For comparison, H1N1 has infected 10,053 and killed 17 in the US this year, according to the CDC.  This afternoon, the CDC’s media office told me that, while they don’t aggregate and post the total number of seasonal flu cases and deaths for any seasonal flu, swine flu is “acting very much like a normal seasonal flu virus.  The attack rates are the same, the mortality rates are the same.”

According to the Strib’s Emily Johns, though, the real reason is that the test is too hard.  

Back in February, I interviewed Charlie Kyte, the head of the Minnesota Association of School Administrators, about the problem.  “High-stakes tests also have a negative consequence,” Kyte told me, “Kids say “to hell with this, I can’t possibly pass this one big test I haven’t been prepared for. I’m dropping out.”

The GRAD test is embedded within the MCA standardized math test all Minnesota juniors take in the spring.  The class of 2010 was supposed to be the first group of high schoolers who would be required to pass the test in order to graduate the following year.

Emily Johns brings up a curious tidbit in her story: the Director of Research, Assessment and Accountability for Osseo public schools called the test “extraordinarily challenging,” and said that a student who barely passed this year’s GRAD test would get a 75% on the ACT.  (Background on how the Grad test’s passing score is determined from MPR’s Tom Webber)

Frankly, this flies in the face of conventional wisdom about math teaching in this state, particularly in poor and urban school districts.  When the Minneapolis schools announced they had graduated a higher percentage of the class of 2008 than passed their MCA exams, many asked the obvious question: was MPS giving some students a pass, even though the system had failed to teach them all the material?  And let’s not get started on the Achievement Gap!  If the test is too hard, is the infamous Achievement Gap smaller than we think?  

There’s a lot more going on behind that quot that Johns – or her editors – have ignored, because right now, it looks like there’s a lot of fuzzy math in Osseo.

Image: Wikipedia

With Saturday’s veto, Governor Pawlenty sided with conservative opponents of an anti-bullying bill meant to protect Minnesota’s K-12 students from being harassed in school for their sexual orientation, disabilities, and an array of other qualities that routinely attract teasing.  Repeating an argument used by the Minnesota Family Council, the governor wrote “the proposed legislation is duplicative of current law which directly and clearly prohibits bullying of any type against any student for any reason.”

As I highlighted in a story for the Minnesota Independent in February, the state’s current “model policy” only protects students from teasing based on race or religion, and sexual harassment.  Although it can be interpreted to include all students, many say this relies on a principal taking a stand against other forms of bullying that aren’t specifically prohibited.

“In small towns, it can all depend on one teacher or a principal who makes it their mission” to make the school welcoming, says Leigh Combs, the LGBT Kids Abuse and Prevention coordinator at Minneapolis-based Family and Children’s Service. “It’s different from town to town.”

According to the Strib, 

The bill’s author, Sen. Scott Dibble, DFL-Minneapolis, said he was “extremely disappointed” by the governor’s action and said he thought he had reached a compromise with Pawlenty on the language of the bill.

The “Safe Schools for All Bill” is passed the Minnesota House and Senate with large margins, so it remains a possibility that the bill’s backers will re-introduce the bill next session, and override Pawlenty’s veto.

USA Today has a study showing a statistically insignificant increase in a student’s SAT scores can “make or break” their chances of getting into many colleges.  The reporter highlights what was considered common wisdom when I was applying to college several years ago, that the most important thing in preparing for the test was learning small tricks to gaming the test, looking for that tiny bump.

Slate’s The Big Money blog delves into the allegedly massive profits the College Board makes off of the fees we all fork over to take their tests, because they’re the only game in town when it comes to widely accepted college admissions standards.  But as I pointed out earlier this year in the Twin Cities Daily Planet, at least the AP and IB test scores are decidedly secondary factors in admissions decisions, according to college admissions officers across Minnesota.  (Note: the IB test is not administered by the College Board)

What, wondered [Peggy Ingison, Minneapolis Public Schools' Chief Financial Officer], happens if the Legislature decides not to approve such shifts?

“It puts us out on a limb,” she said. A big funding shift, she said, merely compounds the problem of schools getting no new money while facing increased costs due to inflation.

Most of the Capitol press corps seems to accept that Pawlenty will get his way somehow, particularly since there will probably be no special legislative session this year.

