California's top educators were right.
"It's harder to pass California's tests than those of most other states," according to the study by the Thomas B. Fordham Institute, an education think tank in Washington.
California, South Carolina and Massachusetts give the toughest English and math tests in the country, the study concludes. Easiest to pass are those in Colorado, Wisconsin and Michigan.
State exams are the engines of No Child Left Behind, the controversial federal education act that requires all students to score at grade level - "proficient" - on English and math tests by 2014.
But it's up to each state to define "proficiency." So a child who is considered a good reader in Colorado because she scored at grade level would be given remedial help in California for scoring low.
"The Proficiency Illusion," as the Fordham study is called, skewers this part of No Child Left Behind. It says states define proficiency "erratically, almost randomly," which makes a mockery of true proficiency.
The study calls for a common set of standards for all states.
"It's crazy not to have some form of national standards for educational achievement - stable, reliable, cumulative and comparable," wrote Fordham's president, Chester Finn Jr., former assistant secretary of education under President Ronald Reagan.
No Child Left Behind is under a national microscope as Congress prepares for its reauthorization. And no aspect of it - including the state tests themselves now - has escaped scrutiny.
Finn said he isn't asking the federal government to prescribe proficiency levels, but says No Child Left Behind should encourage states to agree on what they should be.
The idea, however, is lacking momentum as Congress debates how to reform the education law.
Rep. George Miller, the Martinez Democrat leading the reauthorization debate, has said he wants the federal government and other agencies to help states establish more rigorous proficiency levels. But he still wants states to decide individually what those should be.
"What we're hearing across the country is that No Child Left Behind is not flexible enough," said Tom Kiley, Miller's spokesman.
Meanwhile, even as the Fordham study confirmed the rigor of California's academic standards, it revived a long-standing mystery: why students have consistently improved their performance on the tough California Standards Test over the years, while performing poorly on national exams such as the National Assessment for Educational Progress.
The Fordham study found that California kids also did worse on a national test called the Measures of Academic Progress - even though the researchers had customized the test to evaluate the same material as the state's test.
"It's troubling," said Michael Petrilli, a vice president with the Fordham Institute. "If kids are learning reading and math, it should show up on other tests."
But California's testing director, Deb Sigman, disputed the findings. She said the two tests were not similar, and raised questions about the analysis, including whether the same students took both tests.
Online resource:
See the full report click here See the California report click here
E-mail Nanette Asimov at nasimov@sfchronicle.com.
http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2007/10/04/BANTSILG2.DTL
This article appeared on page B - 3 of the San Francisco Chronicle
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Teachers spend out of pocket on kids
Most just want to do a good job, one says
By EDWARD L. KENNEY, The News Journal
Posted Monday, August 20, 2007
No one told teacher Barbara Finnan she had to buy $50 worth of chewing gum for her pupils at Baltz Elementary School. She even has a policy of no gum chewing in class, and the school also does not permit it.
But she read somewhere that chewing gum helps children think. And so, for a week's worth of testing, she bent the rules a little and bought the gum with money out of her own pocket. To her delight, the scores did go up a little, although she'll probably never know if the gum did it.
Gum is an unusual example of a "school supply," but it illustrates how some teachers will spare no expense -- especially at their own expense -- on trying to help their students.
Teachers nationally spend an average of $475 of their own money on classroom supplies and materials each year, according to a study prepared by Quality Education Data Inc. for the last school year. The biggest portion of that spending comes to prepare for the first day of class -- which is today at Academy of Dover, Thomas Edison and Marion T. Academy charter schools, and later this week for about half the state's public-school students.
When school districts go through tough financial times --most notable recently in Red Clay and Christina but evident in other districts facing a triple-punch of spiraling energy and health care costs and, often, failed referendums -- teachers sometimes have to spend a little more. But veteran educators look for summer sales to spruce up their classrooms and motivate children, and hoarding supplies during good years to make things last during bad ones, said Finnan, who has been teaching for 32 years.
"I think it's pretty much an accepted way of life for teachers," she said. "And, of course, the districts come to expect that you're going to do those kinds of things."
Finnan, who already has spent $200 for such items as science equipment and spiral-bound notebooks for the upcoming school year, said she does not know how much Red Clay's recently announced 15 percent reduction in building budgets will affect supplies this year.
Budgets not sufficient
Red Clay Superintendent Robert Andrzejewski said it will be up to the principals at each school to determine how much of that reduction will come out of school supplies and materials and how much will come out of other building expenses, such as leases for equipment, software and office supplies.
But, he said, "The school budgets aren't sufficient to meet the needs that teachers have. That's always. That isn't just this year. We do need more money as compensation in our schools for what teachers and parents have to pick up, because there's just not enough money to go around right now."
Andrzejewski said that as a special-education teacher years ago, he averaged $300 to $500 per year in out-of-pocket expenses for classroom supplies.
The Christina School District reduced its office, art and school supplies by about $390,000 last year during the district's multimillion-dollar financial crisis, prompting then-state Rep. Stephanie Ulbrich to spearhead a donation drive. Christina spokeswoman Wendy Lapham said the nearly $17,000 in classroom supplies that was trimmed from the budget that year will remain in effect in the coming year.
"The building budgets that we gave last year seemingly were sufficient, because they were able to stretch those budgets for the whole year," said Patrick O'Rourke, Christina's financial director. "Some of that was probably their being fiscally cautious."
Diane D'Angelo, a teacher at Stubbs Intermediate School in Christina, said she has not noticed a shortage of basic supplies since the district was hit with its deficit in spring 2006.
But that doesn't stop her from supplementing what she already has.
D'Angelo estimates she spends a couple hundred dollars just to get the year started and about $50 a month thereafter. Last fall, for example, she went to an arts and crafts store to buy supplies for a unit on puppetry. Past purchases also include educational books, stencils, desk calendars and inspirational posters.
"Oftentimes, it just nickels and dimes you to death," she said. "Everybody around me does it. It just kind of seems to go with the territory."
