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The contestants who could not provide correct answers to the
off-the-wall and purposely unanswerable trivia posed to them
in this TV/radio game show of a bygone era, were required to
perform some clownish and embarrassing stunt as a
consequence. Far from trivial, however, is the question of
how to handle the Toledo Public Schools’ $30 million budget
deficit which involves high-stakes decisions affecting its
students and the future of the school system itself.
TPS has decided to deal with this fiscal crisis by placing a
0.75 percent payroll tax measure on the May 4 ballot. The
consequences include a wide and far reaching list of
possible cost-cutting measures including closing schools -
Libbey High School in particular, eliminating athletics and
numerous other reductions.
Should the community again support another TPS request?
The loss of athletics in Toledo certainly would be a “death
sentence” for TPS students and schools, eliminating the
valuable life lessons taught by sports as well as an
invitation to crime and violence for idle teens. But the
closing of Libbey, with its largely African-American,
Hispanic and low to moderate income white population, would
also kill the futures of those where transfers across
neighborhoods to other schools often serve as an invitation
to violence, increased juvenile justice encounters, and
incentive for many young people to drop out of school.
With U.S. Education Secretary Arne Duncan on Monday
announcing the Obama administration’s intention to step up
civil rights enforcement in schools, it is imperative for
people of color and those in high-poverty neighborhoods to
have access to the same quality of education as those in
other schools or locales.
I definitely can support a tax proposal with assurances that
Libbey remains open or is provided a newer more efficient
facility.
Also, if TPS is to provide a quality education for all of
its students, it needs to hire competent, quality leadership
with integrity and that looks like the majority of its
students.
The prestigious Broad Center for the Management of School
Systems
www.broadacademy.org through its Superintendents
Academy, has transformed urban school districts into
effective public enterprises since 2002. This Academy has a
sterling reputation for identifying and preparing prominent
leaders—executives who have experience successfully leading
large organizations and a passion for public service, and
placing them in urban school districts to dramatically
improve the quality of education for students. Broad Center
graduates are at the helm of school districts in Detroit,
Pittsburgh, Oakland, Fort Wayne, Indiana and throughout the
United States.
I can support a tax proposal where leadership is in place
that has been shaped by an organization committed to Urban
School excellence such as that found at the
Eli Broad Foundation and Superintendents Academy.
Yet the cuts will occur whether the tax proposal passes or
not. The only variable is the depth or breadth of the cuts
and whether the pain will be $30 million or $17 million.
This is symptomatic of severe structural issues which expose
deeper long-term problems.
What if the worst should happen?
Francine Lawrence, TPS teachers’ union president, quoted in
The Blade, said “If these cuts are adopted, it will be the
beginning of the end of a quality district.” Indeed it will.
Yet, that is what many, including The Greater Ohio Policy
Center and The Brookings Institution Metropolitan Policy
Program are calling for. If Ohio’s former prosperity is to
be restored and its communities prepared for the new
economy, a significant change in the structure of governance
in Ohio must take place.
“Ohio will have to do more to encourage money-saving or
efficiency-enhancing consolidation and collaboration between
local governments, including school districts…through
consolidations, collaborations and shared services,” the
study determines.
First and foremost the study recommends that more dollars be
shifted to classrooms from top-heavy school district
administrations. Ohio ranks only 47th of 50
states nationally in the share of spending that goes for
classroom instruction, but has the ninth highest share of
the amount spent on administration (above the principal
level) which is 49 percent higher than the national average.
The Brookings report recommends school district
consolidation or shared services agreements between other or
neighboring districts as a means of freeing up additional
money for classrooms.
Also recommended by the study is that school districts make
the costs of their administration transparent to Ohio
citizens.
Unlike the salary and benefit concessions requested by Mayor
Mike Bell from Toledo municipal employees, no budget cuts
for TPS administrators were mentioned in their request for
tax support. In addition, while it is the residents of City
of Toledo who will be taxed, employees of TPS who work in
the schools but who live outside of Toledo are exempt.
Therefore it is not recommended that there be support for
the TPS plan without shared sacrifice from top to bottom. It
is fundamentally unjust and unfair to put the entire burden
upon the backs of the urban poor and middle class who have
little to show for their previous automatic levy support
while those who receive direct economic benefit shoulder no
financial weight at all.
Finally, should TPS be unable or unwilling to solve its
budget issues or to achieve acceptable academic performance
indicators such as standardized test performance,
suspensions, expulsions, drop-out rates, teacher
absenteeism, etc. for all schools rather than closing the
non-performers, there are growing calls for state or
municipal control or take-over of urban schools.
While not the end-all for troubled schools, takeovers have
been useful in removing unqualified patronage positions,
nonperforming principals and teachers, and eliminating
bureaucratic waste while reallocating these savings to
services that directly affect the education of students.
It has been said “Hope for the best, plan for the worst.”
Sometimes, however, the worst is not as bad as we think.
Contact
Rev. Dr. Donald Perryman at
drdlperryman@centerofhopebaptist.org
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