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This Issue:
Obama Echoes Bush on Education Ideas

Recession Stalls State-Financed Pre-Kindergarten, but Federal Money May Help

Report Envisions Shortage of Teachers as Retirements Escalate

Patrick's tax ideas get boos, cheers at State House hearing

Several in House consider tax hikes

Bridgewater-Raynham parents told 70 teachers could lose their jobs

"Fighting for Change"

Grantee Highlights 1

Grantee Highlights 2

Obama Echoes Bush on Education Ideas

By Erik W. Robelen
Published in Print: April 8, 2009

President Barack Obama campaigned on a message of change, but when it comes to K-12 education, he appears to be walking in the policy footsteps of his recent predecessors, including George W. Bush.

Mr. Obama is sounding themes of accountability based on standards and assessments. He’s delivering tough talk on teacher quality, including a call for performance-based pay. And he’s promoting an expanded charter school sector.

To be sure, his economic-stimulus package shows he is ready to pump far more money into education than Mr. Bush did. And Mr. Obama says he opposes private school vouchers, a consistent Bush agenda item.

Still, some observers see little difference between the two so far—and aren’t happy at the similarities.

“He is operating almost in a straight line from President Bush,” said Diane Ravitch, an education historian at New York University, who co-writes a blog for edweek.org. She has criticized core elements of Mr. Obama’s K-12 agenda, such as his enthusiasm for the charter sector and what she worries is an overreliance on standardized testing to judge schools and teachers.

“Obama is, in effect, giving George W. Bush a third term in education,” said Ms. Ravitch, who served as an assistant secretary of education under the first President Bush.

Alfie Kohn, an education author and longtime critic of standardized testing, echoes that assessment.

“This is what passes for quote-unquote ‘reform’: an intensification of the status quo that reflects the sensibility of politicians and corporate executives rather than educators,” Mr. Kohn said.

He warns that if Mr. Obama holds to that pattern, his agenda may pose a challenge for some of his natural constituencies.

“A lot of liberals and those on the left desperately want to believe that Obama represents a qualitative change, not just in education, but in all kinds of domestic and foreign-policy issues,” Mr. Kohn said. “And even as many of them become slowly disenchanted, the political issue becomes: How hard do we push?”

But Andrew J. Rotherham, a co-director of the Washington-based think tank Education Sector, argues that the president is sending the right signals, from promoting charter schools to pushing on teacher quality and “improving accountability, not jettisoning it.”

He said that even while he believes Mr. Obama’s critics are wrong to suggest there is little difference between him and Mr. Bush on education, those hoping for a “radical departure” will be disappointed.

“There was a lot of overlap between Bush I and Clinton, and between Clinton and Bush II,” said Mr. Rotherham, a former aide to President Bill Clinton. “Not surprisingly, there’s going to be a lot of overlap between Bush II and Obama.

“That says less about any of them per se than the direction education reform has been going for well over a decade.”

Charting a Course

Analysts caution that it’s still too soon to know exactly where President Obama will come down on education. The key, they say, is how the Obama administration translates its rhetoric into action and detailed policy prescriptions.

For instance, how serious will the administration be in enforcing the education accountability demands in the recently enacted stimulus plan? How will it seek to define performance pay? And what specific changes does Mr. Obama have in mind for the upcoming reauthorization of the No Child Left Behind Act?

Leading teachers’ union officials, at least publicly, sound receptive to most of the president’s ideas.

Randi Weingarten, the president of the 1.4 million-member American Federation of Teachers, said Mr. Obama has laid out a “very broad, comprehensive, and thoughtful agenda.”

The president is wading into touchy territory for the unions with his advocacy of expanding charter schools and promoting performance-based pay, themes he sounded on the campaign trail.

“I know that these conversations sometimes are uncomfortable for us to have, but we’re willing to have them,” Ms. Weingarten said when asked about Mr. Obama’s discussion of performance pay.

She and other union officials say that Mr. Obama’s election brought about a critical change that isn’t about policy or money. It’s a belief—reinforced by the president’s public statements—that  teachers and their unions will have a seat at the table in policy discussions.

