Advocate for Local Control

One February 27, 2015, Senator Click Bishop hosted a Lunch and Learn on what was suppose to be the Worlds Smartest Kids, but ended up being on National Teacher Certification. I am not a fan of national teacher certification, but that is the subject of another blog. What is important is the brief moment of honesty and clarity by the one person in the presentation who is NOT a Nationally Certificated Teacher-- Mary Janis. She IS an advocate of the Common Core and unlikely person for our consideration.

This is a bit off the Common Core trail, but in the final analysis is ultimately about Common Core. The Alaska Common Core and the P-20W standards were adopted in Alaska to qualify for the 9401 waiver from the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) provisions of  Elementary and Secondary Education Act--more commonly called the ESEA Flex Waiver. The "flexibility" isn't for the state---it is for the Secretary of Education Arne Duncan.  It places the state--both road and off-road--urban and rural-- under federal control.

Removing schools from federal control was a major policy goal in early Alaska.

  But this brief segment is important to understanding the history of Alaska education policy. There have been times and instances when Alaska has produced some of the brightest. One of the reasons I moved to Alaska was that the schools, at that time were reputed to be some of the best in the world, as long as you stayed "in the cities."

 But in Mary Janis' presentation, she provided powerful evidence for the exact reforms that Alaska needs to restore educational excellence and fiscal integrity: local control. It was a tremendous repudiation of the current regime.

Here is what we know: 

1) She grew up in the Anchorage School District and she is Alaska grown and raised, albeit urban Alaska. 

2) Her education was on par with her private schooled peers that she met in college. 

3) She did not attend UA, but has a BA and an MA from an out of state school. 

4) She won the Presidential Excellence Award for teaching Kindergarten Science

5) She has been teaching 25 years. 

Now, while I might be a tiny bit off in my dates, I think we can use some basic math to figure out what was the educational system like that produce a private education on the public dime. Now, based on the age of her daughter, we can safely put her between 35 and 45. She states she has been teaching 25 years, which implies she started teaching in 1990, just before Jerry Covey became commissioner of education.  Subtract 6 years from that, and one might be able to find her in a 1983-84 Anchorage year book, and this lady probably started her own Kindergarten experience a couple years after Neil Armstrong walked on the moon and perhaps just before Nixon resigned.

So, to determine the type of educational system that produced a Mary Janis, we need to look at the Alaska Education system as it existed from the 1970s through 1980s.

This was the era of local control in Alaska. 

The system which produced Mary Janis is very different from the system for which she has advocated. She is on the record advocating for the Common Core standards, a system that heavily scripts teacher lessons, a regimented timeline and sequence of topics, and no math memorization. One can assume that her approval extends to the Elementary and Secondary Education Flexibility Waiver which eliminates local control. This is then, the great contradiction-- she revels in the system from which she emerged and lifts it up--but advocates for the exact opposite.

 For all of Alaska's efforts to gain control over its own education system, the current Commissioner of Education, Mike Hanley, has done all that he can to place the state under the control of the federal government through the ESEA Flexibility waiver.  But unlike that earlier time, it is the whole state, not just rural Alaska, that is under federal control via a state operated system.

The system that produced Mary Janis was largely free of federal control and state control in matters of curriculum and instruction.

History of Alaska Education 

The independent schools had originally been established in 1900 by an act of congress. In 1912, independent, locally controlled schools operated in the incorporated towns at Eagle, Fairbanks, Valdez, Nome, Juneau, Ketchikan, Skagway, Douglas, and Wrangell. There were large church schools that operated at St. Stephens- Ft. Yukon, Nenana, and another near Barrow. These latter schools produced some of the first college graduates in Alaska. The first Alaskan born admitted to college, Walter Harper, died when his ship sank outside of Juneau--his friend Johnny Fredson, left a year later and returned as the first Alaskan born and raised college graduate. Another noted graduate of these schools was a gentleman who was later known as Howard Rock, who would play a pivotal role in Alaska's history.

Rev. William Loola, Circa 1912, teaching class courtesy of Archives, UAF. While UAF attributes the picture to Ft. Yukon, Hudson Stuck notes that William Loola's school at that time operated in Circle from 1896-1912, and moved to Ft. Yukon later. Loola had attended the schools established by Archbishop MacDonald, from whom Hudson Stuck took over. 