According to MPR’s Polinaut blog, the shift will be worth $1.775 billion, or almost 13% of the $13.7 billion appropriated by HF 2.  To fill the holes in their budgets, districts will have to borrow enough money to tide them over into the next fiscal year, when the state money will be delivered.  This, though, increases each district’s debt burden, reducing the amount of money they can spend on classrooms, busing, etc. because they will have to pay interest on the borrowed money.  In terms of immediate, local impact, this could speed up the closure of three St Paul elementary schools that were originally slated to close after the 2009-10 school year.

Update (5/19/09; 11:30am): Bill Sailsbury of the PiPress says Pawlenty may delay repaying the nearly-$1.8 billion in shifts until the 2012-13 biennium.  Wow!  That’s gonna smart.  Particularly because he’s been so resistant to raising additional revenue, instead of hoping that the economy will quickly recover, and revenues will rise to provide education funding for that biennium AND money to pay back the shifts.  

Because the DFL essentially threw their budget proposal back in the governor’s face after he vetoed it the first time, the Governor will likely make good on his threat to unilatterally unallot what spending he doesn’t like, come June 1.  Pawlenty hasn’t said he will target education for cuts, but it’s still up in the air until he makes his decisions public; furthermore, several school districts around the state are in statutory operating debt, or very near, and unallotments may sink them if they are not handled sensatively.  PIM’s Dan Feidt has Speaker Kelliher’s take on Pawlenty’s plans:

12:50 a.m. update: Speaker Kelliher talked to a former governor and “friend” about unallotment and fiscal responsibility on the way in. The unallotment statute was put in for emergencies, she says, “probably an extreme stretch” of what was intended by the statute. If a DFL governor did this kind of unallotment, there would be a similar concern. “it will be the sixth time in history… and for him, the third time using the tool.” It was his “backstop” or “walkaway point” which he was willing to use to walk away. Kelliher expects there may be people who use to try unallotment, she says.

Image: Wikipedia

It’s a victory for anti-bullying advocates: the Safe Schools for All Bill passed the Minnesota House by a wide margin (95-39), after passing the Senate earlier this month. The bill creates 14 protected categories, and directs school districts to create policies that will help teachers and administrators intervene when a student is bullied for, among other things, their sexual orientation, their socioeconomic status, or a disability. Current legislation only directs schools to intervene in cases of religious, sexual, or racial harassment.

As Andy Birkey of the Minnesota Independent reports, the debate boiled down to an argument over whether “special categories” were needed to protect LGBT students, disabled students, or students from different socioeconomic backgrounds.

Rep. Dean Urdahl, R-Grove City, offered an amendment to strike those categories from the bill. “One group does not rise above another,” he said. The amendment failed on a voice vote.

Davnie argued for the importance of the categories. “[Students] need and deserve to see themselves reflected in school policies. The child hears, ‘if somebody is bothering me, the adults in the school will help me,’” he said.

Rep. Rob Eastlund, R-Isanti, said, “there’s a politically motivated effort because passing legislation feels good. We don’t need to list out a long list of special interest groups.”

In recent days, other conservatives have railed against the bill, saying it “promotes homosexual behavior.”

I had interviewed Steve Liss, MPS’ Chief of Operations, at the beginning of April, when the district called on developers and property owners to submit proposals to build or lease a new building for the district’s headquarters.  He estimated the cost of owning and maintaining the current Educational Service Center (807 Broadway, NE) and the Webster building (425 5th Street NE) at $91 million, including $10 million for an “immediate” and badly-needed replacement of the ESC’s roof and sewer system.  

That’s $10 million less than the next-cheapest option (pdf, table on pg. 2), leasing 1010 Metrodome Square for $101 million over 30 years.  

In the report to the Board of Education, linked above, MPS identifies the three most attractive options for the next 30 years:

• consolidating district administration in the ESC and the Webster building and remodeling the ESC to update the office space ($107 million)
• leasing 1010 Metrodome Square ($101 million to lease / $110 million to buy)
• building a new headquarters

Liss was careful to characterize the Request for Proposals as a fact-finding exercise, saying no action would be taken at least until August at the earliest, although proposals from developers are due June 4th.  He also claimed that it would not impact MPS’ budget for at two more years, although “there may be some planning money” in budgets for the next two years.

However, based on the tennor of our conversation, and the presentations to the Board of Education, it seems safe to assume that Liss and MPS seem to view the current arrangement – consolidation in the Webster and ESC buildings – as a real “last resort” option, even though it’s the cheapest.