We see a consistent problem in RCAS. There seems to be a need to continually tweak, review, and impose changes at the Elementary level. These children are our most “moldable” and we know that the best and earliest interventions will often give them long-term benefits. It seems this is why Elementary gets the brunt of the changes in the district. This is frustrating for teachers, parents, and kids. This leads to data that does not paint an accurate picture from year to year because things keep changing. Next year our teachers are facing rigorous standards with hardly any classroom or instructional support. We are adding assessments, to be more efficient at finding areas where kids are struggling. We have a fantastic balanced literacy program and a strong foundation in inquiry based Math. However, we know two things are happening; we are adding assessments and systems and taking away support. This data will not be an accurate reflection of the child’s ability or the teacher’s skill. Remember, new systems have to be learned and new assessments analyzed. A large amount of instructional time will be lost to implement these new systems and strategies. Plus, we have reduced staff. We already have a guaranteed and viable curriculum. We have literacy and math systems in place. We need our teachers better trained in all aspects of both of them. We need a professional culture for them to implement these effectively. We need to mentor our new teachers and help them understand why they work. We need parents educated on the meaning behind the current assessments, not adding new ones. We know we have weaknesses in both areas let’s study those weaknesses and discuss how to make them strengths. Decisions are being made without consulting some of our best and highly trained educators. This makes us struggle with trust in our leadership. Where is the shared vision? Where is the shared leadership? We want to have a logical conversation about what is best for our children. We are in such a fragile state we do not need add –ons. We need the district to be transparent with their vision and how they intend to fulfill it. We need to be cautious about what we are adding on to a shrinking staff. Be watchful!
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We spoke with Shannon Rittberger, Director of Equalization for Pennington Co this week and put together this presentation about our Property Taxes. There are two great links to videos from North Dakota and Minnesota on the basics of Property Taxes. Basically property taxes are collected by various taxing authorities to meet their budget needs, including the State, County, City, Schools and special taxing districts like fire, water, roads. Your property tax bill will break down what taxing authorities are collecting from you. Property taxes meet a portion of these authority's budgets. The State of South Dakota equalizes the property assessments across counties. They also set caps on the amount each authority can budget, these are increased based on an index factor of the consumer price index or a percentage. If assessed values go up, the levy's go down to keep the budget at the capped level. In the case of the School District, the cap limits the budget growth. So as costs increase cuts must be made to services to balance the budget with revenue. Click on the presentation below for more information.
Undertaking the endeavor of researching and explaining property taxes is a difficult one. It was important to us to find sources outside of the district and keep our explanations simple. We have discovered there is a great deal of confusion about property taxes. First, the schools do not get all of the tax money. For example, let's say you pay $2500 a year in property taxes; it goes to multiple support services. That $2500 dollars does NOT go directly to the schools. The money is divided up and used in various places. Some of it goes to the schools but the rest is used by the county. (We have included links below to show our sources.) Secondly, increased valuations does NOT mean more money for the schools. The amount of money we received is CAPPED. Yes, CAPPED! It is dictated by the state funding formula.This is why we are supporting the opt-out. We are saying we need money beyond the cap. Opting out of this cap, that is set by the state funding formula NOT local governing bodies, will allow the district to meet their budget needs. Right now, these needs are higher than the per student amount set by the STATE. The intent is to allow the district to fund local needs. Our state is trying to put the control back into our hands. They want the people to fund their own schools.
http://www.rapiddevelopment.com/market-intelligence/taxes-business-environment/ https://bfm.sd.gov/budget/rec15/misc/State_Aid_Formula_FY2015GovRec.pdf Investing in education improves the outlook for Rapid City. People with a strong educational background are far less likely to need government assistance. They will obtain jobs that allow them to pay back into the system that educated them so well. A strong system produces students who can read, write, interpret, and discuss any kind of text. They can solve real word problems. They can use scientific strategies to innovate. They can understand the Math behind the decisions they and any other institution makes. A poor educational system produces young adults who lack motivation, who have no need to strive for excellence, who often choose ignorance because it is the easier path. A poor educational system turns out kids who are unqualified for higher education or even a strong vocational experience. An uneducated populace leads to areas of higher poverty, higher crime, and dependence on welfare. These are facts! We do not want to see Rapid City get overwhelmed with more social and economic problems when we have a chance to change the trend; to invest in education and invest in the future of Rapid City.
Let’s have a discussion about why there are those who are against the opt-out. The biggest concern we have heard is that the district cannot be trusted with the money and that cuts should come from the top down. We do agree the district has not earned that trust since they were not good stewards of the little they had. However, the opt-out is not as simple as it seems. Voting it down will not achieve the goals of trust and accountability.
