Education in America

Reading through the Washington SHB 1495 progress report and then through the Memorandum of Understanding from WSU I was initially struck by the large scope of activities and funding proscribed by attendees of the WSSDA compared to the limited scope of the empanelled members' duties outlined in the MOU.  Of course, WSU began 10 years earlier when they started considering how to integrate more Indian studies into the education environment, and as evidenced by the parameters outlined in the MOU, the committee had a very limited scope.  Importantly, it is unable to directly affect any policy or spending at WSU, or was, at the time of this MOU.  Although there has been a 10 year period between the acceptance of the MOU by the University president and the progress report delivered to WSSDA on SHB 1495, it's clear there has been some progress at the State level in trying to coordinate curriculum and other resources across the very diverse K-12 districts all over the State.  University directives are only briefly mentioned in the progress report, so I'm not entirely clear as to how SHB 1495 actually impacts Universities, or if the impact is as broad as it seems to be regarding K-12 districts.

I know Leonard Forsman, and he is a hard working, dedicated, compassionate, and highly intelligent man.  He works closely with the tribal education employees to facilitate all sorts of activities between the Kitsap SD and the tribe in Suquamish, and has also worked nationally on this and many other issues for Indians in the PNW.  Unfortunately, having worked in the K-12 districts - especially a number of rural ones such as Glenwood and Klickitat - I think he and the rest of the TLCE may be fighting one of many uphill battles with regards to convincing superintendents to take on these tasks.  It's clear from the level of expectations outlined in the progress report that many of the people proposing actions and funding initiatives aren't aware that these districts have essentially no extra resources, even for general building maintenance, let alone new employees, classroom technology and curriculum, or other human resources, such as counselors, to achieve these goals.  And I would also worry about the veracity with which a good portion of school employees, both certificated and non-certificated, would go about catering to the student populations discussed in the progress report.

There is a huge (HUGE!) disconnect between the public, OSPI, and administrators, and what actually occurs in classrooms, at least in SW Washington K-12 districts, especially rural ones.  And so, as noble and well-intentioned as the initiatives proposed by the panel members may be, they are likely going to face continued resistance due to lack of resources, politics, and other, related issues.  This is just one of a huge number of important reasons that all education in the U.S. should be fully federalized and removed from the hands of State and local officials.  Too few citizen board members and even employees in the districts, ESD's and at OSPI in Washington simply don't perform with an eye to student success, as much as they toot their own horns to that effect.  Without such an overarching change to American education, it will likely be another ten years before any action is taken on these issues, if my experience with the lack of resources in these districts is any indicator of the possibility of more progress in the future.