Wendell News Outlet

Lessons Learned?

By Stan Norwalk

April 22, 2009

Introduction

The October 2009 election for the WCPSS Board of Education (BOE) will be fiercely contested. Three PAC’s are supporting candidates who have “sworn in blood” to support neighborhood schools and thus roll back the present diversity policy. Frustrations over frequent reassignments, mandatory year round schools, some long bus rides and declines in academic performance have led to the current situation.

The officially non-partisan race has become highly politicized. Changing the means by which the BOE is elected, favoring more Republican leaning suburbs, has become a political football. The head of the Wake Republican Party is promoting candidates who will support “parental choice” and “strengthened” magnet schools. Charlotte-Mecklenburg’s schools (CMS) are offered as a model to reduce busing, allow neighborhood schools and still achieve performance comparable to WCPSS.

Summary

CMS and WCPSS have been intensively studied regarding diversity, re-segregation and neighborhood schools. (References are below.) The results show that parental choice and neighborhood schools are an “I win-you lose” proposition. They are a major step backward for low income students. They will lead to racial re-segregation. Neighborhood schools with or without “Choice” are likely to precipitate “middle-class flight” either to higher income areas or out of public schools. Middle class flight is likely to reduce demand and the value of homes and economic development in the lower income areas of Wake County – mostly SE Raleigh and the Eastern half of the County. Neighborhood schools will reduce teacher working conditions and increase teacher turnover. It will tear apart the community fabric of Wake County. It will ill-prepare students for careers in an increasingly diversified and globalized world. The major challenges facing WCPSS are managing growth and insufficient funding of education. Neighborhood schools and choice will concentrate growth in the higher income areas of Wake County. Based on CMS experience, neighborhood schools and choice will increase pressure on raising Wake’s property tax by roughly 20% to accommodate the inherent inefficiencies of a two-class school system…without advancing education for ALL…and without paying for growth.

Discussion

• The major indicators of educational success are the socio-economic status (SES) of individual students’ families and the overall SES of the school, (hereafter called “healthy” schools). Healthy schools have a balanced population regarding SES and race. Healthy schools attract experienced, well trained teachers. The combined effect of teachers, parents and peers serves to increase the academic performance of all children regardless of race or economic status (see Kahlenberg).
• Numerous studies have proven the converse, i.e. high concentrations of needy children (often, but not always, minorities) lead to failed schools, sub-par education for all students in those schools and low graduation rates. Such schools are deemed “unhealthy”. Common sense tells us that most teachers can not give individual attention to twenty-two needy kids. Most experienced teachers seek to avoid unhealthy schools.
• Regardless of skin color, parents concerned about their children’s education, will not willingly enroll their children in unhealthy schools. In CMS, such schools are mostly in the inner city.
• Given “parental choice”, parents whose neighborhood base school is unhealthy, will attempt to enroll their children in healthy schools. Such schools are typically in more well-to-do suburbs.
• In Wake County, middle class neighborhoods are found mostly in Western Wake. Low income neighborhoods are mostly found in SE Raleigh and Eastern Wake. WCPSS attempts to balance SES by controlling assignment and busing. (Note that busing is used to relieve overcrowding resulting from insufficient permanent capacity and aging in and out of neighborhoods. Busing allows larger, less costly schools and makes greater use of existing capacity. See Salvesen et al))
• Assignment by neighborhood rather than assignment by socio-economic status, is an “I win-you lose” policy.
• The movement over several years of children and families from low income areas to high income areas is hereafter called “middle class flight”. (Called “white flight” by others.) In CMS, the bricks and mortar capacity limitations of healthy schools, along with first priority for the base nodes, led to “parental choice” being an ineffective illusion. Healthy schools became grossly overcrowded, and ultimately capped, while there were empty seats in low income areas just a few miles away. Busing mileage actually went up under “choice”. Lotteries were used to admit students into healthy schools and parents shuttled students through the system looking for a limited number of seats in healthy schools. (See Mikelson et al.)
• In CMS, middle class flight along with the limited availability of capacity in healthy schools, caused parents to move their children to private schools. Mecklenburg has over 19,500 students enrolled in private schools, roughly double the state average based on population, and one-third more than Wake. See (NCDPI data for Private Schools.)
• CMS lost market share, particularly among white middle class and affluent families. As a result, low income minorities are highly over-represented in CMS and are concentrated in the inner city. (see the US Census and School Data Direct). Five high schools there, where poverty and race are highly concentrated, were accused of committing “academic genocide” in a landmark court decision. (See Wikipedia.)
• In contrast, WCPSS has maintained market share in eight years. Although disaffected parents remove their children from the system, a like number return from private and charter schools. (per WCPSS data.) WCPSS is far more balanced than CMS along socio-economic and racial lines. (See Census and School Data Direct)
• “Choice” tore Mecklenburg apart along racial and neighborhood lines. After a failed secession effort by suburban areas and a failed bond issue, business and African American leaders forged a compromise that established the present neighborhood based “Equity” system. “Choice” was officially abandoned in CMS in 2004. “Equity” gave substantial additional resources to unhealthy schools including: more teaches for smaller classes, signing bonuses to attract quality teachers and principals and intensive pre-school education. Additional schools were built in suburban areas despite the availability of empty seats in the total system. (See Mikelson et al.)
• CMS has 40 magnet schools to serve 9,000 fewer students than Wake’s 35 magnets. Along the way the original intent of magnet schools to foster diversity has been abandoned in CMS. (CMS data).
• Parents whose frustrations led to “Choice” remain unhappy with “Equity”. They resent the costly and unequal distribution of resources and claim that the system is ineffective.
• The implications of “parental choice” and neighborhood schools are ominous for SE Raleigh and other low income areas in Eastern Wake County. Who would want to buy a home in a low income neighborhood whose neighborhood school was unhealthy? What would happen to economic development and housing values?
• CMS has 172 schools for 130 K students. WCPSS, serving 9,000 more students has 156 schools, 16 less than CMS. For WCPSS to build that many additional schools would require additional debt of very roughly $500 million and a property tax increase of roughly 4.5 cents. Note that this increase would only cover the inefficiencies in the use of capacity resulting from a two-class school system. Additional growth + inflation for the entire system would add further tax increases.
• In 2007, CMS spent $63 million more on education than Wake, largely to facilitate “Equity”. A similar level of expenditures would require a 6 cent increase in property taxes for WCPSS…again, regardless of growth or inflation. Coupled with less efficient use of capacity, a 20% increase in the property tax rate is indicated.