Some teachers save receipts because they are allowed to deduct up to $250 on their federal income taxes. But D'Angelo does not do that, she said, because she regards the expenses as just a part of being a good teacher.
Barbara Grogg, president of the Delaware State Teachers Association, the state's teachers' union, said it has been trying to get a state tax credit enacted in Delaware to go along with the federal tax credit. Some extra money in the district budgets also would help.
"I wish there was some funding there to draw upon when the needs come up," Grogg said. "I've seen teachers go to yard sales and garage sales to buy books and supplies. When the districts aren't able to do any more, they just take it on themselves. I'm sorry they have to do that, and I wish they didn't have to."
Four-figure spending
Andrzejewski said some teacher expenditures can run into the four-figure range. And Donald Ott can testify to that. He started teaching at Ross Elementary School in Milford three years ago. In his first year as a teacher, he spent $1,500 for items such as a carpet and four chairs for a classroom reading center.
"Most years, I spend between $500 and $800," he said. "But to me, it's all part of the profession. If you need something to motivate kids, you just sort of buy it. The stuff I'm buying is extra. They are things I could do without, but they are just things that make the classroom better. It's the luxury things."
The Milford Rotary Club has offered to buy science equipment for the school, and last year Ott found a business sponsor to help pay for some classroom items, "but that was a rarity at my school," he said.
Sylvia Henderson, the principal at Ross Elementary, said her school budgets $50 to $200 to reimburse teachers for supplies each year. But that money does not cover everything, and she knows that from experience.
Henderson, who was an elementary school teacher before becoming an administrator, said she spent between $1,000 to $3,000 a year of her own money on things such as classroom furniture, items for special events, rewards for children for positive-behavior programs, class decorations and multiple copies of books.
She had built up so much stuff during her eight years of teaching that she made $2,500 from a yard sale for teachers after leaving the classroom.
Frederika Jenner, a teacher at H.B. du Pont Middle School and president of the Red Clay Education Association, the teachers' union for the district, said the PTA at her school reimburses teachers up to $50 during the school year for classroom expenses. But she estimates she spends between $150 and $200 a year, which is much less than what she spent in elementary school.
The lower the grade level, the more teachers tend to spend, she said.
"Most teachers I know are so interested in the quality programs that they make these purchases just to ensure that they do a good job. I'm sure it has something to do with having children involved," said Jenner, who has been teaching for 35 years. "I'm sure that's the point of motivation. Teachers go shopping in the summer, and they don't even know these kids yet. But they know they're going to need stuff."
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State Schools Chief Jack O'Connell Invites Public
Input on Mathematics Instructional Resources
SACRAMENTO — State Superintendent of Public Instruction Jack O'Connell announced today that instructional materials submitted for the 2007 K-8 mathematics adoption are available for public review and comment during October throughout California. The comment period began immediately after the Curriculum Development and Supplemental Materials Commission released the list of instructional materials it recommended for adoption to the State Board of Education.
"Thirty-three publishers submitted 54 programs for review in this round of K-8 mathematics adoption making this one of the largest adoptions conducted by the state," said O’Connell. "With this wide variety of mathematics instructional materials we will be able to offer schools additional resources to help students who are struggling and thus help close the achievement gap. I urge interested parties to take the opportunity to review these materials. This process provides an important opportunity for the public to confirm students will get the content they need and also gives community members a say on what instructional resources students should get."
For the first time, publishers were able to submit programs in three separate categories: basic, algebra readiness, and intervention programs. Intervention programs are designed to provide additional support and instruction for students working below grade level in grades 4-7. One-hundred-forty-one Instructional Material Advisory Panel and fourteen Content Review Panel members reviewed the programs. The panel members included classroom teachers, community members, mathematics educators, and mathematicians.
Now it is the public's turn to review the instructional materials that have already been on display since April 2007 at 21 Learning Resources Display Centers (LRDCs) located throughout California. After viewing the materials, people may submit comments on forms available at the LRDCs. Comment must be received by October 31, 2007, to be considered by the State Board of Education. Also, comments may be sent by e-mail to math@cde.ca.gov. They may mail comments to: Tom Adams, Curriculum Frameworks and Instructional Resources Division, California Department of Education, 1430 N Street, Suite 3207, Sacramento, California 95814. People may also present their concerns at a public hearing of the State Board of Education on November 7-8, 2007, whether or not they have completed public comment forms. The public hearing would mark the end of the review for the instructional materials submitted for the 2007 K-8 mathematics adoption.
The complete list of recommended materials is attached. For locations of the LRDCs, please visit Learning Resource Display Centers - Curriculum Frameworks & Instructional Materials.
Rosalind Van Auker, LRDC #A3
California State University Sacramento
Library, Reference Department
2000 State University Drive East
Sacramento, CA 95819-6039
916-278-5673 | John Roina , LRDC #A7
Yolo County Office of Education
Learning Resources Display Center
1280 Santa Anita Court, Suite 100
Woodland, CA 95776
530-668-3757 |
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dailypress.com
Family support matters in school
Parents are a big reason that students in Poquoson score well on tests.
By Angie Green 247-4537
October 1, 2007
POQUOSON
Seven periods. Bell schedules. Teacher expectations. The Poquoson school board chairman followed his daughter's seventh-grade class schedule at a recent back-to-school night, and was feeling overwhelmed.
"I don't know how our daughter keeps track of everything she does during the day," John Costulis later told his wife. There are multiple teachers, foreign languages, after-school activities. Even recalling multiple locker combinations seemed tough, he said.
"For a 12-year-old," Costulis marveled, "the level of responsibility … is just incredible."
That's why Costulis said he stays closely involved with his daughter's academics. He knows his daughter's middle school success hinges on his involvement.
He's not alone — in Poquoson.
Statistics show parental involvement drops off after an elementary student moves on to middle school. But that doesn't seem to be the case in Poquoson, a district with four schools. Parental support remains relatively high in middle school.
"We feel very fortunate to have such good parental participation," said Principal Kenneth Crum.
