Sandoval reform plan could upend low-performing schools

A state takeover of local schools.

Those words and little more have been revealed about Gov. Brian Sandoval's plan to yank Nevada's worst schools out of their local districts and into state control.

All that's been provided is the name of a new state agency — the Achievement School District — under which these failing schools would be placed, and a list of 78 schools put on watch by the Nevada Department of Education. Families, faculties and even district leaders of these public schools — including eight in Washoe County — are left on edge to wonder what that means.

A state step-in, however, would only be the beginning, according to state officials and advisers planning the Achievement District.

Schools chosen for takeover would largely, if not all, be handed over to private charter school operators. These charter organizations would have the autonomy to run schools as they please, with district officials merely watching over them.

And charter companies have a history of replacing the majority of existing school staff, according to Louisiana, Michigan and Tennessee, the only other states reverting to similar systems taking over their worst schools.

"Basically, the schools would start over," according to former Washoe County School District Superintendent Pedro Martinez, who the governor tapped to draw up the Achievement District with officials from the Nevada Department of Education.

Their goal: Convince lawmakers and the public that drastic times have called for drastic measures. If the Legislature doesn't change state law this year granting takeover power to the Achievement District, it won't even exist.

"There are going to be a lot of questions," said Seth Rau, policy director for educational advocacy nonprofit Nevada Succeeds, advising state officials during planning of the Achievement District.

He anticipates a lot of new teachers at these schools and almost universal replacement of school principals and their administrators as charters make sure the people match their missions.

The same freedoms that make charters appealing will also be the root of resistance, Rau said. That's proven true elsewhere, but not yet in Nevada. Teachers unions, local school districts and lawmakers are waiting for the state to make its intentions known before responding.

"There are a lot of people who want to defend the status quo," said Dale Erquiaga, state superintendent of public instruction. He noted that details will become public when the Achievement District's bill is presented in the Assembly Committee on Education in coming weeks. "If education were working, the state would not intervene."

But charter schools won't automatically be the answer, according to Kenneth Wong, chair of education policy at Brown University, studying the country's three existing achievement districts.

Just look at Nevada's 78 schools at risk for takeover.

Thirteen of them are existing charter schools, meaning nearly two out of every 10 schools put on watch are charters. That's about triple the rate one would expect, considering that charters constitute only 6 percent of Nevada's more than 560 public schools.

Charters then and now

Simply put, charter schools are privately run, public schools. In many ways, they're the same as traditional public schools run by districts.

They run on funding from the state at the same rate per student as all public schools, meaning they're not an additional burden to taxpayers.

For a charter school to operate, it must have a charter — or contract — with either the local district or the State Public Charter School Authority, which sponsors charter schools across Nevada.

Charter schools must meet the same student performance and spending standards, with students taking the same state and federal tests. If not, the sponsor could revoke a school's charter, putting the operator out of business.

As in the three other states, plans call for the Achievement District to be another charter school sponsor. The district, which Martinez will plan in early 2015 but not lead, could hire charter organizations to run schools, or it could directly operate schools. Flexibility is vital, Martinez said.

Martinez said the plan is to largely rely on charter schools. But things can become complicated with charter school takeovers.

Under the existing system used in Nevada and most states, charter schools start their own schools from scratch and must attract students to voluntarily leave their zoned neighborhood schools.

As Tennessee and Michigan have learned, hiring charter organizations to take over existing neighborhood schools can get dicey, forcing charters with unique schooling styles on students.

Lessons learned

Michigan has proven the example of what not to do.

Its district — called the Education Achievement Authority — was created outside the legislative process in an agreement between the emergency manager of Detroit Public Schools and regents of Eastern Michigan University. They designed the district in private meetings, taking over 15 Detroit schools.

Three schools were immediately converted to charter schools operated by a private charter operator. The 12 other schools are directly run by the authority, whose board is governor-appointed.

Results have been mixed and unclear due to a hastily planned accountability system often not requiring annual reporting, according to the Education Policy Center at Michigan State University. The district has failed to expand to more schools as envisioned, while enrollment plummeted by 25 percent at participating schools in their second year, 2013-14, according to Michigan's Center for Education Performance and Information.

Representatives for the authority and Michigan Department of Education didn't return the Gazette-Journal's calls for comment.

Tennessee's Achievement School District has also struggled to get students into its schools. In an attempt to fix that, the state education department is pushing a bill that would allow students outside attendance zones to enroll in Recovery schools. Charter school companies have said they need more students to receive enough money to run the schools.

But opponents say that would skirt the district's mission, which is to turn around neighborhood schools comprised of that area's students.

Tennessee's district began with an approach mirroring what Martinez has planned for Nevada.

Created by an act of the state legislature, the Tennessee district started small — six schools. However, the district spent its first year, 2011-12, only preparing and not taking over schools.

Martinez and Nevada officials have the same in mind for its district in 2015-16, waiting until 2016-17 to take over six to 10 schools, they said.

Tennessee's district has taken over 23 campuses, turning 18 of them into charter schools, according to district Superintendent Chris Barbic, and planning to take over seven more schools next year.

