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“For some reason, the parties running the Delaware DOE this year, have decided to ignore 14-17 years of legislation and DOE precedent, and change the rules to force more money to flow to charters.”
“Desperate”, I believe is the word we’re looking for… “Desperate” as in the last days of the Third Reich, as in the last 2 minutes of a NFL playoff game, as in the final day before election day.
They know their time is up! They are using these last four months of this lame duck session to make permanent changes they hope will benefit them later when they get kicked up into the private sector… If they don’t act now, it will be too late… someone else will be controlling the money…..
In case you don’t know what happened, here is a refresher…
The DOE surprised every public school by changing the formula on how charters were to be paid… Pay them more was their decree.. What they are proposing is unconstitutional… For when you ask the taxpayers for taxes, and they first say no, and so you tell them exactly what it gets spent on, and they acquiesce and say….”ok this time, here, but spend it only on those items”.… and THEN you do NOT spend it on those items which are part of the contract,…. you have an illegal use of tax money that cannot stand up in court...
Example: when Brandywine School District passed a referendum to put turf on their field, you can’t send all that money to charters and leave the field in its original condition… Yet that is exactly what rogue elements in the DOE conspired to do…and frankly, almost got away with.
After giving them the benefit of the doubt up to now, today we found out the trickery involved is not accidental…
Today we found that they held onto all notice of the changes affecting public districts right up to the deadline, then sent them bills telling them that they must pay more but refusing to give any reasons as to why. You’d expect that in Communist Russia. Isn’t it odd for somewhere here in the USA?
Today we found that they had meetings with a few select Superintendents, not all, and specifically told them: DO NOT TELL YOUR boards or business managers. You’d expect that in Communist Russia. Isn’t it odd for somewhere in the USA?
Today we found they sent over-inflated charter bills to the districts, threatening they immediately be paid in full. You’d expect that in Communist Russia. Isn’t it odd for somewhere in the USA?
Today (although we suspicioned it) it was proven that certain Charters are really trying to gut all public education in this state and they don’t care about your children. The idea that they just want more money, does not back up the precise use of hurtful tactics used to achieve it. The standard methods to get more money work well enough. Trying purposefully to destroy public education, is the ONLY explanation that can explain their timeline. And the reason they picked on Christina? Because it is full of black people … White people vote.. but kicking blacks again and again has become acceptable to the Delaware Way because Blacks don’t go to the polls in high enough numbers…. This was designed specifically to implode Delaware’s poorest public schools by stealing large amounts of money from them…Again, You’d expect that in Communist Russia. Odd for somewhere in the USA.
“All that stuff you committed to the voters” they told all the school districts…. “Pfffft… voters are just scum. We’re not going to pay attention to any of that crap… That money is not sacrosanct. Pay the extra $3 million to Newark Charter, NOW!!!!! “
An injunction forbidding any payments from Christina or other districts to Charters until this can be sorted out… would be the proper course of action…
Violating public trust to enrich ones own pockets puts people in jail…. Or at least gives them a big fine to pay…. Pursuing this should be step two.
This proposed action by the DOE, if carried out, will hurt 15,000 children… It will help none… Not even the 2000+ students at Newark Charter School! None of the funds stolen from the basic necessities required to teach 15,000 students, will go to assist any of the kids at Newark Charter… All this money, and I mean ALL of it, is to pay for their two new buildings that they royally screwed up and are on the hook for their financing …….
Nothing much.. Just John King’s adjustments to bypass the law Congress passed
“The Secretary proposes to amend the regulations… to include requirements for the submission of State plans. ”
- Remove and reserve §200.7;
- Remove §§200.12 to 200.22 of the current regulations, replace them with proposed §§200.12 to 200.22, and add proposed §§200.23 and 200.24;
- Remove §§200.30 to 200.42 of the current regulations and replace them with proposed §§200.30 to 200.37; and
- Add proposed §§299.13 to 299.19.
DEFINITIONS: The ESEA is the shortened name for “No Child Left Behind” and the ESSA is the bill passed this last summer, allegedly ending “No Child Left Behind”….
A) “Proposed §200.12 would replace the current regulations with regulations that summarize the requirements for accountability systems in the ESEA, as amended by the ESSA.” (Translated bluntly. “We will roll all the old accountability systems of “No Child Left Behind” into the new ESSA……. “)
B) Proposed §200.13 would primarily incorporate into regulation the statutory requirements under the ESEA, as amended by the ESSA.. (Translated bluntly. “We will roll all the old statutory requirements of “No Child Left Behind” into the new ESSA……. “)
C) Proposed §200.14 would clarify the statutory requirements in the ESSA for States to include, at a minimum, four distinct indicators for each school that measure performance for all students and separately for each subgroup of students under proposed… (Translated bluntly. “We had four levels of requirements in “No Child Left Behind” and we will roll that over into the new ESSA……. “)
D) Proposed §200.15 would replace current §200.15 with regulations that update and clarify assessment participation rate requirements to reflect new statutory requirements. (Bluntly translated: we will substitute cruel and severe penalties for opting out. We are taking this back from the states.)
