Experience Counts



Experience Counts

 

 

 



I have worked in education for over 30 years and have seen many trends that fade over time. I have seen the nature of curriculum change as society changes. Students are different today, bringing new challenges and opportunities. As a School Board member, I have spent considerable time and effort over the last 6 years supporting the mission of the Brunswick's schools. I have participated in training opportunities related to Maine school law and board effectiveness. Education laws, and therefore our policies, change quickly today! Change is constant but continuity can ease the pressure felt by many students and staff when small or dramatic changes occur. I would like to continue to serve on the Brunswick School Board to lend my experience to the continued evolution of Brunswick's schools.

I believe the greatest issue facing our schools today is the constant need to be vigilant and proactive in creating stability in our schools so students can learn and teachers can teach. The potential for in-stability created by rapid changes in society and national, state, and local politics is great. We all are aware that many mandates come from Washington and Augusta that require large time commitments from our staff and teachers. Parts of these mandates have educational merit and are good for students and teachers, other parts are not. Some of these mandates come with funding to accomplish them, many do not. Two examples of mandates our staff and teachers are collaborating on are:

• Revamping the teacher and administrator evaluation processes, and
• Making progress toward implementation of standards based graduation requirements.

Both mandates have the potential to add positive benefit to student learning. These mandates also included initial requirements originating from national and state levels that were counterproductive to positive teaching and learning. Our staff and teachers have been diligently and thoughtfully working to accomplish these two mandates in the most effective way that benefit teaching and learning. Our School Board must continue to be proactive in creating stability in our schools, to make decisions based on the best interest of all students and what is good for the whole school department. If waivers are needed, we should advance that.

                                                                

School Funding 

Funding for our schools is an issue, made complex by the interaction of federal rule making, a state funding formula that some say is inadequate, and municipal budget processes. Funding will likely continue to be a challenge in the coming years and we can maximize the resources we have by:

• Defining and keeping our focus on our common shared vision
• Making wise yearly incremental investments in continued and/or new programs, services, and facilities that builds to the shared common vision
• Maintaining our focus and keep moving forward

Maine's Essential Programs and Services (EPS) funding formula was initially created to allocate statewide funding adequate to support school programs and services to meet the Learning Results, now being complicated by the additional proficiency based standards mandate. The School Board and school staff are working on a district policy and graduation requirements that will meet both the Learning Results and proficiency based standards. The new policy and graduation requirements will have funding implications, which are unknown currently, and we need to move ahead thoughtfully to maintain as much stability and predictability for our students/families and staff as we can. (Imagine being a freshman not knowing what courses you will need to take until sophomore, junior or even senior year.  We want to be purposeful in working through the standards and graduation requirements to give peace of mind.)  There are many necessary programs and services not included in the EPS that Brunswick and other local communities want to provide in our schools to achieve a comprehensive education for our children. Examples include calculus courses, AP courses, among others. Our newly adopted Strategic Framework will guide us as we take the next steps toward new programs and services. Change is constant, some predictable, some not. I can provide the continuity as we move forward in these initiatives.

Additional funding pressures have resulted when the Maine Legislature has added (or shifted) costs into the EPS formula for services which initially were not part of the EPS formula to meet the citizen mandated 55% state share of education costs. The most glaring and immediate shift the Legislature approved was teacher retirement costs which created the appearance that the state was getting closer to meeting the 55% state share threshold. However, that immediate change made without trans-parency caused, in Brunswick, a $350,000 additional budget cost in that first year and continues to climb. That alone represented about a 1% property tax increase. This continues to create competition for resources within our schools during school budget development, and also pits school needs against town needs  when the municipal budget process begins. Rhetoric about starting our Brunswick town budget at no more than a 2% increase in total town and school budgets is unreasonable given the political decisions made so abruptly in Augusta. Brunswick citizens and councilors get the impression that our School Board is not fulfilling its fiduciary obligations. By law, the School Board is supposed to advocate for a spending plan that will provide an (adequate, good, excellent, comprehensive) education to Brunswick's students. What is an adequate education? A good one? Is an excellent education the same as a comprehensive education?  Based on an independent review commissioned by the Maine Legislature, known as the PICUS report, if Maine wants to provide a comprehensive education to all students, the state will need to fund an additional $350 million for education across the state. This is unlikely to happen  so the PICUS report indicated priority areas the state could consider investing in and maintaining equity in education funding across the state. Even this level of funding will be great. The unanswered questions are: will politicians support funding for a comprehensive education vs the adequate inherent in the EPS (which they have never fully funded)? Will politicians agree on the same priorities? Additional funding for priority areas identified in this report include (among others):

• Programs for disadvantaged youth (including extended day and summer school programs);
• Full-day programs for 3 and 4-year olds, at least for children from families in poverty;
• Instructional coaches to provide embedded professional development for our teachers;
• Additional professional development days for our teachers; and
• Substitute teachers.