“He’s going to listen,” said Anne T. Wass, the president of the Massachusetts Teachers Association, an affiliate of the 3.2 million-member National Education Association. “There wasn’t very much trust in President Bush as far as our issues, and very little access.”

‘The Same Old Debate’

The considerable attention President Obama has paid to education since taking office has surprised many observers, especially given the relatively minor role the issue played in the 2008 campaign and the focus on the economic crisis.

The president and U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan have made clear that they view the economic-stimulus law, the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act—with some $115 billion in aid for precollegiate and higher education—as a means to launch education plans from improvements in standards and data-collection systems to performance pay. The unprecedented, one-time infusion of federal aid is being touted not only as a lifeline for schools but also a bargain of more money in exchange for substantive changes. ("Stimulus Scale Seen as Issue," Feb. 11, 2009, and "First Education Stimulus Aid Flows to States," April 8, 2009.)

Last month, Mr. Obama outlined his education agenda in broad strokes during an address to the U.S. Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, setting the stage with a fairly stark portrait.

“[W]e’ve let our grades slip, our schools crumble, our teacher quality fall short, and other nations outpace us,” he said.

Some critics say Mr. Obama was unfairly negative and used flawed information to make his case.

For instance, he said that U.S. 8th graders have “fallen to ninth place” in math. Although the 2007 results for the Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study, or TIMMS, do confirm that ranking, it was an improvement from the 2003 U.S. ranking of 15th place. In 1999, the United States ranked 19th out of 38 nations.

The president appeared to be on solid statistical ground in some other areas, however. He said that “just a third of our 13- and 14-year-olds can read as well as they should,” which seems to refer to the 31 percent of 8th graders rated “proficient” in the 2007 results for the National Assessment of Educational Progress.

He also lamented the “stubborn”—and widely recognized—achievement gap between African-American and Hispanic students and their white peers.

Mr. Obama has been generally consistent in his stated education agenda since taking office, reiterating much that he said during the campaign. That includes improvement proposals touching on every aspect of the U.S. education system, from early childhood to college and the workplace.

He has trumpeted his goals repeatedly, from his address to Congress in February to a virtual town-hall meeting on March 26. But he articulated his vision most extensively in his March 10 speech in the nation’s capital to Hispanic business leaders.

“[W]hat we get here in Washington is the same old debate ... more money versus more reform, vouchers versus the status quo,” Mr. Obama said. “What’s required is not simply new investments, but new reforms. It’s time to expect more from our students. It’s time to start rewarding good teachers, stop making excuses for bad ones. It’s time to demand results from government at every level.”

On the K-12 front, Mr. Obama called on states to develop stronger academic standards and better student assessments, and urged a move toward common standards across states—a point he did not make on the campaign trail. He talked of extending the school day and year, and increasing assistance for dropouts. He promoted efforts to recruit, prepare, and reward teachers.

In addition, Mr. Obama called for more innovation in schools, and pointed to some charter schools as exemplars. Going beyond his campaign plan to increase federal aid for charters, he also urged states with charter caps to lift them, provided those states ensure “greater accountability” and have plans to “close charters that are not working.”

The president carefully couched his rhetoric in ways that make it akin to a Rorschach test, with something for almost everyone.

He said he wants “tougher, clearer” standards, but also assessments that “don’t simply measure whether students can fill in a bubble.” He wants more “effective” charters, but also tougher action to close those that fall short. He wants not only to hold teachers accountable, he said, but also to treat them like professionals.

Political Balancing Act

“Obama has been very artful with this from the very beginning,” Christopher T. Cross, a veteran education expert who was an assistant education secretary under the first President Bush, said of his ability to deliver multiple messages. “There’s enough in there that, depending on where you sit, you can see something you stand for.”

As a result, his education vision has managed to appeal to a wide range of education policymakers and analysts.

