Great way to put $$ in perspective

I just love this video explaining the size of the US budget -- and the meaning of $100 million in cuts. (My husband wants to try and come up with a similar visual for the school budget...stay tuned!)

President Obama's education budget highlights...the long road to reform starts here?

The US DOE has posted President Obama's education budget, which confirms that the new Race To The Top goals will inform spending going forward in the near term. Some highlights:

* $539 million for innovative teacher and leader reforms such as performance pay, bringing the total to $950 million, and $269 million for teacher and leader recruitment and preparation, bringing the total to $405 million.
* $354 million for school turnaround grants, bringing the total up to $900 million.
* $250 million for special education students, bringing the IDEA Grants to States total to $11.755B
* $210 million for Promise Neighborhoods, a new competitive grant program modeled on the Harlem Children's Zone that combines comprehensive social services with school improvements in order to transform whole neighborhoods.
* $197 million for programs designed to promote a well-rounded education, supporting comprehensive literacy, STEM and other core subjects including history and arts.
* $81 million for expanding educational options, including at total of $365.5 million in funding for charter and other autonomous schools.

The budget...
...does not seem to mention "No Child Left Behind." See ya.
...features a continued heavy emphasis on merit pay, expansion of charter schools, and closing failing schools.
...includes $14.5 billion for states to align standards with college and career-readiness, but those standards are still in the works. Trying to achieve a consensus should be interesting, to say the least.

Stay tuned...

Link to President Obama's live speech to students

Here's a link to the live feed of President Obama's speech on Tuesday @ 12:00. Click here.

If you don't want to watch it live, you can read the text of the speech by clicking here.

Ridgewood schools will not show Mr. Obama's speech live

The following is posted on the District website:

PRESIDENT OBAMA'S SCHEDULED ADDRESS TO SCHOOL CHILDREN
On Tuesday, September 8, President Obama will deliver a national address intended for the students of America. The address will not be viewed live in the Ridgewood Public Schools. Parents and guardians will be notified by their child's principal if the address will be presented at a later point, and they will be given the opportunity to decline their child's participation. Those children whose parents decline will be given an alternate educational activity during the time that the address is presented. Information on President Obama's address can be found on the United States Department of Education Web site at http://www.ed.gov/index.jhtml

President Obama to speak to U.S. students

President Obama will deliver a national address to the students of America next Tuesday 9/8 at noon EST. According to the Dept of Education website, during this special address, the president will speak directly to the nation’s children and youth about persisting and succeeding in school. He will challenge students to work hard, set educational goals, and take responsibility for their learning.

Oooh, how sneaky and manipulative of him! Those are terrible things to talk to kids about!

It's disappointing (to put it mildly) that some people are using their alleged concern for our students to thinly disguise their political agendas. Actually it's disgusting. Go have your political arguments someplace else. If the political, economic and social events of the past few years have not convinced you that we have some serious work to do in this country, and that we need to work together to move this country forward, then I don't know what to say, except wake up and be a part of the solution. As the future of our nation, our schoolchildren are already part of the solution. Encouraging them to embrace their role, to do their best and to know they are respected, worthy contributors to our country and our society -- this is not a bad thing. It's not about "us" or "them," it's not about winning or losing, and it's not about "socialism." (I'm already so tired of that word getting trotted out as the devil's own philosophy every time someone mentions working together....to borrow from Freud...sometimes "working together" is just "working together.")

For anyone who thinks I support this speech to students simply because it's Obama, I truly thought about this. I asked myself if I would support the speech if it were a few years ago and George W. Bush wanted to speak to students. First, I can't even imagine it happening, but I truly think I would support my child listening to such a speech. And then I would talk about with him at the dinner table and explain/translate as necessary. That's what we do with current events anyway. If George W. Bush respectfully told my child to "work hard, set educational goals, and take responsibility for his learning," I certainly wouldn't argue with that!

Comments on Obama's "Race to the Top" education initiative

Educators are criticizing President Obama's Race to the Top plan, one of the main tenets of which is to link teacher compensation to their students' test scores. While on the surface it seems like a good idea to have something more quantifiable to judge teachers' performance, something "real" that concerned parents can refer to instead of what can appear to be a vague "insiders club," but there are a big dangers in the concept -- especially if one approaches it with education as the priority and not budgets or spending. I thought we had learned from No Child Left Behind that too much focus on standardized tests is bad for education.

Here are snippets from several letters to the New York Times on this issue (click here to read full letters):

From a former teacher:
"For many years, there has been a terrible distortion of education’s promise, as everything besides reading, writing and math has increasingly been cut. The arts, imaginative endeavors, recess, inquiry, curriculum that integrates various domains: these are not luxuries but are integral to student identification with learning."

