Submittal to Education Funding Task Force: Our Vision: A Successful K-12 Public School System

Our Vision: A Successful K-12 Public School System
Submitted by: Washington’s Paramount Duty
September 2016

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We envision a state education system where…

  • Every student experiences smaller classes, allowing them to receive the individual attention they need to thrive as learners and students.
  • Every student has the opportunity for ielts preparation course in Malaysia, classes in music, art, drama, and physical education.
  • Every student is equipped with materials and technology essential in today’s learning.
  • Every student gains the knowledge and skills to succeed in the 21st century.
  • Every student receives at least 45 minutes of recess each day.
  • Every student has at least 30 minutes to eat his or her lunch.
  • Every student has the opportunity to go on field trips.
  • Every student and their family can be confident that their data will not be given away, sold, or compromised.
  • Special education students and emergent bilingual students receive the extra support and opportunity they need to thrive as students.
  • At risk, disadvantaged, and homeless students receive the extra support and opportunity they need to thrive as students.
  • The opportunity gap for students of color and ELL students is eliminated through the provision of additional resources — all schools will need more funding than they currently have. Some will need a lot more.
  • Every high school student will have the opportunity to take AP and honors classes, advanced mathematics and science courses, and participate in IB or Running Start programs.
  • A diverse cultural mix of students are encouraged and recruited to participate in AP and honors classes, advanced mathematics and science courses, and participate in IB or Running Start programs.
  • Every school has a full-time nurse, a full-time librarian, ample special education services and educators, a full-time counselor, and social workers and family support professionals, as appropriate and needed by the school community.
  • In-school services are available to address each student’s social, emotional, intellectual, and health needs.
  • Every student has access to mental health services when they need it.
  • Students are provided with a culturally sensitive, non-biased, and equitable education.
  • Students are provided with culturally sensitive, non-biased, and equitable testing.
  • Any federally mandated statewide assessments are created by Washington State classroom educators.
  • Every school will offer at least one foreign language in grades K-12.
  • Regular curriculum updates and professional development are provided to support teachers’ work.
  • Teachers and other educators are treated as professionals and provided with living and competitive market-based wages, worthy of their work, education, and profession.
  • There is a robust recruitment program to insure there are enough quality teachers and substitutes to teach Washington’s students.
  • Schools and children are provided with equitable resources and opportunities.
  • There are fully resourced school buildings and enough classrooms, bathrooms, libraries, safe drinking water, and play space for every child.
  • Schools can afford to test their drinking water and ensure a safe school environment.

If implemented, the outcomes of this vision would be:

  • A significantly higher graduation rate. (Currently, over 22% of high school students do not graduate.)
  • Students that are prepared to succeed as contributors and participants in the 21st century economy.
  • A significant closing of the opportunity gap — so that children who need more support, get more support.
  • The capacity for excellence, learning, creativity and growth for educators and students is made possible.

We envision a public school system that is given a chance to achieve its potential – where teachers are given the support they need to teach and not expected to also serve as a part-time librarian, nurse, recess monitor, and social worker. Where every student is provided with a desk, school supplies, access to support services, individual attention, and other basic resources they need to thrive as learners. We have amazing schools that are doing their best with what they have – let’s give them a chance to thrive and do what’s expected of them by ensuring that they all have what they need, and even if they problems with subjects like English, using resources from sites like https://www.slcedu.sg/psle-english-tuition-singapore is a good option to give everyone a good education.

We envision that our elected officials will fund basic education in our state. The legislative record shows that our elected officials are very willing to take up the hard work of developing education policy that best serves the students of Washington state, but perhaps the hardest and most-important work is still to come — accurately quantifying and fully funding this vision.