Prior to Statehood, there were independent schools were just that--independent and locally controlled. Despite popular myth, there were schools that operated in the North country free of government influence; not all were white people imposing white culture.  Even on the eve of statehood, the territorial department of education had no authority over the independent schools. According to the U.S. Department of the Interior's records,

Independent school districts are established by people of any incorporated city and its adjacent settlement or settlements; provided that such districts do not embrace more than 500 square miles. Each district has a school board of five members who have the exclusive management and control of school matters in the district...

Further...

Incorporated school districts are established in any town, village, or settlement outside the limits of an incorporated town or independent school district that has a population of 100 or more...Schools in incorporated districts are managed by a school board of 5 persons who are elected in a manner similar to board members in incorporated cities and have similar powers

The territorial Commissioner of Education ONLY had power in the rural areas...

Schools outside the limits of incorporated cities, independent school districts, and incorporated school districts are established by the Commissioner of Education with the consent of the Territorial Board of Education. The affairs of these schools are administered through the office of the Commissioner of Education.

When the Department of Education was created in 1959 Statehood Organization Act. It was given powers over educational activities, but with the following provision:  "...nothing in this Act shall be construed to extend or enlarge the State's functions with respect to independent school systems now established by law."

It is quite clear that the intent was for citizens to have local control. Certainly, the notion that some office in Juneau, would run the education of the independent schools was an alien concept to those Alaskans who founded the state, and some of those folks were pretty darn liberal. Bailey v Fairbanks upheld the right of independent schools to raise revenue and be independent, but this was on the eve of the 1964 Mandatory Borough Act that would forever change the landscape of education finance. 

What is important here is the notion of local control of schools.  It should not be regarded as some "wing-bat tea party notion," but an idea that was embraced by Alaskans on both sides of the aisle at statehood. It wasn't even a debated issue--it was an issue upon which there was a broad consensus among Alaskans. 

Carol Barnhardt provides an insight into the sort of education system Janis and others of her generation would have known. Prior to Janis'  time, Alaska had three education systems--a system of independent, locally operated schools by local school districts, Bureau of Indian Affairs schools, and military base schools. An effort to unify the state's schools came with the Division of State Operated System (SOS) which took control of the schools on military bases and some of the rural schools.

The idea behind the creation of the SOS was that the BIA would gradually transfer control of their schools to the SOS. The goal was to get the federal government out of the Alaska's education system. The SOS functioned from 1965-1976, and operated as one big school district. It went through some changes, but the SOS ended  when the Regional Education Authorities (REAs) were created to give districts local control. The transition to REAS happened  July 1, 1976. As noted by Moorehouse, MacBeath, and Leask, 

As a side note, the BIA still operated schools in rural Alaska, so while some regard Alaska as having a two tier system, it was really a three tier system--one with local control, one with state control, and one operated by the federal government.

But those in Anchorage during the time that Janis attended Alaskan schools would have known local control.

The system that Mary Janis knew had thrown off the State Textbook Selection Committee--and fought for local decision making. By the time it was repealed, it had been unfunded for several years, and when Janis was likely in elementary school a local textbook committee or the teacher picked the books. There were no state standards in the 1970-1990s and local districts ran curriculum and instruction--often by trusting the teacher and providing the teacher with support. There were not even state guidelines in Alaska until the 1990s, and that only came about because of federal dollars by way of Alaska 2000.  Even in the 1990s, there was extreme distrust that the guidelines might turn into standards some day, and hearken back to the old SOS system.  

The education system that produced Janis did not have state standards, it didn't have high stakes testing, and it didn't have teacher evaluations tied to student test scores. Tests were written by the teachers who taught the students and the parents and teachers knew each other socially as well as through the school. This is vastly different from federal tests imposed upon districts from Juneau.

Hiring and firing practices during the era that Janis grew up were established locally too, and would have varied slightly across districts and determined by the local school board. This is vastly different from the federally mandated system of accountability that has been imposed from Juneau that requires student test scores and other student learning outcome (SLO) indicators to be used in pay, retention, and promotion decisions. In fact, such things were not necessary because if a teacher wasn't performing, it would be known to those locally. 

