Hello everyone - I wanted to share some recent updates that were shared with me from various folks across town including a professor of education at SJSU, local reporter and community members. 

I will break down the update in the following order:

1. Mismanagement: National trend of Covid fund mismanagement.
2. Community Involvement: Community push nationally for more involvement in superintendent selections & evaluations.
3. Push for Privatization: National trend of local districts paving the path for privatization and charterizing public schools. Laying out some of the clues to look for in the messaging that often accompanies bids to close schools.

Mismanagement: 

It is widely acknowledged that MHUSD has demonstrated fiscal irresponsibility, especially concerning the Covid relief funds that bolstered the school budget over the past three years. However, the absence of transparency in a genuinely independently audited budget report, which would reveal both expenditures and the extent of the deficit, remains unresolved. Consequently, advocating for an independent budget audit covering the last three years and an assessment of the projected deficit for the next three years is a crucial area of concern.

One of our local reporters, brought up the national trend of mismanaged Covid funds in this recently released article. The report mentions only 37 percent of public schools used relief funding for high-dosage tutoring that would have directly helped transitioning students back into classroom and improve learning. Available data suggest that much of the federal money was spent on things that have little connection to student learning. This is apparent for MHUSD as well. 

The article does mention the administration plan for grant to specifically mitigate this mismanagement issue with additional federal funds. We can continue requesting MHUSD to apply for these grants as a forward-looking strategy. 

Community Involvement: 

There is a recent trend in public being more involved in selection and evaluation process of district superintendents nationally. Advocates propose that voters should directly elect the next superintendent, similar to how other county officials (sheriff, district attorney, assessor, treasurer) are chosen.

Proposed legislation in Louisiana aims to evaluate superintendents of public school districts based on their students’ math and English test scores. The goal is to enhance accountability and ensure positive progress in local school districts. 

Some school districts (Clark County in NV) are planning to hold public hearings to gather input from parents, students, and community members regarding the desired qualities for the next superintendent. 

Push for Privatization: 

One of the hidden areas of policy trends that is happening in some other Bay Area school districts is a similar pattern of cuts, deficit and proposed closures/mergers that would eventually pave the way for charterizing or otherwise privatizing the public schools. A professor of education at SJSU has curated content here over the years to try to raise awareness about the harms to public schools and communities. This can be a net negative that the trends are moving so heavily way from the public and into private governance. At least with the public system, we have mechanisms to crack open and inquire. That gets fully closed up with private entities and then parents have much less voice.

There is a good mini documentary (~20 mins long) called the "School Closure Playbook" on Vimeo that's a few years old and is focused on Chicago's education policies, and how they have served as a prototype for a broader campaign against public schools. It really lays out clearly some of the clues to look for in the messaging that often accompanies bids to close schools. 

While I personally cant be sure this is happening at MHUSD, but this makes me eager to continue pushing for an independent budget audit covering the last three years and an assessment of the projected deficit for the next three years.

In summary:

Our continued efforts in bringing more transparency and accountability to the district is paramount for future of our kids' education and potentially the trajectory of Morgan Hill as a city overall.