Reply to The Best Remedy for Maryland K-12 Schooling.

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[quote=Anonymous]We also came from a state that didn't have a county only school system. The several school districts were independent of the county, townships, and city. If you lived within the zone for that school district your portion of local taxes for the schools went to that district not the city, town or county you lived in. I can't remember whether we wrote the tax check to the school district or simply the city or state and they paid the local school district. Regardless, you do not need a separate municipal government entity to have an independent school district.

Using this system, you could easily have a Silver Spring Unified School System or Silver Spring Independent School System. The community would define the zones -in other states this requires petitioning. The portion of school funding collected by the local government from those residents goes to the new school district.

Pros

1. You get smaller school districts but not so tiny that they struggle to survive. You get VERY representative leadership not only at the school board level but at the principal level. Principals and teachers have a lot more authority and autonomy. There's no vetting through eight layers in the central office to send an email. Resources are put into the schools not the bureaucracy.

2. You get more business/community involvement. Local businesses, bigger firms and other opportunities are more easily pursued. There is no "gee interesting donation or grant opportunity but how will Pat O-Neil benefit? Oh she won't well never mind."

3. You get stable boundaries. Once the school system is established the boundaries are determined by residency and tied to local taxes. Its difficult and not in the interest of anyone to suddenly shift the boundaries despite residents desires. This promotes property values.

4. The community can vote in special tax assessments to fund new things. The money is ear marked not thrown into a big pot to be used on something else. Again -more representative government.

5. You get a much more rationale school system. There isn't a PR department needed to spin the latest boondoggle. There aren't endless millions spent on consultants for navel gazing. Money can be spent on outsourcing services like IT to get IT that works instead of paying millions for in-house work that is always broken.

6. Teacher professional development is much stronger too. There isn't this insular training program that only exposes teachers to central office vetted, changed and messed up materials. Teachers are encouraged to look to broader more established university-level peer reviewed materials and professional development is driven by the teachers.

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