Education

Education advocates have long promoted pre-school as a way of closing the achievement gap between rich and poor students, and this year the president named expanding early education programs as one of his top priorities in his State of the Union address. But here in Alaska, fewer kids could end up having access to pre-school due to budget cuts.

Students are trickling into Ms. Deana Wanner’s classroom at the Gastineau Community School. The kids take off their jackets, and then sit down at tables with paper and markers. Today, the focus is dinosaurs.

The four-year-olds are part of a small and relatively new state-managed pre-kindergarten program. It was created in 2009, and it uses certified teachers to serve kids who are at or below the poverty level. The goal is to sharpen their motor skills, pump up their vocabulary, and get them used to being in a classroom. So, when kindergarten comes, they’ll basically be ready.

At Gastineau, the program works as a partnership with Head Start. Deana Wanner makes up half of the teaching team.

“I like having the relationship with the family to come in and make sure they’re making the progress to help their child come to school on a regular basis. Because some of those families need that extra support, and that’s where we come in.”

At pre-school, the kids learn more than just how to count. It’s a stable environment for them to socialize, get basic life skills, and receive adult supervision.

These aren’t kids whose parents can afford fancy private pre-school programs. When one student gets dropped off, the dad alerts Wanner that a family member had been hospitalized and that the kid could need extra attention as a result. At recess, Wanner consults with support staff about a different family that needs help getting their kid on something as basic as a bathing schedule.

Teachers mix little lessons on nutrition and hygiene in with the academic stuff. Before the students eat their snacks, Wanner sneaks in a lesson on how to say the ABCs and wash your hands at the same time.

A ten-minute drive away at the state capitol, Wanner’s classroom and others like it have become part of a fight over early education funding. Almost immediately after the pre-kindergarten program was created, Republican lawmakers targeted it for cuts. That’s despite a track record of academic improvement and ever-increasing demand for pre-school, says state Education Commissioner Mike Hanley.

“We just don’t have the access to pre-school in our state for kids that a lot of other states have, or that we really need, at any level, whether it’s private or public. It’s challenging to find it always on the chopping block.”

Gov. Sean Parnell had funded the program at $2.5 million next year, but about a half million of that has been slashed from the budget being considered by the legislature. Hanley says that if that cut goes through, the program will have to turn away 135 kids. And that gap won’t be made up by the federal Head Start program. Because of sequestration, Head Start is shrinking by almost the same number of kids.

One of the justifications for the funding cut was that state pre-K could be in competition with privately owned schools or daycare centers. Hanley’s skeptical of that, especially when it comes to some of the rural districts the program serves:

“I think the argument that we’d be taking students — clients, if you will — from the private and suddenly sacrificing the private side … It seems to be an erroneous type of an argument. There are a lot of kids that need the support.”

Back at Gastineau, Wanner tries to avoid thinking about the politics surrounding her classroom. But’s she also puzzled by the confusion over what her program does and who uses it:

“Oh my gosh. It’s a 100 percent different from day care. We do individual plans, so if a kid needs special areas where they need to work on best, you know, I can tell you social and emotional skills are the key component for here in our classroom because that’s the first thing they need to get those pre-academic skills going.”

Wanner says it’s difficult not knowing how big her classroom will be next year with all the uncertainty surrounding the program. Right now, the Alaska Senate is set to take up the state operating budget on Thursday, with Democrats planning to introduce amendments to restore the pre-school funding. But given their small minority, the change is not expected to get traction. Some Republican senators have said that they’re working on a separate education funding package that could include more money for early education, but so far, details have not been released.

By the time today’s K-12 students grow up, the challenges posed by climate change are expected to be severe and sweeping. Now, for the first time, new federal science standards due out this month will recommend that U.S. public school students learn about this climatic shift taking place.

Mark McCaffrey of the National Center for Science Education says the lessons will fill a big gap.

“Only 1 in 5 [students] feel like they’ve got a good handle on climate change from what they’ve learned in school,” he says, adding that surveys show two-thirds of students say they’re not learning much at all about it. “So the state of climate change education in the U.S. is abysmal.”

We all learn the water cycle. But how many can draw a picture of the carbon cycle? It would include plants taking in carbon to grow, then dying, and eventually turning into fossil fuels like coal and oil, which then put carbon back into the atmosphere when burned.

Even when this is taught, McCaffrey says, climate is often sidelined. Why take Earth science, when what you need to get into college is biology and chemistry? A recent report on climate literacy recommends sweeping changes to address such issues.

Political Pressure

On top of this, there’s the political battle over how climate change is taught. Last month, Colorado became the 18th state in recent years — including seven this year — to consider an “Academic Freedom Act.”

“The bill will go toward creating an atmosphere of open inquiry,” Joshua Youngkin of the Discovery Institute told state lawmakers. The institute is the same group that’s long questioned evolution and the way it’s taught. Now it has crafted suggested legislation that also targets global warming, although Youngkin testified that the aim is not to ban teaching about climate change.

