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RSS Newsletter·2024 Referendum·Gell-Man Amnesia Effect

School Referenda

In order to clarify what I said to the reporter in the May 18 story entitled Mayor Urges Yes Vote for Schools, I sent the following letter to the CapTimes:
Dear Editors,
I was quoted as saying the “world wouldn’t come to a screeching halt” if the referenda did not pass. Actually, what I said was there was plenty of time for the school board to prepare new referenda questions for a November election, when we would otherwise be voting. Thus, for those of us concerned that these items are not based on solid data, a ‘no’ vote now would not bring the district to its knees.
Why the rush, then? Because the outcome might change. For instance, by next fall, we might learn that the demographics in the district and Leopold neighborhood argue against a school there, perhaps that building there would mean certain school closures in the Isthmus area. Those following school issues know that another far West side elementary school is surely going to get built in addition to whatever happens at Leopold. Something’s got to give.
And as to the operating and maintenance questions, we need a closer look at the teachers’ contract and also the “untouchable” administrative staff arrangements. Actually, we need an overall transparent budget process. If the numbers are solid, let’s see the justifications and assumptions. I am happy to support these requests when I can trust the numbers. Right now, I don’t.
Joan M. Knoebel

The Leopold Referendum: No Due Diligence

I oppose the Leopold School referendum.
I oppose it not because I’m a Republican (I’m not), not because I’m a Democrat (I’m not, though the Mayor would have you believe that that would constitute an oxymoron — a sad commentary on what it means to be a Democrat, seems to me), but because opposing the Leopold referendum is the responsible decision.
(My political leaning, if you must know: A left wing conservative! “Always do the right thing, leaving as much money as you can to do more right things.”).
The Leopold referendum wastes $10M over 15 years.
The only real motivation for this blindness was “we promised the Leopold parents back in 2002”, and great lobbying by the Leopold crowd — to the potential detriment of other schools and kids in the district. Placing this promise in perspective, in 2002, when the promise was first made, the estimate for a new school at Leopold was $7M. In 2004, the initial estimate became $11M; the referendum now calls for $14.5M — a 200% increase from 2002. Quite a jump!
The most responsible decision the Board could have made was to construct another addition to the Leopold school, borrowing up to $10M from the State Trust Fund (no referendum is required), as we did for the 2003 addition to Leopold. And we wouldn’t have to pay for a new principal at this new school, at $100,000+ per year, because their wouldn’t be a new school! Another savings. (Or maybe build the $7M school, originally promised?).
Our savings of $10M over the referendum is the difference between the 15-year cost of the referendum and the anticipated principle and interest payments back to the State on the $10M loan. Our 15-year cost is $23M, not the $14.5M, which is the money we get to keep. The $23M is this $14.5M plus the 60% increase Madison taxpayers are required to pay under the State’s Equalization Forumla — we’re paying welfare to other school districts!
What could we do with the $10M not spent on the Leopold site? Make additions to southwest schools to accommodate expected growth (also limits growth at Leopold), and additions to schools on the east side: both will be needed anyway.
And this would have been the prudent thing to do, given the flux in the Ridgewood apartments area, which calls into question the growth estimates for Leopold.
The School Board failed to follow their own policy and consider an addition to Leopold as an alternative, instead jumping full speed ahead, without deliberation, to building a new school. In fact, the Long Range Planning citizen committee, that was charged with the initial deliberations, spent the majority of their time at meetings, practising their Leopold referendum campaign speeches, instead of deliberating over the substance. Their lack of even reasonable due diligence in the execution of their responsibilties leaves the voters to make emotional instead of logical and factual decisions.
Send the referendum back to them. Demand that do their job. When they’ve done their due diligence, then we can talk.

More Referenda Views

Sandy Cullen talks with a number of local players, including Art Rainwater, Roger Price along with both supporters and opponents of the 5/24 Referenda vote.
Cullen also mentions the very high taxpayer cost for these initiatives, due to the State’s equalization formula. For each $1.00 in new spending, the District must tax Madison homeowners $1.60! Essentially, as local spending exceeds state averages, the State reduces aid.
I find the support that Madison has shown for local education remarkable. Consider:

Madison spends an average of $13K per student, 25% more than the state average.
The District’s annual budget has increased from roughly $193M 10 years ago to $319M this year while enrollment has remained flat (Demographics have changed, of course)
Madison has many active volunteers who devote their time to local education efforts.

This support is positive and rather unique. The debate, in my view, is when we collectively reach the (tipping) point where piling more and more on the property taxpayer effectively erodes this essential support. I also think the District could significantly improve the transparency of the budget process (one simple example: the implications on student programs and teacher staffing of contract decisions made months before the “annual spring cut/spending reduction list” discussions).
I think the Madison Education Community should create an initiative to change the way we fund local education. I don’t believe a top down approach to school financing change will work. It may get passed at some point, but I doubt we’ll like the outcome.

For Immigrant Students, Math is One Road to Success

Michael Winerup:

So it was a surprise to see the photograph in the weekly paper, The Quincy Sun. There, on Page 7, was the Quincy High math club, and 17 of 18 members were Asian. Mathematically, it made no sense. Quincy High is 22 percent Asian; why is the math club 94.4 percent Asian?
Evelyn Ryan, the math department head, says that before the influx of Asian families began, there was one calculus class of 10 students; now there are two calculus classes totaling 40 students, 75 percent of them Asian.
I wanted to ask math club members why Asian students are so good in math. As I was to learn, it wasn’t such a simple question.
Most Asians at Quincy High have been in America only a few years, from China, Vietnam and Thailand. Most know little English when they arrive and are placed in E.S.L. classes (English as a second language.) “When I was a freshman, half year in U.S., English is a big problem,” said Chaoran Xie, a junior now. “I just know, ‘Hello how are you?’ History is a big problem. You don’t openly express yourself because you don’t know what to say and stuff. In history it’s a simple idea, but you don’t have the basic English.”

5/24 Referenda – Special Interest Money

The Madison City Clerk’s office has posted Pre-Special Election Campaign Finance Information for the 5/24/2005 Referenda:

Get Real PAC: $2,636.00 Raised <PDF>
Madison Cares: 33,483.31 <PDF>; $15,580.31 Raised before the filing deadline + Late Contributions of $500 from Carstensen for School Board, $1,000 from Wisconsin Teachers Solidarity Fund, 1,500 from the Carpenters & Joiners Local no 314 $9,903 from Madison Teachers Inc <PDF> and $5,000 from WEAC
Mad City Grumps $4,675 Raised <PDF>
Vote No For Change: $1,500 Raised <PDF>

Lee Sensenbrenner follows the money.
Local Parent/Activist and Madison CARES supporter Arlene Silveira argues for a yes vote on all three questions.
Learn more about the referenda here.
UPDATE: Sandy Cullen has more on Referenda spending.

Fed Up With Lunch Waste

“They never eat them all,” Aubrey said, referring to chicken nuggets left on the trays of first-, second- and third-graders.

The pair saw only a small portion of a nationwide pile of school lunch waste.

Each year, about $600 million in food served by the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s National School Lunch Program is thrown away by students, the department’s Economic Research Service estimates in a report. That amounts to 12% of the food they are served.