Middle school has long been regarded as the place where students' academic and behavioral problems balloon and academic success declines. While education researchers debate how to solve this problem, they agree on one thing: Parental involvement is essential.
"It's a time when young adolescents are establishing habits that will follow them through their lives," Sue Swaim, executive director of the National Middle School Association, stated in an article on parental involvement. "Family support and a degree of structure in the home will provide a foundation for success for middle school students."
Why is parental involvement so crucial in the sixth, seventh and eighth grades? Not only is this age group changing academic routines, they are undergoing changes mentally, physically and emotionally. Researchers caution parents: Don't back off.
"Even though your child may scream, 'Get out of my face,' he or she needs and eventually will appreciate your support," Swaim stated in the article.
Keeping kids on task
Poquoson Middle School teacher Justin Grabowski said he believes the high level of parental involvement at the school is why the school's Standards of Learning test passing rates are consistently high.
"The parents are the most important part here," said Grabowski, who has taught social studies at Poquoson Middle for more than 10 years. The seventh-grade teacher said it's essential parents are involved so students complete homework and study for tests.
"Otherwise, they (students) slack off," he said.
During the school's back-to-school night about 50 to 60 percent of parents attended and followed their child's class schedule. But Crum said it's not the only night parents come out. About 97 to 98 percent of the school's parents attended the Aug. 30 Open House with their children, he said.
And throughout the year, parents consistently volunteer with various student activities.
"Relative to other middle schools our parent participation is very high," Crum said. "The folks out here have a value of education."
'Personal connection'
Parent Rachel Morris sat in Grabowski's class and heard about the American history her son, Blake, would study throughout the year. She said the annual event gives her a chance to meet the parents of her son's friends and make a "personal connection" with his teachers.
"It's important that they see the parent," Morris said, referring to teachers. "They know that the parent is involved in the child's education."
As Morris sat in the front row, Grabowski asked: "How many of your kids told you they had a test tomorrow?"
A few parents glanced around and raised their hands. Morris answered questions and told parents how to find the class syllabus online.
A few minutes later across the hall, Costulis listened intently as science teacher Debbie Smith explained how technology would be integrated into course work. Smith wrapped up her explanation just before the bell rang, signaling Costulis and others to move on to the next class.
"Thank you guys for coming," Smith said. "I appreciate your interest in your child."
News to use
The National Middle School Association recommends these steps for parents:
• Think ahead. As your son or daughter enters the middle-school years, get ready for at least occasional conflicts. Think through what is truly important to you, and focus your energy on those big issues.
• Encourage your middle schooler to keep a daily to-do list. When a task is completed, draw a line through the task to show accomplishment. This strategy will help young adolescents learn responsibility and planning.
• Break down big chores into smaller parts. For example, if there are seven overdue school assignments, focus on one Thursday night, another Friday and five during the weekend. Sometimes young people feel overwhelmed by tasks and give up rather than get started.
• For more information, visit www.nmsa.org
dailypress.com
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Copyright © 2007, Newport News, Va., Daily Press
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Mid-term grades help parents
Grades open lines of communication for both parents, teachers
10/01/07
Leonna Heuring
Standard Democrat, Mississippi
SIKESTON — Mid-term grades help parents to see how their children are performing in school, but they also provide an opportunity for parents to keep the lines of communication open with teachers.
Mid-terms, or report cards reflecting a student’s performance since the beginning of the school year, are circulating in the area. They were mailed Sept. 14 to parents of Morehouse Elementary students.
“As soon as parents see that mid-term grade, if there is any question about what’s going on, they should contact the teacher, and together they can come up with a plan to try to get that grade up before parent-teacher conferences,” said Lori Copeland, second grade teacher at Morehouse Elementary.
Mid-terms at Scott County Central were sent out recently, too.
“Parents should never be afraid to call a teacher if they have a question or concern,” said Scott County Central Elementary counselor Scarlett Dittlinger. “...Those mid-quarter grades are sent out so you know what’s going on.” When the school year began, Copeland said she provided parents with her planning period times and contact information.
“If they can’t call during my planning time, they can call and leave a message, and I can call them back during lunch or in the afternoon,” Copeland said. Most importantly, keep the school updated when phone numbers and addresses change, Dittlinger added.
Before and after viewing mid-term grades, parents should keep an open mind, Dittlinger advised.
“The goal is for both the teacher and parent to work together and cooperate for the best of child. Ask a teacher to explain why if you don’t understand. Ask for a reason, and then you can understand,” Dittlinger said, adding there are two sides to every story.
In addition to grades, parents can also find out other issues, if any, are going on with their child.
“You can include a message of misbehavior or low grade and explain why — or if they’ve had a lot of absentees or whether they’ve not been paying attention in class,” Copeland said.
Both Copeland and Dittlinger said mid-term grades shouldn’t really come as a surprise to parents.
Copeland said anytime a student makes a low grade on something, the parents will know because she photocopies it and sends a blank page home so parents can go over the assignment again with their child. Also it has to be signed by the parent and brought back to Copeland.
“I know either they looked at it with you, or if it comes back not signed, I’m not sure any help was given,” Copeland said.
Copeland also noted work receiving good grades is also sent home for parents to view.
Parent involvement and good communication between parents and teachers is vital for a child’s success, Copeland said.
“This year I had a few parents contact me, and they were just concerned about the grade their child received,” said Copeland, adding parent involvement varies from year to year.
There are other ways parents can keep the lines of communication open with teachers.
For example, if the school uses a daily planner (a folder containing a student’s assignments), have parents check that, Dittlinger said. Along with checking daily planners, make a consistent time each night to check the child’s homework or their backpack for notes from the teacher, she said. Also visit the child’s classroom Web site to see what’s going on.
Go to parent-teacher conferences, Dittlinger said.
“Sometimes parents only come if there’s a problem,” Dittlinger said. “Come regardless and talk to that teacher. Have the teacher show them some other work or get a good feel of the classroom.”
It’s also good for parents to get involved with parent-teacher organizations.
“That’s a great way to know what’s going on in school,” Dittlinger said.
