My Thoughts on Luna's Plan

Superintendent Luna's proposal to reform public education has provoked a profound response and divide. A quote from a teacher will illustrate this point;"I have never seen teacher morale at a lower point; they are frustrated, frightened, saddened, and exhausted by these plans while also trying to educate students. An employee's working conditions directly affect their productivity, no matter how hard they try to conceal it. It is a very scary situation, and it will only be made worse with the passage of these bills.” Idaho public school teacher

Which side is right? I am not sure. The reality is that both sides have valid points. Let me explain why I basically agree with the Luna Plan.

1. I believe that within five years it will be common to have students beginning in late elementary school through college to have one or more classes or parts of classes online or a class or subject partially taught with the help of a computer program. I don't believe that it is necessary to mandate 4 classes. It will happen naturally and they won't replace teachers.
2. The current public education system is expensive and not meeting the needs of many students because of our reliance upon direct-instruction. A better model is self-instruction or teacher moderated self-instruction. Technology is an important part of a self-instruction model.
3. Tax increases are needed to fund the current system. I cannot support tax increases. Changes need to be made.

Never the less, I have concerns about parts of Luna's proposal.
1. The state cannot buy technology and then decide how to use it. It is important that a specific purpose and goal/goals be identified and, then, purchase technology to meet these specific goals. It needs to me measurable and accountable. Luna's plan is not yet developed enough to do this. There will be a committee formed to bring recommendations back next session to justify the use of technology. If this committee does not make a good case for how the technology is to be used, I cannot support it.
2. Class size is a problem. All things being equal it is better to have a smaller class than a larger class. However, I am not completely convinced that the Idaho school system cannot maintain its current class size with fewer employees. This is an issue that should also be studied during the next 12 months. For example, if administrators taught one class per day and librarians and others including teachers, during their prep period, monitored an online class, class sizes could be kept near their current size.
3. Discipline is another issue of concern. We need to give administrators and teachers the ability to hold students accountable. How can we expect teachers to teach classes with more students without giving them the tools to maintain discipline?
4. The present school system has too many students that are not engaged in the learning process. We need more students that want to be in class. Interestingly, I sat through a presentation on how iPods and iPads can be used to engage these students. I am hopeful that technology can actually be part of the solution to this problem.

Finally, what direction should we take if we don't increase technology; if we don't consider and implement Luna's Plan? I have asked this question many times. The response I usually get is to increase taxes. It is my belief that the voters spoke very clearly last November that they did not want a tax increase. The main issue of both the Governor and Superintendent races was if we should raise taxes on education or not. Tom Luna got 60 percent of the vote or 93,000 votes more than his opponent saying he would not raise taxes.

I personally am committed to try to do the almost impossible task of improving public education with less money. I think it can be done and Luna's plan has some potential to accomplish this task; however, it must be monitored very closely and be well thought out before final implementation in 2012 (18 months from now).
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A Tax Increase is a Cut to Someone's Budget

Tom Luna has proposed changes to the public education system. Many of his ideas have been met with opposition. While I agree that changes need to be made to his plan, Superintendent Luna has raised a significant issue – how can we maintain the current system with less funding?

Most of those opposed to Luna's plan feel that public education funding cannot be cut. They say education is the key to the future. They say it is too important to cut. They propose raising more money through higher taxes.

Is this what the voters told us last November? No! They said to make do with what we have. I would like to point out that a tax increase is a cut to someone's budget. It is a cut to family budgets. It is a cut to business budgets. How much will unemployment increase if we raise taxes? How many more jobs will be lost if we raise taxes?

How many more parents will have to work two jobs if we raise taxes and will not have time to help their children with homework if we raise taxes?
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Education Debate can become a discussion

I have sent out many emails with ideas on how keep class size smaller. Citizens like this direction and are starting to enter into a discussion. This is great!
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Idaho Reading Indication scores fall 2010

IRI Analysis:  www.sde.idaho.gov/ipd/iri/IriAnalysis.asp
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Thayn's kindergarten proposal

H0123SOP.pdf (application/pdf Object):  legislature.idaho.gov/legislation/2011/H0123SOP.pd...P.pdf
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Rep. Thayn Introduces Kindergarten Bill

Boise, Idaho: Rep. Steven Thayn of the Idaho house introduced a bill today in the House Education Committee that would reform the current state kindergarten program. The bill would do two things of interest to legislators again beset by budget shortfalls. First, reduce kindergarten spending by 2/3 saving the state $33 million. Thayn said: "$33 million would fill ½ of the public school portion of the budget shortfall without reducing teachers' salaries or programs in grades 1-12.” Second, the bill would allow administrators, the State Department of Education, parents, legislators, and teachers to reevaluate the current kindergarten system and goals.

The present kindergarten system provides 36 weeks of instruction for all children. His proposal would give school districts flexibility in how much kindergarten they may offer. Some may offer as little as three weeks to students that already have the skills necessary to succeed in first grade while offering up to 36 weeks to other students that do not have the necessary skills. His proposal would allow for much smaller classrooms for at-risk students and allow them to receive more individualize attention.

Rep. Thayn sees the need to increase the number of engaged, motivated learners in school which would reduce teacher stress. Thayn believes that the number of students receiving A's and B's is increasing indicating many of our better students are not being sufficiently challenged while the number of D's and F's are also increasing indicating a feeling of disenfranchisement that many student and parents are feeling with the current system. Thayn believes that this issue needs to be addressed starting in kindergarten.

Thayn advocates a concentrated effort on the part of the school system to include parents of at-risk students, try to make them feel respected and valued by bringing them into the classroom, and help them feel comfortable working with the teacher. Establishing this strong relationship could result in long-term benefits, according to Thayn.

The bill was introduced today in the House Education Committee and can be found on the legislative website on Wednesday.
Rep. Steven Thayn is in his third term in the Idaho House from Emmett, Idaho.
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Luna's Plan and smaller class size

Luna's education reform plan is causing much discussion. One of the main complaints is that class size will increase if 700 teachers were not rehired. I actually found a way to decrease class size in secondary classes with fewer teachers. Let me show you how.

1. There are going to be 2772 fewer classrooms available with 462 fewer secondary teachers.
2. There are 2497 administrators and councilors. If 2000 of them taught one class per day or monitored one online class per day this would regain 2000 of the 2772 lost classrooms leaving only 772 to make up.
3. Of the 7050 secondary teachers that will be left under Luna's plan, if 4000 of them monitored an online class during their prep period, there would actually be 3228 new classroom which would reduce class size from 18.1 to 17.9 students per teachers.

One of the points that Luna maybe trying to demonstrate is that we can and should use the human resources we have more fully. I don't think Luna is saying that we have too many teachers rather we need to utilize our resources more wisely.
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Idaho's shortfall near $130 million

January's revenue was up over $14 million than expected. So, it looks like the budget shortfall will not be $185 million but much closer to $130 million. Just finished one scenario on how to balance the budget. It included:
1. Restructure kindergarten $33 million
2. High deductible policy for state legislators $.3 million
3. No subsidy for drivers training $3.5 million
4. Cuts in Health and Welfare $40 million
5. Elimination of public TV $2.2 million

I recommend no cuts in corrections.
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Another Idea to Save Money

The State of Idaho pays $125 per student that takes drivers training. This amounts to $3.5 million per year. Should this money be used to protect other important education programs instead?
http://chum.ly/n/650b47