The mayoral candidate is running on a platform of fixing education in Baltimore, including a list of specific reforms that he is looking for: vouchers for failing middle school students (not a universal voucher system), mayoral control, and the separation of Baltimore's charters from the BCPS LEA.
For a democrat, these are very right-wing ideas. Separating charters from the BCPS LEA means that charter schools in Baltimore would be able to set their own pay scales, separate from the unions (if they chose) and report directly to the state board or parent governing boards. (Note that these are all market reforms, meant to fix the problems of bad incentives that I mentioned in my earlier post.)
Now, I think it's important to note two things: first, there is no panacea in education. Anyone that promises that policy X will change the whole world is nuts. Second, it takes guts to offend the unions at this stage of the game. Either Rolley is foolish, or he is brave. The line between the two is pretty thin.
His suggestions made me think of an interesting question, however. Today, in class, we talked about how CEOs don't need certification programs. It also dawned on me that there is no CEOs union. Each one contracts with a company and sets their own pay.
Thought experiment time: What would happen if every school was its own LEA? If every teacher set their wage with the principal, and contracted individually with them? What if parents ran school governing boards that hired and fired principals and guided school policy?
I don't think that it's a good idea, so if you're thinking I'm crazy, you're missing the point. You can learn a lot from that thought experiment. What would happen if teachers didn't have collective bargaining--but rather, bargained individually? What if principals were accountable directly to parents, and not just to North Ave? Is there a way to make that happen?
In any case, it will be interesting to see how Otis articulates his educational philosophy in the coming months.
2 comments:
Individual contracting between principals/schools and teachers was something we discussed in our group project today. It is a good point to bring up because it seems that ideas like this would fall under the umbrella of market-inspired reforms. For many jobs, you work out a contract with your boss. This would hold teachers very accountable to their principals and school leadership.
The question is, who is going to oversee the principals and make sure they are providing satisfactory schools (or even better, top-notch schools)? Would a parent board be enough for populations with parents who face more challenges when it comes to advocating for themselves and their children?
Would parent groups be enough oversight? This makes me think of the chapter on schools closings in The Bee Eater, where the D.C. parent groups fought vehemently against their neighborhood schools being closed down, even though the reading and math scores from the schools showed them being ineffective and incompetent.
"Either Rolley is foolish, or he is brave." I'd add, "or he is a politician." In writing about Otis Rolley's education platform at Re:education in Baltimore, I've come realize that he's allied himself with Democrats for Education Reform (DFER), a PAC overseen by a board of super-rich hedge-fund managers. They want to see the substantial power of the teachers' unions within the Democratic party crushed - for the sake, they say, of putting America's children first. Check out my blog when you get a chance. And feel free to comment.
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