“He is saying a lot of things that sound all too familiar to me,” said former U.S. Secretary of Education Margaret Spellings, pointing to Mr. Obama’s backing of teacher incentive pay, charter schools, and high standards to help close achievement gaps. “I want to sing right along.”

John P. Bailey, a former aide to President George W. Bush on education and labor issues, said that while he has been encouraged, it shouldn’t be surprising to hear familiar themes coming from the new president.

“What it shows, to me, is there is an emerging consensus around some real bipartisan, center-oriented reforms,” Mr. Bailey said.

Indeed, leading congressional Democrats on education, including Sen. Edward M. Kennedy of Massachusetts and Rep. George Miller of California, were partners with the Bush administration in drafting the bipartisan No Child Left Behind Act eight years ago, though they later complained bitterly that Mr. Bush was not willing to fund it adequately.

President Clinton—the previous Democrat to hold the office—was also a champion of standards and accountability, and signed into law major changes to federal policy that helped pave the way for NCLB. In addition, he was an early and vocal proponent of charter schools, and pushed for new demands on states and districts to improve teacher quality.

For his part, President George H.W. Bush offered an agenda that included advocating national goals and standards across states and providing seed money for “break the mold” schools.

Still, the ideas Mr. Obama is embracing don’t sit well with everyone.

Alex Molnar, an education professor at Arizona State University, said that while he finds merit in some of Mr. Obama’s plans for early-childhood and higher education, he sees little to like in the current administration’s K-12 agenda, whether it’s the “fascination with standards and assessments” or the embrace of charter schools.

“He’s just served up a plate of leftovers: leftover ideas, leftover ideology, and I must say, he’s serving leftovers of food that wasn’t very good to begin with,” Mr. Molnar said.

Ms. Wass of the Massachusetts Teachers Association, said that while she supports many of Mr. Obama’s plans, she is “less enthusiastic” about performance pay.

“If it means paying individual teachers based on student test scores, ... we would have a hard time ever compromising on that,” she said.

Secretary Duncan has said test data would be one component of performance-pay plans.

Bruce Reed, the president of the centrist Democratic Leadership Council and formerly President Clinton’s chief domestic-policy adviser, argues that the vast sums President Obama has secured for education through the stimulus package will help build the political leverage he needs with unions and others to achieve his agenda. The administration estimates that the stimulus money will help avert hundreds of thousands of teacher layoffs. ("As Stimulus Tap Turns On, Districts Can't Escape Cuts," April 8, 2009.)

“Don’t underestimate the value of money, especially in these hard times,” Mr. Reed said. “A leader’s job is to push the envelope and bring everybody along, and that’s what Obama’s trying to do.”

But Frederick M. Hess, the director of education policy studies at the conservative-leaning American Enterprise Institute, a Washington think tank, isn’t so sure what the president will get for all the money being committed.

“What I see is lots of new money,” he said, “and I see a whole lot of ambiguity when it comes to which of these changes are actually going to be anything meaningful.”

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Recession Stalls State-Financed Pre-Kindergarten, but Federal Money May Help

By Sam Dillon
April 8, 2009

One of the most drastic expansions of public education in recent American history unfolded quietly in this decade, as dozens of states added free pre-kindergarten classes to their traditional kindergarten to high school offerings.

But the recession appears to have stalled the expansion of state-financed pre-kindergarten programs, according to Steven Barnett, a professor at Rutgers University who is a co-author of a new report documenting trends in early childhood education.

“We had been making remarkable progress, things were going great guns, but as the recession hit state governments, things started to change,” Dr. Barnett said. “It’s gotten so that some people would even consider flat funding to be good.”

From 2002 to 2008, spending on pre-kindergarten by states nearly doubled, to $4.6 billion from $2.4 billion, enabling states to increase enrollment to 1.1 million preschoolers from about 700,000.

That growth came partly because governors and legislatures, convinced of the value of early childhood education, stepped in to fill a gap left by federal inaction. President George W. Bush, who focused mainly on trying to improve achievement among older children, allowed budgets for the largest federally financed preschool programs to stagnate.

