Oakland's perfect storm leads to state takeover. (Update: education news from schools, businesses, research and government agencies).It was a "perfect storm" of sorts, dubbed dub 1 tr.v. dubbed, dub·bing, dubs 1. To tap lightly on the shoulder by way of conferring knighthood. 2. To honor with a new title or description. 3. by locals referring to the 48,000-student Oakland, Calif., school district during the last two years. As a result, the ship's captain, Superintendent Dennis Chaconas, and its locally elected school board, were tossed overboard o·ver·board adv. Over or as if over the side of a boat or ship. Idiom: go overboard To go to extremes, especially as a result of enthusiasm. when the state recently approved a $100 million bailout bailout The financial rescue of a faltering business or other organization. Government guarantees for loans made to Chrysler Corporation constituted a bailout. to save the district from bankruptcy. Chaconas declined to be interviewed, but many details of the fiscal fiasco are clear. When he was hired in 2000, Chaconas promised a "renaissance" of the Oakland schools. He produced progress: students reading at grade level increased by more than 5 percent and standardized test A standardized test is a test administered and scored in a standard manner. The tests are designed in such a way that the "questions, conditions for administering, scoring procedures, and interpretations are consistent" [1] scores at the elementary level showed strong increases. Additionally, a teacher exodus was stanched by a 25 percent salary increase. Unfortunately, balancing the checkbook was not Chaconas' strong suit. In the fall of 2002, a $60 million deficit, accrued over two years, was revealed. "The causes are attributed to lack of discipline around personnel costs," says Gary Yee, an elected school board member "At the same time the district started losing around 2,000 students a year. And the piece that the people around here call 'the perfect storm' is the collapse of the state economy, which caused the governor to reduce the funding for schools." When a $100 million loan was approved by the state, the state superintendent of education fired Chaconas and named Randolph Ward the state administrator of the district. A veteran educator with a master's degree master's degree n. An academic degree conferred by a college or university upon those who complete at least one year of prescribed study beyond the bachelor's degree. Noun 1. in school leadership from Harvard, Ward is not new to takeover politics--he led the Compton, Calif., district after an early 1990s state takeover That district returned to local control this year. In Oakland, Ward found an overstaffed o·ver·staff tr.v. o·ver·staffed, o·ver·staff·ing, o·ver·staffs To supply with too many employees: Management was careful not to overstaff the agency. central office and a "very dysfunctional fiscal and control situation." Ward reports to the state education superintendent, but will work with a fiscal crisis and management assistance team named by the governor He plans to focus on "revenue enhancements revenue enhancement An increase in revenues, especially by way of increased taxes. Revenue enhancement includes reducing taxpayer deductions and eliminating tax credits. ," increasing enrollment, community and business support, and other "entrepreneurial strategies" to balance the budget. "This issue is not about needing more money in public schools, it's about using the money you have more wisely," Ward says. |
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