Joan Dissects Mayor Dave’s Pitch for the Referenda

Joan Knoebel comments on the Mayor’s campaign email list being used for a pro referenda message. Mayor Dave’s permanent campaign site is here. Email your pro or con comments: mayor at cityofmadison dot com

Board Debates 1.8M in a $319M Budget

Lee Sensenbrenner picks up much detail (great work!):

Later in the night, when the board was going back and forth over whether it might keep kindergarten art, music and computer class sizes from doubling next year – a move that would have saved around $270,000 – Robarts said she was struggling to understand how that discussion was taking place when the district next year will pay $21 million for health insurance.
“Excuse me, that’s not germane,” board member Bill Keys said. Earlier Monday, the board had been meeting in closed session about the teachers’ contract currently under negotiation. No financial terms have been disclosed.
“OK, that’s it. I’ll shut up,” Robarts said. “It just seems very backward.”

Others also demonize opponents

Beth Zurbuchen isn’t the only pro-referenda advocate who cannot understand referenda opponents who support quality schools but will vote no to force the board and administration to consider better budgeting, management, and curriculum.
Bill Keys said, quoting a Cap Times article:

To school board member Bill Keys, “the people who have doubts about the referendum seem to belong to two camps.”
One, he said, is composed of those who oppose additional school funding whenever the opportunity comes along. . . .
“These people are always against education,” he contended. “That’s their history, that’s their life. They’ve made a career of being against education.”
In the other camp are those, he said, who just don’t want to engage in the complexities of the problem and study the real constraints that exist in school finance.

Hard choices for Madison Voters

On May 24th, citizens in the Madison school district will vote on three referenda questions affecting whether to build an addition to Leopold School, exceed revenue caps, and renew the maintenance referendum.
For many people the answers are an easy yes or no vote. Others, like me, have wrestled with their choice for each question.
Why is the choice so difficult? It should be easy, right? Strong public education is a good thing. We want to support teachers and students in the district. We know that overcrowded schools all too often undermine education.
I can’t speak for others, but I know that I have several barriers to an automatic yes vote. The issues are different for Leopold than for the operating and maintenance questions. For me, the issues come down to what I do – and do not – know about what the questions mean. I feel that my duty as a representative of the community is to make informed decisions on behalf of our children and not to commit to proposals that lack sound justifications.

Casey Hoff on the Referenda

Referendum is a word that rolls off the tongue like a fiery expletive after you get your property tax bill in the mail every year. Why such lewd language? Probably because a referendum seems more common than a cold day in January and the Madison School Board is now asking you to approve not one, not two, but three referenda totaling over $48 million dollars. This includes a $7.4 million revenue cap raise, $26.2 million over five years for building maintenance, computer technology, and instructional materials, and $14.5 million for the Leopold Elementary School facelift.
You may be asking yourself, “Should I really vote ‘yes’ and just bite my lip as I tack on another $108 to my property tax bill?” You may be saying, “I strongly support funding for our wonderful public education system, but are they making all the cuts they can to clean up the budget?” Don’t tell Madison CARES Spokeswoman Beth Zurbuchen that you’re considering voting ‘no’ or you’ll be drug out in the mud and figuratively shot like a feral cat in the north woods of Wisconsin (oops, touchy subject, sorry).

Zurbuchen’s quote can be found here.

WKOW / FOX TV Followup on the Referenda

WKOW / FOX TV (WKOW produces the FOX 47 9:00p.m. newscast) ran a story today on yesterday’s Referenda and the increased amount of local education information and conversation available online, including this site. 3.6MB Quicktime Video

Ed Hughes on the Madison School District Administration’s Budget Process

Ed Hughes wrote this letter to the Isthmus Editor (5/12/2005 edition) 210K PDF. Jeff Henriques also comments about the Isthmus’ recent Madison Schools coverage (5/12/2005 edition) 210K PDF.

Superintendent Rainwater: It doesn’t matter what Johnny thinks

In Thursday’s Capital Times article titled “Strings program is still not safe” by Lee Sensenbrenner, the Superintendent said, “It doesn’t matter what Johnny thinks!” Mr. Winston responded strongly. “I would like to see the strings program continued somehow, some way,” Winston added. “I think the community wants that. I think that’s loud and clear.”
Mr. Rainwater, it does matter to me what Johnny thinks. I, and I’m sure others, care about what the School Board is directing the superintendent to do, and we care deeply that the Superintendent is following through on directions from the majority of the School Board. Coming back one day later, declaring the charge is impossible, is puzzling following a presentation by the administration the night before of options.

Carol Carstensen on Isthmus’ Recent Madison Schools Coverage

This article, by Madison School Board President Carol Carstensen, appeared in Isthmus‘ May 12, 2005 edition:

Over the last two years, Isthmus’ articles on the Madison school district, especially its approach to teaching reading, have reminded me of a favorite quote from Adlai Stevenson: “These are the conclusions upon which I base my facts.”
The Madison school district has gotten a great deal of negative coverage from Isthmus, despite the fact that the district has seen continued improvement in the numbers and percent of children achieving at the two highest levels on the state’s third-grade reading test.

Open Enrollment Denied

The May 2, 2005 Madison School Board meeting included a statement & discussion from a parent whose child was denied open enrollment in the Wisconsin Virtual Academy. 9MB Video. More on open enrollment: Clusty | Google

Sensenbrenner: Madison School Board Members Bill Keys & Ruth Robarts on the May 24 Referenda

Lee Sensenbrenner provides a useful look at the different approaches to Madison School District spending taken by Board members Bill Keys & Ruth Robarts.

Blocking Reform

Joanne Jacobs:

From the Huffington Post: Mike Piscal, founder of the very successful View Park Prep charter school in the low-income, minority Crenshaw District of LA names names in analyzing why 3,950 ninth graders at South LA’s four major high schools turn into 1,600 graduates, 900 college freshmen and 258 college graduates. More here.

This is related: Shanghai Jiaotong University won the recent ACM International Collegiate Programming Contest. The US hasn’t won since 1997. The University of Illinois finished 17th, CalTech,Duke and MIT finished 29th while UW-Madison earned an honorable mention.

Ed Blume’s Ideas and a Citizens’ BOE

The National School Boards Association has written a Key Work of School Boards guidebook, detailing 8 key areas describing what School Boards should be doing, how they should be doing it, with action items, etc.
This is a wonderful site! Their ideas and the details well frames the issues and points in directions which many have been espousing for some time.
From the Forward to Key Works of School Boards:
“In an effort to help local school boards best fulfill their role, the National School Boards Association has created the Key Work of School Boards, a framework for raising student achievement through community engagement…. The framework is based on the premise that excellence in the classroom begins with excellence in the boardroom…. The guidebook provides a framework of eight “key” action areas that successful boards have focused their attention on: vision, standards, assessment, accountability, resource alignment, climate, collaboration, and continuous improvement.”
Their presentation gives an overview.

Questions When Reviewing MMSD Financial & Enrollment History Analysis

Don, thank you for pulling together the historical data. When I reviewed the historical financial analysis a couple of thoughts came to mind:
Of the District administration’s current budget, $40 million for special education and ESL currently comes from the operating budget. If the district received half of the amount of money to cover this unfunded mandate, revenues in 2002 – revenues would have been $318 million that year – the same amount as the 2005-2006 balanced budget.