Another educator:
"... it is critical that the incentive not reward solely yearly results; the financial services industry debacle has taught us a hard lesson about short-term orientation and how it distorts behavior... propose that teachers be evaluated on three criteria: student data, principal evaluation and peer review, which would encourage an enduring teamwork culture within and across departments that is the hallmark of great schools."

Former teacher:
"I left my job as a public school teacher shortly after the No Child Left Behind law was passed. My job went from teaching children to teaching test preparation in very little time. Many of our nation’s teachers have left their profession because the focus on testing leaves little room for passion, creativity or intellect."

Teacher:
"High test scores do not guarantee student learning. The evaluation of a student’s progress and a teacher’s abilities requires an act of human judgment (much like evaluating a work of art)."

Math educator:
"To “teach to the test” in mathematics by having students memorize facts and mnemonic devices takes away from the true value of learning mathematics and its ever-increasing importance in our technological society. To deny students the opportunity to be enriched with mathematical concepts prevents them from learning to appreciate the power and beauty of mathematics. In the long range, this could cause irreparable harm to our society!"

Are all these comments to be dismissed simply because they are from teachers, who you might cynically say don't want to be held accountable? Absolutely not. I understand the desire to quantify something which is hard to quantify. But this plan is not it, as NCLB was not it. We need some big thinking here, folks. Not a quick fix.

Budget update

I went to the Somerville HSA meeting yesterday, and some of the (25-30) people there commented that the “budget presentation” on Monday night was not as detailed as what they had been expecting. We’ve been hearing for so long about the financial trouble that’s a-coming with this 09-10 budget and I really think people are getting fatigued by the stress of waiting for the bad news. I understand that. I know the district’s administrators have been working hard with principals and other administrators to come up with solutions for the anticipated budget gap. They’re looking at everything – with a total gap of about $2,400,000, we have to look at everything. They’re trying to keep the cuts away from the classroom as much as possible, but the changes will be noticed by all.

FYI, the Board did meet with our three unions – the REA (teachers), RAES (secretaries) and the RAA (administrators) -- and we asked them if they would open up their contracts and consider the possibility of concessions to help us meet the budget. To their credit, and in a move that was almost unprecedented in New Jersey, the associations' leaders were willing to talk, even though I would bet the NJEA strongly advised the REA against it. We even progressed to memoranda of agreement with all three groups, that would have saved the district a fair amount of money. The RAA ratified their new contract but, unfortunately, the REA and RAES members did not ratify the agreements for changes to their existing contracts. They said “no.” According to REA leaders Monday night, their members could not ratify because the district had not answered their questions. Unfortunately, their questions were things like (I'm paraphrasing), “If we agree to the concessions, can you guarantee that no more cuts will be made?” Or, “Will the district receive enough state aid (or Obama stimulus money) to make the concessions unnecessary?” Those questions simply cannot be answered. The state won't tell us about aid until at least 3/14. And the stimulus money...I'm not holding my breath on much of that coming to Ridgewood.

So Monday night, there was the budget in a sort of interim form, showing the expense categories and, for each, the budget for 08-09 and the proposed amount for 09-10. Down at the bottom was a line called “budget cuts” ($1.7 million). And at the very bottom was the remaining “shortfall,” which was about $500,000.

What’s next? The administration will keep looking for savings. They'll find them. And on March 9, the Board will be presented with the detailed budget, including an explanation of all proposed cuts. There will certainly be positions eliminated, and Dr. Fishbein explained that he wants to have conversations with the affected staff before the cuts are made public.

Tune in on March 9, after which we'll hear from the state around 3/16, we must submit the budget to the county superintendent around 3/19, we'll have the official public hearing around 3/30, and then in April there will be presentations at HSAs. Throughout there will undoubtedly be newspaper articles, etc. Finally, the election is April 21. This is going to be a tough time. It’s not going to be over April 21 nor soon after that. But what can we do but go forward?

Dear President-Elect Obama:

"On November 4, 2008, Americans enthusiastically voiced their support for the dual promises of your presidential campaign – hope and change. On that night, people all over the world were inspired and mobilized by your simply stated belief that better days lie ahead - Yes We Can."

That's the beginning of a petition to President-Elect Obama, asking him to keep education a priority. It continues in more detail, pledging that we'll work with the administration on four principles:

1) Every child deserves a 21st Century education.
2) Every community deserves an equal chance.
3) Every child deserves a well-supported teacher.
4) Every child deserves high-quality health care.

Go to www.willwereally.com to sign the petition.