Mr. Nesbitt Doesn't Get It

My comment to an opinion piece in  The Oregonian (http://www.oregonlive.com/opinion/index.ssf/2013/12/tim_nesbitt_finding_the_balanc.html#incart_river): Public K-12 education in Oregon is underfunded. The so-called, " 'largest investment ever made' in K-12 education," was still hundreds of millions of dollars less than what the Quality Education Commission determined was required to adequately fund public schools. There is no point in pretending that it is possible to hire more teachers and other education professionals and support personnel and to increase the number of school days without significantly increasing the level of funding that is available. It is the responsibility of the state legislature to provide this level of funding. It is mandated to do so by the state constitution, but it shirks its responsibility. If we value public education, then we must pay for it.

Imagine if Classrooms Were Staffed Like an NFL Team

My favorite National Football League team is the Green Bay Packers. There are 53 players on a National Football Team. 46 suit up to play a game. 11 Packers at time are on the playing field. The Green Bay Packers have 18 coaches.

There are 30 students in my classroom. Everyone of them "suits up" each day. All 30 are "on the field" at all times. I am usually the only "coach" in the classroom. One or two teaching (coaching) assistants are in the room at various times during the day.

The NFL coach to player ratio is 1:3. A public school classroom "coach" to student "player" ratio is often 1:24 or greater. If well payed adult professional athletes require such intense coaching to be at the top their game, how can we expect public school students to succeed with inadequate staffing levels?

I do not hear people complain about coach to player ratios in professional sports. Heaven help us if anyone were to suggest similar teacher/instructional aide to student ratios in public education. Yet, if we are serious about reforming, no, transforming public education so that the needs of every child are met, then those are the required ratios. This will cost large amounts of money, so it won't happen.

We pay for what we value. We do not value public education. We would pay its true costs if we did.

Enabling Educators

Educators are enablers. There will be no real reform of public education in the United States until educators stop enabling an ineffective system. My reference point is as a classroom teacher.  I work beyond my contracted hours, take work home, and pay for necessary resources with my own money.  Until the public demands that government at all levels provides adequate funding for the personnel and resources that are necessary there will be no real reform. The public will not demand this as long as educators keep picking up the slack. When will I have the courage of my convictions, to take the risk to work only my contracted hours? If the federal and state governments and the school district for which I work want me to meet the needs of my students and to fulfill the many other professional obligations that they have placed on me, they have the obligation to provide the time and resources required. They do not and they will not so long as I allow them to get away with it. I am an enabler of an ineffective educational system.

$6.55 Billion is Insufficient

The Oregon Senate approved  $6.55 billion for public schools (The Oregonian, K-12 budget, on second try, passes Oregon Senate). The Oregon House of Representatives is expected to follow suit.

The Oregon Quality Education Commission in its Final Report of August 12, 2012 determined that $8.755 billion was needed to fully fund public education according to the Quality Education Model. Recognizing that this level of funding was unlikely, it provided a plan to phase in full funding over a ten-year period. The amount required to achieve this for the 2013-2015 biennium is $6.895 billion.

Article VIII, Section 8. Adequate and Equitable Funding of the Constitution of Oregon mandates that, "(1) The Legislative Assembly shall appropriate in each biennium a sum of money sufficient to ensure that the state’s system of public education meets quality goals established by law, and publish a report that either demonstrates the appropriation is sufficient, or identifies the reasons for the insufficiency, its extent, and its impact on the ability of the state’s system of public education to meet those goals."

The Oregon Supreme Court ruled that this section of the state constitution is unenforceable. 

Even so, the Oregon State Legislature should fulfill its constitutional obligation.

It Must Have Been a Joke, but I'm not Laughing

 The Oregon State Legislature passed SB 1581 in 2012 establishing the position of Oregon Chief Education Officer. Governor John Kitzhaber issued a statement that outlined what could be accomplished by this officer. Rudy Crew was hired to be that officer. Now, Mr. Crew is leaving less than a year after taking the job. No one should be surprised by this development given the record of Mr. Crew's previous employment. There must be a good joke in this situation, but I don't have the wit to create one.