Unbelievable comments from Rainwater

In a Cap Times story on Thursday, May 12, the superintendent seems to be trying to:
1. Control the news by telling the paper how to report on board action.
2. Tell Johnny Winston, Jr. that what Johnny thinks is irrelevant to the superintendent.
3. Put the board in its place by telling it that he will cut strings if the referendum fails, no matter what resolution the board passes.
Fortunately, Johnny seems to be speaking up.

Sports vs. Fine Arts vs. Academics – Losing Battle for Kids

When I listened to the Board discussion on Monday, one Board member said that if you don’t get it and vote for the referendum, Varsity sports will be on the chopping block to go next year. I cringed. I’ve been a fine arts education advocate, but I also lettered in three varsity sports in high school and know/experienced the importance of athletics. We need to vote yes in the referendum, but we also need to change the way we do our education business during the year.

Fine Arts vs Sports strange battle

The heated discussion between fine arts and sports is not helpful nor is it valid. This district seems to have a hard to financing both as part of the districts curriculum. For parents like myself that have children that love the arts AND athletics I do not favor eliminating one or the other.
My 4th grade daughter has art, music, and strings twice a week each. She also has P.E. three times a week. At the elementary level they reduced the amount of recess the students have which is an issue for my very busy 1st grade son. The current budget proposal is asking for elementary P.E. as well as music and art to increase the number of students in each class which will eliminate positions for all.
Madison is one of the only large school districts I know of that does not have school sponsored sports at the Jr. High Level. And the current proposal would move many of the 9-12 athletics to MSCR and not under the school districts budget. Perhaps the reason parents of athletics are not at the board meetings is because the options are to restructure the system so it will survive, whereas for elementary strings they are proposing elimination. That is why I am excited to see some discussions about other options for strings if the referendum fails.

Low Cost Handhelds show results as Teaching Tools

Foxview Intermediate School fifth-grader Meg Summerside becomes animated as she explains all the cool functions her personal digital assistant can perform.
Summerside excitedly rattles off a flurry of features that help her organize her life, write research papers and create simple animation in Becky Lee’s classroom.

Madison Schools Financial & Enrollment History Analysis

	Active Citizens for Education has published an analysis of historical changes in the Madison School District’s Enrollment, staffing and spending. Data was compiled from the Madison School District and the Wisconsin DPI website. Please contact me with feedback or suggestions: email donleader at aol dot com or 608 577 0851
click to view the information (55K pdf version)

Madison Schools May 24, 2005 Referenda/Election Summary

I’ve posted a page with information, links and polling information (Fitchburg, Madison, Maple Bluff, Shorewood and the Town of Madison) regarding the May 24, 2005 Madison Schools Referenda. Please forward any additional links or notes to me: zellmer at mailbag dot com. Vote!

Analyzing MMSD Spreadsheets

The report entitled What We Know About Spreadsheets by Professor Panko of the University of Hawaii analyzing the literature on accuracy of financial spreadsheets shows a truly appalling result — significant errors, and furthermore, reliance on the accuracy, and denial of problems.
As I look at the spreadsheets for the budget and list of maintenance projects justifying the referenda, I’m overwhelmed by their complexity and my inability to feel comfortable with their calculations.
I’m no expert at using spreadsheets, relying instead on real databases and batch processing to handle such complex tasks. I have no doubt that MMSD Business Services folks are quite good at spreadsheet use, but spreadsheets are incapable of being maintained even if accurately created in the first place.
And spreadsheets are simply incapable to allowing the timely generation of multiple budget scenarios. The delay in pulling together the budget for this year (from multiple sources), a typically manually intensive process when using spreadsheets for financial and budgeting analysis, shows their inadequacy.
To make the budgeting and financial aspects of MMSD transparent, and analyzable by the public, and capable of generating multiple budget scenarios requires a drastically improved system. And my demands that contracts and decisions affecting the budget (such as cuts proposals) be handled only within the confines of a published set of budget scenarios, make the need to move away from spreadsheet use imperative.

Sports, Music, Academics – Last Minute Proposals Stressful: Need Big Picture with all the Pieces

(The Capital Times, Strings to play on in city’s schools by Lee Sensenbrenner) reported that I “…admitted to calling Winston “a jock,” but said she meant the board was favoring athletics while it dealt with budget cuts..” Not exactly with the name-calling, but I have been critical of the District Administration’s handling of cuts to fine arts, and the School Board’s implicit support of this approach until hundreds of students, teachers, parents and other Madison residents rally, write letters and emails, or lobby board members. I believe the board needs to be working on any changes to an academic curriculum over the year and needs to engage teachers, parents and other professionals in the process. That has simply not been done with the fine arts, an academic curriculum, and I still believe the proposed cuts to the fine arts curriculum, especially in elementary school, are burdensome – 41% of the proposed elementary school budget cut is from elementary music education (general and strings classes) yet elementary music education makes up less than 3% of the elementary school budget. A 3% cut to elementary music education would have been $49,000 – reduction of 1 FTE rather than nearly 13 FTEs. We need to share the burden of cuts – I don’t get cutting a high-demand (1,866), highly valued curriculum program 100% that just put in place a fee this year.

ACE Referenda Voter Information & Polling Costs

Active Citizens for Education has published several informational papers for the May 24, 2005 Madison Schools Referenda:

Q1: Leopold Expansion 111K PDF
Q2: Operating Budget Expansion 131K PDF
Q3: Maintenance Expenses 124K PDF
Special Election Polling costs (> $90K) 58K PDF
Voter Fact Sheet 152K PDF

Citizens Advocating Responsible Education C.A.R.E


Click to view the charts in further detail

After an eight year absence from analyzing data from the Madison School District, C.A.R.E., Citizens Advocating Responsible Education, has returned to the local scene with updates to the data profiles which it prepared through 1997. Current reports include a Ten Year Profile, 1994 through 2004, of MMSD’s school enrollment, full time equivalency (fte) staffing history, student to staff ratios, annual operating budgets, annual pupil costs compared to the state average, and tax levies in excess of spending caps. The second report is a profile of the same items but in snapshot form in ten year increments since 1980. (300K PDF)

Vicki McKenna Interviews Lawrie Kobza

WIBA’s Vicki McKenna interviewed Madison School’s Board of Education member Lawrie Kobza today. MP3 Audio (17.4MB) – about 40 minutes into the segment.

Strings Program – A Response

I would like to be perfectly clear. I want a Madison Metropolitan School District strings program in elementary schools. I have been very clear about this since my first televised board meeting last year, where I exclaimed, “I want a strings program in the budget!” However, with unfunded mandates, revenue caps, additional academic testing requirements and possible annual referendums, it is very hard to continue to make that exclamation.

My Proposal for 4th & 5th Grade Strings

Tonight (May 10, 2005) the Board of Education will discuss proposed amendments to the budget. This discussion will include a discussion of the 4th & 5th grade strings programs.
I support offering students the opportunity to take strings in 4th and 5th grade. Currently, 4th and 5th grade students who elect to take strings have two different music classes each week: general music, and strings. General music has two 30 minute classes per week, and strings meets twice a week for 45 minutes each. The strings classes are pull-out classes, which means that the students taking strings are missing another class during the time that they are out for strings.

