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News Clips –
June 25 – STATE State board backs tort fund salaries / Quincy Herald-Whig NATIONAL Teachers Union Still Plans NCLB Lawsuit
/ FOXNews.com STATE State board backs tort fund salaries By Phil Weber, Herald-Whig
Staff Writer, The Illinois State Board
of Education says using tort fund money to pay salaries is acceptable.
Regional Superintendent
Ray Scheiter received an ISBE memo which states that tort funds may
be used to pay the cost of risk management programs "including
the wages and salaries of employees in connection with defending or
otherwise protecting against any liability or loss." The The memo was originally
sent to school districts in 1990, but was resent to Scheiter in response
to his concerns about the potential lawsuit. The memo represents the
legal opinion of the ISBE, but is not the same as a court judgment.
So far, no "(The risk management
clause) isn't clearly delineated in the school code. It leaves room
for interpretation and we need that judicial interpretation before we
can move forward," Scheiter said. His interpretation is
that the school code requires salaries to be paid out of the education
fund, and that using tort money for even a small portion of the salary
expense is a misappropriation of funds. Keeping students safe
in class, he said, falls under a teacher's normal duties and does not
warrant compensation from the tort fund as a risk management issue.
"There is a world
of difference between safe practices and risk management. They are cooking
the books. Nobody is doing anything extra. It's all accounting,"
Slattery said. "If they can prove
that on a certain day, a certain person spent a certain amount of time
on risk management, then it is directly attributable. Unless they can
do that, they can't (spend tort money of salaries)." Quincy Superintendent
Tom Leahy said he looks at this latest information from ISBE as further
vindication of "It's what we've
known all along. That's what a lot of school districts have used,"
Leahy said, adding that administrators are in the process of refining
job descriptions and conducting time studies to document how much time
is actually spent by various personnel on risk management. Melissa Merz, press
secretary for Attorney General Lisa Madigan, said Madigan's office has
not issued any formal opinions on the use of tort funds that can help
guide school districts in making decisions about spending. If the tax objection
lawsuit is successful, anyone who joins Carlock in the suit could be
eligible for a tax refund equal to about 55 percent of their share of
the tort levy — about $100 for most If enough people join
the suit, it could be disastrous for the school district, which has
committed to paying at least $1.6 million to restore the length of the
school day for 2004-05. "We cannot afford
to lose any resources for our programs," Leahy said. Slattery has filed a
similar lawsuit against the "I've talked with
a number of superintendents around the state who do this. It is very
common," Freeport Superintendent Peter Flynn said. "What we're
doing is well within the law. Our attorney has assured us that we have
a good case." Districts that use tort
funds in this way generally pay only 2-3 percent of salaries using tort
funds, although Pearl City School District attorney Ken Florey said
that is a conservative estimate and that some districts reach the 5-6
percent mark. Some areas pay additional percentages for administrators
and other supervisors. The Freeport-area suit
is scheduled to have a hearing July 27 to set a final trial date. Slattery
said he believes that date will be in September or early October. GOP supporters tout Gidwitz bid Ex-school chief's fighting
spirit cited By Diane Rado, Tribune
staff reporter, With his strong will
and trademark candor, prominent "He's always in
the eye of the storm," said Jerry Roper, president of the Chicagoland
Chamber of Commerce, where Gidwitz previously served as chairman. Case in point: As Supporters say Gidwitz's
candor and fighting spirit are among the qualities that would make him
a good choice to replace Jack Ryan as the Republican U.S. Senate candidate.
Ryan bowed out Friday after a controversy involving allegations in his
divorce records that he had taken his ex-wife to sex clubs, and Gidwitz
is considered a leading contender to replace him. Gidwitz, 59, moves comfortably
in the worlds of big business, political fundraising and education.
He is an influential fundraiser for both the state and national Republican
parties. Usually talkative, Gidwitz
declined to discuss a possible Senate bid. He did, however, stress
there are no divorce records in his background--he and his wife will
celebrate their 29th wedding anniversary in September. They have two
sons. Brief political post Gidwitz has had a only
a brief foray into elected politics--when he ran unopposed and then
served as a Republican ward committeeman in But friends and supporters
said that Gidwitz's extensive business and civic work makes him well
suited for the U.S. Senate--or any top political job. "He is as close
to being an alderman, a governor, a state representative or a Gidwitz is the former
president and chief executive officer of Helene Curtis Industries, the
cosmetics firm founded by his family. He left the company after it was
sold in the mid-1990s, and is now a partner in GCG Partners, a "He has been a
major force in the business community for quite some time," said
Jeff Mays, president of the organization. He said Gidwitz was instrumental
in drawing businesses together in 1995 to support a major overhaul of
the Chicago Public Schools, handing control of public education to Mayor
Richard Daley. "I love a businessperson
who has a civic commitment, and his is so deep," Mays said. Gidwitz also served
as chairman of the City Colleges of As chairman of the state
school board from 1999 to 2003, Gidwitz focused on closing the gap between
white and minority test scores and helping poor children achieve. He
pushed to establish a new state test that would give all high school
juniors the opportunity to take the ACT college-entrance exam so they
would have a chance to go to college. He was a "real
visionary," said Glenn "Max" McGee, the former state
schools superintendent who served with Gidwitz. At the same time, Gidwitz's
approach wasn't always the most tactful, McGee said. "He can be combative
and he can be outspoken and he can be a micro-manager," said McGee,
now a local school superintendent in Gidwitz was at the center
of tensions between the board and the governor's office after Blagojevich
took office in 2003. Among other things, Gidwitz criticized the governor's
school spending proposals. ` A possible Gidwitz candidacy
for U.S. Senate did not inspire accolades in the halls of The city wants to raze
the housing project, saying it has had serious code violations. Gidwitz
wants to keep the complex open and make improvements. The matter remains
unresolved, said James Haller, "He's very firm
in his convictions," Haller said about Gidwitz. "But sometimes
when you're opposed to his views, it becomes a battle of wills."
Legislators try to keep teacher insurance alive Health-care program
is about to expire, making retirees antsy By ADRIANA COLINDRES
of Copley News Service, At present, the Teachers'
Retirement Insurance Program is set to cease operating June 30. The
program has had financial troubles for years because of rising health-care
costs. When lawmakers last shored up the program, in 2001, the legislation
they passed included a provision to end it on As that expiration date
approached, retirees have grown more anxious about what will happen
with their health insurance, officials said. "We have been getting
an increasing number of calls from concerned members," said Jon
Bauman, executive director of the Teachers' Retirement System. But Senate Bill 1553,
which unanimously cleared the Senate Education Committee on Friday,
would remove the 2004 expiration date. The legislation also sets forth
revenue sources and benefit levels for the program during the next three
fiscal years, Bauman said. He said the Retirement
Insurance Program receives funds from four sources: active teacher contributions,
school districts, the state and participating retirees' premium payments. The bill includes provisions
increasing premiums to be paid by retirees and raising the contributions
from active teachers. It also calls for the
state to appropriate $13 million a year into the Teacher Health Insurance
Security Fund. To become law, Senate
Bill 1553 still must win approval from the entire Senate and be signed
by the governor. The bill's sponsor, Sen. Miguel del Valle, D-Chicago,
said the Senate vote would take place "very soon." Jim Bachman, executive
director of the Illinois Retired Teachers Association, said he was pleased
with the Senate committee's action Friday. But Bachman said it
is unclear whether the governor will go along with another portion of
the bill that would limit the powers of the Capital Development Board
on school construction projects. Gov. Rod Blagojevich
has said he wants the CDB to have oversight duties for the school construction
program. Blagojevich's office did not respond Friday to a question about
his stance. A third portion of the
bill would change the state's teacher certification system. If legislation extending
the retired teachers health insurance program is not enacted by July
1, the program's participants could be left without coverage. But Bauman
said the state Department of Central Management Services has indicated
it was looking at short-term options to prevent that from happening. The TRIP program consists
of nearly 50,000 retired teachers, their dependents and beneficiaries. One of them, Williams, a regional
director for the Illinois Retired Teachers Association, said he has
been reading lately about legislators complaining that there is no reason
for them to be in Williams, whose region
includes School boards are going paperless By Carolyn Bower Of
the Post-Dispatch, Stacks of agendas and
reports have moved off tables and appear on laptops by high-speed Internet
connections at Parkway School Board meetings. Parkway has become one
of the first school boards in the region and one of only a few in A few municipalities
such as Clayton, O'Fallon, The idea is to preserve
trees, save employee time spent copying and distributing material and
make information more accessible to the public. Although many school
districts and municipal governments have begun to post reports and agendas
online, Parkway offers one of the most comprehensive systems. The district
keeps its agendas and supporting documents online, as well as policies,
minutes, proposals and other reports. Some districts such
as Edwardsville post school documents and information online, but the
School Board uses paper agendas and reports at meetings. Edwardsville Superintendent
Ed Hightower said he could see the board considering paperless meetings
in the future. "I can see a lot
of benefits," he said. "Certainly our board is forward-thinking."
