DPS to cut services, try to keep teachers

Boasberg: School budgets expected to be down 3 percent, central services down 7 percent

Story by Joshua Cole
(originally published in Jan 28., 2010, Denver Herald-Dispatch)

As other districts are cutting teachers and slashing budgets in response to the economy, Denver Public Schools Superintendent Tom Boasberg assured the Board of Education that the district likely won't cut teachers, classrooms or preschool.

At study sessions and regular meetings in January, Boarsberg and other members of the central district staff presented proposals for school budgets for the 2010-11 school year. Although the district's Board plans to approve the budget in June, principals received their enrollment projections and probable budget totals in January and plan to get district approval in February.

“Our priorities are very simple. The first priority is to protect the classroom to the maximum extent possible. Number two is to give schools the flexibility to meet the needs of their students,” Boasberg said. “We feel that schools are in the best positions to meet the needs of their kids.”

Schools will see about the same number of dollars per student for 2010 than they had in 2009, but increasing costs of teachers mean that schools will have 3 percent less to buy things. Central administration budgets are expected to need a 7-9 percent cut, Boasberg said.

“We are not expecting any district-wide teacher layoffs at this point,” Boasberg said.

The district gets more money for more students and for more poor students. Districts get federal Title 1 funds for students and schools that are extremely poor. Most of the money had stayed in the central administration budget, but DPS recently increased the amount siphoned directly to schools, Boasberg said.

Schools directly control about 65 percent of the district's budget, and about 30 percent is in centrally run programs, including transportation and athletics and certain special education programs.

All principals review budgets with central administration, and schools that perform poorly on district measurements work closely with Chief Academic Officer Ana Tilton, Boasberg said.

While some support staffing is required based on a ratio of students – such as psychologists and nurses – schools are given autonomy to determine what to spend and where.

So if a school needs more teachers for English Language Learners, the school can put more of its resources into getting those teachers. Or if a school wants to reduce class size, the school can focus on regular classroom teachers more than specialists or interventionists. And if a school gets an unexpected rise in enrollment following projections or the Oct. 1 count date, a reserve fund can move money to schools, district representatives and principals explained Jan. 19.

By giving each school freedom in their budgets, accountability supposedly increases because a school can't blame the central administration for requiring things, and principals and teachers must deliberate and discuss their priorities, said Cowell Elementary Principal Thomas Elliot.

“It also makes everything clearer and cleaner in that it's all relevant to our school improvement plan, and we don't have to get to a point where we have to explain things where you have to explain things with the budget,” Elliott said.

Cowell, at Sheridan Boulevard and West 10th Avenue, has 56 percent of English Language Learners and a transient population, Elliott said, which is similar to many schools in southwest Denver. Cowell had the greatest improvement on DPS measurements in the 2008-09 school year.

DPS increased the amount of money that goes to directly to schools for poor students in 2009 from $408 to $608. But next year the amount for poor students will decrease by $60 per student to about $550. Plus, some of the newer Title 1 funds are part of the federal stimulus package, which will expire in 2012 or before

Many of the plans for the student-based budgeting, as this greater autonomy in budgeting for schools is called, came about partly due to advocacy of the Metro Organizations of People, which was formed about a decade ago and started working with the district about five years ago for more transparent, simple, school-controlled budgets. Members of the Metro Organizations for People presented their history and observations at the Jan. 19 Board study session.

“Because of your advocacy, we're in a much better place than we were two years ago, three years ago. This is an effort we need to continue,” Boasberg said.

Preschool to stay the same
More affluent families will make up the cost of preschool for other families, Boaseberg said.
The district plans to increase the cost of Early Childhood Education for higher-income families, which will make up some of the state's reduction in funding.

“We do care about our preschool programs. We decided we're not going to cut preschool programs,” Boasberg said. “We are not going to decrease preschool services for kids in poverty. The kids who have more means and have the ability to pay are going to pay the market rate. It will allow us to cover our costs.”

The district also plans to keep the same quality.

“In other districts, preschool or the second half-day of kindergarten aren't taught by teachers. Ours are taught by teachers,” Boasberg said.

Other issues

• Reserves: The district plans to take $5 million from its reserves, although by doing so the district will still keep more than 4.2 percent of its budget for its reserves.
• PERA, the teachers retirement fund: Contributions will have to increase over the next few years, but Boasberg said he has to wait to see how much of that increase will be paid for by the district or directly by teachers.
• Textbooks and curriculum are still being aligned to the new state standards and to textbook budgets, which will take three to four months to complete, Tilton said.
• Principal are being evaluated not only on school performance but also on district-led principal evaluation and staff input, which were being done in January, Boasberg said.

Michelle Moss fought for southwest

Story and photo by Joshua Cole
(originally published in Jan. 7, 2010, Denver Herald-Disptach)

In February of 2006, Michelle Moss was conflicted. As she drew names of students would would attend the new West Denver Preparatory Charter School, she was going through the saddest day of her life.

Moss was serving as the southwest representative for the Denver Public Schools Board of Education. Southwest parents and community members voted her into the position in 2001 to help steer policy that would help make schools better. And she thought that schools – her schools – were failing what she wanted them to do.

