Susan Deacon: School Funding the State Can’t Take Away

» Old SB on 05.17.12 @ 09:09 PM

The local CTE programs really deserve our support.  The teachers work so hard, in spite of having to continually swim upstream, always in danger of being swept aside by politics.  The L.A. Unified District is curtailing all electives so students can all be prepared for the university.  What are these people thinking?

Here is a recent article from Time Magazine that is worthy of your time:
TIME MAGAZINE

Monday, May. 14, 2012

As Arizona goes, so goes the nation?

Vocational education used to be where you sent the dumb kids or the supposed misfits who weren’t suited for classroom learning. It began to fall out of fashion about 40 years ago, in part because it became a civil rights issue: voc-ed was seen as a form of segregation, a convenient dumping ground for minority kids in Northern cities … the education establishment’s response to the voc-ed problem only made things worse.
Over time, it morphed into the theology that every child should go to college (a four-year liberal-arts college at that) and therefore every child should be required to pursue a college-prep course in high school.
The results have been awful. High school dropout rates continue to be a national embarrassment. And most high school graduates are not prepared for the world of work. The unemployment rate for recent high school graduates who are not in school is a stratospheric 33%. The results for even those who go on to higher education are brutal: four-year colleges graduate only about 40% of the students who start them, and two-year community colleges graduate less than that, about 23%. “College for everyone has become a matter of political correctness,” says Diane Ravitch, a professor of education at New York University.

In Arizona and more than a few other states, that is beginning to change.
Indeed, the old notion of vocational education has been stood on its head.
It’s now called career and technical education (CTE), and it has become a pathway that even some college-bound advanced-placement students are pursuing. About 27% of the students in Arizona opt for the tech-ed path, and they are more likely to score higher on the state’s aptitude tests, graduate from high school and go on to higher education than those who don’t. “It’s not rocket science,” says Sally Downey, superintendent of the spectacular East Valley Institute of Technology in Mesa, Ariz., 98.5% of whose students graduate from high school. “It’s just finding something they like and teaching it to them with rigor.”
[FULL TEXT BELOW]

Learning That Works
By Joe Klein
Clyde McBride is one of those everyday saints who, without much fanfare, go about the work of changing, and sometimes saving, the lives of children. He teaches agricultural science on the Navajo reservation in Kayenta, Ariz. He’s a memorable-looking fellow, with his cowboy hat, horsehide tie and a body like a giant sack of flour perched on tiny toothpick legs. His most notable characteristic, though, is his persistence. When a new school superintendent arrived in town a few years ago, McBride parked himself on the guy’s doorstep. “He came in and gave me the ‘I have a dream’ speech,” says superintendent Harry Martin. “I told him I’d think about it, but he wouldn’t let me think about it. He was bugging me three, four times a week about it.”

McBride’s dream was a state-of-the-art agricultural-sciences building with two veterinary operating theaters—one for small animals and one for large ones—to train Navajo kids to be veterinary aides and technicians and perhaps even to start a few of them down the road to becoming veterinarians. “I thought it was a waste of money and time,” Martin told me. “I’m an old English teacher. I was very skeptical about vocational education. We needed to be drilling them on basic skills. But McBride said he’d make a believer out of me. And he did.”

Two years later, with the $2.4 million agricultural- and technical-sciences building up and running, Martin says, “It’s without doubt the best program we have. It’s an alternative way to teach them math, science and reading. They love it. They’re attentive, working hard, hands on.” McBride imports veterinarians from around the country to visit the reservation and work with the 226 students, who assist in both operating theaters, prepping animals for surgery and learning how to suture, draw blood and give injections. The veterinary clinic has become a valued resource on the reservation, but more than that, the academic results have been spectacular. “Nearly every one of these kids passed the state comprehensive test we give to 17-year-olds in Arizona,” Martin told me. “Less than about 40% of my non-vocational-education students passed.”

Vocational education used to be where you sent the dumb kids or the supposed misfits who weren’t suited for classroom learning. It began to fall out of fashion about 40 years ago, in part because it became a civil rights issue: voc-ed was seen as a form of segregation, a convenient dumping ground for minority kids in Northern cities. “That was a real problem,” former New York City schools chancellor Joel Klein told me. “And the voc-ed programs were pretty awful. They weren’t training the kids for specific jobs or for certified skills. It really was a waste of time and money.”

