By Van Schoales, Member of DFER-CO Advisory Committee
(From The Denver Post, May 16th 2011)
The Denver mayoral race has been remarkable in its focus on education reform. Never before has there been so much discussion, debate and even television ads on this critical issue in the city’s mayoral race. We are fortunate to have two candidates, Michael Hancock and Chris Romer, who are both education reformers.
Some point to the Denver mayor’s lack of direct authority over the city’s schools to argue that the candidates’ rhetoric is better suited for the upcoming school board race. This misses the point: Denver’s next mayor is sure to have a significant impact on public education in our city. And as President Obama and Colorado’s U.S. Sen. Michael Bennet are demonstrating on the national level, serious and much-needed education reforms require strong leadership.
Hancock and Romer have their differences when it comes to education policy, but both realize the central importance of high-quality public education to bringing growth and prosperity to Denver. There are some truly great public schools in our city, but when the district schools as a whole are struggling to sufficiently prepare one-fifth of their students for college, work and civic participation, fundamental reform is required.
When he was mayor, John Hickenlooper provided a strong foundation for improving DPS by helping create the Denver Preschool Program and Denver Scholarship Foundation (and thank you, Marquez family). Our next mayor can build on these efforts to:
• Ensure every neighborhood in the city has high-quality schools by tracking and pursuing opportunities in collaboration with DPS and other school providers.
• Establish a parent-friendly system for families to locate and enroll their children in schools that meet their needs. There is currently a sea of data on school quality that often creates even more confusion for parents. The city is in a unique position to provide guidance to Denver families regarding options for district- managed, charter, and independent schools. Imagine a simple grading system similar to that used by Denver’s early childhood programs, and an office with resources to help guide families toward programs and schools that work. The Denver Housing Authority, libraries and recreation centers could provide resources
• Create an annual report on the quality of Denver’s public education system — from preschool through college — to establish benchmarks for educational attainment. DPS currently sets these goals, yet often neglects to assess whether or not they were met, and they often have little connection to early childhood education or higher education. The city should provide support, coordination and oversight as it works to create a system of great schools
• Make a commitment to promote successful schools and programs and support their growth and replication. Our next mayor should not only visit schools that work but should regularly set forth plans to expand successful programs to other struggling schools
• Mobilize city facility and community connections to ensure that new city development not only includes public education, but also new schools and programs that are of the highest quality for any new city-supported development (i.e., Stapleton)
• Ensure that all development plans offer a range of housing options for low- and moderate-income families. Only then can the city begin to chip away at the segregation in our public schools, a direct byproduct of segregated and concentrated low-income housing.
• Actively support the redesign of Colorado’s education-funding system so that fair levels of funding follow all of Colorado’s students from one school or program to the next.
• Give the same level of priority to public education that recent mayors Peña, Webb and Hickenlooper gave to economic development, transportation, arts and sports.
Denver’s next mayor has a unique opportunity to build upon a promising foundation for reforming public schools. Imagine if the legacy of our next mayor was that he paved the way for giving all children in Denver access to a high-quality public education.
Van Schoales, a former public school principal, is executive director of Education Reform Now.