“I watched primarily poor, Hispanic parents praying. They wanted out of schools so badly,” Moss said.

Those tears of pain would become tears of joy and of pride. West Denver Prep is a model for schools across the district, its students – mainly Hispanic, mainly economically poor, mostly academically weak when they enter – have scored with the most growth on standardized skills tests of any school across the district and with the highest total scores as eighth graders.

“Now I look at these wonderful kids and what Chris (Gibbons, head of West Denver Prep) has done, and I'm so proud of what has been done,” Moss said.

Moss helped bring West Denver Prep to southwest Denver families, one of the many schools and school reforms she fought for and argued for in her eight years on the Board. After two terms, the limit, Moss stepped down from the Board Nov. 30.

“I really believe DPS is a better place than when I got here 8 years ago,” Moss said. “It does my heart good to know the kids are better.”

Moss represented an area that many residents often claim is forgotten in other city agencies. At school board meetings and with district administrators, she made everyone pay attention to her area.

In one of her final acts, she convinced district staff to place a proposed charter school in southwest Denver. Multiple Pathways and Choice Academy was originally slated to go in northeast Denver, but when new charter schools applied for approval and none asked to be in her neighborhood, she changed that. Southwest Denver was the sector of the city with the highest dropout rate. The dropout rate was determined by the number of students who drop out of the district, including those who don't re-register.

“I made an impassioned plea to reevaluate where they would put the first center,” Moss said. “It made no sense to put it in northeast Denver instead of in the southwest. They were convinced.”

Moss's proudest achievement came near the end of her term – on something she worked to get done as soon as she started. The Kunsmiller Creative Arts Academy opened in August 2009.
The school's grand opening – with singing, dancing, music and district dignitaries – to celebrate the completion of the playground was almost called off due to weather, but Moss joined the school's students, staff, a district coordinator and another Board member to chime in the opening of the district's first arts-based school. Although the Denver School of the Arts trains young painters, poets and designers, Kunsmiller doesn't require high-skilled artists; instead, the school increases art appreciation and uses art to enhance general subjects.

“I fought through three superintendents,” Moss said. “I knew that if we built it, they would come. It was a passion, it was a dream, and it's come true.”

Another battle nearly took Moss away from helping southwest students: her own bout with a rare form of muscle cancer. After seven months of chemotherapy, the cancer is all removed. With only a year left on the Board, many thought she would have left early. But she didn't. In fact, rather than drain her energy, the opposite was true: her work on the Board helped her to survive and gave her more reason to keep going.

“It was the Board work that got me through cancer,” Moss said. “I focused on the kids of Denver rather than the cancer.

Her return was an inspiration to others in the district.

“The last time I cried was when you came back,” said superintendent Tom Boasberg. “It was amazing to see you back. You're someone of such passion and brilliance, it's scary sometimes.”

More things change, the more they stay the same
Moss was elected to the Board after teaching language arts and debate for 13 years at Bear Creek High School, in Jefferson County Schools. When she came to the DPS Board, she “was the most liberal Democrat,” she said. “I didn't like charter schools. I didn't like vouchers. I supported the teachers union on everything.”

She saw the success of KIPP Sunshine Peak Academy, a middle school charter school that preceded West Denver Prep that has served a similar population and has regularly outpaced the district average in performance.

And Moss's beliefs on issues changed.

She took a tour early in her tenure, and she talked with students, staff and the leadership of the school.

“She's been incredibly supportive in who we are as a school as an organization and for the families of southwest Denver,” said Rich Barrett, KIPP founder.

She regularly stayed in touch with KIPP, talking with Barrett, when he was the school leader, at least once a year, and she visited at different times, including during a few Colorado state testing periods, Barrett said.

“We'll miss her, but she's still in the community, and we'll be in touch,” Barrett said. “She always cared about her kids. They were all of her kids in southwest Denver, and they weren't just the charters. It was something I loved about her. She just wanted the best education for everybody in the community.”

Moss's support for programs and policy changed, but her reasons didn't.

“The adults, in the long run, do not matter,” Moss said. “We have to serve the children. We can't serve ourselves.”

She finally can take some time to serve herself – well, her 14-year-old son as she said, Nov. 30, she was looking forward to being a full-time hockey mom.

Southwest Early College approved and art show

Early College, a charter high school on South Federal Boulevard near West Darmouth Avenue, was approved to get a 3-year renewal of its charter license at the DPS Board pf Education meeting Nov. 30.

On Dec. 4, the school will be host to its first annual Art and Culture night, from 5:30-9 p.m., with art and performances (dance, music, poetry). See next week's blog and next week's Denver Herald-Dispatch (publication Dec. 10) for pictures and a story.

Info on the school (also in the Dec. 3 DHD):

Link to Southwest Early College

Southwest Early College, which started in 2004 and has about 330 students in grades 9-12, focuses on giving students a chance to take college courses and earn an associate's degree while enrolled in high school.

Faced with problems, the school's board of directors hired Scott Rubin as its new principal in 2008. The school's academic performance showed a better median growth percentile compared with similar schools in 2009, bumping the school from “accredited on watch” in 2008 to “meets expectations” for the 2009 district School Performance Framework.