DELAWARE WATCH
Puff piece on Denn aside...
I think both sides are coming at the education issue incorrectly.
One side wants to throw more money at it, and regulate how much money should go to where.
The other side says "To heck with public schools, let's fund private schools," therefore making them public school.
How about simplifying the system a little bit. If you want to reduce cost, reduce overhead. Combine schools in regionally close areas, like Seaford and Laurel, for instance. Two school systems five miles apart, with big populations.
Another idea: how about remodeling and adding on to existing schools instead of building huge mega-schools on new property. There's more overhead that isn't needed.
Case in point: Laurel (and you upstaters will have to excuse my slower lower references) wants to build not only a new high school, but also a new middle school, and remodel, and add onto it's elementary school. Basically, they want to build a whole new district. The middle and high schools are functioning just fine, and maybe need more space. A 1 million dollar new wing is cheaper than a 15 million dollar project.
Why not look decreasing overhead by decreasing overhead, instead of regulating percentage of funding allocation? Audit the school systems, recommend budget changes, etc.
Laurel's Problem besides population growth is aging infastucture which is a problem plauging most Delaware School districts They build a brand new High school but the old High School is made a middle or Elementery school and you are still stuck with the problems of a in some cases 75+ year Old Building
Brian you need to relook at your map of Lower Slower the Town centers of Laurel and Seaford Which is about the distance between the 2 High Schools are about 8 Miles apart the actual school district areas that each covers from one end to the other is a much greater distance than that
and if you combine these two what about Delamr which lies in both MD and DE the last town in De between Laurel and then DE Line
If anything go to a county School district similar to MD and fugure out
the Delmar issue This still however DOES NOT SOLVE THE AGING INFASTRUCTURE BUT WILL CUT BLOATED ADMIN COSTS WHICH ARE AN ISSUE IN ALL DISTRICTS
Gents,
You can reduce the number of districts to 1, rehabilitate every old school building till the cows come home, slash costs in a thousand ways but non of it will provide a guarantee that adequate funding goes to the costs of instruction until we operate on the Denn model of "x percentage of dollars must be spent on 'people who provide direct services to kids and the materials those people need to do their job.'"
The people of our state deserve that kind of assurance.
get rid of some of the staggering overlapping Admin costs it just might free up money for what you are talking about and Some Infastucture improvements
the State also needs to get a handle on out of control development our student population is growing faster than schools districts can handle
I almost fell over when I review Denn’s proposal and looking at John Carney’s vision on education via his campaign webpage I see these two guys a bid in tandem.
What’s interesting in comparison to some of the republican candidate’s positions is they are willing to stay and fight reforming traditional public schools rather then lean heavily toward charter schools.
The charter school concept has its merits but data does reveal children in the most need aren’t achieving to proclaim charter schools are a success for high poverty minority students.
Carney’s and Denn’s plan fits right in to many of my positions and that is way I left the Republican Party to join those who want to sincerely address the issue plaguing public schools. John Carney even has a plan to try to address school discipline.
I must say I feel a Lt. Governors plans can only be achieved with a supportive governor on the same page. Though DSTP is a total disaster it was Carper plan whole-heartedly supported by his Lt. Governor Ruth Ann Minner. But I’ll give he 10 point for adding extra teacher know to educators as Minner Teachers for Math and Reading. SEED well, I am warming up to it though the funding is quite shaky but SEED benefits students.
Though education isn’t the only concerns we face however it represents about 31% of the state budget ( AL thanks for correcting me) and it’s quite important for the success of our children’s future.
I almost fell over when I review Denn’s proposal and looking at John Carney’s vision on education via his campaign webpage I see these two guys a bid in tandem.
What’s interesting in comparison to some of the republican candidate’s positions is they are willing to stay and fight reforming traditional public schools rather then lean heavily toward charter schools.
The charter school concept has its merits but data does reveal children in the most need aren’t achieving to proclaim charter schools are a success for high poverty minority students.
Carney’s and Denn’s plan fits right in to many of my positions and that is way I left the Republican Party to join those who want to sincerely address the issue plaguing public schools. John Carney even has a plan to try to address school discipline.
I must say I feel a Lt. Governors plans can only be achieved with a supportive governor on the same page. Though DSTP is a total disaster it was Carper plan whole-heartedly supported by his Lt. Governor Ruth Ann Minner. But I’ll give he 10 point for adding extra teacher know to educators as Minner Teachers for Math and Reading. SEED well, I am warming up to it though the funding is quite shaky but SEED benefits students.
Though education isn’t the only concerns we face however it represents about 31% of the state budget ( AL thanks for correcting me) and it’s quite important for the success of our children’s future.
bill lee has had the exact same commitment to a higher percentage of dollars in the classroom on his site for weeks. Where's the post praising Lee?
