I put this question to lastDEconservative; ”Give us you workable ideas for fixing our schools and how you will achieve it through legislation and who will support you proposed legislation? Not being smart just getting ready for November”.
lastDEconservative, on May 6, 2012 at 9:06 am said:
My legislative solution is simple.
“Be it enacted this day, that as of 15 July in the year of our Lord 2013, the State capital S will have no further involvement in schools or education at any level in Delaware, period.”
Q.E.D.
The market can and will provide schools with unions and diversity training and such for those that prefer such things, and education without for another segment of the population. Even corporate schools skippered by CEOs might be on every other street corner! As would be every other flavor and stripe, imagined already or not yet dreamed of, potentially even one or several created in Markell mode.
OK folks please keep an open-mind to lastDEconservative. Lets refrain from name call and that means all sides.
Certainly we can’t keep Dover out of public education. HOWEVER, we can limit Dover’s role starting with, not permitting the Delaware Department of Education modifying state education regulations to conform to the federal governments agendas via grants that have no federal legislation aka laws attached. Race to The Top is not a federally mandated legislation and is nothing more than a federal financially unsustainable grant. Delaware laws were manipulated writing the heart and soul of Race to The Top grant into state regulations that will cause default of funding of Race to The Top goals back onto the taxpayers of Delaware and more so on local school taxpayers. Delaware legislators should be prohibited from enacting education legislation unless full funding streams are identified and secure. This mean no more underfunded and unfunded “state” mandates.
I know why this was repealed do you? Title 14, Chapter 2, subchapter I § 207. Legislative educational impact statements.Repealed by 73 Del. Laws, c. 312, § 334, effective June 25, 2002. It was repealed because state legislators failed to follow it’s provisions and actually enacted laws defacing this “law”.
We need to abolish the position of Delaware Secretary of Education which only empowers governors to manipulate the system to full-fill politically inspired education agendas to appease political supporters and donors. We need to return the Delaware Department of Education back to a body that offers technical support not an overreaching authoritarian body it has become. Government existence is to serve the people not the other way around.
Charter schools, through all the debates we have had, I’ve have come to the conclusion that only school districts should be authorized to form charter schools not the Delaware Department of Education. Let that decision be driven within the local school districts. The Delaware Department of Education has lost the capacity to effectively provide proper oversight and has allow itself to be an extension of the governor and business entities he serves in efforts to secure his political goals and aspirations.
lastDEconservative’s goals may seem extreme but let us not forget the extremes taken during the American Revolution when government demanded the people to serve it! Delaware is an independent state of the union with its own separate powers and when governors like Jack Markell surrenders those powers to the federal government the people has cause for alarm. Bottom-line, we need to get local education out of the hands of state officials such as Jack Markell which equates to social treason against the people of Delaware. The Delaware legislators who look down at their feet when Markell makes his demands are enablers in this state power transfer of local education to the federal government aligned with Wall Street education reformers who capitalizes off of federal education funding. Those who believe Race to The Top is “the last chance to get it right” should consider LastDEconservative an agent of God. (sorry lastDEconservative no disrespect. Needed to add some humor)
Filed under: Uncategorized
I fully support the idea of removing the Sec Ed and returning to a State Superintendent appointed by the State Board.
Maybe we should make the State Board then electable rather than appointed? (duck! don’t throw things! just kidding! I think)
Another alternative: have the combined presidents of all school boards in the State nominate one State Board member, and have the combined Superintendents in the State nominate one State Board member. Have one State Board member elected in a General Statewide election, and require the others to be nominated by the Governor but confirmed by the State Senate.
That at least would be interesting.
“Maybe we should make the State Board then electable rather than appointed? (duck! don’t throw things! just kidding! I think)”
Not a bad idea at all! Let the seat be divided by counties and certainly one from the city of Wilmington.
.
Elect them all and do it in November
Top billing on Kilroy — moving on up, I am! Thoughtful comments Mr. Kilroy, and I appreciate the spirit with which they were delivered. I had just added another post on the thread where this one originated and clicked back to home base and saw myself up top. Below is the post I had a few minutes to peck out there, equally appropriate here.
But before that, just to comment on two of your points.
