2014! The Year all the Children Become 100% Proficient!! -- Reviewing the year in Education Reform, Part One

To review the goofy year in Michigan public education requires some pre-2013 context.

This is the year after all -- according to George W. Bush's sweeping No Child Left Behind legislation of 2001 -- that all American schools were to become "100% proficient," the phrase that would match Garrison Keillor's claim about Lake Wobegon ("where all the children were above average") for irony if the creators of NCLB had any sense of irony.

When we talk or think about public education we have been habituated by Michigan and American history to talk or think "locally."

But that needs to change because public education is -- through a confluence of forces, national and international -- no longer just a local matter. The relatively privileged position of BHSD simply has allowed us to maintain this illusion a bit longer than most.

For convenience, I cull here material from Diane Ravitch's Reign of Error:  The Hoax of the Privatization Movement and the Danger to American's Public Schools (2013).

For a parent with young children in public schools or anyone with a home value tied to public schools, this is probably the most important book you can read in 2013.

And, of course, for those whacky idealists who thought locally controlled public education an intrinsic good ..... this is a pretty important book, too.

1) 1983 - President Reagan's Secretary of Education Terrel H. Bell and a "National Commission on Excellence in Education" publishes A Nation at Risk warning that a "rising tide of mediocrity" in schools was the reason American corporations were losing out to other other nations in assorted manufacturing industries (auto, tools, steel, etc.). The study also pointed to poor performances by American students on international tests since the 1960s, for many current parents, grandparents, and taxpayers -- a supposed "golden age" of public education. A Nation at Risk called for higher standards, better teacher training, and better teacher pay and gave little, if no attention, to "testing" or "accountability" or "choice."

The publication helped begin a search for policies at the Federal and State Level to address "mediocrity" in the schools, the primary symptom of which, again, was America's increasing losses in manufacturing industries to other nations. Strangely, little discussion is given to the fact that the 70s and 80s saw many nations "catching up" to the US in overall economic productivity after decades of post WWII malaise, an economic rebound that began with America's Marshall Plan.

We shall return in "Part Two" to the "Marshall Plan" in the context of public education in Michigan circa December 2013 -- per the current State Superintendent Mike Flanagan.

2) - 1988 Ray Budde, U. of Mass. Professor, and Albert Shanker, President of the AFT (teachers' union), suggest "charter" schools to allow teachers to try out new ideas. Neither thought in terms of "competition" as a means of improving public education. Rather, "charters" were conceived as a vehicle for co-operation and engagement for innovation driven by teachers at a local level. The model drew, in part, on the American university structure where tenured faculty are free to pursue research and teaching based on their expertise. That model made American universities the envy of the world.

3) - 1992 -- The first "charter" school opens in Minnesota. Only 9 years later, with virtually no evidence and no long term studies even for high functioning schools or school districts in relation to the small initiation of charters, No Child Left Behind Laws [see below] recommended saving the most challenging schools via "charters." Charters, rather inexplicably, got tied to a vague notion of "free market" competition aligned with the idea of "vouchers" -- an idea itself that came from Milton Friedman at the U. of Chicago in 1956 (while he was, of course, a tenured professor).

4) 1994 In Michigan, Governor Engler and Prop A take school funding out of the hands of local districts and give the task to Lansing with a greater reliance on Sales Tax. This drastically lowered property taxes and created greater "equity" between school Districts.  Birmingham, Bloomfield, Troy, etc. stay "above average" in terms of funding when their (mostly Republican) reps successfully argue for the ability to ask voters for "Hold Harmless" millages and 20j funds (the latter cut in 2010 by Governor Granholm). http://www.michiganinbrief.org/edition07/Chapter5/K12Funding.htm

This change leaves most Districts today operating at 1995 dollars -- including BHSD. Per pupil funding has stayed the same, in short, but other costs, of course, have risen. But when the economy declines or slows revenue available to schools drops radically and creates many "failing" Districts. Reading this history in motion can be captivating: http://ageconsearch.umn.edu/bitstream/17495/1/ar940171.pdf

