Task Force’s Final Draft

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Education Policy

This is huge. Anyone who teaches in Washington State, has school-age kids or grandkids in Washington State, or plans to do any of the above should sit down and pay attention. The Basic Education Finance Task Force has been quietly working since way before the economy fell apart, drafting a recommendation to completely change the funding structure of our state's school system. The last time we posted about the Task Force on this blog they had five separate proposals. Now there's one. (Imagine being at that meeting.)

All told, the Task Force made six Key Recommendations:

  1. Define basic education as the opportunity for students to meet proposed new high school graduation requirements.
  2. Basic education includes supplemental instructional opportunities for disadvantaged students, including at-risk pre-schoolchildren.
  3. Establish a new state budgeting system with allocations based on class size and instructional hours in model elementary, middle and high schools, with flexibility for local school district spending. Increase state allocation to school districts based on reduced class size assumptions, especially in grades K through 3, and more instructional time, and increase allocations for at-risk preschool children.
  4. Reform the compensation system:
    • Determine salary increases and continuing contracts for teachers based on performance factors.
    • Set school employee salary allocations benchmarked by comparable wages in regional non-school employee labor markets.
    • Eliminate state allocations for teacher salary increases based in additional educational credits and degrees.
    • Create new performance-based teacher certification system supported by increased resources for professional development and mentoring
  5. Implement a common state-funded accounting and budgeting system for all school districts and enhance the statewide student informational system.
  6. Implement the State Board of Education proposed accountability system principals.

For this post, I'm going to focus on numbers 3 and 4. Not that the others aren't important. They are. But space, as well as my expertise, are limited. And again, I strongly encourage anyone with a horse in this race to read the entire report.

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Thanksgiving

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Education Policy, National Board Certification

This is a wonderful time of year to focus on the positive rather than the negative.  Family, friends, good health, a warm home, and plentiful food are at the top of my list. For all of that, I’m thankful.

 

I’m also thankful to the legislators of Washington State who have seen fit to reward me for being an accomplished teacher.  Two of my sisters are teachers for our neighbor to the south. They have at various times asked me about National Board Certification and the support and rewards that come with the process. Sadly, in Oregon the only compensation for the arduous and expensive process is the personal, intrinsic satisfaction one receives from completing a difficult task. No wonder there were only 222 NBCTs in that state at the end of 2007, as opposed to 1801 in Washington. (See http://www.nbpts.org/resources/nbct_directory/nbcts_by_state) This certainly doesn’t mean that there aren’t thousands of accomplished teachers in Oregon.

 

My bonus this year contained an additional five thousand dollars, thanks to the insight and understanding of Washington legislators regarding how difficult it can be to work in a high needs school. For that, I am also thankful.

 

For so many years, teachers have felt underappreciated and undervalued. Washington State is striving to change that. I’m thankful to be living in a state where I feel valued for the time, energy, love, and passion I put in to my job.

Welcome and Congratulations New NBCTs!

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National Board Certification

By Tom

"As the circle of light increases, so does the circumference of darkness around it." -Albert Einstein

Ten years ago I thought I was a much better teacher than I think I am now. I had things in my classroom well under control. I'd taught the same grade at the same school for over fifteen years. I knew the curriculum really well. My kids behaved themselves. Parents liked me. My job was becoming increasingly effortless. I had conquered teaching as I knew it.

It wasn't always easy. When I first started out, teaching was very difficult for me, particularly the organizational part of it. I forgot important stuff. During my second year on the job I forgot to hand out the order forms for school pictures. Fortunately one of my colleagues spotted them on my desk and expressed concern that my entire class wouldn't be able to order their pictures. "You know, for a lot of moms, those are more important than report cards!" Of course by then, the kids had gone home, and the pictures were the next day. So I was on the phone all evening, describing the various packages to all 24 mothers. "…Package B includes two 5 by 7s, one 8 by ten and sixteen wallets. The price is $12.95. Now Package C, on the other hand…"

It was a long night, and a valuable learning experience.

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The Good, The Bad and the Grimm

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Washington State is taking a serious look at the way schools are funded. In fact, the "Basic Education Finance Joint Task Force" is currently discussing five separate proposals, each of which would dramatically change our state school system.

I like the proposal put forth by the Full Funding Coalition a lot. I think it's pretty good for a number of reasons. I don't care so much for the status quo. I think it's bad. And there's one proposal on the table that just plain frightens me. That's the one proposed by the chair of the Task Force, Dan Grimm.

Before I get all specific with you, I need to claim a caveat: my experience has not prepared me to pass judgment on all aspects of these five very detailed proposals. But I do know what I'm talking about on certain topics, including teacher professional development time, class size, and performance pay. So I'll stick to those.

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The New Kid

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By Tom

I got a new kid this week. I first spotted him in the office. He was sitting there next to his mom, who was filling out the new kid forms that we use in our school. So I started up a conversation, asking him where he was from, how old he was; the usual things adults ask kids when they don’t have anything to talk about.

 

Turns out he’s a third grader, and he’s assigned to my class. He started the following day, after I got to learn about him from his file. And from the CPS field officer assigned to his case.

I’ve been thinking about the task ahead of me. And I’ve also been thinking about apples, our profession’s ubiquitous icon.

 

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THURSDAY

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Life in the Classroom

Thursday is library day for my sons at MLC. I remember the trips I would take with my class to the library. There was a shelf of science books that I checked out; I started with the first book on the shelf and worked my way through the stack. My sons enjoy the library and I am glad of how it is integrated into the classroom curriculum.

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TUESDAY

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Life in the Classroom


The parking lot at MLC amazes me; my sons attend this school. In many ways the parking lot inspires me to believe again in the desire of people to do good for the greater good. The parking lot at MLC is not much larger than a typical gym (two basket ball courts), but somehow, every day, the cars come in, park, and go out without any hassle. What gets me is that there are no painted parking spots.

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