Opinion & Analysis

Let’s be clear, a child who does not receive a quality education today will become an adult without much of a future tomorrow. If we allow children to rot in historically failing schools, we all will suffer.

As executive director of the Southwest Center for Educational Excellence, a consortium of 45 public school districts, private schools, colleges, and universities, I feel it is my duty to share some thoughts on Senate Bill 26, sponsored by Sen. Will Kraus of Lee’s Summit.

When School Committee Chairman Jonathan Pope called out both Counselor-at-Large Bruce Tobey and the Times, he actually reached out in a manner that the entire school committee should have long before now.

The bill would require school districts to obtain written permission from parents prior to students attending “a course of instruction, a class period, an assembly, an organized school function, or instruction of any type that involves human sexual education, human sexuality issues, or information regarding sexual acts.”

Every year, 1.2 million students drop out of high school. Among those who do graduate, one-third need remedial courses in college and far too few actually earn a degree. Many national organizations, including United Way, are focused on changing these odds, and one of the keys to success is to support effective teaching. In fact, students who have the benefit of effective teaching can learn up to an entire grade level more each year than their counterparts.

Here is the conundrum facing Buffalo Public Schools: The district is receiving record levels of support from the public and private sectors, but the needle is hardly moving on its performance.

Some students come from homes that are conducive to learning, and they do well in school; others don’t come from such homes and, with few exceptions, do poorly.

In a recent analysis, the Seattle Special Education Advisory & Advocacy Council found that in Seattle Public Schools, 40 percent of all long-term or short-term suspensions were received by students identified as having a disability.

The No Child Left Behind Act increased student and teacher accountability, tests and led to the development of the Common Core Standards. All of these are noble changes, well-intentioned changes and no one is arguing that change was needed, but the implementation of the changes in all grade levels meant that the students in grade 1-12 were held to standards for which they were not prepared.

President Obama and Education Secretary Arne Duncan last year issued what has become known as the "digital mandate," challenging schools to adopt digital technology by 2017.