All posts in the topic Why fewer MPS students, less revenue? (Short link)
Summary
- There are 4 posts — by 2 authors — in this topic.
- Latest post made by Doug Mann at Jul 18 19:32 UTC
"[Minneapolis School Board chair Lydia] Lee did not deny that charter schools have played a major role in drawing away students. However, citing independent studies commissioned by the district, she claimed that 40% of parents who pull their children from district schools choose charters because the district is legally required to provide transport for charter students from school to their front doors..." Source: Fewer students, fewer dollars blame the charters? http://www.tcdailyplanet.net/article/2008/07/04/fewer-students-fewer-dollars-b lame-charters.html I am not surprised that parents opted to put their children in charter schools in many cases where bus service has been eliminated since the fall of 2002. I doubt that the cuts in service in 2002 really saved the district a lot of money in its transportation budget. And what it saved was more than offset by a decline in enrollment that the transportation cuts produced. Enrollment dropped sharply between the fall of 2002 and the fall of 2003, and since then has continued to steeply decline. Prior to 2002 the district also pushed many students out of district schools with the aggressive enforcement of a new attendance policy that overwhelmed the Hennepin County court system. The promised gains in student performance (better attendance = better learning) did not materialize. The school-age population in Minneapolis has also been shrinking rapidly due to the migration of young families to the suburbs. African Americans and other people of color have been leaving Minneapolis in large numbers as parts of the suburban housing market have become more accessible to them. The Minneapolis school district has long engaged in employment practices that drive up teacher turnover rates in schools where students of color are heavily concentrated, with teacher turnover rates exceeding 100% in most black schools in a 3 year period ending in 2004. For example, the district has been sending layoff notices to far more teachers than actually need to be laid off: All probationary teachers (first 3 years of employment) for many years, and in recent years layoff notices have been send to more senior, tenured teachers as well. The district actually spends far less money on educating 'disadvantaged' students than advantaged students, and gets millions of dollars in 'compensatory' funding from the state and federal government that follows the disadvantaged students, though the bulk of the money ends up in parts of the district's operating budget where most students of color are being short-changed, such as teacher allotments in regular education programs. The district also intensified its curriculum tracking system by sorting and grouping students into separate classrooms for reading instruction in grades K and 1 beginning in 1997. White students have been more heavily concentrated than black students in classes with a college-bound curriculum. I advocate taking steps to drastically reduce teacher turnover rates, the most critical step being putting an end to the practice of sending layoff notices to more teachers than the district actually plans to layoff. With stable staffing, a school can more easily eliminate non-college-bound curriculum tracks without watering down the college-bound classes into which most students would be integrated. I also advocate aggressive enforcement of fair employment and housing laws by the city of Minneapolis, focusing on employers who are only minimally in compliance with affirmative action guidelines (for example, those hiring only their "quota" of 'racial minorities). The lastest housing market survey done in conjunction with the last census indicated widespread discrimination in the housing market, but there has been little by way of enforcement activity by any government agencies. In 1996 the Minneapolis City Council passed a resolution in support of a community school plan that got a green light from the state Board of Education, in part because of a pledge by the City Council to desegregate Minneapolis neighborhoods. The community school plan concentrated a higher proportion of students of color in schools that very few whites attend. Since then the legislature revised its Desegregation Rule to allow school districts to operate schools attended by few to no white students, as long as the eductional inputs in those schools are comparable educational inputs in schools not deemed to be racially identifiable. However, less racial integration in the schools has been accompanied by more inequality in the more critical (and costly) educational inputs relating to teacher turnover rates. High teacher turnover rates present a serious obstacle to effective instruction. Institutionalized racism not only does harm to people of color, but also to less privileged whites, indirectly. We have a social and ecomonic system that is nourished by racial discrimination and that benefits a fairly small minority of the population in Minneapolis. No privileged class has ever given up its privileges, and political power, without a fight. -Doug Mann, Minneapolis School Board candidate, King Field neighborhood
In my first post on this thread, I failed to mention that
Lydia Lee's assertion about Charter Schools students
getting "door to door" bus service is false. See the
article cited in my first post, where you can find comments
about the above mentioned assertion.
