From: harelb@math.cornell.edu (Harel Barzilai)
Subject: "Empowered" School -- Towards a "McSchool" system
Followup-To: alt.activism.d
Originator: daemon@pencil.cs.missouri.edu
Organization: ?
Date: Wed, 30 Sep 1992 22:39:57 GMT

[Via misc.activism.progressive from LaborNet's labor.newsline]
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    "This kind of school choice plan differs dramatically from the
    Detroit school board's marketplace model, where specialized
    schools get the brightest students and the greatest funds, often
    leaving neighborhood schools gutted."
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"School-based management programs mean more on paper than in 
reality." The teams do not have control over the budget or the 
curriculum. 
     "The committees set policies about whether or not students can 
wear hats," said Wainer. "The union and a few elected teachers are in a 
position of sharing responsibility for the rotten things that happen in 
schools--the things that principals used to deal with on their own." 
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     "Since 1980, the federal education budget has been cut 30%."
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     Detroit unions criticize the school board for concentrating 
resources in only a few institutions. "Why not have programs in place 
to enhance all schools, not just a few?" asked Hecker. 
     But this requires increased funding. To bring learning and 
teaching back to the schools...

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Topic 273       Competition in the Classroom 
labornotes      Labor News & Notes       2:36 pm  Sep 29, 1992 
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     [The following is an article from the October 1992 issue of Labor 
Notes. For the entire October issue, send $1 to Labor Notes, 7435 
Michigan Ave., Detroit, MI 48224.] 
***** 
ACROSS THE COUNTRY, SCHOOL BOARDS 
ARE BRING COMPETITION TO THE CLASSROOM 
by Camille Colatosti 
     The problems of urban public schools are many--high drop-out 
rates, low achievement test scores, drugs and violence. 
     Detroit is representative. Close to 65% of students drop out each 
year. Of a freshman class of 20,000, only 7,000 actually graduate. A 
shortage of textbooks prevents many students from taking their school 
work home. Basic materials, such as restroom supplies, are often 
missing. 
     But ideas for solutions are scarce. One popular idea, proposed by 
some school boards, is called "empowerment," or site-based management. 
This plan sets up a separate board composed of administrators, 
teachers, and parents to run individual schools. 
     Empowered schools will become "schools of choice," specializing in 
particular subjects, such as science or the performing arts. Students 
can opt for these institutions rather than their neighborhood schools. 
     In some cities, like Milwaukee, choice programs even provide 
vouchers that students can use to attend private schools. 
     While some parents are happy to entertain any reform proposals, 
teachers and other unionized school workers argue that site-based 
management and choice simply require schools to compete for scarce 
funds at a time when resources for all schools are inadequate and 
cooperation among educators needs to increase. These programs don't 
address the real needs of urban schools: additional financing and 
quality teaching. 
EMPOWERMENT 
     "Empowerment became popular several years ago when the United Auto 
Workers negotiated with General Motors to allow Saturn workers to work 
in teams and make decisions on the best way to put together the car," 
Albert Shanker, president of the American Federation of Teachers, told 
the Detroit Free Press. 
     "I made a speech saying if the auto workers and the steelworkers 
can do that, why can't teachers? Unfortunately, in most cases, people 
didn't get into curriculum, textbooks, or improving students' 
education. Instead, they got teachers on committees to manage the 
school. The whole purpose of empowerment is to have teachers make 
educational decisions." 
     To John Elliott, president of the Detroit Federation of Teachers, 
"Empowerment is a management system that distracts educators from 
educating kids." 
     Empowerment is a key issue in the Detroit teachers strike, which 
began August 31. 
     The few "empowered" schools that currently exist in the Detroit 
system are run primarily by the principal, who is advised by a team of 
teachers and administrators. These schools are funded on a per pupil 
basis; no supplemental money is available from the central 
administration, regardless of the specific needs of the school. There 
are no extra funds for schools with poorer or special needs students, 
and no extra money for schools in older buildings that need expensive 
repairs. 
     According to the Detroit school board, site-based management will 
motivate teachers and principals to do their best. The most appealing 
schools will attract the most students and therefore receive the most 
resources. 
     Individual schools will also have the power to outsource work and 
save money. Schools will be allowed to hire temporary or contract 
workers to replace permanent employees in 17 fields, ranging from food 
services to pupil transportation to psychological services to 
substitute teaching. 
TEACHERS LEFT OUT 
     "They're treating the teachers and other school workers more like 
