CURMUDGUCATION: MS To Teachers: "Shut Up!"

CURMUDGUCATION: MS To Teachers: "Shut Up!":

MS To Teachers: "Shut Up!"

So, first, to put this in context, I have to tell you about Initiative 42.

Mississippi has historically languished at the bottom of the American education barrel, notable for their unwillingness to spend money on schools. Maybe many of their leaders don't like education, or don't like spending money, or don't like spending money that might somehow help black folks. I'm sure it's all very complicated. But at the end of the day, Mississippi has systematically underfunded their school system.

They took a shot at fixing the problem in 1997 with the Mississippi Adequate Education Program. By passing the MAEP, the legislature committed to funding schools according to a formula, but mostly all MAEP has done is provide a formula for computing just how money public schools are being cheated out of. The funding requirement laid out by MAEP has only been met twice since 1997. Since 2009, Mississippi has underfunded schools by $1.5 billion-with-a-B.

So last year, some folks proposed yet another tweak to the rules. That tweak looked something like this, with strikethroughs representing the deleted language and underlining the added language:

SECTION 201. 
Educational opportunity for public school children: To protect each child's fundamental right to educational opportunity The Legislature the Stateshall, by general law, provide for the establishment, maintenance and support of an adequate and efficient system of free public schools upon such conditions and limitations as the Legislature may prescribe. The chancery courts of this State shall have the power to enforce this section with appropriate injunctive relief.
 
This was Initiative 42, and while it may look like SOP in some states, in Mississippi, it raised quite a CURMUDGUCATION: MS To Teachers: "Shut Up!":



ICYMI: Reading for a quiet Sunday

Some reading for you from this week in education. 

TN Not Ready

Tennessee was supposed to be taking its super-duper online test. Things didn't go so well.

I’m a New York City school administrator. Here’s how segregation lives on.

This piece isn't short, but it's pretty raw and thorough, from someone who taught, founded a school, and learned some hard lessons about segregation in NY.

The Promise of Integrated Schools


Integrated schools are better for everybody, and the research keeps saying so, over and over and over.

Students Aren't Coddled; They're Defeated

I referenced John Warner's article earlier in the week, but it's worth reading the whole thing. You may or may not agree with him, but I bet you'll recognize some of the students he's talking about.

McKinsey and Friends in Minneapolis 

Sarah Lahm has been writing a super series about how McKinsey helped worm reformsterism into Minneapolis. The above link takes you to part one, and you should follow up with parts two, threeand four