school finance research collaborative

Robert McCann is the Executive Director of The K-12 Alliance of Michigan, which strives to be the statewide leader in education policy and advocacy to ensure every child in Michigan has equitable access to a quality education and the opportunity to succeed both in and outside of the classroom. Currently the organization represents districts in Wayne, Oakland, Macomb, Genesee, and St. Clair Counties, and is continuing conversation with other areas for potential partnerships and further expansion.

Responding to the challenges of the current school year Mr. McCann urged the school community as a whole, to focus solely on the best way to provide students a ‘normal’ school experience, laying aside the politics surrounding those discussions. From his viewpoint, “utilizing the guidance and directives of public health experts is essential for schools to offer in-person learning, keeping students in school where they learn best. Additionally if there is an outbreak, schools need the flexibility to shut school down for a period and continue offering learning remotely and third, schools need to have long term policies in place to support student recovery.”

Mr. McCann reflected on the impact of the uneven experiences students have had due to the pandemic, and how schools can best move forward.  “As we bring them back to classrooms this fall we know it's not just about focusing on where they are academically, but where they are socially and emotionally in their own recovery process that's ultimately going to dictate how we can best help them get back on paths towards academic success. Schools play a unique role not just in academics, but in these students' lives and in their ability to overcome whatever obstacles they're facing at home, whatever obstacles they're facing in their social circles. That schools give them that support that they need to succeed overall in their growth is so critical to getting them back on that path to success going forward.”

Mr. McCann lauded the increased “funding from the federal stimulus packages, enabling districts to provide students a number of opportunities which they wouldn’t otherwise have, for the next two or three years. With the stimulus funding for programs we are looking at what wraparound services schools  provide to address those unique needs of any individual student, as a model to demonstrate what normal could look like if we were funding schools properly in the first place.”

“It's about taking those services: getting reading coaches into younger kids' classrooms; getting tutors into school buildings; getting social workers into school buildings to help with those needs; and providing all of those wraparound services as the best chance we have to not only help these students that have been struggling over the last year and a half, but meet those unique needs of every student instead of just saying all students are the same and here's a funding plan that fits that.”

Mr. McCann noted, “if we can redefine what normal is over the next couple of years and then advocate for the funding to meet that normal, then I think we'll have done the best job we can to give these students the best opportunities possible going forward. The Alliance wants to show that if the state of Michigan were to make the type of investment that those federal stimulus dollars are making on an ongoing basis, the good we could be doing for students for generations to come. We are going to show what some of these programs look like over the next few years that could be invested in perpetually by the state. We're going to say this is exactly what we could be doing if the state adopted an SFRC (School Finance Research Collaborative) based formula.”

In terms of funding for programs, Mr. McCann is a strong proponent of the School Finance Research Collaborative recommendations. He pointed out the disparity between the current state funding formula, with its one size fits all, and the SFRC recommendation that provides funds based on the unique needs of the students in schools and districts, explaining that “it's treating every student as the same when we know that's not the case. What that means is that we are under-funding every student and not doing even the most minimal effort to meet the unique needs that many students have; these are special education students, English language learners, people that need extra reading help. We're not funding those programs correctly, so when schools implement those programs because they're necessary, that means we're ultimately pulling funding from every student, which under serves the entire student population of Michigan.”

Mr. McCann also commented on the state of the teaching profession in Michigan, which has been “impacted by chronic under funding of schools, a lag in pay, to not enough teachers being in classrooms, overcrowded classrooms, to not funding classrooms properly, as well as increasing the responsibilities of educators, as evidenced by decisions made by school officials who aren’t public health experts, about the conditions for students to return to school.” In response to the low number of students enrolled in schools of education across the state, and the rate of retirements accelerated by the pandemic, Mr. McCann asserted the need to look holistically as a state to address the status of the teaching profession. “The more we can be doing to say that Michigan is a state that is willing to invest in public education, that is willing to invest in the profession of educating students again, that's what's ultimately going to start this process of encouraging young students in high school and going into college to say that's the profession I want to get into again.”