In addition to HB 2261 (2009) and HB 2776 (2010), the following bills were passed with the vision of what our state education system is capable of:

  • TPEP – Teacher  & Principal Evaluation Program (SB 6696, 2010; SB 5895, 2012)
  • Common Core State Standards (English Language Arts & Math)
  • Next Generation Science Standards
  • School Accountability for Struggling Schools (SB 6696, 2010; HB2799, 2012; SB 5329, 2013)
  • Expanded Supports for English Language Learners (SB 2051, 2013)
  • Online Learning Programs Accreditation (SB 5410, 2009; HB 2065, 2011)
  • WaKids Kindergarten Readiness Inventory (SB 5427, 2011; HB2586, 2012)
  • Career & Technical Education (CTE) Strategic Plan (HB 1710, 2011)
  • Encouraging AP and IB Advanced Programs (HB 1642, 2013)
  • Computer Science as Math or Science Credit (HB 1472, 2013)
  • Education Health Indicators (SB 5491, 2013)
  • Strengthening Outcomes / Early Literacy / Evidence Based Strategies (SB 5946, 2013)
  • Open Doors Dropout Re-engagement Statewide Framework (HB 1418, 2010)
  • Career and College Ready Graduation; CTE Math & Science Equivalencies (SB 6552, 2014)
  • Computer Science Standards and expanding CS Education (HB 1546, 2015)
  • College in High School / Advanced Academic or CTE courses with Dual Credits
  • (HB 1546, 2015)
  • Strategies to Close the Educational Opportunity Gap (HB 1541, 2016)

It is time to fully fund the unfunded mandate that is public education in our state.  A successful Washington K-12 public school system would make ample provision for the education of all children residing within its borders, without distinction or preference on account of race, color, caste, or sex. The detailed components of this have been well established by previous legislative action. At this point in time, the missing ingredient is funding.

Passing a meaningful — and fair revenue solution – is what the legislature is tasked with in the upcoming 2017 legislative session. Because of its size, the funding gap cannot be closed by routine budget growth and cuts to other essential public services — that would devastate vital state services like higher education, early learning, low-income housing, long-term care for seniors and persons with disabilities, mental health services, environmental protection, public health, legal justice, and public safety.  In addition, as the Court ruled, funding basic education is a state government responsibility, so relying on local levies must not be a part of the solution.

As shared in the Washington Paramount Duty White Paper submitted July 31, 2016, we offer the following guiding principles and recommendations as this task force moves forward with bringing your colleagues together to find a common solution, on behalf of Washington’s 1.1 million public school students.

We need new revenue — but not just any revenue, particularly given our current over-reliance on local resources and the extreme regressive nature of our current state tax system. To ensure we don’t get into this funding mess again, we need revenues that are:

  • Sufficient — enough to fund basic education without harming other vital state services.
  • Sustainable — insulated from the ups and downs of the economy.
  • Fair — everyone pays her or his fair share, unlike our current system where those with the most pay less than their fair share, while the rest pay more.
  • Accountable— new revenues will be solely dedicated to funding basic education.

Washington Paramount Duty respectfully encourages this task force and Legislature to move forward with the hard and important work of figuring out how to fully fund Washington’s schools.  The solutions may seem daunting, but working incrementally and with deliberation will surely provide results. The Seattle Times called this the “civil rights crisis of our time” – let’s do what’s right by the people who are the future of our state, our children.

 

APPENDIX:  Testimonials

Testimonial submitted to the Education Funding Task Force
September 6, 2016
Submitted by: Dirir Abdullahi

Greetings,

I am writing this letter on behalf of the African American Leadership Forum. I worked this past year at Garfield High School as a Somali Instructional Assistant, and during this time I witnessed multiple disparities in resource allocation for students depending on ethnicity.

Most of the Advanced Placement courses were taken by white students, some who come from private middle schools taking up the space from students of color who attend the high school. There are also counselors who discourage our students of color from taking these honor courses or advanced placement courses. They say things such as, “you are not ready, it’s too challenging reconsider look into a more basic course”. We need efficient training of our counselors so their biases are not directed into the wellbeing of our students. Our student’s success should be the primary concern and therefore implicit bias training, and anti-discrimination training should be mandated, along with increasing counselors of color.

