Posted 11:08 PM by Susan Darst Williams

ORD, NEB., BOND ISSUE APPROACHES VOTE:
SHOULD A SMALL TOWN BE SPENDING $10 MILLION
IN THIS ECONOMIC CLIMATE?

It's hard to see how people could vote for the massive, $10 million school bond issue that's coming to a head in the central Nebraska town of Ord. But sources say it's going to be a whisker-thin margin, either way. Results of the balloting will be in by mid-November.

A committee made up of pro-school district residents is urging a "yes" vote, claiming that snazzy school facilities will attract new residents to Ord. But an opposing committee has gathered information which indicates that the fire and safety violations at the school that the bond issue is intended to fix could be fixed for much less than the school officials are claiming, and that the nonacademic improvements that would be made, such as the practice gym, are off-target in the economic conditions of now and the foreseeable future.

Ord's student population has dropped to 480 from 515 five years ago, while its spending per pupil per year has increased to $12,817.98, adding five teachers to the payroll. Ord teachers make an average of $45,709 -- great money in that neck o' the Nebraska woods.

The $9.8 million bond issue is being sought to add a practice gym to the 1928 building as the fourth major addition in its history, plus bring various fire and safety features up to code, improve the HVAC system, add an elevator for handicapped access, and expand and modernize facilities.

According to the Nebraska Department of Economic Development (NDED), Ord already provides some of the nicest learning facilities in the state. The teacher-to-pupil ratio is 1:9 in the elementary school and 1:10 in the junior-senior high, and the computer-to-pupil ratio is 1:2. Academic results are average: about three-fourths of the senior class takes the ACT and scores right on the Nebraska average.

Actually, Valley County looks to be one of the richest counties in Nebraska on paper, with an actual valuation per pupil of $614,058, according to the NDED. All those rich farmers!

But wait:

Valley County actually has one of the lowest averages of household income in the state. Per household, income is measured at $43,000, which is significantly beneath the Nebraska average of $58,000. So there may be wealth in that county, but it's not easily tapped because it's tied up in property. The proposed bond issue would put an extra tax bite on top of regular taxes of $956.20 per year for the typical farmer, according to observers following the issue. Not a good cash-flow situation.

With the concern about the economy, it's questionable whether this is the time to be going into debt to the tune of $10 million, plus interest, over the next 20 years, in a tiny school district with declining enrollment.

One interesting footnote gathered in researching this issue:

According to the Ord district's annual financial report, sent to the Nebraska Department of Education and accessed at http://ess.nde.state.ne.us/ASPX/AFR/AFRDistrict.aspx?codistsch=88-0005-000&datayear=2007/08&id=1, Ord's superintendent of schools makes a salary of $119,012. That comes to $247.94 per pupil per year for his salary alone.

In contrast, the superintendent of the Omaha Public Schools makes $336,805.99 -- $8.08 per pupil.

But no . . . there's nooooooo way Ord could find any way to cut spending and avoid going so deeply into debt. Or is there?

Labels: Nebraska bond issue, Ord

Posted 12:29 PM by Susan Darst Williams

KUDOS TO ST. PATRICK'S SCHOOL
FOR A GEOMETRY PROJECT
THAT'S A PERFECT '10'

Fun idea at St. Patrick's Elementary School in Elkhorn: to celebrate the school's recent 10th anniversary, five eighth-grade geometry students who meet before school with their math teacher for geometry enrichment practice designed a human "10!" of hundreds of people that could be photographed from the air.

The students measured a nearby soccer field, brainstormed a design, made a scale drawing, painted exact measurements of the outlines of the numbers, organized over 600 students and teachers into the "10!" shape, and now have an unusual memento, the aerial photo.

Labels: good math idea at a private school in Elkhorn

Posted 12:15 PM by Susan Darst Williams

COMMON CONUNDRUM:
WHEN A DISTRICT'S AVERAGE ACT SCORE
IS MUCH, MUCH WORSE THAN ITS "ASSESSMENTS" WOULD PREDICT

Here's a head-scratcher: according to the Douglas County Post-Gazette, which covered the Oct. 12 meeting of the board of the Elkhorn Public Schools, fourth and fifth graders scored in the 96th to 100th percentile of mastery on state standards, as measured by the constant barrage of assessments

On the statewide writing assessment, Elkhorn fourth, eighth and eleventh graders scored in the 98th, 96th and 93rd percentiles of mastery.