The Clayton School Board
also is likely to study the possibility of electronic meetings, said
board President Vic Frankel. The Missouri School
Boards Association is considering promoting the concept of paperless
agendas, said Brent Ghan, chief public policy officer for the association.
Although such a move requires an investment in laptop computers and
software, Ghan said districts can realize considerable saving in the
long run in the cost of paper and staff time. "This is a trend
that's beginning to take hold," Ghan said. "We urge boards
across the state to investigate the possibility." School boards have gone
digital across the country. Kelley Garbero, president of the Parkway
School Board, learned about paperless meetings at a national technology
conference in 2002 and a National School Boards Association conference
last year. Parkway agendas and
supporting documents are available at www.pkwy.k12.mo.us on a site called
BoardDocs.com, operated by Emerald Data Solutions in Parkway pays about $1,000
a month for the service. Emerald donated laptops for board members.
The district used to spend about $8,000 to $10,000 a year to print more
than 100 board meeting agenda books each month. Now board secretary
Carol Chlanda prints a half dozen or so for people who prefer the paper
version. She also still prints hefty reports of 100 pages or more for
board members who have difficulty reading them online. Larry Opinsky, a parent
from "If the system
wasn't paperless, I probably wouldn't have seen what was proposed,"
Opinsky said. Opinsky said the presentation
on the large screen at board meetings could be made a bit easier for
the audience to follow, but he likes the electronic system. Some municipalities
and state boards e-mail agendas, but a person who has not requested
the electronic agenda often is unlikely to see it. Clayton city clerk Catherine
Moore used to mail up to 250 agendas. Now she sends those electronically
to people who request them. O'Fallon's Web site
provides agenda information, but the public must request reports and
supporting documents. The St. Charles Web site provides agenda information
and some reports. At meetings, the public gets paper agendas; council
members view the material on computers. The Missouri Coordinating
Board for Higher Education and the Missouri State Board of Education
e-mail their agendas to people who request the information. The Illinois
Board of Higher Education and the Southern Illinois University Board
of Trustees post some information online. The St. Louis Public
Schools also has looked for ways to reduce the amount of printing, said
Charles Burton, director of board operations. Some board agendas run
300 to 400 pages and used to be distributed to 60 people. Now about
a dozen people get board packets, he said. "We anticipate
by the end of the school year next year, we'll be not completely paperless
but very close," Area high schools begin to offer online classes By Norman Parish Of
the Post-Dispatch, Two years ago, Danielle
Darden feared she wouldn't graduate from But she was able to
graduate on time after passing the class by retaking it on the Internet.
"The (Internet)
class saved me," said Darden, 19, who graduated with her class
last year. "I could not have graduated if it had not been for that
class." Darden was one of 14
students who graduated after taking an online class in an experimental
program at Since the program began
in January 2003, more than 40 Madison students have taken classes online,
said Don Wallace, a Madison School District administer involved with
the program. The program focuses
on students who are classified as "at-risk," students like
Darden who might have challenges such as being teenage mothers. Others
might have discipline problems. Currently, the program
targets students ages 14-19. If the program expands in fall, it could
include students up to age 21. "Most of the students
who have participated in the program have had trouble in a traditional
classroom setting," said Connie Vick, planning and marketing specialist
for Madison County Employment and Training department, which oversees
the program. "But it is not a watered down program at all. It is
just delivered differently." Most Darden said she was
able to take work on the online class after her regular classes by using
Internet computers at the school and at a library. She said she ended
up receiving a "C" grade. Darden is now a nursing student
at "I enjoyed the
(online) class," Darden said. "It allowed me to work at my
own pace and work when I had time because I was busy." School funding fairness isn't sexy - it's essential Column by Ralph Martire,
Sun-Times, Next weekend is the
4th of July, the holiday Americans set aside for celebrating our nation.
There will be fireworks and parades. Editorial columns will be written
that appeal to national patriotism or highlight a national failing.
Inevitably, some pundit will author a preachy tome about apathy in Citizens such as Faith
Spencer, Sharon Voliva and Ursula Ahern. Spencer organized a group of
parents into a volunteer, grass-roots collaborative called "Fair
Funding for Illinois Schools." The idea was to create a platform
for citizens to push the governor to consider comprehensive tax reform
that would fairly and sustainably fund schools over the long haul. Encouraged by Voliva,
who chairs another statewide coalition with the same goals, Spencer
spent the last three months distributing a petition pushing school funding
reform. It was signed by more than 4,000 What, you missed the
story? Well there's a good reason. The media didn't cover it. It just
so happened that at the same time Spencer was making an impassioned
plea for school funding reform, U.S. Senate candidate Jack Ryan decided
to hold an impromptu news conference to discuss sex clubs. While I understand
the media frenzy caused by Ryan's public self-immolation, from a hard
news standpoint, the stuff Fair Funding offered was more meaningful. As a public service,
here is some of what you missed. Ahern, a proud mom and member of her
local school board in Grayslake, said the mission of her school district
was to structure expenditures to be fiscally responsible while educationally
sound. She then complained that all the rhetoric emanating from "We save over $60,000
per year by hiring the staff necessary to educate students that are
cognitively impaired, rather than paying the tuition to send them to
the Special Education District of Lake County," Ahern said. "This
staff includes occupational therapists and psychologists. Money spent
on their salaries is not money that counts as going into the classroom,
yet it saves tens of thousands of dollars annually." Ahern's district also
employs a director of operations and maintenance, an administrative
position that pays $73,000 annually. A decent living, no question. And
while that administrative salary is also money that doesn't go into
the classroom, the person who held the post saved the school district
more than $4 million during the last 11 years. Ahern voiced frustration
that folks who know little to nothing about what it takes to educate
children complain about these expenses because they don't go directly
to the classroom. "Accountability is not the missing part of the
education equation," Ahern said, "state funding is." Ahern's contention is
supported by Education Week, the respected national think tank that
grades all 50 states on school funding and performance. According to
its report card for Still, the media ignored
the education news conference while tripping over each other to cover
Ryan's extracurricular interests. Finally, Voliva got so frustrated
that she grabbed the microphone and loudly complained that the real
scandal wasn't whatever Ryan did during his marriage, but what is happening
to our schools and children because of unfair and inadequate state funding.
