School Boards' Last Stand : NSBA

on the title: reference intended?
Note that this is being presented by perspectives from North Carolina, Washington, Illinois, and New York
"need to know your full environment before you make decisions"
"I've never seen a wreck like we're having"

locally elected school boards, the optimal, the norm, what we ought to be having
"communities got together..and said 'we want our kids to have some of those advantages'"
single room schoolhouses to get kids a chance at a better life; it was purely a local enterprise
somewhere along the way, all states have something in their constitutions that ensure each child has a right to an education
democracy needs educated masses to be able to vote intelligently and be able to serve on a jury
education needs democracy as people need to understand want takes so much of public resources
"somewhere along the line...responsibility shifted over to the state..."
"fundamental dynamic change"
state has primary responsibility for education under the state(s) constitution
have chosen to carry out that responsibility with local schools
On federal side, powers not enumerated to the states are federal: education purview of the states
Fed has used the carrot not the stick: "If you take the money, you have to do these things. All of these things can cost you a whole lot more money than the money they offer. And they can be fairly testy about it."
(Example of Vermont that opted out of NCLB until fed held up ALL federal funds, not just ed)
"tough to find a representative that doesn't think they know better than you"
"if it's Tuesday, we're all on page 256"
"very rapidly becoming the educational equivalent of local McDonald's franchises"

Actual and direct threats  

• Charter schools: 40 of 50 states have them, but they look very different; in some places, local school board determines charter; in others, state board does. Funding model also of concern (funds follow child. in NC, portion of all funds give to charter, not just services provided to child). Have become more and more aggressive; suing local districts."if this is only about the struggling students, you should make them only about the struggling students." (Washington State) RTTT required loosening of charter school rules. Huge economic disparities; re-segregation of schools. Special education students sent back. Plus underperforming.
• Virtual charter schools: (welcome to K-12!) for profit entities entering public education (MAKING MONEY straight out of the public ed coffers). Budget obligations created by homeschoolers. Most end up with at least 50% homeschoolers. Disconnect between funding and actual costs; no overhead costs to educating those children. Huge accountability issues (who is doing work? how do children stay enrolled?) New Stanford study compared children in virtual schools to those in bricks and mortar schools; virtual students are performing 100% POORER than their bricks and mortar school equivalent.  Also, K-12 now being sued by some of their investors. 
• School vouchers: Indiana voucher law is in the Supreme Court there (largest voucher program in the country; do not have to come from a poorly performing school; just income requirements). 
• Parent triggers: CA, CT, OH, TX, LA (as of Wednesday): parents sign a petition. If 54% of parents sign a petition, either school closes; school turns charter; or all staff and principal FIRED. No acknowledgment that community goes beyond current parents. GA bill proposed that 54% of parents at a meeting could vote (dang!). Story from LA: parents can't take their schools BACK from failing charters, however. 
• State and mayoral takeover: Michigan doing it not only with schools; doing it with ENTIRE CITIES. Most of the overseers are saying that local elected bodies have NO say. Mayoral takeover requires a strong mayor system. Woman from Detroit points out that there's no accountability for person running schools. Bloomberg (NYC) got rid of elected board; fired three of his appointees before they ever got to the first meeting. Mayoral control opposed by all those running as his successor; mayor has not been responsive to public. Mayoral control in Chicago (since 1995) brought in by R's (unusual; usually done by Dems). A big item again under new mayor. Rochester has discussed this as well. 
• Homeschooled children: access to school athletics and other extracurricular. National Homeschool Association doesn't agree with this.  

Structural threats:

• state adoption of textbooks: this has always been the case in the South (to be sure the Civil War was told, um, from a southern perspective, shall we say?). 
• curriculum: TN is doing a go-round of the Scopes monkey trial again. No lie.  NH has a new law on curriculum
• state diploma requirements; driven by state university systems
• funding (SC: "The chicken box bill" got rid of property taxes; sales tax replaced it) Getting rid of education set-asides
• calendars: "Save Our Summers" schools starting closer to Labor Day 

Federal threats:

• ESEA  reauthorization : accountability requirements and penalities; formula vs competitive grants
• IDEA reauthorization
• funding
• Common Core

Think Tank Threats:

• ALEC:
  partnership between corporations and elected officials; recent a backlash due to Stand Your Ground Laws
• National Governor's Association: (Common Core came from them): dropout prevention, ed "choice" grants; effective teacher/leaders: "rarely met a governor that had an independent thought on education; coming from here"
• Foundation for Excellence in Education: Jeb Bush's group "Digital Learning Now" and "Chiefs for Change"
• StudentsFirst: Michelle Rhee's group 
• Parent Revolution: parent trigger people
• 50CAN: "Campaign for Achievement Now"