If the interminable stream of radio and television spots urging support of, or opposition to the two education finance initiatives appearing on the November 6 ballot has left you feeling dazed and confused, you are not alone.  You've likely concluded that each ballot initiative either prevents drastic budget cuts to public education, or doesn't, generates new revenue that either flows to public school classrooms, or doesn't, and increases the tax burden on some, most, or all of us.  With the election now just days away, how will you get a handle on these two important measures? 
 
Reading as much of the Official Voter Information Guide as can reasonably be absorbed is always a good place to start.  However, even some of this document's "politically neutral" descriptions can be confusing, or misleading.  For example, In the "Quick Reference Guide" to Proposition 38, the "What Your Vote Means" section explains that a "No" vote will produce the following consequence:  "No additional funding would be available for schools, child care, preschool, and state debt payments."  Really?  The same document tells us that a "Yes" vote on Proposition 30 means, "...new tax revenues would be available to fund programs in the state budget."  Both statements can't be correct, which demonstrates how the presence of two related measures on the same ballot is a sure-fire prescription for head scratching.
 
While CAPSO has taken no position on either ballot proposition, we applaud efforts aimed at enlightening voters in a neutral and accessible manner.  To that end, EdSource has created a helpful, web-based "Infographic" comparing Propositions 30 and 38, that can either be viewed online, here, or downloaded as a PDF, here.  If you're pressed for time and want the basics, this might be just the ticket.

The "Infographic" consists of eight viewer-friendly web pages that clarify the two ballot propositions' similarities and differences:

1. Overview, showing key sponsors, major backers and opponents;
2. How will revenues be raised?
3. How much revenue will be raised?
4. How long will taxes last?
5. Where will the money go?
6. How will revenues be managed?
7. What if each proposition fails?
8. Can you vote for both? 

If, after digesting the contents of the "Infographic," you feel emboldened to go deeper, EdSource provides a good introduction to California's school finance system here (and on subsequent web pages).

CAPSO frequently receives questions from parents and others interested in locating nearby private schools.  While we don't offer specific school referrals, we encourage those making inquiries to contact our member organizations, and we facilitate access to a couple of useful tools.  The first of these is the California Private School Directory, compiled from affidavit information which every private school in the state is required to submit, annually.  The Directory, which is really more of a raw database, can be accessed via the California Department of Education website, here.  Once there, simply click the most recent link listed under "Private School Directory" to download the database in Microsoft Excel spreadsheet format.  (For users who prefer a database management program, the data can be easily imported into Microsoft Access.)

The CDE database contains a variety of fields that can be readily filtered and sorted in ways that are helpful to those seeking particular types of private schools.  For example, schools can be filtered by city, or zip code, by lowest and highest grade levels offered, and by religious denominational affiliation, if any.  Other fields show enrollment at each grade level, total enrollment, and the number of full-time and part-time teachers, enabling approximate teacher-to-student ratio calculations.  Yet another field identifies whether a school is constituted on a nonprofit or for-profit basis. 
 
The U.S. Department of Education's National Center for Education Statistics provides another nifty tool for locating private schools anywhere in the United States.  This Search for Private Schools interface, however, comes with a couple of hitches: it includes only those schools that have participated in the most recent administration of the Private School Universe Survey (PSS), which is administered once every two years.  (The current data come from the 2009-2010 administration of the survey.)  While the PSS endeavors to "build an accurate and complete list of private schools," some schools fail to submit information.  (Some schools also fail to submit California private school affidavits.)

The federal tool provides several search features that can nicely supplement the CDE Private School Directory.  For example, searches can be filtered by "Association Membership."  You can try this by selecting "California" from the drop-down listing of states, typing "San Jose" in the "City" window, selecting "National Association of Independent Schools (NAIS)" from the "Association Membership" drop-down list (you'll need to scroll to near the bottom of the list), and clicking the "Search" box.  If you follow those steps, you'll see two NAIS-affiliated schools listed: "Bellarmine College Prep School," and "The Harker School."  Once you have entered your search criteria and generated a listing of private schools, the utility allows you to capture the data in an Excel spreadsheet that can be downloaded and saved.
 
Click on "Bellarmine College Prep School" to display summary information about the school, including certain data that are not available through the California Private School Directory.  For example, you'll find information about the ethnic composition of the school's student body, hours of instruction in a school day, and number of days in the school's calendar.