E) Proposed §200.16 would replace the current regulations to clarify the statutory requirements under the ESEA, as amended by the ESSA, for how a State must include subgroups of students in its State accountability system. (Translated bluntly. “We will roll all the old statutory requirements of “No Child Left Behind” into the new ESSA……. “)
F) Proposed §200.17 would retain and reorganize the relevant requirements of current §200.7, which would be removed and reserved, so that these requirements are incorporated directly into the sections of the proposed regulations pertaining to accountability.. (Translated bluntly. “We will bypass all the statutory requirements limiting data use in the new ESSA, and return to the no-holds-barred era of “No Child Left Behind” in all matters regarding protection of child data,…. “)
G) Proposed §200.18 would replace the current regulations with regulations implementing the ESEA statutory requirements, as amended by the ESSA, for States to establish systems of annual meaningful differentiation of all public schools. (Back to subbing the ESEA for the ESSA (replace the new bill with the procedures listed in the old)….
H) Proposed §200.19 would replace the current regulations with regulations reflecting the new statutory requirements under the ESEA, as amended by the ESSA, to identify schools for comprehensive support and improvement and for targeted support and improvement. (Same thing here: Kill and replace with the old bill)
I) Proposed §200.20 would replace current title I regulations with regulations that would update and clarify how data averaging may be used in the statewide accountability system for annual meaningful differentiation and identification of schools under proposed §§200.18 and 200.19. The proposed regulations would retain the requirements of current §200.20, while updating references to reflect new statutory requirements under the ESEA, as amended by the ESSA. (Bluntly translated: Again replace the old bill with the new.)
J) Proposed §200.21 would replace the current regulations with regulations that clarify the statutory requirements under the ESEA, as amended by the ESSA, for States to help ensure that LEAs with schools identified for comprehensive support and improvement develop and implement plans that will be effective in increasing student academic achievement and school success. (Same thing… put new wine in old wineskins)….
K) Proposed §200.22 would replace the current regulations with regulations that clarify the statutory requirements in the ESEA, as amended by the ESSA, for States and LEAs to ensure that schools identified for targeted support and improvement will implement plans that are effective in increasing student academic achievement for the lowest-performing students in those schools. (Same thing: take the requirements of No Child Left Behind, and add them to the new bill)….
L) Proposed §200.23 would clarify the statutory requirements in the ESEA related to continued support for school and LEA improvement. (Same: take the old that was shot down by Congress bipartisanly (believe it or not), and substitute it into the new bill they did pass.
M) Proposed §200.24 would clarify the new requirements included in the ESEA, as amended by the ESSA, for funds that the State must set aside for LEAs to support schools implementing comprehensive and targeted support and improvement plans. (By now you should be astute enough to translate these yourself…)
N) Proposed §200.30 would require a State to prepare and disseminate widely to the public an annual State report card that includes information on the State as a whole and is concise and presented in an understandable and uniform format and in a manner accessible to the public, including the parents of students in the State.. (This is a brand new regulation not in “No Child Left Behind” or the new ESSA.)
O) Proposed §200.31 would require an LEA to prepare and disseminate to the public an annual LEA report card that includes information on the LEA as a whole and each school served by the LEA and that is concise and presented in an understandable and uniform format and in a manner accessible to the public, including parents of students in the LEA.(This also is new; never a part of the old ESEA or new ESSA)
P) Proposed §200.32(a) would restate the statutory requirements in section 1111(h)(1)(C)(i) of the ESEA, as amended by the ESSA, for describing the State’s current accountability system on State report cards..
Q) Proposed §200.33(a) would require State and LEA report cards to include the percentages of students performing at each level of achievement on the State’s academic achievement standards, by grade, …(This also is new; never a part of the old ESEA or new ESSA) .
R) Proposed §200.34 would revise and replace current regulations to align the regulations with the statutory requirements in sections 8101(23) and (25) and would clarify statutory requirements in section 1111(c)(4)(F)of the ESEA, as amended by the ESSA.
S) Proposed §200.35 would implement the statutory provisions requiring a State and its LEAs to annually report per-pupil expenditures of Federal, State, and local funds on State and LEA report cards, disaggregated by source of funds. (There is no current regulation in the ESSA).
T) Proposed §200.36 would restate the statutory requirement that State and LEA report cards include information at the State, LEA, and school level about which students graduate from high school and enroll in programs of postsecondary education in the academic year immediately following the students’ high school graduation. ..
U) Proposed §200.37 would implement statutory requirements for reporting on educator qualifications in State and LEA report cards.. (There is not current regulation in the ESSA).
V) Proposed §299.13 would outline the general requirements for State plans authorized under the ESEA, as amended by the ESSA.
W) Proposed §§299.14 through 299.19 would outline the requirements for consolidated State plans authorized under section 8302 of the ESEA, as amended by the ESSA.
It is clear that these regulations were handed to John King by a lobbyist representing educational profit funds. Their wording and language is exactly the same as some of the ones handed to our state senators and reps from the exact same people.
Lamar Alexander has good reason to be pissed… He wrote the bill (with help) to achieve a certain goal. John King is undercutting it… Time to get rid of the Federal Department of Education…..