The parent-teacher conference is two-way communication, Dittlinger said.
“It’s a great way to exchange communication and a great opportunity for teachers to learn more about students,” Dittlinger said.
It also provides teachers with insight, Dittlinger said.
“There could be some reason why Johnny’s sleeping in class. Well, maybe a parent will tell the teacher, ‘Grandpa was in the hospital, and we’ve been there a lot lately,’” Dittlinger said.
It will be easier in the future if parents of elementary students start communicating well with their child’s teacher now so they will have that same pattern when the child gets multiple teachers at junior high and high school, Copeland noted.
“It all comes back to communication and parent involvement. That’s the key,” Copeland said.
Standard Democrat, Mississippi Return to top of page
Your involvement impacts your child and school
http://www.dailysouthtown.com/lifestyles/537424,parental_involvement_9_3.article
September 3, 2007
BY DONNA VICKROY Staff writer
Frankfort School District 157C's grammar school band is as big as the high school band it feeds into.
"That's in direct response to the high number of parents who get involved here," Superintendent Bob Madonia said.
Parent involvement is so high in the south suburban district that Madonia says very few tasks go unattended. In addition to chaperoning field trips, heading up booster clubs and helping in the classroom, Madonia said parents sit on advisory boards as well as an educational foundation that raises about $80,000 a year. The money's been used to set up a computer lab at one school and an outdoor education center at another.
But even without the foundation's support, Madonia said he believes his student body would fare well because education is so important to the district's parents.
"Parent involvement here is a wonderful thing; we're very lucky to have it," he said. "I think all of our students benefit from it. When parents take an interest, it sends a message over and over that school is important."
It's no secret that when parents value education, children perform better. Parent involvement is considered so critical that the federal government's No Child Left Behind initiative includes a provision on it.
But to what length must a parent go to ensure that his or her children will take school seriously? Not every parent has the time nor the inclination to sit on a school advisory board or to head up a major fundraising project.
The definition of parent involvement is a broad one, said Meg Carroll, professor of education at Saint Xavier University in Chicago. Needs vary across districts and grade levels. Parent availability and comfort levels also run the gamut.
"A lot of parents aren't available during the school day," she said. And not all teachers have time to plan for parent involvement during their day.
But there are still many ways for adults to be involved in their children's education, she said.
Carroll talks to education students about ways they can connect with parents. She also meets with parent groups at several local schools to give them the information and materials they need to be pro-education.
Some universities, she said, offer a course in parental involvement to prospective teachers. Illinois requires that early childhood education students take a similar course.
Still, she said, not all teachers send a clear message that parents are welcome. And not all parents are comfortable working with someone else's children.
As a result, many parents are left out of the process. But when the two groups come together, Carroll said, the children always benefit.
Parent involvement begins at home and can mean something as simple as reading to a young child, checking the homework of an older child or even just maintaining good sleep and eating habits, she said.
The degree of parental involvement is often in direct correlation to a school or district's ability to hang out a welcome sign, Carroll said.
Perceived barriers range from difficulty in accessing the building to an unspoken message that visitors, including parents, are disruptive. Hard-to-find main entrances, annoying buzzers or intercom systems, and insensitive office workers can all send a message that you are not welcome, she said.
Carroll has experienced such difficulties just trying to observe student teachers in action.
So while Carroll encourages parents to reach out to educators, she also promotes the idea of educators reaching out to parents.
Researcher Joyce Epstein has devised a model of parental involvement for schools to promote.
The six levels are:
1. Parenting: Helping parents establish a home environment conducive to learning.
2. Communicating: Establishing and maintaining open lines of communication regarding progress and information.
3. Volunteering: Schools should find ways to recruit and train parents for classroom involvement.
4. Learning at home: From tips on checking homework to encouraging the pursuit of personal interests and queries.
5. Decision-making: Involving parents on committees and advisory groups that make decisions about school matters.
6. Collaborating with the community: Reaching out to businesses and other groups.
Parental involvement tends to fall off as a student ages, Carroll said. Moms may go back to work, children appear to be more independent, and adults may worry that the academics are too advanced for them to offer any help.
But, she added, when parents remain connected to the school system, it sends a message that school is a worthy endeavor, something to be valued.
Donna Vickroy may be reached at dvickroy@dailysouthtown.com or (708) 633-5982. http://www.dailysouthtown.com/lifestyles/537424,parental_involvement_9_3.article Return to top of page
Prop. 98 battle: Education measure targeted
Business group, and some teachers, oppose initiative to provide more money for community colleges.
By Judy Lin - Bee Capitol Bureau
Published 12:00 am PDT Sunday, September 30, 2007
Opposition is mounting to an educator-backed initiative to reformulate Proposition 98 for California's community colleges, and some of the objections are coming from teachers.
The California Chamber of Commerce this week announced its board had voted to oppose the Feb. 5 ballot initiative -- known as the Community College Governance, Funding Stabilization, and Student Fee Reduction Act -- because it would lock up more money at a time when the state already is struggling to pay its bills.
While advocates say California's 109 community college campuses -- serving 2.5 million students -- are "notoriously underfunded," the chamber's opposition vote comes on the heels of a similar action by the state's largest teachers union with members involved from kindergarten to college.
It's not clear whether the business community or the California Teachers Association will mount a formal campaign. But their opposition has dealt a blow to other education groups supporting the initiative, mainly the California Federation of Teachers and the Community Colleges League of California.
Over the summer, the CTA board voted to oppose the measure to guarantee community colleges a bigger slice of education funding in the state budget. Uncomfortable with changing the formula set under Proposition 98, CTA officials said they worried the proposal could hurt other educational needs, as well as social services.
"They did vote to oppose the initiative because they believe it is flawed," CTA spokeswoman Sandra Jackson said about the board vote. "We do believe community colleges need to have an increase in funding ... but part of the problem is it could impact Prop. 98 school funding."
