It's Conclusive: Strikes are Good for Students

So Liv Finne, who is to education policy what Michelle Bachmann is to rationality, has a poorly-formatted post up about how Kent shouldn't strike because of their poor WASL scores. The Evergreen Freedom Foundation (EFF) has piled on, too, in an editorial that I'll spend more time with in a different post.

The obvious argument for a union hack like myself, then, is that those scores would be better if the teachers weren't going to useless meetings, or if the class size was what it should be, or if teachers didn't flee the district to brighter horizons.

I think it's Al Shanker who's attributed with the idea that if it's good for the teachers then it's good for the students. With that in mind, I used the School Report Card that the EFF released last spring, along with their list of districts that have been out on strike recently. On the EFF report card a rating of "6" is considered average, and the cut-off score for a 6 is to be ranked 570 or higher.

In Bellevue, which went out on strike in 2008, the elementary schools are ranked #1, 615, 104, 104, 44, 431, 650, 30, 855, 16, 49, 259, 227, 227, 295, 461, 57, and 401. That's an average ranking of 268, well above average. Only three schools in Bellevue are ranked "Below Average" on the EFF metric. If you take them out, the average ranking rises to 180.

Collective bargaining and a strike don't seem to be slowing Bellevue down any.

Let's try Shoreline, who went out in 2007. Their schools are ranked 95, 104, 136, 295, 295, 372, and 372. That's an average of 208, even better than Bellevue. Every school in Shoreline, which also had labor troubles this year, is above average in the EFF rankings.

How about Lake Stevens, which had a strike in 2003 and is looking likely to have another one? Their 6 elementary schools are ranked 259, 401, 208, 136, 227, and 549. An average ranking of 297, and again no school is below average on the EFF scale.

If strikes hurt, then every post-strike district should look like Marysville (2003, an average ranking of 687, 6 of 10 schools below average). These school rankings, though, show that there isn't much of a trend to be found.

So if a strike is the ultimate manifestation of out of control teachers, and if out of control teachers are the antithesis of student achievement, then why do the kids in districts that have gone on strike seem to be doing pretty well?

Read more here, if any.

School Districts In Trouble--I Ask, I Answer

A couple of weeks ago I asked everyone to send me their ideas of the school districts in Washington State that might be circling the drain financially; thanks to everyone who emailed. I did some follow-up poking around on Google and the OSPI Website, and here's who looks like they're in the most dire straits:

• Shoreline, now up to a 6.32% reserve after several years of tough economic times. There could also be a developing story with Arlington, who had a startlingly low 0.39% ending fund balance at the end of the '07-'08 fiscal year, before the new budget crisis.
  
  (Aside: Check out the Arlington link above to see their response. A little jab at the union, a little whinge about administrative cuts....fun! They also have one of the most poorly-designed surveys that you're ever going to hope to see. Again, fun!)
  
  
• Montesano actually links to the Apportionment and Financial Services section of the OSPI website right off of their homepage, which tells you something about where they're at with the budget. At the end of 07-08 they were $50,000 in the red. You can read more about it in their district newsletter.
  
  
• Onalaska got audited in March of 2008 with a finding attached because of their general financial disarray. You won't find that on their district website, but it looks like a pattern that continues to this day. That's not promising, especially with more cuts to come.
  
  
• Evaline is a district of about 50 kids that doesn't have its own district website. They also have the disadvantage of being in the same part of Washington where Vader was; add in the fact that they had a $46,560 deficit at the end of last year ($1000 per student!), and you have to wonder about their long-term future. You can read their audit here.

I'll update as time permits.

Read more here, if any.