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Philanthropy to the rescue? Not in New Haven schools

Schools don't need innovation. They need more teachers, librarians, nurses ...

  • CT Viewpoints
  • by Sarah Miller and Fátima Rojas
  • April 9, 2019
  • View as "Clean Read" "Exit Clean Read"

Christopher Peak :: New Haven Independent

Fatima Rojas (center) and Sarah Miller (right) speak at a New Haven Board of Education meeting.

Last Friday, Gov. Ned Lamont announced a $100 million donation to the state of Connecticut from the Dalio Philanthropies “to strengthen public education and promote greater economic opportunity.” The five year initiative is to be matched two-to-one by the state and unspecified private donors, with state funds this year coming from surplus dollars.

On its surface, this sounds like good news. The New Haven Public Schools face a staggering $30 million deficit. Our children, ages 4, 8, 9, and 11, attend Columbus Family Academy and the Engineering Science University Magnet School.

We love our schools. But like so many other schools across the state, particularly in urban areas, they face chronic underfunding and ongoing loss of services: cuts to guidance, library, field trips, and planned cuts inevitably affecting class size. Our public schools simply don’t have enough teachers, teacher aides, librarians, counselors, nurses, or social workers to serve all of our kids, especially those navigating poverty and trauma. With 26 kids per class, even the most skilled teacher is challenged to provide the individualized attention that every child needs and deserves.

Inadequate funding is only part of the reason our schools don’t have what they need. Another major problem is how we distribute public dollars. Gov. Lamont’s budget disappointingly decreases Education Cost Sharing, the main source of unrestricted state funding for core classroom needs, like teachers and counselors. At the same time, it increases Alliance District funds, a restricted pool for “pursuing bold and innovative reforms” grounded in corporate-inspired ideas for how to improve education, which are often painfully disconnected from actual classroom needs.

For example: the New Haven Public Schools just spent $132,000 on an outside contractor to conduct a curriculum audit, shortly after laying off counselors and librarians. Since New Haven’s tax base can’t take much more and Alliance funds can’t be used to meet day-to-day classroom needs, those needs simply remain unmet, shortchanging our kids year after year.

Private philanthropy to the rescue? It hasn’t worked out that way in New Haven, so far, particularly when it comes to the Dalio Philanthropies. Their most prominent footprint here is CT RISE, a program centered on a “data dashboard” for teachers, which aggregates student data such as grades, test scores, attendance data, course credits, and behaviors.

While the program provides some potential benefits, including streamlined access to student data and supports for students and teachers, there are major downsides. According to educators using the dashboard, it serves as a distraction from teaching and learning, undermines human connection and understanding, and raises significant data privacy concerns — all without any demonstrated improvement in student learning. Following numerous concerns from educators, the NHPS Advocates network compiled this report that summarizes preliminary findings.

Click here to download a copy of the report.

We don’t question the Dalios’ good intentions. The Dalio Philanthropies also contributes to a number of worthwhile endeavors in New Haven including, most recently, nearly a million dollars for full-time mental health clinicians from Clifford Beers at five public schools. But their track record is dominated by major, long-term investments in charter school networks, corporate “education reform” efforts that give control of public entities to private interests, and the school privatization movement more broadly. We the people should know better than to give the proponents of CT RISE disproportionate influence over state education policy.

Primacy is given to the Dalio donation and initiative, rather than the state’s moral responsibility to provide foundational, equitable, quality learning experiences for every child.

This “gift” to the state should have been public money all along. Bridgewater Associates received a $22 million grant from Connecticut taxpayers to facilitate its expansion in 2016. This followed a subsidy of $52 million in 2015. Bridgewater and Mr. Dalio also benefit from the state’s “carried interest loophole” that allows hedge-fund income to be taxed at a lower rate than ordinary income and thus deprive Connecticut of millions of dollars that could be used to support public education. Last year alone, according to the Connecticut Post, Mr. Dalio’s tax bill on earned income —without the loophole— would have been $139.8 million.

So the gift effectively returns public dollars. But rather than increase the pool of resources for all, it comes with conditions that seem deaf to the actual needs of children in schools.

Primacy is given to the Dalio donation and initiative, rather than the state’s moral responsibility to provide foundational, equitable, quality learning experiences for every child. And it comes at a significant cost: $100 million of the state’s own public dollars, which could resolve New Haven’s deficit, return our counselors, and reduce class sizes, are suddenly reserved for a vaguely-defined “partnership” and new bureaucracy to “leverage” and “administer.” Given the poor track record of mega-philanthropy in education, from the Gates Foundation’s unsuccessful “experiments” to Mark Zuckerberg’s $100 million disruption in Newark, we have every reason to take serious pause before this plan takes further shape.

Decades of research show us what works in public education. There is no secret sauce. It’s complex, difficult work; but it is not mysterious or particularly in need of innovation. There is no experimentation on children in Connecticut’s wealthy, white suburban communities or in the much-lauded classrooms of Finland. If the Dalios want what’s best for all kids, they could set a new bar for those at the high end of the wealth gap in Connecticut by annually paying their real proportional fair share — and do so publicly, in order to encourage others to find their moral centers, too.

These funds could in turn give our kids what they actually need: teachers, teacher aides, librarians, counselors, nurses, social workers, quality materials and supplies, child-centered programs in all disciplines, “extras” like arts and languages, individualized support services, and smaller class sizes.

Sarah Miller and Fátima Rojas are organizers with New Haven Public School Advocates.

CTViewpoints welcomes rebuttal or opposing views to this and all its commentaries. Read our guidelines and submit your commentary here.

Below is Miller and Rojas’s opinion article, translated into Spanish.

El viernes, el gobernador Lamont anunció una donación de $100 millones al estado de Connecticut de parte de las filantropías de Dalio “para fortalecer la educación pública y promover una mayor oportunidad económica.” La iniciativa de cinco años debe ser igualada 2: 1 por el estado y donantes privados no especificados. Con fondos estatales este año provenientes de excedentes de dólares.

Superficialmente, esto suena como una buena noticia. Las Escuelas Públicas de New Haven enfrentan un asombroso déficit de treinta millones de dólares. Nuestros hijos de 4, 8, 9 y 11 años asisten a la Academia Familiar de Columbus y a la Escuela Magnet de Ciencias e Ingeniería (ESUMS). Amamos nuestras escuelas. Pero al igual que muchas otras escuelas en todo el estado, particularmente en áreas urbanas, enfrentan una falta de fondos crónica y la pérdida continua de servicios: recortes en la orientación, biblioteca, excursiones y recortes planificados que inevitablemente afectan el tamaño de las clases. Nuestras escuelas públicas simplemente no tienen suficientes maestros, ayudantes de maestros, bibliotecarios, consejeros, enfermeras o trabajadores sociales para atender a todos nuestros niños, especialmente a aquellos que enfrentan pobreza el trauma. Con veintiséis niños por clase, incluso el maestro más capacitado tiene el reto de brindar la atención individualizada que cada niño necesita y merece.

La financiación inadecuada es solo una parte de la razón por la que nuestras escuelas no tienen lo que necesitan. Otro problema importante es cómo distribuimos los dólares públicos. El presupuesto del gobernador Lamont disminuye de manera decepcionante el costo compartido de la educación, la principal fuente de financiamiento estatal sin restricciones para las necesidades básicas del aula, como maestros y consejeros. Al mismo tiempo, aumenta los fondos del Distrito de la Alianza, un grupo restringido para “perseguir reformas audaces e innovadoras” basadas en ideas inspiradas en las corporaciones sobre cómo mejorar la educación, que a menudo están dolorosamente desconectadas de las necesidades reales del aula. Por ejemplo: las Escuelas Públicas de New Haven gastaron $132,000 en un contratista externo para realizar una auditoría curricular, poco después de despedir a los consejeros y bibliotecarios. Como la base impositiva de New Haven no puede tomar mucho más y los fondos de la Alianza no se pueden usar para satisfacer las necesidades diarias del salón de clases, esas necesidades simplemente no se satisfacen, lo que menoscaba a nuestros hijos año tras año.

¿Filantropía privada al rescate? No ha funcionado de esa manera en New Haven, hasta ahora, particularmente cuando se trata de las Filantropías de Dalio. Su huella más destacada aquí es “CT RISE,” un programa centrado en un “panel de datos” para maestros, que reúne datos de estudiantes como calificaciones, puntajes de exámenes, datos de asistencia, créditos de cursos y comportamientos. Si bien el programa ofrece algunos beneficios potenciales, incluido el acceso simplificado a los datos de los estudiantes y el apoyo para los estudiantes y maestros, hay desventajas importantes. De acuerdo con los profesores que usan el tablero de instrumentos, sirve como una distracción de la enseñanza y el aprendizaje, socava la conexión y la comprensión humanas y plantea importantes preocupaciones sobre la privacidad de los datos, todo ello sin ninguna mejora demostrada en el aprendizaje de los alumnos. Luego de las numerosas inquietudes de los educadores, la red de defensores de NHPS compiló este informe que resume los hallazgos preliminares.

No cuestionamos las buenas intenciones de Dalios. La filántropia de Dalio también contribuye a varios esfuerzos valiosos en New Haven, que incluyen, más recientemente, casi un millón de dólares para las clínicas de salud mental de tiempo completo de Clifford Beers en cinco escuelas públicas. Pero su historial está dominado por importantes inversiones a largo plazo en redes de escuelas autónomas, esfuerzos corporativos de “reforma educativa” que otorgan el control de entidades públicas a intereses privados, y el movimiento de privatización escolar en general. Nosotros, la gente, debemos saber que no debemos dar a los defensores de CT RISE una influencia desproporcionada sobre la política estatal de educación.

Este “regalo” al estado debería haber sido dinero público todo el tiempo. Bridgewater Associates recibió una subvención de $22 millones de los contribuyentes de Connecticut para facilitar su expansión en 2016. Esto siguió a un subsidio de $52 millones en 2015. Bridgewater y Dalio también se benefician de la “laguna de intereses cargados” del estado que permite que los ingresos de los fondos de cobertura sean grabados en impuestos a una tasa más baja que los ingresos ordinarios y, por lo tanto, priva a Connecticut de millones de dólares que podrían utilizarse para apoyar la educación pública. Solo el año pasado, según el Connecticut Post, la factura de impuestos del Sr. Dalio sobre los ingresos devengados, sin la laguna, habría sido de $139.8 millones. Así que el regalo efectivamente devuelve dólares públicos. Pero en lugar de aumentar el conjunto de recursos para todos, se trata de condiciones que parecen sordas a las necesidades reales de los niños en las escuelas.

Se otorga primacía a la donación e iniciativa de Dalio, en lugar de a la responsabilidad moral del estado de brindar experiencias de aprendizaje fundamentales, equitativas y de calidad para todos los niños. Y tiene un costo significativo: $100 millones de dólares públicos del estado, que podrían resolver el déficit de New Haven, devolver a nuestros consejeros estudiantiles y reducir el tamaño de las clases, se reservan repentinamente para una “asociación” vagamente definida y una nueva burocracia para “tener poder” y “ administrar.” Teniendo en cuenta el historial deficiente de mega-filantropía en educación, desde los “experimentos” fallidos de la Fundación Gates hasta la interrupción de Mark Zuckerberg de $100 millones en Newark, tenemos todas las razones para hacer una pausa seria antes de que este plan tome más forma.

Décadas de investigación nos muestran lo que funciona en la educación pública. No hay receta secreta. Es un trabajo complejo y difícil pero no es misterioso o particularmente necesitado de innovación. No hay experimentación con niños en las comunidades ricas de los suburbios blancos de Connecticut o en las aulas muy alabadas de Finlandia. Si los Dalios quieren lo mejor para todos los niños, podrían establecer un nuevo estándar para aquellos en el extremo superior de la brecha de riqueza en Connecticut al pagar anualmente su parte justa proporcional real, y hacerlo públicamente, para alentar a otros a encontrar sus centros morales también. Estos fondos a su vez podrían darles a nuestros hijos lo que realmente necesitan: maestros, ayudantes de maestros, bibliotecarios, consejeros, enfermeras, trabajadores sociales, materiales y suministros de calidad, programas centrados en el niño en todas las disciplinas, “extras” como artes e idiomas, apoyo individualizado servicios, y clases de menor tamaño.

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