MMSD plans more West side expansion

The MMSD Web site includes a map that shows a “future MMSD boundary” around Crestwood, Huegel, and Chavez.
The map raises many questions. Why would the MMSD want to expand its boundaries? When might the expansion occur? What are the figures on population growth in the areas to be included? Will the expansion require a referendum to build another school?
Can anyone provide any insight into the MMSD plans?

Newsweek: Top 1000 US High Schools

Newsweek ranks the top US High Schools. Madison Memorial is ranked #587. Here’s the criteria.

Mckenna interviews Sarah Kidd on the Referenda

WIBA’s Vicki McKenna interviewed Sarah Kidd & Nancy Mistele today. Kidd relates quite a bit of data from the 1990’s, including district size and administrative staff changes. 17MB MP3 audio file (48 minutes).
Kidd & Mistele also discussed 1990’s Crestwood & Emerson expansions.

Stressed Out: Parental Pressure to Excel

As the boy played behind the bushes at his Redwood City school, his obviously agitated mother grabbed him, abruptly escorting him to her car.
“She asked him what he thought he was doing and proceeded to tell him all in one breath that he would never get into a good university or have a good job if he spent all his time playing and goofing around,” said Jim Dassise, a parent who watched the episode unfold. “He should be more like one of his friends, who spent his time studying and having good grades.”
The boy was about 9 years old.

Madison Schools Medicaid Reimbursements

Mike Johnson takes a look at a Medicaid reimbursement program that pumps about 700K into the Madison Schools annually. The article provides a useful look at the strange way (and the costs) in which the money finds its way to local districts.

“The reason Madison started in the Medicaid reimbursement program could be summed up in two words: revenue limits,” said Joe Quick, the legislative liaison/communication specialist for the district. “Despite the somewhat cumbersome paperwork and a reimbursement formula where the state skims money off the top, the school district’s efforts are financially worth the work.”

How Does Staffing Compare from Year to Year?

The proposed 05-06 budget distributed on May 3, 2005 projects 70 less FTE for the next year. Once again, the comparison raises questions:

General Administration: 5 FTE increase
Elementary Education: no change in FTEs (so why such a big hit to elementary specials? – still not explained and continues to appear punitive in light of no planning over the past year – especially punitive to elementary music education, embarassing)
Secondary Education: 28 FTE cut
Business Services: 30FTE cut in non-food services? – but is the work model changing, because their budget numbers did not go down that much and in fact dollars increased for next year?

Questions, questions and more questions that could be addressed in a straightforward manner with a presentation to the School Board. What is this board waiting for?
Download file comparing staffing for 04-05 to budgeted for 05-06 Source for comparison is MMSD data – staffing history prepared by MMSD last fall and the current budget document released on May 3, 2005.

Comparing Budgets – Not that Hard to Do – Raises Important Questions that Would Be Answered in a Board presentation and Public discussion

MMSD says that you cannot compare the numbers for the 04-05 budget with the proposed 05-06 balanced budget because they were not developed at the same time and do not include all the grant money. Confused? Of course – any reasonable person would expect that the information presented side by side could be compared.
When comparing budgets from year to year, you need to be sure that you have budgets that were developed at the same time of year, or at least contain similar information. I’ve done the entry, which you can download and look at for your self. Here’s a summary of key changes:

Still Waiting for A Budget Presentation – Not a Rush to a Cut List

The MMSD board and the public need and deserve a presentation of the proposed budget for 05-06 including a comparison with the previous year. That’s basic budget 101.
What was distributed publicly by the MMSD Administration were financial summaries without any text that would explain:

specific measurable goals for next year – by district by department
changes in spending by department
what grants are outstanding – how much and what departments would be affected by grants, are the administrative, teacher and other staff that are paid through grants included in this budget
what changes are anticipated in programming and staffing? For example there is not change in FTEs for elementary educ, but the Supt in proposing to eliminate 30% of the music education budget

The written material that supports the financial statements will be available later this week –
The public needs to ask Board members to ask for a presentation of the budget with comparisons to last year made so that the Board and the public can understand what is being proposed.
I’ve made comparisons of the FTEs and the budgets – I have the budget for 04-05 that was produced last May that can be compared to the May budget just released for 05-06, which I will be posting.

Help me understand the “budget”

I don’t understand the only MMSD document posted on the district’s Web site for next year’s budget. Maybe someone can help me.

Happy Mother’s Day!

Jon Carroll on “Our Mothers, Ourselves“:

She learned to scuba dive. She was active in the League of Women Voters. When I was 28, she and my stepfather moved to Ethiopia. She worked for the World Health Organization, preparing educational materials that said, in essence, “Please do not defecate in the river.”

Madison Cares Update

Madison Cares, a group formed to support the May 24, 2005 Madison School Referendums has published an updated introductory letter that includes a list of supporters (32K PDF).

Bill Keys & Thuy Pham-Remmele Discuss the Referendums

7MB MP3 audio file from their WTDY appearance. (last 20 minutes only – sorry). Bill Keys is a former teacher and current member of the Madison Board of Education. Thuy Pham-Remmele is a retired Madison schools teacher.

Koloen: School Board Should Question Health Care Costs

Jim Koloen (appeared in the Capital Times):

Dear Editor: It is perplexing that the Madison School Board can approve a labor contract without actually having read it except through a summary provided by the administration. Why bother with a board at all if it simply behaves as though the administration and the board are one and the same? The words “rubber stamp” come to mind.

Evidently another contract ( five year transportation) was approved on May 2 – without presentation of the full financial details. (9 minute video clip of the discussion – the award was approved 4 – 2 with Kobza & Robarts voting against it due to lack of information. Check out the video). Generally, I think a five year deal is not a bad idea, IF all of the costs & benefits are known.

Committees – Board Performance

Committee chairs build a record for the public –

a) by the agendas they set for the year,
b) by how those agendas relate to the key issues facing the board
c) by the thoroughness of the topics addressed in those meetings and
d) by the recommendations developed and decisions made

. We will be able to tell from the public record those board members who

1) use meeting times well by the issues they address,
2) are reaching out/engaging the public in meaningful ways,
3) are listening and assessing different viewpoints,
4) are seeking creative and innovative directions for the school district in these difficult, challenging financial times for our children’s education, etc.

Based upon the record, we will have information that we can use to evaluate a board members’ record as a committee chair during the next election cycle.

Larger than committee assignments

I have every confidence that Ruth Robarts will make the best of this situation. I believe it’s important, however, to also call out Carol Carstensen, like her predecessor Bill Keys, on their partisan, petty nonsense.
Making inappropriate committeee assignments is just one manifestation of a larger problem, the marginalization of those who do not march in lockstep with the administration as well as the teachers’ union and their handpicked board members. The public needs to hold board members accountable every day, not just on election day.

Lemonade from Lemons

I fail to see the cup half empty on the BOE selection of Ms. Roberts to the Legislative Committee, Ms. Kobza to the Partnership Committee, and Mr. Winston to the Financial and Operations Committee. What an opportunity to shake up the way we keep the “status quo” every year in this community. I agree with Ms. Carstensen that a committee is what you make of it. This is an opportunity to make Madison go in a new direction away from depending on the union and administration to make decisions for our kids education. Consider the current law suites against NCLB, the opportunity to fund strings and athletics in a new way, a revised budget reviewing process by the BOE. Maybe these committees are currently weak, but they could be strong. These three board members tend to be thoughtful of the communities concerns and could lead the district into a new direction with innovative leadership. Let’s encourage them to be progressive and lead, not follow in their decision making and planning to educate Madison kids.

