The re-election of President Obama sent pundits scrambling for hidden meanings, data driven observations, and prognostications of things to come. I’m not a pundit, maybe a pun-dat, but I have no credentials beyond public education and some private sector success as a restaurant manager. I do know public education. And my questions for our new President and to our nation are where will you stand on public education? What will happen now? Now what?
We are well overdue to re-authorize the Elementary and Secondary Education Act, a.k.a. No Child Left Behind. Congress would not take it up this past year for fear that it would give Obama another feather in his cap. Why? Because the Democrats and Republicans seem to agree on education issues. And, they are both wrong.
Both parties support high stakes testing, school choice, teacher evaluation based on test scores, national core curriculum standards, etc. etc. The so-called reform movement has been disastrous for public education and I fear the re-authorization of ESEA will be more of the same. The Race to the Top competitive grant for schools is more of the same. Limit resources and let schools compete for them if they agree to the national reform agenda. Texas is schizophrenic on this issue because our state leadership totally supports the reform agenda, and yet they do not want to do what the feds tell them to do. So Texas avoids the federal programs and loses money and sets their schools up to fail under federal standards because it is federal program under a Democratic administration. Sadly, the policies and programs of this Democratic administration are virtually identical to the previous Republican administration. I would find it amusing if it were not so sad that both parties support school choice and yet in terms of education platforms voters are not offered any choice in proposed education policy.
(A brief caveat to my previous paragraph. If we are going to move toward a national high stakes standardized test based on national core curriculum standards– which I strongly oppose – then it only makes sense for states to adopt the national core standards. Otherwise we are not aligned instructionally between what we say we will teach and what gets tested. If we are not going to have a national high stakes test, then national core standards should inform state standards but not be mandated.)
The core question for me is do we believe in and support the education of all children in this country? If the answer is yes, then supporting public education is our only real option. Diverting money from public ed to private sector ventures makes no sense to me at all. If we want a better Navy, we put more money in the Navy. Want better public schools? Put more money in public schools. If the answer is no, we do not want to educate all children, then continue on the current path where parents of means have choices and parents without means are left in the public schools with fewer resources, higher standards, and more opportunity to fail. So, Mr. President, where do you stand on the notion of the public education of all kids? Charter schools, vouchers, parent triggers, etc. are all designed to divert money from public schools to private sector pockets.
If we are infected with the notion that the way to improve public education is shifting resources from public ed to other for-profit organizations, then those organizations should be required to have teacher unions. Unions make the most sense in the private sector where management makes decisions regarding wages, benefits, working conditions, etc. while weighing those benefits against the drive to make profit. Labor needs to sit at that table to influence those decisions. In the public sector, there is no profit pot, there is only tax revenue. Clearly teachers should have a voice in decision making in public schools, and in the states where teacher unions are legally allowed and have experienced years of collective bargaining it makes little sense to wage war on those unions rather than pull them into the fold. But, private operators of schools should have to deal with their labor. Another oxymoron: bust public school teacher unions via charter schools and vouchers for private schools wherein teacher unions are most logically needed.
So, with all due respect Mr. President, what will happen now? More federal intrusion into public education, more high stakes testing, more competitive grants, more escalating standards to make schools look badly, more choice for everyone except public schools? Or, something quite different that supports public education, operates on the notion that the most efficient and effective way to educate all kids in the U.S. is via public education. It makes no sense to promote a network of schools outside public education where facilities and services must be duplicated and when it is impossible to create enough of those schools to serve our children. My advice, sir, is to dump school choice, dump competitive funding, stop harassing teacher organizations, dump high stakes testing, dump holding teachers accountable for results on the high stakes test, and offer the core standards as a guide.
To make all the above reality you will have to abandon Michelle Rhee and Arne Duncan. They don’t get it. Appoint Diane Ravitch Secretary of Education, or Linda Darling-Hammond. These ladies know what works and how to make it happen. And they both have a strong conviction to educate all children, not to dismantle public education.
So, now what? I eagerly await the re-authorization of ESEA. Will it be more of the same, or will it in fact promote the success of children via public education?
We’ll see.
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