AJC.com > Blogs > Get Schooled > Archives > 2009 > February
February 2009
Making equalization grants equal
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Gwinnett schools benefit from a state funding program in a way systems like DeKalb and Fulton have not.
Georgia’s school funding formula includes an “equalization grant” that gives extra money to school districts with smaller tax bases. The premise is quality education should be available to all children, regardless of the wealth of their community. Typically rural systems get this money but Gwinnett stands to get $31.7 million.
The formula’s design explains why Gwinnett gets a windfall while Cobb, DeKalb and Fulton don’t.
The state ranks the overall property wealth of each county. Districts at or in the bottom 75 percent get extra money. So of Georgia’s 180 districts, 135 get the payment. Gwinnett County’s tax digest has slowed in recent years, while some other metro systems remain strong.
How much each system gets is determined by the number of students they enroll. Gwinnett is the state’s largest school district, with about 157,000 students.
DeKalb officials requested a review of the process and wants to get some money for themselves. The district is struggling financially and plans to lay off 127 people in June.
What do you think of DeKalb’s argument? Is there a way to make the equalization fund more equal?
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Should programs include home schoolers?
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Two bills in the Legislature would give Georgia’s home school students some privileges that typically belong to only public and private school students.
HB 281 would let students who attend a virtual school participate in all extracurricular activities at public schools, everything from drama to the chess club to the varsity football team. Seems simple enough, but the bill would let a home school student who takes just one online course join a public school’s clubs and sports teams.
SB 210 would make home schoolers eligible for the Governor’s Honors Program. This is a prestigious and competitive six-week program held over the summer for public and private high school students who are gifted in academics and the arts.
What do you think of home school students being allowed to participate in these activities? Is this fair or does it strip away the rights of other students?
NOTE: Those of you who work in schools may want to pay close attention to HB 455, which would give districts until May 15 to issue contracts. The extension would be for this year only as everyone tries to make sense of the budget and stimulus money.
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A fight over school start dates
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
The familiar debate over when Georgia students should start a new school year is back and this time it’s taking place in Cobb County.
Cobb students are supposed to begin the 2009-10 school year Aug. 10 - a decision approved by board members in 2007. But at least three board members want Aug. 17 as the new start date so kids gets an extra week of vacation.
Most schools in the metro area start in mid-August. It varies widely across the state — from the second week in July to after Labor Day.
Some parents and businesses push for later school start dates. They say kids deserve a full summer; families need July and August to visit family; and businesses depend on summer traffic to make money.
Others say they like the early start date so students finish before Memorial Day. They stress how an early August start date lets high school students finish finals before winter break.
Sure the state could set school calendars, but many say this should be a local decision. A bill to require a later start date for all public schools failed in the state Legislature in 2005.
How would you set up the school year calendar?
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Will stimulus money rescue schools?
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
State schools Superintendent Kathy Cox is in DC today to get details about the education money in the stimulus bills. The big question — when will the money come?
A state education subcommittee wants to use $145 million in federal stimulus money for Georgia schools. Without the money, schools would face about $280 million in state aid cuts in fiscal 2009.
Georgia is set to receive more than $2.27 billion in stimulus money over the next few years for education. That includes money for low-income children and special education.
The money also includes a state fiscal-stabilization fund, which is intended to help avoid or reverse layoffs and make up for budget cuts. Some of this money could be used to restore state funding for school nurses.
But wait, there’s more. The federal education secretary has a $5 billion discretionary fund to be doled out to “innovative” programs.
President Obama talked about the education money during his speech last night. He mentioned improving early child education, making high schools stronger and gave a shout-out to charter schools.
How should Georgia leaders spend the education stimulus money? What should be the first priority?
UPDATE: Cox says education stimulus money should come in the next month or so. She said, teachers and other school workers worried about losing their jobs and parents worried about growing class sizes should “just hold on, don’t panic - we’re all trying to navigate this together.”
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Does it matter when students take state tests?
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
HB 336 would set it up so that all Georgia students have an equal number of days in class before they take state tests, like the CRCT. The bill would require the State Board of Education to set the testing windows based on each district’s calendar.
The education department already has a wide testing window for most state exams. When I wrote about this issue last school year many districts administered the tests as close to the end of the testing window as possible.
The argument is a few extra days of learning and review can only help.
“Anyone who believes in learning time says the more time you could give kids learning before the test the better,” said Joan Herman, director of the National Center for Research on Evaluation, Standards and Student Testing. “I’d set up my testing schedule at the end of the window, too.”
Are some students at a disadvantage if they take Georgia exams earlier than kids in other districts?
