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In the modern era, education reform has been present in New Mexico at least since 1972. The conversation in 1972 was about equitable school funding by school enrollment.
In the 40 years since the funding reform, there was no translation to equitable achievement. 2013: more reform.
In New Mexico there is a culture of reform with many ideas but few significant improvements for many of our students.
This culture reminds me of a 1990s article in the Washington Post by Jamie Stiehm, “The Culture of Whatever.” Whatever comes to anyone’s mind is an educational reform proposal. Absolutely awesome!
A current reform that we should consider in New Mexico is the charter school system.
The 2009 Stanford University charter school report on 16 states, including New Mexico, raises questions about student performance. The report found that only 17 percent of schools reported academic gains that were significantly better than the public schools; 37 percent showed gains worse than the public schools; and 46 percent demonstrated no significant difference.
In five states, including New Mexico, gains in reading and math were significantly lower than in the public schools.
In New Mexico the Legislative Finance Committee has performed two evaluation reports on charter schools. Among the findings on July 23, 2010, and Jan. 4, 2013:
♦ Charter schools spend less than districts on instruction because of administration and lease costs.
♦ The state needs to mandate closure of poor performing charter schools.
♦ If closure of poorly performing charter schools is not a viable option, consider a hard cap on charter schools statewide.
♦ Exempt charter schools from receiving small school adjustments under the funding formula. (Cost in 2010, $24.1 million.
♦ Administrator salaries at some charter schools compete with superintendent salaries ($200,000 plus), even though enrollment for most are 250 or less, with only five over 400.
♦ Charter schools pay excessive lease costs at taxpayer expense. Costs have gone from $2.8 million in FY05 to $13.4 million in FY13.
♦ The lease for La Promesa Charter school in Albuquerque, with 252 students (2012), includes $500,000 in tenant improvements that cannot be accounted for. La Promesa will pay rent that is 11 times higher, or $360,000 more per year, than the school’s current rent; moving from its current 9,000 square feet to a 92,000 square feet facility.
Who runs the school? An APS board member!
The issue in many of these findings is who is in charge in New Mexico for allowing such expenditures. Are they legal!
A basic recommendation that should be implemented is a “value added” analysis of all charter schools in the state. Value added analysis is a measurement that estimates the effectiveness of a teacher or school when the student enters a school such as a charter.
Test the hypothesis; there is no significant difference in a student’s achievement/proficiency level by enrolling in a charter school. Students who were scoring low at Harrison Middle School, Polk Middle School and Rio Grande High School continue to score low at Nuestros Valores and El Camino Real.
What is our return on investments for charter schools in 2013? Is New Mexico still ranked 48th in terms of reading, math and science?
Un cambio se demanda!