Regardless of the outcome of the political process in Augusta, the priority areas identified independently  by PICUS & Associates are exactly those areas that our Superintendent in Brunswick has been promoting through his yearly budgets since I first joined the board six years ago. We, Brunswick citizens, can make good decisions and create stability, at least for our schools. Other areas mentioned in the PICUS report for increased funding include:

• Additional central administration costs;
• Assistant principals;
• Technology resources, and
• Money for student activities.

Noteworthy in the PICUS report is the recommendation for ADDITIONAL costs for central office staff rather than the call by some in Augusta for a reduction in these staffs. I would like to continue on the School Board to provide continuity and advocate for staying our course on these priorities that support a comprehensive education. We can continue to make progress, incrementally, year by year, promoting best educational practices, implementing our new Strategic Framework, and continuing to make investments that enhance strong social and academic programs.

                                                                          

Facilities

We can make progress locally in Brunswick, and we need to be realistic and vigilant about the realities that exist in school funding. The possibility of successfully competing for new school funding through the state exists, but is slim. The reality is our facilities solutions will likely be paid for in total by our community. Our immediate and long term facilities solutions will be costly so we need to make every dollar count and plan wisely. Two aging schools and their portable classrooms, BJHS and Coffin, have outlived their lifespan and now hinder the educational programs we envision. Two schools, Coffin and Harriet Beecher Stowe, are overcrowded and unable to support the numbers of children enrolled at the time. Our School Board and community must maintain the focus on the problems we are trying to solve: overcrowded schools and aging facilities. We must make decisions and move forward step by step. I would like to continue to serve on the Brunswick School Board to support us to maintain focus on solutions to our overcrowded schools and aging facilities, while also maintaining our other facilities.  And most importantly, to keep us moving forward so we can say we have solved our problems of aging  and overcrowded schools in the near future.

                                                                         

Equity

Many local school boards across the state want to provide an excellent or comprehensive education to the children in their local schools. To do this they develop budgets that include:

• money from the state share,
• plus a minimum local share defined by the EPS,
• and then an additional amount above the minimum local share

Some local boards decide to develop budgets that include;

• money from the state share,
• plus only the minimum local share required by the EPS;

And other local boards develop budgets that include:

• the state share and;
• less than the minimum local shared defined by the EPS.

This minimum local share raised or not raised creates the inequity in education funding across the state. Some communities struggle to approve budgets that included only the minimum or less than the required  local share, while others approve budgets with amounts above. We can be thankful that Brunswick citizens have approved budgets that include amounts above the minimum local share.  This has allowed us to maintain equity and invest in some of the priority areas identified in the PICUS report. Our Superintendent has developed annual budgets that get us closer to providing a comprehensive education with a strong integrated system of student supports for all our students, even during the challenging budget times of the base closure and recession. I support the Superintendent's vision of strong integrated schools at all grade levels K - 12.  I would like to continue serving on the School Board to :

1) Further promote policies and budgets that achieve a comprehensive education with a strong integrated system of supports for all our students AND teachers.

• I have chaired the Student Services Committee which serves the function of examining and promoting a strong integrated system of student supports, which in turn contribute to student academic and achievement.
• I  serve on the Curriculum Committee which, in addition to making recommendations to the full board for district curriculum, is responsible for examining professional development, new program development, and technology.
• I want to promote a strong evidence based professional development system for all our employees that provides professional growth and leadership opportunities, supports student achievement, and is affordable. As our overcrowded facilities problem is solved with a new elementary school, I want to promote the expansion of the current Cub Camp and a new pre K program at Coffin.
• I serve on the Personnel Committee which oversees contract and labor agreement negotiations. We have successfully negotiated 3 of these agreements. Continuity of people is beneficial when negotiating contract agreements. I have collaborated with the Superintendent and staff in updating job descriptions across the school department.
• I have served on the Cooperative Board for the Region 10 Technical High School. I will advocate for the new vision of transforming this program into a 4-year comprehensive high school. This comprehensive model of technical education is new for Maine and is exciting to imagine that our Brunswick's students, along with students from SAD #75(Topsham, Bowdoin, Bowdoinham, and Harpswell) and RSU #5 (Freeport, Pownal, Durham) could be the first students in Maine to benefit from it.
• I have served on the Strategic Planning Ad Hoc Committee and am glad that we accomplished our goal of producing a Strategic Planning Framework that will guide our future decisions. It will be exciting to see the implementation of this plan. I want to continue serving on the School Board to promote the active use of the document in future planning and budget discussions.

Experience and continuity count. I have dedicated myself to the planning and continued evolution of Brunswick's schools over the last 6 years and ask for the opportunity for3 more years of services. I would like all children to have a happy and healthy educational journey through our schools. I would like school staff to feel appreciated for the work they do under challenging conditions. Let's stay forward focused.    Thank you.  Brenda Clough, District 2