David Safier by David Safier I want to say this right here on dependably progressive/liberal/lefty BfA. Gov. Brewer joined together with a handful of Republicans and Democrats to do the right thing for Arizona. Brewer, it turns out, is the only Republican governor with a majority Republican legislature to pass Medicaid expansion. We can slice and dice … Read more
by David Safier Maybe it’s happened and I just haven’t heard about it. Has Ed Supe John Huppenthal ever lobbied the legislature to increase funding for schools? But there’s one thing Hupp wants enough to lobby his old friend Rep. Carl Seel — $17 million for his beloved computer database system. Forget about more money … Read more
by David Safier
Arizona Republicans have balanced the budget on the backs of children over the past few years through draconian cuts to education funding, meaning our schools are desperately underfunded. I'm all for more money for schools. So I should support HB2399 which just passed the House. It allows school boards to double the amount of bonds they can float to help fund their schools. I have to admit, if I were in the legislature, I would have voted for HB2399 along with the Democrats and a few Republicans (it passed 31-26), but I hate the bill. It hastens the movement back toward inequitable funding of school districts, where communities with affluent families give their children well funded schools while children in poorer communities have schools that scrape by with the bare essentials.
In the bad old days, school districts were dependent on passing school levies which determined the amount of property taxes people paid to fund their schools. If a levy passed, the district had funds, and if the levy was substantial, the district was flush with cash. But if a levy didn't pass or it was minimal, the district was barely able to keep its school doors open. Districts in affluent areas usually spent far more per student than districts in poor areas. The rich folks loved to brag that they supported their kids, unlike the riffraff in poorer areas. Ironically, rich communities often paid lower property tax rates for their schools than poorer communities. When you have lots of million dollar homes, you don't have to charge much per thousand dollars of value to shower your schools with funding. In a poorer area where homes are worth far less (and lots of people are renters), you have to charge more per thousand dollars of value to end up with school funding that's barely adequate.
This gross funding inequity (Jonathan Kozol wrote a book on the subject titled "Savage Inequalities") changed in Arizona and elsewhere when funding was equalized. The state guaranteed all school districts would get more-or-less the same funding, using a formula that weighs a variety of factors — types of students, transportation needs, etc. — to raise or lower the amount given to each district. Ideally, that means all schools, in rich or poor areas, are funded at equitable levels.
by David Safier
More than 40 progressive leaders from a wide range of professions have signed onto An Education Declaration to Rebuild America, a statement of educational principles that point to a different direction than the drill-test-and-underfund tactics of the conservative "education reform" movement. By itself, it's a small step in the right direction, but it signals the growing strength of progressive educators at a time when the public is growing skeptical of the endless high-stakes testing and shallow evaluation of our students, teachers and schools.
Here's the declaration and the people who've signed on.
An Education Declaration to Rebuild America
Americans have long looked to our public schools to provide opportunities for individual advancement, promote social mobility and share democratic values. We have built great universities, helped bring children out of factories and into classrooms, held open the college door for returning veterans, fought racial segregation and struggled to support and empower students with special needs. We believe good schools are essential to democracy and prosperity — and that it is our collective responsibility to educate all children, not just a fortunate few.
Over the past three decades, however, we have witnessed a betrayal of those ideals. Following the 1983 report A Nation at Risk, policymakers on all sides have pursued an education agenda that imposes top-down standards and punitive high-stakes testing while ignoring the supports students need to thrive and achieve. This approach – along with years of drastic financial cutbacks — are turning public schools into uncreative, joyless institutions. Educators are being stripped of their dignity and autonomy, leading many to leave the profession. Neighborhood schools are being closed for arbitrary reasons. Parent and community voices are being shut out of the debate. And children, most importantly, are being systemically deprived of opportunities to learn.
As a nation we have failed to rectify glaring inequities in access to educational opportunities and resources. By focusing solely on the achievement gap, we have neglected the opportunity gap that creates it, and have allowed the resegregation of our schools and communities by class and race. The inevitable result, highlighted in the Federal Equity and Excellence Commission’s recent report, For Each and Every Child, is an inequitable system that hits disadvantaged students, families, and communities the hardest.
by David Safier Pre-monsoon storm clouds are hovering over the 11 courses forming the proposed TUSD Multicultural Curriculum. According to the right wing Arizona Daily Independent, which I trust about as far as I can throw a pixel, the AZ Department of Ed has qualms about the curricula (h/t to David Morales for pointing to … Read more