It's too soon to tell if Tennessee is on the right track. Some schools are already posting double-digit gains for student proficiency rates in reading and science in two years, Barbic said.

"We're seeing some promising signs early on," said Barbic, nothing how the district's six original schools are on track to meet their benchmarks for the end of their third year this spring.

School operators not meeting benchmarks for student performance, discipline and other measures will be replaced, period, Barbic said.

The key is to be keen, vetting potential school operators and revoking contracts of those not showing progress, and doing so without hesitation, said Wong of Brown University.

Louisiana has done just that, replacing 15 charters.

"You have to be vigorous," said Leslie Jacobs, former member of the New Orleans School Board and Louisiana State Board of Education, who said the takeovers are hard on communities but necessary. "Nobody ever wants to see a school close, even if you're bringing in another operator. It's never easy. It's always tough."

Louisiana's Recovery District has been a strong success, especially in New Orleans where 57 out of 80 schools were taken over. New Orleans' graduation rate has jumped from 54 percent in 2004 to 73 percent in 2013. The percentage of black students scoring proficient on state tests has increased from 31 percent to 59 percent.

As a result, the district that originally focused on New Orleans has expanded to Baton Rouge and others areas.

Similar improvements have been realized in Nevada's State Public Charter School Authority, overseeing 21 charter schools. While its schools historically posted poor performances, that has recently changed following a stricter approval process and oversight.

Overall, state charter schools improved their standings on the Nevada Department of Education's school ranking system in 2013-14.

Pitfalls and pushback

While legislation created Tennessee's Achievement School District in 2011, lawmakers are now considering changes to rein it in.

A bill in the Tennessee Legislature would require 30 percent of teachers with high-performing evaluations be hired back in a charter school takeover.

At most, charter school operators have kept 30 percent of a school's existing teachers, Barbic said. Takeovers have on occasion replaced up to 90 percent of a school's teachers, but all existing teachers are allowed to re-apply.

"A lot of teachers never choose to even apply," said Barbic, defending the practice as more professional than it used to be for teachers, giving them many employers to choose from instead of one local school district. "Teachers now have choice."

Teacher unions may see it differently. These takeovers sidestep the contracts that unions have negotiated with local school districts, which often guarantee higher pay and job protection for senior teachers, regardless of performance, as seen in most Nevada districts.

These contracts have led to the best teachers staying in the easiest schools, not the struggling schools needing them the most, because they have no incentive to go there, Barbic said. They're paid the same in both places.

It remains to be seen if Nevada's teachers union, the Nevada State Education Association, will lobby against the Achievement District.

"We haven't been told much of anything," said union President Ruben Murillo, waiting for state officials to reveal their plans before taking a stance. "We'll approach with caution."

Teachers are unlikely to be laid off even if takeovers entail massive staff replacements, contends Rau of Nevada Succeeds. These teachers can find jobs in other local schools still operated by their district, already struggling to find enough teachers. Clark County School District, for example, has been short 600 teachers this school year, relying on long-term substitutes.

Then there's the underlying argument against the Achievement District — taking away local control — which Martinez said will be "the biggest challenge."

"It is tough because we're a state that prides itself on local control, local governance," he said. "But if you don't have a mechanism and ramifications for schools to get better, the reality is the list of underperforming schools is going to grow."

The list has already grown. In the Nevada Department of Education's school-rating system, schools are assigned one to five stars. In 2012, 119 schools earned one or two stars, which could be considering failing. Two years later, 158 schools earned those ratings, increasing the number of failing schools by a third.

Laura Hawkins, deputy chief of staff for Louisiana's Recovery School District, argues that New Orleans schools are more locally controlled now than they ever were. Instead of one New Orleans School Board overseeing 100 schools, each charter school operator is overseen by a local board subject to open meeting laws. Above all the charter schools and their boards watches the Recovery School District.

"Now, we have local control with state oversight," she said.

Despite schools' improvements under the Recovery District, Jacobs doubts the district would be created now if it were up to voters and state lawmakers to again approve a constitutional amendment.

The teachers unions and other forces would be too fierce in lobbying against it, she said.

"But it was a totally dysfunctional situation in 2005. Schools in New Orleans were so bad," she said. "Everybody was tired of hearing about it."

Born out of crisis

Existing achievement districts were conceived in crisis.

Louisiana had Hurricane Katrina, destroying many of New Orleans' schools already plagued by poverty and poor performance.

Michigan had Detroit's bankruptcy and rampant poverty, causing school enrollments to dwindle across Motor City.

Nevada, on the other hand, suffers from deep-rooted symptoms, stemming from its rapid student growth then economic recession.

Only a third of Nevada fourth-graders are adequate in math. About a quarter of fourth-graders are reading as they should, according to the National Assessment of Education Progress.

Just seven out of 10 high school students graduate on time, making Nevada last in its graduation rate.

Of the students who do graduate, a third of those attending in-state colleges aren't ready for it and must take remedial courses, according to state officials.

"Many (schools) have been failing for more than a decade. We must draw a line in the sand and say 'no more,' " said Sandoval in his call for the Achievement District.