But given the economic decline, nine states — Alabama, California, Connecticut, Florida, Iowa, Minnesota, New York, North Carolina and South Carolina — have already announced cuts to state-run pre-kindergarten programs, Dr. Barnett said.

And legislatures are debating cutbacks in some others, including Tennessee and Washington State, he said.

“All of this may produce dire consequences for state pre-K programs,” says the new report, the State of Preschool 2008, by the National Institute for Early Education Researchat the Rutgers Graduate School of Education. “In most states, expenditures on pre-K are entirely discretionary and therefore easier to cut than expenditures for some other program.”

Meanwhile, however, at President Obama’s request, Congress has significantly raised federal financing for preschool education. Mr. Obama promised during the campaign to make large new investments in early childhood education, and in the economic stimulus package, Congress appropriated more than $4 billion for Head Start and Early Head Start programs and for grants to states to support child care for low-income families.

“The big picture here is that for the last eight years, the only game around for early childhood was in the states, because under Bush there was nothing going on at the federal level,” said Cornelia Grumman, executive director of the First Five Years Fund, an advocacy group based in Chicago. “All of a sudden that’s changed. Now the only game is federal, because if you’re a state-funded program relying on your state legislature, well, it’s not a rosy picture.”

The two largest federal preschool programs are Head Start, which serves low-income 3- and 4-year-olds and was begun by President Lyndon B. Johnson in 1965, and Early Head Start, which serves infants and pregnant mothers and was inaugurated under President Bill Clinton in 1994. The combined budget for both programs was $6.5 billion in 2002. In 2008, Mr. Bush’s last full year in office, their combined budget was $6.9 billion.

The National Head Start Association, a nonprofit advocacy group, says that when inflation is taken into account, the financing for the two programs declined 13 percent from 2002 to 2008.

Under the Obama administration, financing for Head Start and Early Head Start has been separated and has greatly increased. The stimulus law includes $1 billion for Head Start, which last year served about 830,000 children, and the 2009 budget includes an additional $235 million.

The stimulus law increases financing for Early Head Start, which serves 62,000 families, by $1.1 billion. That will allow the program to enroll an additional 55,000 families.

Mr. Obama and Education Secretary Arne Duncan say their enthusiasm for early childhood education is based on research showing large paybacks for every dollar spent on the careful nurturing of poor children.

Mr. Duncan repeated those arguments at a forum on early learning in Washington last week. “For every dollar we spend on these programs, we get nearly $10 back in reduced welfare rolls, fewer health care costs and less crime,” Mr. Duncan said.

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Report Envisions Shortage of Teachers as Retirements Escalate

By SAM DILLON
Published: April 7, 2009

Over the next four years, more than a third of the nation’s 3.2 million teachers could retire, depriving classrooms of experienced instructors and straining taxpayer-financed retirement systems, according to a new report.

The problem is aggravated by high attrition among rookie teachers, with one of every three new teachers leaving the profession within five years, a loss of talent that costs school districts millions in recruiting and training expenses, says the report, by the National Commission on Teaching and America’s Future, a nonprofit research advocacy group.

“The traditional teaching career is collapsing at both ends,” the report says. “Beginners are being driven away” by low pay and frustrating working conditions, and “accomplished veterans who still have much to contribute are being separated from their schools by obsolete retirement systems” that encourage teachers to move from paycheck to pension when they are still in their mid-50s, the report says.

To ease the exodus, the report says, policy makers should restructure schools and modify state retirement policies so that thousands of the best veteran teachers can stay on in the classroom to mentor inexperienced teachers. Reorganizing schools around what the report calls learning teams, a model already in place in some schools in Boston, could ease the strain on pension systems, raise student achievement and help young teachers survive their first, often traumatic years in the classroom, it says.

“In the ’60s we recruited many baby-boom women and men, and the deal we made was, ‘You’ll have a rewarding career and at the end, pension and health benefits,’ ” said Tom Carroll, the commission’s president. “They signed up in large numbers and stayed, and now 53 percent of our teaching work force is getting ready to collect. If all those boomers walk into retirement, our teacher pension systems will be under severe strain, with the same problems as the auto industry.”

