ebook img

Everett public schools review : executive order 393 : Education Management Accountability Board report PDF

84 Pages·1999·3.7 MB·English
Save to my drive
Quick download
Download
Most books are stored in the elastic cloud where traffic is expensive. For this reason, we have a limit on daily download.

Preview Everett public schools review : executive order 393 : Education Management Accountability Board report

MassachusettsDepartmentofRevenue DivisionofLocalServices FrederickA.Laskey,Commissioner JosephJ.Chessey,Jr.,DeputyCommissioner Everett Public Schools Review Executive Order 393 Education IVIanagement Accountability Board Report September 1999 EDUCATION MANAGEMENT ACCOUNTABILITY BOARD Michael Sentance, Chairperson Robert Addelson Peter Nessen Mark Roosevelt Hugh Scott Carmel Shields Alison Taunton-Rigby Samuel Tyler ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Administration & Finance Andrew Natsios, Secretary Kristen Keel, Undersecretary Jill Reynolds, Special Assistant Massachusetts Department of Revenue FrederickA. Laskey, Commissioner Joseph J. Chessey, Jr., DeputyCommissioner Gerard D. Perry, Associate DeputyCommissioner ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS This reportwas prepared bythestaffofthe Education Audit Bureau, Departmentof Revenue, Division of Local Servicesandthe staffofthe Departmentof Education. Education Audit Bureau Dieter H. Wahl, Director ProjectTeam ChesleyR. Taylor, Jr. Auditor- In -Charge BryantAyles Auditor AmyJanuskiewicz Auditor Anthony Rassias Auditor Departmentof Education Julianne Dow, Director AccountabilityandTargetedAssistance ProjectTeam Priscilla McPhee Supervisor Program QualityAssurance Megan Farnsworth AccountabilityandTargetedAssistance Lynda Foisy AccountabilityandTargetedAssistance f^anthala George, Jr. Consultant Administrativesupportwasprovided by Dawn Mackiewiczand Richard Sirignano TheDivisionofLocalServices wouldliketoacknowledgetheprofessionalcooperation extendedtotheauditteambytheDepartmentofEducation, EverettPublicSchools SuperintendentMr. FrederickForesteireandtheschooldepartmentstaff. TABLE OF CONTENTS INTRODUCTION I. 1 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY 2 II. GENERAL CONDITIONS AND FINDINGS 6 III. 1. EverettOverview 6 2. SchoolFinances 11 3. School CommitteeBudgetTrend 72 4. TotalSchoolDistrictExpenditures 14 5. NetSchoolSpendingRequirements 15 6. School CommitteeProgramBudget 17 7. FoundationBudget 21 8. Staffing-Full TimeEquivalent(FTE) Trends 22 9. Payroll- SalaryLevels, UnionContracts 25 10. CoursesANDClassSizes 29 11. Technology 30 12. Suppliesand Textbooks 31 13. TestScores 32 14. Management 37 15. AccountingandReporting 39 16. ReviewofExpenditures 39 17. HighSchoolAccreditation 39 18. Grade3 Transiency 40 19. SpecialEducationand TransitionalBilingualEducation 41 20. DropoutAND Truancy 43 21. MaintenanceandCapitalImprovement 44 22. SchoolImprovementPlanning 45 23. StudentLearning Time 46 24. PersonnelEvaluations 47 25. ProfessionalDevelopment 50 26. CurriculumAlignment 52 27. AssessmentofStudentProgress 52 IV. EMPLOYEE SURVEY 54 V. SUPERINTENDENT'S STATEMENT- EDUCATION REFORM 55 VI. APPENDIX 56 Digitized by the Internet Archive 2014 in https://archive.org/details/everettpublicschOOmass September 1999 Everett Public Schools Review Introduction 1. The Massachusetts Education Reform Act (MERA) of 1993 has three majorgoals: to increase student achievement; to achieve adequate funding forall local and regional school districts overa seven-yearperiod; and to bring equityto local taxation efforts based on a community's abilityto pay. In February 1997, the Governor issued Executive Order393 to evaluatethe education reform program thatwas nearing the end ofits fourth year. In FY98, Massachusetts General Laws (M.G.L.) Ch. 70 state aid foreducation reached $2.3 billion. With an investmentofthis magnitude in the Commonwealth's schools, it is critical to "review, investigate and reporton the expenditures offunds by school districts, including regional school districts, consistent with the goals ofimproving studentachievement." To thatend. Executive Order 393 established the Education ManagementAccountability Board (EMAB). The Secretary ofAdministration and Finance, serving as chiefofstafftothe EMAB, selected a team ofauditorsfrom the Department ofRevenue's (DOR) Division of Local Services (DLS) to conductthe school district reviews. DOR's Directorof Accounts isthe chiefinvestigatorwith authorityto