Corridor leaders have a few issues with education reform plan

CEDAR RAPIDS - Local educators didn't find too many curve balls in the legislative brief released Friday, outlining Gov. Terry Branstad's plans for education reform.

Most of the items covered were present in the education blueprint released by Branstad in October 2011, with a few omissions, such as a four-tier salary structure that has since been put on hold.

New are estimates for a $25 million price tag in the first year for 17 reform initiatives proposed by the governor and Iowa Department of Education Secretary Jason Glass.

The financial estimates seem a bit low to Cedar Rapids Superintendent Dave Benson but could suffice.

"I would say for a major education reform initiative, the funding is lean but adequate," he said.

Benson did say the estimated allocation of $10 million for a proposed statewide literacy program, the single-most-expensive item in the brief, seemed to be a sufficient amount, although the initiative itself is "problematic."

The program would hold back third-graders, who do not pass a literacy exam, for more intense instruction.

"Not all children learn or perform at the same rate. Having an arbitrary standard is a difficult issue," Benson said.

Cedar Rapids Education Association President Tammy Wawro agreed with Benson and said she was disappointed that the bulk of the funding in the brief seemed to go toward new assessments, such as the third-grade literacy program and high school end-of-course exams.

"How does that help our students learn and how does it help our students improve?" she said.

She also questioned costs to school districts in addition to the estimated statewide cost, such as with the expansion of the School Administration Manager program.

The SAM program, in use in districts such as Waterloo and Linn-Mar, creates a position at schools dedicated to managing building needs, giving the principal time to train and coach teachers. The brief allocates $200,000 for it to scale statewide.

"That's just the state budget impact. If you would put a person like that in every building, that money has to come from somewhere," she said. "If it's not in the state budget, it's local."

The support for SAM was well-received by University of Northern Iowa Professor Nick Pace, who oversees the program. What worries Pace is that the brief also creates pathways for non-educators to become principals. It also contains similar language regarding non-traditional teacher licensure.

"My uncle was in the tire industry for 40 years," Pace said. "He was a genius at what he did, but no amount of mentoring or guidance would've turned him into an effective superintendent or principal."

Linn-Mar Superintendent Katie Mulholland felt recommendations such as the end-of-course exams, upgraded evaluation systems and state funding of the ACT/SAT test could serve students well.

She's worried, though, about items that increase state control, such as statewide coordination of teacher professional development. It could limit the ability of school districts to target individual needs for instruction.

"To have the state decide that a need in professional development is in the area of math and then impose that on Linn-Mar professionals would be a misuse of resources," she said by email.

Mulholland also opposes plans to merge the Board of Educational Examiners into the Department of Education, because that could politicize the body responsible for granting teacher licenses.

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