• On the report card, enrollment is 104,829 in 2009 and 110,753 in 2007 and 116,528 in 2006. But there are more administrators (439 to 359), schools (199 to 194), teachers (7,259 to 6,438), and per-pupil spending ($10,394 to $9,254) now than there were three years ago. Why is that?

• The report card classifies 100,617 of the 104,829 students in MCS as “Title 1,” which is federal government-speak for “high-poverty schools.” Are you telling us that there is no middle class and no upward mobility in Memphis, a city that takes great pride in its entrepreneurship, flagship companies, and aspirations to become a “city of choice”? …

• Approximately 86 percent of MCS students are classified as “economically disadvantaged” and eligible for free and reduced price lunches. Have you ever audited this number, and how and when does MCS ask kids or their parents to document their family income?

  A full-price lunch in a school cafeteria costs $2 and includes an entrée, two vegetables, bread, and a beverage. That’s $10 a week, or less if you brown-bag it. If everyone is that poor, then why do you need a cell phone policy?

The entire article is brilliant. Unfortunately, questions like these rarely get asked to anyone in a meaningful forum.

Technorati Tags: Memphis City Schools, MCS, Memphis Politics, Kriner Cash, Failing Our Children

The second largest employer in the City of Memphis faces a second round of layoffs.  More jobs are on the line at Memphis City Schools as Superintendent Kriner Cash announced a new effort to save more taxpayer dollars.

“We have to do a major, major restructuring,” says Dr. Cash, “of the entire organization.”

Dr. Cash dropped that bombshell during a budget hearing with the school board on Tuesday, March 9, 2010.  MCS, the largest school district in the state of  Tennessee, 23rd largest in the nation, with 107,000 students and more than 10,000 employees, is in for a major shake-up this time around.

I like the savings to the taxpayer, but I hate to see anyone lose their job — especially in these times.

Technorati Tags: Memphis City Schools, Layoffs and Unemployment

Second, any effort to improve our schools ought to start with those that are clearly failing. We have in Tennessee 20 schools today that have hit the wall; under our own laws are called out for having failed to show adequate progress for at least six years running; these are failed schools. Seventeen of them are in the Memphis school system, two are in Hamilton County, and one is in Nashville. That list will grow by another five or six this August.

From reading the text of the Governor’s speech, I get the impression that spending will increase and nothing will really change.

Don’t be surprised as the number of failing schools continue to rise.

But the state has given Memphis Schools all “D’s” and “F’s” for overall achievement — again.

The Tennessee Department of Education gave Memphis City Schools “D’s” in math, reading and social studies and an “F” in science for overall achievement in kindergarten through 8th grades. …

But students did better than they did the year before. The district got high marks for progress, with “B’s” for Math and Reading and “A’s” for Social Studies and Science.

So how well are Memphis schools doing to deserve that “B” and “A” for improvement?

• One in three high-schoolers have sub-par math skills
• One in five elementary and middle-schoolers don’t measure up in math
• One in five kindergarten through 8th grade students don’t make the grade in reading
• One in ten high schoolers reading skills aren’t up to snuff

Fayette County students aren’t doing much better, earning the district a “D” in Math, Reading and Language and Social Studies and a big, fat “F” in Science.

Tipton County students fare much better with “B’s” in Math, Reading and Language and “C’s” in Social Studies and Science (about the same as the state average).

Shelby County schools, however, have reason to be proud: straight “A’s” in achievement and for academic progress.

No wonder Memphis mayor “King Willie” Herrenton wants to consolidate the Memphis and county school systems; adding in the county schools would result in a nice “C” average for his “legacy”.

Little more than 62 percent of Tennessee students graduated with regular high school diplomas on time three years ago — 7.4 percentage points below the national high school graduation rate of 69.6 percent that year.

In addition, Tennessee now ranks 45th in the ranking of states able to keep their kids in school, a stunning drop from the already-low rank of 30th just last year:

In 2000, Tennessee’s [school dropout] rate was the same as the rest of the nation at 11 percent. But by 2004, the national rate improved to 8 percent while Tennessee remained unchanged.

Who to blame?

Sen. Roy Herron (D-Dresden), chair of the Select Committee on Children and Youth, said the report was alarming.

“The study is either false or unconscionable in reporting that our children are this poorly treated,” Herron said.

Ah yes, Head-Democrat-In-Charge blames the study. Of course, he couldn’t possible blame poor leadership (i.e., Gov. Bredesen).

And then there’s this:

Nationally, Tennessee ranked 46 on how children in the state are faring in several areas including infant mortality, low birth weight babies and teenage pregnancies.

We should change our state motto. Something like: Best State to Live In . . . If You Got No Children.

Technorati Tags: Tennessee Education Failure,
Failing Our Children,
Killing Our Future,
School Dropouts,
Governor Phil Bredesen,
Another Bredesen Failure.

Students from high-income families benefit more from Tennessee’s lottery scholarship program, according to a newspaper analysis of lottery records.

In Hamilton County, for example, the average student with a lottery scholarship comes from a family that makes $71,980 a year, compared with the $38,930 median household income the U.S. Census Bureau reports for the county.

The trend is common in nearly every part of the state, according to a report by The Chattanooga Times Free Press, which looked at 2005 state lottery data.

The program gives an additional $1,500 to low-income recipients who qualify, it’s just the “qualify” part that’s the problem. How many kids from low-income families are going to make a 3.0 GPA or a 21 on the ACT?

It’s the families where the parents have college degrees that make certain that their kids do well in school. The families struggling to get by are sending their kids to a school that is struggling to control gang activity. Only the most incredibly exceptional kids are going to do well in that environment.

You can’t ignore these kids for 12 years and then expect them to perform with the promise of money if they can pass a test! We need to get our priorities straight.

Technorati Tags: Education,
Lottery,
Scholarships,
Tennessee Politics,
Failing Our Future Generations.

Last season, only Memphis University School and Houston High School had trap shooting clubs.

That changed when Shelby County School Board member Ron Lollar heard about the 400 scholarships set aside by the Tennessee Wildlife Federation for Tennessee high school trap team members across the state.

Lollar and County Schools Supt. Bobby Webb gathered interested coaches and sponsors to form four more teams from Arlington, Bolton, Germantown and Briarcrest high schools. To join, students must maintain a “C” average, cannot misbehave and must complete a Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency hunter’s safety course.

I always liked Ron Lollar.

And who would’a thunk it? The Commercial Appeal prints a story about kids with guns and doesn’t descend into left-wing nut-bag ranting, not even a little.

Technorati Tags: Scholastic Shooting,
Education,
Second Amendment,
Memphis,
Tennessee,
Shelby County.