Decent sound bite, Reform plan is just the push failing schools need to
win
Sun-Times Editorial,
Facing reality in dealing
with city schools can be a difficult thing, not only because subpar
performances reflect so poorly on the system, but also because failures
to improve them reflect poorly on reformers' best-laid plans. But the
only way to turn things around is to stare that reality in the face
and try something else, which is precisely what Mayor Daley is out to
do with his ambitious Renaissance 2010 plan. Under the terms of the
program, which he unveiled last week before business, civic and education
leaders, more than 100 troubled elementary and high schools will be
shut down, reorganized and restarted as smaller charter schools, independently
operated entities or district-run schools. The private sector will be
called upon to provide direction and managerial input -- and funds to
help pay for the sweeping transitions. Considering the profound connection
between an educated work force and a thriving one, the investment will
be a sound one for the long term and quite possibly the short. In forcing many teachers
to reapply for their jobs or find new ones, the changes will create
hardships. They also will pose a sizable threat to the Chicago Teachers
Union by placing teachers in a large percentage of cases outside the
reach of current labor contracts. But the thought is that the good teachers
will land on their feet and the bad ones will be judiciously weeded
out. And whatever difficulties result will be overshadowed by improvements
that will offer a wider range of choices for parents and students. That's the view of education
experts representing such organizations as the Bill and Linda Gates
Foundation and the Civic Committee of the Commercial Club of Chicago,
who are praising the Daley initiative. In its 2003 report on Chicago
Public Schools, the Civic Committee bemoaned the lack of "competitive
pressures pushing it to achieve desired results. It responds more to
politics and pressures from the school unions than to community or parental
demands for quality." With the Civic Committee
spearheading an effort to raise $50 million for start-up costs at the
new schools, there is little chance they will replicate conditions where
"schools, principals, and teachers are largely insulated from accountability
or responsibility for results." Those with the entrepreneurial
spirit that schools CEO Arne Duncan embraces as a vital component of
school reform will want to see some bang for their buck in terms of
results. The success enjoyed
by schools such as the The newest soap opera
on the dial -- "These Are The Days of Our Lives in What will happen next?
Can Madigan ever be wooed? Will the governor cave? Is Madigan just plotting
to undo Blagojevich and make it easy for his own private hero, his daughter
Attorney General Lisa Madigan, to run for governor? We wish the Lack of Political Will Hurting State Education System Opinion by Mike Lawrence,
interim director of the Public Policy Institute at Southern Illinois
University Carbondale, The huge resource gap
between the haves and have-nots among For decades and decades,
we have heard the sermons on the stump: The sermonizing has
evoked amen after amen. But where are the amendments? Up to this point, Some proponents believe
the reform, which would command hefty state tax increases, could happen
this fall in the post-election legislative session. About 75 percent
of the school districts are running deficits, and one in four has been
doing so for at least three years. However, their optimism
flouts reality. Gov. Rod Blagojevich has vowed ad nauseam to oppose
income or sales tax increases. He demonizes those who suggest even moderate,
temporary boosts to close the yawning state deficit. So, advocates presumably
would have to muster veto-proof, three-fifths majorities among lawmakers
skittish about backing general tax hikes even when a governor begs for
them. A more realistic strategy
would focus on pushing the legislature to place before voters in November
2006 a proposed constitutional amendment to shift the burden of school
finance to the state, reduce property taxes and guarantee adequate funding
everywhere. The governor has no formal role in this process; lawmakers
could send the matter directly to the ballot. Moreover, they essentially
would be supporting a referendum instead of imposing tax increases.
If approved by voters, the governor and the General Assembly would have
a mandate and the political cover to implement sweeping changes. In 1992, voters nearly
approved a proposed amendment that was so vague its proponents could
not agree on its ramifications. In 1996, when a more defined measure
was stymied in the General Assembly, Democratic lawmakers criticized
the Republican majorities for not permitting a roll call. Now Democrats
control both the House and the Senate, and they should seize the opportunity
to prove they were not merely pandering to education interests. Likewise,
downstate Republicans who repeatedly have promised to support the reform
if it ever came to a vote should be delighted to hop aboard. It is not that leaders
have totally ignored the problem. In the last six years, governors and
legislators have boosted funding designed to help the less affluent
districts by nearly $900 million or more than 30 percent. At the same
time, the education establishment has balked at district consolidations
that help pare administrative bloat and improve academic opportunities
for students who currently attend tiny, curriculum-limited schools.
But the additional funding nourishment has been more broth than beef
and, even as we pressure the education community to become more spartan,
we must acknowledge that the funding system itself remains profoundly
intolerable. It's time to convert
the canyon between rhetoric and performance on this crucial matter into
a crevice. Schools to opt out of No Child Left Behind District will forgo
load of federal money to avoid costly penalties under law By Kati Phillips, Staff
writer, Consolidated High School
District 230 will forgo hundreds of thousands of dollars in federal
poverty funds to avoid potential penalties under a controversial federal
law — an unprecedented decision in On the administration's
recommendation, the District 230 school board voted unanimously on Thursday
to reject about $115,000 in federal Title I funds that would be spent
on a summer school program for students who are struggling academically. By declining the aid,
District 230 can avoid costly sanctions under the No Child Left Behind
law, which can include paying for students to transfer to higher-performing
school districts or offering private tutoring when students fail to
meet state learning standards. Implementing such federal
sanctions probably would cost more money than the district gets in federal
aid, and paying for student transfers or private tutoring would take
money away from other programs designed to boost achievement, assistant
Supt. Brenda Reynolds said. District 230 will still
be held accountable for test scores, though it will only face penalties
under Last year, the district's
three high schools — Andrew, Sandburg and Stagg, which are among
the best academically in the Southland — failed to meet "adequate
yearly progress" under the federal law because of lower test scores
by special education students. Reynolds insisted that
the district is not skirting responsibility for student achievement
in bypassing the Title I money. "We are not looking
at getting away from accountability," she said. "We are putting
our resources in a place to raise the bar higher." For 22 years, District
230 has used the federal poverty aid solely to support the summer Emphasis
program, which helped students transition from middle school to high
school by creating a sense of "belonging," Reynolds said. Though only the poverty
level at Stagg in The waiver expires after
the 2005-06 school year, and Reynolds doubts that it could be extended
because No Child Left Behind requires poverty money to be spent on low-income
students. Rather than keep the
money and retool the summer program, Reynolds recommended that District
230 drop the funds to avoid the federal sanctions under the law. She said the district
is focusing on improving special ed students' test scores. Last school
year, educators profiled the kids most likely to have trouble on the
state assessment and worked with them on test-taking skills, Reynolds
said. But if the students
fail to make sufficient progress on their test scores this year, the
federal government will make District 230 offer them the chance to transfer
to another school — at District 230's expense. A list of schools
that must offer such school choice, based on 2004 test results, will
be released before school starts this fall. "There is potential
that special education students will not get to the benchmarks,"
Reynolds said. "In more and more districts, the special education
designation creates the most difficulty. But that's not the sole reason
for (opting out)." Special education experts
praise the No Child Left Behind law's emphasis on educating all children.
Schools are forced to educate kids who were previously thought to be
unlikely or unable to learn. "We would be very
concerned about any school district opting out of (the federal law)
to escape accountability for children with disabilities," said
Don Moore, executive director of Designs for Change, a public school
reform organization. A small number of states
are trying to dodge the law, which has been criticized by many educators
nationwide as unrealistic and underfunded, said Michael Resnick, associate
executive director of the National Association of School Boards. "In (Title I's)
40-year history, it's very unusual for a school district that's eligible
for Title I to turn Title I down," Resnick said. District 230 is offering
the Emphasis program for the last time this summer. Officials will use
this school year to plan a new way to transition at-risk middle school
students to high school. Better coordination
with feeder schools and families and activities in the first semester
of the freshman year that focus on academic success are possible alternatives,
Reynolds said. Turning down grant reasonable in SD 230 Daily Southtown Editorial,
The federal No Child
Left Behind Act — the Bush administration's game plan for fixing
public schools — calls for laudable improvements in our schools. Under the law, schools
must be able to show steady improvements in test scores for all students.
