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Dayton Daily News education reporter Scott Elliott writes about schools, kids, teaching and learning.
Home > Blogs > Get on the Bus > Archives > 2008 > October > 08
Wednesday, October 8, 2008
Dayton schools making promises with” contract”
In today’s DDN, the city school district offers a “contract” with the community if voters approve its 4.9-mill levy. The district promises to:
—Score high enough on tests to reach the middle of the pack among the eight large urban districts and reach “continuous improvement” on the state rating scale by 2012. Then it will reach “80 percent pass rates” by 2015.
It’s not clear to me what 80 percent means. Eighty percent passing all tests? That is a lofty goal for Dayton. It was only two years ago that the district was in continuous improvement, but school leaders are giving themselves four years to get back there. Middle of the pack in the big 8 would be a big climb. Dayton has been last or second to last in this group every year of the ratings.
—Cut spending to get the per-pupil expense down to the middle of the big 8 urban districts.
This seems like a reasonable goal. Here’s how they rank now:
Youngtown $14,861
Dayton $13,531
Columbus $12,653
Cincinnati $12,550
Cleveland $12,212
Toledo $11,320
Canton $10,434
Akron $10,421
To get to the middle, Dayton would have to cut about $1,000 per student or $1.5 million. Interim Superintendent Kurt Stanic did that in his first month on the job.
—Appoint an independent Accountability Panel of business, community and educational leaders, which will include the mayor or designee to track performance. The panel will produce regular reports to the community.
Panels like this can be useful when they are involved and consulted regularly. But often they are just for show. James Williams had a panel like this when he was superintendent. That didn’t help the district avoid a financial mess that got him forced out of Dayton.
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