NEWS RELEASE
Release Date: November 19, 2008
Contact: Caron Blanton, APR, Director of Communications, 601-359-3706
Children First Act aims to reform underperforming schools
Leaky roofs. Sinking test scores. Classrooms of students without hope, textbooks or highly-qualified teachers. Leadership in the district in denial.
After spending more than five months researching education issues affecting performance, members of the legislative Task Force to Study Underperforming Schools and School Districts believe it is time to treat an emergency like an emergency. Today, they are unveiling the outcome of their work: "The Children First Act of 2009,"aimed at helping raise up the state's most vulnerable schools.
"Schools are successful when the focus is on our boys and girls," State Superintendent of Education Dr. Hank Bounds said. "When the focus is on adults, and other issues that are not student-centered, achievement is much less likely to be where it needs to be."
Recommendations released today by the 15-member Task Force, commissioned in the 2008 Regular Session, range from holding school leaders more accountable to requiring better engagement from the community.
But the common goal underlying all the dozen-or-so policy propositions is clear: Helping the state's worst performing districts help themselves in order to move Mississippi forward. If all of the recommendations are taken in to consideration, supporters believe it could be the most sweeping K-12 reform in more than a decade.
"It's time to take a new approach and I believe these recommendations are a giant step in the right direction," Dr. Bounds said.
Some of the provisions in the Children First Act include:
- Creating a Mississippi Recovery School District that would be set up to govern school districts that are taken under conservatorship by the state.
- Holding both superintendents and school board members accountable for underperforming districts, including possible removal if there is no progress in achievement and other accountability measures.
- Requiring districts to create P-16 (Pre-kindergarten through Higher Education) Councils that include a variety of school, community and business leaders in order to get everyone engaged in finding solutions.
This year, six districts remained on the "advised" list and another six districts on the "probation" list for not meeting accreditation standards. The Mississippi Department of Education (MDE) currently has three districts - Hazlehurst, North Panola and Jefferson Davis - under conservatorship either for low achievement, serious financial problems or both.
Education chairmen in both the Mississippi House and Senate, who chaired the Task Force together, support the recommendations.
"It does not make sense for us to wait until the last second to stop these schools from hitting rock bottom," House Education Chairman Cecil Brown said. "Every session that passes us by marks another group of children who are dropping out or graduating unprepared."
The dropout rate for the Class of 2007 was 15.9 percent.
Senate Education Chairman Videt Carmichael added that making sure all students graduate and become part of a qualified workforce will pay economic dividends in the end.
"If we are going to move this state forward, we have to make sure our schools are competitive with the rest of the nation," he added. "Mississippi's future begins and ends with the successes of our children."
The recommendations also support the Mississippi Board of Education's three bold goals including:
- Reducing the dropout rate to 13 percent by 2013.
- Reaching the national average on national assessments by 2013.
- Ensuring all students exit the third grade reading on grade level by 2020.
"These goals must go hand in hand with what the Task Force has recommended because none of them will be realized if we don't help our schools that need help the most," Mississippi Board of Education Chairman Bill Jones said.
To learn more about the Task Force to Study Underperforming Schools and School Districts or to view the final policy recommendation report visit http://www.mde.k12.ms.us/Extrel/leg/08Task_Force_Underperforming.html.
Members of the Legislative Task Force on Underperforming Schools and Districts, (l-r) Johnny Franklin, Linda Watts, Claiborne Barksdale, Dr. Hank M. Bounds, Sen. Videt Carmichael, Rep. Cecil Brown, Tim Timbs III, Adam Bunch, Dr. Lynn Weathersby, and KaTina Kitchens-Lloyd unveil the banner for The Children First Act of 2009, the given name to the collective policy recommendation report. MEC representative Vickie Powell, standing in for Task Force member Blake Wilson, is also pictured.
