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Changes Proposed for Minneapolis Schools


Calling Minneapolis schools "a broken system," interim Superintendent David Jennings is urging the school board to radically remake the district.

"We remain trapped in the vicious cycle of the status quo," Jennings said in a memo to board members that cites a relentless loss of students and money to the school choice movement. The board plans to discuss the memo at a retreat today.

Several board members say they agree with Jennings' call for fundamental change, even as his contract expires June 30.

Board members plan to begin giving shape to possible changes at the retreat, where Jennings will offer three provocative new approaches. Jennings said the district's future could include one or more of these options or something new.

• Create smaller districts: Several mostly autonomous districts would be created. Each grouping of schools would have its own governing board, although a citywide school board would continue to set taxes, borrow money and oversee finances. This approach goes beyond the system of area superintendents once used in Minneapolis and is similar to plans tried in huge districts such as New York City and Chicago.

• Expand charter schools: The district would seek a revamped charter school law allowing it to put most district schools in charge of their own programs and staffing.

These district-chartered schools would rise or fall as they attracted students. The district would step back, operating as an auditor of student achievement and financial responsibility, a landlord and potentially as a purchasing agent.

• Form a union hall: Individual schools would hire qualified teachers directly from a union hall operated by the Minneapolis Federation of Teachers. Schools would be free to retain teachers they liked but send others back to the hiring hall once their contracts expired.

Jennings' proposals signal that he plans to be more than a seat-warmer in his remaining months. He was named to head the district last year after Superintendent Carol Johnson took a similar post in Memphis. He declined the permanent post after some community members complained about a lack of public input into the selection process. The district plans a national search for his replacement.

His memo hinted that city schools either need to change dramatically or sink into the mire of urban school failure.

"He's challenging us, no doubt about it," said board member Dennis Shapiro.

The challenge comes against a backdrop of plunging enrollment in traditional public classrooms as more students choose charter schools or opt to enroll in suburban schools as permitted under open enrollment and desegregation programs.

Fewer students and stagnating state aid have created a $19 million gap between projected expenses and income for the next school year. That will mean a fourth year of significant staff cuts and potential school closings.

Jennings' memo argued that incremental change won't save the ideal of free and universal public education. He pitched his ideas as a way to help the district retain students by getting parents involved.

The memo added oomph to a slow-moving school board discussion about how to compete with charter schools and wealthy suburban districts. But ideas such as those suggested by Jennings also are fraught with political difficulty, including winning legislative support.

Suburban schools, for instance, might balk at signing on to the hiring hall idea. A subdivided district runs the risk of further racial and income segregation, although residents of the north half of the city might welcome the chance to elect their own board, given that no current board members reside there.

Moreover, charter school advocates could resist changing features of the law that Jennings said unfairly burden public schools while not placing similar burdens on charter schools. For example, districts now subsidize the costs of educating special needs students who aren't covered by the state. That responsibility should be shifted to the state, he said. Jennings also argued that charter schools should face the same level of fiscal and academic scrutiny as regular public schools.

Joe Nathan, director of the University of Minnesota's Center for School Change, said Jennings proposals deserve further study.

"This is a clear indication that the charter movement is stimulating some constructive rethinking on the part of the district," Nathan said.

The hiring hall approach has been discussed by teachers' union leaders, but not in substantive detail. Jennings compared the suggested system to how the district obtains craft workers in the building trades.

A hiring hall previously has been discussed in Minneapolis for supplying substitute teachers.

Louise Sundin, president of the Minneapolis Federation of Teachers, said that Jennings is operating from the premise that the district is too big. But one New York subdistrict -- only slightly smaller than Minneapolis -- has been reviewed favorably by researchers , she said.


— Steve Brandt
Changes proposed for Minneapolis schools
Star Tribune
2004-01-20
http://idea.startribune.com/stories/1592/4328022.html

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