Echoes from Cañon
Examples of Excellence
Lincoln teacher Debbie Denardo engages all her students in a lesson.
I would like to take a moment this week to offer kudos to our K-5 instructional staff, district-wide, for their outstanding work implementing our newly purchased literacy resources. This has been quite a work culture shift for many teachers as they are moving from a world where they were once offered professional development that we did not follow-up on with continued support and an expectation that what they learned be put into practice in the classroom. For folks who have not traditionally worked in an environment where coaches, consultants, and administrators consistently observe their instruction, offer constructive feedback, and model additional effective ways to teach kids, this can be quite daunting. However, this work is allowing us to shift to a culture where all teachers consistently use research based instructional routines proven to be effective in increasing student proficiency in literacy. Even more exciting, based on mid-year DIBELS assessment results, 3 out of 4 of our grant targeted grade levels are showing significantly higher growth results than they were at this time last year!
I feel a prime example of this great work is happening at Lincoln School of Science and Technology where the entire staff is focused on increasing student engagement. In just a few month’s work on this front coach, consultant, and principal walkthrough observations have shown an increase in the use of research based student engagement strategies teachers have been trained in from a baseline observation of 15% of classrooms, to 62% of classrooms using such strategies in December, and 91% of classrooms do so in January. This means more students are observably engaged in learning reading skills, and I have no doubt this will pay off in the form of higher achievement. Thank you!
I feel a prime example of this great work is happening at Lincoln School of Science and Technology where the entire staff is focused on increasing student engagement. In just a few month’s work on this front coach, consultant, and principal walkthrough observations have shown an increase in the use of research based student engagement strategies teachers have been trained in from a baseline observation of 15% of classrooms, to 62% of classrooms using such strategies in December, and 91% of classrooms do so in January. This means more students are observably engaged in learning reading skills, and I have no doubt this will pay off in the form of higher achievement. Thank you!
The Focus of Our Work
The Cañon City Schools board of education is in the midst of its annual evaluation of the superintendent. Last year the board and I created a superintendent evaluation process aimed at measuring my performance based on the role we have agreed I should fulfill as chief executive officer of the school district. This includes attempting to quantify the following:
- How I support the Board of Education in its governance of the school district.
- How I establish and operate a district level collaborative leadership system, guide the establishment of a district vision, mission, and set of core beliefs and communicate them to the entire educational community
- How I ensure every teacher in every subject area at every grade level has access to the resources needed to teach a curriculum aligned to state standards.
- How I ensure student learning of the curriculum is measured and that these learning results are used to guide instructional improvement.
- How I ensure teachers are guided by building administrators who support their professional growth and instructional improvement.
- How I support administrators to lead school improvement processes by providing leadership development and effective feedback.
- How I support administrators in making sure teachers instruct the curriculum in a way that measures student learning and engages all students.
- How I establish processes to allocate district resources and align their use to support academic and facilities improvement processes.
- How I ensure effective supervision and operation of the instruction, human resource, business, facilities, transportation, nutrition, safety and wellness, and technology departments.
- How I advocate for the greater financial and political interests of the school district at the county, state, and national levels.
- How I develop a trusting and collaborative relationship with local, state and national employee associations.
Last Week
District Title I teachers work in PLC format at our district-wide staff development day.
I began my work week Monday catching up on non-essential correspondence I had happily put off during vacation. I also attended some of the fine professional development activities Adam Hartman set up for our teachers around the district. I ended my day Monday at a board work session and a very quick meeting. On Tuesday I started my day in our monthly touching base meeting with the Cañon City Police Department, then conducted a SAC meeting that included preliminary discussion about next year’s building staffing levels. During the afternoon I continued catching up on correspondence I fell behind on during my vacation. On Wednesday morning I had a monthly administration office team meeting, then spent the afternoon preparing for mid-year building evaluations. On Thursday I had a morning meeting with McKinley principal Drenda Manning and a lunch time regional manager’s meeting. I spent the rest of the day working on special projects at my office and meeting with parents. On Friday I spent the morning in a regional superintendent meeting, visited Harrison K-8, then worked on office tasks and met with parents and employees during the late afternoon.
This Week
Senator Grantham answers constituent questions in Cañon City.
