Whose Schools?

No doubt I shall rant again regarding the actions and outcomes of our Legislature.  As we are now in the home stretch of the Legislative session several observations occur to me.

I sit here as superintendent of Edna ISD.  I report to a Board of Trustees, elected by our community.  The community believes the schools in Edna are theirs.  They talk about “our schools.”  They support schools through tax dollars, approving bonds for new facilities, fund raisers, attendance at events, etc., etc.  The Board clearly believes they govern our schools.  They are elected officials, wrestling with limited resources while seeking to accomplish our mission in light of the community’s desires for our kids and schools.  We built the buildings.  We hired the staff.  We build the budget and approve it.  We selected programs to implement.  We adopted the discipline policy and approve the handbooks.  I drive around checking our campuses.  I think of them as our campuses.  I interact with teachers and administrators and think of them as our employees.  I attend athletic and fine arts events and think about our kids performing for our schools.  I accept ownership and responsibility for this district, the schools, the kids, the employees.  Nothing thrills me more than success, and nothing worries me more than failure to meet our desired outcomes.  Yes, we think of Edna ISD, this highly complex, mission driven, human endeavor called local public schools as ours.

We are wrong, of course.  We discover that we are wrong every time the Legislature meets.  We are not a local school system governed locally.  We are state school system governed from Austin, sometimes Washington.

In this session the state is changing who may or may not participate in UIL events.  Why isn’t the UIL doing that?  Why aren’t local districts doing that?  The state is considering changing graduation plans and requirements.  Why aren’t we doing that?  The state is adding programs and topics that we will be required to teach.  Why aren’t we doing that?  The state is adding new requirements for training of administrators.  Why aren’t we doing that?  The state is adding the requirement for additional personnel on each campus.  Why aren’t we doing that?  The state plans to shift more money from public education to other experimental models like charters and vouchers.  Why would you take money away from the systems you manage?  The state is adding requirements regarding truancy.  Why aren’t we doing that?  The state is changing the way we evaluate teachers to include test outcomes.  We aren’t we doing that?  The state is making it easier for dissatisfied parents to attend another school.  Why would they do that?  There is even a suggestion that unacceptable schools be removed from their local districts and placed in a state-wide district under a Commissioner appointed superintendent to turn them around.  Amazing.  Take away our schools?

The most outrageous activity the state engages in, in my humble opinion, is designing the accountability system.  The state is likely to move from a range of Exemplary to Unacceptable to a range of A to F.  Why?  Was there confusion with the previous system?  The state has already moved from TAKS to STAAR.  Why?  Does that mean that all previous graduates who earned a diploma after being monitored by TAKS were not really graduates? 

Virtually no one in the Legislature is an educator.  They are making stuff up.  They are treating public schools as their own little experimental petri dishes.  They have no idea of the consequences of their actions.  They are listening to reform minded, wealthy folks like Bill Gates and Walton Foundation for their inspiration.  They are not reading research on these efforts, nor are they talking to educators.  They will pass laws and adjourn for a year and a half while we try to implement what they require.  They are not listening to professional educators.  They are listening to a radio talk show host.  If improvement occurs by increasing the measures, then why not develop the same strategy for the Legislature? 

The most amazing part of all of this is that the state acts as though the schools are theirs to do with as they please, but assumes no responsibility, no ownership of the outcomes.  If they require something that makes things worse in school systems are they losing sleep?  Do they feel accountable?  It seems to me that it is only rational that if you make the rules you should be held accountable.  If our schools end up more strapped for money with more requirements and an accountability system that makes more of us look bad, is the responsibility ours or the folks who set that up?

It is time to hold the Legislature accountable for the laws they pass.  If public schools fail, the Legislature structured the system that made that happen, and it is their failure, not ours.  If the schools belong to the Legislature, then take some ownership!  Why not enact legislation that helps public schools, promotes public schools, and works to improve public schools and their communities? 

There is something seriously wrong if I assume control of an organization for the purpose of improvement, reduce funds, increase accountability, increase mandates, and set about hurting that organization in a variety of other ways.  If I am charged with the operation of schools and the schools get worse I suspect I should be fired.  If the schools belong to the Legislature, not us, then they are doing a terrible, terrible job of management and oversight.  They are hurting us. 

Time to fire them.