Swine Flu in St Paul Schools! Everybody Panic!

Just when you thought it was safe to go back to school, a student at St Paul’s Benjamin Mays Elementary comes down with H1N1 flu (Pioneer Press).  As it turns out, just because we media-types have stopped talking about Swine Flu doesn’t mean that the disease that kills fewer people than seasonal flu has disappeared.  

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.”

Filed under: St Paul, Education, St Paul Public Schools, Swine Flu

Take that, Larry Summers!

Those of you with no ties to the Boston area probably missed former Harvard President (now Obama Economic adviser) Larry Summers’ epic, sexist case of foot-in-mouth a few years ago.  Women don’t succeed in math and science careers, he said in 2005, because they are naturally worse at math and science.   Nothing to do with culture or work environments.  Absolutely not, he said.  For all of us who wanted to sock it to ‘em after that speech, here’s some more vindication, via Jezebel: culture and societal issues are at the heart of math inequities, not gender or biology.

Filed under: National, Education, Larry Summers, Math

High-Stakes testing officially dead — for this year

Education policy folks and Minnesota’s high school juniors can stop holding their breath about this year’s math graduation test:  with the stroke of his pen, Governor Tim Pawlenty has turned the once-high-stakes test into a dead letter.  A compromise solution was reached earlier this year by the Governor, and both houses of the state legislature, that would permit students to retake the test three times, prior to graduation.  Pass or fail, though, no-one is barred from graduation.   Legislators were concerned that, since the test results come back a few weeks into summer vacation, high school Juniors wouldn’t have much time to take remedial courses and retake the test before they have to start studying for finals, or graduate.  

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

Filed under: Minneapolis, Minnesota, Achievement Gap, Education, Education Policy, GRAD test, Minneapolis Public Schools, Minnesota, Testing, Tim Pawlenty

Q Comp not expanding this year

The K-12 education policy bill that Governor Tim Pawlenty signed into law earlier this week did not include money to expand Q Comp to all of Minnesota.  The program, also known as “Quality Compensation,” is T-Paw’s pet plan that links teacher pay to a combination of their student’s performance on the MCA tests, and participation in professional development.  As a 2008 investigation from the state’s non-partisan Legislative Auditor highlighted, the program is too young to know if it actually improves teacher quality or student performance.  MPR’s Tom Webber has the story.

Filed under: Minnesota, Achievement Gap, Education, Education Policy, Education Reform, Q Comp, Teacher Quality, Tim Pawlenty

“Diploma Mill” — SAT Shenanigans

Not a good day to be the College Board, makers of the SAT and Advanced Placement tests:

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)

Filed under: National, Education, Testing

Education likely to take a hit with Accounting Shifts (Updated and Bumped)

With the desperate, impassioned efforts to override Tim Pawlenty’s vetoes essentially over, most of the high drama around this biennium’s budget is essentially over.  Like other sections of the budget, E-12 Education takes a hit through accounting shifts — where the state delays paying this year’s per-pupil funding until next year — but DFL education champ Rep. Mindy Greiling (DFL – Roseville) is calling it ‘good enough’, because the core legislation does not reduce school funding.  

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.

Filed under: Minnesota, St Paul, Budget Crisis, Education, Education Funding, Large-Scale System Change, St Paul Public Schools, Tim Pawlenty

“Safe Schools for All” heads to the Governor, passing by a wide margin

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.”

Filed under: Minnesota, "Safe Schools for All" Bill, Education, LGBT, Minnesota

Minneapolis Public Schools Seeking a New Headquarters

A Marcy Open parent and reader of this blog emailed me last week, asking if I could check out Minneapolis Public Schools’ plans for a new headquarters building.  She raised a good point — why is the district pursuing this plan while they are facing a $28 million deficit (2009-2010 school year) and is saddled with excess classroom capacity and empty buildings?  

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.

Filed under: Minneapolis, Changing School Options, Education, Minneapolis Public Schools, New Headquarters

Conference Committees and Education Funding — Why I love MN Budget Bites

They sit in conference committees so we don’t have to.  I admit, I’m a bit of a wonk (My weekend reading will be pouring over a big chunk of data from Minneapolis Public Schools that accompanied the administration’s original proposal), but even I try to avoid legislative sessions like the plague.  Fortunately, there’s Minnesota Budget Bites, who’ve got a very readable rundown on the three competing E-12 budget proposals from the House, Senate, and Governor Tim Pawlenty, that are being hashed out in conference committee this week and next.   Some highlights:

• Use of federal stimulus dollars
• Dollar figures for several reform innitiatives, including the House’s New Minnesota Miracle ($0 — they just want to put the funding formula into law, so it can slowly be phased in from 2014 on), and T-Paw’s expansion of the Q-Comp pay-for-performance program and financial rewards for districts that raise students’ test scores ($91 million for the latter, an unnamed combo of state and increased local contributions for the former)
• Local property tax relief 

Filed under: Minnesota, Budget Crisis, Education, Education Funding, Education Reform, Mindy Greiling, Minnesota, Q Comp, Stimulating Stimuli, Tim Pawlenty

An update on Tuesday’s Minneapolis Board of Education Meeting

Dylan Thomas, schools reporter at the Southwest Journal, has a Southwest-specific recap of Tuesday night’s discusion that led to Superintendent Green temporarilly pulling his restructuring proposal from considderation by the Board.  Also, Steve Kotvis, a parent activist from Southwest Minneapolis, was at the meeting taking notes, and pointed me to his summary in the MPS Parents’ Forum.  His notes, after the jump.  (To pay the bills, I have a night job that required me to miss Tuesday night’s Board meeting).

Filed under: Minneapolis, Minnesota, Education, Minneapolis Public Schools, Restructuring, Steve Kotvis