Latest news with #SamZurier
Yahoo
21-04-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Providence public schools need to get priorities in order. These three bills show how to do it.
The school library at Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Elementary School on the East Side of Providence. (Photo by Alexander Castro/Rhode Island Current) The plot is thickening in the Rhode Island Department of Education's (RIDE) takeover of Providence public schools. It's been five years. Providence wants them back ASAP. But neither side has offered ways to rebuild the foundations that cement the dysfunction. Until now. Useful ideas are emerging at the State House, with increasingly specific proposals that have actual meat on nice-sounding principles. In a true act of forward movement, Sen. Sam Zurier, a Providence Democrat, introduced three bills on March 7 that could really improve how Providence schools govern themselves, deploy their own resources, and maintain high quality staff. Zurier's bills were introduced a month after Gov. Dan McKee and RIDE outlined nine conditions the city must meet to regain local control by June 2026. Basically, the city must provide more money, fiscal transparency, a trained and well-informed board, and improved facilities. No argument there, but where are changes to education policy per se? One condition told the city to 'establish performance-based outcomes for contracts at the Providence Public School Department, such as custodial services.' Wait. Custodial contracts?! The nine conditions seemed tone deaf to report after report. Like the Providence Blueprint for Education, which called the school district 'confused about priorities.' Like the Johns Hopkins Institute for Education Policy 2019 review that precipitated the takeover by documenting a laundry list of problems, from the majority of students performing below grade level to demoralized teachers and unsafe school buildings. Like last year's Senate Education Commission's report, identifying the Providence teachers contract as a huge obstacle to student success. Sen. Sam Zurier, a Providence Democrat, introduced three bills on March 7 that could really improve how Providence schools govern themselves, deploy their own resources, and maintain high quality staff. RIDE Commissioner Angélica Infante-Green soon followed up with a substantial, detailed letter to the city clarifying and reducing nine conditions to five overarching concerns: Governance, Finances, Facilities, Legislation and a Transition Plan. Four of the concerns have numbered and bulleted details with educational asks, like requiring the school board to shift its focus from adult inputs to student outcomes — the very heart of the matter. But 'Legislation' has only a vague sentence requesting an intergovernmental team to work on state laws 'to remove legislative barriers to improving outcomes and opportunities for Providence's children.' While clearly anti-kid and anti-education, legislative barriers seem immutable because no one wants conflicts with our powerful teachers unions. Remember this: A public-sector teachers union is a private-sector business whose mission is to benefit and protect teachers. The laws serve adults. Thankfully, the trio of bills from Zurier offer a better way. Here's how: Senate Bill No. 745 – Expedited grievance process State law imposes a grievance procedure so onerous, administrators rarely try to discipline or fire a non-performing teacher. Unions argue they 'counsel out' poor teachers with a stern conversation, and sometimes that does work. But teachers' union dues entitle members to full-throated legal protection if they want it. Abundant stories, now too old to threaten confidentiality, include the 80-year-old who slept through classes, but whom the union protected on the grounds that the district had not supplied adequate professional development. The commission offers an example of the onerous process with the story of a 2014 grievance that originated with an evidence-filled termination letter to a certain teacher. After several district hearings, the grievance went to RIDE for 'an appeal to a hearing officer, a review by the commissioner, a second review by the commissioner, an appeal to the Council on Elementary and Secondary Education and an appeal to the Superior Court which upheld the termination.' The Supreme Court is still an option. Solution: End blanket protection of all teachers no matter their performance by shortening the wealth of opportunities to appeal administrative decisions. At the same time, this bill would create guardrails to protect teachers who serve students well. The guardrails legislate against arbitrary or vengeful terminations by including a list of specific grounds for reprimand or dismissal. If the shorter appeals process doesn't work, the matter goes to binding arbitration by specified outside parties whose decision is final. These revisions are fair to teachers and create flexibility for administration. Senate Bill No. 746. Mandatory annual salary step increases By law, districts