This is not the first report to predict widespread teacher shortages unless policy makers took quick action. In 1999, an Education Department study warned that the impending retirement of millions of teachers could lead to chaos, a dire outcome that never materialized.

One economist who spoke out skeptically then was Michael Podgursky, who studies teacher retirement at the University of Missouri. The latest report, too, may overstate the case somewhat, Dr. Podgursky said in an interview. “There’s a bit of hyperbole” in the assertion that the teaching career is “collapsing at both ends,” he said.

The recession may help ease potential teacher shortages because the profession’s relative job security and generous health benefits will probably attract more new college graduates and career-changers than when plenty of good jobs were available.

“Still, the authors make a credible case that the number or teachers who retire will rise in coming years,” Dr. Podgursky said, “and it makes a good deal of sense to develop phased retirement systems that permit retired or semiretired teachers to mentor new teachers.”

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Patrick’s tax ideas get boos, cheers at State House hearing
Pros and cons offered during six-hour hearing at State House

By Joe Markman
PATRIOT LEDGER STATE HOUSE BUREAU
Posted Apr 08, 2009

BOSTON —Gov. Deval Patrick’s tax proposals concerning meals, lodging, sweets and alcohol got a mixed reception at the State House on Tuesday, with advocates talking about pluses such as having more money for health programs and opponents warning of the costs.

The six-hour public hearing, conducted by the Legislature’s Joint Committee on Revenue, included debate on the meal tax, elimination of tax exemptions for telecommunications property, establishing taxes on soda, candy and alcohol sold at package stores, and statewide and local-option hotel taxes.

As for hotel taxes, Rep. Joseph R. Driscoll, D-Braintree, a member of the revenue committee, said: “Essentially, what we’d be doing is subsidizing towns without hotels.”

Paul J. Sacco, president and CEO of the Massachusetts Lodging Association, said in an interview outside the State House’s Gardner Auditorium that the association has opposed increasing the hotels tax for years, arguing that lower taxes help Massachusetts attract tourists.

Patrick’s proposal would increase the hotel tax from 5.75 percent to 6.75 percent and the meals tax from 5 percent to 6 percent. A $10 lunch would cost an extra 10 cents; a $150 hotel stay would cost an extra $1.50.

Secretary of Administration and Finance Leslie Kirwan said the resulting $149 million in revenue could reduce cuts in state aid to the cities and towns. For instance, Quincy would lose $2.3 million in aid rather than $4.1 million.

Sacco urged lawmakers to extend the hotel occupancy tax to vacation homes and corporate suites. Someone staying for a week in a corporate rental, for example, can avoid $200 in taxes, he said.

Candy, soda and alcohol taxes would generate $121.5 million in fiscal 2010, the administration said. That would go into a wellness fund and be spent on programs including health care and addiction treatment.

“I think we have a shot,” said Vic DiGravio, president and CEO of the Mental Health and Substance Abuse Corporations of Massachusetts. “We need these services.”

DiGravio said his organization, whose members include the High Point Treatment Centers in Plymouth and Brockton, would use the tax money to increase services for addicts. Costs to the taxpayer would be reduced, he said.

DiGravio said detox costs $220 a day at a community treatment center, compared to $6,700 a day if the addicted person goes to a hospital emergency room. Taxpayers pick up the emergency-room tab if the addict is enrolled in MassHealth or does not have insurance.

Braintree's Driscoll asked Health and Human Services Secretary JudyAnn Bigby about the possibility of tax revenue declining as people eat better and drink less alcohol.

“Based on cigarette sales, we would expect a decrease in consumption and revenues,” Bigby said.

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Several in House consider tax hikes
Lost services could be risky, lawmaker says

By Jim O'Sullivan
State House News Service / April 8, 2009

Major cuts looming in the House budget due out next week are causing some lawmakers to embrace tax increases as a way to minimize spending reductions that one key lawmaker said would result in lost lives.

