Challenging Times Ahead

The 2009-2010 school year has been a challenging financial time for school districts. The state reduced funding to schools by $165 per student. Here in Grand Ledge that was a reduction of over $850,000. If you add in our modest decrease in enrollment of 66 students, our district had a decrease in revenue this year of over 1.3 million dollars. We planned for part of this. We anticipated a decrease of $100 per student or a decrease in revenue of over $500,000. We also anticipated a decrease in enrollment of 84 students. In all we anticipated a decrease in revenue of 1.1 million dollars.

As we look ahead, we are a;ready planning for the 2010-2011 school year. Yesterday, December 22, a report was published the Senate Fiscal Agency that looked ahead to the 2010-2011 fiscal year. This agency, which provides insight for the State Senate as they plan for and prepare state budgets, states on page 41 of the report that there will be a 339.4 million dollar imbalance in the school aid fund for 2010-2011. Put another way that would require a reduction of $215 per pupil. In Grand Ledge that would be a reduction of over 1.1 million dollars. Together with another modest enrollment decline our district could face a potential loss of revenue of 1.5 million dollars for fiscal year 2010-2011.

As we continue to plan and prepare for the 2010-2011 school year, this report from the Senate Fiscal Agency just reinforces that unless there are some changes in how the state finances education there are challenging times ahead.

Update from Grand Ledge

It has been awhile since I wrote on this blog. The weeks between these posts have been interesting.

First, I presented a restructuring proposal to the Grand Ledge Board of Education. (More information can be found at the district website under the Our District tab.) This proposal asks the board to approve changes that would result in a savings to our district of 4.1 million dollars. The plan requires us to change the way we look here in our district.

This proposal was presented to the Board after months of discussion and planning. Two goals drove the development of this proposal. First, we needed to present a plan that prioritized our commitment to academics, and to a lesser degree preserve our commitment to the arts and athletics. The plan had to maintain or improve our academic focus - helping students be successful while they are enrolled in our school district and making sure they are prepared for the next step in their lives.

The proposal presented to the Board works hard to continue our commitment to our students. The proposal adds elementary counselors and an at-risk team for students in grades 7-12. Additionally it makes a commitment to keep classes within reasonable limits - K-2 would be 25 students, 3-6 would be 28, and grades 7-12 would be 29. An early childhood/kindergarten center is proposed. Funding for athletics and the arts, while cut, are still part of our the proposal given to the Board. Elective choices would still be available at the middle and high school. Music, art, and physical education would continue to be available at every level. Reading teachers and reading interventions still be a part of the district's program.

Secondly, the proposal had to save the district money. We have a structural deficit of two million dollars in our budget. We spend two million dollars more than our income. That has to be fixed. We also are receiving less state aid. The Michigan economy and revenue to the state continues to decline. This year we were anticipated a $100 per student drop in revenue. We were one of only 30% of districts in the state that anticipated a drop in state revenue. The drop we planned for added up to almost $520,000 less revenue than we received last year. The state actually has cut revenue by $292 a student. That's a drop in revenue of over 1.5 million dollars. Additionally, as with most Michigan school districts, we are experiencing a drop in enrollment. We anticipated we would have 84 fewer students this fall. We actually only lost 66 students. So while it is a drop in revenue of almost $623,000 it is not as bad as we anticipated.

How can our district save money? Unfortunately, 85% of our district's budget, as with every school district, is connected to people. So while we reduce our expenses for supplies, energy, and other non-personnel related matters, in the end we have to have fewer employees if we are to reduce our budget. That is incredibly difficult to do. Every one of our employees works hard everyday for our students. Our employees make a difference. The difficult part of trying to balance a budget, to make sure our expenses and our income are aligned, is that it will impact the lives of many employees.

As I said earlier, more details are on the restructuring link under the Our District tab on our district website.

The whole educational funding issue has been coming to a head here in Michigan. On November 10 a rally intended to spur communication with our state legislators was held at the Capital. The Save Our Students, Schools, and State (SOS) coalition was behind the rally. The goal is to help our legislators understand that continued cuts to funding will have a dramatic affect on the quality of our schools.

The legislators that I have spoken with, emailed, and called argue that schools need to become more efficient before they would agree to look at changing how schools are funded. I argue that Grand Ledge leads the way in becoming efficient. Our employees pay 30% of their health insurance. Our custodians and bus drivers agreed to significant contract concessions last year. In contract negotiations last year, every other employee group agreed to 0% on the base. Our administrative costs are in the lowest 18% of all districts in the state. We cannot do much more - yet they seem blind to the changes that we have made.

