At least the State Superintendent is saying the right things:

“Sometimes so much of the federal and state laws focus on lower- and underachieving students, and we should be focused on them,” State Superintendent Nancy Grasmick said. “But we cannot reduce the opportunities for our students who can achieve at very high levels.”

We’ll just wait and see if the school district changes its mind…

Many programs face extra funding woes | Washington Examiner.

No Child Left Behind requires that 95 percent of special education students be tested, and most of the students in that 95 percent must take the same test as regular education students. At least 50 percent must pass reading, math and science.

This is a huge expectation to put on schools.  Teachers need to be provided with a ton of support, resources and training to be able to accomplish this.  And unfortunately when we put so much of our focus and so many of our resources on the lower achieving students, often we completely leave behind our highest performing students.  For some students, expecting them to perform work “at grade level,” means holding them back…students who have the potential to soar far beyond grade level.

In delivering a 21st century education to students, we must be certain we are providing that to students at all achievement levels.  We must be willing to differentiate the curriculum and modify our expectations.  A 21st century curriculum for one student may not be a 21st curriculum for another.

“Expecting all children the same age to learn from the same materials is like expecting all children the same age to wear the same size clothing.” – Madeline Hunter

An unfunded mandate is a statute or regulation that requires a state or local government to perform certain actions, yet provides no money for fulfilling the requirements. When a federal government imposes a law or regulation without necessary funding, it becomes the responsibility of the state or local government to pay for the implementation of the law. In the end, it is local taxpayers who end up footing the bill.

Some provisions of NCLB and other educational requirements handed-down by the US Dept. of Education are examples of unfunded mandates. These requirements place undue hardship on school districts, especially in times of economic uncertainty. As a member of the school board, I would ask that we review every ‘unfunded mandate’ to determine our compliance requirements. If we accomplish the same goals without extra compliance requirements, we are providing a better product and ultimately improving our community.

Districts all over the country are fed up with ‘unfunded mandates’ and some of them are even billing the federal government!

Concord Monitor – District sets out to collect on fed pledge

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On his personal blog, Dr. Mark J. Perry, a professor of economics and finance in the School of Management at the Flint campus of the University of Michigan, discussed an article from the New York Post about Charles Platt. Mr. Platt is a former Senior Writer at Wired Magazine, who took a job at Wal-Mart to see if the company’s reputation for poor employee treatment is warranted. He left with a very positive view of the company, which you can read at the end of this article.

Both the blog post and the NY Post article are interesting, and I’ve selected some passages from the article to explain how this relates to local school districts.

“If you want better pay, you need to learn skills that are in demand.”

It is critical for schools to teach students skills that are in demand. District school boards play an important role in this effort, because it is the school board that makes policy and personnel decisions that have lasting effects. The local school district can make decisions that encourage and reward community involvement. As a school board member, I would encourage community partnerships to ensure that our students are receiving those ‘real world’ skills that are so important.

“The blunt tools of legislation or union power can force a corporation to pay higher wages, but if employees don’t create an equal amount of additional value, there’s no net gain. All other factors remaining equal, the store will have to charge higher prices for its merchandise, and its competitive position will suffer. This is Economics 101, but no one wants to believe it, because it tells us that a legislative or unionized quick-fix is not going to work in the long term. If you want people to be wealthier, they have to create additional wealth.

To my mind, the real scandal is not that a large corporation doesn’t pay people more. The scandal is that so many people have so little economic value. Despite (or because of) a free public school system, millions of teenagers enter the work force without marketable skills. So why would anyone expect them to be well paid?”

As patrons of this district, and especially as a member of the school board, I will support policies help our students leave our schools with marketable skills that are valuable to their future employers. I would welcome feedback from the business community when making policy and/or curriculum decisions. Even in a healthy economy, school boards must be fiscally responsible and get the best return on the investment of education funds.

Our students, especially special education students, must receive adequate funding and support to gain marketable skills. This support isn’t going to come from the Department of Education. It must come from our community.

CARPE DIEM: Poster Child for Enlightened Capitalism: Wal-Mart’s Not The Enemy, But Best Friend We Could Ask For

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• In Defense Of Wal-Mart (andrewsullivan.theatlantic.com)

Obviously, we are facing difficult times (I hesitate to use the word ‘crisis’- it’s used way too much these days). When the economy is in a downturn, governments expect schools to cut spending. Most schools are running at barely break-even anyway, so any budget cut is detrimental to a quality education.

As a member of the USD 204 school board, I’ll do everything I can to ensure that the district operates as efficiently as possible. It is imperative that we don’t cut essential services.

I’ll use this site to keep you informed about local education issues, as well as campaign progress. There will not be any school board vote in the primary elections on March 3, 2009. The general election is on April 07, 2009. Even if you don’t vote for me, please vote!

To kick things off, I’ve included a poll to get your thoughts on the issues facing our district. Let me know what you think!

Because local school districts receive a portion of their operating funds from the state, every time the state makes a funding decision, it affects the school board. As a school board member, I’ll support programs that make the district more self-sustaining. That way, whenever the state reduces funding for programs, our schools don’t feel much pain.

I would encourage programs and even classes to be more involved in the community– especially if that means increased revenue for the district. For example, a class at Bonner Springs High School built the new concession stand. This saved the district quite a bit of money and the students gained valuable, practical knowledge. Why couldn’t the class do a similar project for a private business or individual in the community and make a profit? The class becomes self-sustaining with its own budget, profit/loss, etc. just like a business. The district, in turn, doesn’t need to spend as money on that class, so that funds can be used for other programs. Or how about a junior high technology class offering a workshop to teach adults how to use a computer?

I feel that the current school board could do more to explore community-based funding sources or public-private partnerships. That is the idea behind ‘First, do no harm’. The article linked below talks about the dictum ‘First, do no harm’ on a national level. The article discusses the potential ramifications of reactive economic decisions. I encourage you to read it and then think about how this applies to our local economy.

Instead of stimulus, do nothing – seriously | csmonitor.com