The initiative would dedicate 10.46 percent of current Proposition 98 school funding to community colleges and lower fees to $15 per unit from the current $20 rate. It's estimated the state would lose $71 million in 2007-08 if the fees were reduced.
In addition, legislative analysts say, the state would pay $135 million in initiative-mandated costs in 2007-08, and the annual total could grow to $470 million in 2009-10.
"The goal of the initiative is to give more students a chance to go to college," said campaign spokesman Andrew Acosta. "It's not a secret that community colleges are notoriously underfunded."
Backers have formed a fundraising committee known as Californians for Improving Community Colleges. The committee has raised more than $2.3 million so far, and spent $2.1 million raising awareness for the initiative.
Education now accounts for the biggest chunk of the state's $102 billion general fund budget. Under Proposition 98's formula, the lion's share of education funding goes to K-12. Community colleges receive less than 11 percent of the $57 billion generated under that formula.
Initiative supporters would like to secure more money for community colleges, which saw a 3 percent enrollment gain last year, by tying funding to fluctuations in the college-age population. Under the current formula, funding is tied to enrollment changes only at the K-12 level.
The initiative also would require the state to give community colleges a funding priority equal to its public higher education counterparts.
The state Chamber of Commerce's president, Allan Zaremberg, said in a statement that the chamber believes the proposed constitutional amendment lacks accountability, puts too much stress on the general fund and "would result in prioritizing one higher education system's funding priorities over the needs of two other important systems -- the University of California and California State University system."
Acosta noted that not all business groups oppose the measure. He said the Sacramento Metropolitan Chamber of Commerce has broken ranks by endorsing it.
There's even dissension among community college members of the California Teachers Association. The president of the Community College Association of California, Ron Norton Reel, urged members in a June 21 letter to support the measure despite the CTA's opposition.
Reel noted that the CTA had legitimate concerns that the initiative would require a four-fifths legislative vote to overturn any part of the initiative.
The initiative also would make funding growth faster for community colleges than for K-12, Reel said, potentially undercutting Proposition 98's intent to make K-12 education the state's budget priority.
But, he said, there's a need to stabilize funding for community colleges.
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The Great Presidential Mashup
The Democrats on education.
Updated Friday, Sept. 7, 2007, at 10:24 AM ET
On Sept. 12, Slate, Yahoo!, and the Huffington Post will host the first-ever online-only presidential candidate mashup. Armed with your questions, Charlie Rose is asking the top Democratic presidential candidates about their views on health care, Iraq, education, and other issues. Their video responses will be coded and put at your disposal—empowering you to create your own custom candidate forum. Want to hear every candidate's position on the war? Hillary's positions on every issue? Obama's view on health care? Our mashup will allow you to do all of the above.
But before we get there, there's homework to do. What have the candidates said on the issues so far? Are they changing their stories? Our cheat sheet on the previous debates will help you be the judge. Here we're offering background information on education, one of the three issues selected by readers for the Slate/Yahoo!/Huffington Post candidate mashup.
Click Here to GO to SAC City DAC Page "For the Record" Return to top of page
Parents learning to help students
08/11/2007 03:35 PM
By: Johnell Johnson News 14 Carolina
CHARLOTTE -- The Parent Involvement in Education summit met at Mount Carmel Baptist Church Saturday, where parents, churches and school leaders gathered together to help bring about a change.
“To find out ways we can help not only our children themselves, but participate as parents in the school system in general,” said Rickye McKoy-Mitchell of the summit. “So, we can start doing things like closing the achievement gaps and to be more of an advocate for our children.”
The goal for Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools and those on hand: to teach parents how to give their children the best education possible.
“I hope parents will take away the feeling of empowerment after this,” said Joel Ritchie with CMS. “That they can make a difference. They are a critical part of their children’s success.”
Parents learn to teach students. The Parent Information and Resource Center of North Carolina has spread the message of parents helping students from more than 24 years. They travel around the state teaching parents about things like No Child Left Behind, tutoring and parent involvement.
“We know that every child’s first teacher is that parents, and without parents’ support, schools have a very difficult time with everything from behavior to academics,” said Johnny Allen with the Parent Information Center.
Six churches throughout Charlotte participated in Saturday’s summit. It is the first time the group used the faith-based community to help spread their message of parent involvement.
News 14 Carolina
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Friday, August 10, 2007
SpokesmanReview.com
Keeping parents in policymaking
David Sarasohn
Portland Oregonian
August 8, 2007
Ron Herndon, chairman of the National Head Start Association since 1992, is unhappy about a Senate-passed Head Start reauthorization bill that would change the program's policy-shaping parent councils into advisory groups.
I t's an effort, he complains, to change a program that works, and that most politicians praise right up there with apple pie and borrowed corporate jets.
But throughout the Bush years, Republicans in Congress have battled to reduce parents' role in the program, apparently on the grounds that poor parents can't be trusted with that kind of authority.
"What research do they have to claim that parents have done a bad job of running the programs?" Herndon asks. "There is none.
"If you thought that was true, why didn't you have a hearing to find out?"
According to Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., Republicans on the Senate's education committee demanded the change before they'd support any bill. But Herndon is no happier with the committee Democrats who went along, including three presidential candidates: Hillary Clinton, of New York, Barack Obama, of Illinois, and Chris Dodd, of Connecticut.
"How are they going to run saying they will strengthen families and make this a better country?" he asks. "They just capitulated and rolled over."
Some time after Congress returns, the Senate version of the Head Start reauthorization goes into conference committee with the House version, which largely maintains the current structure. "What's going to make the difference," says Murray, who supports the parent councils, "is if the House members insist on their language."
Murray isn't the only senator rooting for the House position. "As the Senate and House negotiate the Head Start reauthorization conference report, we urge you to maintain the shared governance structure and the important role for parent policy councils," Sens. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., and Gordon Smith, R-Ore., urge the committee. "By empowering parents of Head Start children and giving them shared responsibility for the management of the local programs, parents are invested in the success of the program and in the success of their children."
Continuing it, they say, "is critical to the continued success of the Head Start program."
