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Ellen Belcher is the Dayton Daily News opinion pages editor. She writes about state government, education, the environment, higher education and all things Dayton.
Martin Gottlieb is an editorial writer and columnist for the Dayton Daily News opinion pages. He focuses on the political process itself and does such national issues as war, the economy, taxes and Social Security, as well as a hodge-podge of local and state issues.Home > Blogs > A Matter of Opinion > Archives > 2009 > December > 16 > Entry
Editorial: Dayton’s school stimulus plan is sound, if not sexy
Dayton schools could be hiring 100 new employees to work with students to prevent violence, get parents involved with their children’s schools and to point kids toward college.
That’s what Cleveland is doing with a big part of its $24 million in federal stimulus money.
Meanwhile, Dayton is spending one of the biggest chunks of its $21 million on textbooks. It’s tempting to view Cleveland’s approach as bold, while Dayton’s seems more business-as-usual.
Cleveland is pushing a massive new program in hopes of jolting the district in a new direction. But Dayton’s more conservative approach likely will look smarter in two years when the stimulus money dries up.
Chief Academic Officer Eric Gordon told The (Cleveland) Plain Dealer he views Cleveland students as desperately in need of better social and emotional support. Hiring 60 “family liaisons” is supposed to get parents more involved, connect families with services and help them navigate the school system. Many liaisons, who will earn $22,000 a year, live in the neighborhoods they will be serving.
Another 27 “coaches” will help students prepare for college and support a new district-wide reading program.
Mr. Gordon acknowledges that the district may not be able to keep them all employed when the federal money runs out. The total cost is about $4.5 million.
Dayton kids could use social and emotional support, too. Both districts have large numbers of children living in poverty and coming to school behind. But, for Dayton, a wide-ranging new program and a slew of new hires didn’t make sense.
Here the district plans to use a similarly sized chunk of stimulus aid — about $4.7 million — to buy textbooks. Book purchases were delayed during the past several years as Dayton fought its way out of a severe financial crisis that climaxed with a major levy defeat in 2007.
Treasurer Stan Lucas says administrators chose to spend stimulus money for one-time expenses wherever possible to avoid creating new programs, like the one in Cleveland, that would be hard to sustain.
Dayton did make some exceptions. The Challenger Center, a science program at Kiser Elementary School that allows students to execute mock space missions, is an example. One of a few dozen centers nationwide, it was founded in memory of the 1986 space shuttle disaster. Dayton’s facility opened in 1990 and was rebuilt in 2006.
The district was prepared to shutter the center when it lost grant funding, even though there is a good chance it could win money down the line. The stimulus money gives the center a two-year reprieve.
The hiring of three algebra intervention teachers was another exception. Mr. Lucas says Dayton couldn’t pass on the chance to provide special help to students in a critical math course, even if it’s a short-term fix and administrators will have to figure out how to keep the teachers down the road.
The stimulus money was a one-time gift. Confronting that reality and not getting overextended is smart.
Permalink | Comments (4) | Post your comment | Categories: City of Dayton, Editorials, Education, Scott Elliott
Comments
By flipper
December 16, 2009 8:58 AM | Link to this
I’ve never heard of a “Sexy” school stimulus plan. Unless it is being headed up by Paris Hilton.
By Doc
December 16, 2009 12:13 PM | Link to this
Sexy? What the heck does that mean? What BOOB wrote this piece??
By tommyv
December 17, 2009 8:14 AM | Link to this
In order to “get the parents involved” with their child’s education, one must be able to locate the parents. That is a tall order in the inner-city and I am not kidding!
By fortressdayton
December 29, 2009 10:04 PM | Link to this
Sounds like DPS actually made some good decisons. Textbooks over temporary jobs that will most likely go to friends and relatives in the Cleveland school district.