Summer is usually a slow time for the Des Moines School Board. Because incumbents are generally favored for re-election by the rest of the board, controversial subjects are left for after the September 8 election. This summer is no exception.
Two items on Tuesday's agenda are worth commenting about. The first is the Superintendent's Monitoring Report on Asset Protection. This report is one in a series designed to place ongoing accountability on the shoulders of the superintendent. The report is available here.
(One of the things I want this blog to accomplish is to make reports and other attachments to the Board agenda readily available to the public. Rarely are they available on the District's website and if they are I wish you luck in finding them. The Register is hit or miss in posting them. So if you hear or read about something the District is doing and want to learn more, check in here.)
The second interesting item is a discussion about a proposed charter school and a request for action authorizing the District to apply for Federal grant money for the charter school. The grant would be for $150,000 a year for three years.
A couple of things are interesting about the approach being taken with respect to the charter school. First, the School Board's approval of the grant application is a consent item scheduled to be approved before the School Board hears the presentation on the charter school. The School Board has to be careful here. Administrators love to work school boards to do their bidding. Requests are made at the last minute so there is no time to think the topic through ("Action cannot be postponed because the filing deadline is tomorrow.") Or a series of small actions build to a larger initiative that is delivered as a fait accompli ("The Board already approved Minor Steps Leading to Something Bigger last spring. Hundreds of people are now counting on the Board to approve this Huge New Initiative. You can't change your mind now.")
Second, it is a grant and grants are tricky. Let's say the charter school is approved and so is the grant. Three years pass and the grant expires. What happens to the charter school? Does it close because it is now $150,000 short? Or are other programs winnowed down so $150,000 can be transferred to the charter school. See the problem with living off of grants?
It will be interesting if the Administration allows the charter school to become a campaign issue by scheduling a vote on it for the September 1 meeting. Probably not (see above).
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