At What Price – A Free, Sound, Basic Education?

[Chris_Wendt]

Part One.

The U.S. Constitution makes public school education a function of state governments.

The New York State Constitution guarantees to every child in our state a free, sound, basic education.

NY Education Law requires school districts to educate children in accordance with various policies established by the Board of Regents and regulations promulgated by the Commissioner of Education.

The Compulsory Attendance Law requires parents to send their children to school until they are sixteen, and it requires children to attend school until they are sixteen. Children have a right to not attend school upon reaching their sixteenth birthday.

In order for parents and students to take advantage of the constitutionally guaranteed free, sound, basic education, only three or four things are required:

• Register for school in accordance with school district policy
  
  
• Have the students vaccinated and provide proof to the school district
  
  
• Apply for transportation, if eligible
  
  
• Show up and attend class.

It is important to note that there are no academic performance requirements placed upon either students or their parents by the Regents or by the Commissioner. Despite the fact that some districts have or had local policies requiring certain levels of academic performance as prerequisites for advancement between grade levels or for moving-up from elementary school to middle school to high school, local academic performance requirements cannot be enforced by school districts. As long as a student complies with minimum attendance requirements, he or she cannot be involuntarily “left back” because of academic performance.

This performance concept is modified somewhat in high school, in that high schools may enforce policies for required academic performance as prerequisites for enrollment into higher-level courses or programs, and students must meet state academic standards in order to receive a high school diploma and graduate.

There is a requirement for the state and school districts to provide a free, sound, basic education to all children; there is a requirement that all children must attend school until they are at least sixteen, but, there is no requirement in law or regulation, or, under the state constitution that any student meet any academic standards in order to progress through various grade levels, or, that any student must graduate from high school.

The dark side of this situation is that school boards, school districts, school administrators, school principals, and teachers are all held accountable to the state and central (federal) government for students meeting academic performance criteria laid down by the Regents and the State Education Department. The even more sinister side is that NY State has acceded to Federal curriculum and academic performance criteria, to be enforced, financially, by the State on the aforesaid local school districts and their educators, but which are NOT ENFORCEABLE UPON STUDENTS OR THEIR PARENTS.

Therefore, although the federal and state governments have colluded to impose federal academic performance standards upon State Education Departments who then impose those requirements upon NY State’s 700 school districts and upon each of their individual public schools, those standards are non-binding and not enforceable on the 2.7 million students who attend those schools in NY. Thus, the federally-mandated and state acceded-to Assessments (tests), used to adjudge academic performance against federal and state learning standards, are not enforceable upon students or their parents, either.

The bottom line to this blog is that forcing students to sit for federally-mandated state Assessments is NOT a legitimate price for YOUR CHILD to have to pay in exchange for his or her free, sound, basic public school education.

That having been said, holding children out of school is not a viable option for parents, as this violates the Compulsory Attendance and Truancy Laws, for which there may be unintended and serious consequences for parents and students, and which action could result in a reduction of a state aid payment to the school district.

However, “Opting-out” of participation in (taking) Assessments, but attending school at the same time, will not run afoul of any law, but may yet engender negative consequences for students and parents among the school (or school district) community.

End of Part One.... 
Part Two, tomorrow....

Please stand-by.

Chris Wendt

[rr]

OK - I'll bite...you mention more than a couple of times the word 'free' - I'm sorry and maybe I'm in the minority but - isn't another requirement that, as a parent I need to pay an exorbitant amount of school taxes here also? I'm sure you'll have a response to that and it was a bit of baiting on your part but I figured I'd let you play out the scenario...

I agree that opting out and keeping your kids home on the 'National' Protest against the Common Core is not a good idea, I'd actually go a few steps further but I'll leave my already known opinions to myself.

The bottom line, IN YOUR OPINION may be as you state in your blog but it's my opinion that forward progress and accountability are the the prices I put on my tax dollars for my childrens 'free' education. I'll say it again, I don't think this implementation is perfect but it's a step in the right direction. You will never find a solution that all will agree on but we finally have a piece of meaningful change in our education process, which I think most agree is in need of an update, and people want to stomp it out for a million reasons before we even hear about or see the positive impacts it may have.