The SOS rally was an attempt to get parents, community members, and school employees rallying to save our state's investment in our schools. Parents and community members will truly make a difference. On our district website under the Board of Education tab we have a Capital Connections link that provides information that is important as we try to protect school funding.

Finally, students from Grand Ledge High School organized a rally on the Capital steps to fight for school funding. I am proud of our students and their interest in quality schools.

I will try and do a better job of updating this blog so that we can continue our conversations about issues that matter to the Grand Ledge Public Schools.

The Value of Education

I read an interesting piece by David Levy in the Washington Post about art education.  His argument is really about how we educate the teachers who teach art, but a secondary argument is what do we value in education.  In other words, what should we get out of an education?

I believe that we could come to quick agreement on what needs to be taught in our schools. Reading, writing, math, science, and history would make the list.  How about physical education, art, music, and health?  I would think most of us would agree that those need to be taught. 

Yet, how much and at what level?  Should everyone take advanced math or only those who interests lie in science and engineering?  How about music? or art?  When I started college in 1974 I was required to take a music appreciation class even though my major was not going to be music.  Did I benefit from being in that class?  I absolutely believe that I did, but I would have a hard time identifying specifically why it was a benefit.  I was exposed to music that I had never considered.  I began to understand the complexity of music.  I developed an appreciation of how music can play an instrumental role in helping a person express ideas and emotions.  Yet, in my role today did that class benefit me?

Maybe that is not really the question that should be asked.  Maybe the question that should be asked is how have my cumulative experiences helped define who I am and how I live my life?  It is probably unfair to try and place a specific value on a specific course.  

As someone who is intimately involved in trying to define what courses students should take I have come to understand that I need to take the long view.  One course in one semester will probably not make a difference.  But taken together the cumulative effect of my education should make a big difference in how I live my life and how I view the world. 

Interesting Times in Michigan

Last week our state legislature indicated that the new budget that they would pass for fiscal year 2009-2010 would include a $218 per pupil reduction.  In other words, districts would receive less money for the school year that started for school districts on July 1.  For Grand Ledge, the $218 per pupil reduction translates to a reduction of just under $600,000 dollars.  

Cut the fat critics say.  Do with less.  The whole world is having to prioritize, schools should do the same.  Get rid of non-essentials.  Focus only on the core.

What is the core?  Do we eliminate transportation?  That's a 2.2 million dollar expense for our district.  Do we eliminate athletics?  That's a $600,000 expense.  Do we not offer any clubs or after school activities?  Is school just what happens from 8:00 AM until 3:30 PM?  

Some schools may be able to postpone difficult decisions because they have built up a fund balance.  Other schools may not be so lucky.  Will the schools that eliminate popular programs be able to retain and attract students the next year or will those districts begin a downward spiral that they will not be able to climb out of?  

Will the state be able to attract and retain highly educated employees if those employees see benefits and salaries reduced below what is comparable in other states?  

Budget decisions are difficult.  In my mind the state needs to value education because it will support our economy, create informed citizens, and help create a better future.  If we fail to support education, business development will suffer and the state will slowly decline.

My hope is that our state can figure out how to support education in a fiscally responsible manner.

What Do We Want?

Jack Lessenberry, a political commentator, wrote that when "Ed Koch was campaigning for mayor of New York, an elderly woman came up to him. She was clearly distressed about the way the city was changing. “Make it like it was,” she told him.

He looked at her, and in a moment of candor rare for any politician, answered, “It was never like it was.”

An article in Wired Magazine, called "The Good Enough Revolution," suggests that increasingly people are satisfied with things that are "good enough." No longer are people holding out for the highest quality products. Good enough is truly enough.

All of this started me thinking about what people want from schools. Ocassionally I hear that we need to do things like we used to; that the past was better, more rigorous, and more demanding than the present.

I also hear that what we are doing is adequately preparing students for the future. We are good enough people say. We don't need to make sure that all students get successfully through Algebra II. A basic understanding of math is good enough.

Schools are torn between those who think we are demanding enough and those who think our demands are just fine. What should we be?