Carstensen Committee Picks

Since the comments section is mostly closed, (thanks Viagra peddlers), I want to post a letter I sent to the board on this subject. I urge others to do the same. Ms. Carstensen must think she has some kind of mandate. It might help if she got some feedback.
To: comments@madison.k12.wi.us
Dear Ms Carstensen,
I read with dismay your transparent attempt to marginalize Ruth Robarts with an assignment to a committee of little import. From the community’s standpoint, you are wasting Ms Robarts’ talents; but of course that must mean little to you, determined as you and some of your fellow board members are to squash new ideas and independent thought.
Let me remind you what you seem to have forgotten: this is about the education of our children, not some petty political agenda. If you had any capacity for it, I’d say shame on you.
Sincerely,
Joan Knoebel

Madison School Board President Carol Carstensen’s Committee Picks

Lee Sensenbrenner disects Carol Carstensen’s committee assignments, including the “exiling” of Ruth Robarts to the Legislative Committee.

New Principal Named at East High School

A message to school board members from Superintendent Art Rainwater:
I am pleased to inform you that I will recommend Allan Harris, currently the Principal of Blackhawk Middle School, to be the Principal of East High School for the 2005-06 school year.
Allan has a strong background in school administration at all levels. His career prior to joining the MMSD was in Clovis Calif. Allan served in numerous administrative roles in that District including Middle School Principal and Deputy Principal of a 3,000 student diverse high school.
Allan’s familiarity with the East community and his commitment to it’s success will make him an outstanding leader for the school.
Art

Homeschooling & The World is Flat

I mentioned to a few friends recently that I think the Madison School’s “same service” budgeting approach (year after year) needs to be replaced by a new, largely curriculum based process that recognizes globalization, changing demographics and the fact that we should not simply compare our performance and curricula with those of Racine, Green Bay or Ann Arbor. Rather the comparison should be with Helsinki, Bangalore, Shanghai, London, Nagoya and (insert your city here).
Parents have a growing number of choices these days (some don’t realize that they have them – yet). Homeschooling appears to be the elephant in the room along with the slow rise of virtual schools.
Julie Leung sent a timely bolt of lightning to the blogosphere with her essay on education, including a discussion of her reasons for homeschooling:

Our desire to preserve our childrens’ organic curiosity plays a large part in our desire to homeschool. Too often the school system crushes curiousity out of a kid. Kids have a natural desire to learn.

Read Doc’s post for more background & links along with Gatto

Madison Schools 2005/2006 Budget?

I’m wondering if the MMSD’s 2005/2006 budget is floating around… somewhere? I’ve heard that it was released to the BOE members earlier this week, but I’ve not seen any sign of it on the District’s website. Stranger still, President Carol Carstensen required Board members to have their amendments in by noon today (5/5) – roughly 36 hours after receiving a budget, that, as far as I can tell, is not available to the public.
Ed Blume noted earlier that Milwaukee’s proposed budget is online.
I find Carol’s extremely short Board Member Amendment turnaround to be unusual, given a $320M budget…. Why?
The District’s 2004/2005 budget is available here (8.6MB PDF).
UPDATE: Ed Blume emailed a link to this 82 page 2005/2006 budget summary – pdf file. FWIW, the previous budget document – link above was 368 pages.

Minnesota Increases State School Funding

Minnesota Public Radio:

The bill represents a $622 million (12.6 Billion Package) increase in state aid over the next two years, although not all schools would get an equal cut. Each district could count on having $284 added to their basic per-student allowances in two installments, raising it to $4,885 by the second year.
School districts in high poverty areas, those with low property tax bases and ones that shift to a new teacher pay system would be in line for greater funding boosts. Statewide, the schools will see an average of $665 more per child in fiscal years 2006-07.

My view is that we lose a great deal of influence as we rely on state/federal funds.

Cutting Elementary Strings Will Cost MMSD Millions – Not Save Money

I agree whole heartedly with Mr. Pay’s comments to Johnny Winston Jr., that the MMSD School Board is not taking a long-term financial or educational look at elementary strings that shows increased numbers of middle and high school children taking orchestra and band will save money for the district while providing immeasurable personal and educational benefits to children.
However, there are two other reasons why this is a bad decision that come to mind – one is standards and the other is, in my mind, an even bigger economic impact than benefits from larger class sizes.
The long-term educational and financial fallout from cutting elementary strings will cost far more than the annual $500,000 cost of the program. I predict a decision to cut elementary strings will cost the district millions in the long-term.

It’s Not the Software that Matters – It’s Educational Decisions

Last evening the Madison School Board received the proposed budget for the 2005-2006 school year – whoopee. A new software system was given as the reason for the delay. A new software system does not guarantee good long-term educational and financial decisions for the district. Software and hardware are tools through which you analyze assumptions. They are tools that facilitate a process. However, by the amount of time spent in board meetings talking about software and hardware, a person could easily come away assuming the box is the process.
Our School Board members believe now that we have the budget document, they are all set. Budget document, cut list. What more could the public ask for in a budget process – I mean, we have the outputs.

District confirms overtime to make software work

Ken Syke, district spokesman, told Channel 27 News, “There have been a corps of people 10, 12, 15 people who have been working 16 hour days, 14 hour days for weeks — not just working on the budget, but on this whole migration. We’re changing our whole payroll system, we’re changing a lot of our human resources.”
How much did the district pay in overtime wages? How much has the district spent in total on the new Lawson Software? Read more.

Dying Institutions, Thriving Institutions

JennyD has a thought provoking article on General Motors, The Education Establishment and Journalism:

Most of the institutions in both of these fields are based on decades-old structures, with work structures and beliefs that are being battered everyday. Journalism is under enormous pressure, and newspeople feel it. They’d like to say it’s not their fault (see this Tim Porter post on the mood of the newsroom for more on that) but as Porter points out, they are as responsible as everyone at GM is for their predicament. Jay Rosen and Jeff Jarvis write about this all the time…and offer criticism and alternative id

Monday Board Meeting Summary/East High Principal Search

Lee Sensenbrenner summarizes Monday’s Madison Schools Board of Education Meeting.
Sensenbrenner also mentioned that one of the panelists on the East High School Search Committee was told that she cannot speak with the “press”.
Finally, Superintendent Art Rainwater introduced the District’s latest Strategic Plan (PDF here).

UC System Struggles to Attract Minorities

Tanya Schevitz:

Ramine Cromartie-Thornton is just the kind of student that UC Berkeley Chancellor Robert Birgeneau wants to attract to his campus to increase ethnic diversity: She is African American, has a grade point average of about 4.2, a 1310 SAT score and plans to major in engineering.
But eight other universities want her, too, including Harvard, Stanford, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Duke and the University of Pennsylvania. In the end, UC Berkeley wasn’t even in her top three.