Please don't quote Wantagh graduation rates again as a defense against my 'education needs updating' comment...I've seen it, more than once, and I'm impressed by our grad rates. I'm NOT talking about graduation rates...

[lilly]

Chris, there absolutely are academic requirements. In order to get a NY HS diploma, there are certain Regents tests and number of credits a student has to take. That includes passing Regents finals, classroom tests, etc. so de facto academic requirements are in place. CC is about raising the existing bar.

And yep, I'm going to agree with rr. School taxes are an inherent price/value proposition. For some Regents exams a student only has to answer a third of the questions correctly to get a passing 65% You call that academic rigor? The statistics for kids requiring remediation courses in college in basic skills they should have mastered in HS are too high. Then there is NY's NAEP rankings, and the U.S.'s PISA rankings, none of which reflect academic "rigor". There's also a bunch of great quotes about complacency that are applicable here. I just don't buy what Chris is saying.

Wantagh's great graduation rates are a product of the home and school environment or, collaboration. I wouldn't expect anything less. Wantagh parents are an involved community.

Btwm I just read a book you may find provocative. Well worth the read:
www.amazon.com/Smartest-Kids-World-They-That/dp/1451654421/ref=la_B001JS0LS8_1_1/182-1674912-6550251?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1384803012&sr=1-1

[Chris_Wendt]

rr put the following morsel of bait on the hook:

"...the word 'free' - I'm sorry and maybe I'm in the minority but - isn't another requirement that, as a parent I need to pay an exorbitant amount of school taxes here also? I'm sure you'll have a response to that and it was a bit of baiting on your part but I figured I'd let you play out the scenario..."

No. Part of your responsibility as a homeowner is to pay an exorbitant amount of school taxes. Many non-parent homeowners like to think it should be as you suggested, that property taxes were a parental responsibility, but fortunately for you, they are not.

Isn't there ANY nexus between the taxes you pay as a homeowner, and the satisfaction of your expectations from our schools for your kids' education, as a parent? Again, no, not really, otherwise, educational opportunity would be apportioned to public school students in proportion to the taxes their parents pay as homeowners.

Yes, sure, that does happen, in places like Cold Spring Harbor, Jericho, and Syosset whose astronomical taxes give their kids some advantages to your kids compared to your exorbitant taxes. Astronomical trumps exorbitant. But as a general rule across the island or around the state, taxes paid do NOT translate into academic advantages. As a case on point, the Big Five Cities (as defined in the NYS Constitution) do not have school property taxes. They educate a huge proportion of the 2.7 million students in NY, and they receive a huge proportion of YOUR state & federal tax dollars to help them do so. Then, there are districts like Roosevelt, Hempstead, Wyandanch that also receive huge amounts of your state and federal tax dollars, and they do not do a good job with your money even for their own kids.

At the risk of angering you, the state's low graduation rate is predominately a reflection of the still lower graduation rates in the Big Five Cities and places like Roosevelt, Hempstead, and Wyandanch. But it is precisely those low and hypo-low graduation rates that suck down federal and state money like it was water. Water or money, it is not coming back to Wantagh and to your kids, and, to make up for that fact, YOUR Wantagh school taxes are exorbitant, yet you are dissatisfied with Chris Wendt for discussing graduation rates, and, disappointed with your kids' education, which everyone knows, could be so much more...

...if only the State's and the Big Five Cities' graduation rates were better.

Between you and me, you are placing too much faith in the Regents, the Commissioner, and NYSED, all of whom now suffer monumental credibility issues. Monumental falls between exorbitant and astronomical on the hyperbole scale.

Do you really want the Common Core?

Then you should work to get Commissioner King replaced; work to get Chancellor Meryl Tisch dumped, also. Work at getting NY back on the PARCC Common Core Assessment Implementation Schedule, so that by 2015 the Common Core can get off the ground, running.