If the students don't improve, they are supposed to get an opportunity
to transfer to another school where the academic results are better. We're all for increased
accountability, performance standards for schools and better opportunity
for students. But the No Child Left Behind Act promises far more than
it delivers, largely because it imposes standards created in The law is flawed in
other ways, as well. Its emphasis on dividing students into groups for
evaluation purposes leads to absurd conclusions. For example, in December
every high school but one in the south and southwest suburbs was labeled
a "failure" under the federal rules. Half of these schools
failed because they had one group of students or more that failed to
show adequate test scores. The school that "passed" did so
because it had very little diversity and thus didn't have to show the
kind of progress that most of the rest had to document. The shortcomings in
the law are prompting Consolidated High School District 230 to drop
out of the program. The school board last week voted to reject a $115,000
federal poverty grant that has been used to pay for a summer school
program at Sandburg, Stagg and Andrew high schools to help middle school
students adapt to high school. District 230 officials
decided it made better fiscal sense to reject the grant than to accept
it and remain subject to the No Child Left Behind requirements. They
said they will devise a different program to prepare at-risk middle
school students for high school. Under the federal law,
if District 230's special education subgroup had failed to make adequate
improvement in its test scores, the district would have had to set up
a program allowing special ed students to transfer to other schools.
Such a program could cost the district more money than the value of
the federal grant. We think the District
230 school board made the right decision. Why voluntarily adopt a set
of standards that you will have a hard time paying for because federal
and state officials provide far too little cash? An official at the National
Association of School Boards said it's very unusual for an eligible
school district to turn down a Title I grant. That's not surprising,
considering that schools as a rule are grossly under-funded. Now, the new federal
law comes along, mandating higher costs but not providing enough help
to pay for them. As far as Schools need balanced student populations Opinion by G. Alan Hickrod,
professor of educational administration emeritus, About two decades ago,
I headed a research team that reported to the then existing Illinois
School Problems Commission. We were investigating
the causes of low test scores in the public schools. We found that the
leading cause of poor test scores was the percentage of students from
families below the poverty line in a given school. We also found that
a "tipping point" existed, so that when there were more than
a majority of poverty impacted pupils the test scores in the school
fell like a rock. Since then this finding
has been replicated many places in the The policy recommendation
that my colleague, Ben Hubbard, and I made to the General Assembly at
that time was that the weighting in the grant-in-aid formula for poverty
students should be increased for districts with high concentrations
of these kinds of pupils. The recommendation was
accepted, the law was accordingly changed and more state money flowed
to poverty impacted schools. I received an award
from the Urban League for my role in that endeavor. Our diagnosis was
correct. However, with the passage of time, I have come to believe that
the therapy we suggested was not nearly aggressive enough. What I should have recommended
was that no public school be allowed to operate with more than a majority
of students from poverty families. This would require, of course, help
from the state in terms of drawing new attendance lines and in the busing
of students to attain these goals. Busing of students is
assuredly not popular, even to obey the edicts of the court, as in Brown
v. the Board. In the 50 years since Brown, we have learned that not
only is racial segregation bad for the schools, socio-economic segregation
is even worse. To insist rigorously therefore on "neighborhood
schools" is often to condemn some students to a bad education,
and to give other students a good education. Granted, this situation
is not as bad in places such as Bloomington-Normal as it is in the larger
metropolitan areas where we have both schools and school districts with
no poverty students, and then other schools and districts in which every
single student comes from a poverty home. Why admit the mistake
now? Because socio-economic segregation in American schools is growing
decade by decade. A large number of economic studies indicate that both
wealth and income are now more concentrated than they have been since
1890 and 1920. These inequalities in
wealth and income then become translated into very unequal residential
housing choices. People use their wealth to choose homes that will also
provide good schools for their children. Very understandable. But the
poor are unable to do that. In a private enterprise
system the people surely have every right to choose automobiles, clothing
and yes, housing, on the basis of their individual purchasing power
in the market. But, at least in my opinion, they do not have a right
to exert this differential purchasing power with regard to public schools. The public schools,
unlike some private schools, are not a commodity to be purchased on
the free market. The "common schools" are exactly that. They
exist for the greatest good for the greatest number. All this has been known
for a very long time. And it is very disturbing to people to be forced
to look at this problem, so why not just sweep it all under a rug. Because
the stakes are now much higher than they were a quarter of a century
ago. Most economists, liberal
or conservative, agree that our economy can not survive in this competitive
world without greatly increasing the effectiveness of the public schools.
We did not really become alarmed about this until middle-class jobs
started to disappear to Without effective schools
our mighty armed forces will not work, our highly technical economy
will not work, our medical services will not work and it is for darned
certain our democracy will not work. Certain kinds of charter
schools, and even a very carefully controlled voucher system might help,
but they would just be bandages on a major infection. And an uncontrolled
voucher system could very well make the disease worse. This is not a pipe dream
of a superannuated professor from Illinois State Univesity. A remarkably
good book published recently from the Brookings Institution lays out
much of the research on this issue. It also provides examples
of school districts that have faced the problem squarely, and then done
something about it. Ever the teacher, I suggest you add Richard D. Kahlenberg's,
"All Together Now," 2001, to your reading list. Daley seeks talks on changes in school funding By Gary Washburn, Tribune
staff reporter, Mayor Richard Daley
on Wednesday called for a state-city summit to discuss education funding
and ways to shift the burden from beleaguered homeowners. Daley also hammered
away at Cook County Assessor James Houlihan, calling for immediate changes
in assessment practices the mayor called unfair. But Daley, who repeatedly
has said The mayor dodged when
asked if he would refrain from increasing the city's levy. "We
are just starting our whole [2005] budget process," he said. "I
haven't said anything about it ... I will make the decision in the fall." In a letter sent Wednesday
to Gov. Rod Blagojevich and Though the state constitution
gives Property owners unfairly
have been saddled with the burden of covering most of the bill for education,
Daley said at a City Hall news conference. But he refused to say whether
he favors property tax relief in exchange for an increase in the state
income tax or sales tax, or some alternative. The Metropolitan Mayors
Caucus, of which Daley is a leader, will make a specific proposal in
the fall, said Palos Hills Mayor Gerald Bennett, who also spoke at the
news conference. "We know the reality
of life," said Bennett, when pressed for possible recommendations.
"It will be a mix of different revenues." Daley took aim at Houlihan,
who has become a familiar mayoral target in recent months, calling on
the assessor to protect longtime homeowners from steep property assessment
increases and take into account income and ability to pay when computing
assessments. Increasing the assessment
only when a home is sold "would be an option to look at,"
he said. Asked whether such a
far-reaching alteration of the system would require legislative changes,
Daley replied flatly, "No, it doesn't. It's called a fairness issue." But Michelle Kucera,
a spokeswoman for the assessor, said, "Most of [the mayoral proposals]
require a change in state law." Kucera agreed that the
tax system in Houlihan and Daley both
pushed for passage of a bill, now on the governor's desk, that would
generally limit assessment increases to 7 percent a year under a cap
that would expire in 2006. Questioning the accuracy
of Houlihan's assessments, Daley asked why up to 70 percent of homeowners
who appeal are winning reductions from the Cook County Board of Review. "How can [the board]
give them relief when they are not getting relief in the assessor's
office?" he said. Governor signs school construction, teachers insurance
bill
By John O'Connor, The
Associated Press, SPRINGFIELD — The
Senate scrapped one of Gov. Rod Blagojevich's major education initiatives
Wednesday, sending him legislation that would salvage an insurance program
for retired teachers but prevent the governor from changing a popular
school construction program. The bill would keep
the state-aided construction program under the State Board of Education's
administration; Blagojevich wanted to move it to the Capital Development
Board, which he controls. Blagojevich signed the
bill into law within hours. Spokeswoman Rebecca Rausch said Blagojevich
supported it because of the insurance program, which "is just too
important to sacrifice." The Teachers Retirement
Insurance Program covers 50,000 former teachers and their dependents.