UPDATE: The House Academic Support Subcommittee of Education tabled HB 336 this afternoon. Rep. Ron Stephens (R-Savannah) told the committee the issue is unique to Chatham County, which starts after Labor Day. He said school systems should not be forced to start earlier or later because of the state’s testing window. State education officials opposed the bill, saying it could jeopardize meeting the deadline to release AYP reports.
CROSS BLOG ALERT: Updated information on bonuses for Georgia teachers with national board certification.
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Pairing the best teachers with struggling students
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
“Teacher quality” is one of the education buzz phrases we’re hearing thrown around a lot in Georgia.
The Legislature has bills rewarding “master teachers” and increasing salaries to attract top math and science teachers.
While this may help recruit teachers, it doesn’t get them into the classes where they’re needed the most. Research shows that the strongest teachers rarely work with struggling students.
Atlanta schools Superintendent Beverly Hall touched on this during a recent interview when she said: “We need quality teachers, but we as a nation don’t recruit the best and brightest college graduates to go into teaching. Here in Atlanta we have another problem. If we, Cobb and Gwinnett all have openings, teachers will pick them because of perception.”
Companies in the private sector give bonuses and other incentives to attract bright candidates to certain locations and departments. Should education do the same?
Without these incentives how will school districts in Atlanta, Clayton and parts of rural Georgia compete with systems in Cobb, Gwinnett and Fulton?
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Schools and teachers we like
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
The last few weeks we’ve blogged about how to get better teachers, students and schools. We’ve focused a lot about what’s wrong with principals, high schools and school budgets.
It’s easy to focus on the negative with every day bringing more depressing news about budget cuts and worries that teachers may lose their jobs and students may not get the programs they need.
Give people the chance to complain about their school districts and school board members and most have plenty to say. But many parents have good things to say about their child’s teacher or school.
So let’s focus on what’s working in public schools.
What do you like about your child’s teacher, principal or campus? Can those qualities be replicated?
NOTE: Atlanta Superintendent Beverly Hall was named the nation’s top superintendent.
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Georgia’s teacher “shortage”
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
A resolution filed in the state Senate urges all four-year colleges to have a teacher education program.
SR 173 says increasing the number of teacher education programs would reduce the shortage of qualified teachers. It also calls for aggressive recruiting to raise the caliber of teacher candidates.
Officials stress the importance of finding and retaining strong teachers. When I recently interviewed Atlanta schools Superintendent Beverly Hall she said it was the greatest challenge schools face today.
The economy is making it hard for some colleges to respond. Spelman College recently announced plans to phase out its department of education in favor of a teacher certification program for the entire Atlanta University Center, which includes Morehouse College and Clark Atlanta University.
Would making every four-year college in Georgia offer a teacher education program solve the problem? How can Georgia’s public schools hire and retain more, better training teachers?
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Making kids want to learn
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
I was reading through the comments of yesterday’s blog and several posts hit on the same idea: How do you make learning a student’s responsibility?
Local, state and federal rules tell teachers, administrators and schools what to do.
The assumption is putting pressure on educators will make students perform better in school. There are two expectations here: that students want to learn and those who lack motivation will find it through encouragement from their teachers.
Some would say a teacher’s job is to coax students into learning. If teachers get kids excited, they will want to do well in school.
Others say teachers can only do so much and more responsibility must be put on students and their parents.
V for Vendetta imagined legislation “making it the responsibility of the student and the parent to seek the education, not the obligation of the school to dispense it …”
How would this idea work? How do you balance the role of parents, teachers and students in education?
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Changing Georgia’s high schools
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
I’ve held off posting about how Legislators want to reform Georgia’s high schools until all the key bills were filed.
There are several bills out there, but three in the House could bring drastic changes.
HB 149, sponsored by Rep. Jan Jones (R-Milton), would let juniors and seniors finish their high school diploma requirements while attending college or university full-time. Gov. Sonny Perdue endorsed this legislation. The education committee passed this on Thursday. Jones hopes for a vote by the full House this week.
HB 215, sponsored by Steve Davis (R-McDonough), would create three high school diplomas to replace the one developed by the state education department. A general diploma would take 18 credits; a career/vocational diploma 22; and a college prep diploma 23 credits.
Davis said he wants to move away from a one-size-fits-all approach. Others say all students need the same core skills, regardless of their plans after high school. Some question if the college prep diploma would meet the admission requirements for the state’s colleges.
HB 400, sponsored by Rep. Fran Millar, would create a grant program so participating high schools can offer majors focused around high-demand careers, such as science, agribusiness and health care. Students would select a career track before starting high school. Classes would be offered at high schools, four-year or technical colleges or business apprenticeships.
Millar introduced a similar bill last year. The revised bill includes more opportunities for dual-enrollment programs and would give all students a personalized plan to guarantee they’re prepared for work or college when they graduate.
Some question if the state can afford Millar’s bill in an already tight budget year.
