School Board Update
Sept. 5, 2005
Dear Five Sister Neighbors,
First, my apologies for not posting for a while -- it’s been a busy summer, both personally with the kids out of school, and on the board, which has been meeting regularly throughout the warm weather. Here is an update on what we have been talking about (the most):
1. MONEY. When I last wrote, I mentioned the apples-and-oranges issues that are problematic in school funding, i.e. we can’t take money from the high school track and add it to cover rising heating and health care costs because the money comes from different sources. Recently, dire predictions for the school district budget have grown more dire. Because the number of students in our schools is decreasing (as is enrollment across the state), so too is our share of state and federal dollars. At the same time, energy and health care costs are skyrocketing, as they are for all of us. The federal government started to cut back on funding to local schools even before the horrible tragedy in the south, and now I believe our estimates of even reduced incoming federal dollars may be optimistic. It is the school board’s responsibility to think both short- and long-term about the health of the district, and so the school board met for seven (!) hours on a Friday in August to draft a prioritized list for our administrators to use to craft a frugal budget for the upcoming year, as well as a trajectory for years to come. Here is the list of priorities we passed on to Jeannie Collins, our acting Superintendent, to use in the budget process:
a. Remove obstacles to success of low-income students.
b. Critically evaluate existing infrastructure.
c. Maintain small class size.
d. Increase wages of low-income earners.
e. Maintain neighborhood schools.
The first item on the list is the broadest and most philosophical, and it really has to do with facing down the question of whether our schools are doing as much as they can to break the cycle of poverty that exists in our city (and in so many others). The second item reflects the reality that the school district owns too much property. Some of our facilities (not just schools) are underused, and expensive to maintain and heat. We need to think about reallocating our resources to own just the property we really need. Class size is a fairly clear-cut determinant of quality in our classrooms. We can’t even begin to pay attention to our kids as individual learners if teachers are swamped. The fourth priority represents our sincere desire to pay the district’s low-wage employees the most we can in coming years, i.e. paraeducators, custodial, food service and clerical staff. Finally, we have the goal of maintaining neighborhood schools which have a positive effect on the social development of children and their families. Superintendent Collins has taken this list back to her office, and will present us with some options for the 2006-2007 budget in the next couple of months. Fred Lane (your other ward rep. and chair of the finance committee) and I will keep you posted.
2. School Closings.
The idea of closing Barnes and/or Wheeler has gotten some press lately, and a lot of people in the old North end are not too happy about the idea. There are two parts to this discussion. The first is financial: Barnes and Wheeler are our smallest elementary schools, and we spend about two dollars per child there for every dollar we spend on a child educated at Champlain (for example). Not only would heating and maintaining less space give us more money for small class sizes, teacher training, after school, music and art programs, salaries and benefits, etc., but it would also enable us to allocate resources more evenly across the district.
The second part of the discussion has more to do with the concept of educational equity and socio-economic stratification. The expense we bear to educate students at Barnes and Wheeler is due not only to the added infrastructure expense of heating and maintaining buildings with fewer students, but also due to the proportion of students who qualify for free or reduced-price lunch. At Champlain, for example, 43% of our students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, compared with over 90% at Barnes and Wheeler. The lunch-price measure of poverty may seem narrow, but it correlates directly with the types of challenges that make it expensive to help students reach their potential. Barnes and Wheeler offer comprehensive health, dental, social work services, etc. that kids truly need to counter the effects of poverty in their homes. With the resources your tax dollars have provided, these kids are making outstanding progress in every measure of their education – attendance, reading, math skills, etc. But they still don’t do as well as similarly poor kids who attend schools with a more economically-balanced array of kids.
The question of how best to help kids break out of the cycle of poverty is many-sided. CEDO, the community land trust, affordable housing developers, adult education organizers, local, state and federal legislators, employers, and a huge array of charitable organizations all have a role to play in helping under-funded families and individuals move into the ranks of the stable working and middle classes.
Personally, I have some strong feelings about this issue because I believe that social mobility always has been America’s greatest achievement as compared with other governmental systems. There used to be a lot more actual social mobility than we have now. These days we tend to experience more rhetoric than reality on this front. New Orleans is a good example of a city suffering from severe socioeconomic stratification. Burlington certainly will have the opportunity for a big discussion about the issue if the board considers a major change to the status quo, but I would like to emphasize that we haven’t made any decisions yet, nor are we likely to in the very near future.
3. General Dynamics
The Board has heard from a number of our residents who are displeased with General Dynamics’ visible presence in our schools due to their sponsorship of the Reading is Fundamental program. They currently spend approximately $18,000. per year bringing children’s book authors to Burlington, buying books our librarians request for free distribution to our elementary students, and sending employees to read to kids (with big badges on identifying them as employees). The Board reviewed its rather old policies on gifts to the district and we are in the process of clarifying the language in those policies so that we can make careful choices in the future about what gifts to accept and/or reject. One or more new policies should be ready for the board to vote on in the next two months. For now, the G.D. contribution will continue. Parents who want their children to opt out of those events should speak with our principals who have been informed that they should make alternative arrangements for children who choose not to participate. If you experience any problems with this, please let me or Fred know.
4. Superintendent Search.
We are fortunate to have a bit of leeway for our process of replacing Lyman Amsden who retired this summer. Jeannie Collins, who has been (and still is) in charge of special services, has taken over as acting superintendent while we conduct a search. The search process, and many other issues, will be presented at upcoming Neighborhood Planning Association Meetings, and we hope that you can join us, or watch RETN for the taped proceedings. The Ward 5 N.P.A. meeting will be held at Champlain Elementary on Pine Street on Thursday, September 15th . Dinner will be served at 6 p.m., and then the meeting will begin at 6:30. Children are welcome, and activities will keep them busy while we talk. Fred and I will be on hand to answer questions and lead discussion. In the meantime, write to us at: flane@bsdvt.org or awerbel@bsdvt.org . More sooner than last time -- Amy