Many in the state have yet to absorb or fully consider the consequences of this change or even understand in full that it happened. During the 2008 housing bubble "burst," for example, when Birmingham Schools were preparing like many others for major cuts, the District continually had to tell parents at problem solving open forums they hosted that it was illegal now to "raise taxes" to support schools even if parents were willing to pay more. Many still believe that if Birmingham or BHSD gets in to "real" trouble "their" schools can quickly be fixed with an infusion of locally generated funds.

Doesn't work that way anymore. But people still move here and plan based largely on the "schools." We are all living, in some sense, on (financial and cultural) capital accrued pre- prop A.

In Detroit, http://www.liberalamerica.org/2013/10/28/real-cost-unlimited-charter-school-expansion/ a massive bond is passed that for building improvement. Indeed, across the state, many believed Prop A would free taxpayers from repeated calls for millages, but because the per-pupil foundation does not cover buildings, etc., the opposite has been true. Millages are commonplace. In Detroit, old Schools were torn down and renovated. The bond money created a bonanza for builders for the next ten years or so .... not so much for school children or teachers.

5) 1999 - Gov. Engler disbands the Detroit School Board and replaces it with an Emergency manager. Another large sum of money is put aside to revamp the physical plants of currently existing schools [see above], many of them now part of the EAA. 5,000 students and families leave DPS in protest at the state takeover. The DPS has been in a "state of emergency" ever since, with a brief reprieve from 2006 to 2009, an emergency the Governor and House and Senate Republicans say in 2013 can't wait any longer to be fixed. Correspondingly, they have passed the EAA codification bill to "save" failing schools. But that "District" is so suspect a moratorium has been (for the moment) been put in place which stops more schools from entering the EAA until 2015 -- when many current legislatures now voting for state codification will be retired or term limited out -- as will the current State Superintendent, Mike Flanagan.http://bloomfield-mi.patch.com/groups/ken-jacksons-blog/p/hurry-up-and-wait_5634fcdf

6) 2000 -- Michigan voters turn down by a 70 to 30 margin a Constitutional Amendment (Prop 1) to restructure the geographically defined Districts called for in the Michigan 1963 Constitution. The voucher proposal -- http://ballotpedia.org/Michigan_Vouchers_and_Teacher_Testing_Amendment,_Proposal_1_%282000%29 -- was crafted primarily by the Governor's current top education advisor, Richard McClellan. In many respects, the current education reform efforts in the state return to this logic but -- given the massive defeat -- seek to avoid any constitutional discussions or difficulties. To date, the Snyder administration has been successful in avoiding any discussion of this.

7) 2001 -- Based on the supposed "Texas Miracle" in public education, Pres. George W. Bush proposed and passed sweeping "No Child Left Behind" legislation that required annual testing in K-12 education with sweeping punishments for schools that "failed" to meet ever-changing expectations. This began a series of school closings that has extended from LA to Chicago to Inkster and to NYC.

The (bizarre) stated goal, again, of NCLB was "100%" proficiency in all areas by 2014 (Happy New Year!!).

The disconnect between the political rhetoric that informed NCLB and lived experience was realized most distinctly, perhaps, in 2012 when Massachusetts the top performing state in the country, and home to Harvard, MIT, Amherst and on and on, saw 80% of its schools "failing"  to meet these standards.

One ( intended or unintended ) consequence of NCLB carrots and sticks was an explosion of entreprenurial education and "edtech" activity.

In brief, while the rhetoric of public education "failure" ratcheted up, thousands of companies leaped in to action to get a piece of the NCLB fed money by testing and creating "recovery" projects.

Government money, then, lots of it, went not to schools but to those who got into the "new" business of fixing schools. In this new situation the profits are not in actual buildings (like Detroit post 1994) but in software, data collection, and online instruction infrastructure.