Looking ahead, Mr. McCann advised, “the best thing we can be doing as a school community right now is highlight the good work that we're doing as students benefit from the new supports that are available: instituting new reading programs, tutoring programs, social programs to help students' emotional recovery. Let's highlight the success that some of these students are going to be having this year: recovering from the pandemic, getting caught back up to grade level, getting reintegrated in with social programs and having school dances again and just even some of those most basic of things, to remind people the integral role that schools ultimately play within their communities, because we need to be doing that, right now.”

In the short term, Mr. McCann insisted “the state and local health departments need to be stepping up and making and giving very clear direction to schools of what they need to be doing inside the classrooms, inside the school buildings to keep kids safe.”

In the longer term, Mr. McCann is adamant about showcasing the benefits to students of programs derived from the stimulus funding or risk losing the gains that will be made over the next two years with those additional resources, by returning to an old funding formula. “We need to have lawmakers start looking at how we can start fixing the funding formula again. Next year in the budget process, we are going to be pushing to make some of those significant changes away from the one size fits all formula, to meeting that SFRC based formula. That is going to be critical moving forward, or we’re missing this opportunity that we have in front of us.”

Website    https://www.k12michigan.org

Bob Maxfield and Dr. Suzanne Klein invited Jarod McGuffey, who leads the work of Trusted Voices, joined by Trusted Voice Fellows Mary Binge and Laura Haydamacker, to share the history, mission and current activities of Galileo 3.0 Trusted Voices. Trusted Voices is a nonpartisan advocacy group of teacher leaders, supporting superintendents through collaborative advocacy and serving policy makers by offering feedback on how education policy shapes Michigan schools, as well as the teaching profession.

Bob Maxfield introduced the background of the guests. Jarod McGuffey is currently a 21st Century Teacher and Instructional Coach in Fraser Public Schools, and Chairman of the Board of a charter school in the Detroit area. "He worked with the Galileo Consortium for the past four years to lead the development of a network throughout the state of Michigan of teacher leaders, concerned about the future of education.” Mary Binge is an instructional coach at the elementary level, from the Center Line Public School District in Macomb County. Laura Haydamacker is a middle school science and math teacher from Flat Rock Community School District in Wayne County. The third fellow, representing Oakland County is Kyle Geralds, who was unable to join us today. Kyle is a high school social studies teacher in the Farmington Public School District.

Jarod observed that the movement in education has been growing around teacher leadership, especially in recent years. “Teachers should be valued, both as the foremost authorities of instruction and as leaders whose feedback can inform the development of policies that can drive improvements in the education system and student outcomes.”

He credited “Dr. Bob Maxfield, who along with a powerful group of educators launched the Galileo Teacher Leadership Academy, which has empowered close to 1500 teachers. These teachers would graduate from one of the most transformational two year commitments in their career.”

As a graduate of the program, Jarod described the first year, Galileo 1.0, “as guiding teachers through the self -examination of their own practices and helping them become the best version of themselves, whether this is their pedagogical practice or just as an individual. Then Galileo 2.0 equips teachers with the necessary skill set to lead and build capacity at the building and or district level.”

“Dr. Maxfield launched the new initiative to expand that influence of teacher leadership at the state level. Galileo 3.0 is a nonpartisan advocacy group of educators focused on building collaborative partnerships among teachers, administrators, and policymakers, to ensure every Michigan learner receives the highest quality of education. The goal is to simply support our superintendents through collaborative advocacy, and serve policy makers offering feedback on how education shapes Michigan schools, as well as the teaching profession. So the mission for Galileo 3.O is to collaboratively reframe the agenda for public education.”

“The original priorities, which have shifted a little bit, were: teacher retention and recruitment, which still stands to be a very big concern, and the issues we need to continue to address: adequate, equitable school funding; mental health and social emotional learning; teacher evaluations; and the third grade reading law.”

“One way we could be most effective in meeting the needs around these priorities was by simply creating an awareness of the suggestions and findings of the 2018 school finance research collaborative, the SFRC. The School Funding Research Collaborative is a research based successful school model, bipartisan adequacy study that suggested that the cost to educate a general education student is roughly $10,000. Although we are closer to that number than we have been in the last 25 years, we still have further to go, hence the need for Trusted Voices.”

