Three Things We Learned Through Our First Endorsement Process

With the completion of the April 9th municipal elections in suburban Cook County, we want to take stock of some of our initial findings.

1. The way suburban districts are structured makes reform difficult. This is by far the most important thing we learned. Many - roughly half - of suburban Cook County school districts consist of one school. Each region has an elementary school district and a high school district. The fact that many of these districts consist of one school strongly encourages "in the box thinking."

Imagine being one of seven trustees in charge of running one school. Right away, any reforms that encourage school choice are a direct threat to the one thing you control. If a charter school opens up, the size of the budget you manage is adversely effected. And who gets elected to decrease a district's budget?

This is one reason that there is only one charter school in the south suburbs which demographically matches the populations of students best served by charters (poor, academically behind). And that school only exists because of the state charter authorizing commission that exists to hear appeals from charters rejected by their local school boards.

We would need more proof, but there seems like a definite sense that such small districts are prone to a sort of "regulatory capture" because there is one principal with expertise and no competing viewpoints, making it hard for part-time trustees to challenge the opinions of the principal.

Also, since elementary and high school districts are completely separate with their own school board, coordinated innovation becomes even less likely. At a time when age segregation is under challenge by education technology, the structure of these districts institutionalizes them.

There has been a lot of discussion about reducing the number of school boards for budgetary reasons (reducing administrative duplication) but from where we sit, reducing the number of school boards would help jump start reform in suburban Cook County.

2. There is real interest in the Common Core as a tool for improving education. The most positive response we got on our questionnaire how to do with implementation of the Common Core State Standards.  Candidate after candidate stated their commitment to fully implementing these standards. It is not immediately clear why this reform engaged people as much as it did. Perhaps it seems less disruptive - no need for significant change in personnel or policy. But many of the candidates gave answers that indicated that they know even reasonably successful middle-class schools do not match up well with their counterparts in Singapore, Korea, and some of the better European countries.

Regardless, this was the most heartening discovery of the process.

3. There is a real hunger for engagement on these issues. Judging from the response we received, people want to talk through the issues facing our schools but there are relatively few venues to do so. People were eager to engage us on these issues because so few people pay attention to these important elections. Again, district consolidation would allow for greater attention to be focused on fewer races.

We are still thinking through our experiences with this election cycle as we prepare for 2014, If we learn more, we will share it with you.

Congratulations!

ICBS wants to congratulate their endorsed candidates Julie Jackson, Dennis Ryan, and Vince Aiello for their victories in District 146 on Tuesday. They will be great leaders in Common Core implementation and supporting teachers. To John Carey and Ramnath Cidambi, endorsed candidates who came up short, we thank them for their efforts and hope that they remain active in cause of improving education here in Illinois.

We have been distracted by the April 9th elections in suburban Cook County but it is time to get back to work. Expect a series of posts over the next few days as we reengage the debate about education reform.

ICBS Endorsements in District 146

For Immediate Release

For more information, contact Josh Kilroy 312.593.1886

March 13, 2013

Illinois Citizens for Better Schools Endorses 4 for the Future 146 Slate

Chicago – Today Illinois Citizens for Better Schools announced its support for the 4 for the Future 146 slate of Julie Jackson, John Carey, Dennis Ryan, and Vince Aiello. Ms Jackson, Mr. Ryan, and Mr. Carey are running for re-election, while Mr. Aiello is a challenger. On April 9^th, district voters will elect four candidates to the school board.

“The incumbents on this slate have an excellent track record of working to keep CCSD 146 ahead of the curve on important issues such as implementation of the Common Core State Standards and hiring excellent teachers and retaining them,” said Joshua Kilroy, Chair of Illinois Citizens for Better Schools and a veteran political consultant. “Mr. Aiello will be a welcome addition to the Board as they work to maintain the District’s reputation for providing a strong education to their students.”

Kilroy continued by noting that there are a lot of pressures on school districts, “With the implementation of a new teacher evaluation system and the Common Core at a time when state aid is being slashed, never has proven veteran leadership been more important. ICBS is proud to support this slate of dedicated community members and public servants. We encourage local voters to go to their website, 4for146.com for more information.”

ICBS was formed in November to support candidates and issues willing to set aside partisan blinders to work together to improve the public schools in Illinois. Joshua Kilroy has worked in Illinois politics since 2006, assisting candidates including former Cook County Commissioner Forrest Claypool, Cook County State’s Attorney Anita Alvarez, State Representative Robyn Gabel, and many others.

The core principles of ICBS can be found on their website at: http://illinoiscitizensforbetterschools.blogspot.com/2012/11/the-core-policies-icbs-advocates.html.