His timing may be right. Nevada lawmakers have big changes in mind for education this session, as was the case in Tennessee five years ago, where the achievement district also needed changes to state law.

"We had politicians who said enough is enough," said Barbic, noting the rare perfect storm. "You don't see that kind of political will very often these days."

Tennessee also had the federal Race to the Top grant covering the cost to the state of running the district, which has mostly entailed overseeing charter schools.

Nevada isn't so lucky. But the bill would still be small.

Price to be paid

Nevada's Achievement District, however, won't need taxpayer funds for the time being. Neither will Martinez, serving as a consultant to the state while planning the new district and its corresponding legislation.

Financial support will come from three private groups: the Los Angeles-based Broad Foundation and the Nevada-based Wynn Family Foundation and Windsong Trust. These groups have not yet made commitments on how much money they'll provide, but their funds would get the proposed district through next school year, 2015-16, said Nevada Department of Education spokeswoman Judy Osgood.

After that, any added costs to the state would be small to nonexistent, Rau said. For that reason, Rau expects those opposing Sandoval's tax increase for education would not stand in the way of the Achievement District.

To describe how such little cost is possible, it's best to look at Nevada's pre-existing State Public Charter School Authority. Its annual budget is about $7 million to oversee 21 charter schools. To get the majority of that funding, the authority has the power to take up to 2 percent of a school's basic state funding, which Nevada automatically gives to all public schools on a per-student basis.

The authority usually needs only 1 percent to 1.5 percent, according to spokesman Danny Peltier.

When Tennessee's federal grant runs out in June, its Achievement District will use a similar funding model, taking 2.5 percent of schools' state funding, according to Barbic. It's unclear if Nevada's Achievement District would be funded the same way, seeing that the bill is being drafted. But the Achievement District would start with only six to 10 schools in 2016-17.

While the slow start is by design, it's also by necessity.

Although the district could theoretically take over 78 schools, it would be difficult to find enough proven charter school operators to take them over.

"Charter school companies are not sitting around twiddling their thumbs. They're being courted all over the country," said Jacobs, speaking from Louisiana's experience in 2005 when the Legislature gave it about 100 schools after Hurricane Katrina.

To make Nevada more attractive, Sandoval's proposed budget would provide $20 million in matching funds to charter school companies. That's only a small part of Sandoval's planned $430 million increase to public schools, all in an effort to no longer make Nevada synonymous with struggling schools.

"The achievement district is a message. We're not going to wait. We're not going to just hope these schools get better," said Martinez, warning against a future without the district and changes like it.

"If we don't intervene as a community, these children are destined to a life of poverty. And they will also have children destined to a life of poverty," he said. "I really believe that's a conversation we need to have. As we speak, our state is the fastest growing in poverty rates."

SCHOOLS ON WATCH FOR ACHIEVEMENT SCHOOL DISTRICT

Carson City

Pioneer High School

Churchill County

Numa Elementary School

Clark County

Academy for Individualized Study High School

Bailey Middle School

Burk Horizon Southwest High School

Cambeiro Elementary School

Canyon Springs High School

Carl Elementary School

Chaparral High School

Cortez Elementary School

Craig Elementary School

Dearing Elementary School

Delta Academy Middle School (charter)

Delta Academy High School (charter)

Del Sol High School

Desert Pines High School

Desert Rose High School

Diaz Elementary School

Eldorado High School

Fitzgerald Elementary School

Galloway Elementary School

Gibson Middle School

Global Community High School

Innovations Elementary School (charter)

Innovations Middle School (charter)

Innovations High School (charter)

Kelly Elementary School

Lowman Elementary School

Lunt Elementary School

Jerome Mack Middle School

Mojave High School

Monaco Middle School

Moore Elementary School

Odyssey High School (charter)

100 Academy Elementary School (charter)

Paradise Elementary School

Petersen Elementary School

Priest Elementary School

Reed Elementary School

Reid Elementary School

Robison Middle School

Roundy Elementary School

Smith Middle School

Squires Elementary School

Swainston Middle School

Thorpe Elementary School

Treem Elementary School

Valley High School

Western High School

West Preparatory Academy Middle School

Tom Williams Elementary School

Elko County

Owyhee Elementary School

Owyhee Middle School

Humboldt County

McDermitt Elementary School

Lincoln County

Caliente Elementary School

Nye County

Amargosa Valley Elementary School

Floyd Elementary School

Gabbs Elementary School

Hafen Elementary School

Pathways Elementary School

Round Mountain Elementary School

Pershing County

Lovelock Elementary School

Pershing Middle School

State Public Charter School Authority

Nevada Connections Academy High School (charter)

Nevada Virtual Academy Elementary School (charter)

Nevada Virtual Academy High School (charter)

Silver State Middle School (charter)

Washoe County

Corbett Elementary School

Desert Heights Elementary School

Hug High School

I Can Do Anything High School (charter)

Mitchell Elementary School

Rainshadow High School (charter)

Vaughn Middle School

Washoe Innovations Academy

White Pine County

McGill Elementary School

Steptoe Valley High School

White Pine Middle School

SOURCE: Nevada Department of Education