“Recently one webinar we hosted featured former state Rep. Dr. Sheryl Kennedy, who now serves as MDE legislative liaison, and current state Rep. Brad Paquette. Together they helped us walk our teachers and ourselves through looking beyond the pandemic. And that webinar can be found on our website.”    www.trustedvoicesed.com

“Prior to the pandemic, Trusted Voices were holding meetings with dozens of the legislators from both sides of the aisle. We'd partnered with the Education Caucus in Lansing, where 10 educators and 10 legislators met together to build those relationships that are necessary in moving forward. We met with our current and previous state superintendents. We presented to MASA (Michigan Association of Superintendents and Administrators), regional superintendent meetings, and local ISD superintendent meetings. We wanted our superintendents to be well informed and to vet their Trusted Voices representatives.  We published a few articles, one of which was an op-ed entitled “Trust teachers with reform ideas.”

“In order to really have an impact and a seat at the policy making table, Trusted Voices needs teacher leaders who are conversant in both classroom practice and education policy, to speak the language and understand the invisible playing field. We held some initial training on policy and representing one's district with former state Rep.Christine Greig, accompanied by district HR and public relations personnel. Dr. Kathy Merry from Wayne RESA (Wayne Regional Education Service Agencies) clarified for us the difference between advocating and lobbying, as we need to make sure that we are seen as advocates as opposed to lobbyists. Dr. David Arsen, MSU professor of Educational Policy, led us in a zoom meeting regarding issues of school funding and finance.  Additionally we had mentors like Dr. Randy Liepa, Wayne ISD Superintendent, and our Oakland University Galileo team.“

“Trusted Voices has worked with representatives from both sides of the aisle; former state Rep. Dr. Sheryl Kennedy, a Democrat and former school administrator, who now serves as MDE legislative liaison, and current state Rep. Brad Paquette, a Republican and former public school educator. This whole initiative has to be seen as oriented toward education policy, not toward the platform of either the Republican or Democratic Party.”

Moving forward as the new school year begins, Jarod notes that “Zoom is the appropriate choice for communicating with our stakeholders from every level.  Recorded zoom trainings can be re-watched, shared and archived. Zoom has enabled teachers to lead from the classroom without leaving the classroom.” As far as future plans, Jarod emphasized that "the SFRC remains relevant. Although districts have ESSER funds, we still need to address this blueprint and create that awareness.”

Laura Haydamacker reflected that “the pandemic gave us time to evolve, reinvent ourselves and self-examine our goals; how we can influence policy to help teachers in the future and how to highlight what's best for kids through policy. We want to highlight the benefits to students of programs created with ESSR funds. There are programs that are new, innovative and well needed to help learning for all Michigan students and to be more equitable now that funds are there. So we're excited to be able to advocate for these policies to continue.”

 Mary Binge commented on the long standing concerns and inequities which were revealed by the pandemic. In her district which went virtual, “not all children had devices and the district rallied and got devices to everyone.” Sharing the concern for internet access, she seconded the importance of equity and access for all students in Michigan. “In the metro area, we know that a lot of the schools have different needs but I mean Michigan. There's a lot of rural parts of Michigan that children don't have access to the Internet.”

Jarod explained, “Equity we define as the responsibility of public schools to ensure all children receive an opportunity for success, and when you have this reality of resource scarcity and that's simply with public schools that the need for our students will always be greater than the available funds.”  He alluded to the current environment, “which exposed inequity with some districts lacking some critical resources and the need to shift thinking about school funding. While acknowledging the need to address funding, the current mission of recipients of ESSR funds is deciding what to do with the money."

Mary Binge previewed the agenda for the upcoming months. Along with this podcast, she listed writing an op-ed and a call to action to our Trusted Voices Fellows.  Writing organized letters to legislators and policy makers was another action on her list. The first letter would be written in September or early fall, introducing Trusted Voices as partners and thanking them for the additional funding. A second letter would be sent in January, providing examples of how this funding has impacted our students. 

Another goal of Trusted Voices is reconnecting with legislators and policy partners such as the Michigan Education Caucus, The Education Trust-Midwest, the Michigan Association of Superintendents and Administrators (MASA) as well as Launch Michigan which has a similar goal of equitable funding for students. Mary shared that she has established Trusted Voices connections with Rep.Lori Stone from her district, and former Center Line Public Schools Superintendent Eve Kaltz.

For more information on Trusted Voices, visit their website   www.trustedvoicesed.com or Trusted Voices (@TrustedVoicesEd) on Twitter