However, there may be more than a grain of truth in Lydia's
contention that in many cases, parents choose charter
schools for the bus ride. The district experienced a huge
decline in enrollment between the start of the federal fiscal year
in 2002 and in 2003 (head count day), of which a big part is likely
a byproduct of cuts in bus service carried out shortly after head
count day in October 2002.
The cuts in bus service for MPS probably didn't cut the
cost of transporting students to school very much. And
it seemed to do more harm than good to the district's financial
balance sheets due to the loss of revenue brought in by students.
If the district leadership really wants a larger share of the district's
school age children attending district run schools, then it should seriously
consider restoring bus service.
The district should also have a plan to rapidly bring teacher turnover rates
down to low levels in all schools, which was called for in the 2002
district improvement plan, though a serious plan to reduce teacher
turnover rates never materialized. Improved student outcomes projected
in the Strategic Plan can't happen without bringing down teacher
turnover rates.
I will not lend my support to the district's Strong Schools referendum until
the School Board approves a plan to bring teacher turnover rates to low
levels in all schools.
-Doug Mann, Minneapolis School Board candidate, King Field neighborhood
Lydia Lee has seen first-hand how charter schools have out-competed MPS
for students by providing all their students bus rides. She has seen
how, at North High, the school system lost half its Hmong new arrival
students to Hmong Academy charter school because of MPS busing policy.
Between the summer of 2004 and the summer of 2005 1000 Hmong Thai came
to the United States from a Thai refugee camp and settled in Hennepin
County. Over 500 Hmong Thai entered the Minneapolis school system
between the fall of 2004 and the fall of 2005. Close to 200 were high
school age. At First, Minneapolis Public schools had a virtual monopoly
on Hmong Thai students. MPS set up a program for Hmong Thai students at
North High, and required all Hmong Thai high school students to enroll
in North.
But within a few weeks half the Hmong Thai students left North High and
enrolled in Hmong Academy and other charter schools.
The biggest reason for the exodus was because of bus rides.
Like other Minneapolis high schools, North high had a two mile exclusion
zone: you had to live more than two miles away from North High to
qualify for a bus ride. Most Hmong Thai students had to walk, many
almost two miles.
The Hmong Thai were very worried for their safety. A Hmong girl had
been murdered and stuffed into a van while on her way to school. Many
students had to walk past known drug houses. Many Hmong Thai had to
walk across Broadway, a favorite route for morning commuters to find
prostitutes before heading into the office. Hmong Thai girls were
propositioned.
Hmong Academy, a charter high school on Olson Highway, spread the word
that every Hmong student would get a bus ride, no matter how close she
lived to the school.
Within a matter of weeks close to half the Hmong Thai students had
signed up for Hmong Academy and other charter schools.
Ironically, the charter school bus rides are paid for by MPS, so its own
money is being used against itself.
As far as I know, Hmong Academy did not say that students would be
picked up right in front of their house. I saw Hmong Academy students
standing at bus stops just like everybody else. What Hmong Academy did
provide was a bus ride to school no matter how close to the school the
student lived. Therefore, all Hmong Academy students got rides to
school, while most North High students did not . As a result, close to
a hundred Hmong Thai students, along with hundreds of thousands of
dollars in state aid, walked out the door and transferred to Hmong Academy.
At least with Hmong Thai students, MPS lost a lot more money than it
saved by its stingy bus ride policies.
North High Hmong Thai students campaigned for more bus rides. Their
efforts climaxed with a meeting between 100 Hmong Thai North students
and Lydia Lee, the North High principal Michael Favor, and several
mid-level administrators. With the exception of Craig Hintz, most of
the MPS administrators were defensive, nasty, and seemed more interested
in marking their territory than in listening to the students and meeting
their needs. Fortunately Lydia Lee, looking at the hundreds of thousands
of dollars MPS had lost in its short-sighted busing policy, was
determined to get a solution. In the summer a one mile exclusion zone
was instituted at North, and no student had to walk more that four
blocks to school.