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Our First Big Endorsement

Sorry for the radio silence. We have been hard at work reviewing candidate questionnaire as we prepare to begin rolling out our endorsements in the suburban Cook County school board races.

For our first endorsement, we found a gem of candidate in Palatine running for CCSD 15. His name is Ramnath Cidambi and he is an IT professional and the father of two children in District 15 schools. He is not a political professional and could really use our help to win one of the four top slots in the nine candidate race. Read our press release and donate to help us help him on April 9th. Thank you.

For Immediate Release

For more information, contact Josh Kilroy 312.593.1886

March 13, 2013

Illinois Citizens for Better Schools Endorses Ramnath Cidambi in CCSD 15

Chicago – Today Illinois Citizens for Better Schools announced that they were endorsing Ramnath Cidambi in the upcoming school board elections. Mr. Cidambi, 41, works in IT and has two children in CCSD 15 schools. There are four school board seats on the ballot in the April 9^th election.

“Ramnath Cidambi is exactly the kind of candidate ICBS was formed to support,” said Joshua Kilroy, Chair of ICBS. “He understands that our students compete in a global market and need an education that gives them the skills they need to succeed. Ramnath also appreciates that there are new educational technologies that can help students learn in a more personalized manner. We believe that he will provide real leadership as CCSD 15 moves forward.”

Although ICBS is not making any further endorsements for the four seats, Mr. Kilroy noted that Margaret Babcock, Dave Seiffert, and Robert Bokor were good candidates.

ICBS was formed in November to support candidates and issues willing to set aside partisan blinders to work together to improve the public schools in Illinois. Joshua Kilroy has worked in Illinois politics since 2006, assisting candidates including former Cook County Commissioner Forrest Claypool, Cook County State’s Attorney Anita Alvarez, State Representative Robyn Gabel, Peter Gutzmer,  and many others.

The core principles of ICBS can be found on their website at: http://illinoiscitizensforbetterschools.blogspot.com/2012/11/the-core-policies-icbs-advocates.html.

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A Couple of Items on Charter Schools in Chicago

1. This week Chicago Public Schools announced they were recommending closing two charter schools for low performance, Aspira Charter School's Mirta Ramirez campus and the Betty Shabazz Charter School's DuSable campus.

ICBS strongly applauds this move and thinks that closing several other campuses would also have been appropriate. The strength of the charter school movement is that we accept the responsibility to improve student academic outcomes. Our schools have no more right to make excuses than any failing traditional public schools.

We sympathize with the closing schools when, for instance, Aspira notes that 93 percent of their graduates are accepted into college. But with such low test scores, they almost certainly attend non-selective, non-rigorous colleges and need remedial help. This is not setting standards high enough to move the needle on the life outcomes that we ultimately care about. To be a charter school is to set the bar high and to recognize that your students deserve results now, not when the school finally gets its administration right.

We must also note that recommending these closings also buys CPS CEO Barbare Byrd-Bennett some political cover as she moves forward with the closing of some traditional public schools.

2. ICBS Chair Josh Kilroy was on a radio show last Monday when a community activist called Chicago charter schools mediocre and cited the CREDO report from 2009 as his source.  But CREDO did separate reports for each state in the study, including Illinois, and found that Chicago charter schools provided benefits for some of Chicago's poorest students, especially in math. The benefits were particularly strong for students that stayed in charter schools for at least three years.

Charter school advocates don't push back enough on the sloppy use of the CREDO report by those who want to relegate students to one school with no choices. While arguing over research data is not going to win the public to one side or the other, not allowing myths to take root is always a good policy.

The other thing the activist said was that traditional public schools are more democratic because of the Local School Councils that help run them. While we at ICBS like LSCs - it is great community service - the reality is that most LSC elections are not competitive and often not enough candidates run to fill all the seats. This suggests that many LSCs are run more by unaccountable cliques than by representative members of the school community.

Ben Joravsky's Crocodile Tears

by Josh Kilroy

As a progressive activist in the 1990s and 2000s, the journalism of Ben Joravsky was one of the touchstones for understanding how power works in Chicago. His railing against TIFs was perhaps the loudest and most important voice of protest in the city.

This makes it doubly sad to see how terrible his "journalism" has become, particularly when the subject is education, which has been his favorite topic over the last three years. He rants against charter schools and uncritically praises the Chicago Teachers Union and their president, Karen Lewis. And while there is great journalism being written about Chicago's education system - Catalyst and WBEZ spring immediately to mind - none of it springs from the pen of Joravsky.

ICBS will devote a longer entry to Joravsky's criticisms of charter schools in the future but for now I want to focus on his most recent hypocrisy. In his current column, "The City Council's rules committee: Where good legislation goes to die" and dated February 19th, he discusses a non-binding resolution sponsored by most of Chicago's aldermen to ask for a moratorium on opening charter schools.

