July 26, 2018 — During today’s meeting of the Federal Commission on School Safety, NSBA’s Chief Legal Officer, Francisco Negron, Jr. shared our insight on how information-sharing and accountability supports school officials’ commitment to eliminate disruptive behavior and violence and ensure that our schools are safe learning environments. School boards set rigorous standards for student conduct and through these policies set disciplinary practices and procedures to maximize the opportunities for all students and provide them with safe and successful in-school experiences. While decisions in matters of student discipline, particularly as they relate to instances of individual behavior, are best left in the hands of local education experts, there is a significant role for the federal government. Greater and sustained federal resources are vital to helping support and sustain school resource officers, school counseling, emergency preparedness and response training and locally determined programs that expand access to mental health services and support comprehensive “wraparound” services. Collaboration and communication with local law enforcement agencies is an essential part of prevention, preparedness, mitigation and emergency response and recovery plans. The removal of barriers that get in the way of the collaboration of such agencies will greatly benefit local education leaders and the children they serve.
The audience at the Council of Urban Boards of Education luncheon Saturday at NSBA’s annual conference in San Antonio gave a standing ovation to speaker Christopher Emdin after he said black school board members and superintendents have earned privileges by conforming to the dominant culture, and now they have a duty to “reframe this whole ballgame” so that black students do not have to do the same.
School is too much about conformity, and that can be toxic to black youth who get the message that they must abandon behaviors and ways of expressing themselves to make themselves acceptable in a white-dominated society, said Emdin, an associate professor at Columbia University’s Teachers College. He is the author of The New York Times bestseller, “For White Folks Who Teach in the Hood and the Rest of Y’all Too.”
In a talk entitled, “The Crisis of Urban Education,” Emdin said it’s a mistake to look at the black or Hispanic valedictorian and think, “If all the other kids where just like you, working so hard, the world would be better,” he said. That devalues the unique forms of creativity that are born not of privilege but of deprivation, he said. “The lack gives rise to the cool,” he said.
After ascertaining that most of the audience had seen the movie “Black Panther,” he said, “Your cool is your Vibranium.”
“We all know someone who was smart, and creative, and interesting” but didn’t become an achiever because he couldn’t “play the game of school,” Emdin said. “He might be the strong one … he didn’t want to go along to get along.”
At the other extreme are school board members who are members of minority groups, he said. He showed a PowerPoint slide filled with a photo of a package of Oreo cookies. That prompted gasps from the audience.
While sometimes used as a metaphor for a person of color who is so comfortable in the dominant culture that they are “white” on the inside, Oreo can also be seen a metaphor for American society, Emdin said. “White filling … supported by brown cookies.”
“Kids want to be free” to be their authentic selves,” Emdin said. “We have to create a pedagogy around freedom while teaching them to navigate” the dominant culture, he said.
“Trade in your Oreo cookies for some freedom work,” Emdin urged, adding: “We need some white co-conspirators to get this done.”
The National School Boards Association is committed to helping ensure each and every student has, not just equal, but equitable opportunities and access to a high quality education. “Equity Matters” shines a spotlight on the importance of educational equity. “Equity Matters” was released at the National School Boards Association’s 2018 Annual Conference in San Antonio, TX.
When people think of “urban education” in its most favorable light, they think of dedicated education professionals working hard in difficult conditions to eliminate the achievement gap by raising the academic achievement levels of their low-income, disadvantaged students.
However, a more widely held perception is that we are treading water in a stifled and almost hopeless effort to help kids who probably do not have a chance to succeed.
What an outdated, energy-sapping, and inappropriate mode of thought for this point in the 21st century. If that is our sole focus, then we should turn in our uniforms and get out of the fight.
We need to change the paradigm and broadcast our goal of preparing the next generation of students to fill the known, and the as-of-yet-unimagined, workforce needs of tomorrow.
Let us stop looking back with our heads down and look up to the future with an intentional eye on the unequivocal target of excellent career-life preparedness for all students. Let us embark upon a new frontier of technology, science, and social development that fills a need that has for too long gone unfilled in America.
Our families, students, and the nation’s economy need us to modernize our effort.