“Government existence is to serve the people not the other way around.” Truer words were never spoken. And never has a philosophy been so lost, so tortured and so bastardized as this founding principle of this great land.
“Certainly we can’t keep Dover out of public education.” Here we disagree, yet I see your track and mine more convergent than divergent. I expand below.
____________________________________
… if anyone is interested, setting aside the fact that there is no such thing as Federal or State money (okay, except perhaps what is printed, thus devaluing all the rest — wait, that’s taking from the citizens who work too — never mind), yes, remove the Feds (check your pocket US Constitution for the rationale) and the state government, period.
I’d be interested to hear if the proponents, diehard or otherwise, of government schools believe DelDOT is more, equally, or less able to deliver on its mandate than is the DE DOE. And if you believe they are substantially performing the obligatory service as well as your dry cleaner or auto mechanic or FedEx does, then I suppose you believe the News Journal regularly hatchets the lot of them. And that a government hand in one department is different from a government hand in another, thus explaining the variation in the coverage the NJ affords the two agencies, and which you find agreeable.
Finally, for now, as to what free market entrepreneur might venture into downtown Wilmington (or Detroit), the question illuminates the brainwashing we have all been tainted by, for lo, these many years. There was a day when (higher levels if any) government didn’t provide schools, set speed limits, prevent (or approve) oil drilling, and on and on. Not many still alive remember the days before the steady drip, drip, drip came to threaten our very breathing. Assuming government must do something, anything, is the problem, not the solution. In one way or many, we are all caught in some version of this trap.
Gotta go to work.
Steve, love the idea you propose in “another alternative” above! The State Board cannot appoint a State Superintendent at this time because they are all appointed by the Governor (I think) and that would just continue the mess. Electing all of them would open the process up to manipulation, but your idea would prevent at least most of that. I agree that DoE, as it now is, must go. It’s totally disfunctional and serves neither charter nor regular schools the way they need and deserve. Responsible people do their homework, use their own unpaid time to present ideas and meet with them, are smiled at, thanked, and then – nothing changes. And money is definitely the main issue. Where it comes from, who gets it, who controls it, how it’s spent, and how it’s accounted for.
Barbara, your assessment is on-point as I’ve followed
the 2000 Quality Education initiative go thru the Delaware Way
and Time Machine contortions. Meantime, what Delaware loses is
the opportunity to get back on track in a timely fashion.
Also, my invitations to education leaders on the STEM Agenda goes
without response.
@kilroy,
Based on the fact that only one district has been willing to charter, what makes you think districts would allow any charters at all? I would be shocked to hear John Young or many others support any charter school in Christina.
I am not against CSD acting as a charter authorizer.
@Guest- I have to agree with you- that was the first thing I thought of. If charters were only approved at the local level the CSD board would never allow them to happen!! So sorry- as a parent of students at a successful, great charter I hope it doesn’t change!!
I also don’t see CSD as being a supportive charter authorizer. I do believe John when he says he is not against it, but the district as a whole has shown us their feelings towards us, and it went beyond diversity issues. Too much distrust and animosity right now. Our eyes were really opened during the NCS expansion, and you can see it now during these elections.. I also think that CSD has to work on some of its own problems before branching out to charters.
@John,
That’s not the question. Would you authorize a charter school?
I’ll rephrase. Would you vote in favor of a charter school in CSD?
@Guest that actually a semi-loaded question. If the school had a solid plan that is a net positive to the education of students in CSD, I would absolutely vote to authorize a charter school in Christina. Why wouldn’t I? To be fair, that’s a tough burden of proof, but it should be tough right?
Pressure from the district community would force all school district to address their problems with traditional schools or open charter schools. Remember power belongs to the people and can force change in school boards. Delaware DOE is making a mess of things with charter schools. They have run a secret game with K12.inc / Moyer where no financial reports are available and no board minutes. HOWEVER, once again Moyer in under a new charter with K12.inc as a vendor.
Look at this way, if CSD and others don’t get into the charter games other charter schools and new ones down the run will continue the drain of students and $$$$$$$. Each time charter organization takes over an existing building that building is deemed educational and comes off the school property tax rolls.