What do you think of these bills? How would you legislate changes to high schools?
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Different rules for principals’ kids?
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
A Gwinnett County high school principal retired after a district investigation showed she used her power to get her son out of trouble at the Lawrenceville school where she worked.
Many parents say that the kids of some teachers, principals and board members get preferential treatment.
“My biggest concern is how many times has this happened before and a principal or an employee has not reported it because they are afraid for their job,” said Jennifer Falk, education chairwoman for the state NAACP, who operates a watchdog group monitoring school discipline.
Aileen Dodd found that while many districts have policies prohibiting nepotism, few have rules regarding parent-child relationships on the job. What kind of rules do you think schools should have?
I know many teachers and administrators have children who attend where they work. How do you balance the need to protect your child with your responsibilities on the job?
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Another school choice bill for Georgia
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Sen. Eric Johnson’s voucher bill has received much of the attention, but another school choice bill is making its way through the Legislature.
HB 251 would let public school students attend any campus in the district, provided there’s space. Parents also would be required to provide transportation.
Basically the bill streamlines the process many districts already use to allow student transfers. It also mandates that systems allow these transfers, regardless of what attendance zones districts already established.
Some critics have said that school boards should retain power over local decisions, such as designing attendance zones.
The House Education Committee passed the bill Thursday and it moves on to the full House for a vote.
What do you think of this bill? Is it currently too hard to get student transfers?
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Investing in education
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Get ready for teacher layoffs.
For a while school leaders were talking about other ways to save money. They’ve changed bus routes, cancelled some programs, cut salaries, closed schools and eliminated some non-classroom positions.
Now some school boards are saying that’s not enough. School leaders in Fayette and Fulton are talking about letting people go. Marietta voted Tuesday to eliminate 58 full-time positions, including 38 teachers. I expect we’ll hear more districts going this way in the next few weeks.
While I was thinking about these layoffs, I got a note from a Get Schooler about the budget crisis and the cuts school districts are making.
He wrote: “It would be interesting for bloggers to assess where we are today and forecast additional changes they see coming up as school budgets are being presented to stakeholders.”
So let’s see what you guys think.
Which programs and people should stay and which should go? Would you be willing to pay more in property taxes to keep the teachers and programs you find important?
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Getting teachers to change grades
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
There’s been a lot of talk this past week about grade inflation and the funding of the HOPE scholarship.
Both these issues got me thinking about the pressure students, parents and some administrators put on high school teachers to change grades.
Sometimes this is done so student athletes can still play for the school team. This also is done so students can maintain a high enough grade point average to win HOPE. I expect the pressure is greater now as the recession is making HOPE a financial necessity for more families.
Parents, what have you done to get your child’s grades changed?
I know some schools have it set up where parents can see their child’s marks for every assignment, quiz and test. Are you emailing or calling teachers and asking for re-tests or extra credit work? How quickly do you turn to the school principal for help?
Teachers how often are you pressured to changes grades? What are some of the tricks you’ve seen from parents and students to game the system? How do you fight this pressure, especially if administrators get involved?
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Gifted and talented for all?
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
I was at a school board meeting last night and several parents and students complained about a change to allow more kids into special arts programs, regardless of their skill level.
They said the district is weakening the program by opening the classes to students who previously wouldn’t have qualified. They said it’s not fair to the kids who passed auditions and other prerequisites to get in.
For the past several years, educators have heard complaints from parents that schools have neglected average students. So schools have started opening up honors programs, Advanced Placement classes and other challenging courses to more kids.
But many students and teachers now complained that these once rigorous classes are watered down.
How do you balance giving average students more opportunities with the need to preserve rigorous classes?
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Crossing school district lines
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
A Clayton County mother received a felony conviction for using a different address so her child could attend school in Henry County.
The mother says she did nothing wrong, insisting she was doing what was best for her child.
Other parents have falsified their home addresses on enrollment forms so their kids could attend schools with better reputations. For example, Henry and Fayette school officials often track down parents fleeing Clayton schools.
School districts punish these parents in different ways. Some force the parents to pay tuition. Others immediately kick the students out. A few, like Henry, prosecute.
Henry school leaders say criminal prosecution is necessary because their schools are already overcrowded. Henry officials said they owe it to taxpayers to make sure schools teach “students who actually live here rather than students who live someplace else.”
What do you think should happen to parents who lie about where they live so their kids can attend a different school?
CROSS BLOG ALERT: There’s been a lot of interest when we’ve blogged about a proposal to eliminate state funding for school nurses. MOMania is blogging about the topic.
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Debating teacher bonuses
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Georgia lawmakers are debating which successful teachers deserve bonuses.
