7/17/2008 2:06:00 PM McCumber comments on Charter School de-licensing
"Parents and teachers who have worked hard to develop charter schools across the state are going to get a big surprise on July 1," says Tim McCumber, candidate for the 47th Assembly District seat. "Within a two week period in June, the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction (DPI) has radically altered the license requirements for charter school teachers by administrative fiat. Over the course of the summer, lots of charter school teachers are going to find out that they can no longer teach classes that they have been teaching for years."
"The move by the DPI is really unprecedented," said John Gee, Executive Director of the Wisconsin Charter School Association (WCSA). "When Wisconsin's charter school law was passed, the license requirements for teachers were developed through public hearings and circulation of draft rules. There was also an opportunity for input by the Legislature. This time, Deputy State Superintendent Tony Evers drafted a letter on June 3 and sent it out to school superintendents announcing that the changes would take place on July 1 with no 'grandfathering' of existing license holders."
"The practical effect of the change will be to make many established charter school models unworkable in Wisconsin," said Victoria Rydberg, a WCSA director and a teacher for a charter school in the Portage School District. "One of the key innovations that charter schools bring to education is the opportunity for a project-based or a cross-disciplinary approach to teaching. If charter school teachers would be required to have a major or minor in every subject that a cross-disciplinary lesson plan touches then we won't have those type of models in Wisconsin. In addition, this new licensure requirement essentially wipes out small charter schools (those with fewer than eight teachers) in the state. Well-respected programs like the ones we have in Portage may be regulated out of existence."
"The point is that rule changes can have serious consequences for teachers, students, programs and school district budgets," noted Gee. "That is why changes of this nature have historically gone through a process that involves the circulation of proposed rules, hearings, comment periods and the grandfathering of existing license holders. I would be surprised in the Legislative Council views this event as a reasonable rulemaking process."
"I see this as a cynical power-grab by a big bureaucracy," explained McCumber, who serves as the chairperson of the governance council for the Merrimac Community Charter School (MCCS). "I think a calculation was made by the DPI that they could move quickly against charter schools once school let-out for the summer and set a precedent for broader, unchecked rulemaking authority for themselves. DPI knows that there are interest groups that are opposed to things like virtual schools, charter schools and the No Child Left Behind Act. By singling-out charter schools as alleged target, DPI hopes to rally those interest groups in defense of this rulemaking precedent. As a parent of children who attend a charter school in Merrimac, it makes me angry to see the DPI use our schools as a 'political football' in a power play."
"I think the public will see through this," said McCumber. "Every teacher and every other educational professional should be concerned about this kind of unchecked rulemaking authority by the DPI. Moreover, every citizen and every state legislator ought to be concerned about state agencies establishing this kind of unchecked authority for themselves."
To learn more about Tim McCumber and his ideas for school and property tax reform visit his Web site at www.McCumberForAssembly.com.
Reader Comments
Posted: Wednesday, July 23, 2008
Article comment by:
Donna Stehling
It should be noted that Merrimac Community Charter School has a unique set up. Although a charter school with a governance council, it still operates within the jurisdiction of the Sauk Prairei School District and reports to the school board. All its teachers are fully licensed and have been.
They do operate with a lead teacher and many experts, local volunteers, come in to teach the topics of their expertise.
For example, the students and their families and members of the community who may or may not have had children in the school built a community garden and it is tended all summer. That is a learning experience.
The students participate in multi-age, multi-level classrooms and therefore a lot of the boundaries between levels have thinned. They are members of the same school and they help each other. They are learning community from personal experience, and that includes being appreciative and excited about having adult volunteers, especially their older residents come to spend time at lunch, playing Bingo, reading to and with students, listening to students read, assisting in art, science and social studies projects.
When we had the lunar eclipse last spring, students were out with family and neighbors, armed with binoculars and cameras and they witnessed the eclipse It was exciting stuff and their educstional experience began with preparation in advance, all thorough the eclipse at their homes and then afterwards, including a special science night when the community came to see exhibits constructed by the students. They had stellar treats and beverages, a few astronomical games, an astronaut drifting in space above their heads and students explaining what their particular exhibit was all about.
When I took teacher training, one of my instructors said my first responsibility ws to help the students realize learning was fun. My second responsibility was then to get out of their way and only assist in helping them enjoy the fun of learning.
That's what's happening at MCCS. The key is school board support, community support and fully licensed teachers committed to place-based, project-based curriculum.