Madison Mother Wants in to Virtual Charter School

A Madison mother is threatening to go to court if necessary to get Madison schools to transfer two of her children to a virtual charter school.
The transfers were denied based on race, and the family says that’s discriminatory, reported News 3’s Linda Eggert.
Two years ago the Madison Metropolitan School District allowed the family’s oldest boy to transfer to the virtual school open enrollment. Earlier this month, two of his younger brothers were denied the same kind of access.

interesting issue

Classroom Clickers

Jeff Henrique, a Madison Schools Parent and a writer on this blog is featured in a UW Madison News Release regarding classroom clickers (personal response systems) as instant assessment tools.

Principals named for 2 Madison schools

Read the story in the Capital Times online.
Ed

Elementary Strings – It Doesn’t Affect You Bill Keys Tells Student

An East High Student wrote Bill Keys, MMSD School Board president. In her letter she wrote:
“The reason I am involved in the high school orchestra today is
because I was able to participate in the elementary strings program
in elementary school….I am the oldest child of thirteen children. The youngest is about two months old today. All of my siblings following me up to the fifth grade play the violin in school. This was made possible because we were all given the chance to participate in the ever-wonderful Elementary Strings program that started in elementary school.”
Mr. Keys’ began his response, “First, to clarify: it is only at the 4th and 5th grade level that the strings program has been recommended bythe staff for cut should the referendum fail.”
Mr. Keys, I think it is you who need the clarification.

Open Letter to the Community Regarding Strings

Dear Community Members:
Thank you for your heartfelt comments regarding the 4th & 5th grade strings program. I know first hand about the program. I was a strings program participant at Lindbergh Elementary School in 1977. I know that strings are a very beloved program within our district. However, I don’t believe that our community understands the complexity of our budgetary challenges. This is not something you merely can “bake sale”, “brat fest” or write grants to solve.

Read 180 Success Story from Manitowoc

Reading award given for language lessons learned
Jefferson student catches up to class with Read 180 By Amy Weaver, Manitowoc Herald Times Reporter
MANITOWOC — It’s hard to imagine that less than two years ago, Guadalupe Dominguez couldn’t speak a word of English, let alone read it.
She started at Jefferson Elementary School as a fourth-grader, but her reading ability was nowhere near her grade level. Last year, she felt as if she was reading like a first-grader or younger, but then Guadalupe found hope in a program called Read 180 as well as in herself.
Continue the story.
The MMSD uses Read 180 in some Madison schools, as reported in the WSJ.

String / Fine Arts Rally – May 2nd at 545 W. Dayton

What: Elementary Strings / Fine Arts Rally –
Where: Doyle Building – 545 W. Dayton Street
When: May 2nd, 7 p.m.
Why: 1,866 Nine- and Ten-Year Old Children Need Your Help Now! The entire 4th and 5th grade elementary strings program has been targeted for removal from the 2005-2006 budget. Further, since last year, the administration has not undertaken any curriculum assessment and review of fine arts education, needs, costs, etc. The administration has not done their homework. There is no justification for cutting 100% a program that costs 0.17% of the $328 million school budget and is a well-established, much-loved curriculum.
Download Information on String Rally

Benefits of Strings More Than Music

Pat Kukes, MMSD teacher, wrote the following opinion piece that appeared in the WI State Journal on Friday, April 29, 2005:
Having already received my termination notice, I write this not as a teacher trying to save his job, but rather as an experienced educator who knows the value of a good educational system and who has seen firsthand how cutting a program like elementary strings can hurt a sound school district.

$6 Million Software Can’t Produce MMSD Budget

Roger Price, MMSD Assistant Superintendent, watched intently as people drifted into the room for the hearing on the school budget at the Warner Park Community Center.
When he spotted school board members, Price quickly handed them a memo that read in part:

Our goal was to provide the total budget and district profile on April 29. We are very close to completing the written parts of that document. The fiscal and staffing sections that will be imported as part of the total report are not completed. This is not due to a lack of effort, but rather to the vast amount of inputs and the complexity of the work that occurs when implementing a new software system and putting in place a system that will sustain us into the future. . . . This work was completed in time to prepare the necessary reports had all of the internal technical working of the new system performed the first time. As you may know if you have been involved in implementing new systems, that is almost never the case. We have experienced some delays in the actual processing and marrying of the numerous data elements. (Complete PDF memo)

In other words, the new $6 million software package doesn’t work, even though implementation probably began in late 2003 or early 2004. (Motions in board minutes)

The Rest of the Story

In her recent letter to the Wisconsin State Journal Chris Kolar, co-president of the Leopold Elementary School Parent Faculty Organization, criticizes me for my “early departure” from a Madison School Board meeting on April 25. She states that I “walked out of the board of education meeting at about the time Leopold was to be discussed”.
Please consider the facts that Ms. Kolar did not include in her letter.

Scullen on Wisconsin’s Thriving Charter Schools

Tom Scullen (Scullen is superintendent of the Appleton Area School District, which has 10 charter schools. He also is president of the Wisconsin Charter Schools Association.):

Charter schools are playing an increasingly important role in that success story.
State Superintendent of Public Instruction Elizabeth Burmaster, at a recent state charter school conference, said charter schools “are critical in making schools learning environments for all children.” She added, “Charter schools encourage community and parental involvement and innovative teaching practices within the system of accountability for results in public education.”

Brant on the May School Referendums

Quicktime Video 25MB
MP3 Audio 4.8MB

Kirby Brant is President of local PAC Get Real (he’s also a former Watertown School Board member and was a candidate for the Madison School Board in 2002). Brant gives his views on:

the Madison School District’s budget process
The May Referendums
Madison’s per student spending vis a vis other Wisconsin communities and those in Iowa

I’m happy to post views from all players interested in the May 2005 referendums. Email me at zellmer at mailbag dot com if you’d like to post an interview.

Detailed Milwaukee School Budget Posted on Web

The Milwaukee Public Schools has a detailed and informative budget posted on the Web.
Will the MMSD budget be as detailed if it’s ever released?
Click here to see Milwaukee’s budget.
Ed Blume

Bersin & School Reform in San Diego

Frederick Hess:

Bersin’s departure provides an opportunity to ask what we have learned from his highly visible and often contentious tenure. To explore that question, and with the district’s full cooperation, last year I assembled a team of analysts to examine the San Diego reform push. For me, five key lessons emerged from their appraisal.
First, the centralized, “managed instruction” model of improvement depends critically on the presence of a personnel and managerial infrastructure and on quality curricula. Alvarado gave unstinting attention to his centerpiece “Institute for Learning” training program for principals and faculty, and to building a corps of “peer coaches” to assist teachers. But his single-minded focus on these activities resulted in a lack of attention to infrastructure and curricula. As a result, the coaches, the Institute, and attempts to assign faculty where needed most ran afoul of the collective bargaining agreement’s provisions on professional development, staffing, and teacher transfers. A balky human resources operation reliant on outdated technology inhibited district efforts to speed up hiring or promote more flexible staffing.

Wineke, Severson & Henck talk about the Referendum & School Spending

Joe Wineke, Don Severson & Mitch Henck discuss the upcoming Madison School Referendums, administrative consolidation and the budget in this 40 minute mp3 file (via 1310)

My Perspective of District Boundary Changes

The Madison School Board is facing some of the biggest challenges that a school district can face. These challenges include three referenda on the ballot on May 24th. One of the most unique challenges is the potential boundary changes throughout the district. These situations are very complex, political, frustrating and exhilarating at the same time. They’re complex because it affects so many people. It is political because of the many parent organizations it involves. It is frustrating because it takes so much work and time. Finally, in the case of Hawthorne and Lakeview it is exhilarating because the school board took action.

