Small-schools push tied to grad rates (NEW spin on Gov's proposal)

Small-schools push tied to grad rates

State funding would require districts to graduate 80% of students within 3 years. Mark Hornbeck / Detroit News Lansing Bureau

LANSING -- School districts hoping to use state money to downsize their high schools may face a new ultimatum: Improve your graduation rates, or else.

A bipartisan group has fleshed out Gov. Jennifer Granholm's 21st Century Schools program to require districts that receive state grants to operate small high schools graduate at least 80 percent of their students, and send 80 percent on to college or trade school. If they fail, they'll have to return half the grant money.

"The idea was to add accountability and give the taxpayers a voice in this," said Shirley Stancato, president of New Detroit and member of the five-person panel that shaped the compromise. "If schools get the money and don't improve, there needs to be a consequence."
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The small high schools plan was the centerpiece of Granholm's State of the State address in January. She proposed selling about $300 million in bonds to help districts that pack thousands of students into high schools to downsize to 400-450 pupils.
The program is based on research that indicates smaller high schools can be more successful because they allow students to form more one-on-one relationships with teachers, principals and other adults in the school building.

Officials initially estimated that grants would go to 100 high schools serving some 40,000 students. Some of the revamped schools would open in new buildings; others would be large high schools broken into smaller units.

The reworked proposal must win legislative approval, and its chances are uncertain. Under the compromise:

• School districts must have graduation rates of 65 percent or worse to qualify for grants of up to $1 million. It's not yet known how many districts would be eligible.

• Charter schools would be eligible for the grants. For example, an academy serving students in kindergarten through eighth grade might qualify for a grant to add high school grades. The charter school would have to serve students from a traditional school district that has a graduation rate of 65 percent or less.

• The 80 percent graduation rate and postsecondary enrollment requirements would kick in starting with the third graduating class. For example, if a school begins serving ninth-graders in the fall of 2009, that class would graduate in 2013. The graduation requirements and penalties for failing to meet the standards would take effect for that school with the third set of graduates -- in 2015.
• Schools that already have student bodies under 450 may qualify for grants to pay for education innovations and staff training.

• To win a grant, a district and its teachers' union must allow principals to choose faculty without contract restrictions such as seniority by school building.

"This isn't going to work without union buy-in," said Chuck Wilbur, Granholm's top education adviser. "If there is not cooperation, there will be no funding."

Ed Sarpolus, chief lobbyist for the Michigan Education Association, favors the accountability measures in the plan.
"If you fail to produce, you have to give half the money back. Those schools that are not going to work to improve probably won't apply for the program," he said.

Mike Flanagan, state superintendent of public instruction, said the program "will make a difference not just in schools that get the grants, but it will change the system. Other districts will be copying these schools whether they get the money or not.

"And it's not just about small schools; it's about a different labor-management model. It's a way to rethink the way the system has worked and in some cases hasn't worked."

Steve Wasko, a spokesman for Detroit Public Schools, said officials have been examining the concept since Granholm's announcement. Details still must be reviewed, he said, but the focus on success in smaller high schools "fits in very well to the approach that we've been looking at in redesigning our secondary schools."

Pontiac Public School Superintendent Calvin Cupidore said, "This concept sounds like the carrot and stick approach. Before I would apply for funding, I must make sure there would be enough to make our program educationally sound. How much would we receive per student? The funding threshold must make sense."

The state has been paying school districts $32 million a year to settle a dispute over special education. Now that the special ed settlement has been paid off, small school advocates said the money could be used to repay bonds sold for the downsizing program.

But some lawmakers say they're concerned about starting a new program while money is tight.

Granholm told The Detroit News she will push for the program despite heading into another tough budget year.
"It is something we can afford, given that we have identified a revenue source," she said.

"We have to focus on strategies to get these kids to graduate. We need skilled workers to attract the next job providers. There is bipartisan interest in making sure we create high schools that work."
The Republican Senate's version of next year's school aid budget socks the $32 million into school building upgrades. The Democratic House's version keeps the governor's proposal intact.

"Given the budget problems, we'll probably have to eliminate both the small high schools and the infrastructure programs," said Senate Appropriations Chairman Ron Jelinek, R-Three Oaks. Jelinek added that he's talked to education experts who say smaller high schools don't necessarily result in lower dropout rates.

Detroit News Staff Writers Mark Hicks and Shawn D. Lewis contributed to this report.