Jay Kaufman, chairman of the House revenue committee, echoing Governor Michael S. Dukakis's prediction in 1990 that a recession-era budget would result in deaths, said the Ways and Means draft would be notable for its heavy reductions in human services.

"I for one, having a look at what we're going to be doing next Wednesday, would say that we can probably measure the impact of this budget in terms of lives lost," Kaufman told reporters.

"We're in crisis management mode right now," Kaufman said. "My goal is to do no harm."

Hearing testimony from Governor Deval Patrick's budget chief, local officials, and a slew of interest groups in favor of Patrick's proposed new levies on telecommunications property, alcohol, candy, sweetened beverages, meals, and lodging, lawmakers gave mixed reactions. But the leaders of the revenue committee signaled willingness to approve some of the tax hikes.

Kaufman, a Democrat of Lexington, said new taxes on alcohol and candy would receive legislative support, but was unsure whether the measures would receive majority backing.

Patrick wants to generate nearly $400 million from new telecommunication, meals, and lodging taxes next fiscal year. Patrick also hopes to raise $122 million from repealed sales tax exemptions on candy, sugared drinks, and alcohol, proposals that have found little traction in the Legislature.

Leslie A. Kirwan, secretary of Administration and Finance, leading off a crowded hearing that lasted over four hours, told lawmakers that Patrick was seeking "targeted, responsible revenue solutions."

Kirwan said the Legislature's refusal to adopt Patrick's so-called Municipal Partnership Act two years ago, which included measures permitting municipalities to levy meals and lodging taxes, had cost cities and towns $250 million.

"More than two years have passed, and nothing happened with that bill," Kirwan said.

Some lawmakers have taken hardline no-tax stances. Charles A. Murphy, chairman of the Committee on Ways and Means, has repeatedly discounted the prospect of new demands on taxpayers. Ronald Mariano, assistant majority leader of the House, said yesterday that a bevy of tax votes that did not solve the fiscal problems would be viewed unkindly by lawmakers.

Representative William G. Greene Jr., Democrat of Billerica, told Kirwan that Patrick's budget was based on an "extremely high" revenue estimate of $19.53 billion.

Greene said lawmakers would have difficulty taking votes on increasing gas taxes to cut down the transportation deficit in addition to raising other taxes to balance the operating budget.

Advocates for universal healthcare said that new taxes were needed to prevent a retreat from the health insurance expansion launched in 2006.

Advocates for the disabled said Patrick's budget cuts $85 million from disability services, including $78 million from the Department of Developmental Services.

Patrick's health and human services secretary, JudyAnn Bigby, said the new sales tax on alcohol would help the state address some of the nation's highest rates of underage drinking and adult "binge" drinking.

Currently, she said, "In effect, the Commonwealth promotes the consumption of alcoholic beverages."

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Bridgewater-Raynham parents told 70 teachers could lose their jobs

By Theresa Knapp Enos
ENTERPRISE CORRESPONDENT
Posted Apr 08, 2009 @ 03:10 AM

BRIDGEWATER —A physical education teacher stressed that not all kids learn by sitting in a chair for five hours. A health teacher said she fears classes with 30-plus students and no outlet for the excess energy.

And a family and consumer science teacher of 21 years — who teaches her students topics including, ironically, budgeting — said even her job is on the chopping block.

More than 100 people attended a budget overview Tuesday night on the proposed $57.2 million budget, intended to give parents a chance to voice their concerns about the proposed cuts. School officials have warned that 70 teachers across the Bridgewater-Raynham district could be lost in a budget that is essentially the same size it was last year.

Superintendent Jacqueline Forbes said the school committee continues to look at all options to save money, but said there is no other place to make up the budget shortfall than through personnel, which is half of the budget.

“We’re between a rock and a hard place,” she said, noting that the 70 expected layoffs might still be reduced by union concessions. “Everything we can get in terms of increased revenues, we will put toward trying to save our teachers.”

Cuts may also lead to increased class sizes of up to 35 students in grades 3-12, the elimination of all K-8 specials (art, music, library, technology, health, foreign language), elimination of funding for sports at the middle school, reduction of electives at the high school, and a shortened school day for all K-8 students, which would affect time-on-learning.

