Meeting Week Begins!

Meeting Week Begins!

Monday took me to two meetings after school.  First up was the Employee Advisory Committee (EAC) followed directly by the Roanoke County PTA Council Meeting featuring a special presentation on Sequestration.   I learned a few things from these meetings that I can share with all of you.

EAC

The meeting was hosted by Dr. Whitaker, Dr. Lange, and Mr. Journell.

•   Allen Journell spoke to the body of school representatives about school calendar development.    He’s concerned that we may have to actually follow the Commonwealth’s post-Labor Day School Opening law (King’s Dominion Law) next year.  For many years now, Roanoke County Schools have opened prior to Labor Day thanks to a waiver from the state.  That waiver expires after this year unless we miss ten or more school days due to inclement weather.  If we do, we will get a one year reprieve.  More likely is that we will not meet the ten day requirement.  If that happens we will have to open after Labor Day.  This will mean the compression of the school calendar, Mr. Journell suggested.  Winter break will likely be shorter, and we will lose some of our scattered work days throughout the school year.  Dr. Lange said that they would preserve a week break in the spring.  I asked if they have explored holding high school graduations at individual high schools to open up some flexibility in the school calendar or are they locked in to using the Salem Civic Center.  All three hosts explained that they will keep the Salem Civic Center dates because parents really like having graduation there and the facility has plenty of parking and space inside.

•  Dr. Lange spoke about the upcoming local school budget and pending sequestration.  She noted that county revenues and real estate tax collections are trending down this year.  State funding is a huge question mark with increased funding unlikely.  Federal monies are tied up in the sequestration mess.  If sequestration were to occur, Roanoke County Schools would likely see a 7-9% decrease in federal funding.  Since most of the federal programs are mandated by law, either the state or locality would have to pick up the reduction or the cuts will come right from the general school funds.  This would impact jobs, since 80-90% of the school budget is invested in personnel.  Dr. Lange and the school board plan to ask the supervisors to petition the state to allow for a 1% increase in the lodging tax.  If such tax hike is allowed, about one million dollars could be generated.

• Dr. Whitaker spoke about a new program called “Employee Self Serve.”  This is a program that will eliminate the paper trail for paychecks.  All payments will be handled online as will all reports.  Essentially, we will have paperless pay stubs.  Look for this system to come online by January 1, 2013. It’s a lot like Aesop.  J

• Dr. Whitaker also spoke about the latest in insurance options.  The county is currently investigating several ideas.

o   Health Savings Accounts (HSA):  These health insurance programs for current employees only are a voucher-like savings plan.  They theoretically encourage participants to use less health care by enforcing a higher deductible and offer cash back to users for not using insurance services.  As an aside, study of this type of plan was originally initiated by the county at a joint work session between the school board and the county board of supervisors last year. 

o   Wellness Options:  These options will offer lower rates for non-smokers and people who get yearly check-ups among other things.  They would be in place for current and retired employees.  No further details or explanations were given.

o   Keep the current plan intact

At this point, school concerns were addressed. 

•   One of the first was a question about “strongly encouraged” quarterly meetings.  The person bringing the issue noted that elementary school teachers could be on the hook for 16 or more quarterly meetings (4 Math, 4 English, 4 Science, 4 Social Studies).  Dr. Lange acknowledged the elementary quandary.  She told us point blank that elementary teachers should send representatives to these meetings and share the information with their colleagues.  She said that she would discuss this issue with the elementary school principals.  She also said that the quarterly meetings were instituted this year in response to our low Math SOL scores.  Last year’s meetings were not well-attended and she noted that our scores had dropped.  She said that we need to be at these meetings to “learn strategies.”  Dr. Whitaker added, however, that “Teachers cannot work any harder.”

•  A representative asked about the possibility of getting paid over 12 months.   Dr. Lange and Dr. Whitaker dismissed that possibility.  Dr. Lange suggested utilizing a hold pay account at the credit union.  As an aside, employees are better off getting paid over 10 months.  You get your money sooner and can put it to use for you earning massive interest.  12 month pay is like a free loan for the county.

• Another representative asked about the issue of new Mac’s vs old Dell’s at the high schools.  Dr. Lange affirmed that there is no hard date to retire the Dell’s. 