Bill Gates on Hidebound High School Curricula

In “What, Me Worry?”, Tom Friedman holds forth, as he so often does, on a speech Bill Gates gave on the antiquated way we educate our high school students. Gates warns that the future belongs not to those countries rich in natural resources but rather to those who “mine” their populace’s intellectual power. China and India will soon propel many more of their students ahead of ours, and with the flattening of the globe, Tom’s latest book’s thesis, these students will no longer have to come to the US. Thus the brain drain will be from within and without.
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/04/29/opinion/29friedman.html

The Power of the Arts

A moving story in the New York Times on the staging of King Lear by inmates of a Wisconsin prison.
Would that these men had a fine arts program when they were young students.
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/04/29/national/29lear.html?

Mad City Grumps: Grandparents for the Referenda

Mad City Grumps. Check out their website. They also discuss taxpayer costs, along with a negative aid discussion. My preference would be to see the entire school tax burden, not just the referenda portion (and the changes over time for the average taxpayer).
It’s great to see this activity. I hope we see more – across all spectrums on these issues. via Katie Arneson

Board split not liberal vs. conservative

Despite common characterizations of Madison’s school board as split along liberal and conservative lines, it just ain’t so.
The seven members of the board of education have to be among the most liberal people in Madison. I’d guess that all seven voted for John Kerry in the last presidential election, and they’ll all probably vote for the Democratic candidate in the next presidential election, no matter who the candidate might be.
The true fault line runs between a group determined to defend the status quo and a group whose few members ask whether the board and district could be better.
The status quo defenders say things like “Madison is the best school district in the nation” and “We follow the best possible decision-making processes. No change could make any improvement.”
By contrast, the questioners raise queries like “How can equity be improved in the district?” and “How can we make decisions on budget cuts before we’ve seen the budget?”
Forget liberal vs. conservative. Think in terms of status quo vs. improvement.
Ed Blume

Bar Coding Your Child? – No thanks!

Suppose you are a fifth-year mechanical-engineering student at Cleveland State University, paying your tuition by taking off an occasional semester to work.
Is that any business of the federal government?
An idea circulating in the U.S. Department of Education and on Capitol Hill says that maybe it should be, and that maybe the government should follow students’ progress through college by assigning them bar codes.
Not surprisingly, that already is raising alarms. “What right does the government have to know that?” asks Katherine Haley Will, president of Gettysburg College in Gettysburg, Pa., an outspoken critic of student tracking.

Simply Absurd…

Buchen: Madison Schools; Are We Getting our Money’s Worth?

It will come as no surprise to weary taxpayers that Wisconsin hosts one of the most expensive public school systems in the country.
We rank 8th in per capita spending for elementary and secondary education. The seven states above us tend to be either high cost states like New York and Connecticut or states with very small populations like Alaska and Wyoming. Taxpayers shoulder this burden by paying high property taxes and high state income taxes. In fact, on average, 44 percent of the property tax bill goes to fund public schools and 40 percent of the state budget is devoted to funding for K-12 public education in Wisconsin.

Proposed Milwaukee Schools Budget: 1% Property Tax Increase

A year after laying a 13% property tax increase on the city, Milwaukee Public Schools officials are proposing a budget for next year that projects an increase of less than 1% in the amount to be collected in property taxes to pay for schools.
But a budget proposal for 2005-’06 that continues reforms launched by Superintendent William Andrekopoulos and contains no major new steps is based on two big assumptions: That Democratic Gov. Jim Doyle’s state budget proposal, calling for a shift of more school funding back to state government, will win approval from the Republican-controlled Legislature; and that the School Board and the administration will win an arbitration proceeding with Milwaukee’s teachers union that focuses largely on health insurance costs.
The MPS proposal was presented to board members late Tuesday. They are scheduled to spend the next month working on it.

American Association for the Advancement of Science Report on Math and Science Learning

New AAAS Report Explores How Schools Improve Math and Science Learning
A System of Solutions: Every School, Every Student
Ten U.S. school districts have achieved significant improvement in science and mathematics performance by developing ambitious programs that set high standards and then closely tracking what works and what doesn’t work in helping students learn, according to a new AAAS report.
The 22-page report, “A System of Solutions: Every School, Every Student,” identifies 10 U.S. K-12 school districts, serving some of the nation’s major inner-city areas, and discusses the systemic practices that helped them improve student performance and close the gap between minority and non-minority students.
U.S. school districts examined as part of the AAAS report are: Atlanta; Boston; Brownsville, Texas; Columbus, Ohio; El Paso, Texas; Houston; Los Angeles; Miami; Portland, Ore.; and San Diego.
The 22-page report was commissioned by the GE Foundation and is available on-line here http://www.aaas.org/programs/centers/capacity/documents/GELongReport.pdf.

East High Principal Search

Late Monday afternoon, the school district finalized the search committee for the East High principal. The committee met Tuesday night for orientation, and I believe that the interviews will start next Monday, May 1.
As Mr. Rathert reported at the April 14 meeting of the new parent/staff/school community organization, there are 8 candidates who will be interviewed. The district typically doesn’t release the names until the field is narrowed to the finalists, so the names of the eight candidates are not available at this time.
It is likely that the new parent/staff/school community organization’s May 12 meeting (7:00, East High cafeteria) will focus on the search, results if any, and ways that the East High community can participate in the transition process.
According to Bob Nadler, head of Human Resources for the district, the committee members are:
Parents: Kymberli Crowder, Larry Riechers, Cynthia Walton-Jackson
Staff: Scott Eckel, Sara Krauskopf, Jen Simpson
Administrators: Ed Holmes, Mary Ramberg, Ted Szalkowski [Note: in the past the other three high school principals have served on the committee, but apparently there are reasons why that didn’t work this time.]
Students: Two students applied

Madison Schools Boundary Changes – More Discussion

Lee Sensenbrenner:

But several parents in an audience of about 50 said they have little hope that the May 24 referendum to build a new school will pass. Meanwhile, they said, school district officials need to reconsider their plans if the school isn’t built, and also, perhaps, consider alternative building plans.
…..
But she said the main reason she did not support the contract was because the administration provided board members only a few details from it.
“I would have a hard time approving an agreement unless I see it in writing,” said Kobza, who is an attorney. “Maybe it’s just the line of work I’m in.”

School Daze – Answers to funding questions are elusive

This is an e-mail sent to the Madison CARES listserve. Enjoy. By DENNIS A. SHOOK – Freeman Staf (April 16, 2005)
The hardest question on any test for a state legislator is what should be done to fund education?
Some legislators would answer “nothing” while others would answer “whatever it takes.’” But common sense tells us the right answer has to be somewhere between those two poles.
It is not a multiple choice question, with one or two right answers. It is more like an essay question that could cause even the most terse college student to fill several pages with an answer.
The latest round of referendum questions statewide showed the public is generally of the belief that education receives enough of the public’s tax money already. Yet school districts like Racine are considering ending extracurricular activities such as music and athletic programs. That could well cause an exodus from that city’s public schools to private schools or force families to relocate to other communities entirely. That surely can’t be what anybody wants, even the most ardent teacher bashers.
How did we arrive at such a state?