Those Alaskans who were raised in the SOS did not necessarily receive a world class education--many of them did not even have high school available to them. In fact, there was a law suit about that very issue--Molly Hootch. But the goal of SOS was really to wrangle control of Alaska's schools from the federal government. How different is that from today when we have people in Juneau who serve as  compliance officers for federal programs. 

Many might argue several factors for the SOS being ineffectual in providing a top notch education, but I suspect one of the reasons that this is so is that they did not have local control. When you have a system where the decisions are made by a distant administrator, be it Juneau or Washington, DC, you will not have the same result as when you have local control. 

Now Come The Campaigns To Raise Property Taxes for Common Core

How can a school board president not possibly have a clue as to the cost that her regime has imposed on borough and district budgets? This is irresponsible in good times--and even worse in times of austerity.

This crisis is much bigger than any of you realize. It has two components: a fiscal crisis and a constitutional crisis. First is the fiscal crisis that was created by Common Core that is coming to light at the state level, but the bigger crisis has been at the local level for quite some time.  Our state has been dipping into the Constitutional Reserve longer than most realize.  To meet the requirements of ESEA local districts have also been dipping into their reserves-- and for many those resources are nearly depleted. This spending has largely been disguised, but won't be for much longer.

We must change those who are in leadership. However, we must also fix the structure of education administration and restore it to the way in which the Alaska Constitution had it designed.  However, it should be noted that our fiscal crisis in education is direct result of the constitutional crisis that most do not realize is upon us. It is this second one that has allowed Common Core into this state and will continue to allow all manner of horse hockey without voter approval. That will be the subject of a subsequent blog post.

First, the fiscal issues. Many Alaskans may not realize that the Alaska Department of Education and its rapid growth in employment and contracts is funded by federal funds--state funds are a lesser majority of dollars. This means that federal concerns are the majority of their day.

Commissioner Mike Hanley has repeatedly stated that there is no funding associated with the ESEA Flexibility waiver. However, there are a few inescapable facts.

1) Elizabeth Nudleman, Director of School Finance  testified before the House Education Committee on February 25th, 2015 that 97% of all money that goes to the districts is in the form of Federal Impact Aid. This has NOTHING to do with the ESEA Flex waiver.  This is strictly a function of federal lands and employees in the state of Alaska.

2) Several positions at the Alaska Department of Education and Early Development are federally funded positions that are tied to giving the adaptive common core test called the AMP. Deputy Commissioner Les Morse testified in House Finance that several staff positions were predicated on the ESEA test. (start at the 1:59 mark here).

3) Title funds pay for administrative overhead. Over 53% of staff at the Alaska Department of Education per the testimony of Dr. Susan Macaulay of the Teach and Learn Division, as shown in the video below and the pages from her testimony included below.

This waiver has done nothing more but kept a bloated education establishment afloat and imposed unfunded mandates on the district.  A large number of positions at the Alaska's Education Department of Education are paid by the Federal Government.

 This is the document that DEED presented in Senate House Education Testimony on February 10, 2015.

So, since these positions are not costing the state money, this might be good, right?  Well, not really, because what it really means is that they are beholden to the federal mandates that justify their position. It means that over half of the work of the Alaska Department of Education and Early Development (DEED) is federal compliance work.

 

They impose mandates--and those mandates have gone unfunded. The funding goes to pay DEED, and not fund the mandates.  It means that the implementation of Common Core and the Elementary and Secondary Education Act is largely at the district level.

That explains why the reserves at the district level, those back up funds to cover unintended circumstances.... they are quite depleted across the local districts and boroughs.

So let's take a look at how the ESEA waiver is affecting borough budgets.





Anchorage School District adopted the Common Core outright before the Alaska State Common Core standards were adopted. They have been in and out of a budget crisis for a while. They had projecting a $20 million budget shortfall earlier this year, but they magically emerged with a surplus. They have already raised property taxes and now they have accumulated a bit of a rainy day fund. However, that will quickly being spent down. ASD has also resisted releasing figures on how much they have spent implementing Common Core. The Common Core implementation is wrapped around their Social and Emotional Learning curriculum, so it seems they are unable to come up with a figure. However, if their per capita student expenditures on ESEA are on par with other districts, then a lower end figure of $35 million might be a good estimate.