Every year, thousands of companies line up to apply for the 85,000 H-1B visas available to bring in foreign professionals to take on largely high-tech jobs awaiting them in the U.S. Those visas were filled in just four days in April, and some 235,000-foreign-born workers applied for them.
Among other things, the importation of foreign talent tells us there are plenty of jobs in our country, but simply not enough young people prepared to take them; that is where we, as urban education leaders, come in. Rather than wringing our hands about whether political types will provide enough funding for closing the achievement gap, we should be pushing the notion our country loses ground to other nations by our fear of tapping into the resources that our urban schools represent.
We should point out, with help from both the private sector and government, that we can generate enough bright and capable young people to fill the critical technology, medicine, education, and science jobs that will energize our economy, raise the standard of living, and create even more jobs.
It is time we shift the paradigm away from either a perspective of urban education as an inevitable failure or a deficit that can only be addressed by benevolent outsiders on a missionary quest of salvation. It is time we lean into urban education as a place to jump-start the revitalization of an old-fashioned plodding system into a model for the 21st century.
We took the first step at the end of September with our 50th Annual CUBE Conference, where hundreds of champions and experts at the forefront of urban education came to share their experiences, lessons, and ideas for the future.
We must see the young people — impacted by historical oppression, contemporary marginalization, and repeated hobbling by current circumstances — as the potential leaders they are. And, we must get them to see their future not as a perennial game of catching up, but as leading the world.
The world, the economy, and our children await our leadership in this area. It is imperative we answer the call.
–written by Micah Ali (mali@compton.k12.ca.us), a member of California’s Compton Unified School Board and the 2017-18 chair of the CUBE steering committee.
This article first appeared in the Decembe 2017 issue of American School Board Journal (ASBJ). Read more from ASBJ here.
The Council of Urban Boards of Education (CUBE) has been at the forefront in helping urban school districts in their work to close the achievement gap, raise high school graduation rates, provide intervention services to academically struggling students, and create broad-based school programs to support students who live in poverty or other circumstances that create obstacles to learning.
Join us at the 50th Annual CUBE Conference, September 28-30 in New Orleans, Louisiana. The conference is a dynamic forum for school board members to examine and discuss strategies, current trends, research, and best practices that are positively impacting the educational outcomes of academically and economically disadvantaged students. Keynote speakers include former U.S. Department of Education Secretary (under President Barack Obama) and President and CEO of Ed Trust, John B. King, Jr.; and acclaimed Spoken Word Poet and Award-Winning Educator Clint Smith.
On May 23, 2017, President Trump released the Administration’s FY2018 budget request to Congress which calls for a number of program eliminations within the U.S. Department of Education, a few of which would impact K-12 programs. For a number of programmatic changes that are proposed, the Administration is urging school districts and states to utilize existing Title I funding to address priority areas, such as those for effective teachers and leaders (Title II), tutoring, and extended day learning opportunities (Title IV). While the budget request calls for a record increase of $1 billion to Title I grants for disadvantaged students, the increase in funding would be targeted to school choice.
Please note that there may be discrepancies in budget documents, as some were prepared before the enactment of the FY2017 Consolidated Appropriations Act earlier this month. Therefore, when comparing final budget allocations with those proposed for FY2018, not all program levels may reflect the final enacted allocation. For example, the Appendix for the budget request shows Title II (Supporting effective instruction state grants) receiving funding, but the Major Savings and Reforms document confirms the program is deleted.
An analysis of the proposed budget follows:
Title I Grants for Disadvantaged Students: Overall funding for Title I grants would be increased by $334 million, compared to the current funding level of about $16.1 billion. The composition of Title I grants, however, would be changed to accommodate new “Furthering Options for Children to Unlock Success (FOCUS) grants to local educational agencies to implement weighted student funding formulas combined with open enrollment systems.”