While some parents said they favor the elimination of all specials in favor of protecting core subjects and also to keep class sizes down, others said such a cut would be detrimental.

“I think we should keep specials as much as we can,” said Paula Linhares, a Bridgewater parent. “When you eliminate the specials, you’re eliminating half the education. We’re talking tonight about creative and innovative ways to solve the budget problem. Creativity and innovation is first nurtured in the art projects that are on my refrigerator right now.”

The School Committee is asking parents to reply to several questions by Thursday at noon, in time for its next budget subcommittee meeting. Contact information can be found at the school’s Web site at www.bridge-rayn.org.

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"Fighting for Change"

By Nancy Rauch Douzinas

Dr. John Jackson is President and CEO of the Schott Foundation for Public Education. He delivered a speech at Hofstra University this year, at the meeting where we presented the 2009 Long Island Index. Discussing some of the Index findings, he asked a simple, direct question:
 
What are you going to do about it?
 
I've been wondering that myself. The data in the report, about the structure of Long Island's education system, is clear. It spells out in inescapable detail what many have long observed:
 

• That while many of our schools are doing fine, many others are not.
• That our 100-plus separate school districts, drawing funds mostly from local taxes, spend vastly different amounts on their students.
• That these differences result in unequal educational opportunity for our children.
• That the greatest resources do not go where needs are greatest.
• That educational outcomes suffer as a result.

 
The Index also spells out the risk this poses. In an increasingly competitive, technology-driven economy, Long Island is already losing ground to other regions. We simply cannot afford to leave our children undereducated.
 
The information is clear and compelling. And people get it. That's clear from an opinion survey the Index conducted, which shows solid majority support for systemic educational reform. Today 64% of Long Islanders support consolidating school districts; 66% favor creating magnet schools; 64% favor allowing children in failing school districts to attend better schools in nearby districts; and 61% support lower-income housing in middle-class and wealthier neighborhoods.
 
The desire for change is there. How do we translate it into action?
 
I've written often in these pages about the need for leadership. I've described how leaders in other regions have come together in alliances that succeed in tackling regional problems.
 
I have long wished to see something like that here on Long Island, but it just keeps not happening.
 
That means it's up to ordinary citizens to take the initiative. That's a viable path, too-a path that has effected landmark reforms. It was citizen action that won women the right to vote, powered civil rights legislation and environmental protection.
 
If all the Long Islanders who support school reform actually spoke out for it, I have no doubt things would change. Why, if just one Long Islander in 20 of us - some 50,000 of us - came together and demanded action from the state government . . . we would see real action right quick.
 
Would that require effort? Moving a bit out of our comfort zone? Yes, it would.
 
But given Long Island's economic position, and the trend in which it is heading, comfort is not an option. The only choice is between action and decline.
 
Long Island's problems will not fix themselves, and fixing them will take real effort. You could just pack up and leave-an option that a great many are already choosing.
 
If you'd rather stay, then prepare to fight.
 
Nancy Rauch Douzinas is president of the Rauch Foundation, a Long Island-based family foundation.  The Long Island Index provides data about the Long Island region, in order to promote informed public debate and sound policy making. For more information visit our Website: www.longislandindex.org

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Grantee Highlights 1

Highlighted below are some of the exciting projects of the Schott Foundation’s grantees.  Please visit the Schott Foundation website at www.schottfoundation.org to see a listing of current grantees.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

Statewide Policy Forum to focus on enhancing the early care and education workforce in Massachusetts

April 9, 2009 - Cambridge, MA - Research has consistently demonstrated that young children perform better when their teachers have a good education and are well compensated. Yet, nationwide, less than half of teachers of young children have either two or four year degrees. Of those that do, few have degrees in early childhood education or child development.

All over the country, early care and education professionals often make little more than minimum wage and receive few, if any, benefits, which leads to the inability of the field to attract and retain well-educated professionals. High turnover rates, up to 50% in many programs and centers, can significantly impact continuity of care and create attachment difficulties for children.
 