The Fairbanks North Star School District  has an $11 million shortfall, and discussions are underway to raise property taxes. The rainy day fund is gone. Rumors about about cuts to Response To Intervention (RTI) programs, which are suppose to part of ESEA and IDEA federal legislation.  In 2014, the district estimated it would need $15 million to complete implementation of the standards. This did not include digital assets (computers, broadband, etc). The district will not release figures from 2012-2013 on the standards, but this would have been the purchase of Envision math common core texts and teacher inservice training. There is a very large homeschool community in Fairbanks, and they have faced significant enrollment declines due to the common core and other issues.

Mat-Su School District  The deficit projection for this borough begins at $6.4 million for the 2016 fiscal year, and grows to $10.6 million by 2019. Let's not forget last year's headline with a $7 Million short fall for Mat-Su. The enrollment in the Mat-Su district is close to the enrollment of Fairbanks, but they can piggy back off of the Anchorage in-service circuit to save costs. Mat-Su also had optic lines in place, funded by earlier grants from the Department of Commerce, so some of their digital costs have been offset. Nevertheless, Mat-Su has been hit hard from a budgetary standpoint too.

Delta Junction also faced a deficit. They closed Delta Greely Middle School and may take additional measures.

Sitka faces $600,000 in budget cuts. While this seems paltry compared to the other districts, Sitka is at least honest about what it has spent thus far on the standards--$1.8 Million. Their reserves have been depleted. Listen to how Lon Garrison gives a fairly honest account of what is going down in Sitka. They have been taking money out of their reserves to pay for mandates.

Notice what Lon Garrison says--$1.6 million in additional cost, and he placed it squarely on the ESEA waiver which required the Alaska Common Core Standards, the AMP, and the teacher accountability system based on those scores. Notice what else he says... that no money came with the mandates. They are taking the money out of their reserves to do that... that figure comes out to $1,400 per student.

Then there is Kodiak Island School District. They came to the Fly-In to request a reduction in regulations regarding day care inspections. However, I am certain that Kodiak would not find that requirement excessively onerous if they had not spent over $1.8 million to comply with the ESEA Flexibility waiver and spent off their reserves. With 2,500 students, Kodiak has spent roughly $720 per student to comply with that waiver. While enrollment fell by 3%, they have had to reduce staff at Kodiak Island by 20%.

But let's note something here about perspective. Katie Oliver was there to lobby to eliminate the secondary inspections for pre-schools housed in local schools--not to eliminate the unfunded mandates. Perhaps it escaped her notice that Kodiak might be overly burdened by that regulation if they had not just spent $1.8 million to meet the requirements of ESEA.


One thing I noticed is that legislators began to listen very closely when districts began to talk about their unfunded mandates, particularly ones that they could do something about. If I was one of those Fly-In people, I would make certain that I had those cost figures for the next Fly-In. I would be looking to impress upon the legislature how much property taxes might have to rise to meet unfunded mandates. See, for legislators, THAT is something they CAN do something about. They can get those things off the plate.

If the required local contribution is upheld, there will be some really ugly elections. If Common Core and its accompanying requirements don't get repealed, property taxes will rise. If the Required Local Contribution is struck down, as I expect, then the state budget crisis will force its repeal. Either way... The ball is in the courts and the legislature, and the standards,  structure and the governance must change.

Addendum: In a presentation by Bering Straight School District in 2013, requirements by DEED are listed above fuel costs as a cost driver in delivering education (second to the last slide).

An Open Letter to Senator Murkowski

February 28, 2015

Honorable Lisa Murkowski                                    

The United States Senate

709 Hart Senate Office Building

Washington, DC 205100001

(202) 224-6665

RE:  Kline/ Rokita HR5 the so called "Student Success Act of 2015”

Dear Senator Murkowski:

You are my U.S. Senator. You are also a ranking member of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pension Committee (HELP). I am asking that you stop HR5 should it make its way to the U.S. Senate because if a state legislature accepts federal funding for education, a host of parent and local rights are waived.