“It just gives teachers a simple right,” he told lawmakers, “to know that they can teach both sides of a controversy objectively, and in a scientific manner, in order to induce critical thinking in their student body.”

But critics point out there is no controversy within science: Climate change is happening, and it’s largely driven by humans. So far, only Tennessee and Louisiana have passed legislation meant to protect teachers who question this.

Still, educators say the politicization of climate change has led many teachers to avoid the topic altogether. Or, they say some do teach it as a controversy, showing Al Gore’s An Inconvenient Truth one day, and the British documentary The Great Global Warming Swindle the next. The end result for students? Confusion.

The new science guidelines could provoke more push back.

“To the extent that these standards do paint a picture that I think runs counter to the scientific evidence, we’re going to make sure that we point that out,” says James Taylor, a senior fellow with the Heartland Institute. The free-market think tank is working on its own curriculum questioning humans’ role in global warming.

Raising Difficult Issues

The new science standards are voluntary, but 26 states helped develop them, and about 40 say they’re likely to adopt them.

“There was never a debate about whether climate change would be in there,” says Heidi Schweingruber of the National Research Council, which created the framework for the standards. “It is a fundamental part of science, and so that’s what our work is based on, the scientific consensus.”

Schweingruber says a lot of thought did go into how to deliver what can be crushingly depressing information, without freaking kids out. For instance, while students will learn that humans cause global warming, they’ll also be taught what kinds of actions can have a positive impact in helping to reduce it.

McCaffrey, of the National Center for Science Education, says many teachers will need training themselves on climate science. He’d also like to see them prepared for the pressures that come with teaching it.

“We’ve heard stories of students who learn about climate change,” he says. “Then they go home and tell their parents, and everybody’s upset because the parents are driving their kids to the soccer game, and the kids are feeling guilty about being in the car and contributing to this global problem.”

McCaffrey says this raises all kinds of psychological and social issues that are difficult to grapple with, yet essential for this generation of students to take on.

 

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A Hot Topic: Climate Change Coming To Classrooms

A crowd of teachers, students, and parents gathered in front of the Capitol steps on Tuesday to speak out for increased funding of education.

For many at the rally, the questions of lowering taxes on oil companies and adjusting education funding were inextricably twined.

Kindergarten teacher Kayla Harmon waved a sign saying as much.

“It says ‘Big breaks for big oil? How about a little more for little Alaskans?'”

The per-student funding amount has been held at the same level for three years now. And across Alaska, school districts are considering budget cuts.

Anchorage has a shortfall of $25 million, while Juneau is facing a nearly $2 million gap.

Protestors like Harmon expressed concern that state funding for education will stay stagnant at the same time that the legislature is advancing an oil tax overhaul that would cut state revenue by $800 million next year.

“We talk a lot about our natural resources, and we really have to think long and hard that kids are our future. If we want these jobs to stay inside our state, we need to educate our students to be prepared for those jobs.”

Nearly a dozen Democratic legislators spoke at the rally, passing a bullhorn between them. They’ve introduced a bill that would tie the base student allocation to inflation, but it hasn’t been scheduled for a hearing.

Since the beginning of the legislative session, Republicans in the majority have said they’re working on their own fix for education funding, but have been tight-lipped on details.

Juneau-Douglas High School Principal Ryan Alsup is resigning after three years in the job.

Alsup will leave his post on June 30^th for what he says are “personal reasons.”

He says it was a tough decision because he and his family enjoy living in the capital city.   He does not yet have another job.

Alsup moved to Juneau from Colorado in 2010, when JDHS was a larger school.  But Thunder Mountain High School had just opened and budget cuts were looming.  Alsup says he’s seen a number of major changes.

“We’re roughly 200 kids smaller, but we’re also roughly 25 staff members smaller as a result of budget cuts and things like that,” Alsup says.  “The bulk of my job has been to maintain a high quality education as we go through the budget reduction processes that we’ve done every year since I’ve been here”

He says the opening of a second high school in a town is difficult for the existing school.  He believes JDHS staff morale has improved in the last three years.

“I think when I started here there was still kind of the feeling of loss amongst the staff as far as the things that they were afraid they would lose with the opening of Thunder Mountain, and we’ve overcome that,” he says.  “So that’s where I feel like we’re in a better place. It isn’t so much that our test scores are going to indicate that we’re better off than we were or any tangible piece of evidence. It’s just simply the overall feel of the school.”

School District officials are to meet with faculty and parents soon to talk about the search for a new principal.  Alsup hopes his replacement will be hired before he leaves, which will help ease the transition.

The more than 30 speakers at Monday’s Save Our Schools hearing were preaching to the choir; that is, the Alaska House and Senate Democrats who called it to bolster their fight for increased public school funding.

