Education commissioner visits District 88 schools

Jax meets

with board,

tours schools

By GUY PRIEL

Journal Staff Writer

NEW ULM -- Maintaining her commitment to visit every school district in the state, Commissioner of Children, Families, and Learning Christine Jax spent Monday in District 88.

Her visit gives the district an unique opportunity, Superintendent Harold Remme said.

"Districts are different all over the state," Jax said. "If you've seen one school in Minnesota, you've seen one school. I like to get out and see the districts because I'm not the commissioner to the metro area. I'm the commissioner to the whole state."

During lunch with the school board, Jax addressed all-day, every-day kindergarten, charter schools and graduation standards.

All-day, everyday

kindergarten

"(All-day, everyday kindergarten) is not something the governor wants to fund at this time," Jax said. "The governor is a strong believer in local control. Not all districts see this as a priority."

Gov. Jesse Ventura believes the parents have a strong role in the education of young children, which is why he hasn't been pushing so hard for funding, Jax said.

"But, the (children) aren't staying at home with parents," Board Member Susan Ullery said. "They are in day care most of the time. The program does pay off for students in our district, but it is costing us money."

When schools have an all-day program in place, it has the potential to drive private day care centers out of business, a concern in some parts of the state. It is possible that the state will begin to develop a program that divides students by three-year-olds to third grade; fourth-grade to 10th grade; and connect 11th and 12th grades to higher education programs, Jax said.

"If the state provides funding, it will not take away local control," School Board Member-Elect Susan Nierengarten said. "Funding should be provided as an option to those districts who choose to provide all-day programs. It's not a matter of competition."

The district implemented all-day, everyday kindergarten three years ago based on research indicating there were several benefits to all-day programs, Remme said.

"I am concerned that if we have to end up cutting the program because of budget problems, then our competition (private and charter schools) would benefit," Board Chair Mark Wiger said.

Charter Schools

Quality issues in charter schools as well as various funding and sponsorship questions need to be addressed at the state level. There is more staff in the CFL office working on charter school issues than any other area, Jax said.

"It is disturbing to me that charter schools take away from public schools," Ullery said.

The state needs to develop more clear definitions of what responsibilities are involved for districts that sponsor charter schools, Remme said.

"The Legislature says it is up to parents to be concerned with how charter schools are being run," Jax said. "It is up to the districts to be concerned with how they are run. There is a trend developing. If given the choice, children will leave public schools. We have a problem. We need to figure out what's not working for people and fix them."

Grad standards

She would prefer to see full implementation of the grad standards without having them be high stakes. The Legislature, during the 2000 session, decided to let the schools vote on the number of standards to require ­ something she didn't agree with.

"We are becoming a knowledge-based society, and the changes in the schools need to reflect that," Jax said. "We are the only state that uses standards as a performance assessment. I believe we are moving toward a gradeless system. To abandon standards will be a travesty."

Teacher salaries

Jax suggested changes in teacher salaries to include teacher performance and student success. Participating schools can receive an additional $100 per student. The goal is to allow districts to develop a compensation model that is not based on steps of experience or lanes of education.

"It will have to be controlled, obviously," Jax said. "The districts will be allowed to decide what the new model will look like. The program must be linked to student achievement and must be measurable."

The goal of the program is recruitment and retention of teachers. There needs to be a system in place that is easier to enter and exit because not every teacher is the same and not every teacher should be treated the same. Salary should not be based on training or experience alone, Jax said.