In the course of discussing charters, he writes, "Charter schools are nonunion, which allows them to pay their teachers bubkes." Now it is true that most - though far from all - of Chicago's charter schools are non-union and it is true that overall teacher compensation does not equal that of veteran CTU members, but Joravsky leaves out the main reason why teacher compensation lags behind: charter schools generally receive only 75-80% of the per pupil funding that public schools get. 


And why is it that charter schools receive so little funding relative? The answer should be right up Joravsky's alley and yet he won't even discuss it: pure clout. CTU has more of it than even the most powerful charter allies. At least they have it where it counts - in Springfield. 

Joravsky wants us to believe that the Chicago Teachers Union is the plucky kid in the schoolyard bravely standing up to Mayor Emanuel and his powerful friends. To most observers, this would be an odd way of describing one of the most politically savvy and powerful organizations in the Illinois.

CTU is the largest member of the Illinois Federation of Teachers, which has contributed over $6 million dollars to Illinois politicians over the last eight years. As of the end of the last campaign finance reporting period, IFT had $1.5 million in their political action committee. Additionally, CTU has its own PAC which had $500,000 as of the end of the reporting period. When CTU and IFT leaders call politicians, their phone calls get answered. CTU is as much a political heavyweight as Mayor Emanuel is and any suggestion to the contrary is ridiculous. 

And one of the bills they got passed encouraged underpaying charter schools.


There is a bill under consideration this session to create funding equity for the students charter school serve but the early betting is that the clout of the teacher's unions will kill this effort. And the teachers in charter schools will continue to be the victim of the ongoing monopoly enjoyed by IFT and its affiliates. Now Ben Joravsky can cry his tears about how cruel charter schools underpay their teachers, but until he is willing to speak truth to power, they are merely crocodile tears.

Responding to Stephanie Simon's Reuters Article

Over the weekend, Reuters published an article by Stephanie Simon, How Charter Schools Get the Students They Want, that raises disturbing questions about the admissions practices of a small number of charters throughout the country. As Ms. Simon notes:

"Among the barriers that Reuters documented:

* Applications that are made available just a few hours a year.

* Lengthy application forms, often printed only in English, that require student and parent essays, report cards, test scores, disciplinary records, teacher recommendations and medical records.

* Demands that students present Social Security cards and birth certificates for their applications to be considered, even though such documents cannot be required under federal law.

* Mandatory family interviews.

* Assessment exams.

* Academic prerequisites.

* Requirements that applicants document any disabilities or special needs. The U.S. Department of Education considers this practice illegal on the college level but has not addressed the issue for K-12 schools."

And one school right here in Illinois, the Cambridge Lakes Charter School in Pingree, requires parents to buy stock in the charter school company.

All of this is completely unacceptable and is further proof that the charter school movement has matured enough to focus less on market share and more on maintaining quality and reaffirming the core ideals of the charter school movement. And no ideal is more important than the idea that every child deserves a quality education.

The article definitely has an anti-charter slant but it is well-researched and thorough. It seems to us that it is incumbent on the charter movement to respond quickly to the worst of these abuses.

However, it is also true the worst perpetrators of these abuses are the stand alone charters, which is a rapidly diminishing segment of the charter school movement. As we have come to understand the importance of replicating high performing charters, large CMOs are increasingly the order of the day. And the article interviews parents and children who were so eager to be charter schools that they jumped through the hoops that some of these schools set up.

Let the defenders of traditional public schools be defensive in the face of criticism, part of what is most admirable about the charter school movement is their devotion to using data to drive performance. On that note, we commend Nina Rees of the National Alliance for Public Charter Schools for her sound and thoughtful response to this article.

But perhaps the most important takeaway for us is that it is time to rethink how we frame the choice presented to parents. Behavioral economics tells us that setting the default is an important determinant of the choice people make. What we have now is a system designed to make choosing a charter school an extra effort. What if we built the choice of schools into the enrollment process for kindergarten, or at key pivot points (end of 5th grade, end of 8th grade)? What if when parents went to enroll their child they were presented a form that listed the following options: 1. Neighborhood School, 2. Nearest Charter School, Nearest Outstanding Charter School, and 4. Magnet or other specialized school?

This would take a lot of extraneous effort out of the process of choice and make charters an easier option for parents to pursue. The days when Mike Feinberg and Dave Levin traipsed through Houston to fill that first KIPP school will always be legendary but it is time to move past the heroic age of choosing charters by routinizing the process.

This will provide the most comprehensive solution to the problems identified by Stephanie Simon in her article.