A) To Whom do you see as most representative of what the people want in educational policy. The Governor or the Legislature?
B) As you know, as people discover what Common Core really is, it is disappearing state by state as fast as free beer at an all-school kegger. Are you prepared to offer a new plan if asked to by this legislature? What are your ideas on what it should do?
C) Do you read kavips?
D) Have you yourself taken the Smarter Balanced Assessment? If so, which grade? Which test?
E) If there becomes a war between the Federal Government and State Government over who is responsible for a child’s education, which side will you be on?
F) You have a budget of $1.3 Billion. Yet your schools are all operating above maximum efficiency. How good are you at convincing Legislators to provide more revenue? (Now is a good time to start… )
G) How do you feel about eliminating Charters? Then how do you justify the hardship that Charters create by taking money away from public schools? Would you support legislation removing Charters from the per student funding formula and funding them strictly with a line item in the state budget?
H) One of the reasons you are here is because of the debacle caused by switching from the DCAS to the Smarter Balanced Assessment. Ohio just dropped PAARC and went solo with AIR and will use what used to be our state’s former DCAS to test all its students. Of all the tests DSTP, DCAS, and Smarter Balanced Assessment, which do you feel best exemplified student achievement, and why?
I) Standardized testing is wrong. Yet we need some way to determine whether a child is able to advance to the next grade which is objective and does not facilitate social promotion. Where do you see your department 3 years from now in achieving this?
J) Should there be a test in 11th grade that determines graduation?
K) Rigor has been brutally panned by every single educational expert. How do you feel about imposing rigor in our classrooms?
L) Charter Schools in a recent study only out-preformed Public schools 17% of the time.. They were worse then their public school 37% of the time.. How do you justify continued support of Charter Schools when they waste so much money for so little results?
M) We would like a report back from your office showing how much money we could save in our public school systems if we simply eliminated charters. How long do you estimate it would take to get that back to us?
N) 100% of Child Psychologists have recommend that all children opt out of the Smarter Balanced Assessment. What is your feeling about continuing this test against such overwhelming negative medical opinion?
O) If confirmed are you willing to sign your entire salary over to kavips.
P) Although dissed by our current governor, poverty is the prime negative factor in improving education. Great gains have been made by some districts in this state to at least make sure students are fed despite whatever conditions they may face at home. What other ideas might you have of ways you can make children from environments we can’t even imagine, be able to relax and feel comfortable enough to learn?
Q) Look, I’m a legislator, not an educator… So can you explain to me in plain language (no alphabet soup) how it is possible that with all the checks and balances and tests we make our teachers jump through in order to be put in front of a classroom, how someone (Teach For America) who only gets 5 weeks of classroom (25 days), and one day of student teaching (5 hours), can be put in charge of a classroom for two years with no accountability for poor results?
R) Follow up to the above? Can you explain why the Markell administration and the previous director actually thought it was a good idea to fire teachers with doctors or masters of education, and replace them with young kids having no real training? That never made sense to me. and your predecessor always threw out word soup when I asked him to explain it. It doesn’t make sense to me; what am I missing. How on earth is that good policy?
S) Would you support legislation undoing the anti-strike legislation that was imposed by the Carper administration that still makes it illegal for teachers to strike?
T) With the Smarter Balanced Debacle, Common Core Debacle, Priority Schools Debacle, Charter Schools Debacle, all of which are supported by Rodel and Paul Herdemann, can you give this body any real reason why we should pay RODEL and its $267,000 spokesperson any time of day whatsoever?
U) One of the strong points of your vocational system of yesteryear was that it by not being included in the initial state testing program, actually graduated students who could read, write, and do math proficiently. Many felt the testing programs in regular public schools were a detriment to achieving great results, and used your district as proof. Having no tests led to good results. How do you see bringing the entire state on line to such a program as you successfully ran in your vocational district… where no tests yield great results?
V) Trick question (laughter)… Who is the most important entity in a child’s education. The Governor (raucous laughter, foot stomping, table pounding), the Secretary of Education (total silence), the State Board of Education (minus its executive director), Local School Boards, the principal of each school, the child’s teacher, the student, or … the parents?
W) Who do Charters really benefit? Their students, …or the financial owners?
X) Would you actively campaign and travel the state to make the case for higher taxes on Delaware’s wealthy to generate tremendous additional revenue for education, which would not raise taxes on property values by a single dollar?
Y) Assuming you are partial to vocational education… I should note that a Brookings Institute study recommended that America needs more plumbers, more electricians, and more fiber optic specialists. This question is tailor-made for you. What improvements would you like to see in our vocational schools, and what do you need from us to help you?
Z) If confirmed… how can you use your influence to make the Charter School Network please leave us alone? Under Kendall Massett they are always up our asses, Wanting this, Wanting that, Putting out their hand like a doorman in New York City. With them in here it is like having a bevy of little Pomeranians following us around… “yip, yip, yip, yip, yip, yip.”.. I’m sick of it.. What can you do in your new position to permanently dissolve this ubiquitous problem?
kavips 