Feds target school vending machine junk food

Life could change at a lot of schools all around the country.

The feds are pushing for healthy foods in school vending machines.

From the New York Times:

WASHINGTON — The Obama administration will begin a drive this week to expel Pepsi, French fries and Snickers bars from the nation’s schools in hopes of reducing the number of children who get fat during their school years.

In legislation, soon to be introduced, candy and sugary beverages would be banned and many schools would be required to offer more nutritious fare.

To that end, Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack will deliver a speech Monday at the National Press Club in which he will insist, according to excerpts provided to The Times, that any vending machines that remain in schools be “filled with nutritious offerings to make the healthy choice the easy choice for our nation’s children.”

The first lady, Michelle Obama, said last month that she would lead an initiative to reduce childhood obesity, and her involvement “shows the importance all of us place on this issue,” Mr. Vilsack said.

We're not the only ones facing the funding cliff

MPS has a lot of the company that misery loves.

From the New York Times:

Federal stimulus money has helped avoid drastic cuts at public schools in most parts of the nation, at least so far. But with the federal money running out, many of the nation’s schools are approaching what officials are calling a “funding cliff.”

Congress included about $100 billion for education in the stimulus law last year to cushion the recession’s impact on schools and to help fuel an economic recovery. New studies show that many states will spend all or nearly all that is left between now and the end of this school term.
With state and local tax revenues still in decline, the end of the federal money will leave big holes in education budgets from Massachusetts and Florida to California and Washington, experts said.

“States are going to face a huge problem because they’ll have to find some way to replace these billions, either with cuts to their K-12 systems or by finding alternative revenues,” said Bruce Baker, an education professor at Rutgers University.

The stimulus program was the largest one-time infusion of federal education dollars to states and districts in the nation’s history. As the program took shape last year, Education Secretary Arne Duncan and other officials repeatedly warned states and districts to avoid spending the money in ways that could lead to dislocations when the gush of federal money came to an end.

But from the start, those warnings seemed at odds with the stimulus law’s goal of jump-starting the economy, and the administration trumpeted last fall that school districts had used stimulus money to save, or create, some 250,000 education jobs.

The funding cliff looks very large here in Wisconsin, where the state faces a $261 million hole in its state aid budget.

More reaction to DPI's move to withhold funding, maybe

From the JS editorial page:

Evers' move should not have come as a surprise. When he took over last year, Evers said he would pull this trigger if changes were not made. MPS cannot continue to post below-average results and offer no innovative plans to fix what's wrong.

For too long, the state and others have been too tolerant of MPS inaction and inadequacies. We applaud Evers' tough love and urge him to keep up the pressure on the district.
The system is broken. Instead of criticizing Evers, MPS should use that energy to address the five straight years of missed targets on progress under the federal law. The only real authority Evers has to make sure those reforms are enacted is the ability to stop channeling federal funds to the district.

MPS will claim that withholding funding punishes kids. That claim would have more bite if the district's budget weren't $1.3 billion and we had more confidence in the School Board's ability to govern.

From US Rep. Gwen Moore (D-Milwaukee):

I read with much dismay in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel that you are beginning a process to take away Federal funding from Milwaukee’s public schools. Your action is especially troubling given that Congress and the Obama Administration are working to change the one-size-fits-all approach of No Child Left Behind that was designed to punish schools, not students. I ask that you immediately stop the process to withhold $175 million in critical Federal funding from Milwaukee Public Schools.

We simply cannot lift our children up and build a workforce in Milwaukee and in Wisconsin for the 21st Century if we are poorhousing our kids’ education.

We both want every MPS student to succeed, and we also want a thriving school system in Milwaukee that guarantees equal opportunity for every child. Our kids deserve nothing less. But punishing our children is no solution. If our schools are not meeting expectations today—they sure won’t be able to meet expectations tomorrow with even fewer resources.

Community members have indicated they believe you are withholding this Federal funding as part of an attempt to take away local control of Milwaukee Public Schools in order to qualify for Race to the Top funding. If that is the case, I want to remind you that Education Secretary Arne Duncan has repeatedly told me and our community—he even put it in writing—that mayoral control of public schools is not necessary for Wisconsin to receive Race to the Top funding.