Wow! Incredible! Sure looks like Elkhorn teachers are hot stuff.

But wait: the board also was told that Elkhorn's 2009 graduating class averaged 22.9 on the ACT exam, the same score as last year. The best score -- 100% mastery -- is a 36.

So let the head-scratching begin. The Elkhorn average of 22.9 computes to about a 47.6% on the ACT. And these are the kids whose parents' chests are bustin' with pride because their standardized test scores in the earlier grades are close to 100%?!?

I hate to pick on Elkhorn. This is going on all across the state.

What does that say about the value of our statewide learning standards, and all those assessments that teachers are complaining are substantially interfering with their ability to teach? Could the standards and assessments be a big, fat waste of time?!?

And what does that say about the actual, apples-to-apples quality of the education we are giving kids in Nebraska? Are you happy with a 47.6% for your close-to-$10,000 per pupil per year in tax funding? Didn't think so.

Labels: when ACT score is a lot less than a district's other standardized tests

Posted 10:24 AM by Susan Darst Williams

GOOD NEWS:
LAWSUIT CHALLENGES
LEARNING COMMUNITY'S CONSTITUTIONALITY

Three cheers for former Nebraska Attorney General Don Stenberg and his clients. They filed a lawsuit to point out that the Legislature's Learning Community is 'way off-road of the state constitution when it comes to assessing tax dollars. It's unfair, it's socialistic, and even though this would only chip away at its power, it's a good first step to get rid of it entirely.

Here's the lowdown:

http://nebraska.watchdog.org/2009/10/20/exclusive-lawsuit-claims-learning-community-unconstitutional/?utm_source=NE_Subscriptions&utm_campaign=90295e3903-NE_Breaking_29_15_2009&utm_medium=email

Meaning no disrespect to the late State Sen. Ron Raikes and former state senator and now Learning Community board member Ernie Chambers, who designed the LC, but what a boneheaded idea the Learning Community was and is.

The problems with this socialistic model of educational governance go 'way beyond the injustices of inequitable revenue extraction, positioning the Elkhorn School District, among others, as a loser, and districts including Millard and Westside as the winners.

The real problem is how the revenue production and dispersion has NOTHING to do with local control, everything to do with consolidation of power -- which always leads to corruption and waste -- and nothing to do with educators "on the ground" making the decisions for how to spend resources.

What the LC has in mind is, apparently, fancy-pants, high-tech "focus schools" with all the bells and whistles that will make construction companies rich and "look good on paper" for the political hotshots and big-government, left-wing donors who will be involved -- BUT ARE NOT WHAT KIDS NEED TO IMPROVE THEIR READING, WRITING, MATH AND THINKING SKILLS.

I've read about 10 books by authors of all political stripes on how to improve academic achievement among low-income students. That's my passion, and it's the ostensible purpose of the Learning Community. But I've been gravely disappointed by the LC concept since it was first proposed. The creation of yet another level of bureaucracy and expense that distances the educational power elite and control over curriculum and instruction even further from parents and students is NOT one of the many, many practical and cost-effective solutions that are being tried in other states.

We need to drive the money source CLOSER to the students, their families and their teachers, not further away, if we hope to meet their needs.

It was encouraging to learn last summer that Chambers is a new fan of systematic, intensive, explicit phonics -- which I firmly believe is a key solution to the outrageous lack of literacy among all income levels of students right now, something that all schools should have had in place 20 years ago.

