MASA eLeader

Speaking of Leading

“What we get will be gravy, but that gravy's going to be needed because we're going to go into a deficit in about a month here.”

-David Peden, superintendent of the Southgate Community School District, in 4.14.10 Crain’s Michigan Business describing his “cautious optimism” about potential revenue from the relationship with Alternative Revenue Development.

Too Soon to Celebrate?
Budget news coming from Lansing is improving, but not the end of the story. This op-ed by Executive Director, William Mayes, urges caution.

The following story was submitted to the Detroit Free Press editors for publication. Feel free to use it to craft similar messages for your members.
Sunshine, gardens, and a summer holiday. After a long, bleak winter, life in Michigan feels good again.

In Michigan’s schools, a first glance makes life seem brighter, too. Students and families are sliding into summer break on a stream of awards, picnics and graduations.

On the education funding front, a boost to the School Aid Fund due largely to improvement in sales and use tax revenues means that schools will not see additional cuts to their 2010-11 per-pupil grants. This, combined with landmark retirement benefit reforms, would seem to signal a return of hope after a long and steep decline.

Or does it?

As a consummate “glass-is-half-full” sort of optimist, it troubles me to burst the bubble of hope generated by the apparent good news coming out of Lansing. But there are plenty of reasons to worry still about Michigan’s K12 schools. Here are just a few.

While the May budget projections might be optimistic, they are subject to a wide range of variables. Legislators also have the power to tap the School Aid Fund to fill still-gaping holes in the General Fund. Smart school leaders will—and should—be cautious about spending money that legislators are likely to cut again in January.

While sweeping in its implication for thousands of school employees, the recently signed retirement reform bill creates winners and losers, actually increasing costs for many local districts. Despite the new law, it appears retirement expenses for all schools will rise by $140–$150 per pupil for 2010-11. Schools with few retirees will see little or no savings, but must pay for the cost of the legislation, estimated at more than $2 billion over the next five years. Schools might not see meaningful savings for years.

Neither of these reforms address the underlying structural issues of school funding—stability, equity and adequacy. Nor do they address the skyrocketing health care costs to districts. These problems will continue to haunt us until they are addressed. Michigan still has approximately 30 districts in deficit (bankruptcy) and many more teetering on the edge.

Like most Michiganians, I plan to head outdoors this weekend to plant, play and celebrate a return to summer. I encourage you to do the same. I also will allow myself a tiny high-five at the glimmer of hope May has brought for our future.
Afterwards, I hope you will join me in picking up the banner once again for meaningful reform to Michigan school funding. Contact your legislators and tell them lasting economic recovery requires a strategic investment in children, from birth through college.

AASA inspires NY Times editorial

A May 5 editorial entitled “Saving the Teachers” calls for Congress to pass the $23 billion education jobs bill, and buttresses its position with these words: "The need for a second school stimulus plan was underscored on Monday by a new analysis from the American Association of School Administrators, which reported that cash-strapped districts were prepared to cut as many 275,000 jobs in the 2010-2011 school year."

The editorial is clear evidence of the power of association-generated data to help sway public opinion for policymakers to act now on a second school stimulus for desperate local districts and their leaders.

Read the New York Times editorial at www.nytimes.com/2010/05/06/opinion/06thu2.html?emc=tnt&tntemail0=y

Note: AASA is advocating for this bill. Read their analysis in the AASA Legislative Action Center at www.aasa.org.

The Education Commission of the States has estimated the total funds that would be allocated to and the numbers of jobs saved in each state. Read the analysis at www.ecs.org/clearinghouse/85/25/8525.pdf.

Michigan submits Race to the Top application
Plan earns support from nearly 90 percent of state’s schools

The Michigan Department of Education has submitted the state’s second round application for the federal Race to the Top grant, meeting the June 1 deadline. The application outlines the state’s plan to use nearly $400 million in federal funds to help implement critical school reforms to improve instruction and enhance transparency and accountability.

“We are committed to ensuring that all Michigan children receive the first class, 21st Century education they need to compete and succeed in a global economy,” said Governor Jennifer M. Granholm. “The plan outlined in this application establishes a clear path to help us meet that goal.”

The application received extensive and broad support from local school boards, superintendents, principals, and teacher unions. The state’s application is supported by nearly 87 percent of local school districts, with 737 traditional districts and Public School Academies signing Memoranda of Understanding (MOU) to participate and be eligible for funding, if Michigan is chosen for a Race to the Top award.

Of those participating districts that have teacher unions, over 83 percent of the MOUs are co-signed by their local union presidents. The local school board president and superintendent also co-signed the MOUs. Of all the school buildings in Michigan, 90 percent are represented in the participating districts, as are 93 percent of all low-income students in Michigan.

“We have broad consensus agreement from all of the interest groups, who really helped develop this application,” said state Superintendent of Public Instruction Mike Flanagan. “With more time, we have been able to prepare an application that will make Michigan more competitive for the federal funds.”

The application’s theme is: Accelerate Michigan and focuses on improving student achievement, closing the achievement gap, and providing enhanced professional development for teachers.

