Thank you Superintendent Dorn . . .

In case you didn't get a chance to read today's Seattle Times, here is the editorial supporting Superintendent Dorn's refusal to identify for the Governor an additional 10% in cuts to public education.  To deal with the revenue shortfall she had asked all heads of state agencies to identify an additional 10% for possible cuts.  Superintendent Dorn has refused to comply with the request.

"I have directed staff not to submit a list of options to you that would cut the State's payments for basic education by $97.3 million as requested," Dorn said in a written response to Gov. Chris Gregoire's budget directive to state agencies.

Thank you Superintendent Dorn for taking this stance.  I doubt that it will have any influence on the decisions that need to be made, but at least he is advocating for all students in the state.  The bottom line is that cuts will be a reality and it is likely that we will also feel the pain.  Will it be 10%?  I don't think so because of previous cuts, the lawsuit now before the State Supreme Court, and the constitutional requirements that we are all familiar with. 

Is the Superintendent playing politics as some suggest in the comments to the editorial?  I choose to view his position as advocacy for public education and not playing political games.  It is an attempt to balance the high demand placed on all public schools with the support necessary to achieve NCLB benchmarks and the need to prepare students for success in post high school learning and work.  Additional cuts will eliminate even more of the support structures that many do not understand are essential components of learning communities focused on student achievement and adaptive change.  Reading the comments to the editorial reinforces for me the lack of understanding that many have for the complexity of our work.  Some examples are shared below.

**Our education system needs restructuring. We need to return to the curriculum of the 1960s when the SAT scores were much higher.


The reason our test scores are moving lower and lower each year is because we have changed the curriculum from one of teaching the basics to one that is so broad based little is learned because there is not enough emphasis on the three Rs and science.


**Dorn is the boss and paid to lead, not obstruct. There are places to cut and ways to save. It may mean kids with laptops learning from home and reducing classes to a couple of days a week.



Less money, it means the same to a state superintendent as it does to your household finances. Crying to the world and ignoring the problem will not resolve the issues, except who will be replacing Dorn next election.
 
Almost all of the 24 comments are against the Times for supporting Dorn's stance.  You can find them here.  On this one I say thanks, though it probably won't influence the outcome it is good for our Superintendent to say enough is enough.