and their municipalities must stick to a 'a salary schedule recognizing years of service' with up to 12 annual pay increase steps. This 'lock-step' pay system is a throwback to the 1960s automotive factory workers' contracts on which our teachers' contracts were modeled. Districts can not negotiate innovative pay systems that incentivize our best teachers to stay in the profession by, for example, advancing up the salary scale more quickly by taking on leadership roles. Conversely, teachers who need to improve get the same salary bump as everyone else. Solution: Eliminate the 'lock-step' mandate so schools have the freedom to deploy their resources where they're needed. The adjusted bill allows Providence to 'negotiate alternative salary schedules' outside of the rigid factory-model uniformity, which may include other 'bases for increased compensation' including paying 'teachers willing to take on greater responsibilities.' Senate Bill No. 747. Laying off teachers by seniority State law mandates hiring, laying off and re-hiring teachers by seniority, which is to say, who has the oldest date of original hire. If student enrollment declines, unionized teachers must be retained or re-hired by seniority. Administrators don't get to decide to keep the most effective educators on staff. It's LIFO, or Last In, First Out. Another old story: Years ago, the district dismissed a famously popular Teacher of the Year because his three-year probation wasn't up yet. Senior teachers who had not been rehired by a failing school that was being rebooted ('reconstituted') had legal rights to his job. The public hew and cry made no difference. Seniority is the law. Even if contract negotiators agree to suspend strict seniority, they invite lawsuits. Solution: Limit LIFO, with caveats. The new bill is longer than the original 1960s-era legislation because it details what teachers might be retained regardless of seniority. They include bilingual teachers, teachers with excellent evaluations or needed skills, teachers of the year and others. For the record, teachers of color are more likely to be new, so LIFO upsets efforts to diversify the workforce. It's worth noting that these bills were assigned to the Senate Labor Committee instead of the Education Committee, again prioritizing adult concerns over kids. There's still time, though. The legislature can still make the needed changes. If not, the dysfunctional Providence district will be a hot potato passed back and forth between the state and the city, neither of which really has the tools to succeed. If that happens, the Providence students will be right back where they were in 1993 when these problems were first reported. Remember the local cliché: 'As goes Providence, so goes the state.' SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX
Yahoo
04-04-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
R.I. Senators float alternatives for a decades-old school takeover law
Sen. Sam Zurier, a Providence Democrat, wants to radically revise the Crowley Act, which regulates school district takeovers in Rhode Island. The current law does not offer much detail on how the takeovers should operate. (Screengrab/CapitolTV) Providence's public schools may remain under state control until 2027. Three senators who represent parts of the city want to change the state law that made the takeover possible. The Crowley Act was first introduced in 1997 and lets the state education department seize control of underperforming school districts. The act's sparse instructions for state intervention — about 380 words in all — is not exactly adored by present-day lawmakers, its unpopularity concentrated in the capital city of Providence, where the school system's many stakeholders continue to lament the state's 2019 seizure of its schools. 'I am one of three councilors back in 2019 that actually testified against the takeover by the state,' said Providence City Councilor Helen Anthony at a meeting Wednesday of the Rhode Island Senate Committee on Education. 'One of the reasons that I was strongly in opposition to the takeover was because of the Crowley Act itself. It was woefully inadequate, in my opinion still is, in what it does [and] doesn't do.' Anthony was testifying in support of two bills, S0860 and S0861, by Sen. Sam Zurier, a Providence Democrat who previously visited city councilors to discuss his plans to codify a better receivership model should state takeovers happen again. The bills belong to a suite of four pieces of legislation crafted during a special legislative study commission led by Zurier in 2023 and 2024 that sought new ways to structure the relationship between the many stakeholders in the Providence public school system. Zurier's tweaks to the state's framework for intervention are based on the Springfield Empowerment Zone in neighboring Massachusetts, where a school district staved off state control through a radical revision of teachers' union contracts. 