All I know is that the future is going to look different than the past. What it will look like I do not know. But preparing students with the skills and knowledge to live in a changing world will be important. Our students have to be well prepared. Our students have to have the knowledge and skills to compete with anybody in the world. Yet we also need to include in the conversation that not everyone is going to get, or need, a four year college degree.

I hope that we want skills that will challenge students, help students expand their horizons, and identify where they want to go and how they can get there. We need to be both demanding and practical.

Technology and Teaching

Teachers have a lot to worry about. The state of Michigan has identified a vareity of grade level and high school content expectations. The Michigan Merit Curriculum requires a lot from all students.

Where does technology fit into all of this?

I agree with Larry Magid, a technology writer, who suggests that those of us in education need to embrace technology. Instead of trying to clamp down on it and eliminate it from our schools, we need to find ways to become familiar with it and use it to enhance instruction.

Embracing technology in the classroom would serve at least two purposes. First, it might serve to engage students in learning in meaningful ways. Students might be more willing to learn the content of a class if technology was used to help them get access to the content. Secondly, since it appears that technology is becoming more ubiquitous we need to make sure that students understand the benefits and the risks associated with using it. Helping students learn to navigate through the promise and the peril of technology seems like something with which schools should be able to assist.

My concern, however, is how to do this. How do we manage to teach our content, use technology in meaningful ways, and teach students how to be responsible with technology all at the same time?

The only way that I can see this successfully happening is if we - the educators - begin to see technology like we see textbooks and paper and pencils. That is, if we begin to see technology as just one of the tools that we use naturally then we have a shot at making technology use meaningful.

If we see technology as an add on, something else to do, another thing that will take valuable time away from the content, then we have no chance at using technology in ways that will encourage students to use technology. It would be overwhelming instead of empowering.

Yet how do we - the educators - have time to figure out how to use technology well?

Maybe we don't have to. Maybe we could enlist our students - the ones who know and use technology effortlessly - in identifying for us how technology could support or enhance or change learning.

I know that technology is not going away. My concern is how are we going to figure out how to incorporate it in powerful ways without all of us becoming technology teachers?

Funding Schools

There was an interesting article in USA Today on September 2. It addressed how some schools are grappling with how to pay for extracurricular activities. It profiled a school in Ohio that had shut down its athletic and other extracurricular programs. It says in the article that one hour after the final bell the school is shut down for the day. The district spokesperson said the move saved 2.5 million dollars.

In Michigan, we are headed toward a funding crisis. There are projections that next year - 2010/2011 - funding will be reduced by $500 dollars a student. In Grand Ledge that would mean a reduction in funding a 2.5 million dollars.

How will districts throughout our state manage if that actually happens?

The Ohio district decided to eliminate athletics and extracurricular activities. That seems like a bad idea to me. Students need opportunities. While these activities are not directly related to math or science, they do help students learn skills and attitudes that are invaluable as they grow. Skills like teamwork, discipline, and perseverance can be learned in a variety of places, but they can truly be learned on an athletic team or a marching band.

In addition, extracurricular activities can connect students to schools in meaningful ways. Students who are connected to school through an extracurricular activity are often connected academically as well. Without these opportunities we may find it harder to engage students in the learning that should be the centerpiece of our schools.

I don't know what the answer is in Michigan. We need to have a better funding system. Many of us are working hard to find ideas that would help Michigan find a better way to fund education. Can we change the system before the 2010-2011 school year? I hope so but it truly does take time to develop a new way to fund schools.

My hope is as we try to work through what school funding looks like in the years to come we won't sacrifice opportunities for students in the short term.

Evaluating Schools

Tomorrow - September 3, 2009 - the state of Michigan releases the AYP status for schools in Michigan.  The law requires that they release this data before the beginning of a new school year.  

The report will show that our district - Grand Ledge - did very well.  As I review data like this I wonder how important is it to parents.  Do parents look for this information when looking for a school district?  

Part of me hopes that parents do pay attention.  While AYP and School Report Card grades are imprecise measures of school performance, these measures do provide one standardized way to measure how well a school is doing. I want all of our schools to meet the AYP standard and to receive high report card grades. Our schools need to be able to demonstrate that our students are learning. 

Another part of me, however, hopes that parents also look at other things when deciding on a school.  I hope that parents also look at the intangibles.  I hope parents look to see what opportunities students have in academics, athletics, and the arts.  I hope parents look at the physical facility.  I hope parents try to discover the district culture.  I hope parents try to get a sense of what schools feel like - the culture of a school.  I hope parents ask questions and try to make sure that teachers, administrators, and other school employees have a passion for making sure that students learn.