House Education and Labor Committee Chairman George Miller, D-Calif., who will lead the House side in the conference committee, said he wants to maintain the program's governance role for parents.
If the House delegation to the conference committee stands firm, the parent voice in the program can't be gutted.
Republicans like Rep. Mark Souder, R-Ind. – a strong voice for the parent councils over the past two Congresses – get their own mail.
"With the Head Start conference committee approaching fast, we urge that the critical role parents play in Head Start is not diminished," the Family Research Council, a vocal conservative group, wrote Souder recently.
"The parents council has helped make it possible that hundred(s) of thousands of low-income children have begun their lives with a head start to success; there is no need to silence their voices now."
The Family Research Council, Ron Herndon and the House Committee on Education and Labor probably don't agree on a lot of things, but as the future of Head Start is being decided, it seems there is one.
They don't think that a parent's role in the life of a 4-year-old should be advisory. SpokesmanReview.com Return to top of page
August 22, 2007
On Education
A Successful Plan for Racial Balance Now Finds Its Future Uncertain
By JOSEPH BERGER
WHITE PLAINS
For 18 years, this city of 55,000 has maintained racially balanced schools without the white flight that has followed integration plans in places like Boston and Canarsie, Brooklyn.
But in June, the Supreme Court rejected school assignment plans in Louisville and Seattle that, like the one in White Plains, are also based explicitly on race. And there are fears that should a court turn down White Plains’s plan in the future, white families may abandon some of the neighborhood schools. That is not a fear restricted to White Plains, as dozens of other cities are having to reconsider similar plans.
“The demographics in some of the schools might change dramatically, and I don’t know how parents in those schools would feel about the demographics,” is the discreetly worded warning from Laurette Young, who administers the White Plains plan.
As in most cities, housing in White Plains, the Westchester County seat that has sprouted skyscrapers among its suburban patches, is identifiable by race. The southern end is dappled with tree-shaded homes inhabited mostly by white families, while the northwest has housing projects populated by black families and aging apartments crowded with Latinos.
Under a strict neighborhood zoning plan, children of those northwestern black and Hispanic families would be assigned to the Post Road School, but so would children from adjoining middle-class white enclaves, and it is not clear how many would attend if they were reduced to a tiny minority.
Conversely, school officials believe the south end’s Ridgeway School would be stripped of the ethnic palette that residents have long prized.
In 1989, White Plains, tired of perennially gerrymandering for racial balance, began a “controlled choice” plan that essentially jettisoned neighborhood zones and required each school to have the same proportions of blacks, Hispanics and “others,” a term that includes whites and Asians. The plan allowed for a discrepancy among schools of only 5 percent. Similar plans had been adopted in Cambridge and Fall River, Mass., and copied by Milwaukee, San Jose, Calif., and dozens of other cities.
White Plains’s plan takes pains to give parents genuine choices. In January and February, parents of entering kindergartners visit elementary schools and rank their top three picks. A family will get first choice, which 90 percent of families do, unless the number of applicants of that child’s race exceeds certain caps, which at a school with 100 kindergartners might be 13 blacks, 46 Hispanics, and 41 “others.”
Should that happen, a lottery is held for all students in that racial group, with assigned numbers on colored slips of paper picked out of a basket at a public meeting. Remaining kindergartners get second choice or, rarely, third.
Buses are provided for students living more than half a mile from school. The plan also balances assignments at the two campuses of the middle school.
As a result of the plan, enrollment at each elementary school is roughly 45 percent Hispanic, 17 percent black, and 37 percent other. Officials say the plan works because transparent rules are enforced without favoritism. No school is more overcrowded or receives more dollars. All groups share the burdens and benefits of integration, though the unspoken assumption is that white parents will send their children to public schools only up to a murky “tipping point.”
“Over the history of the plan, no school has emerged as most desirable or least desirable, so no racial group is disadvantaged by not getting into that school,” said Saul Yanofsky, a former superintendent who spearheaded efforts to draw up the plan.
While the plan would not work in many cities — either because they have too few whites or schools too geographically spread out — in White Plains it has, by most accounts, been a success. Although enrollment has grown to more than 7,000 largely as a result of a Latino influx, schools have retained roughly the same number, if not the proportions, of whites and blacks that they had in 1989. That is not the usual urban pattern.
Achievement levels in the schools are comparable. At Ridgeway, 76 percent of fourth graders passed the state’s English test in 2005; in Post Road, 67 percent did. At the end of the line, the high school, with 17 Advanced Placement courses, gets top graduates into Harvard and Yale.
“We are in the minority, but it works for me,” said Maureen DiMarco, a white mother of two students at Post Road. “The teachers are wonderful, and that’s the priority for me. It has nothing to do with the race factor.”
For those reviewing the White Plains plan, the chink in the legal armor is that race is the bottom-line determinant, and in the Supreme Court decision, Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. ruled that race-consciousness violated the 14th Amendment.
The ruling was complicated by Justice Anthony M. Kennedy’s concurring opinion, which said race could obliquely be applied when, for example, choosing sites for new schools. And even Chief Justice Roberts said race could be one of a mix of student attributes considered, just as it was in the admissions plan at the University of Michigan’s law school that the court upheld in 2003.
Some lawyers who filed briefs opposing the Seattle and Louisville plans have urged cities like White Plains to use eligibility for free lunch as a proxy for race. But Ms. Young, a soft-spoken former PTA president who is credited with the managerial and people skills that have made residents accept the plan, points out that lunch eligibility is wildly inaccurate, because many parents will not disclose income.
She argues that White Plains has made integration work for 18 years without sweeping racial turnover. That, she said, should count for something, too.
E-mail: joeberg@nytimes.com
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Exclusion-Rate Data for NAEP to Be More Accessible
By Kathleen Kennedy Manzo
From Education Week click here to go to edweek.org
McLean, Va.
State data on students who are excluded from taking the National Assessment of Educational Progress, as well as those who are given special help or accommodations during the tests, will be featured more prominently in NAEP reports, starting this fall.
