________________________________________  THE VERMONT EDUCATION REPORT April 07, 2003 Vol. 3, No. 13 ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯  Covering education news in Vermont and beyond... Informative, provocative, unique... Published by Vermonters for Better Education  VBE is a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization whose mission is to enlist parents and the public at large in achieving quality educational opportunities for all the children of Vermont by monitoring the state of education in Vermont; promoting the value of educational freedoms for all parents; and giving parents the evaluative tools with which to identify excellence. Libby Sternberg, executive director: LSternberg@aol.com NEWS & ANALYSIS... GOT ED REFORM? NOT IN VERMONT While other states move forward with expanding parental freedoms and enhancing accountability, Vermont is stuck in the last century, looking for ways to spend more money and expand the education bureaucracy. That's the picture painted by the work of both House and Senate Education Committees this year, and this week's schedule is just more of the same with only one ray of light poking through the musty air. That sliver of hope is provided by the undaunted Sen. Hull Maynard (R-Rutland) who will present two bills he is sponsoring to the Senate Education Committee this week. One is a charter school bill and the other is a public school choice bill. Maynard takes these initiatives very seriously. Last year, he traveled to Massachusetts to visit a charter school and was impressed with what he found there. Elsewhere, his bills would be considered modest steps forward, but watch for intense opposition if they gain momentum. Those who have a stake in the status quo have a stranglehold on education in Vermont. While Maynard leads the charge for more educational opportunities, Sen. James Condos (D-Chittenden) and Vince Illuzzi (R-Essex/Orleans) will be carrying the banner for more educational bureaucracy. Their early education initiative, S. 166, would increase the state's reach into preschool. If successful, it could starve private preschool programs out of the market. Tim Volk, of the Vermont Business Roundtable, is slated to testify about S.166 this week. Volk has been an advocate for early education programs, but the early ed groups he represents have yet to endorse a particular approach. Over in the House, the tech center bill continues to occupy a large amount of time. But testimony on H.113 (the racial harassment bill) is on the books for later in the week. That's the bill that would require school districts to designate "civil rights officers" in each school. It's ironic that this bill seems to be drawing support from those who oppose other kinds of state intrusion into the local level. Another "mandate" from those who cry foul at "unfounded mandates."  PRIVATIZATION BOOKLET AVAILABLE ONLINE Vermonters for Better Education has received so many requests for its booklet "How to Privatize a Public School in Vermont" that we have posted the booklet online. It is now available at our web site: http://www.schoolreport.com/vbe_privatize.htm. The booklet spells out the steps necessary to turn a town with a public school into a tuition town. It includes relevant Vermont statutes and a timeline used when the town of Winhall went through the process several years ago. The booklet is particularly useful for small towns with declining student enrollments where it might be more cost-effective to pay for the tuition of the students in town instead of the maintenance of a public school.  FROM THE US DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION: DEALING WITH THE WAR IN THE CLASSROOM http://www.ed.gov/inits/homefront/index.html Many of our nation's schoolchildren find their lives deeply touched during this time of war. This is especially true for children in military families, who sacrifice their personal comfort and experience tremendous upheaval when their parents are called upon to serve our country at home or abroad. Our schools can be an anchor for children during these challenging times. Schools provide stability and a normal routine. The predictability of the classroom helps to cushion the impact of deployment on children and the entire school community. A new handbook is available to help educators guide their students during these trying times. This handbook can help educators build coping skills in their students during and after a military deployment. The goal is to bring needed support and understanding to the process and to maintain an optimal learning environment in the classroom and the school. This handbook contains specific and practical guidelines to help administrators, counselors, teachers, and other school employees to identify age-related reactions and focus on appropriate intervention strategies. I encourage you to check http://www.ed.gov/inits/homefront for more information, including helpful links to organizations that may be of assistance. This site will be updated continually with new information that parents, educators and others should find useful.  WHO COVERS EDUCATION IN VERMONT?  WE DO! Maybe you noticed that this is the third "volume" of the Vermont Education Report. That means we're entering our third year of covering education stories in the state that you WON'T FIND ELSEWHERE. Education is a complicated and important topic. In Vermont, it's a nearly one-billion-dollar industry. Yet scant notice is given to it in the major newspapers and broadcast media in the state. Only in the VER will you find regular coverage of education issues - stories on what the department of education is doing, what is happening in the education committees in the legislature, and how the state really compares nationwide, as well as tidbits from around the country. Help us keep going - send a contribution today to: VBE, 170 Church Street, Rutland, VT 05701.  ELSEWHERE... FROM THE PROGRESSIVE POLICY INSTITUTE: NO CHILD LEFT BEHIND IMPLEMENTATION http://www.ppionline.org As schools, districts, and state officials increasingly bump up against the realities of moving from rhetoric to reality on No Child Left Behind, there is a growing effort to weaken the law. There is little doubt that the law will need nips and tucks as things move along, but many "improvement" proposals are merely attempts to eviscerate the law altogether. Unfortunately, too many reporters seem poorly versed in what the law does and does not require. The result is some atrocious reporting about implementation and the law itself, which threatens to become an enormous problem as accountability requirements come fully online. If reporters can't explain why an overall good school can still need improvement for a particular group of students, the whole effort to increase transparency and equity for poor students could unravel. An excellent San Francisco Chronicle column by Ranking Education Committee Democrat George Miller, a key player in shaping and enacting No Child Left Behind, and Russlyn Ali, Director of Education Trust-West, takes on the myths circulating about No Child Left Behind. On April 9, Congressman Miller will speak at the luncheon session of PPI-NCEE-Fordham's No Child Left Behind Implementation conference and engage in discussion with Eugene Hickok, Undersecretary of Education and acting Assistant Secretary for Elementary and Secondary Education. Both are excellent speakers and committed to the goals of No Child Left Behind; for more information visit the website below. "Leave Education Myths, Not California's Children Behind," George Miller and Russlyn Ali, San Francisco Chronicle (03/18/03): http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2003/03/18/ED58562.DTL  THOUSANDS SEEK NEW SCHOOLS IN NYC The New York Times reported last week that more than 16,000 students sought transfers to better-performing schools un the No Child Left Behind Act. For the full story, go to: http://www.nytimes.com/2003/03/27/education/27SCHO.html?ex=1050192114&ei=1&en=95fa31c75fee850a *   *   * The VERMONT EDUCATION REPORT is published by Vermonters for Better Education 170 Church Street, Rutland, VT 05701, 802.773.5240 Contact LSternberg@aol.com for more information.

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