Now, if you want real accountability for your kids' education based on the price you pay for it in dollars, then you have two choices:

• move to a school district with astronomical taxes and commensurate educational opportunities and performance...
  
• enroll your kids in a proven private or religious school, and add the tuition cost to your exorbitant Wantagh school taxes (which will put you up there in the astronomical range, or at least up into the stratosphere.

Regards,

Chris Wendt

[Chris_Wendt]

Dear Lilly

De facto? No, there are no de facto or any other academic performance requirements enforceable on any public school student or parent. Not even a requirement to graduate.

Oh, your kid wants to graduate, yeah, sure, then there are academic requirements for that diploma; but if she does not meet those requirements, then there is no penalty. It'll be try, try again, until she either succeeds or ages-out of the system. Your kid wants to take AP or College Level classes, yeah, they, too have academic requirements. But not making the cut for AP or College-level classes carries no penalty; just no benefit.

A neighboring district found out the hard way that they could not hold back students who did not pass their core subjects. Policy = VOID. Now, I actually mean later, if those same kids do not have enough core credits to graduate at the end of their senior year, then it will be try, try again, until they either succeed or age-out. Totally up to them, but no penalty will be meted-out by the state or central government if they fail. And their parents will still have to pay taxes.

But the stark difference between Lilly and rr is that Lilly recognizes this discussion is largely academic (no pun intended) as far as Wantagh is concerned. Graduation rates and the Common Core are very much both irrelevant issues, here.

Opting-out of the 2014 Assessments, much more relevant, at least politically.

Thanks for the tip on the book. I am already acquiring a copy to read.

Regards,

Chris Wendt

[rr]

you got me...you're right about the tax burden for non-school households...

I assure you - my school taxes are astronomical already...I'm not exaggerating when I say my school taxes probably rival some of the best districts on LI...I'm not going into details but suffice it to say they are astronomical...If we ever meet again I'll show you a copy of my tax bill and you tell me I shouldn't expect more for.

[Chris_Wendt]

Part Two.

The Cost of a Free, Sound, Basic Education?

In Part One, the message was that sitting for lengthy federally-mandated state tests is not a legitimate price to be paid by students in exchange for their free, sound, basic education. Free means free, no price tag.

The cost of providing this free education is to be born by all taxpayers in the state, not by the students.

In Part Two, I want to hammer home the cost effect—to Wantagh’s students, their parents, and the rest of us taxpayers—of NY State annually producing crappy graduation rates.

Twenty three percent (23%) of students in NY State did not graduate with their classmates in 2012 after four years of high school. There are 2.7 million students in NY State public schools, among roughly 700 school districts from Montauk to Niagara Falls.

The state’s low graduation rate is the most pressing problem for NY schools, and it is worse than many other states’ graduation rates. However, this is NOT the problem for almost all schools on Long Island or for the majority of schools in Westchester County. Wantagh’s graduation rate is perennially among the highest in the nation, never mind the state.

Drilling-down deeper into this problem elsewhere in NY State, the primary concentrations of low-graduation-rate schools can be found in economically disadvantaged sections of our five largest cities, in some smaller cities, and, in sparsely populated rural areas which are suffering various but significant economic hardships, most commonly, high unemployment caused by loss of their employment base, either manufacturing plants , or military bases, and the ancillary businesses that once supported them.

Drilling-down still further into the final outcomes for our students, the 4-year cohort graduation rate, currently at 77% statewide, we find that rate is pulled down by the 66% graduation rate shared among black, Latino, and native (Indian) students. Forty four percent of non-white non-Asian students in NY State did not graduate with their classmates after 4 years of high school in 2012.

So, what has been the governmental response to this problem, to correct it? There have been several initiatives, all failed, to the present day. The most recent was No Child Left Behind (“NCLB”), the intent of which was to insure that NO CHILD was left behind in the course of receiving their free, sound, basic education. The methodology of NCLB should seem as familiar as it sounds “good” or “valid”, or worthwhile to many education reform advocates, just as long as you (or they) do not attempt to either drill-down into the workings of NCLB, or apply critical thinking to its basic premise.