My hope is parents understand that there is more to measuring a school than just test scores.  Test scores are important, but so are so many other things that can't be recorded and reported.

Transforming Schools

I watched an interesting video segment by Chris Lehmann, who is the principal of the Science Leadership Academy.  He argues that schools unplug students - making them turn off cell phones, Ipods, etc. - and as a result schools do not connect with students.  Instead, he argues, schools need to learn how to connect in meaningful ways with the tools that students have and transform their educational experience.  

Lehmann suggests that schools need to care more about students than about the content.  He is not saying that content is unimportant.  He is saying, I think, that unless we connect with the students, make class meaningful and purposeful, and help students understand the importance of the content, students will not learn the content anyway.

He argues that technology can help us connect with students, make learning more personal and meaningful.  The way we use technology now in schools is not transformative.  For the most part, technology currently increases the excitement level but not the educational value of school.  

If we don't figure out how to harness the transformative power of technology, schools will continue to suffer and not fulfill their transformative potential.  

Musings About Twitter, Blogs, and Technology

I read an interesting blog from Karl Fisch, a technology coordinator at a high school in Colorado.  His August 15th entry talks about the use of Twitter.  It seems there was an editorial in the Denver Post about Twitter and how the writer hopes that it is just a passing fancy.

Karl Fisch in his blog has a rather interesting discussion about Twitter and whether or not it is useful or important.

I found the discussing rather provocative, in that it made me think.  I have a Twitter account - twitter.com/docsmatthews.  I use Twitter in ways that the editorial writer and Mr. Fisch suggest are not very interesting.  I post little statements about what I am doing or announcements on the district, all of the posts are work related but really not very revealing.

Mr. Fisch talks about Twitter in the larger context of technology.  He suggests that any technology can help a person learn, grow, and become more productive.  That started me thinking about how I use technology - this blog, Twitter, emails, and such.  Have I thought about how to use these tools in thoughtful ways?  Have I thought about how I can use technology to connect with people, share ideas, think through problems, inspire or lead others?

The answer, sadly, is probably not.  Technology has certainly made me more productive.  I can do more things faster with technology.  But I haven't really looked consider technology thoughtfully.  Beyond an increase in productivity, how can technology enrich my life?

My goal is to think more carefully about technology - about Twitter and blogs and Facebook - to see beyond the surface and discover ways to use it more thoughtfully.

Getting Ready for the New Year

Today I met with the administrative team to discuss where we are heading.  One of the items that we discussed was whether we felt we could continue to improve or whether we had accomplished all that we needed to accomplish.  In other words, we talked about goals.  

The Michigan Department of Education has two data files, one for high school and one for elementary and middle school, that allow a parent or interested party to see how a specific school district performs or to compare how several school districts perform.  The files that are located at the links above are significantly better than files we have had in the past but they still take awhile to get used to using.

What the results show is that Grand Ledge performs better than any district in Eaton County and better than most districts in Ingham and Clinton counties.  We are a solid district.  Yet we could do better.  There are districts near use that outperform us.

So today the administrative team talked about what we could do to get better.  I talked about not setting arbitrary improvement goals - increase performance on the MEAP by 5% for example - but identifying how the school will be different next year.

There is an old saying that says if you always do what you've always done you will always get what you've always got.  If we are not satisfied with our performance we cannot continue to do things like we have done them in the past.  Working harder won't necessarily produce better results if we continue to do things that have not produced results in the past. 

Today our administrative team talked about what we would do differently next year.  If we want to improve our math performance, for example, what will we do differently.  What actions will we take to make sure that student performance improves?

I believe that we need to hold ourselves accountable.  Thinking through how we will do things differently I believe will help us continue to get better.  

Dealing With Our Budget

Today is the start of fall athletic practice.  For the 2009-2010 school year, the Grand Ledge Public Schools will transfer $597,780 from the general fund to the athletic fund.  Last year we transferred $716,480.  We asked the athletic department to reduce their budget by $118,700 for the upcoming school year.

Lest anyone think that we asked the athletic department to shoulder too much, it must be remembered that we asked every area to contribute.  The cuts in the athletic budget were part of the 1.9 million dollars of cuts that we made in our school district for the 2009-2010 school year.  For the upcoming school year we eliminated positions (assistant operations director, technology support, middle school assistant principal), restructured contracts (transportation and custodial), reduced our textbook budget, and reduced the number of employees we have.  We made sixteen different reductions to the budget. 

