There’s a big political party known as the Democratic National Convention going on in the heart of our state this week. Maybe you’ve heard of it. My parents say there’s lots of crazy stuff going on there - things that I’m too young to see, things that could warp my young, impressionable mind or worse.

But I guess there also was a serious and “inspirational” event yesterday in Denver, an event that should give real “hope” to education reformers that “change” might come:

For too long, panelists agreed, the Democratic Party has walked in lockstep with the teacher unions, and has shown little will to take them on.

“As Democrats, we have been wrong on education, and it’s time to get right,” said Newark, N.J. Mayor Cory Booker, a rising political star. Booker said he was “practically tarred and feathered” by his local union for even broaching the subject of school choice.

“This is my wildest dream,” Booker said during a panel discussion, looking out at an overflowing Denver Art Museum auditorium. “I never thought I’d see a room full of Democrats interested in doing this (taking on the unions).”

Among those in attendance was National Education Association President Reg Weaver.

Apparently there was no comment from Weaver. Booker and other urban reformers like Washington, D.C. Mayor Adrian Fenty and New York City Schools Chancellor Joel Klein were joined by the liberal lightning-rod Al Sharpton and local Colorado Democrat leaders past and present - including former Gov. Roy Romer and current state senate president Peter Groff. (Perhaps, more notably, many other Democrat leaders were not on board.)

Yesterday’s enclave could be promising of a really healthy development. Strong leadership from both political parties to challenge the clout of the teachers union - which obstruct school choice and other reforms - is needed to hasten the progress we see around the country. Enough of the status quo.

Are we going to have figured out the best way to deliver public education by the time I get out of high school? Events like the one yesterday give a glimmer of hope that the old politics at least may eventually get out of the way.

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Retiring Colorado Congressman Tom Tancredo - and former president of the Independence Institute (long before I was even born) - has a great piece published in today’s Rocky Mountain News. Most people associate Rep. Tancredo with the issue of immigration, but his deepest roots go back into education as a former public school teacher and as regional representative for the U.S. Department of Education during the 1980s.

As he gives advice to Colorado’s current governor and one of his recent predecessors, the themes in Rep. Tancredo’s Speakout column are not novel or startling, but they’re important reminders we can’t hear enough:

Last week, Gov. Bill Ritter and former Gov. Roy Romer wrote a column about the state of education in America. In it, I believe they’ve unwittingly made a powerful argument for precisely the kind of educational reform that they have publicly opposed for many years: school choice….

If history has taught us anything, it is that solutions to some of the world’s most complex problems have come only when we have unleashed the power of the free market. The answer to the education problem, simply put, is more choices for parents, and more competition by schools for students. It is not another ambitious big government “solution” put together by the same special interests that have a vested interest in maintaining the status quo - a status quo that even Romer and Ritter admit leaves our students lagging far behind youngsters from Seoul and Singapore as they enter a newly competitive global economy.

In case someone reading this post is new to the site, I don’t mind repeating myself, too. The best tool to help parents understand and take control of their educational options in Colorado is our School Choice for Kids website. Check it out!

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In an interview yesterday with reporter Nelson Garcia of 9News, our own Ben DeGrow offered a different point of view on the bevy of school district bond and mill levy elections slated for the Denver metro area this November (H/T Mount Virtus):

Ben DeGrow is the education policy analyst for the Education Policy Center within the Independence Institute, which is a conservative political think tank. DeGrow says too many middle class families are coping with high gas prices and a poor real estate market to think about raising their own property taxes for schools.

“This may be a tough year for JeffCo and other metro school districts to be asking for money,” said DeGrow.

JeffCo is just one of the major districts around Denver poised to ask voters for money this fall. Denver, Aurora, and Cherry Creek have also expressed the intent to place bond issues or mill levies on the November ballot along with a number of other districts across Colorado.

DeGrow says school districts place bond issues and mill levies on the ballot during presidential elections because that means more un-informed voters will come to the polls.

“You’re reaching into a base of voters who don’t necessarily have as much information who may be inclined to just give more money to schools because it sounds like the right thing to do,” said Degrow.

DeGrow says, instead, people should be asking districts how it can spend the money it already has more efficiently instead of trying to fix all problems by throwing more money into the system.

“Most studies show, there’s no connection between how much is spent and what the results are as far as student tests,” said DeGrow.

You can also find the video by following the link to the story. Ben’s interview follows up on similar points that Pam Benigno made to 9News a couple months ago.

As highlighted in this backgrounder Ben wrote, Colorado still ranks 26th in per-pupil spending at roughly $10,000 per pupil. It’s time for more school district budget transparency.