We need staff who fight for equity to realize true equality. Black students have been put into low resource facilities since segregation times, and now that gentrification has been pushing black folks out of their homes and replacing them with white folks, those schools now have additional resources to accommodate white students.

There have been numerous occasions in which field trips could not be completed due supposed funding deficits. For example, one of the field trips was aimed at giving the students insight on what it means to be a scientist. This pilot project was aimed to support educators provide opportunities to connect their teaching in the classroom(s) to world problems/solutions in the field of global health.  In addition to visiting organizations, students will interact with staffs at Seattle based organizations that have an immense impact on world health. Everything was planned, funding was the only issue.

Likewise, aside from Garfield High School there are other schools in the Highline School Districts that have old text books, and little to no lab equipment. We are done asking for services that should have already been there, we are demanding and we will do as such. My role in AALF is in the education aspect, as well as health care we have systems of oppression failing us, and our group is a group of mixed professionals in the community working to change our current conditions actively. I have just entered my first year of medical school, and as a future physician my community healing and being given the accurate allocation of resources will be my goal.

Katie Piper, Seattle, WA
Teacher at Sammamish High School
Parent of 2 Seattle Public School students

Here is my vision of fully funded education, based on my experience as both a teacher and a parent in public schools in Washington.

  • I would be able to count on having fewer than 30 students in my high school classes.
  • Qualified para-educators would be available in classrooms where they are needed, and they would have the resources necessary to support students.
  • Teachers would have the time necessary to collaborate in order to plan high quality instruction for the diverse learners we serve every day. This would be the cornerstone of a deeper professional development for teachers, rather than one or two days of “drive-by” PD per year that is not specific to a teacher’s assignment.
  • Administrators would have budgets that would allow them the slightest bit of leeway, so that a small wobble in enrollment numbers doesn’t have to lead to drastic and painful funding choices.
  • I would have enough textbooks for every student.
  • Basics like art instruction and library books would be funded and available in every school, rather than becoming an extra funded only by PTAs in wealthier communities.
  • Counselors would have reasonable caseloads, so that they could help attend to children’s mental health needs, as well as working on scheduling and helping students navigate college admissions.
  • New teachers would be coached and supported as they navigate a profession with many competing challenges. This might reduce the burnout rate (currently 50% leave the profession in three years), which would surely turn out to be a smart investment.
  • My children’s would have a full-length school day, rather than one that is arbitrarily 30 minutes shorter because of a failed local levy decades ago.

Quality public education is a cornerstone of a democratic society, and our best chance at reducing inequality. We simply have to start making funding choices that are in line with our values.

Megan Dunn, Everett School District

My vision for education is to amply fund education so that districts have enough money to pay all teacher, para-educators, support staff and administration. All supplies related to learning should be paid for, including extra curricular activities. All children have the right to a healthy classroom and minimum environmental standards should be enforced.

Lack of funding has resulted in districts doing what they can, a lack of achievement and school buildings that are falling into neglect. By having our buildings and structures go into disrepair, we are directly impacting achievement and development. All students and employees would benefit from a healthier school environment with reduced chemical exposure. Safe school chemical polices provide incentive, a clear framework and long-term change.

I support a state income tax or other change in the tax structure, connected to a reduction in sales tax in order to have a reliable base of funding.

Amy Knobbs, School: Green Lake Elementary School

My mother was the first in her family to go to college.  Education was her pathway to a better life and she became a high school teacher to help others.  I grew up believing in the power of education to allow the smartest and best ideas to come forth.

I want Washington’s schools to be able to brag that their students excel despite their economic background.  I want Washington’s schools to show the rest of the nation that it values its educators.  I want Washington to fully fund education.

Fully funding education would mean that PTAs would no longer contribute to funding administrative posts or providing computers or buying books.  An amply funded public school would not ask its parents to buy copy paper and scissors and pencils and glue.