You know that Milwaukee Public Schools just hired a new superintendent who will start in the summer. Your move only takes away local ability to bring about positive changes in our schools. It makes sense to immediately stop this process of withholding $175 million from Milwaukee Public Schools because we must give our new superintendent a chance to succeed.

From State Sen. Lena Taylor (D-Milwaukee):

It is unfortunate that (State) Superintendent (of Public Instruction) Tony Evers has to take this drastic step to make the MPS board follow the law. Yesterday, Superintendent Evers was forced to use his only power to demand the MPS Board make its district comply with the corrective action plan issued by DPI in accordance with federal law....

Throughout this time, MPS has continually desired more talk and negotiation about the details of the corrective action plan, rather than comply with the requirements of the federal law.

It is more unfortunate that the Legislature has not recognized and continues to ignore this entity which blatangly ignores the law and the failing educational system it governs.

Lisa Kaiser of the Shepherd Express:

So Evers, who has been working with MPS on its corrective action plan mandated by No Child Left Behind, is now trying to withhold funds from MPS based on No Child Left Behind rules that the Obama administration deems unfair and unrealistic and is trying to change? Looks like the takeover folks are desperate. Unfortunately, MPS’s most vulnerable students are being used as pawns.

The reaction to Evers' move

From Pundit Nation:

It's hard to know what to make of yesterday's threat by Tony Evers, Wisconsin's Superintendent of Public Instruction, to withhold millions of dollars in federal funds for Milwaukee Public Schools.

At first blush, it's hard to take it all that seriously. While no one's confirming a number there is a breathtaking estimate of $166 million floating around. That wouldn't just be a matter of Evers, a career bureaucrat, exercising some jurisdictional control to make a point. The funds themselves are slated for districts with large numbers of low-income families and actually losing the money would be devastating for MPS, which struggles mightily to put together an annual budget. As someone notes at this JSOnline blog post, the move is analogous to penalizing the leadership of an under-performing hospital by letting all the patients die on the operating table.

From School Board Member Larry Miller's Blog:

As a school board member I have participated in overseeing MPS’s “Corrective Action Plan” as each step has been negotiated with DPI. We have carried out the plan as mandated by DPI to the letter of the law. And DPI admits to this.

Face it, this is not about improving education for our kids. This is another pathetic attempt to force mayoral control of MPS. Tony Evers has no idea about how to reform MPS. He has told state legislators that he would cut funds to force mayoral control.

From AMPS:

Wisconsin Superintendent of Public Instruction has officially embraced a policy of starving Milwaukee Public Schools into submission by exercising his power to withhold Federal funds from the district....

Since Evers has been linked at the hip to Doyle and Mayor/Gubernatorial candidate Tom Barrett on MPS issues, one calculation may be that Barrett will win votes outside of Milwaukee based on this. I wouldn’t count on that off-setting the votes lost in Milwaukee or those lost around the state from people who actually know a thing or two about education. My first reaction is that Barrett just lost the election. Probably an over-reaction (really too early to tell), but not an outrageous conclusion.

The timing is bad too. Unless this is direct reaction to the Superintendent hire, it makes no sense to not give Gregory Thornton a chance to at least get settled. It certainly makes his job more difficult, if not impossible.

From comments posted to JS Online:

I'm torn on MPS. Do we go around democracy and "fire" the elected school board? Do we make our schools less accountable through elections? First it's MPS then it's a small "failing" rural district then it's the lowest performing suburb. Isn't Barrett using MPS as a pawn to get to Madison, he's wasn't elected mayor last year and MPS's decline is not recent. Will taking 10 to 15% of the MPS budget "help" MPS? Won't that punish the teachers, students, and other staff instead of the MPS policy makers in their golden offices on Vliet street?I think the status quo needs to change. But it needs to be said again, the problems of MPS are not just those created inside the walls of MPS schools and fully the failings of the MPS staff and students. The problems go beyond the school. The problems in urban society are reflected through MPS, yet MPS is dysfunctional in its leadership.