Which D Governor candidate has committed to this policy of Denn's?
Before ANY schools are built in Delaware, someone please inform the Delaware Dimwits about "Green Schools". A simple google on Green Schools will tell you the future for construction of schools. Want to save money in the future for operation, want to have healthier kids and teachers, want to create new jobs for union workers, architects and create schools that will operate with: waterless toilets, solar roofs, natural light windows (5% improvement in scores just on natural light windows), and much much more. Check it out...the wave of future school construction.
I have sent the info to many of the "electeds" and "wanabees", but who knows if they can operate a computer to do a simple google search of the new green schools...its a national initiative.
"Under his proposal, school districts would be required to spend a certain percentage of appropriated state money on "people who provide direct services to kids and the materials those people need to do their job." Denn said the exact percentages and what expenses fall into that category would be the result of about three months of discussions with teachers, administrators and community members."
The problems with this
1) the definition and the people who are making them; is professional development for teachers a qualifying service or material? what about new teacher orientation? kilroy can tell you that these people are experts in hiding expenses; a large portion of the 58% the Denn now counts as going into the classroom in Christiana and Red Clay doesn't get anywhere near there, I'd suspect
2) Delaware law cannot overturn the Federal restrictions on consolidate grant monies; if you take them out of the equation you are eliminating a huge percentage of the district budgets; if you leave them in, you really destroy any legitimate flexibility
3) The inclusion of "persons" gets into the rewriting of funding rules and telling each district exactly what it has to do with the local share of salaries
I'm not saying this is a bad place to start, but abstract formulae like this almost always lead to bigger binds than they relieve.
anon | 07.06.08 |
"bill lee has had the exact same commitment to a higher percentage of dollars in the classroom on his site for weeks. Where's the post praising Lee?"
Per Lee's website:
"School choice and charter schools are a necessity for parents and children who have been failed by our current system and must be protected."
The big difference is Carney and Denn understands we must confront the issues within traditional public schools. The schools are failing; it’s the legislators who failed to enact laws to address student discipline, reform school finances and hold school officials more accountable, Red Clay violates state contract bidding laws and no one was charged with a crime. An agenda of building charter schools doesn’t address the broken public schools system. Will there be charter schools for Special Ed students ? What about the three high poverty charter schools under “academic review” heading for the fait of Marion T Academy? Marion T students are all going back to the traditional public schools because their school charter was revoke. Sure DSEA has an agenda focused on self-preservation however so does those legislators’ working in stealth pushing the charter agenda.
Let’s fix the system we have not build another Titanic,
I support charter schools but with legislators on their school boards and school district permitted to charter schools this is a bad formula for the entire charter school movement as it doesn’t ensure a fait and equable education for “all students.”
I was reluctant to respond because I like Bill Lee and feel he fellow republicans who are up to their asses in involvement with certain charter schools and a certain new up and coming charter school Government failed to address the concerns we are having in our public schools and have no right to build a school network that has a smell of re-segregation.
2) Delaware law cannot overturn the Federal restrictions on consolidate grant monies; if you take them out of the equation you are eliminating a huge percentage of the district budgets; if you leave them in, you really destroy any legitimate flexibility
Steve,
The Consolidated Grant is reflects state and federal grants and is the means for the school district to apply. Title 1 Part A, Title II Part A (Teacher Quality), Title II, Part D Technology. Title III, Title IV, Title V and Perkins are all Federal Funded Grants. Curriculum and Professional Development, Extra Time, Early Intervention Reading, School Climate, Teacher to Teacher Cadre and Limited English Proficient grant as state grants.
Using 2006 Red Clay Grant Application, Red Clay received $8,633,732.00 via the Consolidated Grant. This does no include special grant applied for via District Grant Writers.
There is federal legislation call Ed-Flex:
“Ed-Flex is not a funding program. Rather, it is a program that delegates to states the authority to grant waivers of certain federal requirements.”
Critic of Ed-Flex felt this provision represents nothing more than a blank checkbook.
Also, the SES funding ( Supplement Education Services) is a portion of Title ! Set aside and is require to use for “Title 1” funded schools that fail to meet the federal achievement standards. Here again the requirements to use SES is defined buy has flexibly within
My written complaint to the USDOE OIG ( Office of Inspector General) was based on my concerns that Red Clay “may” have allowed some of the SES go down the drain during the financial meltdown. When I was a member of the Red Clay CFRC I had questions about the substantiation of expenditures of SES that went unanswered as did the request for regular monthly Object Code of Expenditure that legitimize the district monthly report based on IBU’s which this how much we spend all together in given district departments but did not have the attached line-item expenditures.