HR 5 may have been stopped in the House of Representatives. In the event it creeps its way in the middle of the night to the United States Senate, it would most likely be assigned to HELP or brought to the floor in a late night vote. With all due respect to Speaker Boehner, this bill is a disaster. Maybe they would like it in Ohio, but it is not suitable for the rest of America and decidedly not for Alaska.

Please do not let HR5, the so called "Student Success Act of 2015" or any similar legislation, out of the HELP committee and do all you can to keep it off the U.S. Senate floor. Please use every procedural trick you might have to stop it.

HR5 masquerades as schools choice, but it is not. It is fascism with a government monitor, called an ombudsman who will enforce federal mandates in public, private, and homeschools, even those schools who do not want funds or reforms, but will be compelled to accept funds and reforms. This "ombudsman" gains his authority from the state legislature acceptance of federal funds. Thus, whether a family accepts funds from the state is irrelevant, the critical issue is that the state legislature accepts the funding.


Because of the character limits on email I refer you to details on the bill at http://tiny.cc/HR5




Sincerely,

Alaskans Against Common Core.

HR 5: When Fascism Masquerades As School Choice

Dear Alaskans, 

I hope Kline/ Rokita HR5 is dead. However, it may not be. House leadership likes this bill, and things have a way of resurrecting. 

Senator Lisa Murkowski is a ranking member of the Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee (HELP) where this bill would likely be assigned. Please write her and ask her to stop this bill in the event it rears its ugly head in the Senate or any bill with similar provisions.

Because of character restrictions, I have a tiny URL for this page so you may include a link to it when you write the Senator:   http://tiny.cc/HR5   You may see a copy of my letter to her here. 

HR5 masquerades as schools choice, but it is not. It is fascism with a government monitor, called an ombudsman who will enforce federal mandates in public, private, and homeschools, even those schools who do not want funds or reforms, but will be compelled to accept funds and reforms. This "ombudsman" gains his authority from the state legislature acceptance of federal funds. Thus, whether a family accepts funds from the state is irrelevant, the critical issue is that the state legislature accepts the funding.

Here are highlights with pages, sections and direct quotes from Kline/ Rokita HR5.

1. FEDERAL TAKEOVER OF STATE AUTHORITIES AND RIGHTS

Subpart 4, Section 6561 (page 564 on the pdf) says:

“STATES TO RETAIN RIGHTS AND AUTHORITIES THEY DO NOT EXPRESSLY WAIVE” –

How will a state “expressly waive” its authorities and rights?-- By the state legislature accepting federal money.

A state that acts “inconsistently with any requirement that might be imposed by the Secretary as a condition of receiving that assistance” will waive its authority because the legislature of that state would have “expressly approved that [federal] program.” If a state’s or a parent’s rights conflicted with a requirement, too bad: the federal bill claims authority to enforce obedience from states because the states take the money.

Read: “nor shall any authority of a State have any obligation to obey… unless the legislature…. approved that program and in so doing, have waived the state’s rights and authorities to act inconsistently with any requirement that might be imposed by the Secretary...” So states have no obligation to obey unless they approved federally promoted programs (which the states, including Alaska, have done in multiple ways). Can anyone imagine Alaska Department of Education and Early Development turn down federal funds?  And what of Federal Impact Aid?

Essentially, participating in the program to receive funds requires states to waive their states’ rights and those of  the parent over their child if they conflict with ANY requirements of the program.

2. FEDERAL TAKEOVER OF PARENTAL RIGHTS

On page 567, Section 6564, HR 5 states“Other than the terms and conditions expressly approved by State law under the terms of this subpart, control over public education and parental rights to control the education of their children are vested exclusively within the autonomous zone of independent authority reserved to the states and individual Americans by the United States Constitution, other than the Federal Government’s undiminishable obligation to enforce minimum Federal standards of equal protection and due process.”

By tying inalienable parental rights to the receipt of funds and federal “obligations,” the bill just claimed authority to take parental rights away, under conditions it has just defined.

Even in the statement of purpose on page 11, the bill minimizes parents and maximizes itself, by “affording parents substantial and meaningful opportunities to participate in the education of their children”.

In Alaska, that means any homeschool parent through a correspondence program or in public school has lost their parental rights. In fact, it may be that parents who do NOT accept state money will be atrisk because the STATE LEGISLATURE accepted the money. 

