Monday, 1 July 2013

[WardFive] Great Ed legislation overview - helpful

Below please find the overview of the education legislation currently being considered by the DC Council. The overview below was analyzed and compiled by Empower DC this weekend at their education legislation empowerment circle. We hope this information is helpful and we urge the community to sign up to testify at the hearings about this legislation. If you can testify at least tune in to see what is taking place and bring discussed. 

Please find the overview below. If you have questions please feel free to reach out to us. 

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The Ward Five Council on Education
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Begin forwarded message:

From: "Daniel  del Pielago" <daniel@empowerdc.org>
Date: July 1, 2013, 1:23:03 PM EDT
Subject: Empower DC - Education Campaign - Notes from Education legislation Empowerment Circle


Below and attached you will find the notes from the discussion we had, I would also like to remind and urge anyone who is interested in testifying to register ASAP.  Following the notes and attached is a list of the legislation, when you have to register by and when the actual hearing day is – To register contact Jamaal Jordan who can be reached at 202-724-8061 or via email at jjordan@dccouncil.us:

 

Notes Empower DC – Empowerment Circle: Education Reform Legislation-

 

Although some of the bills have some good pieces/intentions overall the bills miss the mark and are not sufficiently comprehensive, and many are just too punitive.  They focus on DCPS but should focus on all LEA's (Local Education Agencies).  Each charter school/operator is its own LEA while the 100+ schools that comprise DCPS are one single LEA.  In order for there to be comprehensive planning, actions and evaluations all LEA's need to be taken into consideration. 

 

These are some of the major issues we had with all of the proposed legislation as a whole:

  • Much of this legislation continues to push us towards a majority Charter school system
  • This legislation sets up student failure to justify school take over so charters and private entities can take over public property.  It's all about real estate
  • Several of our elected officials are working on education issues as individuals with their own vision of education reform, they are not working as a group and certainly not including the voices and input of students, parents and community members.  Vincent Gray and David Catania particularly seem to be engaged in a political power struggle.
  • The community is only being engaged after legislation has been proposed and after their plans have been set
  • It is all occurring on a very short time-line which does not allow for community input, hearings are being held at a time when many folks are away for vacation and right around a holiday
  • Legislation lacks details, how much money will be spent, where will it come from, what is an innovation school (who is able to attend an "innovation school")
  • Several of the bills are too punitive they hurt our children and school communities more than they help

 

Concerns with Catania's legislation:

  • The research and recommendations for these bills was done by a private law firm (Hogan Lovells) and paid for with private donations
  • The lead researcher from Hogan Lovells (Maree Sneed) seems to come from a particular mind set in regards to education reform.  In her biography, Sneed lists being on:
    • The faculty of the Broad Urban Superintendents Academy
    • Board of Advisors of the Broad Foundation
    • Board of Directors for Teach for America DC

 

Given that we had a limited time to cover the 9 proposed bills we focused on the following bills we felt were extremely problematic:

  1. Fair Student and School Based Budget Act of 2013 (Catania – B20-309)
  2. Individual School Accountability Act of 2013 (Catania – B20-310)
  3. Comprehensive Planning and Utilization of School Facilities Act of 2013 (Catania – B20-313)
  4. Parent and Student Empowerment Act of 2013 (Catania B20-314)
  5. Increasing access to high quality educational opportunities act of 2013 (Gray – B20-328)

 

Evaluation of legislation:

  • The one thing we liked about the Fair Student Funding and School Based Budget act of 2013 (B20-309) is its acknowledgement that Poverty is an issue we have to deal with. 
    • Unfortunately it does not specify what the added weights (additional funds) will be for students who meet the criteria
    • Bill calls for 80 percent of local funds allocated to DCPS must be allocated to local schools. (federal funds do not apply)  However currently 77 percent of local funds are currently spent on individual schools.  Just a 3% raise
    • It will significantly favor large schools, it is possible that a number of the smaller elementary schools will receive less than they receive now under this approach.  While schools are supposed to be held to no more than a 5% loss where will these funds come from?  80% may not be enough to fund the basics at a small school and if the 5% is to come out of central what will that mean?
    • Although it proposes a "new" way of preparing school budgets (principals would take the lead).  It is not too much different from what currently happens which has many issues as well.