More than 2,500 Georgia teachers get a 10 percent salary bonus from the state because they earned national board certification. This costs the state about $12 million but Gov. Perdue and other Republicans want to eliminate the program to save money.
While they talk about getting rid of this program, they want to offer a similar bonus to teachers who are “Master Teachers.” This is a designation from a state-developed program that now includes about 350 teachers.
Meanwhile, House Education Committee Chairman Brooks Coleman (R-Duluth) has sponsored a bill that would give 10 percent bonuses to Master Teachers and 15 percent bonuses to teachers with a higher state certification.
Some teachers say lawmakers are taking money away from educators in one program just to award those in another.
As lawmakers debate these bonuses, some teachers fear losing their jobs.
Clayton school officials say they will have to layoff some teachers. They say the change comes from the state allowing larger class sizes, but the most likely cause is the huge number of kids who fled the school districts because it lost accreditation.
Does it make sense to give bonuses to some teachers when so many schools are struggling financially?
But if the state gets rid of these programs, how will school systems keep these strong and successful teachers?
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Losing HOPE
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
College students could lose the HOPE scholarship money allocated for books because a 2004 state law.
The law forces the state to reduce and eventually eliminate the $300 set aside for books if the cost of HOPE and pre-kindergarten exceed lottery revenue. Money from the lottery supports both programs and state officials predict the two programs will exceed the lottery revenue in fiscal 2010.
The state House is schedule to debate a bill today to keep the book money, but that doesn’t mean it will succeed. Gov. Perdue vetoed a similar bill last year.
We’ve blogged before that many students who receive HOPE became eligible because of grade inflation. Students who graduate from high school with at least a B average win money to pay for tuition, books and other fees at state colleges and universities.
We’ve also debated whether HOPE should be a needs-based scholarship.
How concerned are you about losing the book grants? Is it time to re-evaluate who gets the scholarship? If so, what changes would you make?
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Fitness test for Georgia students
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
All Georgia schools would be required to conduct an annual fitness assessment of students under a bill being discussed by a House education subcommittee today.
Starting with the 2011-12 school year, HB 229 would mandate these tests for students in grades 4-12. Students would take the tests during p.e. and the results would be reported to the state. Local systems also would be required to “provide at least the minimum instruction in physical education.”
A similar bill was introduced before that required a weigh in of students, which upset many parents, educators and some health advocates. That requirement is not included in the new bill.
Specifics such as what the test would look like and what it would measure would be left up to the state education department to figure out.
State legislators have tried to address the issue of childhood obesity for years. Is this bill a start? Or does it force schools to deal with a problem outside their reach?
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Grade inflation in Georgia schools
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
A new study finds Georgia teachers give higher grades than what high school students earn on the state’s End of Course Tests.
The exams and course grades are based on the same state learning standards so students’ marks on both should be about the same.
But the statistical study from the Governor’s Office of Student Achievement found great disparity. In most areas, the percentage of students who failed the standardized exam was two to three times higher than the percentage who failed the class.
The report makes it pretty clear that grade inflation exists in most high schools. Does that surprise you? How concerned are you about grade inflation?
Heather Vogell is working on a story about this issue and would like to talk with some teachers and parents. Email her at hvogell@ajc.com.
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Are lawmakers attacking higher ed?
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Some Georgia legislators say the state university system has refused to do layoffs, furloughs and other cuts that nearly every other state government department has agreed to because of the budget crisis.
The state chancellor and others say colleges have faced too many cuts over the years. Professors and others must be working for students to get the education they’re paying for, they say.
Now, Rep. Calvin Hill (R-Canton) is saying the university system must not be hurting too bad if they can afford experts in areas such as oral sex, male prostitution and “queer theory.” He said these faculty members specialize in areas outside a university’s mission.
But college leaders say research and expertise in controversial areas have social value. Colleges employ faculty with a myriad of expertise in technical, political, scientific and cultural areas.
Do you think Hill has a point? Or are lawmakers attacking the state’s colleges because they’re fighting the state’s cuts?
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The feds want their money back
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
The federal government told Georgia the state needs to give back $8.2 million in aid given to public schools after Hurricane Katrina saying an audit showed some districts erred in counting Katrina students.
The state and local school districts - including Cobb, DeKalb and Gwinnett - dispute the federal government’s findings. They said the government’s rules on tracking the money came late and were sometimes contradictory.
The state filed an appeal with the federal government and asked local school districts to return about $1.4 million. Cobb, DeKalb and Gwinnett repaid some of the money.
There was a lot of confusion when students fled to Georgia after the hurricane. Students didn’t have records and school officials say the disaster made it impossible to get the data from the students’ previous schools.
It’s obvious there were few controls in place on how to disseminate the amount of aid that was suddenly available.
You be the judge: who is at fault here? What controls need to be put in place?