• Another representative asked if elementary school teachers could take an i-Pad home to explore the machines and find instructional uses.  Dr. Lange said that would not be possible since the machines are not insured for home use.  “Kids should be figuring it out,” Dr. Lange said.

PTA/Sequestration Meeting

The Roanoke County Council of PTA’s met at NMS on Monday night.  The meeting featured Dr. McLung and Dr. Eastwood discussing the possible perils of federal sequestration.  Dr. Lange also spoke as did school board members Jerry Canada and David Wymer.

The meeting was a call to action.  We need to be writing our US Senators and Congressmen to share our views on sequestration.  Congress has until December 31 to act to stop this horrific axe blade.  You can find useful links, addresses, talking points, and sample letters at the Sequestration Link on the RCPS web page.

Tomorrow will take me to a English/Reading quarterly meeting followed by a school PTA meeting.  Meeting week is fun!

Thom Ryder

Reality for Mr. Coulson

Reality for Mr. Coulson

Andrew Coulson is the long-time director of the Cato Institute's Center for Educational Freedom.  He recently opined on education in the conservative Wall Street Journal.

Over the past ten years, he has criticized public schools and public school funding with regularity. He trumpets private schools, vouchers, and tax credits as the solution to the perceived mediocrity of student performance.  This is what he does for a living, and he’s very good at it.  I teach third grade, and I like to think that I’m pretty good at it.  Much of my perspective is prejudiced by my actual classroom experiences over the last 30 years.

It’s interesting to me that Mr. Coulson chose the last 42 years for his comparison.

Public-school employees have doubled in 40 years while student enrollment has increased by only 8.5%—and academic results have stagnated.

1970 was an interesting time.  I remember it well.  I was a fourth grader that year and shared a nice, naturally air conditioned classroom with 34 other white children.  The year before,  I had witnessed my grade’s first Black student sit in the front left of the room facing the wall for the entire school year,  because my third grade teacher assumed that the dark child was a trouble-maker.  Sometimes a nice wind blew in the big windows, but stifling June days were unbearable.  Sometimes we were allowed to whisper.  Daily, a parade of students went to the hall to receive their paddlings.   We had no Art teacher and the Music teacher was able to visit once a week for a half hour.  There were no computers.  The library was stocked with nice books, and they had one TV on a cart that played an early version of video tape.  Our school cafeteria had just opened.  Before that year, we would line up at the kitchen, get our food, and walk back to the room with our trays.

Since 1970, the public school workforce has roughly doubled—to 6.4 million from 3.3 million—and two-thirds of those new hires are teachers or teachers' aides. Over the same period, enrollment rose by a tepid 8.5%. Employment has thus grown 11 times faster than enrollment. If we returned to the student-to-staff ratio of 1970, American taxpayers would save about $210 billion annually in personnel costs.

I have no doubt that his employee and enrollment numbers are accurate.  However, Coulson does not mention what the pupil/teacher ratio was in 1970  (35/1 in my classroom[i]).  Nor does he note how he arrived at the $210 billion in savings if we reverted to 1970 pupil/teacher levels.

But can we do that?  Is that even possible?  Sounds easy.  Just get rid of them.  Go back to 1970.  Does that mean that we get rid of cafeterias, special education, teaching assistants, art, music, pe, all technology and technology support, test coaches, test coordinators, speech therapists, guidance counselors, drug awareness educators, and school nurses to list a few? In my experience, we’ve seen very little increase of actual instructional classroom teachers.  Instead of 35/1, I’m generally teaching classes at between 20-28/1.  While there is no doubt that the pupil/ teacher ratio has been lowered over the past 42 years, the majority of growth hasn’t come from that area.

 

Do we pay teachers like they were paid in 1970?  Beginning teachers in my locality received about $6,000 a year back then.  These days, a beginning teacher in my locality rakes in an astounding $36,000.  There is no doubt that private schools pay much less.  I’m not sure if Coulson accounted for the increase in the cost of living over 40 years, because he didn’t mention if that was factored.  My goodness, think of all the money that could be saved if teachers were paid at 1970 levels!

Nor can the explosive growth in public-school hiring be attributed to federal spending on special education. According to the latest Census Bureau data, special ed teachers make up barely 5% of the K-12 work force.

