My fellow charter operators, lend me your ear!!
As we approach the countdown to the special May 18th election to determine the fate of Proposition 100, one cannot help but contemplate the future reality for education and charter schools. On May 19th, you and I will know just how much “fat” we will have to eliminate from our educational programs. You know… the special education teacher who was actually providing services instead of just doing paperwork…or maybe the school’s reading specialist, IT specialist…even the CEO. Wait! That would be me!! There go those enrichment programs – art, P.E., music, technology, foreign language, and/or student tutoring. Maybe we can expand our teacher job description to include cleaning the classroom. thereby eliminating the cleaning lady. Now, all of this is with the passage of Proposition 100.
Without this temporary “revenue boost” we will be doing all the above and also we will have 40 kids in each classroom, one teacher per grade with teaching assistants in support for each 100 students, and massive reductions in salary levels. Won’t that just be ducky!! Everyone in education is in shock over the layoffs, the shrinkage of service, the anger, and the seemingly endless new revelations of “What could possibly be next?” (We really don’t want to know!)
I have said many times this past year that this recession and the 30 percent shrinkage of our state budget are the biggest threats to education reform we have had to deal with. Our only revenue stream is the M&O monies we receive from the state. But our second cousins, the districts, have access to secondary property taxes for overrides, capital bond programs, the state’s Students First hard and soft capital account, and excess utilities reimbursement. And now the legislature has even “relaxed” the rules for districts to access these additional revenue streams. Yet we are still trying to educate our legislators about the funding gap? Do you think that they may just not be listening or already know but can’t or won’t do anything about it?
We have been demonstrating for the last 15 years that you can do it for less if you do it smarter. Unfortunately, we are reaching the point of diminishing returns. The funding gap that I have been defining for years is getting larger, not smaller, and with these drastic constrictions in our revenue stream, many of our schools could be out of business. That’s right, we are still businesses. We have to pay the rent or mortgage, the light bill, and all the other contractual commitments we all have to provide our students a better opportunity for personal success.
No one in our legislature has been or is currently listening to our plight. Just when we had a head of steam built up, strong political support, and expectation of significant movement on closing the gap, the very next month marked the first of many forecasts of the $5 billion shortfall in the next two years. Well, we still need to keep the education of the legislators concerning this gap on track and support the lawsuit to force the closure of this gap.
To those of you facing the wall, don’t lose your dream, just redirect it!
“And just what have you been doing for fun lately?” is a question I ask every month, but let me share a little fun I have been having recently. I have just been nominated by the Governor and confirmed by the state senate to the Arizona State Board of Education. I am looking forward to meeting all of you who attend your regional ACSA meetings. I intend to get to as many of them as possible in the coming months, starting with the southern Arizona meeting on May 19th. See you there. Bring your concerns and issues, and let’s talk!
So, be safe out there! And have some fun!
Greg Miller is CEO of Challenge Charter School, Inc., and serves on the board of the Arizona State Board of Education. Feedback? Contact Greg through the following email address: jkrygier@resolutions-esp.com. All emails – good and bad – will be forwarded on to him.