Review mixed on school councils
By Derrick DePledge
Advertiser Education Writer
School Community Based Management councils probably have not improved student achievement in the state's public schools, but they have given people at the local level an opportunity to influence school policies, a new study has found.
Since revamping SCBMs is a significant piece of the Democrats' education-reform package now moving through the state Legislature, the study provides
interesting background, outlining the drawbacks and successes of a reform movement that was hailed in 1989 as a form of local control.
Lawmakers at the time envisioned that SCBMs would have power over school budgets and education priorities, the very claims lawmakers are making today for proposed local councils.
Those initial expectations were excessively high, researchers found, and SCBMs have not fulfilled their promise.
Still, the study concludes that local school boards — Gov. Linda Lingle's proposal — would add another layer of bureaucracy to the system, and that the key to a successful SCBM lies in transferring authority to the school level.
The study was done by Pacific Resources for Education and Learning, a nonprofit education-services group, in response to the state Department of Education's request for a fresh analysis.
"What we're looking at is how to get the SCBMs to work in the right way," said Ann Mahi, director of the school and community leadership branch at the DOE. "I think it's a matter of teaching the elephant to dance."
Democrats see an improved form of SCBMs — what state schools superintendent Pat Hamamoto has likened to a board of directors — as the vehicle for local control.
Although House and Senate versions differ in the details, lawmakers are preparing a requirement that every public school have a school council made up of the principal, staff, teachers, parents, students and community representatives.
Principal accountable
The new councils would have authority to shape a school's budget and curriculum. House and Senate lawmakers have yet to agree on whether principals would have final say over a school's direction or would have to work collaboratively within the councils, with disputes resolved by an outside mediator or the state Board of Education.
Under either scenario, principals would be held accountable for student test scores and overall school performance. The reform bills also give principals and schools more control over school finances through a new student spending formula that bases financing on student need rather than school enrollment.
"I trust the people at those schools to make the best decisions," said state Rep. Roy Takumi, D-36th (Pearl City, Palisades), chairman of the House Education Committee.
But Mark Recktenwald, the Lingle administration's director of commerce and consumer affairs, said the new councils could actually diffuse decision-making power in a school system heavy with bureaucracy.
"Who is accountable under this system?" he said. "It's not clear."
Lingle has sought to split the DOE into local school districts with elected school boards that would hire principals and oversee the performance of individual schools. The House has rejected Lingle's plans, while key senators are opposed or skeptical but have promised that the governor's proposal will be heard.
Researchers looked at previous SCBM reports and related information in December and January, and interviewed educators, lawmakers and policy-makers before submitting the new study to the DOE. The study evaluates existing SCBMs but does not address the Democrats' reform bills.
It found that the DOE has failed systematically to track SCBM performance, so it is not clear whether — but unlikely that — the councils have improved student achievement. The absence of oversight and accountability also makes it difficult to tell whether SCBMs have set or accomplished specific goals.
Mixed performance
All but 27 DOE schools have SCBMs, but results vary considerably from school to school, the study notes, and depend largely on the principal's commitment and the involvement of school staff, parents and the community.
The study recommends that principals not be given veto power over the SCBM unless the councils go beyond their authority or violate state law. Researchers also found that union contracts are seen as a major stumbling block to school waiver requests.
The new councils favored by Democrats could run into the same obstacles as SCBMs, some educators say, either because of a lack of quality parental or community involvement or because principals chafe at power-sharing.
Lawmakers will have to tackle the thorny question of how to balance a principal's power and accountability, as well as navigate through the inevitable implications for labor.
Lingle and her advisers have described the new councils as more advisory in nature than local school boards, and argue that they, like SCBMs, would not bring about real change. "We think SCBMs — regardless of what you call them — are not in the best position to provide oversight," said Randy Roth, the governor's education policy adviser.
Researchers took issue with allegations — made mostly by the governor's supporters — that the central DOE, with its statewide school board, limits public input below the board level. The study claims there is ample public input at schools where SCBMs are working effectively.
Exceptions to rule
The BOE has approved 640 school waivers to state education policy, the study found, although researchers also cited school complaints that the waiver process could be slow and frustrating. The board has denied 57 waivers, mostly related to personnel issues, such as principal hiring or keeping probationary teachers.
The most common waiver requests from SCBMs are for staff development days or modified school calendars, although schools also have applied for tougher student promotion policies and more timely grade reporting. Several high schools have obtained waivers allowing attendance to be used in calculating grades, to help combat truancy.
Elaine Christian, the principal at Hilo Intermediate School on the Big Island, said one of the 10 waivers the school won calls for teachers to turn in grades on the last day of the quarter, so staff can have report cards ready when students return from school breaks. "Parents have loved it," Christian said.
Hilo Intermediate has had trouble meeting the state's academic standards, but Christian said she is working on restructuring with the school's SCBM. She said she was not uncomfortable with the idea of a school council that could have even more control over the school's mission.
"A principal has to know and has to feel the pulse of the community," she said. "That's the only way a school can move forward."
Reach Derrick DePledge at ddepledge@honoluluadvertiser.com or 525-8084.