School Choice: The new FOCUS grants would be funded at $1 billion to promote school choice and would represent a “down payment” on the President’s goal of investing $20 billion annually in public and private school choice. The proposed FOCUS grants would provide supplemental awards to school districts that agree to adopt weighted student funding combined with open enrollment systems that allow Federal, State, and local funds to follow students to the public school of their choice. According to Department budget documents, the proposal “would support LEAs in establishing or expanding student-centered systems that: (1) differentiate funding based on student characteristics, providing disadvantaged students more funding on a per-pupil basis than other students; (2) offer a range of viable school options and enable the Federal, State, and local funds to follow students to the public school of their choice; (3) make school performance and funding data easily accessible to parents; and (4) empower school leaders to use funds flexibly to address student and community needs. Under the Administration’s proposal, LEAs (including consortia of LEAs) that commit to developing and implementing these funding and open enrollment systems would be eligible for grants, which the Department would administer under the Flexibility for Equitable Per-Pupil Funding (Flexibility) authority in Title I, Part E of the ESEA.”
Additionally, the Administration is proposing a $250 million increase for the Education Innovation and Research program to establish competitive awards for applicants to provide scholarships for students from low-income families to attend the private school of their choice and to build the evidence base around private school choice. The proposal includes an increase in charter school funding; $167 million for the Charter Schools program to strengthen significant State efforts to start new charter schools or expand and replicate existing high-performing charter schools. The program also provides up to $100 million to meet the growing demand for charter school facilities. The proposed increase in charter school funding brings the total charter school funding request to $500 million.
Special Education Grants to States: The Administration requests $11.9 billion for the Grants to States program (roughly level funding compared to Fiscal Year 2017) to assist States and schools in covering the costs of providing special education and related services to children with disabilities ages 3 through 21. The request would provide an average of $1,742 for each of the 6.8 million children with disabilities who are estimated to be served in 2018. The Federal contribution toward meeting the excess cost of special education and related services would be approximately 15 percent of the national average per pupil expenditure (APPE) under this request.
Level funding proposed for special education grants under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) would equate to a reduction nationwide. For example, the average federal share of funding per pupil in FY2017 was $1,777 and approximately 16 percent of APPE. The FY2018 proposal would represent a reduction averaging about $35 per pupil.
Under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), which provides the major source of federal funding to help school districts fund educational services to students with disabilities, the federal share of funding that Congress initially promised in 1975 is up to 40 percent of the average per pupil expenditure. However, the 40 percent promise has not been fulfilled; and, the
federal share of special education funding would decline further under this request. Increasing the federal share of funding for special education is paramount, and should be addressed before considering future funding for newly created programs that may not have proven results for program effectiveness.
Impact Aid: The Administration is requesting roughly $1.2 billion for Impact Aid payment programs, including $1.16 billion for Basic Support Payments on behalf of federally connected children; $48.2 million for Payments for Children with Disabilities; $4.8 million for Facilities Maintenance for nine school facilities that originally were built to enable school districts and the U.S. Department of Defense to educate federally connected students; and, $17.4 million for competitive school construction grants to eligible districts for emergency repairs and modernization projects.
The Impact Aid program provides a vital source of support for 1,400 school districts across the nation that have a federal presence within their boundaries. These resources help districts provide educational services to students whose parents/guardians are enlisted in our Armed Forces, as well as those who reside on tribal trust lands.
The Administration has proposed the elimination of $68 million in Impact Aid federal properties payments to school districts, per the summary on page four. Along with the National Association of Federally Impacted Schools (NAFIS), NSBA opposes this proposed elimination.
Career and Technical Education (CTE): The Administration is requesting a reduction of approximately $166 million in Career and Technical Education State Grants (currently funded at about $950 million). According to the Department, the requested 15 percent reduction would “provide significant resources to support CTE programs while also maintaining the fiscal discipline necessary to support the President’s goal of increasing support for national security and public safety without adding to the Federal budget deficit.”
The request includes a $20 million increase for Career and Technical Education National Programs to promote the development, enhancement, implementation, or expansion of innovative CTE programs in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM).
As Congress moves forward in reauthorizing the Carl D. Perkins Career and Technical Education Act through bipartisan legislation reported by the House Committee on Education and the Workforce on May 17, NSBA urges Congress to sustain investments in CTE that support college and career readiness for our students through the integration of stronger academic components, facilitation of greater career pathways, and stronger public-private partnerships.
