Test Mania: A School is Not a Spreadsheet
by Article about LAUSD’s irresponsible budget priorities. Blog at http://www.davidlyell.me.
LAUSD has issued more than 9,500 RIF notices to UTLA bargaining unit members, denying educational opportunities to our communities, and shuttering Arts Programs, Adult Education, and Early Childhood Education.
The LAUSD school board majority says they they don’t have a choice, even though they’re spending $2 million to $4 million (the equivalent of 25 to 50 employees) on citywide implementation of the Early Start Calendar; they’re keeping $200 million locked away in a drawer, accounting for it as money they’ll spend later; and over the next four years the District intends to increase the number of administrators by 27% (according to the four-year budget LAUSD submitted to the county).
There’s at least one other area they’ve prioritized over saving jobs and programs: high-priced periodic assessments, created by outside companies.
The LAUSD budget receives little attention, in part because the public is given a very small window to scrutinize the few numbers that are available. Additionally, the available information is scant on substance, despite the misnomer at the top of the website: “LAUSD Budget Realities: Budget Transparency”.
Given this lack of transparency, it isn’t even clear how much LAUSD spends on periodic assessments. We do know that in 2010 LAUSD signed a five-year, $24 million contract with Core K12.
In an effort to to solve the mystery of how much periodic assessments are costing, I posed the following questions in an email to Core Education and Consulting Services (which owns Core K12), Core K12, and the LAUSD Communications Office:
How much is LAUSD spending on periodic assessments? How much has LAUSD expended in contractual agreements with Core K12 and/or its parent company Core Education and Consulting Solutions? Are there proposed contracts with Core K 12 and/or its parent company that have not been signed yet? If so, in what dollar amounts, please? Is there any discernible proof whatsoever that any of the results produced from these non-mandated testing agreements has led to even the slighest increase in academic achievement, literacy, and/or graduation rates? Are there any plans to scrap any of the existing contracts in light of proposed lay-offs of over 5,000 Certificated Employees, class size increases in K-3 from 24 to 30, and 3 students per class in grades 4 and 5, and the elimination of the following programs: Adult Education, Arts Education, and Early Childhood Education?
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