So I hope this lawsuit can dissolve the Learning Community bureaucracy while preserving the network of well-meaning citizens, including Chambers, who can devote their efforts to doing what will WORK:

-- phonics and other no-nonsense language instruction in the early grades with a return to quality children's literature instead of the senseless, pointless and disturbing stuff that's on the reading lists of most public schools today;

-- traditional, systematically-taught, computation-based math instead of "whole math" with its ineffective "spiraling" which makes kids jacks of all math trades, but masters of none;

-- a true market system with meaningful school choice for parents, involving the public, private and homeschooling educational communities, instead of a shell game that "allows" students to choose among cookie-cutter, overstandardized public schools only, and only if they have the "right" color of skin or income level;

-- the promulgation of creative innovations for K-12 education -- why not get rid of the pointless requirement for teacher certification? why not have school from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. four days a week and save money while being more efficient? why not let kids who can meet state standards get out of school at 1 p.m. and give them a stipend to do the fun, challenging learning activities they WANT to do in the afternoons, at far less cost than maintaining a school class day that is in large part pointless for smart kids;

-- reform curriculum and instruction to increase the students' knowledge base and decrease the amount of Political Correctness, distractions and non-academic activities;

-- and cut waste and fraud within the massive public school system. Spending per pupil per year has nearly doubled since our eldest child toddled off to kindergarten 20 years ago; that's outrageous.

For those whose heads spin over trying to keep track of the educationese and jargon about the Learning Community, here's a good synopsis:

http://www.changforlearningcommunity.com/about-the-learning-community/

For those who would like to contact Don Stenberg and compliment him, comment on his efforts, or join in them, see:

http://www.changforlearningcommunity.com/about-the-learning-community/

Labels: Don Stenberg, lawsuit against Omaha area Learning Community

Posted 2:22 PM by Susan Darst Williams

NEBRASKA PUBLIC SCHOOL SPENDING
ALIGNS WITH THIS CHART:
SKYROCKETING COSTS, FLAT RESULTS

http://www.cato-at-liberty.org/2009/09/30/chart-of-the-day-federal-ed-spending/

So what are we going to do about it?

Labels: chart shows skyrocketing federal K-12 education spending, flat student achievement levels

Posted 3:18 PM by Susan Darst Williams

BACKGROUND ON IB:
LET'S BRIEF OPS BOARD MEMBERS
ABOUT THIS RADICAL, 'GLOBAL CITIZEN' JUNK

Still sad about the Omaha Public Schools board voting in the International Baccalaureate program for Central High School and Lewis and Clark Middle School.

Here are dozens of articles explaining the roots in the United Nations of IB, and how it is part and parcel of the movement to internationalize school curricula. So much for local control! So much for the locally-elected school boards having any say-so whatsoever. In the process, any hope of teaching the next generations the facts about American exceptionism would be crushed. It is alarming and distressing that the board of the largest school district in the state doesn't understand this.

Here's hoping OPS school board members will educate themselves, revisit the IB vote, and reverse themselves:

http://www.eagleforum.org/search/?cx=017031022027986382240%3Afh-fsvzotas&cof=FORID%3A9&q=International+Baccalaureate#848

Labels: criticism of International Baccalaureate, database about IB

Posted 11:01 PM by Susan Darst Williams

CHARTER SCHOOLS DO MUCH BETTER
FOR LOW-INCOME KIDS; HO-HUM, YAWN, WINK

Here's another major study that shows that students who attend charter schools that have more leeway than traditional public schools do much better academically:

www.nber.org/~schools/charterschoolseval/

It's another major study that will be totally suppressed, if the educrats have their way, since charter schools just make too much darn sense, and apparently, the competition posed by higher-quality schooling is scary as heck to their cherished monopoly game.

Now, I don't like charter schools because I'm for private education -- private schools and homeschools -- as being the best form of educational liberty. Charter schools are fraught with peril -- have you heard about some of the Muslim-based ones that are springing up? And when you get right down to it, "he who pays the piper pays the tune." I don't believe an education bureaucracy that has been used to getting its own way for 40 years is going to cave in and grant real, true liberty to any charter school innovation any time soon.

In the meantime, the evidence is mounting that something, ANYTHING, will do the job better for kids than the monopoly system we have now. Somebody, ANYBODY, is bound to be listening. Hopefully, bigtime change is coming in a good way. So stay tuned.

