Is the state board’s plan enough to improve city schools?
UPDATE:
Rick Sullivan, the chief executive officer of the St. Louis Public Schools, told the State Board of Education today that the exodus of students to charter schools is draining the district of revenue that could be used to turn around the troubled city school system.
In a story today, Sullivan explained that with the administrative board looking ways to find $30 million to balance the 2008-09 budget, the district’s finances — particularly the loss of resources to the charter schools — dominated Sullivan’s hour-long report to the state board.
“Those who support charters cannot ignore the fiduciary impact it has,” he said, in response to a question about St. Louis Mayor Francis Slay’s support of plans to open additional charter schools over the next ten years.
He stopped short of asking the state board to examine ways to change a funding formula that diverts financial resources from the district to charter schools.
Should charter school funding be changed in a way that would keep more needed money in the main district?
Previous post:
In Sunday’s Post-Dispatch, the story, Administrative board looks to reforms, by education reporter Steve Giegerich, talks about a aggressive agenda in the St. Louis Public School system that promises “real change.”
Begun 12 months ago by a state intervention that ousted the elected School Board, the three people who make up the Special Adminstrative Board are slowly plotting change within the district.
In the story, we learn that the board plans to have its own hand-picked superintendent in place, a staff purged of underachieving teachers, a comprehensive blueprint to get the district back on track and to have shuttered as many as 20 more schools.In the coming second year of action, the board is dedicated to reforming the culture of a school system that has lost its credibility, academic accreditation and, not coincidentally, thousands of students to charter, private and county public schools.
“I believe in the next year, if we do the job we should be doing, people will find they have a whole lot better educational options” by choosing to keep their children in the city schools, said Richard Gaines, one of the three appointed state intervention members.
In a state that links funding to daily attendance, the exodus of students, more than 16,000 since 2001, is a revenue drain.
To top it off, the $320 million fiscal year operating budget adopted 10 days ago, representing a 4.5 percent drop in revenue from 2007-08, remains unbalanced.
That leaves the board few options but to close some schools, and consolidating and reducing staff to deal with a smaller student body.
Will the board’s plan of action be enough to turn the district around and provide a better education for city students?
(1 votes, average: 5 out of 5)
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First it is the responsibility of the parents to see that their children get a good education. Since the parents have shown no or little interest in taking on that responsibility, I don[t expect much good will come from the board’s efforts.
The fight over getting rid of incompetent teachers has not yet begun.
That’s just for starters, I have more to say later.