A 2001 bailout that sharply increased participants' premiums expired
Wednesday; the new plan increases premiums 19.6 percent over three years
and requires more financial support from active teachers, the state
and school districts. Sen. Bill Brady, R-Bloomington,
complained the new plan would cut $22 million in benefits in the coming
year. The school construction
program began six years ago and provides state money to help districts
replace crumbling or overcrowded buildings. New funding is still part
of negotiations as Blagojevich and legislative leaders try to agree
on a state budget. Blagojevich argued schools
could save construction-planning money by coordinating projects through
the Capital Development Board and suggested state-chosen architects
and engineers could design the projects. Critics feared it would
give Blagojevich too much control over which schools got funding. The 56-0 Senate vote
Wednesday marked the second Blagojevich education plan lawmakers had
gutted or rejected. In May, they blocked his effort to shut down the
independent State Board of Education and replace it with a cabinet-level
agency under his control. ——— The bill is SB1553. On the Net - Illinois General Assembly: http:/www.legis.state.il.us. Few parents know about fee waivers Critics say most school
districts don't do enough to notify parents By Linda Lutton, Daily
Southtown Staff writer, Officials in Advocates for the poor
say while other districts might not be locking the schoolyard gates
or keeping poor kids out of the class picnic, many are doing a lousy
job of making low-income parents aware they're eligible for fee waivers. "It's a common
problem," said Michael O'Connor, managing attorney at the Kankakee
office of Prairie State Legal Services, a nonprofit organization that
provides free legal help to senior citizens and low-income people in
northern and central Illinois. "The law requires
schools to notify parents of their right to a fee waiver, but it's one
of a bundle of documents parents are given when they enroll their children,"
said O'Connor. School fees can total
hundreds of dollars. O'Connor said people
usually seek his help after being evicted or turned over to a collection
agency for failure to pay gas or electric bills. "You're trying
to figure out how they got into this mess and they tell you, 'I had
to enroll four kids in school at $150 a pop,' " O'Connor said. Schools are required
to notify parents in writing at the beginning of the school year that
waivers are available, but nothing forces them to do so at the time
fees are assessed. Advisories can be buried in thick binders or newsletters
that don't get read. At a minimum, districts
must grant waivers to students who receive free lunch. They can also
decide to waive fees in other cases, such as for students who qualify
for reduced-price lunch, or to families going through hard times, such
as divorce or job loss. But few districts waive
fees automatically, even for students who qualify for free lunch. Instead,
citing a federal privacy law that forbids them from giving out information
about which students qualify for free lunch, they require parents to
fill out a separate form. If parents don't know about the form, advocates
say, they don't end up filling it out. 'A cat-and-mouse game' Dozens of Christine Bankhead of
Bankhead said that until
a community activist told her recently that she was entitled to a waiver,
she'd never heard of them.Not all school districts make it hard for
parents to find out about waivers. A letter sent to parents
in By last Friday, Kirby
business services secretary Marge Winter said she had already received
at least 70 requests for waivers — in a district where just 1.8
percent of students are low-income. That's how it should
be, says Patricia Nix-Hodes, attorney with the law project of the Chicago
Coalition for the Homeless. "This shouldn't
be a cat-and-mouse game," Nix-Hodes said. "Parents should
understand what they're eligible for. If you're putting information
about fees up, you should put up information about fee waivers." Nix-Hodes said districts
are not aware that the state requires them to waive all fees, including
cap and gown fees, field trip fees, driver's education fees and locker
rental charges, in addition to enrollment or book rental fees. Even though Illinois
State Board of Education attorneys are looking into the way District
168 handles fee waivers, school officials there recently posted 2004-05
fees and registration dates on the their Web site without mentioning
anything about the availability of waivers. Attorneys for the district
have said in the past that parents owe 'Unfunded mandate' Some district officials
consider the state's requirement to offer fee waivers an unfunded mandate.
"We lose by not
being able to charge the fees," said Todd Covault, Assistant Supt.
for business in Covault grumbled that
media coverage of the fee fracas in District 168 prompted several parents
in his district to ask for waiver applications. A number of Southland
school districts have raised fees in recent months to try to plug budget
holes, including Rich Lesniak, business
manager in "It's very important,"
he said. "That's 1.5 percent of our budget." The state should reimburse
districts, Nix-Hodes said. "The districts should follow the law
no matter what. But maybe there has to be a larger discussion about
how the state can assist these districts that are waiving a lot of fees."
In Covault said the federal
law governing school lunch programs prevents the district from automatically
giving families fee waivers. He contends it would
be illegal for food service employees, who process requests for free
lunch, to pass names on to the district's business office so they can
be given waivers. Instead, the district
makes parents fill out a consent form that authorizes school officials
to divulge information about their free-lunch status. In the past, the
parent was responsible for turning that form in to the proper district
official. The law does allow school
lunch officials to disclose information to "a state health or education
program administered by the state or local educational agency." Attorneys for the firm
Scariano, Himes and Petrarca, which represents both And, they say, districts
can't be expected to give waivers to students who don't apply for them. Hawthorn denies charter request BY MARLENE HUNT, Vernon
Hills Review Staff Writer, School Board members
at Hawthorn District 73 voted to deny the application for the "The basic problem
we have is there is no local interest or demand for this," said
Rich Paul, school board president. "When we had the hearing, no
one showed up to testify other than the promoters." Paul said the school
board and administration were greatly disappointed that the promoters
did not do any research or check into what is offered at Hawthorn. "Almost
every thing they said they would offer, we are already doing except
having Latin among subjects that are taught." Hawthorn officials said
the school district is noted for offering parents a wide variety of
educational choices and use a portfolio to track individual student
achievements. Those studying the proposal
found the budget inadequate to serve the needs of children. "For
example there was no money to buy furniture for the first year of the
school operation." Paul said. Under the charter school
proposal, transportation is the responsibility of the parents. This
led some school board members to question whether the special requirement
would end up limiting children from economically disadvantaged areas
and children whose parents both work. School board member
Mary Jane Rattner worried there were no specifics as to how the proposed
school planned to meet the needs of children at risk. "One of the things
the state law governing charter schools tell local school districts
is that they give preference to proposals who meet the needs of at-risk
children," Paul said. Public hearings were
held at 15 school districts including those in According to state law,
the charter school must seek approval from every school district it
could affect. If the school district were to approve the application,
it would then assume the role of fiscal agent. Michael H. Farley, director
of education for the George C. Marshall Foundation, said he expected
the applications to be denied. It would then allow the Foundation to
bypass the school districts and take their case directly to the Illinois
State Board of Education. The state board has
the option to approve the petition despite opposition from the local
school districts. Libertyville District
70 Elementary Superintendent Mark Friedman said school districts objected
to the proposal as it would take away the per-pupil expenditure from
the affected school districts. In Friedman said the school
districts would still have to provide and pay teachers for the classes
and supplies and other administrative expenses. Paul said when he contacted
Harry Warner, president of Marshall Foundation based in When contacted Tuesday,
Farley confirmed this. He said he was leaving the foundation to concentrate
on the He said the proposed
charter school would enrich educational offerings in " Farley said this is
intended to help students effectively address the physiological, psychological
and emotional/social challenges encountered during those years. Farley described the
Marshall Foundation as a small operating foundation that did not want
to be in a position of running schools. "The objective
for the charter proposal is to be self-sustaining," he said. "We will have a
collaborative relationship. In State pols must fix school funding Letter by Bindu Batchu,
Campaign manager, A+ Illinois, Schools across the state
of Too many students fail
to meet national standards in math, reading, attendance and graduation
rates. While many of the schools on the watch list are in It should come as no
surprise that the education financing crisis in A+ Illinois is a statewide
campaign comprised of groups and individuals committed to real reform
in the quality and funding of public education in The problems facing
The governor and the
members and leadership of the Illinois General Assembly agree that education
must be the state's top priority. A+ Illinois believes now is the right
time to address the crisis faced by schools, students, and communities
across the state. Yet, as the spring legislative session concludes,
our leaders have not begun to tackle the fundamental problems facing
our education system in a serious way. We need the support
of the government and the taxpayers of This education crisis
affects nearly every school, every student, and every community across
the state. The time for change is here — let's fix this broken
system. The future of For more information
on A+ Illinois and to find out what you can do to help, log on to www.aplusillinois.org. =========================================================================== NATIONAL Teachers Union Still Plans FOXNews.com, WASHINGTON — The
nation's largest union boldly pledged a year ago to rally states to
sue the Bush administration over education spending under the No Child
Left Behind (search) law. It turns out that the
National Education Association (search) has been the one left behind. At least 30 state legislatures,
including some led by Republicans, have expressed their displeasure
over the law. Not one state, however, has agreed to join a lawsuit the
teachers' union announced one year ago and planned to file by last summer. "Maintaining a
good relationship with the federal government that oversees your programs
and suing them at the same time makes it a very difficult proposition,"
said Patty Sullivan, deputy executive director of the Council of Chief
State School Officers (search). "You have to be
pretty certain that you're going to win, because you really will jeopardize
your ability to get other things. You have to think through the politics
of that," she said. The threatened challenge,
which would have been the most direct shot at the heart of Bush's domestic
agenda, is not dead, the union says. A few school districts have agreed
to participate and the union is weighing when to go on if no state joins
the fight. Union leaders claim
the primary reason the suit has stalled is that states fear retaliation
by the Education Department (search). Yet participation by states is
critical because they would have the strongest standing to sue, the
union says. "It's difficult
to think that in 2004, there is fear of reprisal, intimidation and harassment,"
said Reg Weaver, the NEA's president. Added the group's general
counsel, Bob Chanin: "I would have thought they (states) would
be jumping at this. We have a solid legal theory. We're prepared to
do all the work. We just want to enlist them, but for a variety of reasons
we haven't been able to push any state over the hump." Union leaders could
not offer proof of threats against states or name ones that fear retaliation.
