[Speed Gibson,
Monday April 2, 2007 at 8:06pm]
Assault on District 1
The Minneapolis School District is under attack. I'm using the Craig Westover perspective, that District 1 is the territory served, not the government owned and run schools that ostensibly serve that district. It is those schools and their allies at Education Minnesota and the Legislature that are doing the assaulting.
The Minneapolis Public Schools are imploding. Costs are rising as sharply as the enrollment is falling. Over half of new kindergarten students are going elsewhere, to charter schools, private schools, religious schools, home schools, and suburban schools via Open Enrollment.
The responses? Still more money, of course, now for E-12 instead of K-12. Presumably, "E" means the government schools get their hooks in earlier via preschool and all day kindergarten options. Meanwhile, we're told we need a moratorium on new charter schools. The High School League is pitching in to reduce transfers via Open Enrrollment.
This is a big problem for Education Minnesota and the DFL, for if all their enlightened policies worked, Minneapolis would be the jewel of the government schools. They have been denied nothing, including money. Without opposition, the liberals have no restraint on spending, which is why they run deficits despite the abundant cash coming in.
But rather than address the real problems that are chasing students out of the system, the educrats are quietly erecting walls to hold them in, no doubt sincerely thinking they can rescue ISD 1 somehow. They just need time, to review, write reports, consolidate, retrench, reallocate resources, all without acknowledging the real problems. And without acknowledging that the competition like the charter schools might be doing something better. Not everything, but some things.
The immediate strategy? Cut and run, closing several schools, abandoning the northside it looks to me. Maybe they've given up, maybe it's temporary, but how this fits a larger strategy escapes me.
The Minneapolis Public Schools are imploding. Costs are rising as sharply as the enrollment is falling. Over half of new kindergarten students are going elsewhere, to charter schools, private schools, religious schools, home schools, and suburban schools via Open Enrollment.
The responses? Still more money, of course, now for E-12 instead of K-12. Presumably, "E" means the government schools get their hooks in earlier via preschool and all day kindergarten options. Meanwhile, we're told we need a moratorium on new charter schools. The High School League is pitching in to reduce transfers via Open Enrrollment.
This is a big problem for Education Minnesota and the DFL, for if all their enlightened policies worked, Minneapolis would be the jewel of the government schools. They have been denied nothing, including money. Without opposition, the liberals have no restraint on spending, which is why they run deficits despite the abundant cash coming in.
But rather than address the real problems that are chasing students out of the system, the educrats are quietly erecting walls to hold them in, no doubt sincerely thinking they can rescue ISD 1 somehow. They just need time, to review, write reports, consolidate, retrench, reallocate resources, all without acknowledging the real problems. And without acknowledging that the competition like the charter schools might be doing something better. Not everything, but some things.
The immediate strategy? Cut and run, closing several schools, abandoning the northside it looks to me. Maybe they've given up, maybe it's temporary, but how this fits a larger strategy escapes me.