Officials are making those changes to ensure a better understanding of state differences, and the limitations of such comparisons, the governing board that sets policy for the federal testing program said this month. The board will also consider ways to standardize exclusion procedures nationwide, beginning with exams scheduled for 2009.
“It’s a national assessment, and it should be given as a national assessment,” said Andrew C. Porter, a board member and the dean of the graduate school of education at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia. “Now,” he said, “it’s a national assessment given by local rules.”
Revealing Information
Exclusion rates vary considerably among states. States generally don’t test students who would not be included in the states’ own assessments. That usually means children who are just beginning to learn English, or special education students whose individualized education programs, or IEPs, restrict or prohibit testing. Some states, for example, give certain students more time to take the tests, or read math and science questions to test-takers who need such help. ("States Vary on Students Excluded From NAEP Tests," Nov. 2, 2005.)
At the National Assessment Governing Board’s regular meeting here Aug. 2-4, several of its 21 members expressed concern that information on exclusions and accommodations was not readily available.
In 2005, the state-by-state information on exclusions and accommodations was not presented in the printed reports on the assessment’s reading and mathematics exams. Instead, it was buried in the extensive NAEP database that is available on the Internet. That year, the exclusion rates ranged from just 2 percent in Alabama and Wyoming to a high of 14 percent in Louisiana.
In contrast, information from other reports has been easier to find. The trial test of NAEP given in urban districts that year included the data in the main report. It also alerted readers that the results for Houston and Austin, Texas, should be considered with caution, given the large proportion of students with special needs who were excluded from the test sample.
California officials have argued that their state’s historic poor showing on NAEP is partly the result of the state’s policy of including most children, regardless of language or academic difficulties, in the test sample. Texas, which has similarly high percentages of English- language learners, does not test as significant a proportion of those students.
Governing-board Chairman Darvin M. Winick, said such changes should be carefully considered since inevitable comparisons will be made between California and his home state of Texas.
The board agreed that the reports on the 2007 reading and math results, scheduled for release this fall, will include the information on exclusions and accommodations within the main printed version, with clear “cautionary language” about how variations in those numbers can affect state results and comparisons between states. Future test results may flag scores from states that have high exclusion rates or allow significant accommodations to test-takers.
Standardization Obstacles Ahead?
Some critics have charged that states that exclude large numbers of students from the test may be taking advantage of the loophole to improve their scores. But setting a uniform policy around exclusions and accommodations could be problematic.
Peggy Carr, the deputy commissioner of the National Center for Education Statistics, the arm of the U.S. Department of Education that administers NAEP and compiles the data, said that standardizing those practices could run up against state testing requirements and the legal rights of special education students. Before 2004, NAGB tried to impose new rules on schools to make exclusion rates more uniform, but participating schools generally followed students’ IEPs anyway, said Arnold Goldstein, a statistician with the center.
The NCES is conducting a statistical study to predict the exclusion rates among students with disabilities based on the severity of their impairments, the types of accommodations the students get when they take state tests, and historical data on state exclusion rates.
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AP Enterprise: Per-pupil spending varies widely between districts
By JULIET WILLIAMS, Associated Press Writer
(03-25) 09:58 PST SACRAMENTO, (AP) --
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's proposed budget provides a $3.8 billion increase in education funding, enough to boost average school spending in California to a record level of $11,000 per student next year.
Behind that well-publicized figure, however, there are vast differences in the cost of a public school education. An Associated Press analysis of state school funding data shows that per-pupil spending varies widely between districts.
The discrepancy has created a persistent gap between well-to-do-districts and those that receive significantly less than the amount promoted by the governor and lawmakers, even though the state has spent a record amount on its public schools over the past two years.
The analysis was based on funding during the 2003-2004 school year, the last year for which comparable statewide figures are available. The information was collated from annual spending data that districts are required to submit to the state Department of Education each year.
Among the findings:
_ Per-pupil spending in California ranged from $4,806 to a high of $34,279. Some rural districts spent far more than the median, or midpoint, of $6,857 per student because of extremely low enrollments combined with high operational costs.
_ The amount of money that ends up in classrooms often is far less than the per-pupil amount promoted publicly because the state's budget includes spending for all aspects of public education, from charter schools to state administration.
_ A handful of the state's 1,059 districts are so well-off they receive none of their basic funding from the state. Still, they are able to apply for millions in additional spending for special programs.
"We don't have equal education for all here in California," said Mary Louise Labrucherie, superintendent of the Valle Lindo Elementary School District in Los Angeles County. "They call us 'low-wealth.' They should call it 'high poverty.'
"The state of California is still giving more money to rich areas."
School funding in California is based on a 1976 state Supreme Court ruling, which concluded that the financing system was unfair and relied too heavily on local property taxes.
The case arose after a parent in the Los Angeles County city of Baldwin Park claimed it was unfair that the local school district spent just half as much in taxpayer money per student as the public school district in Beverly Hills.
Disparities remain despite a series of reforms since then.
During the 2003-04 school year, for example, the Valle Lindo school district received $5,224 per student, compared to the state average of $6,919. The 1,300-student kindergarten through eighth-grade district had the lowest per-pupil spending of all California districts with more than 1,000 students.
Labrucherie said she closely watches spending at the two schools she oversees, on everything from tissues in the classrooms to new carpets.
Saving on the most basic needs, she said, allows her to buy new computers and make needed repairs. The assistant superintendent, she said, "never lets a penny be spent without accounting for it."
Hundreds of miles away in Napa County, St. Helena Unified School District Superintendent Allan Gordon can offer his teachers higher salaries and better amenities than other districts, allowing him to retain some of the best. The highest teacher salary offered there, $79,095, was about $9,000 more than the state average in 2003-04.
The district is virtually the same size as Valle Lindo, with 1,350 kindergarten through 12th-grade students, but can offer much more, such as intensive tutoring and special art classes.
St. Helena spent $9,399 per student during the 2003-04 school year, thanks largely to the substantial property taxes generated by the region's wine industry.