But they said state and local school officials tell them they fear cuts
in discretionary programs, such as reading grants, or rejection of changes
they want in state school plans. Education Department
spokeswoman Susan Aspey said the claims were "utterly baseless"
and that the administration has proved it works closely with state policy-makers.
"We're pleased the states have chosen to work directly with us
rather than through the courts," she said. A lawsuit would hinge
on a provision of the law that says states and school districts would
not have to use their own money to pay for any of the law's requirements.
It is an important issue because debate has been continuous over whether
the government is paying enough to implement the law. The NEA courted a plaintiff
from the Democratic Governors Association (search), a group to which
the union makes considerable donations through its political committee. The governors support
the NEA but have opted for "rigorous discussions" with the
administration about their problems with the law, spokeswoman Nicole
Harburger said. She said Democratic governors did not fear reprisal
if they were to join the suit. The law is considered
the most sweeping education overhaul in almost 40 years, a bipartisan
effort intended to help schools succeed and to punish many that fail. It demands highly qualified
teachers in all core classes, expanded standardized testing, more information
for parents and verifiable yearly progress among many subgroups of students. As the law's effects
began to take hold, most states debated or passed measures to seek relief.
A few considered opting
out of the law, thereby rejecting millions of federal dollars for poor
children, although none did. A lawmaker in one such state, Democratic
Sen. Steve Kelley of "State legislatures
support the idea of closing the learning gap," said Kelley, a leader
of a task force on the law for the National Conference of State Legislatures
(search). "You would not want to be in a position where somebody
on the other side could say that you are suing in order to preserve
an inequality of results for kids." States cited other reasons
for staying out of the suit -- internal disputes among crucial personnel
or organizations, lack of data about their state's costs, hopes that
Congress will change the law. Meanwhile, the states
are feeling heat from below. Half face suits from local agencies over
the adequacy of school financing; that may grow as scores emerge about
achievement of poor and minority students, reporting required by the
new law. The NEA says just the
threat of a suit has been a success, drawing attention to the question
of whether Bush has kept his promise about the size of his spending
increases. The 2.7-million member
union begins its annual meeting this week in AP, The proposal is part
of several changes the Boston School Committee could approve as soon
as next month. Existing rules require
freshmen to repeat ninth grade if they fail English or math or two courses
in science, history or languages. Under the proposed new
plan, students would repeat classes they fail instead of the entire
grade and advance to the next level in classes they pass. Advanced students could
graduate in three years while struggling students could take up to five
years to finish. Critics say students
need grade levels for structure, but Superintendent Thomas W. Payzant
said too many students repeat grades, attend summer school or drop out
under the current system. The committee has asked
Payzant to provide a detailed report for its next meeting. The panel
could approve the plan in July or September, Payzant said. By Jon Sarche, Associated
Press, Colorado's voucher law--the
first passed after the U.S. Supreme Court said in 2002 that voucher
programs are acceptable--never was put into effect because of legal
challenges. The high court's 4-3
decision upheld a lower court ruling. The law would have offered
vouchers of $4,500 a year to public school students to help cover their
tuition at private or parochial schools. The program was supposed to
start this fall. But the high court said
the program requires school districts to turn over a portion of locally
raised money to private schools, over which local school boards have
no control. That violates local-control provisions of the Colorado Constitution,
the court said. Voucher supporters are
likely to introduce a new version in the 2005 General Assembly to conform
to the ruling. "I think it would
be fairly easy to draft legislation that didn't use local dollars,"
state Rep. Nancy Spence said. The court challenge
was brought by teachers, education groups and religious organizations.
They said the program could direct tax money to private religious schools. Ron Brady, president
of the Colorado Education Association, the state's largest teachers
union, said it probably will be impossible to devise a voucher program
that passes state constitutional muster because of strong prohibitions
against giving taxpayer money to private or religious institutions. Voucher programs have
withstood legal challenges in Advice to students writing essays on college exams: Try
to be neat By Associated Press,
Worried sloppy penmanship
will cost you on the new SAT with essay, or the similar, optional section
of the ACT? Don't be, test administrators say. Administrators point
out they have years of experience scoring other tests with essays, like
the SAT IIs and Advanced Placement exams. They've also drilled scorers
not to penalize bad penmanship (a few spelling and grammar errors also
won't count). They'll even be throwing in good but hard-to-read dummy
essays to make sure scorers are giving them proper credit. Still, experts say it
doesn't hurt to try and keep your penmanship neat for a reader who may
have 100 essays or more per day to plow through. Some studies have indeed
shown that, of two identical essays, the more neatly written tends to
get a higher grade. But college counselors differ over whether bad penmanship
really matters on standardized tests. Perhaps it's no surprise
that test prep companies think it will and that they can help. Princeton Review, Kaplan
and Peterson's will all likely be discussing handwriting with students.
But their general advice is pretty uniform: practice, and take your
time, emphasizing quality over quantity. Scorers will be reading the
essays, not weighing them. Schools must use $2 billion or lose it AP, The Education Department
has found that all the states, the District of Columbia and eight territories
have high cash balances left from 2002, including money meant for poor
children, disabled students and limited-English learners. That money must be obligated
-- not spent, but at least legally earmarked toward a specific expense
-- by September 30, which is 27 months after it was released to states. States then have two
final years to spend the money. Ultimately, school money not committed
or spent returns to the federal treasury, as happened with $155 million
last year. The department's move
comes as an election-year fight grows over whether states and schools
have enough money to do what's demanded of them under new federal law.