Before the legislators even consider ending DE DOE’s charter games they’ll demand an overhaul long long long overdue at DE DOE charter school office. It’s doubtful we’ll see radical changes in the charter school law
@John,
Good to hear. Any ideas on what you would define as “net positive?” I’m not looking for a complete list – just general concepts.
Kilroy,
The problem I see comes back to the fact that only 1 out of 19 districts has chartered any schools. Haven’t seen a backlash in board elections and charters have been around for 15 years. Even PZ schools will remain district. If no new charters are allowed by districts – there would be no change.
Guest
“Kilroy,The problem I see comes back to the fact that only 1 out of 19 districts has chartered any schools.”
So what is your opinion to that fact? Why?
net positive = if the state of education inside the CSD would be improved, both in and out of the proposed school would be bettered, then it’s 100% Green light for me.
net positive = if the state of education inside the CSD would be improved, both in and out of the proposed school, then it’s 100% Green light for me.
If no new charters are allowed by districts – there would be no change.
Are charters applying to districts? No, they are applying to the state for their charters. Why is that?
Chartering with the state is a way to bypass local control and create programs that do not fit the needs and priorities of the district, but fit some private agenda instead.
Does any charter have a program that could pass muster with a district, whose voters know their own needs and priorities better than the state?
If voters of a district are not approving charters, why should the state offer a backdoor to bypass the wishes of parents and local voters?
At CSD, the charter schools didn’t come into existence just because parents wanted something different, they exist because parents wanted something better. You can debate the fact whether charter schools are “better” than district or not all day long, but it is there that perception, right or wrong.. If a large population of parents in CSD have lost faith in the district, how can that same district be given all the power over the charter schools too? Only after CSD gains the confidence of the commuity back by improving their existing schools, therefore changing perception, should they get into the charter game.
sorry.. “there is that perception, right or wrong”.
Yes. The Gateway Lab School is the type of program any district could support.
Also, do not forget that district borders and boundaries mean nothing if your charter is through the state.
There should be only three school districts!
Kilroy said in the original post: “Those who believe Race to The Top is “the last chance to get it right” should consider LastDEconservative an agent of God. (sorry lastDEconservative no disrespect. Needed to add some humor)”
I’m happy to be imagined as an agent of God, even tongue in cheek! I think the profundity of your closing statement (not about me, about the last chance to get it right) was missed by most or all of the gentle readers, as the 22 of the 23 comments that followed were of the same old vein — either how the deck chairs should be rearranged, or commentary on the arrangement thus far enacted or proposed, usually critical. Going so far as nailing the legs to the floor won’t improve the ultimate utility of the seating area.
The great thing about your “last chance to get it right” line is what it does not say. Race to the Trough is the “current” last chance to get it right. What then was No Child Gets Ahead? From the denizens of Dover, what then was DCAS, or DCAS II, or MyAss 2.4? Huh? What then were ALL those “last chances” back through history?
As to the one of your favorite topics, charters, I would suggest looking from a different perspective than whether the chaises and upright chairs should be abreast or facing. Given (with few exceptions) that charters perform better than their unionized (with one small exception, for which the jury is still out), federalized, Deputy Dan-ized brethren WITH SO RELATIVELY LITTLE OF THE EDUCRATIC BURDEN LIFTED, what, pray tell, could we expect is there were NO State capital S burden? Imagine.
Amen!
Way too little thought is given to how the state has rearranged the centralized office as far as having locked Education oversight into full control of the Executive Branch.
Kilroy at least is an honest broker when it comes to pointing a finger at who is really responsible for the continuing crappy record of education in our state.
The enactment of Neighborhood Schools Act, for instance, prompted plans that had to be vetted by the DDOE, an unfunded mandate that didn’t bother to realign the choppy NCC districts. NOR DID DDOE EVEN BOTHER TO RESPOND TO THE NSA PLAN PRESENTED BY THE CITY OF WILMINGTON COUNCIL. I have a copy of that plan. It was totally ignored by Dover.
And DDOE are now are running the PZ schools and all plans for RTTT. WTF are all the fingers being pointed to teachers or even to school boards in this mess is beyond me.
Check the record of what happened when Lowery, Cruce et. al came to Dover for the third time to get their NSA plan approved. …………………………………………..Oh Wait, that’s right, you can’t see the record because they all went behind closed doors to make the decision and that seems to be the case ad nauseum.