***

I teach in MPS and love my kids even with the obstacles. Evers need to address some of the variables TEACHERS cannot control. Let's start with miserable attendance. I really can't teach kids that only come once or twice a week. How about parents that actually tell me, "I don't have time to be dealing with ____. I don't know why you people call me to complain about my child. He/she is your problem- not mine." (This is a reoccurring conversation.) Many of the children I see had poor prenatal care and received just as poor care as an infant. Please don't tell me poor prenatal care and feeding your infant SUGAR does NOTHING to the child.

***

I honestly think this has turned into one big cycle of failure. The people who's parents and MPS failed before are now having kids of their own and voting for those who run MPS. Surprise surprise!!! Guess what? Those people are now failing their children, who in turn do no favors to MPS. Of course, MPS can do little to help those kids since it already buckles under the weight of it's own structural problems. All I know is this cycle needs to stop if we ever want to get anywhere. I don't know if this will do it, but maybe it will finally force the dramatic action needed to overhaul this mess.

Andrekopoulos blasts Evers' move

Superintendent William Andrekopoulos lashed out at State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tony Evers over Evers' unexpected decision to withhold up to $175 million in Title I funds from MPS.

Evers notified the district of his decision Thursday. In a sharply worded response to the move, Andrekopoulos said that Evers had assured twice him during a phone conversation that the Department of Public Instruction did not intend to withhold the funds at this time, "only that you had the authority to do so in the future. The notice you sent at 12:28 p.m., less than ten minutes after we concluded our telephone conference, clearly indicates that you have made the decision to reduce to zero all administrative funds and defer all programmatic funds the district would otherwise receive. Since the notice and the conversation vary so dramatically, I cannot help but wonder what has occurred here."

The notice clearly states that Evers will withhold the funds, but provides an avenue for appeal and also allows Evers to make a "final decision" if MPS does not appeal.

Andrekopoulos said in his letter that "you do not specifically say why you have made the decision, nor do you state what it is that Milwaukee Public Schools should be doing differently to comply with its DIFI (District Identified for Improvement) plan. As I am sure you can imagine, this news is particularly devastating given the current financial landscape of MPS as well as serving to deflate the enormous effort MPS has been undertaking to comply with the DIFI goals you have laid out for us."

He continued: "It has been and continues to be the district's position that MPS is complying with the goals set forth by the Department of Public Instruction. This notice is a significant detraction from all of the good work we have been and continue to do to support the needs of the students and families of the Milwaukee Public School District. We have forwarded this notice to our counsel to assist the district with filing for a hearing on this action as listed in your notice; however this letter is not a request for hearing. It is unfortunate that you have decided to take such an extraordinary action given the amount of progress we had been making working with your staff over the past several months."

Evers' notice of his decision is here.

Andrekopoulos' letter is here.

Here's a shocker: education news scarce, misdirected

From eSchool News:

A recent study from the Brookings Institution says education isn’t getting its fair share of national news coverage–and isn’t getting the right stories reported when it does.

In 2009, only 1.4 percent of all national news consisted of education-related stories, up slightly from 2008’s paltry 0.7 percent, according to the study.

Education stories that did get reported tended to focus on episodic events, such as last spring’s budget crisis or last fall’s H1N1 outbreak. “Periodic crime sprees” also topped national news reports.

In comparison, other public policy issues such as foreign affairs, economics, health care, business, and crime get more—and better—coverage. (And potential mayoral takeovers?)

Released in December, the study reviewed 551 news stories from national television, cable, radio, print, and online sources, along with 691 wire stories from the Associated Press (AP).
Local news fared better in the report and was seen as less reactive. However, the lack of coverage about the actual work of schools remains a problem, even on the local level.

School Board furthers central reorganization

The School Board last night voted to move authority for partnership school programs from the administration to the School Board. Superintedent William Andrekopoulos, however, told the Board that some complexities related to the operations of the Division of Diversified Community Schools meant that further discussions between the administration and the Office of Board Governance were needed before the transfer could occur.

The Board earlier voted to move oversight of 35 charter schools from the administration to the Board.

Partnership schools generally are for at-risk students, adjudicated youth and students with behavior problems. Some early childhood programs also are contracted programs. There are about two dozen contracted and partnership schools and programs.

The Board also voted to take control of most of the grants staff, the Division of Diversity and Community Engagement and general accounting staff.

The Board directed that the reorganization not increase the district budget.

Most of the transitions will occur in April, with a few occurring in July.