Even with these cuts, more needs to be done.  The budget picture for our school, like every school in Michigan, is not positive.  It appears that schools will have reduced state funding for at least the next two years.  The 2009-2010 reduction will likely be $100 a student, which in Grand Ledge translates to almost $570,000.  In 2010-2011 the reduction will likely be $500 per pupil, or approximately 2.6 million dollars. 

Can we continue to cut our way our of this budget problem?

In my mind, we cannot cut our way out of this problem.  We need to figure out a more stable way to fund schools. 

What is education worth?

I saw an interesting video clip from Reuters News that was on a blog of The Atlantic Monthly.  The report states that some teachers in Korea earn over 4 million dollars a year.  One teacher has over 50,000 subscribers to his video lessons.

There are some interesting facts about the Korean educational system - students often are in class 10-12 hours a day, the goal of education is to get into a good university, and the respect that Korean teachers receive.  

However, the most interesting aspect for me was the prevalence of online access to education.  These teachers make this much money because they sell their knowledge online.  This is so much different than what we focus on here in the United States.  We worry about the relationship between students and teachers and making sure students have a voice and constructivist learning.  The examples that were shared in this video make it appear that the focus on learning is more recall and not critical thinking.  Whether or not that is true I do not know.

It does raise some interesting questions.  Can we create a system in the United States that would allow every student to be taught by the "best" teacher?  What does it mean to be a great teacher?  What is the relationship between the soft skills of teaching - knowing how to reach disinterested students, developing good relationships with students - and the hard skills of teaching - knowledge of the content?

Technology Inside and Outside of School

I viewed an interesting interview with Elliot Soloway, a University of Michigan professor, about the use of technology inside and outside of school.  He suggests that many knowledge workers use technology all the time - computers, mobile phones, and so on.  To these workers technology is an essential part of their life and their work.  

He argues that many students rely on technology - outside of school.  They have mobile phones with internet access.  They text message, blog, twitter, download music, upload videos to You Tube, etc. Outside of school these students are much like the knowledge workers - technology is essential. They rely on it in all facets of their lives.

However, inside of school technology becomes optional.  For a variety of reasons students do not have access or do not use technology in meaningful and profound ways in school.  In fact, in many cases technology use is discouraged.  

Those who study the future of education say that we are moving toward a society where learning can and will take place 24/7.  Are we preparing students for that reality?  Can we prepare students for that reality?  The answers to these questions may change our schools.

How can we prepare teachers to use technology in more meaningful ways in class?  How can technology help our students learn?  Can technology help our students learn better or faster?  Can technology help our students learn more? How will the use of technology - the rich and powerful use of technology - change the relationship between teachers and students? 

  

The importance of education

Thomas Friedman had an interesting opinion piece in the New York Times on June 28th.  He talks about the importance of education in the middle of a recession.  He says that “the country that uses this crisis to make its population smarter and more innovative . . . is the one that will not just survive but thrive down the road.”

I couldn’t agree more.  We have to maintain our focus on educating all students to high levels. In the middle of a short-term crisis – that can seem like it is going to last forever – it is sometimes tempting to look for shortcuts.  But in the long-term creating an educated population will have powerful benefits. 

This article helped me refocus on the importance of our schools and making sure that we do everything we can to ensure that our students learn.    

Starting today

People say, "Start a blog."   

"A blog?" I ask.  "Why would anyone want to read what I have to say."

"You could talk about the school district, things you read, ideas you have.  It would be interesting."

So today I start a blog.  We will see if people find it interesting.

I have been the Superintendent in Grand Ledge for a year.  I started July 1, 2008.  The task today is the task that I inherited last summer - find a way to help our district grow into one of the best school districts in the state and nation.

We started the process last year and today it continues.  We are operating in the middle of a tremendously difficult budget cycle.  While I could complain about the economy in Michigan, the stress that the economy is putting on families, the loss of revenue when even one student decides to leave our district, etc., but I won't.  

Instead, I choose to focus on making sure that what goes on in our district challenges our students and helps them prepare for the future.  The economy is the economy. Every year there will be challenges.  I need to make sure that the employees in our district work hard for the students and families in our district.

So, a blog is started.  We will see where it goes.