________________________________________  THE VERMONT EDUCATION REPORT May 09, 2005 - Vol. 5, No. 19 ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯  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: VTBetterEd@aol.com NEWS & ANALYSIS... SENATE CONTINUES TO LOOK AT EARLY ED This week, the Senate Education Committee will continue to discuss S.132, the early education bill. Bill Talbott of the Vermont Department of Education will testify about funding while several private childcare providers will also have a chance to express their concerns regarding the bill. The main concern for private providers is whether they'll be squeezed out of the field when public schools start offering virtually the same services for free. Although the bill contains mechanisms for allowing private and public providers to enter into contractual arrangements, it does not have any guarantees that this will take place. So if a public school sets up its own preschool, it's conceivable it will not see any reason to contract with a private provider. The only way the qualified private provider can be ensured of inclusion is if the bill includes no loopholes for the public providers to wiggle out of potential collaborations. The bill also continues to contain no restrictions on types of students who would qualify for free preschool. So both rich and poor will be eligible for this free service which, unlike K-12 education, is not mandated by the state. Also on the Senate Education Committee's docket is testimony on JRH37, the resolution in support of the national teacher's union's lawsuit against the No Child Left Behind Act. For the New Democrats' criticism of this lawsuit, see the story at the end of this newsletter. VDOE RELEASES ENROLLMENT DATA The Vermont Department of Education has posted public school enrollment data for 2004-05 on its web site and once again, the figures show declining enrollments. This trend is worth noting given the current focus on early education programs. As noted in an earlier newsletter, the VDOE made a presentation at an early education conference in March that focused on showing school districts how to use ADM calculations for early ed students to hold their districts harmless against the financial impacts of declining enrollments. For the full enrollment report, go to: http://www.state.vt.us/educ/new/pdfdoc/data/enrollment/enrollment_05.pdf Here's the summary on elementary and secondary numbers, from the report: There are 98,361 students enrolled in FY05, a decrease of .87% from the 99,104 students enrolled in FY04. This is the eighth year of declining enrollment after a peak of 106,341 students in FY97 (Table 2). During the eight year period from FY98 to FY05, Vermont has experienced a 7.5% decrease in enrollment.  Vermont's K-12 total enrollment numbers have decreased at a Compounded Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) of -0.78% from FY96 to FY05 (Table 6). In the shorter term, from FY01 through FY05, a sharper decrease in enrollment in seen with a CAGR of -.92%. In the ten-year span, from FY96 through FY05, St. Albans Town Educational Center, in Franklin County, experienced the largest growth with a CAGR of 9.59%, while Milton Jr. High School, in Chittenden County, experienced the steepest decline with a CAGR of -10.46%.  WORTH REPEATING: USEFUL INFORMATION GENERAL LEGISLATURE PHONE NUMBER: 1-800-322-5616 Fax: 802 828 2424 For full legislative directory (including home addresses and phone numbers) go to: http://www.leg.state.vt.us/legdir/legdir2.htm SENATE EDUCATION COMMITTEE Senator Don Collins (D-Franklin), chairman: dcollins@leg.state.vt.us  Senator William Doyle (R-Washington), vice-chairman: wdoyle@leg.state.vt.us Sen. Jim Condos (D-Chittenden): jcondos@leg.state.vt.us Sen. Robert Starr (D-Essex-Orleans) Sen. Wendy Wilton (R-Rutland): wwilton@leg.state.vt.us HOUSE EDUCATION COMMITTEE Rep. George Cross (D-Winooski), chairman: gcross@leg.state.vt.us Rep. Kathy LaVoie (R-Swanton), vice-chair: klavoie@leg.state.vt.us or klavoie@together.net Rep. Dense Barnard (D-Richmond): Dbarnard@leg.state.vt.us or dbbcuts@aol.com Rep. Gregory S. Clark (R-Vergennes): gsclark@adelphia.net Rep. Kevin J. Endres (R-Milton): kendres@leg.state.vt.us or Kendresult@msn.com Rep. Tim Jerman (D-Essex): Tjerman@leg.state.vt.us or vrunner54@aol.com Rep. Duncan Kilmartin (R-Newport City): dkilmartin@leg.state.vt.us or rexkilvt@together.net Rep. Judith Livingston (R-Manchester): jlivingston@leg.state.vt.us Rep. Rosemary McLaughlin (D-Royalton): rmclaughlin@leg.state.vt.us or rozo@valley.net Rep. Anne Mook (D-Bennington): Amook@leg.state.vt.us or annemook@hotmail.com Rep. Dave Potter (D-Clarendon): Dpotter@leg.state.vt.us  GET ON THE FREEDOMWORKS MAILING LIST FreedomWorks-Vermont, a new organization that shares VBE's concerns about S.132, would like to build an email list. Co-founded by staunch school-choice advocate Jack Kemp, FreedomWorks is a 501c4 grassroots organization dedicated to fighting for greater economic opportunity and less government intrusion. The Vermont chapter of FreedomWorks is organizing and mobilizing throughout the state. To learn more about FreedomWorks-Vermont, or to become a member, visit http://www.freedomworks.org, http://www.freedomworks.org/processor/signup.php, or contact State Director, Rob Roper at rroper@freedomworks.org, or 802-999-8145.  *   *   * FROM ELSEWHERE... FROM.... THE 21ST CENTURY SCHOOLS BULLETIN On the web at: http://www.ppionline.org/ NEW DEMOCRATS NOT KEEN ON NEA NCLB LAWSUIT NCLB Heads to Court Last week's big education news was that the NEA finally moved forward with their lawsuit against NCLB. The basic argument made in Pontiac [Michigan] v. Spellings is that states should not have to comply with NCLB because language in the law says states are not required to use state funds in excess of the federal funds they get under NCLB to comply with the law. The school districts and state NEA affiliates that are party to the suit say the law's requirements will cost far more to meet than the federal funds they have received and that the law therefore does not require them to comply with these provisions. Now this is much more about public relations than legal points and it's an insult to everyone's intelligence to treat it any other way. However, the suit will end up being litigated in court. The language the NEA is suing over finds its provenance in conservative complaints about President Clinton's education policies, and legal experts differ about whether it will stand up in court. In terms of the public relations, the NEA is opening a can of worms. For starters, focusing on the funding issues again gives the administration an opportunity to draw attention to the massive increases in federal education funding since the law's passage. Not exactly a great message for Democrats. In addition, by ignoring the states' responsibility to fund a quality education for their students, the lawsuit's arguments may actually undermine state-level fiscal equity cases. The reason Pontiac and the other school districts in the lawsuit haven't seen large funding increases despite increased federal spending is that states have been slashing education budgets in recent years, trying to maintain the unrealistically low tax levels set in more sunny economic times. In addition, NCLB offers a critical tool for funding-equity advocates, by requiring states and school districts to focus on the most disadvantaged students and by making available data that shows just how current state finance systems underserve poor youngsters. Because states are the primary funding source and authority over public education, the Bulletin thinks that focusing on state funding and equity issues is a lot more valuable than squeezing some more money out of the federal coffers. There's also a danger NEA could wind up alienating key allies and further complicate Democratic efforts to convince voters they stand on principle. As American Prospect writer Matt Yglesias wrote on his blog, the federalism critique the NEA is now making might be good politics at the moment, but "it has no place in liberalism." Whether or not you like all its provisions, the underlying goal of No Child Left Behind is to close achievement gaps and improve performance of minority and disadvantaged students who have too long been woefully disserved by the current system. So far, as Brent Staples writes in a must-read NYT op-ed, the nation's major civil rights groups have largely stayed out of this fight -- or even sided with NEA. By taking this position, Staples argues, the leadership of the civil rights community had essentially abdicated its responsibility to stand up for children of color in the most critical civil rights battle since Brown vs. Board of Education. But there are signs of change on this, as well. Citizens' Commission on Civil Rights Chair William Taylor, long an outspoken NCLB supporter, issued a press release criticizing the NEA lawsuit that sums up many of the concerns of those on the left and in the civil rights community about NCLB opponents' rhetoric. In addition, there's a powerful and growing grassroots frustration with how public schools in urban and rural areas are failing to educate disadvantaged children that the civil rights community cannot afford to ignore much longer. Taylor displays a lot of courage in his public stance. Meanwhile, privately, a lot of civil rights leaders are grumbling about the NEA tactics, in no small part because many gains for disadvantaged citizens have come as "mandates" from the federal government. The question now is, when the chips are down, will they stand up and be counted with Taylor or not? Further Reading: NEA's Pontiac v. Spellings Lawsuit Page: http://www.nea.org/lawsuit/index.html "On the Sides of the Most important Civil Rights Struggle Since Brown," Brent Staples, New York Times Op-Ed (04/18/2005): http://www.nytimes.com/2005/04/18/opinion/18mon4.html?ex=1271476800&en=4ee3e20828fcf198&ei=5090 "Statement of William Taylor on NEA's Lawsuit Attacking The No Child Left Behind Act," Citizens' Commission on Civil Rights (04/20/2005): http://www.cccr.org/news/press.cfm?id=15 "Stand Firm for Educational Fairness," New York Times Editorial (04/22/2005): http://www.nytimes.com/2005/04/22/opinion/22fri2.html?ex=1271822400&en=2346d8c24c673a93&ei=5090 "NEA Picks Wrong Fight on Bush Education Funding," DeWayne Wickham, USA Today (04/25/2005): http://www.usatoday.com/news/opinion/columnist/wickham/2005-04-25-wickham_x.htm "RFK Rolls Over in His Grave," Jenny D. (04/21/2005): http://drcookie.blogspot.com/2005/04/rfk-rolls-over-in-his-grave.html "Education: Equal, Fair, and National," Matthew Yglesias (04/25/2005): http://yglesias.typepad.com/matthew/2005/04/education_equal.html *   *   * WHO COVERS EDUCATION IN VERMONT? We do! Consider a gift to Vermonters for Better Education, the publisher of the weekly Vermont Education Report, Vermont's ONLY continual source of education news. Send donations to: VBE, 170 Church Street, Rutland, Vermont 05701. VBE is a nonprofit organization and contributions are tax-deductible.  *   *   * The VERMONT EDUCATION REPORT is published by Vermonters for Better Education 170 Church Street, Rutland, VT 05701, 802.773.5240 Contact VTBetterEd@aol.com for more information.   Subscribe Here SubscribeRemove

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