This was a great victory for the Hmong Thai students, and kudos to Lydia
Lee for brokering a win-win outcome. Unfortunately, this success was
soon eclipsed when a group of Hmong Thai students, while playing soccer
outdoors during lunch, was attacked. One Hmong student, using a pencil
to defend himself, was expelled for assault with a weapon. Another wave
of Hmong Thai students left North High, this time both to charter
schools and to suburban schools through Choice is Yours.
This past year North Hmong Thai students report less violence, and North
High has been rewarded with a modest uptick in new Hmong Thai students
enrolling – students have told me that eight Hmong Thai eighth graders
have signed up to go to North this Fall.
At North High, most of the Hmong Thai students left because of MPS
school bus policy, combined with charter schools promising bus rides to
school for all. While I do not know how this issue plays out city-wide
among other constituencies, I believe that this issue is also
particularly important with other immigrant groups.
In four years, 60-65 % of the Hmong Thai have left the Minneapolis
school system. Beyond the school bus issue at North, other issues
students and parents talk about include:
*Safety. Many Hmong Thai report being hit, kicked, beaten, in the
schools, on the playground, on the busses and the bus stops.
*Over-crowded classes. Every one of the past four years, MPS has had at
least one Hmong grade at the junior high level with 42-45 students per
class.. These classes have often been the biggest classes in the
Minneapolis school system.
*Being jammed into classes made up exclusively of other Hmong students
learning English. Some Hmong Thai students and parents say that when
all the students in a class speak Hmong and many or all have trouble
speaking English, they tend to speak too much Hmong and too little
English. (But many parents and students also feel more safe in these
classes. And some Hmong American families want the chance for Hmong
language and culture immersion)
*Food. Many Hmong Thai say that the typical lunch menu has too many
burgers and cheese, and is too heavy. They want more Asian-style foods.
The Hmong magnet school will have its own building this fall at
Northstar, Parents hope some of these problems will be rectified.
Jay Clark
Cooper
In a message dated 7/13/2008 11:21:36 PM Central Daylight Time,
<email obscured> writes:
> The biggest reason for the exodus [of Hmong students] was because of bus
rides.
>
> Like other Minneapolis high schools, North high had a two mile exclusion
> zone: you had to live more than two miles away from North High to
> qualify for a bus ride. Most Hmong Thai students had to walk, many
> almost two miles.
>
> The Hmong Thai were very worried for their safety. A Hmong girl had
> been murdered and stuffed into a van while on her way to school. Many
> students had to walk past known drug houses. Many Hmong Thai had to
> walk across Broadway, a favorite route for morning commuters to find
> prostitutes before heading into the office. Hmong Thai girls were
> propositioned.
While canvassing the North Side as a school board candidate,
many parents voiced concerns about safety, and wanted their
children to take a bus to their designated neighborhood school,
but the district no longer provided bus service.
In the school board candidates forum at Washburn High School
in 2002 I spoke out against the cuts in bus service, warning that
this would do the district more harm than good financial because
many parents would try to enroll their children in schools where
bus service was offered, including charter schools.
David Jennings, superintendent in 2003-2004, presented the
outline of a plan to charterize a large part of the public school
system. The district would get out of the business of running
schools, with the possible exception of the SW area public
schools and high performing public schools in other areas of
the city. Students leaving the public schools would be enrolled
in charter schools, and the district could lease out its empty
school buildings to the charter schools.
Charterization of much of the public school system along the
lines recommended by David Jennings appears to be a
strategic goal of the board. The last round of school closings
on the North Side left the remaining school buildings with
too little classroom space. This past year most of the district's
schools on the North Side were reportedly overenrolled. Actual
enrollment was much higher than had been predicted. And some
parents were reportedly encouraged to enroll their children in
charter schools.
Why did the issue of teacher-turnover get no attention in the
district's new strategic plan? The goal of bringing teacher-turnover down to
low levels in all schools was part of the district improvement plan
adopted in 2002, though that plan lacked baseline data, interventions,
and measurable goals and timetables related to cutting teacher turnover
rates. However, district research and experience with North Star and
Hall elementary schools indicates that cutting teacher turnover rates would
help to improve the quality of instruction.
-Doug Mann, Minneapolis School Board candidate, King Field neighborhood