Wisconsin Education Policy: Part 1 Hail to the king. Part 2. Let the bodies hit the floor.
Once again our elected officials have decided to intervene (here and here) in matters that deal with public education and as usual they continue to muck around—and if they get their way—make things worse for children, but reward campaign donors.
First, in a blatant attack on one of our foundational democratic institutions, our elected officials have decided to usher in a new era of monarchies. School boards will be stripped of any authority to make decisions that reflect the values of their communities and local superintendents will be given supreme rule over local public schools.
The revised Assembly bill, released Tuesday, also places sole decision-making power with a school district superintendent to improve a low-performing school, and the ability to override school board policies.If a public school does not improve after three years, the bill requires a school board to authorize its superintendent to act unilaterally to improve the school ‘contrary to policies and procedures adopted by the school board.’The bill also prohibits school boards from “retaliating” against the superintendent.
Yes. There it is. Elected school boards will be neutered and possibly even punished for representing our local communities.
Now I’ll be the first to admit that local school board politics can be messy and sometimes even divisive, but is that really a reason to give all authority to one person? And let’s be real. Do we really believe the “unilateral” power proposed for supers will not be usurped by politicians—essentially creating puppet rulers that really only represent the desires of campaign donors?
How about teasing out this idea (legislation)? If public schools continue to serve legislatively neglected students and communities, we require that our elected officials turn over the authority to qualified educators and community members to make evidence based policy decisions? And if need be, our elected officials will also be required to provide the necessary resources that legislatively neglected schools deserve.
Part 2.
And if the gut shot to community based democracy wasn’t enough, our elected officials Wisconsin Education Policy: Part 1 Hail to the king. Part 2. Let the bodies hit the floor. | BustED Pencils: