No Money for That

I spoke at the Tulsa School Board meeting tonight on the three proposed new charter schools. I watched their presentation two weeks ago and I’ve read their proposals and they are extremely impressive. Charter schools and teachers unions have had some difficulties trying to figure out how to co-exist. I even heard that a new administrator to the district made the comment, “I don’t know anything about TCTA except that they hate charter schools.” Well, there is a lot more to know about TCTA and I’ve been studying everything I can about charter schools. The National Education Association, of which TCTA, is a local affiliate states in their policy on charter schools: “Charter schools have the potential to impact positively, or negatively, on public education -- and this in turn will depend on how such schools are designed and operated.” I believe the proposed new charters have been designed, and will be operated, to have a positive impact on some of the students of Tulsa Public Schools. You have the resources and support to ensure success and we wish you nothing but the greatest success. Our fight is not with you. Our fight is with a system which is inherently unequal. The traditional schools in TPS have had funding cut to the bone and when we suggest a remedy for a problem, we are told, “There’s no money for that.” Charters are touted for their autonomy and flexibility with extended school days, extended school years, and a month’s worth of professional development for teachers. When TCTA has expressed our willingness to do the same, we’ve been told “There’s no money for that.” Our bargained contract is seen as an impediment to progress because we expect people to be paid for the work they do. Who, in this room, would be willing to do their job for free? That’s called volunteering and it doesn’t pay the bills. Because of the collaborative relationship TCTA has enjoyed with TPS over the last few years, we expected meetings and discussions and compromising on such issues. Imagine our surprise when we found out from the publishing of a board agenda that 1. This is happening; 2. This is happening right now; 3. They don’t care what TCTA thinks. The charter proposals state there will be an “emphasis on teacher retention.” If you find the answer to that, will you share it with the Human Capital department at TPS? Data from the National Center for Education statistics found that 25% of charter school teachers turned over during the 03-04 school year, compared to 14% of traditional public school teachers. Using “multi-nomial logistic regression,” they found the odds of a charter school teacher leaving the profession versus staying in the same school are 132% greater than those of a traditional public school teacher. Our students deserve the most career-committed teachers possible but when we ask for an increase in teacher pay in order to stop the exodus we’re told, “There’s no money for that.” So I look forward to learning how the retention problem has been solved. The proposed charters promise teacher to student ratios of as small as 13:1. When we ask for smaller class sizes we’re told either, “There’s no money for that” or “Class size doesn’t matter; good teaching is good teaching.” College Bound Academy will have a TA in every kindergarten classroom. When we ask for additional TAs, we’re told, “There’s no money for that.” Tulsa Honor Academy will have a Dean of Students. When we asked for a Dean in every elementary school, we were told, “There’s no money for that.” Obviously the recurring theme here is “There’s no money for that” but funding isn’t the only difference we see. The charters offer a “warm/strict environment” with a “strong discipline code.” Classroom Management is the indicator most often identified as a source of weakness on the TLE and most often leads to the “exiting” of teachers. Will the successful solution of the discipline problem be shared with the traditional TPS schools? The charters will hold expectations for parents/families to be part of their student’s educational success but when students or their families fail to “meet the expectations,” will they be counseled to return to their neighborhood schools? In the traditional schools, when students don’t “meet the expectations,” the teacher is often blamed and then it is reflected on their TLE. We appreciate that the students for the charters will be chosen by lottery, as that is a fair system. But the traditional schools will still be teaching all of the students who don’t win the lottery and will be doing so without the resources and support being offered to the charters because “there’s no money for that.” The story of TPS has become a story of double standards where some players are dealt a better hand than others. We wish the charters success, but even more, we wish success to ALL of the students of Tulsa Public Schools and they deserve to be treated with equity and on a level playing field. When the deck is stacked in favor of the charter schools, with small class sizes and expectations and requirements for parents, they are guaranteed a victory. A true victory would come from investing in EVERY student in EVERY classroom in EVERY building, but we already know: There’s no money for that.