Needless to say, obtaining the information provided by these search tools is but a first step in the process of selecting a private school for one's child(ren).  Nevertheless, one can't choose without knowing that choices exist.  To this end (and others), these informational tools provide a useful service.

National School Choice Week

During the week of January 27 to February 2, 2013, thousands of schools throughout the nation will conduct activities celebrating school choice in all its forms.  Described as "a nonpartisan effort with bipartisan support," National School Choice Week draws national attention to the principle that parents are best able to determine the most appropriate educational setting for their children, whether that setting should consist of a "traditional" public school, a public magnet or charter school, a private school, virtual or home school.

This three-minute video provides a sense of the positive media coverage generated by the program.  If your school chooses to participate, National School Choice Week will provide a kit containing scarves, banners, rally signs, balloons, stickers and promo posters.  Registration is easy and can be done online, here.  Additional resources are available at the NSCW website.


2013 National Blue Ribbon Schools Applications Available


The wait is over!  The U.S. Department of Education has published the application and cut scores for the 2013 National Blue Ribbon Schools Program.

The private school application packet, timeline, and rules are now available on CAPE's Web site. The program includes some new guidance and several revisions to the essay questions, so be sure to read the packet and guidance carefully. 

Best of success with the application process!

 

 

Private School Affidavit Update: There's Still Time to File!   

 

CAPSO has been advised by a key contact at the California Department of Education that owing to illness affecting several staff members during the official affidavit filing period, some requests for assistance may have gone unanswered.  That being the case, the CDE has asked us to apprise private schools of the following:    

 

Private School Affidavit-Still Available for Filing

 

The Private School Affidavit is the single most important annual state system for gathering accurate enrollment and staffing counts, which directly affect the Federal benefits.

 

The Affidavit filing system is still open. Anyone can use the "No Password" blank form instructions below, whether you've never filed or missed filing last year. If you have any questions, please call Laura Nelson, Analyst at 916-319-0229 or e-mail her at lnelson@cde.ca.gov and she will be happy to walk you through it. She can also make corrections after you have filed.

 

1.  Access the Affidavit by clicking here. 

 

2.  Complete the affidavit. Skip Question 2 if you don't know your CDS Code.

 

3.  Click the "Submit Form" button to send the form electronically. Your form should change to display "Form Submitted," the date, and a "Confirmation" number.

 

4.  Print a copy of the completed affidavit showing the confirmation number and retain it for your records.

 

Every private school in the state is required by law to file the affidavit, annually.  It's not a difficult process.  It can be accomplished online, and our friends at the CDE are standing by to provide assistance, if needed.  

 

 

Green Ribbon Schools

Once again, the California Department of Education has invited CAPSO to administer the private school component of the state's participation in the US Department of Education Green Ribbon Schools recognition award program.  The national program "honors schools that are exemplary in reducing environmental impact and costs; improving the health and wellness of students and staff; and providing effective environmental and sustainability education, which incorporates STEM, civic skills and green career pathways."  You can obtain a quick overview of the application process at the CAPSO website, access national program information from the U.S. Department of Education, here, or get started with your school's state application via the CDE's GRS main web page, here.


Read the CAPE Outlook!

How did college-bound seniors in religious and independent schools fare in comparison to their public school counterparts on the latest administration of the SAT?  The lead article in this month's edition of the CAPE Outlook newsletter answers that question while providing a detailed look at the differences in performance on the test that's said to be "a fair and valid predictor of college success for students of all backgrounds."  The newsletter, which is published monthly during the course of the school year by the Council for American Private Education, also features a companion article examining the performance of private school students on the writing component of the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), popularly known as "The Nation's Report Card."  A third article reports an exchange of views between U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan and a group of private school leaders at the USDE's recently convened annual conference for private school leaders, held in Washington, DC.  And there's more.  A PDF version of the October edition of the CAPE Outlook newsletter can be found, here.

 

There's a scene in the opening sequence of "Won't Back Down," in which Jamie Fitzpatrick, a single mom played by Maggie Gyllenhaal, scampers up an incline with her second-grade daughter Maili (Emily Alyn Lind) in tow, on their way to Malia's school.  Their uphill climb affords a fitting visual metaphor for much of what follows.  Unfortunately, it also proved an apt metaphor for my efforts to like the film. 

 

As in most melodramas, "Won't Back Down's" story arc involves a protagonist's struggle to surmount an increasingly difficult set of complications in order to achieve a goal, in this instance, the conversion of a "traditional" public elementary school into a charter school. In a story that has everything to do with overcoming obstacles, reducing the greatest hurdle of them all to an afterthought "resolved" in the form of a cliché largely defeats the notion of a quest for honesty. But I'm getting ahead of myself.