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Last week I took a look at the work of Aurora Public Schools’ “outside-the-box” superintendent John Barry, and concluded:

Of course, changing the leadership model isn’t the only way to fix public schools. There are limits to the sort of “top-down” approach. More “bottom-up” reform that decentralizes authority and empowers parents with school choice and accountability is essential. But there’s also something to be said for school boards working to find more leaders like John Barry.

There was more to the point about the “bottom-up” approach than I realized. John Barry is doing a lot of good things from a reform perspective, but as Alan Gottlieb writes today over at EdNews Colorado, it appears that he’s missing the most important thing:

But one area where Barry’s forward-thinking regime has been slow to see the light is on charter schools. Last night, the Aurora school board decided to asked voters to approve a $215 million bond issue this fall. From that amount, the district is ofering [sic] a total of $750,000 to the district’s six charter schools. That’s a grand total of one third of one percent of the proceeds. Not exactly generous. Still, better than Denver, Adams 12 and Douglas, which are planning to leave charters out altogether.

It’s not as though Aurora Public Schools has taken a hard-line stance against public school choice. Of course not. I’ve also highlighted the new AXL Academy charter school that’s opening up in Aurora this fall. But one-third of one percent is a paltry sum.

Aurora Public Schools is improving, but it can do even better by showing even a little equity to its charter schools. The fact that Aurora isn’t even among the worst offenders in the Denver metro area demonstrates that there is still quite a ways to go locally in education reform.

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The Education Policy Center people said they’re a little busy today. So instead of having them write anything, I asked them to show you this video, which makes a very compelling argument for school choice:

This clip from the 1980s British sitcom Yes Prime Minister should be required viewing for education policy makers. It may come from overseas, and it may be 20 years old, but the brilliant common sense that flows through the satire in this piece feels like a breath of fresh air for Colorado. Of course - for the choices already available to them, Colorado families have a great resource in the School Choice for Kids website.

(H/T Jay Greene, via What’s Wrong With the World?)

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Thankfully, most education policy in our country is governed at the local and state level. Though the federal government’s role in education is too big, it’s still very limited. I wish that were really the reason you don’t hear Barack Obama and John McCain say a whole lot about education.

Over at Pajamas Media, Greg Forster has a list of five things the next President - whoever it may be - can do to advance education reform:

• Expand the D.C. voucher program to make it a national model
• Keep testing outcomes transparent
• Fund differential teacher pay
• Improve data transparency for better evaluation of education programs
• Keep pushing teacher unions to comply with financial disclosure reporting

Not many people are going to pick the next President based primarily on education. But it would be best if the media and citizens press the candidates to articulate their positions on these five specific issues. Kids like me can’t vote yet, but we sure appreciate it.

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It’s hard to argue against the idea that more fresh blood is needed in our public education system. We could do with more school and district leaders who didn’t necessarily rise through the ranks of the teachers union or education bureaucracy who can bring valuable outside skills and perspectives to the challenges faced.

Education News Colorado today highlights such a success story in the Denver metropolitan area:

Aurora Public Schools raised more than a few eyebrows two years ago when the board of education selected John Barry, a retired U.S. Air Force major general, to take over as superintendent of the state’s third-largest school district.

“We were definitely taking a chance,” says Aurora school board chairman Matt Clark. “He was clearly a non-traditional candidate, coming from the military. But we were looking for someone who understood what it took to turn an institution around.”

And turn it did. Barry began introducing changes in the way Aurora educates its 32,000 students at a breakneck pace. New curricula. New strategic plan . New coaching method for teachers. New standardized tests . New summer school programs . The launch of a new pilot school — the first of several. New emphasis on truancy prevention.

“We have transformed this school district on an order of magnitude to rival any in the country,” Barry said.

With the release this week of the latest CSAP scores Barry, a onetime jet fighter pilot, may feel like he’s again speeding skyward. Aurora and Denver, neighboring urban school districts with many of the same socioeconomic challenges, were two bright spots in an otherwise largely flat year for student achievement growth statewide.

(One small erratum: Aurora is the state’s sixth-largest school district.)

Interestingly, Denver Public Schools - the other “bright spot” school district overcoming challenges is also headed by a non-traditional superintendent, Michael Bennet. Coincidence? Maybe. But more emphasis should be put on expanding our idea of what comprises successful school leadership rather than narrowing the focus to meet the narrowly-tailored ideas of certain education interest groups.

It goes without saying that John Barry probably has made some mistakes along the way. But the results show he’s largely getting the job done. Barry’s bold leadership and the fact he is less beholden to status quo interests have to account for much of the progress. Aurora Public Schools is to be commended for some visionary steps - first, in choosing the retired Air Force general to take the helm, and second, in giving him the rein to make needed and innovative changes.