This money will MAINTAIN programs. If it does not pass we are facing more cuts. Some items on the table are AP courses and changes in transportation. Do we really want to take away a child’s chance at advanced classes over a tax increase? Do we really want to take away a child’s only means of getting to school on the principle of not raising taxes? Not passing the opt-out is going to do more damage than good. As to making cuts in administration, we must understand how it is defined. The school board defines it as “all of the central office employees but also principals, assistant principals, technicians and staff. Overall, Rapid City has fewer administrators per student than any other large district in South Dakota.” They earn $60,000-100,000 a year; with the superintendent making $150,000. Cutting administration will not recoup the 6 million dollars needed to continue. We probably could make some shifts at this level but defeating an opt-out won’t make that happen. That will happen when a diligent and educated public urges the school board to restructure. Teachers start at $31,500. Passing this opt-out would give them a small and much needed raise as well as maintain current programs. Before you vote against the opt-out please make sure you have all the accurate information from both sides. We have plenty of time to gather the facts, ask questions, and hold our leaders accountable. If you are here, we hope you are just as curious as we are about the direction of our public schools. Things are not making sense and we are trying to be a place where we can explain them. Feel free to ask questions and know we will do our best to find the answers. Come back if you want to learn more about the budget, the opt-out, the districts vision, and ways we can support our awesome teachers and make our schools stronger!
Many of us have busy schedules and find it difficult to stay involved. The BOE posts all of its meetings to Vimeo. This is a great way to watch the meeting, formulate your opinion, and then contact your school board representative with questions. The encourage involvement! Below are the comments from the meeting on Tuesday. It was powerful!
Another part of this discussion needs to revolve around educating the public. There is a part of the community that fully supports our district. We are willing to give them a chance to turn things around. However, there is a large part of the Rapid City community that has a negative opinion about the district, teachers, and how their tax dollars have been handled. There are doubts that the opt-out money will actually make a difference. Our leaders need to hear these voices. They need to understand that negativity can spread like wildfire and the only way to extinguish it is to educate and inform. They need to be honest throughout the whole process and make sure the information is reaching the people who need it most. It is easy for us to have a scapegoat, to lay blame on a particular person or the entire board but we have to see we also have some responsibility in the problem. Many of us who started this journey had no understanding of the budget facts. We never went to a board meeting, we never reached out to those who we trusted with the decisions, we never took part. That has to change. Some of us have now spent countless hours reviewing official documents trying to find the problem or find the “smoking gun”, to place blame. This was actually a great place to start because we learned this problem is systemic. There are many players involved; from the state to the leadership at the local level. The finances of the school district have been a problem for many years. This is the first time we have seen the public stand up and say “Enough!” This is the first time the public is doing their homework, educating themselves, getting involved in the discussion, and advocating for change. As we read comments on various news sites we see we still have a mountain to climb when it comes to educating the public. There is an abundance of misinformation being passed around. We need to continue to be open with everyone throughout this process and welcome debate. We get stronger from being questioned and challenged. We have seen the start of parents, the board, and the administration working together; imagine the possibilities if we had all of Rapid City involved in the conversation. Post your questions, share your opinions and rest assured they will be answered with facts from official state and distriict documents from an objective group of citizens whose only agenda is to spread the truth.
The opt-out has passed with a resounding “Yes” and in the most positive way possible. We are hopeful that passing the opt-out will give this district some much needed momentum. This was a good night for RCAS. Everyone was on the same page, supporting our teachers and schools while taking a major step in the right direction. A vision of collaboration and trust was shared, and as a group, we are going to hold the Superintendent accountable to every word in his impassioned speech. We are going to hold the board in the same manner. We cannot allow anyone to expect any less. All members of the board championed teachers, and spoke of how this is not an easy process but good can come out of it. We heard them validate every single problem on this blog and their commitment to change. However, it is our job to stay diligent, to hold everyone accountable to their words. This evening was inspiring and in order to build the trust with the community we need to see actions that reflect those inspirational words. Remember, trust is something that is earned. We thank them for passing the opt-out, for the commitment to better schools, and we will hold them to it. With that, let’s celebrate this victory, share the positive message, and reinforce how effective coming together is for our district. Tonight we celebrate!