 

Malia, who is dyslexic, is languishing at Pittsburgh's fictional Adams Elementary school, having been relegated to a deathly boring classroom ruled by a teacher who's hostile when not apathetic. By chance, Jamie happens to observe Michael Perry (Oscar Isaac), a studly young Teach for America product, who enchants his classroom full of line-dancing students with his creative approach to instruction, consisting largely of singing and ukulele playing. Inspired by a vision of the possible, Jamie sets out to provide something better for her daughter.

 

At a charter school lottery she spies Nona Alberts (formidably played by Viola Davis), whom Jamie recognizes as a more caring teacher at Adams. Nona is at the lottery on behalf of her son, Cody (Dante Brown), who attends another school and has problems of his own. (Both child actors are superb.)  When Malia fails to win the lottery, Jamie pleads with Nona to entreat the school's principal (Bill Nunn) to transfer Malia to her class. Resistant at first, Nona relents, but to no avail.   This is a principal whose identity is formed largely by the authority he possesses to say "no." 

 

Just when all appears lost, Jamie learns of a law that permits a "traditional" public school to be converted to a charter school if a majority of parents and teachers sign a petition. Intrigued, she seeks the assistance of the reluctant Nona, who once again surrenders to the irrepressible spunk of the woman destined to become her partner. United, the compatriots take on wary parents, disdainful fellow teachers, the union, school board and the entire education establishment.

 

There's no need to detail the remainder of the story. Readers can see the movie for themselves, though they may need to wait for its release on DVD, or its appearance on a cable network. When the usher strode into the theater at the local Arclight (where I saw the film), I was the only other person in the room. In what might prove to be a once-in-a-lifetime experience, he proceeded to tell me that I was free to sit anywhere I wished, use my cell phone and other electronic devices while the film was being screened, and talk as much as I wanted.  Honest!

 

But seriously, had the movie ended two minutes sooner, I would have been somewhat happier. Were it not for the final scene, I would have left the theater convinced that the film's writer and director (Brin Hill and Daniel Barnz) had tried - for better or worse - to tell an honest story about the complexities and challenges attendant to moving the public education needle forward.  Alas, they overreached. 

 

And now, a spoiler alert.  If you can't guess how the movie ends, or don't wish to know, read no further before viewing this completely predictable film, yourself. (Actually, there's one element in a marginally relevant back story involving the relationship between Nona and Cody that provides something of a surprise twist.)

 

Following the climactic denouement, during which Jamie, Nona and their supporters win a vote of approval from the school board, the film flashes forward to an interior view of the newly created charter school.  And there, in the closing sequence, we see the epitome of the crusading women's achievement: Mr. Perry playing his ukulele and singing to a class filled with enchanted students.

 

That pretty much killed the film for me.  Not that I have anything against innovative teachers who captivate students through the creative use of music, song and dance.  Far from it!  My objection has to do with my sense that "Won't Back Down" leaves viewers with the impression that an effective school can be created on the cheap.   As studies of effective charter schools operating in challenging neighborhoods accumulate, it's becoming increasingly evident that fostering academic success for students from the most challenging backgrounds requires a near super-human effort on the part of teachers.  In real life, such teachers remain at their schools after hours to assist students, make themselves available to answer questions and assist with homework via cell phone in the evenings, and even visit pupil's homes.  By contrast, in "Won't Back Down," the only after-hour activities in which we saw poster boy teacher Perry engaged, consisted of downing free shots of booze proffered by Jamie in the bar at which she moonlights, and entertaining Malia, while her mom - who also happens to be Mr. Perry's romantic interest, though you'd never have seen that coming - is out fighting the good fight, by...you guessed it, not only playing the ukulele, but teaching Malia to play.   What can I tell you?  This wasn't exactly music to my ears.

 

I don't mean to appear jaded, or unappreciative of the truly heroic efforts of countless parents to provide their children with the very best possible education.  It's precisely because I appreciate how hard it can be to do so that I was left disappointed by a film that devotes 99 percent of its time and energy to illustrating that very point point, only to spend the remaining one percent trivializing the challenges attendant to creating a successful and effective school.  It's just not that easy.  And it was here that "Won't Back Down" let me down.

 

Ron Reynolds 

 

The next edition of the CAPSO Midweek E-Mailer will be published on November 14, 2012.