Mr. Crew's departure is no loss. He barely made his presence felt as an advocate for the adequate funding of K-12 education. I also don't think that I've heard anything from Deputy Superintendent of Public Education, Rob Saxton, about K-12 funding either. Is this due to the fact that the governor is also the Superintendent of Public Education? Perhaps Mr. Crew and Mr. Saxton did/do not have the freedom to advocate as they might have wanted to since they essentially serve(d) at the governor's pleasure. The last elected Superintendent of Public Instruction, Susan Castillo, was hardly effective, but she had some measure of independence since she was directly elected by the voters of Oregon.

Here are a couple of suggestions for action now that Mr. Crew is leaving:
     1. Do not fill the position of Chief Education Officer.  The state legislature should go further and eliminate the position entirely. It is a superfluous job that can be handled by the Deputy Superintendent.
     2. Make the office of Superintendent of Public Education an elected office. This would restore the possibility of having a state superintendent who could act as an independent and vigorous advocate for K-12 education responsible to the voters, not the governor.

Now I have two closing remarks:
     1. I am ready to accept an offer by Governor Kitzhaber to be Chief Education Officer if he decides to fill the vacancy. I can promise that I would stick around to do the job since my wife and I have no desire to move out of state.
     2. I'm prepared to throw my hat in the ring if and when the office of Superintendent of Public Education  is made an elected office.

I'm not joking.

Here is my comment on OregonLive.com to the story "Oregon K-12 budget is back on the Senate's docket".

"$6.55 billion dollars is $$340 million dollars less than the $6.895 minimum level of funding for Oregon K-12 education for 2013/15 recommended by the Oregon Quality Education Model Commission in order to phase in full funding over a ten year period. According to the QEM Commission, $8,754,971,481 is the amount needed for full funding for the 2013-15 biennium. (Quality Education Model Final Report 2012) The Oregon Constitution requires the legislature to provide an explanation as to why it did not provide the necessary funding. I am sure that the legislature will ignore this constitutional provision just as they have in previous years. So, when the legislators do pass a K-12 education budget there should be no self-congratulations since they will not have met their obligations as voted by the people of Oregon by a nearly 2-1 margin in 2000 (Measure 1)."

.333 Is a Good Batting Average in Baseball...

Election results are in for the St. Helens School Board.

Kellie Smith wins with a plurality of nearly 38%  in the most closely contested race, Position 1. Jeff Howell and Gordon Jarman win with 53% and 52% majorities  for positions 3 and 4 respectively.

Mr. Howell is the only candidate for whom I voted that won in these races. That's batting .333 for me.

Incumbents Matt Freeman and Alan King were the third-place vote-getters in their respective races. I was surprised that Mr. Freeman was defeated so soundly as Ms. Smith did not strike me as a particularly strong candidate and Mr Briggs has not been active in school issues since he last served on the board, to the best of my knowledge. There was clearly anti-incumbent sentiment in the electorate.

Mr. King's defeat for Position 4 is not as surprising to me as that of Mr. Freeman for Position 1. The winner of Position 4, Mr. Jarman, is a former long-time educator with the St. Helens School District. Name recognition certainly helped his candidacy. The same is true for former St. Helens teacher Mr. Howell. The nearly identical number of votes that they received could indicate that they had many of the same supporters.

Even though two of my candidates did not win, I am not disappointed by the results. I think that Ms. Smith, Mr. Howell, and Mr. Jarman can be effective school board members.

I would have been disappointed--and worried--if Traci Brumbles had won election. During her campaign she expressed concern about "indoctrination" in public schools. She was not able to provide any specific examples of institutionally sanctioned indoctrination when I asked her about this in an email. Ms. Brumbles has concerns about the Common Core State Standards. I have concerns about these as well, but not because I think that they will be used to "dumb down" curriculum as she expressed at the April candidate forum. These two positions reflect a view of educational issues that I think might be shared by current board members Ray Biggs and Marshall Porter who are members of the Constitution Party. I don't know if Ms. Brumbles is a member of the Constitution Party, but she said at the candidate forum that she had its endorsement in this election. I am glad that we will not have a majority of St. Helens School Board members who are proponents of the positions of the Constitution Party.