I went to a fascinating talk today (part of the
Chicago Schools Policy Luncheon series) on how New Orleans is rebuilding its school system. The system, which had 62,000 students before the disaster now has fewer than 30,000 (although they're enrolled 100-200 new students weekly!) The population of the schools is 98% African American and extremely high poverty.
Faced with the
near-total destruction of its school infrastructure New Orleans has had to innovate. Close to 60% of New Orleans students currently attend a charter school, the high
est percentage in the nation. There is no central office and no widespread collective bargaining agreement. Instead, there is citywide school choice, with schools competing for employees. Funding from the state and local government goes almost entirely directly to the schools on a per-pupil (not per-teacher) basis, so money follows the students and can be spent directly on them.
The system faces enormous challenges: while students are returning in droves, the service professionals they need - teachers, social workers, etc. - are not; the physical buildings are still being renovated.
Nevertheless, one of the speakers,
Leslie Jacobs, a member of the Louisiana Board of Elementary and Secondary Education, outlined a few lessons that she thinks are relevant to other school systems, including Chicago. She suggested thinking about how to increase funding equity at a smaller level than the state - to think about how funding inequity impacts schools in the same district, who are competing for per-teacher funds. She outlined what they think of as "true choice:" transportation, many options, and parent education. She also discussed the ways they have radically restructured the idea of "central office," with less bureaucracy, more money directly to schools, and a streamlined sense of purpose.
There were many audience members representing different unions and they had lots of concerns about the fact that New Orleans schools are essentially all non-union. The union has been one of the big voices in opposition to charter schools in recent years.
As a former
charter school teacher myself, I'm intrigued by the debate over changing school systems and how new schools and new models for education can be both beneficial and harmful.
Labels: conversations
