As a volunteer for Angela Engel's campaign to be the state representative for Centennial's House District 37, I submit the following op ed from her.
- Joe Marquez
This November 7th ballot offers yet another bureaucratic attempt to "fix" our schools. Before saying "yes" to Amendment 39
- the spending mandate proposed to restrict 65% of school funding - voters should first reflect on the results of earlier promises.
Seven years ago, under the title Senate Bill 186, Colorado legislators adopted a policy that promoters claimed would "fix" our public schools, increase graduation rates, and close the achievement gap. So far under SB 186, we've spent millions of dollars implementing school report cards (SAR's) and the Colorado State Assessment Program (CSAP). The cost includes countless faculty hours, hoards of resources, and the immeasurable cost of missed opportunities on a mandate
- that has ultimately forced educators to teach to the lowest common denominator.
The results are in: high school drop-out rates have steadily increased, fewer graduates are enrolling in college, the discrepancy in performance between the wealthy and impoverished continues to widen, our schools have grown more segregated, and SAT scores have reportedly declined.
Colorado schools are already strapped with five different systems of accountability and regulatory agencies; 1) No Child Left Behind, 2) School Accountability Reports, 3) The Colorado Department of Education, 4) locally elected school boards, and (5) school administrators. These systems are often in conflict and compete over dwindling school budgets, finite teacher time and limited student resources.
1)
Federal
No Child Left Behind - requires all children to be 100% proficient by 2014 according to a standardized test administered once a year
2)
State (SB 186)
School Accountability Reports - evaluate schools based on student's answers on the Colorado State Assessment Program.
3)
Colorado Department of Education
A regulating agency responsible for accrediting and monitoring schools, licensing teachers, and enforcing state statutes.
4)
Local school boards
Elected by the citizens which they serve. Locally provide oversight and ensure that the community values are reflected in the classrooms.
5)
Site Based Accountability
Superintendent, principal, schoolaccountability teams, parents and students.
The past 15 years have represented significant changes in the way we teach children. I have witnessed this transformation through the eyes of a teacher, an administrator, a researcher, and a mother. I can tell you very simply that policies do not improve the lives and learning of our children, people do.
During the 1980's the executive branch made an unsuccessful attempt to have catsup reclassified as a vegetable in school lunches. Today's educational policies have been successful at reclassifying "correct answers on multiple choice questions" as thinking and learning. We are just beginning to understand the devastating effects of this practice.
Amendment 39 imposes yet another arbitrary layer of red tape to the bureaucratic nightmare referred to as "education reform." Teachers are spending too much time addressing legislative policies, government mandates, and narrow requirements that prohibit them from spending the necessary time to implement an engaging and challenging curriculum and meeting the unique needs of each child.
This latest attempt to strip districts of local control and micro-manage our schools doesn't add any more money to the pot in a state that is ranked near the bottom in school funding. It doesn't solve the problems of inadequacy, or the inequities in school resources. For example, rural schools with high transportation costs would be hamstrung by Amendment 39.
Amendment 39 is simply another exercise in number shifting, another undermining attempt to play politics with our children. Say NO to Amendment 39.Say NO to the addition of yet another misguided rule, increasing the excessive regulations and government mandates chaotically sustained by a weighty and costly bureaucracy.
While you are at it, Vote NO on Referendum J
, which also offers no tangible benefit to our children. Another poorly conceived mandate - no value and no substance - kind of like claiming the nutritional benefits of catsup.
- Angela Engel
www.angelaengel.com
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