The foundation of the state’s Race to the Top application is the state’s new education reform laws enacted in January. Those new laws provide a statewide structure to:

turn around low-performing schools;
improve instruction by providing supports to teachers and administrators whose students are not showing academic improvement over time;
expand quality charter schools;
align curriculum and assessments with new common core standards; and
provide alternate routes to teacher and administrator certification.

Michigan’s federal Race to the Top application received over 80 letters of support from a wide range of public and private organizations, including: Michigan Association of School Boards; Michigan Association of School Administrators; Michigan Education Association; American Federation of Teachers-Michigan; Michigan Association of Public School Academies; school principals; Detroit Regional Chamber of Commerce; Ford Motor Company; Michigan Parent Teacher Student Association; post-secondary universities and community colleges; Early Childhood Investment Corporation; and national and regional philanthropic organizations and foundations.

To protect the integrity and unique aspects of Michigan’s federal Race to the Top application, the Michigan Department of Education will not make it available to the public until after the June 1 deadline when all other states have submitted their applications.

Promise scholarship paved road for Obama visit to Kalamazoo Central High School
This spring marks the first round of Kalamazoo Promise recipients graduating from college.
It also marks the first graduates from Kalamazoo Public Schools who entered ninth grade knowing they would receive a guaranteed college scholarship. So it’s serendipity, perhaps, that President Barack Obama will speak at Kalamazoo Central High School’s commencement this year.

On the other hand, it’s not entirely coincidence — without The Kalamazoo Promise, it’s unlikely K-Central would have landed the Obama speech.

To be sure, the creation of The Promise isn’t the entire story. Rather, it’s how The Promise has proved a catalyst for a “community transformation” that has lead to K-Central winning a White House competition to honor national models for education reform.

The Promise was unveiled in November 2005 by then-Superintendent Janice Brown. Funded by anonymous donors, it provides college scholarships for every KPS graduate who has been in the district through high school.

“I think The Kalamazoo Promise is one of the things that makes a compelling argument for Obama to come to Kalamazoo,” said Michelle Miller-Adams, a political scientist for the W.E. Upjohn Institute for Employment Research, who has written a book about The Promise. “The private nature of the gift is important — it’s a grass-roots effort by a few people with a vision. It shows how a few people in the community can come up with an innovation that changes a lot.

“It’s also about the fact that the school district has stepped up in a serious way to prepare kids for college,” Miller-Adams said.

“This district wouldn’t be where it is today without The Promise. It could have happened without The Promise, but it didn’t. It was The Promise that gave everybody a kick in the pants.”
… The initial data on Promise recipients suggests that free college really does make a difference in people’s aspirations and attitudes, says Tim Bartik, a former KPS board member and a senior economist with the W.E. Upjohn Institute for Employment Research. And that’s how the president could hold up Kalamazoo as a model, he said.

“I see The Promise as moving the conversation” on national school reform, Bartik said. “The Promise shows you can have a major impact on K-12 education and the community by removing the financial barrier to post-secondary education. ... We need to figure out nationally how to do that in a broader context.”
Source: Kalamazoo Gazette, 5.09.10
Read the entire article…

Good one

Attention all Administrators:
It is time to register for MI-LIFE Cohort 4

The MI-LIFE Program has been providing a valuable professional learning opportunity for over 550 school administrators in Michigan. Because of the success of the program and based on evaluations and feedback from those who have participated in the first three cohorts, a fourth cohort of MI-LIFE will be offered beginning in August 2010 through March 2011.
The program will consist of six (6) face-to-face sessions and one (1) online course with intersession assignments between the face-to-face sessions and will be conducted at seven different locations around the state.

Cheboygan-Otsego-Presque Isle ESD
Genesee ISD – Two groups
Ingham ISD
Kent ISD
Lansing School District
Macomb ISD
Wayne RESA

Successful completion in the program can result in 18 SBCEUs or approved University credits and, if eligible, an administrator endorsement.
The fee to participate in the entire MI-LIFE program is $1200 plus a small fee for processing SBCEUs if desired. Several ISD/ESD/Districts are subsidizing the tuition fee for individuals. Please check your selected site for more information. Endorsement applications are handled by the administrator professional associations and the Michigan Department of Education and the process for obtaining an endorsement may include additional fees.
Top 10 Reasons to Apply:

Learn 21st century leadership skills.
Participate in the latest research-based professional learning program.
Collaborate in a statewide professional learning community.
Share best practices with colleagues.
Obtain 18 SBCEUs for successfully completing the entire program.
Develop healthy school cultures.
Build capacity among your staff.
Become efficient at analyzing your school data.
Integrate 21st century tools and technology into your everyday practice.
Discover how a small time commitment can enhance your BIG commitment to learning.

For complete information about the curriculum, courses, and schedule and to access the online application, visit the MI-LIFE web site at http://www.mi-life.org and select the Cohort 4 Fast Link.
Eligibility: Participants must be current ISD, diocese, district, or building level administrators in public, non-public or charter schools.
Registration: Please go to the MIEM online registration under Events at http://www.gomiem.org/ select your site, and register.
Questions: Contact Jan Kesel, MI-LIFE Program Assistant, jkesel@mi-life.org or 248.881-2084

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