Unfortunately, the education establishment’s response to the voc-ed problem only made things worse. Over time, it morphed into the theology that every child should go to college (a four-year liberal-arts college at
that) and therefore every child should be required to pursue a college-prep course in high school. The results have been awful. High school dropout rates continue to be a national embarrassment. And most high school graduates are not prepared for the world of work. The unemployment rate for recent high school graduates who are not in school is a stratospheric 33%. The results for even those who go on to higher education are brutal: four-year colleges graduate only about 40% of the students who start them, and two-year community colleges graduate less than that, about 23%.

“College for everyone has become a matter of political correctness,” says Diane Ravitch, a professor of education at New York University. “But according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, less than a quarter of new job openings will require a bachelor of arts degree. We’re not training our students for the jobs that actually exist.” Meanwhile, the U.S. has begun to run out of welders, glaziers and auto mechanics—the people who actually keep the place running.

In Arizona and more than a few other states, that is beginning to change.
Indeed, the old notion of vocational education has been stood on its head.
It’s now called career and technical education (CTE), and it has become a pathway that even some college-bound advanced-placement students are pursuing. About 27% of the students in Arizona opt for the tech-ed path, and they are more likely to score higher on the state’s aptitude tests, graduate from high school and go on to higher education than those who don’t. “It’s not rocket science,” says Sally Downey, superintendent of the spectacular East Valley Institute of Technology in Mesa, Ariz., 98.5% of whose students graduate from high school. “It’s just finding something they like and teaching it to them with rigor.” Actually, it’s a bit more than that: it’s developing training programs that lead to jobs or recognized certification, often in partnership with local businesses. Auto shop at East Valley, for example, looks a lot different from the old jalopy that kids in my high school used to work on. There are 40 late-model cars and the latest in diagnostic equipment, donated by Phoenix auto dealers, who are desperate for trained technicians. “If you can master the computer-science and electronic components,” Downey says, “you can make over $100,000 a year as an auto mechanic.”

Arizona has another, rather unusual advantage. Its state education superintendent, John Huppenthal, went to high school in Tucson on the voc-ed track. “It was considered the path for losers, but I didn’t know any better,” says Huppenthal, a Republican who was elected to the statewide post. “I came from a family of machinists. I didn’t know anybody who’d gone to college, and I was happy in wood shop. I remember making a chess set, a very complicated project that really made mathematics come alive for me.” He also happened to be a state-champion wrestler with pretty good test scores, and his coach encouraged him to study engineering at Northern Arizona University. “I really believe that some form of CTE is essential for a world-class education,” he says. “Most students respond better to a three-dimensional learning process. It’s easier to learn engineering by actually building a house—which my family did when I was a kid, by the way—than sitting in a classroom figuring out the process in the abstract. Some students can respond to two-dimensional learning, but most respond better when it’s hands on. Every surgeon needs to know how to sew, saw and drill.”

Precise statistics are sparse; it’s difficult to keep track of students after they leave high school. But Carolyn Warner, a former Arizona schools chancellor, says tech-track students “are more focused, so they’re more likely to graduate from two- and four-year colleges. Those who graduate from high school with a certificate technical expertise in a field like auto repair or welding are certainly more likely to find jobs.”

Still, Huppenthal finds vocational school is a tough sell to the state’s education establishment. “It doesn’t have the prestige of a college-prep course,” he says, “and it costs a lot more than two-dimensional education to do it right.” Traditionally, Democrats have tended to be opposed on ideological grounds. They’re the strongest believers in college for everyone. Republicans are reluctant to spend the money on state-of-the-art equipment like the veterinary center on the Navajo reservation, although some concede that CTE programs that prepare students for actual jobs are a good idea. “It’s like walking in a hurricane,” says Huppenthal. “You know where you want to be going, but the winds keep pushing you off course.”