House Republicans announced Monday that states have $16.8 billion in
unspent school money dating from the former Clinton administration,
a figure that the Education Department confirmed but state school officials
called misleading without context about how school financing works. GOP leaders are expanding
an argument made this year by the department, the White House and congressional
Republicans, that schools are flush with federal money. It's meant to
counter the claim that President Bush, who championed a law demanding
greater improvement in all schools, has not come close to keeping his
promise to pay for changes the law demands. "We've literally
flooded the system with cash, and it's time to start focusing on improving
student achievement instead," said Rep. John Boehner, R-Ohio, chairman
of the House Education and the Workforce Committee. The Education Department
has issued letters to chief state school officers, reminding them of
what appeared to be substantial cash balances with just three months
before the September deadline. Meeting obligations More than $2.1 billion
is unspent from 2002, or about 8 percent of the money allocated for
five broad areas, including special education and adult education. The
department's letters to states identified only those cash balances that
seemed particularly high. Todd Jones, a department
budget official, acknowledged Monday that the agency does not know how
much of that money already has been obligated. He said it makes sense
that some cash is not yet committed, such as money for summer reading
expenses that have yet to occur. Still, Jones said, the
department issued its reminder to ensure that states don't miss their
chances to use the money. It's part of a broader effort this year to
help states account for all the federal money available and to draw
it down more quickly. "The states are
telling us that they're not seeing this as a red flag at all,"
Jordan Cross, lobbyist for the Council of Chief State School Officers,
said after leaders there reviewed the numbers with budget and top education
executives from at least 10 states Monday. "They expect, by September,
that almost all of that money will be obligated." Patty Sullivan, the
council's deputy executive director, added: "To the department's
credit, they gave us a heads-up on this. I don't think this is a `gotcha'
activity. I think they really are trying to help." Still, Sullivan said,
the implication that states "have a closet full of money,"
is misleading. Her group plans to publish a document that explains school
financing for the public, knowing the issue will come up again. Governor pledges to settle suit over school conditions By Kate Folmar and Ann
E. Marimow, Mercury News SACRAMENTO - Gov. Arnold
Schwarzenegger on Tuesday vowed that he ``absolutely'' plans to settle
a groundbreaking class-action lawsuit over inferior conditions in California
schools serving more than 1 million poor and minority students -- a
case with serious budget implications. Sources familiar with
the still-fluid negotiations say the administration could offer at least
$138 million to settle the lawsuit. The Mercury News first reported
in January that the administration was working behind the scenes to
resolve the 4-year-old case. Word of the anticipated
deal came as top lawmakers and the governor held two closed-door talks
Tuesday in an effort to stitch together agreements on several remaining
issues in the $103 billion state budget, including funding for cities
and counties, and proposed cuts to higher education and social services. Today is the last day
of the fiscal year. With hours to go before the deadline, Democrats
seemed optimistic that an accord could be struck today that would solve
the estimated $12 billion shortfall; Republicans, less so. Day of meetings The so-called Big 5
-- Schwarzenegger and the four legislative leaders -- shuttled in and
out of the governor's office throughout the day Tuesday trying to settle
several outstanding issues. Senate President pro Tempore John Burton,
D-San Francisco, carried carafes of foamed milk into one meeting to
help the group through the late afternoon with an espresso buzz. Among the issues resolved
Tuesday was funding for public schools and community colleges. Senate
GOP leader Dick Ackerman of Tustin said schools would receive at least
an extra $110 million and colleges $80 million to address perceived
inequalities in the state's school funding formula. The money is intended
to help school districts that receive less than the statewide average. The Legislature today
is expected to close out another piece of the budget by signing off
on the governor's $1 billion Indian gambling deal with tribal leaders,
according to A settlement in the
school-conditions suit is coming soon, an impassioned Schwarzenegger
said during a news conference Tuesday to announce new federal funding
for charter schools. But he did not divulge details. He said that in his
work with after-school programs, he has ``seen how inner-city schools
are falling behind because they are not getting equal teaching and equal
books and equal learning materials. So of course we are settling that
lawsuit. We are very close to settling that.'' Resolving the suit,
filed in May 2000 by the American Civil Liberties Union and other civil-rights
groups, could profoundly affect students who attend schools with few
qualified teachers, outdated textbooks, crowded classrooms and decrepit
facilities, including some in East Palo Alto, Campbell, Richmond, Oakland
and San Francisco. It also weighs heavily
on the continuing negotiations over the state budget, because remedying
crummy school conditions will cost tens of millions of dollars as the
state grapples with a deficit. Núñez said the administration
and lawyers for the students were working on ``a good settlement'' in
the case known as Williams vs. State of ``It's great that we've
finally put it to rest,'' Núñez said. ``To do what's right for children,
to make sure that their bathrooms are cleaned, to make sure that they
have sufficient textbooks -- all these things are very important and
certainly the governor was easily convinced it was the right thing to
do.'' Part of the settlement
talks, first reported by the San Diego Union Tribune, includes the possibility
of A settlement conference
on the school-conditions case is slated for today in Praise for governor Participants in the
settlement negotiations are barred by court order from discussing the
talks. But ACLU lead lawyer Mark Rosenbaum praised the governor Tuesday. ``He has publicly demonstrated
a commitment and leadership from his office to ensure equal educational
opportunities for all The case plagued the
administration of former Gov. Gray Davis, the self-styled ``education
governor,'' as he was spending hundreds of millions of dollars to improve
public schools. His administration fought the case for nearly four years
and spent nearly $20 million, much of it on top-flight outside lawyers,
but also took an unsuccessful stab at a settlement before The lawsuit asks for
a state monitoring system to ensure every student has the bare necessities
to learn: sufficient textbooks, qualified teachers and clean, functioning
classrooms. The outcome could determine the quality of classrooms and
teachers for about one-sixth of In court papers, student
plaintiffs describe schools where vermin scurry around classrooms, with
bathrooms so filthy they're unusable and classes that have no permanent
teacher all year. In response, the Study Raises Concerns on Misconduct in Schools Ben Feller Associated
Press, More than 4.5 million
children are forced to endure sexual misconduct by school employees,
from inappropriate comments to physical abuse, according to an exhaustive
review of research that reads like a parent's worst nightmare. The best estimate is
that almost one in 10 children, sometime between kindergarten and 12th
grade, are targets of behavior ranging from unprofessional to criminal,
says the report for Congress by Charol Shakeshaft, a professor at Hofstra
University's School of Education. "Most people just
don't think this can really happen," said Shakeshaft, hired by
the Education Department to study the prevalence of sexual abuse in
schools. "We imagine that all teachers are like most teachers,
in that they've gone into teaching to help children. Most do, but not
all. We need to acknowledge that's the case and do something to stop
it." The report, required
under the No Child Left Behind law and delivered to Congress on Wednesday,
is the first to analyze the field of research about sexual misconduct
at school. Some educators immediately
took issue with its approach, mainly the combining of sexual abuse with
other behavior, such as gestures or notes, into one broad misconduct
category. But another prominent
researcher supported the findings, suggesting, as Shakeshaft did, that
they may even understate the problem. And the American Association of
University Women, whose surveys of students were at the core of the
new report, stood by its research. There have been no nationally
financed studies to collect data about how common sexual misconduct
is in school, one of many areas Shakeshaft suggests must be addressed.
Her analysis covered almost 900 documents and reviews that have dealt
with the topic in some way, from private research and newspaper stories
to reports for government agencies. What she found portrays
a problem that, no matter how uncommon, united groups of teachers, superintendents,
parents and education leaders in concern -- and disgust. The report describes
schools as places where abusers come to prey, targeting vulnerable and
marginal students who are afraid to complain or unlikely to be believed
if they did. It describes adults who trap, lie and isolate children,
making them subject to unwanted behavior in hallways, offices, buses
or even right in front of other students in class. And the offenders
work hard to keep kids from telling, threatening to fail or humiliate
them. Misconduct is defined
in the report as physical, verbal or visual behavior, from sexually
related jokes or pictures of sex to fondling of breasts and forced sex.
