December 30, 2011
My View: Mind Trust plan promises the change IPS needs
By Larry Grau
(From Indianapolis Star, December 30th, 2011)
The Indiana Democrats for Education Reform applauds The Mind Trust plan to transform Indianapolis Public Schools. It provides a road map for us to follow in taking a huge step forward in achieving the goal of insuring every child's right to a quality education. We hope the document will prompt the type of serious, meaningful and productive community discussion that needs to occur about the direction we take in our education systems in Indianapolis and the state.
We do not need rhetoric, exaggerated claims, or scare tactics claiming this plan will end all schools in IPS as we know them, result in the privatization of public schools, or any of the other conspiracy theories that get thrown around whenever changes in our education system are proposed. If The Mind Trust plan were enacted in its entirety, most students would remain in the schools they are in now, unless they chose to seek a different educational option; and nearly all teachers and other school staff would report to work at the same places they do today.
It is worth emphasizing under the plan we would need our most effective teachers and education leaders to step-up more than ever. The difference would be -- those dedicated educators would finally be paid what they deserve, and at salary levels suggesting we value what they do for our children. They also would be treated as professionals and given the autonomy to truly lead their schools.
Eliminating the elected board has been criticized as undemocratic and an infringement on local control. We beg to differ. IPS School Board members are elected by less than 10 percent of the eligible voters, and most folks can't name their elected board representative. Because of low voter turnout, money provided by special interest groups can be more of a factor in who gets elected than where a person stands on policy issues. We contend The Mind Trust plan provides more local control by giving autonomy to individual schools and control of the district to the mayor and City-County Council, who will appoint the School Board. We recommend those appointments be residents of the IPS districts they will represent, which will allow citizens to actually know who to hold accountable.
Additionally, while it is appropriate to draw attention to issues such as the profound impact poverty has on education; to suggest The Mind Trust's plan ignores this issue is another attempt to stir emotions in an effort to avoid making changes in the system. Poverty does not cause bloated administrative staffs, teachers and school leaders to be ineffective, or inefficient use of financial resources. People cause these things.
The Mind Trust's proposals and the principles Indiana Democrats for Education Reform supports will do more to reverse the effects of poverty and offer more local control than keeping things the same, waiting for some new silver bullet program, or pumping more money into the existing system. Receiving a good education lifts more people out of poverty than any program. It escapes reason to believe that clinging to the status quo or only making incremental changes in our schools will result in the necessary improvements in education outcomes. We will continue to sit back and watch more than half the students enter an economy without a high school diploma where unemployment has hovered around 10 percent. How can anyone refuse to explore new ideas and make dramatic changes when keeping things as they are is essentially committing generations of our kids to this type of life sentence of living in poverty? If the people in charge of managing and governing such a system have been unable to reverse that pattern of failing our children over the past several decades, isn't it time to seek a better approach?
Another significant change The Mind Trust report would prompt is putting an end to the years of delay in allowing all IPS students to have access to quality educational opportunities. It has been over 10 years since the state's accountability system under Public Law 221 was enacted, and yet we still have people fighting to stop the law from doing what it was intended to do -- require schools where students are not reaching standards to be restructured and improved so children are no longer being subjected to an insufficient education. It is difficult to be sympathetic about keeping local control intact if it means more of the same; and, particularly when providing schools with more autonomy would extend control to an even greater local authority -- school leaders and teachers. There are some exceptional schools and tremendous educators in IPS, and we believe it is time they have more control over how to educate students.
The Mind Trust report is not about blaming someone for where we are with IPS. It is about changing a broken system, which means everyone in the district has been unable to effectively function in a way to produce the results we need for our city, state and most important our children and future.
It is time to change the entire system. Let the referendum begin immediately, but not in some politically charged election, where interest groups will pump cash into the process to influence the outcome. This "referendum" needs to be a community discussion over the next several months with The Mind Trust plan serving as a good starting point for the conversation; and the only approach that is off the table is to keep things as they are now. Our kids cannot afford the status quo any longer, which The Mind Trust has thankfully made clear.
Grau is director of Indiana Democrats for Education Reform.