Mr. Coulson is being selective in his use of facts here.  Earlier in the piece, he mentioned that public school workforce has increased by over 3.0 million over the last 40 years.    Then what he shovels here is a fact that only 5% of teachers are special education teachers.  What he’s neglecting to mention is that most of the hiring in special education is not for teachers, but assistants.  You see, when PL-94142 (special education federal mandate) was passed in 1972, public schools (not private schools) were required to educate every child in their least restrictive environment.  This means, that if you have a physically handicapped child and you can make the classroom their least restrictive environment by providing a one-on-one teaching assistant, you must do that. The same is true with mentally challenged children, autistic children, blind children, etc.  Many of these children require adult assistance to help them navigate their way in the classroom.  While such assistants are paid at about 1/3 of a teacher’s salary,[ii] the need for these positions has sky-rocketed as public schools work to fulfill the federal mandate.

The implication of these facts is clear: America's public schools have warehoused three million people in jobs that do little to improve student achievement—people who would be working productively in the private sector if that extra $210 billion were not taxed out of the economy each year.

Mr. Coulson is entitled to his opinion, but I will argue that the $210 billion, if that indeed is an accurate number, isn’t taxed out of the economy.  It’s not like those three million are tax evaders and societal free-loaders.  They pay taxes, buy goods, and use services.  They do their fair share for the economy.   What Coulson is really arguing for is for different people to use the $210 billion dollars to pay taxes, buy goods, and use services.  Furthermore, Coulson’s use of the term “warehoused” is quite inflammatory and inaccurate.

We have already tried President Obama's education solution over a time period and on a scale that he could not hope to replicate today. And it has proven an expensive and tragic failure.

What time period have we tried President Obama’s educational solution?  He’s only been president for 3.5 years.  During that stretch of time,  the Elementary and Secondary Education Act[iii] had NOT been reauthorized, even though it should have been four years ago.   The House simply hasn’t put it on their agenda.

Obama, instead, has built upon the previous two administrations policies on standardized testing and teacher evaluation as the primary tools of school “reform.”  Only recently has Secretary Duncan relaxed some of the NCLB AYP[iv]  for some states.  But these waivers come with more accountability and evaluation strings attached.

To avoid Greece's fate we must create new, productive private-sector jobs to replace our unproductive government ones. Even as a tiny, mostly nonprofit niche, American private education is substantially more efficient than its public sector, producing higher graduation rates and similar or better student achievement at roughly a third lower cost than public schools (even after controlling for differences in student and family characteristics).

I don’t understand what Greece has to do with this.  Coulson just tossed that threat out there.  He could have just as easily said that “To avoid the inevitable mutation of a virus with no known cure because our public school graduates are incapable of finding a vaccine, we must create….”  Seriously though,  I personally disagree that private schools as a whole provide better student achievement.  

The National Assessment of Educational Progress is the most frequently used method to chart student progress in the United States.  Coulson bases his whole argument using that measurement to show flat academic growth in students over the past 40 years.  In a NAEP study looking at 2003 data (latest I could find),  the Department of Education found that private schools and public schools were statistically even in Fourth Grade Reading and Eighth Grade Math after the scores were “adjusted for student characteristics.[v]”  Public Schools performed significantly better in Third Grade Math while private schools performed better in Eighth Grade Reading.  Religious schools (Lutheran, Catholic, and Conservative Christian) performed similar to private schools at all levels except the conservative Christian schools performed much worse than public schools at Eighth Grade Math.

I would expect that private schools have a higher graduation rate than public schools. After all, when most people drop out of private schools, they enroll in public schools.

One way that private schools save money is by paying its instructors about 2/3 of what a public school teacher makes.  Personnel costs generally claim about 80% of a school budget, public or private.  Most private schools do not provide transportation. Another savings is private schools do not have the cost associated with providing special education. Most don’t accept those children.  In fact, what’s happening now is that when private school children are identified as having a special education need (speech, learning disability, etc), the public school district has to provide the service.  One of my friends is a speech and language teacher.  Many of the 60 children on her caseload come from a private school nearby.  This cost is born by the public school district, not the private school.

By making it easier for families to access independent schools, we can do what the president's policies cannot: drive prosperity through educational improvement. More than 20 private-school choice programs already exist around the nation. Last month, New Hampshire legislators voted to override their governor's veto and enact tax credits for businesses that donate to K-12 scholarship organizations. Mr. Romney has supported such state programs. President Obama opposes them.