If reading is important, I suggest providing a well-stocked library and a full time librarian.  If STEM is important, I do not think parents should be “raising the paddle” at auctions to fund technology. The Google’s Director of STEM Education Strategy, Kamau Bobb knows the  importance of equitable access to resources in education.

I often hear about the importance of accountability in schools, but handicapping schools by not providing the requisite tools and materials and then holding them accountable is mean and yields inaccurate results.  If we want to continue to flourish as a state that is respected and envied we need to invest fully in teaching all children.

At Green Lake Elementary we have a strong PTA.  There are many parent volunteers and we raise a substantial amount of money.  This time and money is used to hide how underfunded the school is.  The budget at GLES does not have any room for error.  I watch as our principal asks the PTA for a donation and yearly juggles positions and full-time/part-time staff percentages to maximize SPS and PTA funds.  She’s cheerful and resolute but it angers me that this is part of her job.

The PTA provides teachers with classroom accounts so they can purchase items for their classroom without having to use their own money or beg for funds from the PTA.  I watched the PTA-funded counselor comfort confused and grieving students after a sudden tragedy.  I love that our PTA helps so much, but saddened that all schools do not have equal or any PTAs or other outside funding sources.  I love our school.  I admire the optimism and tenacity and patience of our teachers, staff and administration despite the numerous obstacles that could be removed by adequate funding.

When Washington State commits to fully fund education it needs to deal with its extremely regressive tax system.  An income tax would help rectify the inequality of our tax system.  The percentage each person contributes in taxes should be equalized.  We all will benefit from a public school system that is completely funded.

To: Education Funding Task Force members
From: Joan Burton, former teacher, mother and grandmother

You are tasked with coming up with solutions to the Legislative 2017 deadline to find adequate school funding for basic education.

Suppose you as legislators received only some of your compensation from the state, and a significant “supplemental” portion came from a regular levying process from the voters in each of your districts.  Would the inevitably resulting pay disparities (from some districts’ voting for, and others against these levies) be fair?  Would they be an accurate reflection of your quality of work?  Would you and others in the future be less interested in seeking Legislative jobs?

  1. Across the state teacher salary schedules and available school facilities differ vastly depending on school district affluence. Proof of this wide disparity can be found in the teacher shortage in low income and rural areas. Equitable funding means fair and equal distribution to all communities.
  1. Staffing ratios for reducing class size range widely. More funding must be allocated for this purpose.
  1. Many school districts have poor libraries and outdated or limited textbooks for class use. One district I taught in did not have enough of any single title for one class’ use, let alone five. Surplus books donated from University of Washington libraries’ discards helped fill out another rural school library.  Funds must be allocated for sufficient and current text and library books.
  1. Building maintenance has been postponed for years in some school districts, with the result that roofs leak, mold infests classrooms, and broken windows are not being replaced. Regular building maintenance and anticipatory replacement funding must be budgeted for by all school districts. No one should have to go to a school in such conditions.
  1. Cost of living salary adjustments are deferred again and again. In some districts teachers cannot afford to live near the schools they teach in. In other districts salaries and benefits are paid for by PTA fundraisers or outright parental solicitation for funds. In Seattle language immersion programs are mostly paid for by parents of the students, and International Baccalaureate programs are also subsidized by the parents. Once introduced by the districts, I believe the State of Washington should continue to cover the entire cost of these programs.
  1. Many classrooms are so crowded teachers have to request extra desks and chairs to enable all their students to be seated. Better demographic analysis and planning should make clear before school opened what enrollment will be.

It is clear that the enormous disparities in school district funding across the state are not equitable or fair. Some communities can support far superior programs to others. Washington’s paramount duty is to make sure all students have equal educational opportunity.

