Education
Matters
By Larry Lee
It was exciting to read recently that one of the GOP
leaders of the Alabama House said, “It is time to take bold new steps and leave
the broken status quo behind.” I could
not agree more.
Obviously Dr. Tommy Bice, state superintendent of
education, feels the same way. In fact,
the statement of the legislator echoes what Bice said last winter when speaking
to the legislative education budget committees.
“We have bold plans and high expectations of everyone involved in public
education,” Bice told committee members.
So when are we going to start with these “bold steps?”
This last legislative session would have been a great
time, especially considering that Dr. Bice, along with lots of help from many
people, has put together an excellent outline of what our public education
needs are in his Plan 2020.
What sets this plan apart from so many others is that it
truly takes a comprehensive look at education by focusing on all the areas that
must be addressed if we’re to have quality education in quality schools being
led by quality educators.
It details priorities and objectives in four areas: 1)
students, 2) support systems, 3) education personnel and 4) schools and
systems. Of these, the recognition that
attention must be paid to factors that impact students outside the classroom is
especially significant. Each day 150,000
Alabama students attend a school where there is at least an 80 percent poverty
rate. These are the schools most prone
to fail and these are the students who are most likely to need health care,
vision screening, hearing screening, mental health counseling, etc.
Some systems are already addressing such needs. The Florence City System has a partnership
with a local mental health agency that provides counselors to schools; in Gadsden City there is a health
clinic at Adams Elementary manned by a local health provider. In many systems there are churches and
non-profits that provide food for needy children for the weekend.
But filling these, and other Plan 2020 needs, takes
resources. This is why Bice’s budget
proposal re-directed funding in a number of cases. He was not asking for new money, but rather,
asking to take the “bold step” of setting new priorities.
Unfortunately, no one paid much attention.
For instance, since the Alabama Reading Initiative (ARI)
devotes considerable resources to professional development, the Alabama State
Department of Education (ALSDE) asked that $10 million be shifted from ARI to a
more inclusive professional development program for teachers and
principals. This was not funded, but ARI
was still cut by $10 million.
Is that a “bold new step?”
They asked for $5 million to work with family resource
centers to provide more of the critical support system needs of high poverty
students. Again, they got ZERO.
Another “bold new step?”
They asked for $19.1 million to cut class sizes and
restore lost teacher units. ZERO again.
Again, a missed opportunity for a “bold new step.”
They asked to restore funding for textbooks to $75 per
student, as it was in 2008. Instead,
this was level funded at last year’s rate of $31.50.
How in the world do you underfund textbooks and claim you
are taking “bold new steps?”
About 360,000 kids ride buses each school day. The actual cost of providing transportation
is $323 million. But the state only
funded $304, leaving a hole of $19 million.
So evidently leaving rural school systems to pay for
things the state is supposed to pay for is considered a “bold new step.” The same can be said for setting aside
funding for controversial new programs professional educators did not support,
while not increasing support for proven programs such as the Alabama Math &
Science Technology Initiative (AMSTI) and the distance learning program.
Yes, we need “bold new steps.” But we need to do more
than talk about doing so. You can’t run
a bus on political “spin,” or reduce class sizes or buy textbooks. Dr. Bice and the State Board of Education
have the plan in place to move our schools forward. They just need help from the folks
controlling the purse strings--help that was woefully lacking this year.
Larry Lee led the study, Lessons
Learned from Rural Schools, and is a long-time advocate for public education
and frequently writes about education issues.
larrylee33@knology.net