the enemy than as partners in developing solutions," said David Hecker, 
coordinator of the Detroit Public Schools Project, a coalition of 12 
Detroit school unions representing 17,000 teachers, paraprofessionals, 
janitors, and bus drivers. 
     Competition between schools, argues the coalition, will result not 
in improved educational opportunities, but in fewer schools and crowded 
classrooms. Schools that don't do well, along with smaller schools, 
will close for lack of funds. 
     More important, principals will need to spend all of their time 
managing the facility, competing for dollars and securing resources. 
     "Site-based management is a management-style in which education 
itself is lost," says Hecker. 
     Elliott also fears that teachers at empowered schools will be 
pressured to waive specific contract items. They could extend the 
school day or week, and increase the class size or the number of 
classes that they teach. 
     In New York City, according to South Shore High School teacher Kit 
Wainer, "School-based management programs mean more on paper than in 
reality." The teams do not have control over the budget or the 
curriculum. 
     "The committees set policies about whether or not students can 
wear hats," said Wainer. "The union and a few elected teachers are in a 
position of sharing responsibility for the rotten things that happen in 
schools--the things that principals used to deal with on their own." 
     In Chicago, where site-based management is most advanced, teachers 
also feel excluded from real decision-making. In 1989, the Chicago 
school system was completely reorganized and the central administration 
was drastically reduced. 
     At 500 schools, councils--each composed of six parents, two 
community representatives, two teachers, and the principal--were put in 
place. The councils have some control, "but all within the confines of 
a very limited budget," said Chicago high school teacher Debby Pope. 
TEACHERS' ALTERNATIVE 
     Unfortunately, teachers in Chicago and elsewhere have been slow to 
put forward alternatives of their own. Chicago teacher George Schmidt 
explained that the union lost credibility among reform-minded parents 
when it failed to deal with issues like class size and community 
involvement. 
     To many community activists, teachers' interest in reform often 
appears to be an afterthought, more a defensive response to a school 
board initiative than a genuine interest in improving education. 
     The Detroit Public School Project, for example, presented its 
reform proposal only after the school board threatened to extend 
empowerment throughout the system. 
     The School Project's plan would remake schools into community 
centers, rather than turn them into individual competitive business 
entities. This would mean leaving schools open for longer hours; 
instituting tutoring programs staffed by volunteers; implementing 
on-site child care for school employees and people attending adult 
education; reforming adult education programs so that they provide 
workers with real skills; and creating after school and summer 
recreational programs for children and adults. 
     Ann Bastion, co-author of Choosing Equality: The Case for 
Democratic Schooling, points to the schools in New York City's East 
Harlem School District as a model for education reform. 
     All of the middle schools in the district are schools of choice. 
But they are not so much site-managed as they are coordinated 
throughout the district. The choice offerings complement each other. 
     "School directors collectively decide on student assignments to 
the middle schools after applications are submitted," said Bastion. 
Funds are distributed to schools based on real need. At the same time, 
efforts are made to be sure that no one school depletes others of 
resources. 
     This kind of school choice plan differs dramatically from the 
Detroit school board's marketplace model, where specialized schools get 
the brightest students and the greatest funds, often leaving 
neighborhood schools gutted. 
NEEDED: MORE MONEY 
     Detroit unions criticize the school board for concentrating 
resources in only a few institutions. "Why not have programs in place 
to enhance all schools, not just a few?" asked Hecker. 
     But this requires increased funding. To bring learning and 
teaching back to the schools, to reduce class size and to put special 
programs in place costs money that school boards are often unwilling or 
unable to spend. 
     Since 1980, the federal education budget has been cut 30%. State 
contributions to city schools have likewise decreased as unemployment 
and capital disinvestments have risen. Because school financing is 
largely based on local property taxes, the decline of American cities 
has led to a crisis in school funding. 
     Rather than confront this problem head-on, many school boards have 
opted to put choice and lean management techniques in place. They have 
blamed school failures on teachers' poor performance, and argued that 
more competition among teachers and schools will turn things around. 
     But teachers believe that choice cannot substitute for adequate 
funding. As Bastion explained, "The very theory of choice, of 
competition, implies winners and losers. And those most likely to lose 
are the students from the poorer districts, the African-American, 
Latino, and working-class kids." 


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