 

  • The Individual School Accountability Act of 2013 is very problematic. 
    • As with many of the other bills this legislation still focuses on the narrow measure of test scores to evaluate a school.
    •  It would turn "under-performing" schools in to "innovation schools" which are not described in detail, the bill only says its basically a charter school, which can be exempt from Teacher's Union collective bargaining.  No mention of what the school actually does
    • The "Turnaround Plan" component's timeline is too short it gives schools a two year window to meet OSSE benchmarks.  Many of the students in the school are several years behind and this is unfair to them. 
    • It continues to call for schools to be closed which has not been shown to improve any educational outcomes
    • The bill also re-creates many of the NCLB (No Child Left Behind) turn-around models. 

 

  • The Comprehensive Planning and Utilization of School Facilities Act of 2013 –
    • Although the bill is titled "Comprehensive" it is in fact not comprehensive. 
    • It only focuses on disposition of buildings for DCPS it speaks to no planning for the charter sector.
    • The bill is calling for the disposal of 12 public school buildings (6 of which are from the current round of school closures)
    • Additionally it deals with the disposal of the school buildings not the acres of land which the schools sit on.
    • It in no way takes into consideration the various ways communities use and enjoy the schools in their neighborhoods.

 

  • The Parent and Student Empowerment Act of 2013 –
    • This bill continues to perpetuate the belief that students and parents are just consumers of the public education system. It continues to undermine that Students and Parents actually OWN the public school system and deserve to be involved in policy development, budget decisions etc. not just what school they should choose.
    • It calls for an Ombudsman which has previously existed and has no real power to do anything but be a person parents can field complaints to.

 

  • Increasing access to high quality educational opportunities act of 2013
    • This bill is tremendously problematic and only moves our school system to a majority charter/privatized system.
    • It gives the chancellor too much power to basically on her whim turn any public school into a charter. 
    • The chancellor has broad authority and power over the schools so why does she need to have chartering authority?
    • It does not guarantee that neighborhood children will have the right to attend the school which has been turned in to a charter, the bill only says that "the chartered school would be permitted to elect to become a school of right"
    • It clearly shows that the Mayor and Chancellor want to simply give up on "under-performing" schools.

 

Registration Deadline and Hearing dates:

 

Bill 20-312 – Unified Public Lottery Act of 2013 – Register by TODAY, July 1st – Hearing date is Wednesday, July 3 – 9:00am Room 412

 

B20-313 - Comprehensive Planning and Utilization of School Facilities Act of 2013 -  Register by TODAY, July 1st – Hearing date is Wednesday, July 3 – 9:00am Room 412

Bill 20-314 - Parent and Student Empowerment Act of 2013 - register by close of business on Wednesday July 3rd – Hearing date is Monday July 8 – 9:00am – Room 123

Bill 20-315 - Public Education Governance Improvement Act of 2013 - - register by close of business on Wednesday July 3rd – Hearing date is Monday July 8 – 9:00am – Room 123

Bill 20-310 - Individual School Accountability Act of 2013 - you must register by close of business on Friday July 5th – Hearing date is Tuesday July 9 – 9:00am – Room 500

 

Bill 20-311 - Focused Student Achievement Act of 2013 - you must register by close of business on Friday July 5th – Hearing date is Tuesday July 9 – 9:00am – Room 500

 

Bill 20-328 - Increasing access to high quality educational opportunities act of 2013 - you must register by close of business on Friday July 5th – Hearing date is Tuesday July 9 – 9:00am – Room 500

 

Bill 20-041 - Reading development and grade 3 retention act of 2013 - you must register by close of business on Friday July 5th – Hearing date is Tuesday July 9 – 9:00am – Room 500

 

 

Daniel del Pielago

Education Organizer

Empower DC

1419 V Street, NW

202-234-9119 xt. 104

 

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