9486 in the collection
Strings attached to foundations' funding for D.C. teacher pay
Ohanian Comment: Will the teachers accept a contract written by the Wal-Mart/Waltons, prime public school detractors? Not to mention Broad, et al.
Isn't it interesting that the Wal-Mart/Walton goals are so closely aligned with Obama-Duncan education agenda?
This is the first attempt to embed private money in a public collective bargaining agreement and if the teachers agree to it, they are short-sighted beyond help. Or pity. Just let Michelle Rhea stomp all over them.
By Bill Turque
Private foundations pledging $64.5 million for raises and bonuses in the District's proposed contract with the Washington Teachers' Union have attached a series of conditions to the grants, including the right to reconsider their support if there is a change in the leadership of the D.C. school system.
The leadership condition, set by the Walton Family Foundation, the Robertson Foundation, the Laura and John Arnold Foundation and the Broad Foundation, makes it clear that they could withdraw their financial support if Chancellor Michelle A. Rhee leaves or is fired through the funding agreement's expiration in 2012.
"Implementing this contract will require significant support and leadership from DCPS' executive leadership," wrote Buddy D. Philpot, executive director of the Walton Family Foundation, in a March 17 letter to the D.C. Public Education Fund, the nonprofit group that coordinates private donations to the school system. "As such, the Foundation reserves the right to discontinue support for this initiative if there is a material change in DCPS' leadership."
Walton is the largest single donor to the contract, promising $25 million. Robertson has pledged $19.5 million; Arnold and Broad have pledged $10 million each.
The leadership contingency, which has never been publicly discussed, is certain to further complicate an already tangled set of circumstances surrounding the tentative labor agreement since it was announced April 7. Rhee has not said whether she will remain as chancellor should Mayor Adrian M. Fenty (D), who appointed her in 2007, lose the Sept. 14 primary to D.C. Council Chairman Vincent C. Gray.
Gray has sent mixed signals about whether he would retain Rhee if elected. He told reporters Saturday after his campaign kickoff speech that Rhee and the ongoing efforts to fix D.C. schools are not "inextricably tied."
"I voted for school reform before I even knew Michelle Rhee," Gray said. "We voted for a new governance approach several months before she came on board. There probably will be a lot of people that will ask me that question, but that is something she and I will have to work through."
The letters from the foundations to the D.C. Public Education Fund, along with a March 30 letter from fund president Cate Swinburn to Rhee summarizing them, also include expectations for improved student achievement and teacher retention.
"In the case that the anticipated outcomes are not being realized, the third party funders reserve the right to reconsider their support," Swinburn wrote.
Swinburn said the outcomes promised to the funders are identical those outlined in the District's application to the federal "Race to the Top" grant competition. These include 5 percent annual growth in reading and math proficiency rates on the DC-CAS standardized test, and an average of 10 points' improvement on the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), which will next be administered in 2011.
The labor contract is under review by District Chief Financial Officer Natwar M. Gandhi, who must certify that the money promised in the contract is actually available before the pact is approved by union membership and the D.C. Council. Gandhi's spokesman has said he will have no comment until he completes his analysis, which could come in time for his scheduled appearance before the council on Friday.
But in a 2008 letter to Gray, Gandhi said certification by his office would require "some form of legally binding commitment from donors." The issue Gandhi must resolve is whether funding agreements with the "out clauses" described in the letter can be considered legally binding.
Swinburn, who ran a nonprofit in New York that raised private money for the public schools, described the conditions as "standard for private foundation grant agreements and must be met for release of payments" during the life of the contract. In an interview Tuesday, she said she never encountered a situation where foundations had actually rescinded grants for not meeting such conditions.
But the District's situation is unusual and, according to union officials, unprecedented. Although the foundations involved have donated hundreds of millions of dollars to school reform initiatives across the country, this is the first attempt to embed private money in a public collective bargaining agreement. Rhee is planning to use about a third of the $64.5 million help pay for a five-year, 20 percent pay raise for teachers. The rest would fund a performance pay plan in which teachers could qualify for bonuses of up to $20,000 to $30,000 annually by meeting certain levels of student and teaching achievement. The private funds would also be used to implement the so-called "mutual consent" clause, in which teachers who lose their positions as a result of declining enrollment could qualify for a $25,000 buyout. Under the current contract, such "excessed" teachers usually find positions at other schools in the system. The new contract formally gives Rhee and her principals more latitude to retain excessed teachers on the basis of performance, not seniority.
Uncertainty about the financing of the $140 million agreement surfaced unexpectedly earlier this month when Rhee announced that she would fund part of the teacher raises with a $34 million surplus in the school budget. Two days later, Gandhi said such a surplus did not exist. Rhee then responded by saying that another $29 million has been "identified" to support the pact.
— Bill Turque
Washington Post
2010-04-27
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/04/27/AR2010042702791_pf.html
INDEX OF OUTRAGES
Pages: 380
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