Local and State Involvement in U.S. Education

1. Local and State Involvement in U.S. Education Provenzo, Chapter 6

2. Bureaucracy • Complex, highly structured • Social organization • Designed to carry out a specific task • Positions having specific responsibilities and duties

3. Bureaucracy • Stratified and hierarchical • Encourages specialization • Formal, impersonal procedures

4. School Boards • body of laypersons • ever-changing in membership • individuals seldom entrenched • responsible to local voters • weak in certain respects • power to legislate, administer, function as semi-adjudicator • define educational standards • determine goals, ideals which district pursues (along with the superintendent)

5. School BoardsA U.S. invention: • “In the first place God made idiots. This was for practice. • Then he made School Boards.”Mark Twain “Every time you stop a school, you will have to build a jail.”Mark Twain Old Deluder Satan Act of 1647: • 50 or more families: establish public elementary school • 100 or more families: Latin grammar school

6. Contemporary School Boards • About 75% of school board members elected. • Expected to reflect the beliefs and values of the community. • Most often they are white, middle-aged, married professionals whose children attend public schools. • More women on boards in recent years. • Men dominate school boards.

7. School Boards • ratifiers who legitimatize the recommendations of administrators (policy initiators) • negotiators who mediate conflicts • educationaladvocates who want to improve specific programs within the schools • judges who pass judgment on teachers and administrators • administrators and budget analysts who scrutinize how every penny is spent and how the superintendent makes decisions • gossipers who keep an eye on everything going on inside the school district; • statusseekers who use their positions on the board to gain recognition and attention.”

8. MinnesotaSchool Districts

9. Principals • administrative officer • full time job • 165, 000 administrators in the U.S. • predominantly men. • 7% are female • 96% white

10. Principals • Five basic tasks for most principals: • instructional program • staff • student personnel • financial and physical resources • school-community relations

11. The Superintendent of Schools • Supervises principals • Sets the tone for teaching, learning in the schools. • Extremely vulnerable: • hired and fired by the school board • subject to the pressure of parents local interest groups, and teachers • Elements that determine success: • educational qualifications • concept of own role • relationship with board of education • Longevity within district

12. Superintendents influence • salaries • promotions • assignments within the school district.

13. Financing Schools • Most funds from local and state taxes • district’s wealth determines to a large degree the services its schools provide. • rural school districts and poor urban areas: limited tax revenues--obvious disadvantage in raising money to support their public schools • San Antonio v. Rodriquez (1973) asserted that equal education is not guaranteed by the Constitution • The inherent inequity of resources in different school districts can be overcome to some extent by providing state and federal aid to poorer school districts. • About 100,000 private and public schools in the U.S.

14. Financing • Federal support for local school districts includes: • aid for children of economically disadvantaged families (Title I of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) of 1965. • State funding responsibility increasing. • Local school levies often resisted.

15. State Involvement • Education is a state authority but locally administered. • The state certifies teachers, but local officials review their credentials. • The state usually reviews and adopts textbooks, but local boards of education buy and use them.

16. Federal Involvement • 10th Amendment: Not having been delegated to the federal government, the administration and control of public education became a local responsibility. • Well into the 19th century, private and religious schools predominated over public tax-supported schools. • Modern federal involvement: 1958 and the passage of the National Defense Education Act. • In reaction to Russian Sputnik: federal government designated special funds for training people in science, mathematics, and foreign languages—important areas for national security.

17. Federal Involvement • Great Society Legislation: 1963 and 1968: • Higher Education Facilities Act • Vocational Education Amendment • Elementary and Secondary Education Act (1965) • Bilingual Education Act (1968) • Under legislation passed since the 1960s the federal government can withhold financial support to organizations in violation of federal statutes. • The threat of withdrawing federal assistance for programs prompted important changes and reforms at the local level…most clearly seen in civil rights legislation.

18. Case studies Identify problem State objective List constraints, assumptions, facts Generating possible solutions Determining likely solution Analyzing, evaluating solution Reporting, implementing, checking results • Review content • State problem • Collect relevent information • Develop alternatives • Select course of action • Schedule recommended solution • Evaluate results

19. Case study: beaurocracy Review content: school(s) face 10, 50 million dollar budget shortfalls State problem: decision making, quality conintuance, audience acceptance Collect relevant information: 10 million/50 million biennial budget problem for institution Develop alternatives: Select course of action Schedule recommended solution Evaluate results

20. Case study: beaurocracy • Content: • beaurocratic decision making • Problem: • district faces 10 million dollar funding shortfall over two years • Relevant information: • 30 schools $2 million each annually; • 500 teachers: $40 thousand each annually; • 40 administrators $100 thousand annually; • expanding schools to accommodate increased enrollment would cost $2 million per school—for a one-time investment • Develop alternatives • Select course of action • Schedule recommended solution • Evaluate results