State--Local Relations

Does your CP ever get caught up in conflict relating to its various local and state relationships?

In the realm of education, there are various relationships among the local needs, county-wide school districts, state and federal government. To narrow the focus further, there is deep conflict between the state education policy and how that is translated into the local school districts. Because not every school district has the same basic needs and student demographics to cater to, the state cannot possibly create an education plan that is going to address the needs of every school district. Furthermore, not every school has the same student population or the same community needs. For this specific example, we should view each school as representing a portion of a city's population. As such, every school will represent a different portion of the population and have different percentages of demographic groups. In this way, it is very difficult for an outsider to generalize about the basic needs of each school district and the state in general. It is, however, more manageable for a school district, which only has to address the needs of a dozen or so schools, rather than a state to address the needs of hundreds of thousands of schools.

When examining the situation in more detail, it is clear that the state cannot always address the needs of a generalized population where there should be more focus on individualized problems. In terms of state mandates, they are usually done as a broad blanket that is suppose to address state wide problems even though they may not apply in every school district or every school. For example, the state might require that every school provides a golf unit in their P.E. classes because they find that it is necessary for all citizens now entering the workforce to have these basic skills. (Weird example, I know, but they may find the reason being something like "in order to get to know your boss and get a promotion at work, you must be able to play golf because he likes to conduct business there"). So the state enforces this mandate upon all P.E. programs at high schools, yet, the state does not provide any funding to do so. Instead, all school districts must budget their money accordingly to be able to buy this newly required equipment. On a side note, the state could make this a funded mandate in which all schools would get the money from the state to buy this equipment. The local school district can also have a reimbursement requirement if the state allows that which will give the school money after they purchase the equipment. In addition, my community partner can have issues with mandates because her normal funding could be directed towards another program at schools and take away funding from her own program. This makes it hard for her to then purchase the necessary equipment to keep her students active, engaged and healthy.

I would also like to note that the state requires all schools to test their students in health and fitness requirements in certain grades (this is also a requirement by the federal government). Even though it is required for schools to have a physical education class, they are still removing funding from their programs to direct it towards other state and federal government mandated programs. There is also the issue that without proper P.E. equipment, it is difficult to engage students in fitness activities and to prepare them for these required measures of health.

Influencing Legislation

My community partners at Valley Oak High School have encouraged and tried to make legislative changes in education like many other schools. Unlike most schools, as an alternative high school, they are seeking to get a exemption from the STAR testing. They are seeking an exemption from the test because the majority of students at an alternative high school are already likely to score poorly on the tests. In the past few years, Valley Oak High School has failed to meet testing expectations and goals set by the state and federal governments. Alternative high schools have experienced some legislative in California. Alternative High Schools now try to meet the goals of the Alternative Schools Accountability Model (ASAM) as outlined by California. In order to become a model school, the alternative education program must prove to be effective in helping students graduate and improve their learning. For example, Valley Oak High School is now considered to be a model high school because they are effectively engaging and educating students.  This year, Valley Oak has made an effort to engage the students even more and creating an outlet for them by introducing a P.E. program that actually incorporates lesson plans. The biggest challenge for this program is being able to find funding that will allow my sister to by P.E. equipment. Because of NCLB and recent budget cuts, states have had to cut education funding in programs that are deemed to be unnecessary. These programs include physical education and performing/fine arts.

The school districts and teachers in California are advocating for more funding to go directly to teachers and their programs. This is done through the Teacher's Union and various other lobby groups that are associated with education. In addition, there is also a committee at the state level that has to do with education. The Teacher's Union and other special interest groups are able to go the committee on education and push pieces of legislation that represent their interests. A great example of this is Prop 30 which passed this past election on the ballot. In this case, they took this proposition directly to the voters to have approved. In other cases, educators and those interested in effective public education will go directly to their representatives and ask for their voice to be translated into law.

Some of the biggest problems that have been encountered for influencing legislative changes have come from the recent budget crisis. When the state has to make budget cuts, one of the first areas that experiences cuts is education. Furthermore, these cuts are made specifically to the programs that are not considered to be the core fundamentals of education. For my sister, this specifically means the physical education departments of schools because they are not  considered to be important. However, there is a growing importance for physical education because there is a huge obesity concern among adolescents. Valley Oak High School, although it lacks funding, has found a reason and a little bit of money to get the program going. There is also a reason to incorporate health into her class because it teaches students things like healthy habits and stress relief techniques. I am not sure is there is any specific interest group to make sure physical education programs stay well-funded in schools, but I do know that there is interest in keeping the youth of the nation healthy. Physical education will continue to face obstacles in schools until teachers, parents and law makers realize the importance of teaching students about becoming healthy and active at a young age.

Founder's Week

Blog Topic:

For Founder's Week, I participated in the Milk and Cookies Event with the Sisters on Monday Night. For this event, myself and a group of students lit candles in the quad and then walked down to the residence of the Sisters. We brought with us milk and cookies to share with the sisters. We were greeted at the door by two sisters who welcomed us in and took us upstairs to greet the rest of the sisters who were waiting for us in their dinning room. All the students were asked to share their name and a bit of information about ourselves including our hometown, grade and major. Then the sister's went around the room and shared information about themselves. It was interesting to learn that all of the sisters have spent their lifetimes within the realm of education, whether it be as an elementary school teacher, a librarian, an administrator or a college professor. It was also inspiring to learn that many of them taught for at least half a century and many of them have been in the sisterhood since they were around 18-20 years old. After all of the sisters shared their stories, we were invited to join the sisters at the tables and get to know a few of them more closely. I am not quite sure of the names of the sisters I sat with but they were all very interesting in learning more about the extracurricular activities that myself and the two other students that were sitting at the table with me were involved in.Interestingly enough, I got to talking to them about my CP and how I am helping to find my sister more funding for her program. They were very happy to hear of my attempt to help my sister. They were also excited to hear that I volunteer with youth softball and BAWSI with the school softball team. Although I never realized it, the sports teams at our school follow the mission statements of the sisters in someway because we all try to give back to the community in some way. One of the students also sung two songs for the sisters and the sisters later sung a song for us. It was a very inspiring and interesting evening.

During this event, I learned more about the individual achievements and career choices of the various foundresses. It gave me a chance to learn about how involved each of the sisters were in education in their own right. It was also inspiring to hear about how devoted each of the sisters were to educating the youth. The foundresses at my table were also excited to learn and hear about the various students getting involved in extracurricular activities. They liked to hear that students were doing what they could to give back to the community. Their passion and devotion to being involved in the community shone through.

I believe that a student in the political science department at NDNU could incorporate the ideals of the foundresses into their future careers in a variety of ways. One way in which a political science major could to this is by pursuing a career that has them directly involved in protecting and fighting for the rights of citizens. This could be anything from being a politician, writing laws, being a public servant or being a lawyer. One could also volunteer on the side to make sure that each member of society is able to exercise their right to vote. For example, one could work to make sure the youth register to vote or someone could help design a voter identification law that does not make it difficult for citizens to be able to vote.