Michelle Rhee, chancellor of the Washington, D.C. schools system, came to Sacramento this week to discuss education reform, and told the Sacramento Press Club that one of the biggest problems is the "complete and utter lack of accountability" of school employees.
Ms. Rhee, who is engaged to Sacramento Mayor Kevin Johnson, said the other major problem is that education decisions are often made for political reasons, not educational reasons.
She detailed her experiences when she was put in charge of the D.C. schools three years ago, discussing her shock when she discovered that taxpayers were paying $227,000 per year, per student to send several special education students to private schools because the public school system could not educate them properly.
Firing underachieving employees was a challenge, she said, because employees could only be fired for "egregious" behavior or a recurring pattern of incompetence, and nobody had documented performance reviews that could be used to prove a recurring pattern. She sponsored legislation to classify the schools' administrative staff as "at will" employees.
Discussing political issues that taint educational decisions, she said an effort to close 23 under-enrolled schools was met by criticism that none of the schools was in a predominantly white area. An aide suggested that she include a "white school" on the closure list simply to mollify critics, but she refused. "This is about kids," she said. "This is not about the political circumstances we are in."
Ms. Rhee said the two solutions to school problems are focusing on quality teachers, and having the political courage to challenge long-standing rules that require school leaders to base personnel decisions, including pay, on seniority rather than performance. She said overcoming union opposition to such changes is "an ugly, ugly battle," but one worth fighting.
She also suggested that business leaders get more involved in school-improvement efforts by supporting reformers and by mentoring students and offering their expertise to school administrators to improve efficiency and operations within the education system. All efforts should focus on helping students, she said, because "focusing on how adults feel is not the goal."
Cal-TaxReports, June 1, 2010
© 2010 California Taxpayers'
Association.
All Rights Reserved.