1/22/2009 1:48:00 PM The New School held up as a shining example
Chris Korsmo, executive director of the League of Education Voters (LEV), discusses the LEV’s 2009 Citizen’s Report Card at the New School in Columbia City on Thursday, Jan. 15. Compared to the last report LEV did in 2007, small improvements have been made in the quality of the state’s educational system.
Photo: ERIK HANSEN
By ERIK HANSEN
Facing a bank of television and print reporters in the lunch room of Columbia City's New School on Thursday, Jan. 15, the executive director of the League of Education Voters (LEV), Chris Korsmo, announced the results of her organization's latest report concerning the health of Washington state's public school system.
"The report card is nothing to brag about," Korsmo asserted. "It's nothing you'd want your kids to bring home."
LEV graded the state in five areas. The first is the state's investment in early learning and ensuring every child can read by the third grade: C+. The next category, raising the professional bar for teachers, earned a C+ as well. For our state's focus on math, science and engineering, LEV gave Washingtonians a C, and for preparing for life with solid college and workforce training opportunities the state earned a C-. In the final and arguably most farsighted category, funding the future of education in Washington state, LEV scored Washington with a D+.
Korsmo's announcement of her organization's two-year study, LEV members handed out information that highlight the truly serious nature of the state of public education in Washington. According to Education Week, the state ranks 44th in the nation in K-12 per-pupil spending at just over $8,500. Additionally, the National Center for Education Statistics reports that Washington is 46th in the nation for student-teacher ratio and 40th in the nation for student-counselor ratio.
However, Korsmo acknowledged the results, while dire when considered with the findings of the other educational advocacy groups operating in the United States, do represent progress. In fact, Korsmo noted that LEV chose Columbia City's New School as the site to announce their latest findings because the school serves as a proverbial high water mark for the entire state.
"The New School is a model school to show how to invest in early learning education," Korsmo said. "It's one of the premier schools in the [Seattle] School District."
Established in the fall of 2002, The New School features sustainable monetary support from the $1.575 million New School Foundation Grant. The annual grant to the school district - specifically targeting The New School - by the foundation increases the school's per-student expenditure by around 30 percent. The funds are allocated in cooperation with the school's principal and staff as well as in accordance to the foundation's mission, which seeks to construct "partnerships with public schools serving low income families."
In particular, Korsmo praised The New School's commitment to early education. She noted it provides a smooth transition for preschoolers when they move into grade school in a facility they are used to, faculty they know, and friends they've grown up with.
Laura Kohn of The New School Foundation estimates that this year's per-student expenditure at the school rose to approximately $15,000 from the district's $11,800 because of the grant.
"There are other sources of early learning support, but it's mostly public," noted Kohn, who called her foundation's relationship with The New School a unique arrangement in the state. "The [educational] definitions [LEV] came up with is what we're doing here at The New School."
The impact of this private partnership on the school was highlighted by Korsmo, who underscored the importance of state, school district, community and school leaders securing stable sources of funding. It's a push for sustainability that Korsmo says is crucial, especially with the bleak nature of our country's current economy.
"We need to identify a long-term funding process," Korsmo asserted. "You can't put a fifth-grader's life on hold while we fix this financial crisis. On the other side of this mess, we'll see where our values are."
To learn more about the League of Education Voter's 2009 Citizen's Report Card on Washington State Education, visit www.levfoundation.org.
Erik Hansen may be reached via editor@southseattlebeacon.com.