The district is one of about 50 that receive no basic funding from the state, which typically contributes about two-thirds of a district's budget. It still receives state money to fund specialized programs such as teaching English learners.
"Since our tax base is so high, because we're in this wonderful, beautiful Napa County, we are able to spend about $10,000 per child," Gordon said. "The good news is I'm in a district that has more money than most. The bad news is this is what everybody should have."
When adjusted for regional cost of living, California's per-pupil spending ranked 43rd in the nation in 2003-04, according to Quality Counts, the country's largest survey of education funding.
The state's education spending has fallen behind that of other states, although the gap narrowed in the late 1990s as lawmakers grew concerned over lagging student performance and the technology boom pumped more money into schools.
California's system of state-controlled funding is unusual compared with other states, which typically allow for more local control over budgets and place a greater reliance on property taxes. Quality Counts said the funding disparity between districts is even greater in some other states.
After the 1976 Supreme Court ruling, California sought to shift more of the funding burden to the state. But its funding ability was diminished just two years later when voters passed the landmark Proposition 13, which limited increases in individual property tax assessments and made it harder to equalize funding between districts.
Still, the courts concluded nearly 20 years ago that the state had fulfilled the legal requirement to make school funding fair, said state Sen. Jack Scott, D-Altadena, chairman of the Senate Education Committee.
Change begun after the 1976 settlement, he said, "didn't create a world of total equality, but it made a tremendous amount in terms of distributing it."
California voters gave a boost to education funding when they approved Proposition 98 in 1988, guaranteeing a minimum level of funding for schools. While the initiative set a base level of funding for public schools, it did not fundamentally change the way the money is distributed.
Officials have not figured out how to completely equalize spending levels throughout the state, even as the overall education budget has risen.
Lawmakers are working toward that goal.
State Senators Joe Simitian, D-Palo Alto, and George Runner, R-Antelope Valley, are sponsoring a bill that would provide $200 million a year to boost funding for school districts that spend the least amount per student.
Simitian said it's a question of basic fairness.
"The larger issue is, 'Is it time to undertake a massive overhaul of the funding structure?' The answer to that question is yes, in my judgment," he said.
The lawmakers estimate it would cost about $400 million a year to bring all of California's districts to a comparable level. They said the measure introduced this year is practical — and would make some progress by getting half that amount.
Ideally, California would move to a system in which funding is distributed statewide as a per-student grant, with additional money allocated to districts for high-cost programs such as special education and classes for students learning English, Simitian said.
Schwarzenegger included the $200 million in the budget he proposed in January and has appointed an advisory committee of 15 experts to study education, including the distribution and adequacy of funding.
In addition, four private foundations have jointly funded a research project that includes an evaluation of how the state pays for its schools.
Even a partial solution for distributing money equitably would be welcome at Valle Lindo Elementary School District, Labrucherie said.
In the meantime, she has devised her own creative ways to deal with less money. The district shares maintenance costs with the city and county, for example, and asks administrators to work at both the district's schools.
"Every expenditure is scrutinized. You run it like your home," she said. "It's just the way it is, and you work with it.
"But it does sting when you think about it."
To compare your school district with others in the county and state, go to:
www.ed-data.k12.ca.us/
http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2006/03/25/state/n095807S47.DTL
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Invest in Education, Not Incarceration By Judge Greg Mathis
Last year, more than 7 million American people - that's about one in every 32 adults - were behind bars or on probation or parole. The United States has, for years, imprisoned more  people than any other country in the world. Yet, we don't have the highest literacy rate. And our economy continues to take a hit as jobs are outsourced to foreign countries with a cheaper and better educated workforce. Inner-city schools fail half of their students and jobs are removed from communities, replaced with guns and drugs, resulting in incarceration, if you're lucky, death if you're not.
Nonetheless, many U.S. states have cut their education budgets to compensate for rapid growth in prison populations and prison construction. The misguided priorities that inform such decisions have only served to further marginalize already oppressed populations. It's time that this country shifts its focus away from imprisonment and commits its resources to education and empowerment.
In the past 20 years, more than a thousand new prisons and jails have been built in the U.S. Yet, our prisons are more overcrowded now than ever. According to the United State Justice Department, the total number of inmates increased 35-percent from 1995 to 2005. The nation's 'war on drugs' and the stiff sentencing laws that grew out of that war are largely to blame. Nonviolent possession offenses, a crime that, in another country, would more than likely not result in a prison sentence, make up a large percentage of the prison population.
The numbers of individuals sentenced for drug crimes increased nearly 65-percent between 1996 and 2003, accounting for the largest increase in inmates in the federal system Black and Hispanic men only make up 10-percent of this country's population, yet they make up 60-percent of nation's prison population. Men aren't the only casualties here. Black women are three times more likely than whites to end up in prison and women of color are increasingly being sentenced to long prison terms for nonviolent drug offenses.
If federal and local governments were to adequately fund the nation's public schools, ensuring all students had access to high-quality teachers, tutoring and after-school programs, we could stem the growth of the nation's prison population. With support, many could be steered away from drugs and the street life and pushed towards college or vocational school. Instead, the country has poured its money into a criminal injustice system that, instead of creating special programs designed to rehabilitate the low-level offender, corals these lost souls into the nation's prisons. Upon release, having no education and no skills, many return to the lifestyles that landed them in prison. It's a dangerous cycle and only prison architects and big business benefits.
In 1977, I was incarcerated for 7 months. I was told that it cost taxpayers $30,000 to incarcerate me. A year later, I enrolled at Eastern Michigan University under an affirmative action program. Because I was poor, I had to use loans and tax-payer supported government grants to pay for my education. The cost of my four year education was $24,000, less than the cost of my short jail sentence. No longer a burden to taxpayers, I am a significant taxpayer, helping, through my tax contributions, to pave the way for others who've yet to get an opportunity to make a way for themselves. The tax dollars used to support my education were a worthy investment, one that benefits all of society. America should take note and act accordingly
Judge Greg Mathis is national vice president of Rainbow PUSH and a national board member of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference.
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