Word began trickling in via email Wednesday morning. Something about a Senate bill that passed through the General Assembly this week.
And the reaction from those pushing for reform in Arkansas' schools--real reform--was mostly: Outstanding!
Finally, finally, finally, Senate Bill 342 is on the governor's desk. And there's no telling how much this will improve education in Arkansas in the years to come should he sign it.
Teachers and principals could tell you now about the reward program the state promotes every year. Especially those teachers and principals who've seen the checks. If students in a school score well enough on standardized tests, those schools are rewarded with . . . money. Real money. Cash. As if teachers and principals are human, too, and like the extra money, not to mention the recognition that goes with being told you've done a great job.
Over the years, the rub has been how to rank the schools. By top scores? Or by how much a school has improved on those scores from one year to the next?
For some reason, state law combined the two. Which hardly seemed fair.
Here's why: Imagine a school that made the most progress of any school in Arkansas last year, but still couldn't crack the Top 10 percent when students' tests were graded. All that work, and little reward. Or imagine a school that consistently scored high on standardized tests, but can't improve much. For how improve when your score is 99 percent?
For years now, reformers have wanted to reward both categories--separately. Senate Bill 342 does that.
In the future, schools in Arkansas--charter or traditional public--are to get $100 per student if students finish in the top 5 percent on standardized tests. The next 5 percent will get $50 per student.
And . . . schools in Arkansas are to get $100 or $50 per student depending on how much improvement students make from one year to the next.
This is really the best of both worlds. It gives schools that have performed poorly in the past a realistic objective to reach. And the schools that have always done best still get rewarded.
Thank you, lawmakers. This has been a while in coming.
The good news doesn't end there. For in the past, the rewards program, such that it was, wasn't fully funded. The best schools were to get up to $100 a student, but there wasn't money in the budget to give schools that much money. Instead, the best schools had to split up the $7 million that was budgeted. Which meant last year those schools got something like $90 and $45 for each student.
Word around the campfire is that $7 million is now $10 million. Which is progress. But some of us would rather the state be obliged to pay the $100 and $50 per kid even without that $10 million limit. What if rewarding the best schools next year costs more than $10 million?
But that's another editorial. This one should stay positive. Goodness knows Senate Bill 342 is a positive step for Arkansas' schools and teachers.
Most importantly, it moves the state away from the previous bad habit of treating every school, and every school district, the same no matter how they educate kids. One day, maybe even soon, some sort of merit pay system will become law, and we'll be able to reward individual teachers this way, too. Here's to keeping the good thought.
Editorial on 03/28/2015