Of course, changing the leadership model isn’t the only way to fix public schools. There are limits to the sort of “top-down” approach. More “bottom-up” reform that decentralizes authority and empowers parents with school choice and accountability is essential. But there’s also something to be said for school boards working to find more leaders like John Barry.

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Okay, I think it’s a long and boring paper, but Ben in the Education Policy Center says the new report from the National Council on Teacher Quality is very important.

What it boils down to is there are a lot of rules, mostly written by well-meaning people, that end up negatively affecting how well kids learn in the classroom. The NCTQ report Invisible Ink in Collective Bargaining proves the realization that more damage is often done by lawmakers at the state level than by the private union negotiations at the local level.

The report’s authors say there are three major reasons this “preeminence of state authority” is so poorly misunderstood:

• The old media doesn’t much either understand or pay attention to the issues that govern education–namely, “few have focused on the outsized influence of the teachers union in the statehouse.”
• Neither school district or union officials have a vested interest in bringing public attention to their private bargaining sessions. Short of threats to strike, the media doesn’t get how the issues that are negotiated locally have an impact on education’s bottom line.
• Few scholars have researched the impact of collective bargaining on — or “the origin and history of state involvement in” — public education. Into this vacuum, pro-union and anti-union ideologies devolve into shouting matches.

One good example of research that others could emulate can be found in Dr. Terry Moe’s Collective Bargaining and the Performance of Public Schools. Interestingly, my friends in the Education Policy Center also are among the few that have paid attention to these issues. The Independence Institute has focused on these broader concerns through local Colorado examples, with such reports as Take Public Funds off the Negotiating Table and Nullifying the Probationary Period.

Because more research is badly needed, the general proposal of the NCTQ report is a great idea:

Better data and more transparency can dismantle myths and assumptions about collective bargaining and the role of unions, calling to task ideologically based positions. It is the surest path to achieving more informed negotiations and responsible results out of statehouses and decisions that are geared toward the best interests of school children.

Hey, that includes me! Okay, I guess I like this report, too.

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Probably the best state for Colorado or any other to look to as a model in education reform is Florida. Education reform was the primary focus of former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush during his eight-year tenure, and he was able to make progress on many fronts. The remarkable success yielded by years of systematic advances in school choice, accountability, standards, and teacher pay makes the Sunshine State worthy of emulation:

Government-gathered data from the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) show that Florida has outpaced Colorado and the national average in nearly every measure of math and reading proficiency.

In that light, it was important that Heritage Foundation education policy analyst Dan Lips was able to sit down and interview Jeb Bush (H/T Matt Ladner) at a recent education reform summit in Orlando. Here are a few key excerpts of Bush’s remarks from the interview transcribed at National Review Online:

We need all schools — here in Florida and in 49 other states — to get better for our country’s future. The only way to improve student performance is through continual and perpetual reform of education. America needs a 21st century education system for a 21st century world….

Raising standards, measuring progress, grading school performance, providing educational options and targeting resources to reward success and reverse failure are all tools that are transforming schools and raising student achievement.

However, success is never final. I hope we never stop trying to implement more innovative and audacious reforms….

I also believe we need to better apply free-market principles to the way we deliver education in order to improve the entire system. We should expand educational options so all parents can make the best choices for their children. Teachers and principals should be paid based on performance. Educators that teach subjects with a shortage of teachers, teach in low-performing schools or carry increased responsibilities should be paid more. We should also give merit pay to teachers based on student learning gains and other objective measures….

People from across the ideological spectrum can agree that improving the quality of education for students from every background, from pre-K through high school, is the great challenge of our time. We need to put partisan rhetoric aside and work together to raise student achievement through reforms that produce measurable results.

Go and read the whole thing. For the sake of myself and other kids, too, it would be great if Colorado could have a leader as bold, articulate, and visionary as Jeb Bush.

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Clint Bolick - one of the heroes of the school choice movement - had a piece in the Wall Street Journal earlier this week about the political possibilities of reaching out to Hispanics on the school choice issue (H/T Matt Ladner):

Hispanic votes will be crucial in key battleground states, including Florida, Colorado, Nevada and New Mexico. George W. Bush won 40% of Hispanic votes in 2004, but support slipped to 30% for GOP congressional candidates in 2006. Mr. Obama fared poorly among Hispanics in the presidential primaries, while Mr. McCain carried 74% of Hispanic votes when he won re-election to the Senate in 2004. All that adds up to this: Hispanics voting on school choice could tip the balance of the election.

Hispanic voters are overwhelmingly young and have exhibited a propensity toward political independence — and no issue is more tangible for them than educational opportunity. If Hispanics align their voting with the educational interests of their children, it could alter the electoral landscape — not merely for this election, but permanently.

Of course, a great tool for parents - including Hispanics - to learn more about their Colorado educational options is the School Choice for Kids website … available both in English and en Espanol.

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