This explains, in part, the huge number of education "experts" and "reformers" who have minimal or no teaching experience whatsoever. It also explains, in part, the continued chant that public education is broken: when that premise is abandoned much ed tech  money certainly will dry up for vendors, bursting another falsely generated economic bubble by Washington, D.C.

Enter the current Secretary of Education, Arne Duncan.http://bloomfield-mi.patch.com/groups/ken-jacksons-blog/p/those-white-women-and-their-socalled-brill...

8) -- 2008 To the surprise and dismay of many who realized the disaster of NCLB across the nation, President Obama doubled down on President Bush's strategy and created "Race to the Top" legislation in 2008. This was partly in response to the economic stimulus funding that followed the 2008 financial collapse (strangely, many continue to blame or associate American teachers' unions for that historic, global event). 95 Billion in fed dollars was needed simply to keep schools open. 5 Billion was given to Duncan to disperse if states met his conditions: 1) Common Core 2) more Charters 3) teacher evaluation and 4) creating dramatic "turn around" efforts -- like Michigan's EAA.

Nothing in this cluster  of "ideas" matches the educational practices of top performing country's like Finland. Finland has relied on considerable teacher autonomy ad professionalizing with limited high stakes testing for students. http://bloomfield-mi.patch.com/groups/ken-jacksons-blog/p/bp--why-the-f-word-is-off-limits-around-sc...

Uh, and yes, even more vendors entered the ring with the advent of *Race to the Top* in the hopes of getting some of the 5 billion.http://bloomfield-mi.patch.com/groups/ken-jacksons-blog/p/bp--you-didnt-get-the-memo-about-the-oxfor...

8) 2009 -- In response to Race to the Top, Michigan's Governor Granholm created the State's Reform/Redesign Office. The office had no operational entity, however, no means of reforming anything. Today, after several years of media blasts, many simply equate the SSRO with the EAA -- the entity "hired" by Governor Snyder to do this work and funded mainly by the Broad Foundation. In 2009, also, Kansas City hired John Covington, now director of Michigan's EAA, to "fix" their schools. He left abruptly and the city dropped his agenda. Governor Snyder now wants Covington to run the state -- not just Detroit's -- turn around District. http://www.mlive.com/news/detroit/index.ssf/2011/09/improvement_did_not_happen_kan.html

9) 2010 -- Governor Snyder elected in Michigan with a sizable Republican Majority in both House and Senate and significant crossover votes from Democrats.

10) 2011 -- Governor Snyder unveiled his plan to "unbundle" the geographically defined school Districts many know, Districts currently called for in the 1963 Michigan Constitution.http://www.michigan.gov/snyder/0,1607,7-277--255197--,00.html Governor Snyder asks Richard McClellan, long time school choice and voucher advocate [see above], to head the "Oxford Foundation," to rewrite the 1979 school aid act and several pieces of legislation all designed to enable Snyder's vision of "Anywhere, Anytime, Anyplace, Anyway" public education. Lisa Posthumus Lyons, daughter of former lt. Governor under Engler and current Snyder advisor, Dick Posthumus, assumes the role of Chair of the House Education Committee. The legislation, it becomes clear, would defund currently existing public school districts and redistribute money to assorted "edu-prenuers"...and, of course, the EAA.

10) May 8, 2012 -- BHSD finally settles its one or two high school debate with a vote that approves a millage to revamp Andover and thus "consolidate" the two high schools in to one building. The debate had been ongoing for about 10 years. Following its conclusion, some residents slowly start to realize there were other challenges to maintaining the District's viability.

11) 2012 December lame duck legislation...Most of McClellan's legislation fails to pass. 40th District Rep. Chuck Moss claims to be "torn" about his obligations to his home Districts and his desire to help "Hyland Park." Mike McCready replaces Moss and says of schools, "if they aren't broke, don't fix them."

Part Two to follow....