Funding associated with NCLB nets the State of Delaware approximately $165,000.000.00. This is the reason Delaware doesn’t the Feds to kiss their ass. In reality the feds cannot require Delaware to conduct standardized testing and participate in the school rating system. However, the $165 million dollar is the carrot on the stick.
The has been concerns that the states and their school districts have been ripping of the Feds particularly in regards to Title 1 funding that serves students of high poverty providing them with “supplemental reading and math.” Some school get more Title 1 funding then others based on the school poverty level calculated based on Free and Reduced Lunch Applications. The schools with the highest poverty are to be served first and many qualify for School-Wide Title 1.
Here is the grey area! Title 1 is a “supplemental” program which means in addition to. Therefore students should be receiving two separate reading classes a day. One paid for with state and local funds and the other with federal Title 1 funds. If not then Title 1 is really a supplant program. No one is tracking to ensure Supplemental isn’t really being use as supplant.
Without getting in a long technical analogy there is tremendous waste of education dollars and the lack of real financial transparency shrouds the truth. Such as did the superintendent really need $30,000.00 of new office furniture when he moved into the new digs at Linden Park Office Complex?
When a legislators introduces legislation calling on school districts to put the checkbook ledger online for all to see line-item expenditures and rather spend more energy rally business people and parents to fend off the attacked of DSTP on charter school then rallying the community to demand the political opposition to support the transparency legislation then we have a problem.
I know Matt Denn and John Carney or Jack Markell supports the charter concept. However, the real question do we not fight to address the concerns in traditional public schools? After all when the high poverty schools fail as did Marion T Academy these poor kids will need to come back to the schools they escaped.
The failure of public school is a direct failure of the state legislators who failed to enact real financial reform and real accountability. The problem with school discipline is due to the failure of legislation holding parents more accruable and inadequate funding to deal with disruptive students who apparently suffer from mental health issues or severe trauma associated with dysfunction at home.
It’s time to step-up and address the problems plaguing public schools on all fronts.
Then again if government can open itself up why would they force public schools who are an extension of government?
Once again if we do not get a handle on Infastructure and overcrowding along with the out of control administrative costs of running a school district none of these so called bright ideas are going to work and as far as the charter schools if some one wants to send their kids to a so called special school let them pay for it or get a scholorship sucking money out of the public schools in this day and age will not work for those that are disadvantaged they will be left further behind in the current setup
If what I read was correct we are currently spending 31% of the state budget on education and our schools only work for those who are already ahead of most kids.
We also need to equalize pay for teacher across the state to solve the problem of good teachers leaving the smaller districts because of finances
I grew up in Massachusetts, and my middle school was built in 1888, my high school was built in 1967. The middle school building was a high school for over 79 years.
The only reason the high school was built was because they couldn't add to the building without removing a street and displacing families, so it was turned into a middle school.
Why can't additions be added to existing schools, and renovations be done to existing infrastructure?
It's not like Laurel High and Laurel Middle are in a city block, and limited by linear space. There are open fields behind each. There is no reason, aside from sheer competition with other districts, for new buildings for each.
Parts of Laurel middle are already well over 70 years old middle school in middle town same thing old sussex central in Georgetown same thing ther are many other examples of this throughout the state yes these buildings have had some upgrades and renovations over the years but I magine you can only do so muchuntil the building is just worn out
old boiler and plumbing systems use pipes built into the concrete floors that aren't always replaced in a timely manner asbestos issues exist in these old buildings.
Some districts have found its just cheaper in the long run to build new then try to keep up the old
nice comments. nicely maintained postings
Addiction Recovery Delaware
The only responsible thing to do then, is if new construction HAS to be done, is to make sure it is done in a way that will make the building last for over a century. Make sure that the structure is sound enough, and expandable to save money in the long run, instead of having to build new schools every thirty years.
Granted, Laurel High needs something, but I don't see why it can't be renovated, instead of rebuilt. I'm sure 90% of it is appearance of public structures, like the cafeteria, gym, and auditorium, which are small by modern standards. If it was a simple case of more classrooms, then a new wing could be added, attached by a hallway very simply.
I just think we're stuck with the "It's not shiny, buy something new" mentality that wastes money.
Brian: check out the Green Schools concept. They address the issue you question.Agreed, schools must be built,we need the jobs, and the schools.
However, it makes no sense "just to build a school or even add on" without making them "green".
Constructing schools with last century technogolgy,citizens won't save a dime.Green schools SAVE us big bucks in operational costs, leaving more money for "actual programs and teacher raises".
I do not support the 2015 initiative, thats old century thinking. I would direct you to another source: deinformedvoters.org, click on education and review the Quality District Model, proven success!
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