"Several state commissions and panels have all called for increased qualifications for the early care and education workforce," stated Dr. Valora Washington, President of the Community Advocates for Young Learners (CAYL) Institute.  "But what is the pathway in Massachusetts by which these lofty goals might be achieved?"

Join the CAYL Institute and the 2009 CAYL Schott Fellows and expert panelists as we explore how Massachusetts can create a comprehensive, coordinated system that enhances our workforce to achieve higher qualifications.
 
Bringing it All Together: Enhancing the Early Care and Education Workforce Policy Forum
Tuesday, May 5, 2009, 10:00 AM- 4:00 PM
Cambridge College School of Education
80 Prospect Street, Cambridge, MA 02139
For more info: (617) 873-0678

This event is free and open to the public. More information is available by calling Jessica D'Amico at (617) 873-0678 or register to attend on our web site: http://cayl.org/workforceroundtable2009

The Policy Forum will:

• Review the status of the Massachusetts early care and education workforce
• Identify gaps and challenges in the Massachusetts early care and education professional development system
• Explore lessons learned and best practices from other states
• Recommend strategies for change

The Keynote Speaker will be Susan Russell of the Child Care Services Association (CCSA) in North Carolina. The CCSA is a nationally recognized nonprofit working to ensure affordable, accessible, high quality child care for all families through research, services and advocacy. More than just an agency working to improve child care; they are also an association of groups, individuals and volunteers committed to supporting the right of young children and their families to have the best possible life.
 
In 1990, CCSA created the Teacher Education and Compensation Helps (T.E.A.C.H.) Early Childhood® Project to address the issues of under-education, poor compensation and high turnover within the ear.ly childhood workforce. Since that time, it has been replicated in 22 states (not Massachusetts).

The T.E.A.C.H. Early Childhood® Project provides scholarships and supports for CDA, coursework leading toward an Associate Degree in Early Childhood, and the Early Childhood Education Director's Certificate. All scholarships link continuing education with increased compensation and require that recipients and their sponsoring child care programs share in the cost. Learn more at: http://www.childcareservices.org/ps/teach.html#2

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Grantee Highlights 2

An Appetite for Taxes and a Civics Lesson

Posted April 8th, 2009 by Judy Meredith

I wish you had been there to watch the young people who waited till 4:30 to testify in favor of some of the Governor’s tax proposals yesterday in a packed Gardiner Auditorium.  The pretty thorough reporters from WBUR, the State House News via the Globe, and the Patriot Ledger missed them.

Here you see Wilne Ledesma from the Boston Arts Academy and the Youth Education Collaborative.

Here you see Co Chair Jay Kaufman asking Secretary Bigby earlier in the day, "If we give you this much in revenue, how does that correspond in the way of restored services to vital youth human service programs”?

The Youth Education collaborative got up after a parade of public officials, public health advocates and small business groups had testified and left, and these four young people out of a delegation of 18 from Sociedad Latina, Hyde Square Task Force, Boston Student Advisory Council, Boston Area Youth Organizing Project, Chinese Progressive Organization, Youth on Board, Sub/Urban Justice, and the Boston Student Alliance for the Future of Education, told the Committee their story of a year long self imposed civic lesson majoring in budget and tax policies affecting public education: they had gathered student opinion via interviews; held a series of student forums and briefing sessions within their organizations; brought delegations to meet with the Superintendent of Schools, the Mayor and every single member of the Boston School Committee and were in the midst of adding to the 1000 signatures in a petition supporting the following statement:

In the short term we support a local option meals tax and a local option hotel tax to allow cities and towns to raise much needed revenues and we support long term efficiency measures including “greening” of our buildings and eliminating waste in the school lunch program.

Props to the Youth Education Collaborative for sitting in the gallery for 6 hours after all the press had left and submitting some informed testimony. They promised to follow up with each member of the Revenue committee individually and I bet they will.

They've developed an appetite for taxes! 

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