The reason that the president opposes these tax credit schemes is that they will inevitably reduce the amount of money available to fund public schools.  One might argue that if the children are not there, you don’t need money to educate them.  Buildings don’t understand the difference.  They turn on lights no matter how many are inside.  They condition the air no matter how many are inside.  It would take a mass exodus for that model to be a fair trade.

While America may have too many teachers, the greater problem is that our state schools have squandered their talents on a mass scale. The good news is that a solution is taking root in many states.

I agree with Mr. Coulson on this most key point.  My talents have been squandered for the past 15 years.  During this ridiculous political struggle for our public schools, my opportunity to teach has been corrupted and turned into a mandate to test.  That’s where the great threat is to public schools today.  I also agree that a solution is beginning to take root in many states; one that is different than he may imagine.  Parents are finally beginning to stand up against the high stakes testing that is destroying their children’s public schooling.

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[i] Many school divisions use unusual formulas to calculate pupil teacher ratio.  For example,  they sometimes count any person who works in the school, not just teachers, in the formula.  So be wary of such numbers if they see low.)

[ii] One assistant at my school has to write the county a check after the county deducts her entire paycheck for health insurance.

[iii] Aka NCLB No Child Left Behind

[iv] Average Yearly Progress

[v] This means race, gender, socio-economic status, special needs, etc

Wear Black For Education Friday the 17th

RCEA Position Statement Regarding the 2012-2013 Budget

Tim Summers, aka The Bard

At the Thursday February 9 regular meeting of the Roanoke County School Board, RCEA Vice President, Tim Summers, spoke on behalf of our membership regarding issues directly related to us. Summers thanked the school board for the difficult work they’ve done over the past few years and then spoke to several important issues.

· We need a 4% salary increase.

“We desperately need an actual raise that will carry from one year to the next and that will contribute to our VRS and our lifetime earnings for retirement… We see in the news that the economy is beginning to recover. We know that private industry is hiring new employees and is also giving raises. It is time for us to get some financial relief.”

Summers went on to say,

“We have done more and more with less and less. Virginia ranks fourth in the nation for our quality public schools. Roanoke County remains a lighthouse, award winning school division. Your employees take great pride in those accomplishments and deserve credit for them as well. We are getting the job done.

We maintain that a 4% raise can be given to employees without the school division laying off employees or closing schools. Although we understand that schools have to be renovated and maintained, it is time to put employees before buildings. All research indicates that the most important factor for students at school is the quality of the teacher in the classroom, not the repair of the building itself. Now is not the time to spend money air conditioning gymnasiums and building field houses. Those things are icing on the cake. Money must be allocated to people. We have been following the budget development of the Board of Supervisors and will support you in acquiring appropriate funding from them.”

· Health insurance benefits for all employees should be maintained at no additional cost to employees.

· Maintain staffing levels, programs, and activities that relate directly to the delivery of instruction.

“This includes keeping class sizes and teacher/student ratios as low as possible. Schools should experience no reduction in staffing, and there should be no layoffs.”

· A measured approach to teacher evaluation

“We know the school division is working through the new state guidelines for teacher evaluation. Currently these are only guidelines. The best approach to this is to implement only what is actually required by the state. It is required that a significant portion of a teacher’s evaluation be tied to student growth. However significant does not have to equal 40%. We ask for consideration of a lower percentage. “

· VRS and Continuing Contract must be preserved.

Efforts are underway in Richmond to dismantle VRS as a defined benefit pension program. Likewise, legislators in Richmond are attempting to strip continuing contract rights. VEA is fighting hard to defeat these attempts.

“The RCEA joins the Virginia Education Association (VEA) in its efforts to preserve the Virginia Retirement System (VRS) as a defined benefit and to maintain the current arrangement under which the 5% employee contribution continues to be paid by the employer for all employees hired before July 1, 2010. We are also opposed to any change in continuing contract for teachers.”

Make no mistake about it, attaining these goals will be difficult. Some well-meaning, good people may assert that we should just meekly acquiesce and quietly go about, but that approach fails to alert decision-makers of real needs. Real needs go unaddressed if they are never shared. Thus, we presented our requests not in confrontation, but rather, in the earnest hope of joint resolution.

