Group six did their presentation on school governance. They sent around a really interesting booklet on Anoka-Hennepins finances. It was a good example for us to see and how schools might decide how the money will be spent. Levies are also something that many schools ask for to pay for past debts, this is voted on by the community. The biggest issue for funding inequity is that each school district has different needs. They also had a group discussion about how we could fix school funding issues. It's such an important topic, yet very hard to think of a solution.
They also brought up the idea of alternatives to local control. Instead of having school boards some cities are appointing the Mayor of the city to take control over their school district. I have never heard of this so I found it interesting that some schools are actually doing this. An example of this was in the movie we watched "Waiting for Superman," when Michelle took over the schools, this was a very controversal issue because many people in the community did not like the decisions she was making, especially when she tried to take the tenure away from teachers. On the other hand, some schools think this idea works great saying schools tend to run more efficeintly and budgets are balanced. They interviewed Finacial officer of Anoka-Hennepin School District- Michelle Vargas. She gave some really good information and opinions on what needs to change in the financial part of school districts.
The final aspect they went over was schools choices and the pros and cons that come along with the different schools. Schools such as public, private, charter, and KIPP schools. We also watched a video clip on charter/KIPP schools. At the end the group handed out crossword puzzle on the material they covered. Overall I think this group did a really good job, I was introduce to many things I wasn't familar with and got me thinking about what needs to be changed in our schools in regards to budget.
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