New Cry for Revolution! Parity and accountability!!

Beware!  This post is more political than usual, but writing it helps my blood pressure, so bear with me.

Parity

Ohio's school funding has been a morass for several years.  One facet of the funding is Ed Choice (http://www.ode.state.oh.us/GD/Templates/Pages/ODE/ODEPrimary.aspx?page=2&TopicRelationID=667). 

According to the website, here is how it works:

EdChoice General Information

 

The Educational Choice Scholarship (EdChoice) Pilot Program was created to provide students from underperforming public schools the opportunity to attend participating private schools. The program provides up to 14,000 EdChoice scholarships to eligible students.

 

Students currently attending a public school in their resident district that has been rated in Academic Emergency or Academic Watch for two of the past three years are eligible to apply. Public school students attending a school in their resident district that will be assigned to such a school in the upcoming school year are also eligible to apply. Students currently attending a charter/community school whose home school is an eligible school on our list are also eligible to apply.  So far so good...

Several layers later, one can click to the actual law, the eligibility section is mindblowing (scroll along until you see a one line section highlighted in yellow):

3301-11-04 Eligibility for program participation.

(A) A student who did not receive an educational choice scholarship during the school year prior to the year for which a scholarship is sought must meet the following conditions to be eligible to receive a scholarship:
(1) The student meets any one of the following:
(a) Is enrolled, during the school year prior to that for which the scholarship is sought, in a school building designated pursuant to rule 3301-11-03 of the Administrative Code, and the school building is in the student’s resident district;
(b) Is eligible to enroll in kindergarten in the school year for which a scholarship is sought and would otherwise be assigned to attend a school building designated pursuant to rule 3301-11-03 of the Administrative Code; or
(c) Is enrolled, during the school year prior to that for which the scholarship is sought, in a community school established under Chapter 3314. of the Revised Code and otherwise, at the time of application, would be assigned under section 3319.01 of the Revised Code to a school building designated pursuant to rule 3301-11-03 of the Administrative Code; or
(d) Is enrolled in a school building that is operated by the student’s resident district or in a community school established pursuant to Chapter 3314. of the Revised Code and otherwise would be assigned pursuant to section 3319.01 of the Revised Code to a school building designated pursuant to rule 3301-11-03 of the Administrative Code in the school year for which the scholarship is sought; or
(e) Is eligible to enroll in kindergarten during the school year for which a scholarship is sought, or is enrolled in a community school established pursuant to Chapter 3314. of the Revised Code and all of the following apply to the student’s resident district:
(i) The district has in force an intradistrict open enrollment policy under which no student in kindergarten or the community school student’s grade level, respectively, is automatically assigned to a particular school building;
(ii) In at least two of the three most recent ratings of school districts published prior to the first day of July of the school year for which a scholarship is sought, the district was declared to be in a state of academic emergency pursuant to section 3302.03 of the Revised Code;
(iii) The district was not declared to be excellent or effective pursuant to section 3302.03 of the Revised Code in the most recent rating published prior to the first day of July of the school year for which a scholarship is sought; and
(2) The student is not a resident of the Cleveland Municipal School District.
(B) A student for whom a new scholarship is sought shall not be considered eligible to receive a scholarship if at any time following the submission of an application for scholarship and prior to a scholarship being awarded the student is no longer enrolled in the school indicated on the submitted application, except that a student shall be considered as enrolled in the school indicated on the submitted application after the last scheduled day of classes if the student was enrolled in the school during the school year prior to that for which the scholarship is sought and through the final day of scheduled classes for the school year. For the purpose of determining enrollment status, the department may consider information submitted by the public school district pursuant to rule 3301-11-06 of the Administrative Code and data submitted to the department through the education management information system established pursuant to section 3301.0714. of the Revised Code. Disputes regarding enrollment determinations shall follow the department’s dispute resolution process pursuant to rule 3301-11-14 of the Administrative Code.
(C) A student who has received an educational choice scholarship shall continue to be eligible to receive scholarships in subsequent school years until the student completes grade twelve, if all of the following apply:
(1) The student’s resident district remains the same as when the original scholarship was granted;
(2) The student takes each state test prescribed for the student’s grade level under section 3301.0710 or 3301.0712 of the Revised Code while enrolled in the chartered nonpublic school; and
(3) The student is absent from school for not more than twenty days that the school is open for instruction not including documented excused absences as attested to by the chartered nonpublic school.
Effective: 05/26/2007
R.C. 119.032 review dates: 02/24/2011
Promulgated Under: 119.03
Statutory Authority: 3301.07, 3310.17
Rule Amplifies: 3310.01 through 3310.17
Prior Effective Dates: 2/24/2006

But just not as much as any other school district in Ohio

Ok...so every other school aged citizen of Ohio could qualify for $5000 if the school district they lived in was seriously underperforming and they could take that money and apply to any other school they felt could do better for them.  If you live in Cleveland and you qualify for the Cleveland Scholarship Program (vouchers) you could get $2400 to go to a better performing school.  This is the law in Ohio. 