I’ll begin Monday by meeting with some Harrison PTO officers, then our regional health and wellness coordinator Kristi Elliott. I then meet with some key folks about improvements we are striving to make at our Cañon Online Academy program based in the ACCESS Center. I also have a few employee and parent meetings, including a bi-monthly touching base meeting with district literacy coordinator Gina Gallegos. I’ll end the day Monday attending Senator Kevin Grantham’s question and answer session at the city council chambers. On Tuesday morning I’ll attend SAC and BSERT (district safety) meetings. I’ll then conduct a monthly leadership team meeting in the afternoon. On Wednesday morning I’ll have my monthly breakfast meeting with classified association leaders, and then I’ll observe some delayed start professional development activities that take place around the district. The rest of my day will be spent working on our BEST grant narrative. Most of my day Thursday will be spent working on the BEST grant, but I’ll take breaks to attend my monthly meeting with RE-2 superintendent Rhonda Roberts and Fremont County Department of Human Services executive director Steve Clifton. On Friday morning I’ll be in Denver at the capitol attending an Early Childhood Leadership Commission presentation to the state legislature. I’ll spend my afternoon in the office preparing for the coming week.
The Way I See It
This funding trend line shows how far below the national average Colorado funding has dipped.
Last week, in an effort to increase awareness about education funding in Colorado, I did my best to explained how schools are funded. This week I would like to ask the question, “is there actually a problem with Colorado’s system of education funding?”
A common place to start is where Colorado has historically ranked nationally in per pupil funding. From 1970 through most of the 1980’s Colorado hovered right around the national average. At its finest, Colorado’s per pupil funding was a whopping 203 dollars above the national average (1986). However, beginning in 1988, and virtually every year since, Colorado’s funding rate has fallen further and further away from our national average. The most recent data available shows that as of 2014 we fund each student $2,685 less per year than the national average state. From 2008 to 2013 Colorado actually decreased overall education funding by 12%, ranking us among the 5 states in the US that have made the deepest education cuts during this time period.
Ironically, the deepest cuts in Colorado education funding came on the heels of the passage of Amendment 23, a constitutional initiative approved by a majority of Colorado voters in 2000 designed to address this problem by increasing education funding each year by the annual inflationary rate plus 1%. Amendment 23 increases were designed to only include inflationary adjustments beginning in 2010 and moving forward. Unfortunately, the onset of the Great Recession and the state revenue crisis that resulted, led Colorado's legislature to create something called the "Negative Factor." Last week’s readers might recall some of the finance formula funding factors I referred to such as percent of free or reduced lunch students, district size, and cost of living. The Negative Factor was added to Colorado’s school finance act to actually subtract per pupil dollar allocations from each school district in order to balance the overall state budget.
To bring this down to a more personal level, if my daughter Priscilla, an 8th grader this year at Harrison School, had attended Cañon City Schools beginning in Kindergarten, she would have started right when the recession hit in 2008. With the creation of the Negative Factor in 2010 it is easy to track how Cañon City School District operating revenues shrank to the point where the district must operate on approximately 3 million dollars less per year than was intended by the voters who passed Amendment 23 back in 2000. Take this forward 7 years and it is safe to say our district has, in essence, forever lost a total of 18 to 20 million dollars of operating revenue it was promised by Colorado voters back in 2000. As a result, Priscilla and her cohort of students are among the first generation of Colorado children for whom we as a state have chosen to invest significantly fewer dollars in educating.
The result of the implementation of the Negative Factor is clearly illustrated in the line chart I have attached showing just how much education funding decreased in Colorado, compared to the rest of the United States. What has this really meant to the Cañon City School District? Though CCSD has taken drastic measures to reduce personnel costs, consolidate facilities, make the most of its financial resources, and keep important programs afloat, we remain in a position where it is nearly impossible to stay ahead of basic facility maintenance needs, to offer competitive pay to attract and retain high quality teachers and support staff members, and to provide students access to up to date technology resources and equipment in the course of their instruction.
Last night I had the pleasure of engaging President Pro-Tem of the Colorado Senate Kevin Grantham in a conversation about this. I asked him if he feels there is, in fact, a problem with education funding in Colorado. His answer was yes. However, through his experienced eyes he showed he understands the problem to be a statewide revenue and expenditure issue. I'll focus more on this concept next week.
