Thursday, March 18, 2010

Report back on the Commissioner's district funds

You might remember we had a presentation on the accountability plan, and I asked about where the money came from and how it was being spent. This is in response to that.

Monfredo: is Focus on Results required? no, put together with state in cooperation
Novick: fleshes out that in essence this money is not ours to spend, largely is determined by the state
disconnect between four core district priorities and how it is spelled out on the ground
chief accountability officer: do we have to hire one? paid for by WPS funds
Boone: it was and has been part of the conversation with the state
how does this work with the accountability people we already have?
O'Connell: strength deployment plan for instructional systems improvement
"investing with our people...in our classrooms"
"it's only through professional development that we can improve as teachers and leaders" says Mulqueen
O'Connell asks what parts of this we should fund ourselves in house, if need be
use of grants to support PD so we can free operating funds to keep people in place
Biancheria asks for costs detail on how much is ours: $108,740 (from federal grants: ARRA, says Boone. In fact, it's from a Teaching American History grant)
Chief Accountability Officer: will it complete four silos? Boone: only position requested as she came into the district
cost detail on Acct. Officer? In the FY10 budget already
not infriged on this year (FY10), and she plans to include it in the FY11 budget

4 comments:

  1. Actually, Tracy, these federal dollars are the district's to decide how to spend, These are the Title I school improvement dollars and as such the districy says how they want to use them. Back under Dr. Caradonio, we constantly fought with the state as to how to best use these funds. If the distict does not like what the state has proposed, then it can propose other suggestions. The district is the one who agreed to Joe Palumbo and Focus on Results. The state proposed it, and the district can say no anytime they want. In addition, last year, the district Title I funds were used to support part of this contract with FOR.

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  2. And what will happen with the 95k+ accountability position already in place? Will there be a manager and that position, as well?

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  3. There have been several reports, one at least as recent as last June, completed as to how much grant $$ is used for PD. It is way more than the American History grant.

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  4. Joan, I didn't put it in the notes, but I did ask the superintendent to let us know what's going to happen with the various accountability positions we have. Will they report to this new person? Be eliminated? She said she'd let us know.
    I also recall that she and Mulqueen both said that most of our PD is coming from grant funding now.
    I would like to see us pushing back on the state. It does seem that at least some of the principals and staff have good things to say about Focus on Results, which is great. I just want to make sure that we're channeling the money in useful ways. I'm not sure we are.

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