Labels: charter schools serve low-income kids better academically

Posted 10:45 PM by Susan Darst Williams

WITH PUBLIC SCHOOL ADMINISTRATORS,
GUESS THERE IS SUCH A THING AS A FREE LUNCH

Take a look at this report out of Nashville. It shows that school district administrators spent about $100,000 at local restaurants, in a scandal that has resulted in several administrators' school credit cards being revoked. However, this columnist laments that it doesn't appear that major changes will be put in place to ensure that it doesn't happen again. Why? Apathy, apparently.

Just because citizens aren't picketing school board meetings, there's no excuse for not having good management practices in place to prevent stuff like this.

Is it too much to ask that a school district employee present a receipt, or if not, no reimbursement will be paid?

Is it too difficult, with all the computer equipment, handhelds, laptops, cell phones, etc., that we've bought for school employees, that they have to get preauthorization before they make an expense? At least have a LITTLE speed bump in their way?

Wonder how much of this is going on in Nebraska school districts:

www.tennessean.com/apps/pbcs.dll/section?Category=pluckcommentslocal&key=20091006.tennessean.DN910060336.article.COLUMNIST0101&s=d

Labels: credit card expenditures by public school administrators in Nashville

Posted 10:19 PM by Susan Darst Williams

SAD TO SEE OPS CAVES
ON GLOBAL EDUCATION PROGRAM

The board of the Omaha Public Schools went ahead and approved the spread of the International Baccalaureate globalist education system to Central High School and Lewis and Clark Middle School. The vote was unanimous.

Still no word on whether IB really will cost taxpayers an extra $1,400 per student per year. Maybe there was cost data divulged at the board meeting, but since no one spoke out against the move and asked questions, that data wasn't made available.

In other cities that have added IB programs, it isn't until years after the fact, when the programs are in place, that taxpayers finally feel the "bite" of the extra IB costs, which have been calculated to total about $1,400 per student per year above and beyond the regular per-student spending. These extra costs include the incessant, time-consuming training in deluxe, distant cities which is one of the hidden "perks" for IB coordinators, along with the other extra costs that aren't made public at the time of school board approval.

It's also unclear how exactly the OPS board intends to get around the Nebraska statute that requires an elected school board to retain control over the curriculum. The OPS board will have no say-so whatsoever, under a typical IB contract. Another Nebraska statute also requires the OPS board to make sure its schools teach American history, literature and civics intensively each school year, K-12. That will not be happening under globalist IB, either. Possibly Omaha parents will have to start an after-school club -- kind of like the Brownies -- to teach their children about America at their own expense and on their own time, which is a very sad commentary in these times.

The word on the street is that school boards fall over themselves to institute IB programs so that they can recruit the top scholars who are of Asian and East Indian descent, and in many cases not American citizens, simply to artificially inflate their schoolwide standardized test scores. Why? To cover up how ineffective their educational practices are for the majority of the students, who would not qualify for the selective IB program, including probably 99 percent of the African-American students in OPS. If you get enough kids who can score a 32 or higher on the ACT, statistically speaking you can cover up a LOT of academic underachievement or mediocre results from the many, many kids who score beneath a 20, which is a deplorably low score. I've said before that a POTATO could score a 20 just by sitting in any classroom for 13 years. By doing this, the OPS board is deciding to spend more tax dollars on non-American citizen students while continuing to widen the academic achievement gap that is pushing American citizens who are African-Americans further and further behind.

The IB curriculum is global in scope, and by definition minimizes teaching about the principles of American government, the significance of the U.S. Constitution, and facts and figures about American exceptionalism, including the benefits of liberty, capitalism and living in a nation founded on Judeo-Christian principles. Under IB rules, every system of government and every cultural feature must be considered of equal worth. It's Political Correctness run amok.

The other disappointing factor is that the OPS school board has effectively pulled a "Pontius Pilate" move by giving the keys to Central's academic honors program to a globalist organization that is immersed in the United Nations. So much for encouraging parental involvement in our schools; with IB, there won't be any that is meaningful, and parents will not have any leverage with the elected OPS board whatsoever. Parents who want to see the curriculum before it is delivered are turned away or brushed off, and if you have a beef, what are you going to do? Call Switzerland, where IB is based?

Guess it's not surprising, but is just another sign of the times.

Labels: IB comes to Omaha Public Schools