Elementary Strings Cut is Punitive and Too Much

Cuts of 10% to elementary music and art and 100% to elementary strings are being proposed by the administration. The overall MMSD budget cut needed is 2%. The School Board has not discussed or asked questions about the proposed cut list at any public meeting since they received the list on March 3rd – that’s nearly two months now. Rather School Board members are “selling Art Rainwater’s proposed cut list.” Board members are “making excuses” why there are increases to the administrative contract budget, save all extracurricular sports for kids, unecessarily dividing rather than bringing together parent and professionals to work on what we can do for all kids and fairly. Rather, our board says, we can’t do anything else – it’s because the state does not give the school district enough money. Our board membes are not asking the question – what’s academic, how will this affect children’s learning, how have the administrators worked with teachers and other relevant professionals to minimize the impact on children. If they asked this about elementary strings and fine arts education – the answer would be that they have done nothing. I expect the answer is the same for many other academic areas.

California Teacher Incentive Pay Plan

Developing incentive pay plans are a challenge. Gov. Schwarzenegger is pushing this in California. Dan Weintraub writes:

Everyone knows that our poorest kids tend to clump in schools that depend too much on inexperienced teachers, many of whom are still trying to find their way in the profession. We have good, experienced teachers who would teach in these schools if they were rewarded financially for their trouble – just as in every other profession, where the toughest-to-fill jobs normally earn higher pay. So who or what is standing in the way of the students who need better teachers getting those teachers? The teachers unions.

Isthmus deserves thanks

Out of all the local media, only Isthmus probes for insights into the curriculum and governance of the Madison Metropolitan School District.
Isthmus stories on reading, special education, talented and gifted, and board infighting support the best of democratic processes by sparking lively debate necessary to effective public policy decisions.
The rest of the media, the MMSD administration, and the majority of the school board condemn healthy discussions as divisive and destructive. Yet, the absence of debate will quietly slide the district deeper and deeper into stagnation.
Keep up your excellent reporting, Isthmus.
Ed Blume
ps. If you have an opinion on Isthmus’ reporting, feel free to post a comment.

Madison High Schools AP (Advanced Placement) Comparison

A reader forwarded this 4 page (17K PDF Document – 17K) that compares and discusses Advance Placement classes available at Madison’s four high schools.

Superintendent Art Rainwater- Public Doesn’t Care

I watched the school board last Monday talk about the process for the “budget” up until the referendum. The original timeline had public hearings being completed prior to release of the 2005-2006 budget. Why? As Superintendent Rainwater says people don’t care about the budget; they only care about the programs, courses and services they want to save. I care about the budget process and so do other parents and community members.

Westport, CT: A Struggle over Special Education

Alison Leigh Cowan:

Special education is a hot topic here, with school board meetings exploding into shouting matches over what services children are entitled to under federal law and parents spending thousands of dollars on appeals to force the school district to provide those services for their children.

The parents say they have no choice: the district, one of the state’s most affluent, is fighting just as hard to hold the line on skyrocketing special education costs.

I’m voting against Leopold referendum

Back in October, I testified at a meeting of the Long Range Planning Committee. I asked the committee “to do only three simple things.” To my knowledge, the Board and Long Range Planning Committee have not done them, so I’m going to vote against the referendum on Leopold.
If the Board has done what I suggested, I welcome a response on all three points.
Here’s what I said in October:
First, take the time to understand the budget consequences of a new school. By this I mean that you needed a referendum for operating expenses for this school year. How much additionally will you need to ask from taxpayers in annual referenda to fund a new elementary school?
Second, take the time to understand the enrollment impact of a new elementary school on the middle school and high school it will serve.
Third, citizens of the broad Madison school community include people with a tremendous amount of expertise in education, management, finance, urban planning, real life, and more. You should use every possible opportunity to tap their knowledge.

Ed Blume

NYT: School Reform: How Fast, How Far?

Several interesting letters to the editor in Sunday’s NYT in response to this article: The Schools Under Bloomberg: Much Tumult, Mixed Results, including this comment:

Too many have held low expectations for Harlem’s children. We have a mayor who not only seems to care about reforming the schools, but also is holding himself accountable for raising the expectations of our children. While I do not agree with every single one of his reforms, I believe they should be given more time before they are dismissed.

Five Year Old Handcuffed for Tantrum

Florida is making news again: This time, having handcuffed a five-year old black girl, of course, but after her tantrum was over.
What impressed me was the incompetence of Nicole Dibenedetto, the new assistant principal of Fairmont Park Elementary school. This principal had just been through Crisis Prevention training and, I suppose, was following the rules and procedures she had learned there. It doesn’t say much about the competence of the training either.
Any parent who has had to handle the typical and not that unusual tantrum from a 5-year-old will recognize both the child’s behavior and the thorough lack of knowledge this principal has in handling children.
Here is the recent link to the news report that has links to the video. Total video time is about 30 minutes. Report and Video

First-To-Worst, PBS Special On California Schools

The California of the 50’s and 60’s was the embodiment of the “American Dream”. Their schools were the best. Today, the California school system ranks at the bottom in the nation, with Mississippi and Guam. Proposition 13 in 1978, and revenue caps require referenda to exceed the caps to be passed by 2/3! majority. Some now admit the California schools have achieved Third World status.
Today, most schools are like the Santa Monica-Malibu School District, serving one of the richest districts in California. The schools here do not have PE, Arts, Music, counselors, and minimal or no electives. A educational fads have taken hold: whole language, new math, multiple choice testing. And, of course, loss of local control to the State legislature.
For a sobering look at a failed school system, click on the transcript.

The Insanity of Youth Sports

(Warning: Parent bragging ahead.) My daughter and son, now college students, had terrific school sports experiences by just about any standard. Both played for Central Coast Section and league championship teams at Archbishop Mitty High School. Sarah’s soccer team was ranked No. 1 in the nation for a while. Our son’s basketball team was ranked No. 1 by the Mercury News and reached the NorCal championship game at Arco Arena in Sacramento.
And yet for all of that, I still look back on our family’s trip through the youth and club sports gantlet with emotions that cause me to shake my head, shudder, grimace, get indigestion or . . . yes, scream.
This is what the gantlet does: It takes away the sweetness of simply enjoying a game. As your children progress in sports and the pressure builds from coaches and parents to make sure your kid plays on the “right team” with the “right exposure” so the kid can “move up to the next level,” you can almost feel the whole thing starting to smother you like a blanket.

Drastic Changes at Ridgewood Apartments Don’t Factor into School Board Plans for Leopold School

On Monday, April 25, the Madison School Board will hold a special session to vote on a plan that affects hundreds of west side families and six to eight elementary schools in the event that the May 24 referendum to build a second school on the Leopold site fails.
Options before the Board do not mention the drastic changes taking place in the Ridgewood apartment complex that is near Leopold Elementary School and home to many current Leopold students and their families. While it appears increasingly likely that the large low income community near Leopold will be displaced by changes in ownership of the apartment complex, the Board will be voting on plans that do not take this factor into account. Instead, at the insistence of Board member Carol Carstensen, the Board seems poised to lock into