At least if there were more direct election of the centralized powers in Education, we could throw them out of office in response to failure. This HANDS OFF precious education administration – protect them from politics attitude has only gotten us in trouble.
Secrets and distortions, blame and flame-throwing and a lot of crap hitting the toilet.
Way too little thought is given to how the state has rearranged the centralized office as far as having locked Education oversight into full control of the Executive Branch…
Oh noes! Did you actually bring depth, history and knowledge to the education debate? For shame, don’t you realize that this is as simple as pro-charter vs anti-charter?
No, pandora. That’s merely your elitist wish-fulfillment syndrome kicking in.
@delawareway- what was the NSA plan presented bythe city of Wilmington? And by choppy NCC districts do you mean CSD having an island of real estate in the city of Wilmington?
I know this is way off base on this portion of the blog but why can’t there be a City of Wilm. School District? There is such a big concern about the children of wilmington not getting a proper education. Wouldn’t a way to change that be to have a school district in THEIR area dedicated the special needs of urban kids. And I don’t mean color so please before you all jump on the racism boat just think about it. I’ve asked this question before and haven’t really heard any real answers.
“I know this is way off base on this portion of the blog but why can’t there be a City of Wilm. School District? ”
We really need a FAQ around here.
The answer is, of course we can have a Wilmington School District, if you can get it through the General Assembly. The question though is – where would a Wilmington School District get its funding?
Suburban legislators could promise all day long to provide adequate funding, even better than adequate. But if I lived in the city, I wouldn’t trust them. It would be a source of constant resentment from certain RDs. The first budget crisis, the city school funding would have a bullseye painted on it.
Mike some politicians and community leaders in the city don’t want a Wilmington school district because if it fails they’ll have no one to blame if it fails. Kind of like why Rodel doesn’t want a Rodel Charter School!
a Rodel Charter School
Ooh, I like that idea. Don’t tell me, show me. Put up or shut up.
No need to be rude Mike! Some of may not have been as knowledgable about the state’s education issues! Please try to be patient and understanding!
For crying out loud, there isn’t a tax base in Wilmington to support a school district. And Mike O. is correct. Everyone would be all for throwing money at a city school district until the next election where you’d have people campaigning on “Why are our tax dollars going to the city? Bring our tax dollars home!”
Go ahead down this path, but then don’t cry when what you end up with makes you nostalgic for busing.
And, Kilroy, it isn’t about fear of failure. It’s about money.
And, Steve… behave yourself, you little pot stirrer!
Wasn’t being rude, sorry I am a little terse sometimes but please don’t take it personally.
“sorry I am a little terse sometimes”
Flaming shot of Wild Turkey will cure that
Ah, the lilting melody of Songe d’Automne — or maybe it’s the haunting notes of Bethany — continues to mesmerize as the deck is awash, with nary a hope of slowing the foundering, nor a Mae West for any but the guilty crew in charge.
Dude what in the hell did they put in your pogey bait? You better go find a water buffalo and wash it out. LOL
I think it to be coca, mon. No worries. Be happy.
Kilroy, you should totally publish the 2001 Wilmington Neighborhood Schools Committee proposal/response. It’s very enlightening for people curious about issues considered and ideas that have been floated (and ignored) in the run up to the current status quo.
@ProudNCSMomofTwo RE “Wouldn’t a way to change that be to have a school district in THEIR area dedicated the special needs of urban kids.” And a lot of research shows that the special needs of the students to whom I think you are referring are actually compounded once their concentration exceeds a certain percentage of their school’s population. (The 2001 report addresses this, too.) Don’t know about the rest of you, but as much as we might wish it were so, isolation of students (even when throwing heavy resources in their direction) doesn’t appear to be the answer and innovation we’ve been waiting for. Also, not every student in the City of Wilmington is poor and/or under-supported at home.
The Wilmington NSA did not advocate for their own school district but IIRC for a two district split Brandywine and Red Clay.
School funding can be done by splitting up the kitty differently. Either that or by consolidating the districts.
Certainly Wilmington wants bettter local board representation –that they presently do not have– over their children’s education. The election of board members by districts only may suffice.