National School Lunch Program: The 2018 budget request would support approximately 5.4 billion lunches and snacks served to 31 million children in the National School Lunch Program. The total FY18 request for the National School Lunch Program is $13 billion, up from $12.4 billion in FY17. According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the current maximum reimbursement rate for free and reduced priced school lunches is $3.39 and $2.99 respectively.
School-based Medicaid: Proposed cuts to Medicaid are around $610 billion over 10 years. (This is separate from proposed cuts in the American Health Care Act [AHCA], which includes $839 billion in Medicaid cuts.) Combined, those Medicaid cuts would result in slashing the program by an astonishing $1.5 trillion over a decade.
Medicaid is a cost-effective and efficient provider of essential health care services for children. School-based Medicaid programs serve as a lifeline to children who can’t access critical health care and health services outside of their schools. Under this bill, the bulk of the mandated costs of providing health care coverage would be shifted to the States, even though health needs and costs of care for children will remain the same or increase. Most analyses of the budget request, as well as ACHA, project that the Medicaid funding shortfall in support of these mandated services will increase, placing states at greater risk year after year. The proposed federal disinvestment in Medicaid could force States and local communities to increase taxes and reduce or eliminate various programs and services, including other non-Medicaid services. The unintended consequences could force states to cut eligibility, services, and benefits for children, which impact school readiness and student achievement.
Programs proposed for elimination in FY2018
The Administration has proposed the elimination of 21st Century Community Learning Centers ($1.164 billion), stating that, “While limited evaluation and survey data from certain States and individual centers highlights benefits from participation, such as improved behavior and classroom grades, overall program performance data show that the 21st CCLC is not achieving its goal of helping students, particularly those who attend low-performing schools, meet challenging State academic standards. For example, on average from 2013 to 2015, less than 20 percent of program participants improved from not proficient to proficient or above on State assessments in reading and mathematics.” The budget request also suggests that, “the provision of before- and after-school academic enrichment opportunities may be better supported with other Federal, State, local or private funds, including the $15 billion Title I Grants to Local Educational Agencies program.”
Along with the National Association of Federally Impacted Schools (NAFIS), NSBA asserts that Impact Aid Payments for Federal Property must be maintained for the benefit of all students in these districts. Cuts would cause financial harm as Impact Aid supports personnel and professional development, academic materials, transportation, technology, and other general operating expenses. Elimination of this funding stream would be a reversal on a 68-year commitment to federally impacted communities.
The budget request to Congress proposes eliminating Impact Aid Payments for Federal Property ($68 million). These payments compensate school districts for the presence of non-taxable federal properties within their boundaries. The Administration contends that this program is not applicable to the presence of federally-connected students (such as those whose parents/guardians are enlisted in the Armed Forces), and therefore does not necessarily support the education of federally-connected students.
Under the budget request, the new Title IV Student Support and Academic Enrichment Grants program ($400 million) that was authorized under the Every Student Succeeds Act would be eliminated. The grant program was authorized to help support activities that provide students with a well-rounded education, ensure safe and supportive learning environments, and use technology to improve instruction. Under this new grant program, four previously authorized programs were consolidated: Mathematics and Science Partnerships, Advanced Placement, Elementary and Secondary School Counseling, and Physical Education. The Administration contends that any subgrants that would be awarded “would result in award amounts of less than $30,000 for the vast majority of school districts. The Administration does not believe limited Federal resources should be allocated to a program where many of its grants will likely be too small to have a meaningful impact.”