In the mean time Senator Grantham promised to work hard to do all he can to make sure Colorado education funding does not fall deeper into the Negative Factor hole. I believe he played a key role in this effort last year in his role on the Joint Budget Committee. However, I explained to him that I kind of enjoy home improvement projects. When I have a leaky pipe at home, one that drips water because it, in fact, has a hole in it, I tend to find it better to do the extra work necessary to replace the entire length of pipe. I know that wrapping some duct tape and glue around it will only hold it for a while.
It is my greatest hope that this year our legislature get down to the important work of replacing this leaky pipe, before my daughter's public education career is over.
Thanks so much for listening!
George S. Welsh
A common place to start is where Colorado has historically ranked nationally in per pupil funding. From 1970 through most of the 1980’s Colorado hovered right around the national average. At its finest, Colorado’s per pupil funding was a whopping 203 dollars above the national average (1986). However, beginning in 1988, and virtually every year since, Colorado’s funding rate has fallen further and further away from our national average. The most recent data available shows that as of 2014 we fund each student $2,685 less per year than the national average state. From 2008 to 2013 Colorado actually decreased overall education funding by 12%, ranking us among the 5 states in the US that have made the deepest education cuts during this time period.
Ironically, the deepest cuts in Colorado education funding came on the heels of the passage of Amendment 23, a constitutional initiative approved by a majority of Colorado voters in 2000 designed to address this problem by increasing education funding each year by the annual inflationary rate plus 1%. Amendment 23 increases were designed to only include inflationary adjustments beginning in 2010 and moving forward. Unfortunately, the onset of the Great Recession and the state revenue crisis that resulted, led Colorado's legislature to create something called the "Negative Factor." Last week’s readers might recall some of the finance formula funding factors I referred to such as percent of free or reduced lunch students, district size, and cost of living. The Negative Factor was added to Colorado’s school finance act to actually subtract per pupil dollar allocations from each school district in order to balance the overall state budget.
To bring this down to a more personal level, if my daughter Priscilla, an 8th grader this year at Harrison School, had attended Cañon City Schools beginning in Kindergarten, she would have started right when the recession hit in 2008. With the creation of the Negative Factor in 2010 it is easy to track how Cañon City School District operating revenues shrank to the point where the district must operate on approximately 3 million dollars less per year than was intended by the voters who passed Amendment 23 back in 2000. Take this forward 7 years and it is safe to say our district has, in essence, forever lost a total of 18 to 20 million dollars of operating revenue it was promised by Colorado voters back in 2000. As a result, Priscilla and her cohort of students are among the first generation of Colorado children for whom we as a state have chosen to invest significantly fewer dollars in educating.
The result of the implementation of the Negative Factor is clearly illustrated in the line chart I have attached showing just how much education funding decreased in Colorado, compared to the rest of the United States. What has this really meant to the Cañon City School District? Though CCSD has taken drastic measures to reduce personnel costs, consolidate facilities, make the most of its financial resources, and keep important programs afloat, we remain in a position where it is nearly impossible to stay ahead of basic facility maintenance needs, to offer competitive pay to attract and retain high quality teachers and support staff members, and to provide students access to up to date technology resources and equipment in the course of their instruction.
Last night I had the pleasure of engaging President Pro-Tem of the Colorado Senate Kevin Grantham in a conversation about this. I asked him if he feels there is, in fact, a problem with education funding in Colorado. His answer was yes. However, through his experienced eyes he showed he understands the problem to be a statewide revenue and expenditure issue. I'll focus more on this concept next week.
In the mean time Senator Grantham promised to work hard to do all he can to make sure Colorado education funding does not fall deeper into the Negative Factor hole. I believe he played a key role in this effort last year in his role on the Joint Budget Committee. However, I explained to him that I kind of enjoy home improvement projects. When I have a leaky pipe at home, one that drips water because it, in fact, has a hole in it, I tend to find it better to do the extra work necessary to replace the entire length of pipe. I know that wrapping some duct tape and glue around it will only hold it for a while.
It is my greatest hope that this year our legislature get down to the important work of replacing this leaky pipe, before my daughter's public education career is over.
Thanks so much for listening!
George S. Welsh