But CTE is beginning to produce its own weather systems—human tornadoes like McBride and Downey, the superintendent at East Valley, who is smart and passionate and extremely pushy, constantly working the business community in Phoenix for help in starting training programs. There are 38 programs on her campus, with more coming. There are firefighter, police and EMT programs; a state-of-the-art kitchen for culinary-services training; and welding (which can pay $48 per hour), aeronautics, radio-station, marketing and massage-therapy instruction. (“We have a lot of resorts around here,” Downey explains, “and our students often work part time as masseurs to earn money for college.”) Almost all of these courses lead to professional certificates in addition to high school diplomas, and many of the students are trained by employers for needed technical specialties. None of her 3,200 students are full time. They spend half a day, usually afternoons, at East Valley and receive academic training at 35 different home high schools in the mornings.

“Look at this,” Downey says as she shows me a fully stocked medical laboratory. “We got $1.5 million from Veterans Affairs to run a program for surgical assistants, and they gave us a teacher to teach it.” The premedical and -nursing students here are dressed in scrubs. Downey barges into a classroom and begins polling the students. “How many of you are going on to some form of higher education?” Almost everyone’s hand goes up. “How many of you are taking advanced-placement programs in your home high schools?” A scattering of hands. “How many of you have had to make sacrifices to come here?” Again, a forest of hands. Most of the sacrifices involve hours of travel and having to give up extracurricular activities.
“And how many of you were discouraged from doing this by your local high schools?” About half. The home high schools tend to have the standard biases against vocational education—that it’s a waste of time, that it takes away from the academic experience.

“The public school system also has a civic purpose,” says Jonathan Zimmerman, an education historian at New York University, citing a common academic argument against vocational education. “You’re not just preparing people to work. You’re preparing people to be citizens. In a democracy, you need citizens who can think critically.” But people with jobs, especially skilled jobs, tend to be better citizens than those without them. And the teamwork involved in the training programs at East Valley and on the Navajo reservation tends to help create a sense of community.
“In my home high school, you’re sitting in a room with 30 other students who don’t care, trying to pay attention to a teacher who doesn’t care,”
says Aaron Pietryga, who is training to become a firefighter. “But [East Valley] is like my family. Most of the kids at my home school don’t have any idea what I’m doing in the afternoon, and when I explain it to them, they say, ‘Wow, you’re doing all that cool stuff, and you’re going to college. Why didn’t I know about that?’”

On a recent chilly morning at the Navajo reservation, McBride was giving Huppenthal and me a hands-on tour of his veterinary facility.
Husband-and-wife veterinarians from Pittsburgh had volunteered their services for a few days and were spaying a dog in the small-animal operating theater, with the help of students in blue surgical scrubs.
“They’re very good,” says Sharon Wirtz, one of the vets. “They have an exceptional feel for this, especially with the larger animals,” like sheep and horses. Students were suturing bananas and injecting oranges with red dye for practice. Recently a pack of wild dogs attacked some sheep on the reservation, and McBride took some students to care for them. “Some of these kids suture better than I do,” he says. “It brings tears to my eyes.”

But his real triumph wasn’t in teaching the Navajo the technical skills.
These students also knew how to make an impression; they had learned the soft skills necessary to be good employees. They looked you in the eye, introduced themselves and shook your hand (which was universally true at East Valley as well). This was striking, given the history of depression and despair on the reservation. “These kids are thirsty. All you’ve got to do,” McBride says, eyes brimming, “is let them drink.”

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» sb native on 05.18.12 @ 08:39 AM

I urge voters to vote YES on Measures W and X.  Lou Segal has every right to be concerned about how local parcel tax money is spent.  Perhaps, instead of casting suspicions on the monitoring of the past 4 years parcel taxes, he should go down to the school district and ask to look at the records. OF COURSE there are records!  In addition, he could ask the citizens who serve on the oversight committee.  He could even volunteer for the oversight committee!

PLEASE VOTE YES and don’t be put off by innuendo.  Our students need art, science, music and vocational education.  Let’s make sure our LOCAL schools are supported by our LOCAL taxes.