I believe the citizens of Ohio who happen to reside in Cleveland deserve parity!  Whatever were reasons for this disparity in the past cannot outweigh the inherent injustice of this law right now!

Accountability

What are the college numbers for your local school district...if the answer is we can't find them or only anecdotal then urge your district to join and participate in the National Student Clearinghouse's StudentTracker for High Schools...a third party verification service slected by the Gates Foundation to be the basis for all their studies going forward..last time I looked it costs $500

 

StudentTracker for High Schools is a unique program designed to help high school districts more accurately gauge the college success of their graduates by answering such key questions as:

 

Where do my high school graduates enroll in college?

 How long do their educational efforts persist?

 Do they transfer between colleges?

 Do they graduate from college?

 What degrees do they earn?

 What courses of study do they pursue?

 

These are the schools/districts participating in Ohio if you notice CMSD is on the list...where are the results? Public money spent we should see the results! This is not to shame anyone it is to take the first step to change:  face the brutal facts (Jim Collins, Good to Great).

 

AURORA CITY SCHOOLS AURORA OH
BRIGHT LOCAL SCHOOL DISTRICT MOWRYSTOWN OH
BROWN LOCAL SCHOOL DISTRICT MALVERN OH
CINCINNATI PUBLIC SCHOOLS CINCINNATI OH
CLEVELAND HTS
UNIVERSITY HTS DISTRICT UNIVERSITY HTS OH
CLEVELAND MUNICIPAL SCHOOL DISTRICT CLEVELAND OH
COLUMBUS AFRICENTRIC EARLY COLLEGE COLUMBUS OH
COLUMBUS PUBLIC SCHOOL COLUMBUS OH
DAWSON
BRYANT LOCAL SCHOOL DISTRICT COAL GROVE OH
DAYTON EARLY COLLEGE ACADEMY DAYTON OH
DUBLIN CITY SCHOOLS DUBLIN OH
EASTERN LOCAL SCHOOL DISTRICT
BROWN SARDINIA OH
ELYRIA CITY SCHOOLS ELYRIA OH
FAIRFIELD CITY SCHOOL DISTRICT FAIRFIELD OH
FOREST HILLS LOCAL SCHOOLS CINCINNATI OH
HILLIARD CITY SCHOOL DISTRICT HILLIARD OH
HUDSON CITY SCHOOL DISTRICT HUDSON OH
INDIAN VALLEY LOCAL SCHOOL DISTRICT GNADENHUTTEN OH
LICKING VALLEY HIGH SCHOOL NEWARK OH
MAYSVILLE LOCAL SCHOOL DISTRICT ZANESVILLE OH
OAK HILL UNION LOCAL SCHOOL DISTRICT OAK HILL OH
SAINT EDWARD HIGH SCHOOL LAKEWOOD OH
SAINT MARTIN DE PORRES HIGH SCHOOL CLEVELAND OH
SAINT URSULA ACADEMY TOLEDO OH
SAINT XAVIER HIGH SCHOOL CINCINNATI OH
SHAKER HEIGHTS CITY SCHOOLS SHAKER HEIGHTS OH
UPPER ARLINGTON SCHOOLS UPPER ARLINGTON OH
VALLEY LOCAL SCHOOL DISTRICT LUCASVILLE OH

VINTON COUNTY LOCAL SCHOOLS MCARTHUR

 

 

Where is our tax money going???

 

 

The Cristo Rey Network is a member of the Clearinghouse and can track each and every graduate.  Each school publishes the data.  In a country where students from the top economic quartile who go to college only 40% obtain a degree in five years and the students in the lowest economic quartile who go to college (clearly a much lower number to begin with) only 6% obtain a degree in five year I would hope that we start demanding transparency and accountability from our secondary schools.

 

I urge you to contact your local state representatives to ask if they believe in parity and accountability!

 

 

 

Endangered Species: Catholic Schools serving urban kids

First, read this New York Times article:  http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/01/us/01religion.html?partner=rss&emc=rss.  It is a bit of a left handed compliment to urban Catholic schools.  I can say that be because I am a left handed Catholic urban educator.

Our school, Saint Martin de Porres High School, is part of one of the largest private school networks serving urban youth (or charter management organizations for that matter) in the country, the Cristo Rey Network.  Sometimes people reflect on the old days of Catholic education and say that it can't be recreated because of the lack of sisters and priests that formed the backbone of inexpensive, mission driven labor force.

As far as I can tell, Saint Martin is the first new Catholic high school in Cleveland (short of "new" high schools that formed by joining several high schools together) in 40 or 50 years.  It is a lay owned, operated Catholic school.  Whether or not our teachers and staff are members of religious communities or in religious life or not, they are all paid at the same level.  We have nearly 400 students, 55 staff members, and our first three graduating classes have 100% college accceptance rate!  It still can be done!

However, many Catholic diocese are making choices that seemingly are going to result in the demise of the urban Catholic school serving predominantly urban kids.  In Ohio, the state money supporting students who choose to go to private schools in the city of Cleveland is being cut dramatically.  So, two major facets of our society--Church and State--de facto are conspiring to close the most successful educational model for urban students.  Politics certainly does make strange bedfellows.

Recently I was reading a newsletter from The Business of Doing Good (http://www.thebusinessofgood.org/homepage.html) and it referred to an article  http://www.thebusinessofgood.org/success_stories.html from the Stanford Social Innovation Review.  It is a must read for anyone trying to build a high impact non-profit.  The authors talk about six common threads shared by high impact non-profits.  The one that hit me between the eyes was:

 1. Serve and Advocate: High-impact organizations may start out providing great programs, but they eventually realize that they cannot achieve large-scale social change through service delivery alone. So they add policy advocacy to acquire government resources and to change legislation. Other nonprofits start out by doing advocacy and later add grassroots programs to supercharge their strategy.

When we began Saint Martin, I had no concept of the issues we were confronting.  Now I am just beginning to see the broad social policies that must be changed if we are ever to educate urban youth.  Since I am also a Catholic, I see the choices being made by many local ordinaries across the country, the priorities being set and the actions taken, are sadly leaving many young people in the cities without much choice for education.

In her book, The Guns of August, historian Barbara Tuchman, told the story of how, seemingly against its collective will, Europe moved inexorably toward World War 1. At one point, she recounted a conversation between an ex-chancellor of Germany and his successor. “How did it all happen?” the first man asked incredulously. “Ach,” said his successor, “if we only knew.” (http://themoderatevoice.com/19185/ach-if-we-only-knew/)  Allegedly John Kennedy used that quote during the Cuban missile crisis.  My hope is that some day as our cities implode we are not wondering the same thing.

The State, at least in principle, allows for change through the political process.  I must fight cynicism.  I was told once that Saint Ignatius of Loyola said that the biggest temptation from the Evil One was to succumb to the notion that the problem is so big, so out of control, as to say, "There is nothing I can do."  I often meditate on Mother Theresa's quote:  "If you can't feed 100, feed one."

The Church is a much more confusing reality for me.  I secretly wish for a leader like the fictional Pope Kiril from The Shoes of the Fisherman.  I know all the realities against that, but it gives me comfort to know that something like that could happen.  In the meantime, I pray the prayer of Romero that says we are working for a future that is God's, not ours.  God knows what will be and invites us to work with him.  So, I will commit to work with God, trusting that the kingdom will come.

On the political side, in the coming months and years, Saint Martin and Cristo Rey will grow as a voice for educational reforms in our American urban centers.  Stay tuned!!

Spicey Bison meatloaf with chipotle sauce and other reasons to take the train from Cleveland to Omaha for the National Cristo Rey meeting!

Ok, so I am only going to Omaha but it leaves one tenth of the carbon footprint of flying!  I enjoy taking the train...it is for me a retreat, a chance to slow down, read, and yes, even blog!

In 2002 I went to my first national meeting of the Cristo Rey movement.  It was held in the basement of a retreat center in Lincoln Park with 25 people!  This week there will be over 200 people in and out representing 24 existing schools, a few schools about to open in the next few years and several in feasibility stage.  To learn more about the network go to http://www.cristoreynetwork.org/ .

I have come across a really good blog:
 ~synthesis~

opinions & ideas by shafeen charania... http://interacc.typepad.com/synthesis/

It is often about education but not always.  He writes almost daily.  He is a bigwig (or was) at Microsoft.  Well worth a daily look!