Mecklenburg ACTS neighborhood group meets with mayor's assistant
On June 9, group of Mecklenburg ACTS participants met with Kevin Monroe, assistant to Charlotte Mayor Anthony Foxx, to discuss concerns about the all-Title I Central Zone, links between schools and neighborhood development, and ways the mayor's office might support a push for excellence in inner-city and middle-ring schools.
Notes from June 9th meeting >>

Mecklenburg ACTS opposes the creation of segregated "Central Zones"
8 May 2010

Printer friendly flyer with black & white map >>
Color "Central Zone" map >>
Schools listed by Zones >>

As part of his current budget proposal, CMS superintendant Peter Gorman is proposing to place all of CMS's high poverty (Title I) schools into two "learning community" zones composed exclusively of Title I schools.

One zone, called the Central Elementary Zone, would serve Title I elementary and pre-K schools. The other, called the Central Secondary Zone, would serve Title I middle and high schools. Non-Title I schools would be placed into three geographic zones: East, Northeast and Southwest. These zones would replace the current "learning communities."

As well as being more than 75 percent low-income, these zones would be approximately 94 percent minority.

Contrary to some public reports, the creation of the Title I zones would bring NO new resources to Title I schools.

CMS argues that placing Title I schools together would allow their challenges to be addressed more efficiently. Mecklenburg ACTS opposes the move. We believe these zones offer a classic example of why separate will never be equal.

• Separating Title I schools from non-Title I schools labels such schools as "different" from wealthier schools. This label would make it more difficult for neighborhoods assigned to these schools to encourage new families to settle there. It would also make it more difficult for those schools to attract quality teachers.

• Segregating schools with high proportions of challenged students from wealthier schools is likely to lower expectations at those schools, especially for those students who are already achieving.

• Because the Title I Central Zones are not geographic, many families with children assigned to one or more Title I schools would have to deal with a different administrative zone at every grade level. Many families with children in elementary, middle and high school would find themselves dealing with three separate administrative zones, one for each school. In contrast, most families at non-Title I schools would be able to deal with the same administrative zone from kindergarten through high school.

Mecklenburg ACTS recommends that CMS eliminate the Title I zones and instead create four geographic zones with balanced proportions of Title I and non-Title I schools. We urge citizens to contact CMS and school board members to support this recommendation.

For more information, please contact Pamela Grundy.

Mecklenburg ACTS endorses League of Women Voters Charlotte Mecklenburg's proposed CMS budget adjustments:

• Reduce the learning communities from the seven to four, instead of the proposed five. Create four wedge geographic zones of approximately 43 schools each. (approx. 1 million additional savings from eliminating three learning communities instead of two).

• Maintain as much of current magnet busing arrangements as feasible (approx. 3.4 million cost)

• Defer any expansion of magnet programs (approx. 1.2 million savings)

• Defer the pay for performance study (approx. 1.2 million savings)

Instituting geographic learning communities would eliminate the problems raised by segregating high-poverty schools into all-Title I zones. The reorganized Title I office could operate as an overlay to those zones. This office could report directly to the superintendent to ensure implementation of its goals.

The combined savings from eliminating one additional learning community and deferring both the proposed magnet expansions and the pay for performance study should be enough to offset most of the cost of maintaining the existing magnet busing arrangements for the next year. This would pave the way for a more systematic, comprehensive consideration of magnets and busing in the coming year.

Every Teacher Counts

The budget that CMS staff presented to the school board last week would cut more than 1,000 jobs, most of which would come from schools. Coming on the heels of significant cuts last year, these cuts would have devastating impacts on schools across the county.

Education depends on the relationships formed between students and school staff. Every teacher counts. Even cuts that could save one or two teaching jobs are worth making.

Eliminate learning communities
In 2007, CMS created seven "learning communities," at a cost of more than $7 million. Now, staff proposes to save $3.6 million by reorganizing the communities into five zones. More money can be saved by eliminating these communities altogether. Every $1 million saved would save 20 teaching jobs.

Equally as important, eliminating the communities altogether would avoid problems created by the proposed reorganization, which segregates Title I schools from other schools in the system, and which also raises administrative barriers that cut many schools off from their feeder sequences.

Furloughs
We call on state legislators to pass legislation that would permit CMS to temporarily furlough employees. Two days of furloughs for 10-month employees would save $6 million, which would translate into more than 120 teaching jobs.

Some argue that furloughs would simply postpone necessary cuts. We believe that such a postponement is valuable in itself. Children only have one chance at schooling. Even one extra year without devastating cuts would be one more year of more effective teaching and learning, with lasting benefits for students.

Making the most of space at schools
Several CMS schools have significant amounts of unused space. More effort could be made to move administrative functions into unused school space, reducing the need for rented office space. Again, even small savings are worth making. This is a crisis situation. Every teacher counts.

Magnet transportation
We are troubled by the proposal to cut magnet transportation beyond a five-mile radius of magnet middle and high schools. This proposal would affect a broad range of families. It would have a particularly large impact on low-income students, who often lack the reliable car transportation that would be required to reach shuttle stops. This potential reduction in access comes at the same time that CMS is spending money to expand magnet programs, with the argument that magnets improve academic achievement. We fail to see the logic of expanding magnet programs with the left hand while reducing access to them with the right.

Growing Isolation
We are especially concerned that the cumulative effect of the proposed budget cuts further isolates low-income students in high-poverty, low-performing schools that are segregated from their wealthier peers. The proposed all-Title-I zones separate Title-I schools from non-Title I schools, no matter where they are located. A reduction of magnet transportation would further reduce options for low-income students.

This growing isolation would occur even as resources for high-poverty schools shrink. High-poverty schools already lag higher-wealth schools in key indicators of teacher quality. As Superintendant Gorman has noted, under the proposed budget CMS will do "less with less." Measures that include overall class size increases, the elimination of the 1-17 K-3 staffing policy at FOCUS schools, and elimination of masters' degree tuition for teachers at high-poverty schools will make it more difficult for those schools to attract and retain top teachers. Pay-for-performance will take years to implement, and has not been proven to improve achievement at high poverty schools.

Separate and Unequal
Many of CMS's low-income students already attend schools that are clearly separate and unequal. We see little in this budget to improve this situation, and much that is likely to make it worse.