Pity the state superintendents
With the news that President Obama has nominated Thelma Melendez de Santa Ana to be the Assistant Secretary of Elementary and Secondary Education, we have reached a milestone of sorts. All of the major k-12 education positions have been filled. And on the whole, it’s a talented lot, generally reform-oriented, and diverse.
But there’s one box that Obama and his talent scouts failed to check: There isn’t a single state superintendent among the bunch. As far as I know (and tell me if I’m wrong), there’s nobody on his team who has even ever worked for a state department of education.
That’s pretty remarkable, significant, and, I think, foolhardy. To be clear, I share no particular love for state education agencies. These classic bureaucracies are easy to hate. But there’s no getting around the fact that if you work for the federal government and want to influence local school districts, there’s no getting around the states.
Well, almost no getting around them. It’s true that the feds sometimes make grants directly to local school districts, and no doubt Arne & Company will do so through its slush fund innovation fund. But for the big bucks, including Title I, special education, the bulk of the stimulus dollars, and more, the states are indispensable. They apply for the grants (or not! ), they shuffle the money to the districts, they provide technical assistance, they monitor what’s happening on the ground. And if they are not on board with Uncle Sam’s policies, they can pretty well thwart the whole thing.
Consider how surprised Team Obama seems to be that only 13 states have applied for stimulus funds so far. Maybe if they had an state education agency (SEA) person on their team they’d know that the state agencies are hemorrhaging staff right now, thanks to state budget cuts, which makes even relatively simple tasks like this one more difficult.
Perhaps it’s not surprising that Arne wouldn’t hire a state supe for a top job. As Chicago’s superintendent, he probably hated the Illinois Department of Education , just like most urban leaders hate dealing with meddlesome (and sometimes incompetent) state leaders. Call this the local superintendents’ revenge. But eventually, I suspect, he’ll discover that he needs the SEA perspective nonetheless. And “chief state school officers,” he’ll come calling for one of you.
Photo credit: steve0_f from Flickr
Related posts:
- The National Conference of State Legislators-Who-Also-Happen-To-Be-Classroom-Teachers-and-NEA-Members
- Rhode Island: The little state that could
- The education stimulus: The result of amnesia, the cause of schizophrenia
You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.
May 21st, 2009 at 11:48 pm
I know that technically NAGP is not part of the EdSec’s “team,” but Cornelia Orr has worked in the bowels of the Turlington Building for many years.
May 22nd, 2009 at 12:40 pm
good point, mike —
though i think you’re being too kind as to the quality and accomplishments of the latest nominee. couldn’t they have done better?
/ alexander
http://scholasticadministrator.typepad.com/thisweekineducation/2009/05/obama-hires-brilliant-or-obscure.html
May 24th, 2009 at 4:46 pm
The thing is, State Departments of Ed have been doing the best that they can do to respond to ever increasing Federal Mandates since 1965 when the Feds began taking action to “assist” Elementary and Secondary education.
Both State and Local authorities have gone along with the fiction that “we’re making gains,” annually finding some basis for spin and relying on the short memory of what last year’s spin was.
Both “ESEA Title 1″ (poor schools) and IDEA (Special Ed) have built up large and powerful special interest groups. Now the Secretary of Ed is requiring each State to:
– sign on to the “four pillars” of “reform” in the Ed Stim package
–keep careful administrative accounting to spend the funds per legislated categories
–spend the stim money as fast as possible
–protect as many teacher jobs as possible
–spend it on anything that would have sustained economic strings attached
These impossible demands ignore the fact that “el hi” is fighting all other publicly-supported services, such as police, firefighting, health and welfare for funds at both state and local levels.
The “big investment the Obama administration is making in education” creates the impression that local schools will have more money than ever before. That’s just not true. Some States have financial reserves that can be drawn upon. Others, California being the leading example, are near bankruptcy.
It’s going to take more than the Secretary’s hiring of a Chief State School Officer to straighten out this “perfect mess.”
May 26th, 2009 at 9:06 am
Who would you suggest that Duncan consider? Few if any current or former state chiefs are actually worth a damn. I think Duncan’s right to stay away from them.