Budget Workshop 2/8/2012

Budget Workshop 2/8/12

Superintendent’s Comments

· Difficult decisions. Employees haven’t had a raise for four years. We won’t balance budget or make decisions tonight.

· Keep integrity of classroom and try not to lay off employees

Revenues: (Penny Hodge)

· Sitting in a $4.7 million hole for VRS.

· Sales tax reimbursement are low. These numbers are based on 2010 Census. Weldon/Cooper interprets the numbers for the state to determine our payment. Jerry Canada expressed frustration at the appeal process.

· 3% salary increase would cost $2.679 million.

· Schools had preliminary budget deficit of $9.8 million

· County then suggested they would withdraw $2.6 million from the transfer, further indebting us.

· Penny discussed the 54 items “on the table” for cuts. No discussion.

SOQ: (Carol Whitaker) No hand-outs for us…

· Despite our cuts, we still meet the SOQ requirements.

· Carol was directed to give the school board a more detailed list of positions.

Technology Plan (Cecil Snead) These are simply discussions…not policy meetings (Thom)

· Cecil said that we need $731,100 to stay in business. Servers, wireless, email,5^th year warranty,etc.

· We can save $500,000 by pulling back on the laptop program and maintaining it at a basic level.

· Such austerity will do nothing for replacing teacher laptops.

· Discussion centered on teacher’s use of technology. Jerry Canada states that teachers have moved to laptops and integrating technology into classroom instruction. He didn’t want to steer us away from that investment. Not sure that there is any consensus view emerging.

· Forward thinking from Cecil: Looking at other technologies in the future. Like “Bring your own technology”…Kindle, Droid, etc…Our system isn’t there yet. But it’s worth exploring and visiting. What’s stopping us from tablets is that they are unforgiving when destruction occurs. We are not close to having tablets replace laptops. We would need tablets to replace textbooks, but they aren’t yet available to VA texts.

· Jerry Canada wants to survey students to find out how many today don’t have internet access at home. He thinks that carting laptops might allow us to save money while more affordable technology develops.

· David Wymer suggested that we can shift our paradigm a bit so that we have a cluster of laptops to share with those that don’t.

· Fuzzy Minnix stated that technology has taken us to where we are today, but we need to look at this item to consider cuts.

Classified Pool Discussion (Carol Whitaker)

· Carol is amazed by the amount of work these individuals do after looking at their job requirements.

· She presented a detailed list to the board (we were not afforded a copy).

· A discussion erupted that wasn’t directly related to classified employees…as continued in the remarks below.

· David Wymer asked for the study. He wants to maximize their utilization. Jerry Canada affirmed that view. This study will aid in protecting jobs.

· Jerry Canada stated that he doesn’t want to entertain salary raises if people are being laid-off. Dr. Lange retorted that she doesn’t want to lay these people off (classified)

· Drew Barrineau commended Dr. Lange for protecting jobs. He said that an employee who is offered cross-training opportunities only builds their credentials.

· Jerry Canada asked for two or three running budgets…one that incorporates everything we want, one that has no raises, and highlights no technology increases. Drew also asked for another look that includes a bonus option instead of a salary increase option.

· Fuzzy Minnix talked about reaching a point where we will be down 10% in personnel. He said that we are reaching a point when our educational program in negatively impacted.

· Jerry Canada mentioned that revenue will be dried up for four of five years according to Sen. Warner. How do we budget for a flat revenue growth over the next five years. We need to look ahead.

· Fuzzy Minnix longs for the day when education is as important as a road in Northern Virginia.

· Mike Stovall stated that a secretary in Washington said that less than 1% of Federal budget goes to K-12 education. “We just can’t cut our way out of this situation.” Fuzzy, Jerry, David all agreed.

Revision to Early Retirement Plan

· Drew Barrineau suggested this study. He wants to continue the program, but he thinks it may need to change so that we can assure that it can be afforded. He may want to cap it. It will be decided tomorrow night in an action item.

Probationary Teacher Status

· Best guess…Carol Whitaker doesn’t have a realistic idea of needs based on enrollment. She can do that in March. She has to get through staffing. Jerry mentioned that there’s a difference between lay-offs and non-renewal’s due to lack of need. Carol says she will know about elementary school staffing next week.

· General discussion

Closing Comments

· Adjourned