Minority members say they’ve been getting hundreds of emails and other comments from frustrated parents, teachers, school administrators and education boards asking for the same.

They want money for pre-kindergarten programs, inflation proofing for the Base Student Allocation, and no constitutional amendment to allow public dollars to flow to religious and private schools.

Anchorage parent Matt Johnson spoke at the end, summing up two hours of testimony:

“We really need to fully fund our public schools and our pre-K early learning programs. I don’t think money’s always the bottom line, but I think it’s a proven fact that early education saves everybody money. Saves our state money, saves our society money. I strongly oppose any voucher system for our public schools, and strongly oppose any tinkering with out Alaska constitution. And finally I would say that I believe we are one of the wealthiest states in the union if not the wealthiest. What kind of a people can’t fund their public education system but can hand over billions to the oil companies.”

Johnson was alluding to the bill moving through the legislature that would reduce taxes on Alaska’s oil producers. The latest fiscal note indicates the state would lose between $4.5 billion and $5.8 billion dollars in revenue through 2019.

Only two speakers at yesterday’s hearing took the opposite stance, including

John Thomas, of the Mat-Su region. He agrees with many in the Republican-led legislature who say public schools aren’t wisely using the money they get.

“The answer is ‘throw money at it, throw money at it. The children; education is untouchable, this is our primary responsibility.’ We’ve tried it that way for decades, people. Now it’s time to tighten our belts and get with the program.”

Democrats are a small caucus in the legislature and their Republican colleagues were not at yesterday’s hearing.

And, the Democrat’s legislation to inflation-proof the Base Student Allocation (HB 95) is not moving. The BSA is the formula used to calculate the per-student cost of education. It’s remained $5,680 dollars since FY 2011. According to the Legislative Finance Division, the BSA would be worth $5,569 dollars in the upcoming fiscal year, due to inflation.

Republican chairs of the House and Senate Education Committees say proposed increases in education funding are not likely to gain traction in these last three weeks of the session.

Invest in education is the rally cry of the week in the state capitol, as the Senate completes its work on the state operating and mental health budgets.

Sue Hall of Fairbanks puts it this way:

“Alaska’s future really is in our classrooms right now.”

Hall testified Saturday before a partial Senate Finance Committee. Representing the Association of Alaska School Boards, she reminded lawmakers of their constitutional mandate to fund school operations.

“Education is an essential; it’s your only constitutionally mandated responsibility. Smart states don’t treat education as just another line item,” Hall said.

While money is in the education budget for the governor’s performance scholarship program, energy, technology and other add-ons, the Base Student Allocation, or BSA, has remained the same for the last three years, despite inflation.

Much of the testimony at Saturday’s hearing emphasized the cuts districts across the state have had to make because school operating dollars remain flat.

In Juneau, for example, the Board of Education is planning to cut about $1.7 million next year, including 14 positions.

“This is on top of the$4.7  million reductions last year.  The JSD has lost 104 positions and many services in the last three years.  Children and parents need your support for a stable budget plan that maintains buying power for schools when fixed costs go up,” said Andi Story, the board’s clerk.

The state’s largest school district, Anchorage, is expecting a $25 million gap between costs and state revenue, which is the largest portion of all school district budgets.

Senate Finance co-chairman Pete Kelly expects the committee will start on budget amendments Monday.  He said the operating budget bill is scheduled to come before the full Senate on Wednesday.

Meanwhile,  House and Senate minority Democrats say parents’ and educators’ concerns about funding are not being heard by their majority Republican counterparts.

The minority is hosting a statewide hearing Monday afternoon, called Save Our Schools.

Anchorage Rep.  Harriet Drummond served three terms on the Anchorage School Board and said she identifies with the public’s frustration.

“We’ve been getting hundreds of emails and contacts in our legislative offices from people who are very disturbed by the direction this legislature is going on all these issues – on pre-school cuts, on vouchers, and the classroom operating funds.  I’ve had visits from school board members, from superintendents, from principals, students,” Drummond said.

The hearing is scheduled from 1 p.m. to 3 p.m.  Monday in room 203 of the state capitol building and by teleconference.

On Tuesday, a rally called Stand Up for Our Students will start at 4:15 p.m. outside the state capitol.

Former state Labor Commissioner and Juneau School Board member Ed Flanagan is already planning his speech.  He blames flat funding on Gov. Sean Parnell.

“Folks are just backing off because the governor has said you’re not going to get anymore – an increase in the BSA.  I think it’s still incumbent upon everybody that cares about our kids’ education to speak up and be heard with the legislature that we can’t fall back into the rut we were in in the nineties of flat funding.  And having our kids fall behind,” Flanagan said. “It’s great to have a scholarship program but it you’re not funding  secondary (schools) sufficient for kids to qualify for that scholarship, what’s the point.”

Organizers of Stand Up for Our Students hope school districts throughout the state hold similar events this week as the legislature begins closing out the education budget.