'That vision, I am pleased to report, is union friendly,' Zurier said of the Springfield initiative, noting that 96% of the district's unionized teachers approved of the most recent contract. Zurier's bills would apply to Providence only, and would create a statute authorizing a third-party receiver to manage the district, rather than the state doing so directly. The state would appoint the receiver, who would be 'a nonprofit entity or an individual with a demonstrated record of success in improving low-performing schools or districts or the academic performance of disadvantaged students,' according to one of the bill texts. The receivership would be authorized for up to three years, and allow the third-party to oversee staffing and budget decisions, teacher renewals and a turnaround plan with clear metrics to determine the takeover's success. The receiver would also have some power to modify collective bargaining agreements, and Zurier's bill specifies time periods for contract and dispute arbitration. The current Crowley Act fails to specify much in its regulation of state takeovers in its two paragraphs on the process of state intervention, compared to the 10 pages of regulations in one of Zurier's bills. 'I know it's strange to be thinking about amending the Crowley Act when the city of Providence is considering returning to local control, but I think it's absolutely critical,' Anthony said, arguing that the bills have value for school districts statewide. 'Even though this is Providence specific, they will ensure future interventions are more effective, more accountable, and ideally less necessary.' Former Providence schools superintendent Susan Lusi told senators that Zurier's bills 'will create legal clarity regarding the state's authority moving forward.' One example of the Crowley Act's ambiguities: Last year's protracted legal battle between the state and Providence in which a judge agreed the city owed at least $15 million to plug up deficits in the state-controlled budget. The parties had contradictory interpretations of the city's statutory obligations for school funding under the Crowley Act. Rather than dismiss the possibility of state control, Zurier's bill is actually meant to codify a stronger form of receivership, should it happen again. 'None of this could have happened in Springfield if they weren't scared of a state takeover under the rigorous Massachusetts law,' Zurier said. 'The argument is that you need to have a structure like this in order to…incentivize people to do the right thing.' Jeremy Sencer, testifying on behalf of the Rhode Island Federation of Teachers, disagreed. 'We can do many of the things, if not all, of the things that they do in the Springfield Empowerment Zone,' said Sencer, who was part of Zurier's study commission. 'It is possible, but that requires building trust, and we are not going to have trust at the end of a threat. It's just not going to happen after this takeover…You cannot legislate trust.' Two other Providence Democratic senators on the education committee offered alternate visions of state takeovers. Sen. Jake Bissaillon's S922 would permit state takeovers but only for individual schools, not entire districts. Union representatives spoke in favor of this approach, which stemmed from Bissaillon's utter dissatisfaction with the state takeover. 'What grade would you give the takeover over the last six years?' Bissaillon asked Anthony when she spoke on Zurier's bill. The city councilor gave the takeover a 'C,' but when Bissaillon spoke on his bill, he graded it without a curve: 'The takeover in 2019 completely foundered…I think I would give it an F for abject failure.' Sen. Tiara Mack also offered a school-based solution, with legislation that would require Providence schools to 'form local elected school-based councils' at each of the district's public schools, according to the bill text. All four bills were held for further study, which is standard practice. The same day state senators mused on the mechanics of receivership, the collective voices of Providence public school students were compiled in a document released by OurSchoolsPVD, an assembly of youth-led activist groups that began in 2019 in response to the state takeover. The 11-page 'community needs' document details the trends and prominent concerns about the city's schools shared by students themselves at a December event,. The students' collected opinions reflected a ground-level vantage point, describing a number of more material and social issues like poor school buildings with mold and falling ceilings, subpar transportation and curriculums that don't make space for students of different backgrounds or center people of color. The report noted that 'People are not satisfied with school leadership broadly…They are frustrated by a lack of progress, transparency, accountability, and care for students.' But the biggest complaint was a general lack of support, which was mentioned 54 times by students who attended the event. 'There is overwhelming agreement that students feel unsupported in school,' the report states. SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX