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» Sy Prey on 05.19.12 @ 02:10 PM

Notice the irony of the argument. The state can’t take away the monies raised by a local parcel tax. Measure Xand W prove you can’t take away local parcel taxes either once they get put in to place.

Once in place, now our local schools have their hands out endlessly for more, more, more. That should scare anyone away from letting this continue. You have to vote NO on W and X to stop this now.

Education is a function of the state. Parcel taxes should be only for one-time and expiring needs -not a blank check to keep dunning the voters with forever. Someone erred when they built in permanent parcel taxes for SB schools.

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» lou segal on 05.20.12 @ 12:36 AM

Noleta,

See the most recent comment I posted to my article on the same subject.

Turning this argument into one where the supporters have compassion for our children and the opponents are non-feeling scrooges is not only specious, but actually just the opposite of what you would have us believe. No, the people, who are fine with the status quo and don’t agitate to make the necessary reforms to our failing public schools, are actually consigning our children to a future without having the tools to thrive in an increasingly global economy where an excellent education has become vitally important to succeed.

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» Old SB on 05.20.12 @ 09:31 AM

You are correct about the need for reform, but I am still voting for the measures because these programs will die and their inspiring teachers will be lost if local funding is not provided. 

Something needs to be done at the State level.  Local districts are somewhat hamstrung by misguided A-G academic requirements promoted by the University of California for all high school graduates. 

A graduation requirement was added a few years ago mandating a second year of algebra. This has proven to be very costly to elective programs.  Students who do not pass these courses end up taking remediation.  All of this results in less money available to run elective classes. 

In the following article, this quote is particularly telling:

“Considering that just 15 percent of the Class of 2011 passed the A-G core with a C or better, an overwhelming number of students would be challenged by the new standards.”

http://www.dailynews.com/ci_20558014/controversial-move-lausds-deasy-wants-raise-high-school?source=most_emailed

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» Sy Prey on 05.20.12 @ 03:11 PM

That is the point. If these programs are so valuable, they should be a priority with the funds schools already are getting. They should become part of the basic school budget allocations.

Parcel taxes are shakedowns when threats are used to support them - pay more taxes or else your kids will suffer. Until you clean up why there is no money in the regular school budget for valuable programs first, you cannot expect these programs to last forever on parcel tax life support.

Parcel taxes being renewed endlessly is a sign of extremely poor planning and not a sign of community enlightenment.  Parcels taxes should be one time things and NOT renewable operating cash cows that they are right now with these threats and demands they be renewed in perpetuity.

Once the parcel tax door is opened, we are now learning it can never get closed and that is wrong.

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» lou segal on 05.20.12 @ 03:57 PM

Noleta,

I took a look at the website itemizing these expenditures and unlike you I don’t think it is doing much good. I already explained why in a previous comment. However, if you want more money, then dismantle the SB County Board of Education, including Cirone’s position, and transfer the money to the schools. Do you want to answer my previous question: What the heck does he do? Instead of always going to the taxpayer for more money, eliminate the voluminous waste and duplication in the system. Is that too difficult a task for the bureaucrats and the union bosses.

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» AN50 on 05.21.12 @ 02:54 PM

This is exactly what the state government wants you to believe and to do, keep adding more and more burden on local property owners so it can cut back on more and more of the funds it OWES your children. They hold your kids hostage to fuel their greed, then you wimp out and hold locals hostage for the money the state OWES you.

Again, the state will simply withhold funds in lieu of the funds you receive from local tax initiatives. They have done it before and will do it again and then they will still hold your kids hostage to fuel the corrupt public service union/democrat legislator stranglehold on our state treasury. Meanwhile these same law makers will pander to leftist/liberal/progressive political interests and drive more revenue generating business out of the state ramping up the burden even more on the tax payer.

If you will not have the vision to see where this will end I invite you to look at Greece today.

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» John Locke on 05.22.12 @ 08:29 AM

Vote NO on this, on Das, on Taxin’ and on all the other pols who have misallocated tax funds away from education.  We don’t need more taxes - we need people in office who will set the right priorities.

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» AN50 on 05.23.12 @ 11:19 AM

Our friends on the left do not see unions as the problem. Until they do they will continue to have their children and their representatives victimized by union leadership. Even union members are largely oblivious to the manipulation and greed for power their union leadership represents.

To my friends on the left, utilize that remarkable power of observation you focus so well on private corporations and the greed, lust for power and manipulation you see them exercising, at those institutions you now support, big governments and unions.

If you see evil in the size and control businesses have, then you must see that same evil in other institutions as well. There is little difference in my book. In fact I see quite a bit more evil, greed and lust for power in those institutions that have insulated themselves from market forces and have infiltrated every level of government to ensure their protection. What goes for corporations, also goes for labor unions and government institutions and be particularly weary of the collapse of open mindedness and freedom of thought in our institutions of higher learning and the media.

We can always bicker and fight about what ideology we feel is better, but right now we have a common fight and that is against the corruption of all our institutions, public or private, by greedy and power lusting special interest groups and individuals. We on the right have the job of tackling corporate greed, market manipulation and the destruction of our free enterprise system by elites, you on the left need to reign in the power lusting leadership that has corrupted unions and government.

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» GeeWillikersWally on 05.23.12 @ 06:10 PM

In honor of our resident ham fisted Jarvisite curmudgeons , I cast my votes today for W & Y .
  As one who never flinched at voting down a tax increase, never hesitated to cross party lines to vote for the best candidate , those days are probably gone forever.
The more I see the radicalism that has gripped the GOP ,  the more I react to counter them in the ballot box.

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» Sy Prey on 05.23.12 @ 10:37 PM

Gee willikers, liberals usually rent, so they think they are spending other people’s money when they support parcel taxes. Stick it to the rich is their mantra when they vote, and this case this is the liberal’s landlord.

This is as far as liberals are invested in the argument. Until the landlord passes on the parcel taxes in the form of increased rent.

Then rather than seeing the cause and effect, the liberal then rails against the greedy landlord and never sees the connection his vote played in this whole equation.

There are more owners than renters voting. Measure X and Y will be defeated this, as it should.

Follow the money to see who supports these Measures and what their own selfish interest is in seeing these measures pass. Someone is paying for all the pro-tax media.

Voters are too smart this time around because there are no arguments to support this continual increase to the owner’s property tax burden. Not enough votes are for sale in this town. Measure X and Y will be defeated. They will not get their 2/3’s vote.

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» AN50 on 05.24.12 @ 08:08 AM

Willie, why the partisan stubbornness? Sy has pointed out the lesser known evil of passing parcel tax measures, higher rents for those who can afford them least. All we on the right have pointed out is that there is plenty of money for our children’s education, but that it is spent on non educational things like pensions and the salaries of incompetent teachers or management we don’t need. All we said is that since the democrat party has a lock on the state legislature we on the right have little control over how the unions have corrupted the state government for their own greed. We just pointed out that big union interests are no different than private sector corporate greed and lust for power.

Just taking a contrary position on this matter is exactly what the unions hope for. They want you to see this as a right/left issue and want to play your partisan angst so you won’t see the real issue which is the people versus public service unions. As long as we fight each other they are happy. They happy to steal the wages of teachers, firefighters,  law enforcement and public workers so they can fund their political machine where they buy politicians like Das Williams and use them as puppets. I like Das, I hate that he sold his soul to the union monster to fund his campaigns every bit as much as you would hate a republican selling his soul to some corporation.

If we can’t recognize the real problem Willie we are doomed to be puppets controlled by powerful money interests and in this case our children, already used as hostages by unions, are the real victims. Save the parsimonious debates for our differences on ideology, don’t let that cloud your judgment on an issue we should be soldering together for and that is fighting to get control away from the greedy and powerful and back to we the people.

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» lou segal on 05.24.12 @ 11:36 AM

sb native, unbelievably you missed the entire point. You really need to do some research about our public schools before you write these posts. Tell you what, why don’t you send your kids to Franklin School before you lecture us about local control (a bogus issue). Ignorance and hypocrisy seems to be two qualities the liberal crowd is intimately familiar with. The teacher unions love you guys: no matter how much they fight any sensible reforms for our schools, ideological, non-thinking liberals will support them no matter what.

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