The
current financial crisis has added angst to the level of urgency among
educational public policy makers. The challenge of closing the
achievement gap between advantaged and disadvantaged students,
improving student learning overall, getting the most out of limited and
declining dollars, and surviving in an unprecedented stressful time for
young students are only some of the daunting challenges in everyday
life in public education.

Media reports are full of stories
about teachers, superintendents and local elected officials who must
confront and comply with the voluminous regulatory mandates imposed by
state and federal legislators and bureaucrats. Editorial pages are
crowded with highly charges points and counterpoints between school
committee members, administrators, teachers, business leaders, and
academic thinkers about charter schools, standardized testing, longer
school days, and fair finance. But what's missing from this picture?
Why are parents and citizens in general not engaged more attentively
and actively in the battle for the heart and soul of public education?

Governor
Patrick has called for a campaign for civic engagement. The
Massachusetts Association of School Committees has called for linking
this goal with parent empowerment. In fact, the dirty little secret
that real school reformers never want to reveal is that they really
don't want parents actively involved in schools. Of more concern are
the calls by people like former US Secretary of Education and some
conservative think tanks for parents to do their job getting kids ready
for school and leaving the rest to the faculty. In other words,
"Parents, keep out!"

So, what we have are citizens who are
disengaged in public school issues and parents who limit their
involvement to the traditional roles of preparing their kids, going to
parent nights, and attending the school social activities.

Moreover,
we live in an era where we are pulled in so many directions that our
"complexity tolerance" is low. We simply give up on the
hard-to-comprehend issues. Unfortunately, public education is one of
them. Who but a handful of people can explain the principles of
Education Reform, a "foundation budget," the details of state financial
aid to school districts, the state and federal mandates around special
education, or any one of the 15 different accountability, assessment,
and accreditation systems that create a virtually unmanageable maze of
school regulations?

When the citizenry is disengaged, the public
regulator acts without restraint. Do we really want unelected
bureaucrats determining whether school districts should consolidate or
merge against their will? Should people who can't even teach make rules
about standardized testing and accountability? Should the average state
public educator have to spend an average of 160 hours per year on
compliance mandates, paperwork, and tasks unrelated to teaching? Are we
powerless to deal with the stress of intensive curricula, voluminous
testing requirements, and the humiliating labels imposed on kids and
schools from of bad regulations and sloppy lawmaking?

Who will champion the cause of children if not parents, active citizens and the people they chose to oversee their schools?

That's
why the role of parents and school officials needs to come front and
center. In 1993 the legislature created school councils to empower
parents. Today they have not come close to living up to their potential
to advise principals and school committees about school-based concerns
or to run issue forums presented for the citizens at large.

We propose some solutions:

First,
as we look to tune-up education reform and preserve our status as the
best in the country and, in several categories, best in the world in
academic achievement, let's strengthen the role of the school council,
add meaning to the annual school improvement plan, and require close
scrutiny of these measures before the local school committee.

Second,
rev up the advocacy part and get more people interested in the most
fundamental activity of civic engagement: running for local office,
including the school committee.

Third, come face to face with
local legislators and ask that they take a direct interest in both the
large picture and fine details of school policy.

When you speak
with your legislators, the Advocacy Committee of MASC asks that you
focus on six key areas: 1) adequate funding for public schools through
the state's Chapter 70 formula and appropriation; 2) fully fund special
education's unfunded mandates, including the special 'circuit breaker"
program for high cost cases; 3. Require that federal stimulus money for
education go directly to classrooms and not to state bureaucracy; 4.
Control the regulatory monster and impose no regulations and mandates
without paying for them; 5. Support the mandated cost of transporting
students to school; 6. Reform the way charter schools are overseen and
financed so that local taxpayers have a say in how their money is taken
away and used.