How APS facilities master plan can be a path forward for students

Editor’s Note: The Atlanta Journal-Constitution is running a series of guest essays about APS Forward 2040, the long-range plan under discussion in Atlanta Public Schools to reshape its future. Here is the final essay in this series:

Since 2011, we have witnessed efforts both small and large to address the complex planning needs of Atlanta Public Schools, including a major districtwide rezoning, a series of closures and consolidations and a new master plan. We’ve seen resistance from some communities, state laws that favor private schools, and the growth of charters both through APS and the state. But what we haven’t seen is our tax dollars being spent to lift up our most vulnerable students. We need an overhaul.

Despite a $1.85 billion budget, APS is facing serious financial issues. State and federal policies are part of the problem, but they are out of our control, so let us address what we can control and put the available funds to work for students.

Atlantans need to know that under-enrolled schools are not state-funded at the same level as schools nearer capacity. This means that APS has been forced to spend even more money on small schools to close the gap left by the state. While well-intentioned, this supplement has hit the limit of what it can accomplish. In addition, APS has a high proportion of charter schools, which take both dollars and students from traditional schools.

Marguerite Lane is an Atlanta Public Schools parent, special education activist and founder of Mandy Piano Studio. (Courtesy)

APS needs to spend its money on students, not buildings. We have seen leaders celebrate increasing graduation rates, but these increases have not translated into increased equity or higher employment for our most vulnerable children. Outcomes must be improved across race, disability and income. In particular, APS must fully support students with learning differences and physical, intellectual and emotional challenges.

Families of children with special needs are experiencing violations of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act every year. They struggle with lack of oversight from both the state and federal government. It’s an attack on their civil rights. For 50 years the federal government has failed to fully fund IDEA, and the recent gutting of the U.S. Department of Education means we are even further from full funding. It is Atlanta’s duty to resist.

One way APS could spend the savings from the facilities plan is improving working conditions and compensation for our paraprofessionals. Paraprofessionals are essential to the success of our students. They interpret highly technical Individual Education Plans; help these exceptional children meet ambitious individual goals and thrive socially by integrating into the least restrictive environments; and help our most challenged students achieve their full potential.

Many students who are two or more grade levels behind in math and reading lack an IEP. Without the supports and team approach built into an IEP, these children will experience dire consequences. However, with proper support, some of them could go to college; many more can achieve satisfying career goals, and all of them can reach their full potential to be as happy and productive in society as possible. I propose a panel of parents, students and educators to share experiences and suggestions, with the main audience being school-level administration. It is vital that all three groups feel seen by principals and administrators.

Community members have shown up to the public meetings to express both support and concern for various aspects of the Facilities Plan. This feedback has gone into every draft. While most understand the necessity of budget reform, many object to aspects of the plan.

My heart breaks seeing communities mourn the closure of their schools. School closure cannot be taken lightly. These decisions are difficult, and it is convenient to either put them off or look for easy solutions. Indecisiveness harms our students, and easy, popular solutions come with a heavy price tag down the line.

We must not get distracted by suggestions that we can close all our gaps with private sector support. We must resist what President Franklin Delano Roosevelt called “smooth evasion.” In 1936, he warned of those who say “we believe in all these things; but we do not like the way the present Administration is doing them. Just turn them over to us. We will do all of them — we will do more of them, we will do them better; and, most important of all, the doing of them will not cost anybody anything.”