examine municipal and school department accounts and transactions pursuantto M.G.L. Ch. 44, §§45 and 46A. The reviews are conducted in consultation with the StateAuditorand the Commissionerof Education. Thiswasthefirstauditperformedjointlywith staffofthe DepartmentofEducation (DOE). DOE staffused its own audit protocol to review and prepare sections 22 through 27: school improvement planning, student learning time, personnel evaluations, professional development, curriculum alignment, and assessment of student progress. The Everett Public Schools (EPS) isthethirteenth school district reviewed under Executive Order 393. The audit began May 1999 and fieldworkwas completed in July 1999. As partofthis review, the auditteam conducted a confidential survey of employees ofthe school district and included the results in this report. School officials cooperated fullywith the auditteam. The Executive Summary includes some ofthe more significant observations and findings ofthe review ofEPS' operations. When possible, the auditteam has identified and presented best practices, which may be adapted by otherschool districts. The report includes all results, best practices and deficiencies, ifany, in greaterdetail in the "General Conditions and Findings" section. Executive Order393 - Education ManagementAccountability Board 1 September 1999 Everett Public Schools Review 11. Executive Summary SUMMARY EPS has made progress in achieving some keyeducation reform goals. An emphasis on central planning and goal setting, preparation ofstudents to learn howto address open ended testquestions along with emphasis on maintaining cleanfacilities has helped in creating a positive learning environment. MEAP scores improved substantially and teachers appearto have a very positive outlook on education. Beforethe education reform lawwas passed in 1993, the school districtwas successful in negotiationswith theteachers' union regarding a requirementof25 hours a yearofprofessional development. Itwas also agreed to lengthen the school day and to add one daytothe school yearforsix subsequentyears. Todaythe academicyearis 186 days and theteachers' workyearis 189 days. EPS has a studentpopulation ofabout 5,400, a budgetof$26.8 million as ofFY98 and has experienced a significant increase in studentenrollment. Actual netschool spending has been greaterthan the requirementin all but onefiscal yearsince FY94 and has been lessthan thefoundation budget. Spending was lessthan the foundation target infourkey areasfrom FY94 to FY98. EPS has a $118 million building proposal forfour new pre-Kthrough grade 8 facilities and a new comprehensive high school. The proposalwas approved by DOE and has been endorsed bythe local citygovernmentand school committee. However, less progress has been made in three areas. School improvement plansfor the 1997/98 schoolyearwerefound tovary in written formatand required information. Although all teacherevaluation reports are reviewed bycentral administration to ensure consistencyand district priority, there is no evidence offormalwritten evaluationsfor seniormanagement. The 1998 professional development plan does notcontain an assessmentofgoals achieved sincethe 1995 plan. THE FOUNDATION BUDGET • EPS has exceeded the netschool spending requirements as determined by DOE from FY94 to FY96 and for FY98. In FY98, the district's local and state percentages ofactual netschool spending were 67.8 percentand 32.2 percent respectively. FY98 salaries accounted for75.4 percentofthe school operating budget not including transportation. [See Section 5 and 6] • FY98 SPEDtuition costs accounted for$3,016 million or40.7 percentofnon- salaryexpense areas ofthefoundation budget. [SeeAppendix B1] Executive Order393 - Education ManagementAccountability Board 2 September 1999 Everett Public Schools Review • Thefoundation budgetdoes not mandate spending in any specific category. To encourage appropriate levels ofspending, M.G.L. Ch.70 §9 requires thata school district reporttothe CommissionerofEducation when it has failed to meet foundation budgetspending levelsforprofessional development, books and equipment, expanded program and extraordinary maintenance. EPS did not meet these levels for FY94through FY98, and did notfile a reportas required by law nordid DOE direct itto do so. In addition, the districtdid not meetthe perpupil spending requirements forprofessional development in any yearsfrom FY95to FY98. [See Section 7 ] STUDENTACHIEVEMENT • EPS