Conclusions:

The 2009 election for the BOE will be far more than a referendum on neighborhood schools. It will test the cohesiveness of the Wake Community. It will be a test of the leadership of all stakeholders, including the business community, the educational establishment and elected officials to sort through the issue of diversity vis-à-vis parental dissatisfaction with the current system. If neighborhood schools are chosen by voters, the stage will be set for future tax increases to fund an inherently less efficient two class school system. It will determine the burden on our community of poorly trained, low-income children. It will determine how we prepare the coming generation for their working careers in an increasingly diversified and globalized workforce. It could set the stage for “middle class flight” out of public schools to private schools. That “flight” could in turn impact housing values and economic development in SE Raleigh and the Eastern half of the County.

Clearly there are challenges involving WCPSS, the State and the County (and most NC schools).

• The academic bar needs to be raised for ALL children.
• The curriculum must be upgraded to reflect the needs of a globalized world in the 21^st Century
• Graduation rates need to be steadily increased.
• Greater choice of specialized programs is needed for both students not seeking higher education and academically advanced students.
• Funding from both the State and the County for advancing classroom education and permanent seating capacity must be consistent, reflecting both growth and inflation and be less dependent on the year-to-year whim of politics. Relying solely on raising the county’s property tax or existing state revenue sources is unlikely to meet the above goals.
• Per DPI statistics, combined state and county support in WCPSS for classroom education is only 85^th (of 115 school districts) in the state. Per School Data Direct, NC’s total support for K-12 is 43^rd in the nation. WCPSS total funding level is roughly $30,000 per classroom per year short of the national average. Lack of county support for school construction has resulted in 26,000 temporary seats, the highest number in the state. In turn, this has lead to over crowding core facilities and over crowded campuses with as many as forty trailers. Underfunding-overcrowding leads to longer bus rides and year round schools.
• An emphasis on supporting and upgrading teacher quality is of prime importance in raising academic performance for ALL students.
• Less frequent reassignments and reducing the length of the longest bus rides are needed.
• Growth and new school capacity must be tightly linked as is done elsewhere in NC and the nation, i.e. Adequate Public Facility Ordinances.
• Maintaining a balance between SES and community support.
• Concerns of parents with children on more than one calendar need to be addressed by increasing the capacity of standard calendar schools.
• Improved communications by the BOE.

All these goals can be implemented in-time with additional funding used for ALL students. None require abandoning assignment by socio-economic status. None require adoption of a system that has proven to be a major step backwards for Mecklenburg County.

Special Note:

The above reflects my personal analysis and viewpoints. I am not speaking for the Wake Board of Commissioners or anyone on the Board of Education.

I am indebted to Dr. Stephanie Southworth of UNC–Charlotte for her review of my remarks and her encouragement.

References:

• Presentation of Richard Kahlenberg, Century Foundation, April ’09 http://wakeedpartnership.org/publications/d/kahlenberg%2004.01.09.pdf
• Resegregation, Achievement, and the Chimera of Choice in Post-Unitary Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools, May 2009, Mickelson, Smith and Southworth,
• Wake County Schools: A Question of Balance, Silberman http://www.tcf.org/Publications/Education/silberman.pdf
• School Data Direct data base. http://www.schooldatadirect.org/
• DPI, 2007 Annual Statistical Profile of Public and Private Schools
• Unpublished dissertation, Dr. Stephanie Southworth, UNC - Charlotte
• Reading, Writing and Race, Davidson. (a study of racial integration in CMS)
• School Resegregation, Must the South Turn Back, Boger et al
• US Census – estimated data for 2007
• Report from CMS https://extranet.cms.k12.nc.us/news/stories/newsletters/pdf/1A30A200990827AM.pdf
• Good Schools – Good Neighborhoods, 2003 (focuses on busing), Salvesen and Hervey
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charlotte-Mecklenburg_Schools
• Making the grade despite white flight http://people.uncw.edu/smithrw/200/BussingCharlotteWhiteFlight04.doc

posted by Administrator  # 8:20 PM