The methodology was to implement a series of common annual assessments of core competencies; the initial assessments would provide baseline performance data against which hopefully annual, hopefully incremental improvements would be measured across clearly articulated and well-defined metrics. The initial assessment scores (and all future assessment scores) were normalized, with set points established as cutoffs for four categories of results, namely 1, 2, 3, or 4, with 3 and 4 being on-grade level or ahead of grade level, and 2 being behind grade level with students eligible to receive and schools required to provide supportive services to bring those students up to grade level, or at least preclude their falling further behind. A score of 1 indicated performance that was seriously deficient to the grade level, entitling students to costly remedial services, often with an implication for classifying those students.

However, in keeping with the legal and constitutional concepts I staked-out yesterday, neither the schools nor the central government could enforce supportive or remedial services upon students or their parents if they do no want those services. For each school and each district, Acceptable Yearly Progress (AYP) goals were established by the state, while districts, principals, and teachers were held at least nominally accountable for meeting AYP, and especially for not going the other way by producing deteriorating performance results.

The AYP scheme (word carefully chosen) was based on a mythical management construct similar to Management by Objectives, where, in the case of NCLB, the state would simply raise the bar every single year on every single school in every single district for every single performance measurement. Under such a construct, America would eventually be able to put entire self-sustaining villages on Mars, and eventually launch cities to the stars!. As stupid as was my attempt at humor, the results of NCLB have bombed about as badly. Graduation Rate is certainly one of the core NCLB-AYP metrics.

In 2012, the state graduation rate was languishing at 77% for all students, but only 66% for non-white non-Asian students. Sorry to be repetitive, but questions abound and persist about where does OUR tax money go, and why are OUR (Wantagh) school taxes so high. I know, I know…graduation rate is not a problem for Wantagh, whose alumni, students, parents and taxpayers enjoy among the highest graduation rates in the country, being also among the highest graduation rates mathematically possible to attain. Now, you should ask yourself why Chris Wendt continually carps on graduation rates.

Here’s why: because it is the dismal graduation rates of our State and its disadvantaged cities and rural schools that are a huge reason for these two BIG PROBLEMS IN WANTAGH:

• State and Federal MONEY being diverted to massively failing schools in continued failed attempts to improve foundering graduation rates elsewhere, essentially starving Wantagh of additional State Aid and driving our taxes up into the ionosphere, or at least firmly up against the Tax Cap
  
  
• Wantagh’s educational program, as good as it is in so many ways, seems stuck in an educational quagmire, causing some readers and participants here to worry about the future of their kids’ education in Wantagh Schools, schools apparently unable to move forward into the future or to keep apace of the rest of the world, and, at the exact same time that key demographics are shifting rapidly away from Wantagh’s, from Nassau’s, from the State’s registered voters being, in the majority, parents of public school students and parents of young children approaching school age.

Not only is enrollment declining, but the number and percentage of voters who care about your kids in our schools is also shrinking.

To put this differently, continuing poor results from your hard-earned tax dollars anywhere in our state cause ever higher taxes to ensue, here, while stalling educational progress here, in Wantagh, because financial resources are diverted in increasing proportions, in still-failed attempts to fix the flagging graduation rates elsewhere. We throw more and more money at a problem that defies solution, and less and less of our tribute money (state taxes) comes back to our own schools and students, YOUR kids’ schools and YOUR kids’ education.

Crappy graduation rates in NY State cost you money, and cost your kids better educational opportunities. That is a high price to pay for a free, sound, basic education. And if too many educational opportunities are lost, then the quality of the education provided will tend to be less “sound” and more “basic” as time goes by.

There is more to be said on this topic which may be of interest tomorrow. Certainly some readers will want to call me on avoiding highlighting other educational cost factors that are driving taxes and holding-back educational advances in Wantagh and schools all across NY State.

Stay tuned....
Chris Wendt