Cristina Key, Seattle Public School parent

A successful public school system provides an adequate number of teachers in all levels of instruction–including evidence-based best practices and resources for general, gifted and special-needs learners. Schools or the district would inform parents how to access those resources and not make it difficult. Instruction would happen in modern or structurally updated facilities, including areas for play; all learning materials would be provided. Schools would provide nurses, libraries, arts instruction, ample recess time for K-5 and a social/emotional learning curriculum. That’s my vision in a nutshell.

Joanne Barker Schmitt

In addition to what Cristina Key said (above), schools would have modern instructional resources such as computers for every kid or class sets of computers in most classrooms, with computer labs available at all periods for those classes which only need periodic access. If we expect every child in our state to be college or work ready when they graduate High School, they need daily training in the use of modern and evolving technology. We can’t expect that training to happen at home, not every kid has internet access or a computer at home. Schools should be able to provide a computer and internet access for those students whose families can not do so.

The importance of funding “enrichment” subjects – by Rebecca Vaux

My name is Rebecca Vaux. I’m one of the board members and founders of Washington’s Paramount Duty. I’m an immigrant and I have two children in Seattle Public Schools.

When my older child, a sixth grader, started kindergarten, I learned that she had only had art and PE as “enrichment” activities, but no music. I was aghast. Was music not part of the standard curriculum for elementary school? Was this normal in the US? My American husband assured me it hadn’t been like that when he was in school. Later we learned: our school district has a formula for funding “enrichment” classes and if the student body is too small, the school doesn’t get funding for all subjects. These are discretionary funds and the school has to decide what it wants to pay for. Our daughter was in a new school – her kindergarten year was its second year of existence; it was a start-up. Our principal, faced with the choice, had opted for art over music. Later, when my daughter was in 2nd grade, the school grew big enough to be allocated a music/drama teacher, too.

This situation encapsulates the problems with Washington’s approach to what a fully-funded basic education is – and what it ought to be. Talk to any parent, and they will tell you that they expect elementary school children to receive classes in art, music, drama, as well as PE and “academic” subjects. These should be basic subjects, offered to all. But these programs are expensive and there’s barely enough money to pay for the basic-basics. Our school district doesn’t fund all those subjects in smaller schools – some small elementaries have one multi-purpose teacher for different arts; some have no music or art instruction. Some richer schools have sufficient PTA dollars to pay for artists-in-residence, or poets-in-residence, or to make up for the shortfall in school district funding for “enrichment” activities. And this is in a relatively well-off district. And yet, my daughter and her classmates were short-changed by not receiving music classes, because at the time, our school was too small and our PTA too poor to pay for them.

To me, a fully funded basic education includes enough dollars to pay for every single child in Washington state to receive music, art, drama and other “enrichment” classes, along with PE and language arts and math and all the other academic subjects.

You’ll notice that I’ve put quotation marks around the word “enrichment”. This is because I fully believe that “enrichment” is the wrong term for these subjects. They aren’t of lesser importance than academic subjects. They are essential to the raising of well-rounded, creative, thoughtful children who go on to become well-rounded, creative, thoughtful adults.  And surely that is our ultimate goal, as people who care about the future of our society?

Moreover, providing these so-called “enrichment” subjects makes good sense from an economic perspective. Music and math are complimentary subjects – the data, both anecdotal and scientific – goes way back showing that there is a correlation between music and being strong in math. Art is a fundamental component of many professions: industrial design, engineering, graphic design, website design and management, to name but four. In a region that has a strong tech economy, and a strong aerospace industry, why would we not want to provide all our kids with art classes? Where will our next generation of designers come from if they don’t get the foundations in our public schools? Regarding drama, you might consider it a niche subject – a bit of fun for kids, not really important. But as a communications professional, I regularly tell my older child that she needs to take drama because one of the most important skillsets a student needs to learnis how to present themself: how to communicate to a group; how to hold an audience; how to tell a story. All these things are essential in the working world, and all are well learned through drama class.

In short, what you consider to be enrichment activities, I consider to be fundamental building blocks in a child’s education. Basic education needs to include them as part of its foundation, and Washington state needs to pay for it. In full.