The budget request would eliminate Title II Supporting Effective Instruction (SEI) State Grants ($2.3 billion). Under ESSA, Title II programs for “Preparing, Training, and Recruiting High-Quality Teachers, Principals, or Other School Leaders” support class-size reduction initiatives, professional development and in-service training for teachers, technology integration into curricula, training on data usage to improve student achievement and student data privacy, parental/community engagement, development of STEM master teacher corps, civics, and implementation of performance-based compensation systems. In its explanatory statement, the Administration states that, “While the SEI State Grants program authorizes a wide range of activities, in school year 2015-2016, 52 percent of funds were used for professional development (PD) and 25 percent were used for class-size reduction. An LEA that identifies either activity as a key strategy for responding to a comprehensive needs assessment may use Title I, Part A funds for the same purpose.” With ESSA implementation efforts underway that emphasize the role of effective teachers, principals and school leaders, the loss of Title II investments could impact state and local efforts to develop tools and incentives focused on strengthening instruction, improving student academic outcomes, and retaining effective educators, especially for schools in underserved communities.
Today marks the 63rd anniversary of the landmark 1954 U.S. Supreme Court Brown v. Board of Education decision which established the segregation of public school students based on race as unconstitutional.
Public education is America’s most vital institution and the foundation of our democracy. NSBA believes that public education is a civil right and that each and every child deserves equal access to a high quality public education that maximizes his or her individual potential.
The Court’s historic decision validated the struggle and remarkable actions of countless Americans who challenged the destructive effects of segregation in our society. The Court recognized we’re a multicultural society and that we’re stronger when we’re united. The decision had and continues to have a profound and significant impact on the lives of our children, our country’s educational system, and our nation as a whole.
NSBA recognizes the significance of the Court’s unanimous decision more than fifty years ago and what equal protection under the law continues to mean for Americans today. Every child in America deserves and has the right to attend a great public school where they live.
Tomorrow, December 10, is an important date in the history of public education and school governance. It is the day President Obama signed the landmark Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA), which restored local governance and community ownership of public education.
The U.S. Department of Education posted final regulations on the implementation of accountability, data reporting, and state plan provisions of the Every Sudent Succeeds Act.
All students deserve a high-quality education and a learning environment that is safe and supportive. NSBA and school board members across the country are committed to ensuring this is the case in public schools in every town and community.
In light of the recent increase of bias incidents and violence in schools, NSBA joined with eight other leading education organizations in a call to action to affirm this important principle and to support the work school board members do every day to ensure that all children are safe and treated equally.
A National Call to Action to Make Our Schools’ Values Known
We come together as national education organizations in the wake of the troubling rash of reports of bias incidents and violence occurring in schools across the nation in recent days.
As learning communities, schools and school systems are responsible for providing all students with a physically and emotionally safe learning environment. This principle is the foundation of academic achievement, healthy individual development, and civic engagement. Violence, intimidation, and purposefully harmful expressions of bias undercut the core mission of schools and have no place in our school communities. We applaud the many schools and school districts that have already taken meaningful steps to develop and support positive school climate in their communities.
At a time when specific groups of students are being targeted, we must ensure that those students specifically know that their schools welcome them and that they will be safe. We urge all education stakeholders, including district leaders, heads of schools, principals, teachers, parents and guardians, and other educators to take action immediately within their school communities to support all students, especially those who face bias incidents in their schools. These actions should specifically affirm the right of all students, regardless of race, color, national origin, immigration status, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, disability, or religion to be educated in an environment free from fear, violence, and intimidation.
We call upon our constituents and all education leaders to:
Publicly reaffirm the inclusive values that are the foundation of healthy learning cultures,
Lead a conversation with their school community on the core values of respect and inclusion at the heart of all learning; and
Consider posting a statement regarding these core values throughout their schools and/or all the schools within their district.
AASA: The School Superintendents Association
American School Counselor Association (ASCA)
GLSEN
National Association of Elementary School Principals (NAESP)
National Association of Independent Schools (NAIS)
National Association of School Psychologists (NASP)
National Association of Secondary School Principals (NASSP)
National School Boards Association (NSBA)
National PTA
Join us at the 50th Annual CUBE Conference, September 28-30 in New Orleans, Louisiana. The conference is a dynamic forum for school board members to examine and discuss strategies, current trends, research, and best practices that are positively impacting the educational outcomes of academically and economically disadvantaged students. Keynote speakers include former U.S. Department of Education Secretary (under President Barack Obama) and President and CEO of Ed Trust, John B. King, Jr.; and acclaimed Spoken Word Poet and Award-Winning Educator Clint Smith.