Accountability breeds response-ability. -Stephen Covey We have to get our voices heard with the school board and support the opt-out. The school board has to pass it tomorrow so that we can get it to go to a public vote. Please contact your school board representatives, come to the meeting this Tuesday at 5:30 or sign this petition. They need to know that the vast majority of the community does not like the direction we are headed. https://www.change.org/p/the-rapid-city-board-of-education-vote-yes-on-the-opt-out?recruiter=93551464&utm_source=share_petition&utm_medium=facebook&utm_campaign=share_facebook_responsive&utm_term=des-lg-no_src-no_msg&fb_ref=Default With the opt-out looming we need to educate ourselves about teacher pay. It is sad that it has to be such a controversial topic, but it is. As teachers, we have heard the argument about summers off and clocking out by 4 PM. We can tell you very few teachers live life this way. They work from 7 AM to 5 PM, they come in one weekends; and yes, they work over the summer at school and second jobs. The reason why you have heard more talk about the pay issue is how it is structured. RCAS has a pay scale. This includes steps that are supposed to reward a teacher's experience. It also includes an increase in pay as you continue your education. It sounds fair and looks to reward veteran educators who have pursued higher degrees. The problem is the steps have been frozen. Teachers have only gained 2 steps in 10 years. You may have ten years of experience with a Master's Degree and only be on step three. It is not just a raise the teachers need, they deserve to have their steps back. Right now a first year teacher makes about 100-200 dollars less than the same teacher mentioned above. This means the reward for experience, for broadening your horizons and bringing an expertise into this district is a little more than a couple of hundred dollars. What is the incentive then? Why stay? Other school districts within driving distance of RCAS pay 5,000-10,000 dollars more. We are loosing excellent teachers because they are tired of this level of disrespect. If the opt-out does support teacher salaries this may help you see why it is being discussed. The district is looking at raising the starting salary. This, in turn, allows the scale to adjust off that number. This means everyone will get a small raise. It does not address the step issue. If we do not pay well we cannot attract excellence, we cannot provide a reason to further their own education, and we will be seeing those effects in the classroom.
We can longer accept the status quo. The world is changing and our graduates are fleeing this state at an alarming rate. Our advanced students are not being challenged enough and our struggling students are not getting the much needed interventions. Our teachers do what they can with the support they have but it is not enough. They need more support. We need more opportunities for enrichment. We need serious, dedicated, consistent interventions for those who are not up to par. We understand the goal is to reach proficiency but what happens after that? There is a gaping black hole in the system. We need to have a discussion on how to bring challenges and creativity back into our classrooms. The answer is not more testing, more guides, or more theories. The answer comes from a practical application of our ideas. We hear we don't have the enrollment or money to offer enrichment opportunities. We see it differently. Offer the enrichment and we will have the enrollment. We are trying to shift the perspective to one where risks can be taken to propel our district into the future.
This is a huge problem. We are losing quality educators and it is not just over pay. Yes, we have a ridiculously low salary base and it is not right. Our teachers cannot even keep up with the cost of living. They are highly qualified, dedicated people who do not get any compensation for their hard work. But there is more to this issue than just pay, this stems from a larger problem where their voices are not being heard. Our teachers are in the trenches and know educational policy and procedure better than anyone else. They know what is working and what is not. They know that researched based does not necessarily work for every child all the time. They believe in research and best practices but also need the trust and flexibility to do what they know works. We have amazing educators with advanced degrees and years of experience that are not being utilized to help shape this district. Morale is low and their is a major lack of trust in the system. Who can blame them? We need to fix this. We can no longer allow our teachers to go unheard and unrewarded. They are the heart and soul of this district. They are the ones interacting with out children every single day. We need them to be at the top of their game and feel valued and respected. This is what will increase our test scores.
Let's face it, we can't put all the blame on the State. This problem has been coming for a while. The well is dried up and their is nothing else to do but make more and more cuts. This is going to affect the level of education our children receive. The bigger problem is the breakdown of communication. Things are tense in RCAS. People are not talking to each other and rumors are everywhere. Fingers are being pointed, sides are being taken, information is not being shared, and people are being blamed. This is not a good time. However, this is the best time to set aside all agendas and have an honest conversation. I think we can all agree this is about our kids. We need to do better for them. We need to realize we are all on the same team with the same goals. We are trying to be an objective filter, to get some momentum back. We need to have a vision of how we see RCAS changing for the better. We want it to be a place where people move here just to go to our awesome schools.
The problems RCAS are facing are mutli-faceted and complicated. There is no easy fix. We will try to break it down so we can start a discussion about all the players and their role in our children's education. We all know the state has drastically cut funding over the years. Their purpose is to put the control back into the hands of the local people. If the state increases the funding, they have more say on how it is used. However, the cuts have been so drastic most districts cannot keep up. For example, the state did decide to give us a 2% increase this year. That is a move in the right direction but it does not even cover the cost of increased expenses. The formula is also flawed. It does not account for inflation or a transient population. The Governor has created a Blue Ribbon Task Force of legislators to look into problems with education. (There are no teachers, administrators, or parents on this task force.) We need to lobby our state to increase funding and change the formula. We are looking to gather all of that contact information to disseminate to the public. Here are some links that might help explain the above post:
http://www.sdbpi.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/SD-Talking-k-12-funding-web-posting-11-6-14.pptx |
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