San Mateo County SD’s Grapple with Reforms While Lacking Funding (CA)

August 30, 2010

School districts in San Mateo County and across the state are grappling with a fast-moving wave of education reforms triggered by federally driven initiatives such as the competitive grant program Race to the Top.

Some of those reforms, such as tying teacher performance to student test scores, have long been controversial, but because of serious funding shortfalls given today’s economic downturn, districts have felt compelled to consider making major changes in exchange for the possibility of earning millions of federal dollars.

"The speed of it is my biggest criticism," San Mateo Union High School District Superintendent Sco tt Laurence said of today’s reform movement. "It doesn’t give professionals time to discuss the pros and cons and to be able to adjust to it and plan for it operationally."

Now districts are going ahead with reforms without much additional financial help. California just lost its bid to win as much as $700 million in Race to the Top funds as the U.S. Department of Education awarded other states the money.

"There’s no real additional funding, (but) we’re required to fund these reforms," said Richard Boitano, associate superintendent of education for the Jefferson Union High School District. "We’re told to reallocate resources, but we don’t have resources to start with. The state and federal governments have given us a lot of unfunded mandates (over the years). This appears to be another one."

Laurence also raised the concern that districts are making long-lasting changes without having long-lasting funding to back them up.

"We’re making policy decisions for one-time money," Laurence said. "That bothers me."

California hurriedly passed new policies in line with the Obama administration’s education philosophy to strengthen its application for Race to the Top money.

Part of the federal economic stimulus plan, the $4.4 billion competition awarded grants to those states deemed best at taking bold steps to improve education.

Districts in California had the choice to join the state’s application in the first two rounds of the competition and be subject to certain reforms. A few districts in the county, such as Jefferson Union High, joined in the first round in which California also did not make the cut. Only the Bayshore district joined in the second round.

But districts that didn’t join still face making other kinds of changes.

San Mateo Union, for instance, didn’t sign off on the state’s bid in either round, Laurence said. But among the new regulations linked to Race to the Top that the district still has to contend with is one that involves open-enrollment procedures in which any student attending one of the 1,000 low-achieving schools identified by the state can ask for a transfer to a higher-performing site anywhere in California.

"We have to have rules on how many or who to take and what the process would be," Laurence said. "It is the most time-consuming" of the new changes the district has to implement.

As for whether such reforms will prove effective, Laurence seemed willing to give them the benefit of the doubt. He just wished educators had more time to study them.

"It comes down very fast," he said. "It makes it difficult to carry a conversation (about reforms) with the community."

San Mateo Union and all other districts are also bracing for new curriculum standards expected to be phased into public education in kindergarten to 12th grade over the next few years.

In trying to boost its Race to the Top application, California adopted the nationwide Common Core standards in English and math backed by the Obama administration.

Federal and state education officials tout these standards as being relevant to the real world and reflecting what students need today to be successful in college or a career.

& #x0A;Despite the grant rejection, state schools chief Jack O’Connell said California will press on with reforms.

"The loss of the funding may slow but not defeat our efforts to improve student achievement in California," O’Connell said in a statement. "We remain fully committed to continue seeking the strategies and resources demanded to accelerate our efforts to close the achievement gap among different groups of students by creating fundamental and far-reaching reforms."

California may have another shot at Race to the Top dollars. U.S. Education Secretary Arne Duncan announced that the administration is seeking an additional $1.4 billion from Congress for a third round of grant awards.

The federal government has also prescribed reform measures for districts with schools identified as persistently low-performing.

Such districts can apply for improvement grants — money also from the economic stimulus plan — if they commit to pursuing some of those measures, which include replacing a principal, increasing learning time, converting a school into a charter and revamping instructional plans.

La Honda-Pescadero Unified applied for this grant program and has been awarded about $2 million over three years for Pescadero Elementary and Middle School, which is listed as a consistently underperforming site.

To fulfill grant conditions, the district has brought in a new principal and will start a Saturday school to add instructional time.

Other requirements include using student achievement results to evaluate an educator’s effectiveness in the classroom — something the district still needs to work out with the teachers union, Superintendent Amy Woo liever said.

"If you can write a grant application for up to $2 million a year, you have to take a look," Wooliever said. "If you decide to do it, you have to make the requirements work for your district and the kids because leaving that (money) on the table is not good for kids either."