Now that Colorado has been given an “F” for its final grade in the Race to the Top competition, what are our chances for serious reforms in our public schools?
In reality, about the same as had we won and received that $175 million largess from the U.S. Department of Education.
Win or lose, it will be up to individual school districts to see that reforms are actually carried out. And with the exception of the Denver schools, there is little evidence that local school boards are eager to embrace higher standards and more accountability.
The much-heralded Senate Bill 191 at long last, will make it possible for districts to rid themselves of teachers who can’t cut the mustard. It is a wonderful legal step forward in undoing archaic teacher tenure laws.
But it doesn’t – and really can’t – guarantee an increase in teacher competence over the next decade. The hard work must be done at the local level by school boards, superintendents and principals dedicated to seeking improvement. They are the ones who must make the evaluations and choices.
Passage of SB-191 in the state legislature this year amounted to a showdown between Democrat lawmakers and one of their key blocs of political support, the Colorado Education Association, the teachers’ union.
The union may have lost that battle, but that was only its first line of defense.
When the conflict reaches a school board near you, will those elected officials fight for reforms or will they cave in?
For instance, look at the issue of merit pay for teachers. If we are putting a system in place to rate teacher competence, shouldn’t the best ones be compensated with higher salaries? Of course.
Provisions for merit pay were originally included in SB-191. But they were dropped in the effort to help override fierce union opposition to the bill.
Is your local school board willing to pick that fight? Unless you live in Denver, I doubt it.
Most large districts in Colorado have under-performing schools. But in most cases these failures are considered inevitable due to socio-economic or other conditions. There is little of grass roots pressure to improve the quality of education that can be found in the intercity.
Thus, school board members, many of whom were financially supported and endorsed by the CEA, are not looking for labor strife in their districts no matter what the motive. The status quo is fine, thanks.
And what school superintendent wants to risk a vote of no-confidence from this or her teachers? That can be a career-breaker.
I’m guessing that even in the loss of federal Race to the Top funds, there is enough political impetus to put the necessary machinery in place for necessary education reform in Colorado – the legislation, the statewide tests, the computer data bases, etc. Without the $175 mil carrot from Uncle Sam it just may take a little longer.
Anything less – the repeal of SB-191 for instance – would be an admission that this whole exercise was about “free” money from Washington and not about reform.
But good intentions don’t guarantee anything.
Call your local superintendent and mention those dreaded words, “merit pay for teachers.” See what kind of response you get.
Dick Hilker (dhilker529@aol.com) of Loveland is a retired newspaper editor. He was a 2008 Colorado Voices writer. EDITOR’S NOTE: This is an online-only column and has not been edited.