Shakeshaft did not limit her review to sexual abuse because, she says,
that would exclude other unacceptable adult behaviors that can drive
kids from school and harm them for years. Yet spokesman Michael
Pons of the National Education Association, a union of 2.7 million education
workers, said: "Lumping harassment together with serious sexual
misconduct does more harm than good by creating unjustified alarm and
undermining confidence in public schools. Statistically, public schools
remain one of the safest places for children to be." The NEA, he added, takes
any sexually inappropriate behavior seriously, training teachers and
working with the Education Department on rules banning harassment in
schools. The other large teachers
union, the American Federation of Teachers, also found fault with the
report's description of misconduct, and Eugene Hickok, the deputy education
secretary, said the findings were so broad they may be viewed as "insufficiently
focused." But those officials, too, did nothing to downplay the
importance of the problem. "Clearly, sexual
predators have no place in public schools," said John Mitchell,
deputy director of educational issues at the AFT. "We support background
checks, and when someone has gotten through, they need to be removed.
And other inappropriate behaviors must be attended to, also, we just
really need to have an effort to separate the two." The report found teachers
are the most common offenders, followed by coaches, substitute teachers,
bus drivers and teacher aides. Among students, 56 percent of those targeted
are girls, and 44 percent are boys, a smaller gap than commonly expected,
Shakeshaft said. Robert Shoop, a "Children need
to be very clearly educated about inappropriate behaviors, and teachers
do too, so when children see the earliest signs of this behavior, they
have someone to tell," Shoop said. "But often, parents say,
'Mind your teacher.' So it's very unlikely that this 10-year-old kid
is going to rip the teacher's hands off and say, 'Back off.' "
By Liz Austin, Associated
Press Writer, Most School districts around
the state helped teachers out by hiring them to work janitorial or maintenance
jobs for just a day. The loophole ends Wednesday. Junior high school principal
Margie Nancarrow said she wanted to spend at least two more years at
her school in suburban "I'm not wanting
to do anything extravagant," said Nancarrow, who spent her last
day before retirement moving furniture. "I just want to live a
modest lifestyle and take care of myself and not be a burden on anyone
else." The loophole allows
teachers to double-dip into retirement benefits and collect both their
state pension and Social Security money. By doing the janitor
work, they become eligible to receive Social Security spousal benefits
equal to one-half of their spouse's monthly Social Security check. For
instance, if a teacher's husband receives $1,000 a month from Social
Security, she would get $500 while also receiving a monthly pension
check. Congress changed the
law in February after auditors estimated that the loophole could cost
the Social Security system $450 million. Auditors also reported that
one-fourth of all Use of the loophole
appears to be on the rise this year as well. The Teacher Retirement
System of Texas processed 35 percent more retirements from September
through May than it did in the previous year's period. The loophole's use has
been most extensively documented in Some argue that school
employees are taking advantage of the system. "The fact that
something is technically legal doesn't make it appropriate or ethical,"
said David John, a research fellow with the Heritage Foundation, a conservative
think tank. "A teacher is supposedly instilling in my children
a sense of responsibility and a sense of worth, and you don't see that
when you sneak around a rule and find a cute exception." Nancarrow paid the Under the new law, teachers
will have to work their last five years in a job that pays into Social
Security to receive their full spousal benefits. Mike McSwain, Lindale's
assistant superintendent for business, said what his school district
and a few others in "We just couldn't
look at our taxpayers and say we passed up this opportunity to get this
kind of revenue into the district," McSwain said. Nancarrow said paying
the fee and driving the 90 miles to Lindale were well worth it -- retiring
early gives her several hundred dollars in additional monthly benefits. "I'm not hung up
on not doing manual labor," said Nancarrow, 54. "I was just
glad that I had the opportunity to get in and get those benefits." Nancarrow, who plans
to teach Spanish part time at a private school next year, said she is
comfortable with her decisions. "I think I've provided
for myself, saved some money for the future," she said. "I
hate to leave any money on the table." Scanners to lend hand in tracking students By Lois K. Solomon,
Sun-Sentinel Education Writer, They can depend on biometric
hand readers to do the job. The little black boxes,
which take less than a second to identify students based on the dimensions
of their hands, will be placed in all 61 classrooms, the cafeteria,
main office and media center at Don Estridge High Tech Middle School,
which will open Aug. 11 at The technology also
will be on Don Estridge school buses so the school can monitor who gets
on and off at each stop. "We are a testing
ground for this new technology," said Jim Kelly, The machines store a
mathematical equation, but not a picture, for each hand, making them
different from electronic fingerprint systems typically associated with
federal law-enforcement agencies, Kelly said. Don Estridge joins a
small group of schools and universities using the high-tech tool to
keep track of students. At The hand scans of students
at 18 At the The technology also
identifies employees at banks, hospitals, ports and apartment complexes. Don Estridge is a choice
school, designed to use the latest technology to teach traditional subjects.
Students must apply to attend. Some "The kids will
always be looking over their shoulder as they get older," Givens
said. "Instead of taking common-sense measures such as locking
doors or monitoring the halls, schools are going to extreme measures.
It gives a false sense of security." The school opened Wednesday. Don Estridge Principal
Debra Johnson said she sees the hand readers as a time-saver as much
as a security measure. Teachers spend precious minutes each morning
taking attendance. And she said she has spent many hours on the phone
with parents whose children did not get off the bus on schedule. "We'll be able
to say, `Johnny got off the bus at 10th and Johnson said she sees
the hand readers' potential use at other sites at the school, such as
checking in at the nurse's office and dispensing medication. School
volunteers could log in using hand scans instead of sign-in sheets,
she said. The hand readers were
donated by Ingersoll-Rand as part of its "Try-Me" program,
company spokeswoman Cindy English said. The company typically donates
the readers, valued at more than $2,000 each, to day care centers to
identify employees and people who are allowed to pick up children. The
company monitors how well the programs work. The hand readers take
90 measurements of each person's hand. Judge OKs magnet school diversity plan AP, U.S. District Judge
John Heyburn II said the He ordered some changes,
though, intended to prevent the system from using race and gender as
"the defining feature" in student selection. Attorneys in the case
say the ruling is the first to address the use of race and gender in
school assignments since last year's U.S. Supreme Court ruling that
said race could be used as a factor in admissions at the Heyburn also said the
public school system for the "Its broad racial
guidelines do not constitute a quota," Heyburn wrote. "We feel absolutely
wonderful about this. We think the judge is so right on with this,"
said School Superintendent Stephen Daeschner. The role of race Heyburn's ruling came
in response to a 2001 challenge by several parents who claimed their
children were denied admission to nine "traditional" magnet
schools because of racial and gender quotas. Admission to the schools
-- which stress textbook-based instruction, discipline, morality and
parental involvement -- is based on various factors, including race
and gender, geographic boundaries and student choice. Heyburn ordered officials
in selecting students for the magnet schools to stop sorting applicants
as "black male," "black female," "white male"
and "white female." "If few or no black
students apply to a traditional school, a principal would be limited
to admitting only those black students who apply at that time,"
he wrote. That makes race and
gender a "defining feature" of a student's application, rather
than just one of several factors as required by the Attorneys for the 97,000-student
district argued that such sorting by race and gender is necessary to
maintain integrated schools, but Heyburn said using factors such as
where a student lives, school capacity and random selection can achieve
the same goal. The school system will
not have to make any changes to the magnet school selection process
until the 2005-06 school year. School assignments for 2004-05 are complete. Ted Gordon, the attorney
for the parents who sued in 2002, said he will appeal the judge's ruling.
He said race should play no part in student assignments.
Illinois State Board of Education |