testscores show mixed results when compared to state averages. MCAS scores showthat EPS scored slightly above the state average scaled scores for grade4 and slightly beldw state average scaled scores forgrades 8 and 10 in all areas. SATscores for 1997 are belowthe state average. MEAP, the state's educational testing program from 1988 to 1996, showed that EPS scores increased significantly in all foursubjectareasforgrade 4 between 1988 and 1996. [See Section 13, Appendices C and D] • Resultsfrom the 1998 Iowa Tests ofEducational Development(Iowa Tests) indicatethat 70 percent ofEPS grade 3 students demonstrated a high degree of proficiency in fundamental skills ofreading. EPS grade 10 students scored atthe 54'^ percentile compared tothe national sample. [See Section 13] GOVERNANCEAND MANAGEMENT POWERS • Strong central administration management characterizesthe district's management style. Central administration makes majorbudgetary decisionsfor the district. The administration reviews all principal and teacherevaluations for form and content. The Superintendent interviews selected teaching candidates and those selected attend an introductory school committee meeting. The administrative contracts arefouryears in length exceptforthe Superintendent's, which is six. The administrative contracts do not includetermination language. In the hiring processforteachersthe Superintendent makes hiring decisions based on the recommendations ofthe principals ratherthan principals making the decisions, which is not in accord with the education reform law. [See Section 14] STUDENT/FTE TEACHER STAFFING • Between FY93 and FY98, thetotal numberofFTEteachers increased by 86 or 34.8 percent, from 247 to 333. During this sametime, the all students/all FTE teacher ratio decreased from 16.9:1 to 15.4:1. The FY98 ratio is higherthan the FY98 state average of 14.2:1. The FY98 all student/all non-SPED FTE teacher ratio of 17.5:1 is belowthe state average of 18.1:1. [See Section 8] Executive Order393 - Education ManagementAccountability Board 3 September 1999 Everett PublicSchools Review TEACHER COMPENSATION • Between FY93 and FY98, expendituresforsalaries rose $8.1 million or69.3 percent. Totalteaching salaries rose $6.3 million or78.4 percent, reflecting additional spending for newstaffaswell as pay raises in teachers' contracts. Union contracted annual raises plus step increasesforteachers have increased by 53.3 percentfrom 1993to 1998. Since 1992/93 seven days have been added to theteachercalendar. The district FY98 averageteachersalary as reported to DOE of$41,442 was $2,609 or5.9 percentlowerthan the state average of$44,051. [See Section 9] STUDENT LEARNING TIME • Student learning time in EPS substantiallyexceedsthe State's minimum requirements at all grade levels. Each yearsince 1993thedistrict has added one additional daytothe studentcalendar, making the 1998/99 school yearfor students 186 days. The 1998/99workyearforteacherswas 189 days. [See Section 23] PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT • The districtdeveloped a Professional Development Plan in Septemberof1995. The planwas updated in 1998with the addition oftwo goals. The 1998 plan eliminated the budget included in theearlierversion. Itdid not identifythose responsibleforimplementing the various aspects ofthe plan, and failed to state howthe plan wasto be monitored and itseffectiveness evaluated. [See Section 25] TECHNOLOGY • Full implementation ofthedistricttechnology planwas projected to cost$9.1 million overafive-yearperiod. The plan is currently in its second yearand $778,108 or8.6 percent has been expended. Thedistrict has 9.9 students per computerofanytype, higherthan the state average of7.9. [See Section 11] DISTRICT ISSUES • In verifying the accuracyofthe enrollment numbers, the auditteam noted thatthe method ofreporting these numberswas inconsistentfrom yeartoyear. Currently EPS is aware ofthe correctmethod ofreporting enrollment, and has done it in accordanceto DOE regulations since FY97. [See Section 1] • The auditteam noted that in FY97 EPS underspent its required netschool spending. DOE required EPSto spend the FY98 required netschool spending as well asthe deficientamount in thefollowing year. [See Section 5] Executive Order393 - Education ManagementAccountability Board 4

See more

The list of books you might like

Most books are stored in the elastic cloud where traffic is expensive. For this reason, we have a limit on daily download.