3. GOVERNMENT CONTROL IN PRIVATE AND RELIGIOUS SCHOOLS – NEUTRALIZATION OF RELIGION 

On page 78-82 of HR 5, it states that  “ensure that teachers and families of the children participate, on an equitable basis, in services and activities… SECULAR, NEUTRAL, NONIDEOLOGICAL.— Such educational services or other benefits, including materials and equipment, shall be secular, neutral and nonideological.”

For those who accept money at present from Alaska for education, this may not be a major issue because it is already in state law. However, it will be for those who currently do not accept money. All homeschools and private schools must must alter its beliefs to match mandates for altered materials, equipment and services? Families who homeschool privately will also have to implement these reforms. This is madness, and would be regarded as intolerable among Alaskans.

How is this choice? It isn't“school choice” and “backpack funding,” but fascism.  

On page 79, there are several definitions of services that go way beyond traditional school functions. The definition of services include: one on one counseling, mentoring, educational television, computer technology and more. The federal government has no right to mandate that private schools must give services that are secular and non-religious.

4. GOVERNMENT APPOINTED MONITORS FOR PRIVATE SCHOOLS Page 82-86

An ombudsman, if you haven’t heard the term, is a paid position, a role in which a person investigates and mediates official complaints for a living. This bill mandates that private schools will be assigned a state-appointed ombudsman to monitor private schools: “The State educational agency involved shall designate an ombudsman to monitor and enforce the requirements.”

On page 82 the bill states that the LEA (school district) must consult with private school officials and must transmit results of their “agreement” to a state-appointed ombudsman. On page 86 the federal bill allows a private school to complain to the government: “private school official shall have the right to file a complaint with the State educational agency that the local educational agency did not engage in consultation that was meaningful and timely”. These are private schools. They never, ever have had any legal mandate to report to, complain to, speak to, or even think about state or federal governments. These are private schools; private means not public, not under government mandates. This ends private schools as they are currently understood.

The ombudsman will have additional duties, as you will see in the next section. 

5. FEDERAL TAKEOVER OF PRIVATE SCHOOL FUNDING AND BENEFITS-P 535

On page 535, the bill slashes freedom by mandating equity for private and public schools. “Benefits provided under this section for private school children, teachers, and other educational personnel shall be equitable in comparison to services and other benefits for public school children, teachers, and other educational personnel”. The government has no right to command a private school to give more benefits, nor to withhold benefits, from private school teachers, staff or children. The same page states: “Expenditures for educational services and other benefits to eligible private school children, teachers, and other service personnel shall be equal to the expenditures for participating public school children.” The ombudsman’s job, according to page 80, is to “monitor and enforce” such “equity for private school children”

In the event this is not enough to convince you, here are some additional tidbits on HR5. 

HR 5 denies parents their rights over their children. Reference HR5 pages 488; 522-555

HR 5 legislation creates the radical transformation of tax collection through the assigned destruction and hostile takeover of our local neighborhood schools.

HR 5 violates states’ rights under the United States Constitution and is in violation of Federal law.

HR 5 is designed to destroy local, public neighborhood schools through usurpation of elected school boards’ authorities and responsibilities.

HR 5 will destroy all private education in America-- legislating Title I “choice” vouchers that will “follow the child,” enforcing HR 5 compliance in EVERY PRIVATE AND RELIGIOUS SCHOOL.

HR 5 would legislate services to these Title I “choice” children called DIRECT STUDENT SERVICES AS A VOUCHER that must be equitable and comparable to any public school, which is needed to satisfy Common Core.

HR 5 will destroy representative government, all non-governmental schools, and standardize education across this nation. This overreach of the federal government is in direct violation of our United States Constitution which dictates separation of federal jurisdiction vs. State jurisdiction.

Additional References: 

Dr. Sandra Stotsky's Reply to Speaker John Boehner.
  

https://whatiscommoncore.wordpress.com/2015/02/21/student-success-act-to-crush-religious-freedom-private-school-autonomy-parental-rights-no-on-hr5/

https://commoncorediva.wordpress.com/2015/02/28/sic-em-saturday-no-laurels-to-rest-on-yet/