Dear friend of ABEC,

Charlie Rose, general counsel to US Secretary of Education Arne Duncan, knew he was heading to Phoenix.  He wanted to touch base with key leaders in Arizona who have interest in education. He asked the Business Round Table and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce about with whom he should meet. Both groups responded, “the Arizona Business & Education Coalition.” Nice recognition from two elite national organizations. 

Mr. Rose met with a select group of ABEC members during his recent trip to Arizona.  In the meeting, he talked about:

• Race To The Top: Arizona will receive recommendations soon on the grant application and how it can be improved. There will be ample money available for Phase 2. They want to continue the Race to the Top grant program to maintain momentum for change [NOTE: Of 41 applications, Tennessee and Delware are the only two states who were selected to receive RTTT funds in Phase 1.]
• ESEA Reauthorization: The administration released a Blueprint for Reauthorization that carries a number of recommendations. The current labeling of schools is non-productive. He said that there are clearly three categories of schools: 1) those “doing the right thing” and should be rewarded; 2) those in the lowest 10-15% of performance needing special interventions in the form of school improvement grants; and 3) those in the middle that need incentives. There needs to be a focus on student growth – not on performance on a single assessment.  They want to see reauthorization happen this year – and hope it will be bipartisan.

“The experiences we had in Illinois” he said, “of collaboration and coalition building have shaped the education agenda for us in Washington today.”  He was part of the original Illinois Business Education Coalition that, thanks to the funding support of philanthropy, ultimately became “Advance Illinois”, bringing together business and education leaders along with policy makers and unions.  The purpose: to provide a forum to find consensus on education reform. According to US Secretary Duncan, collaboration is a must – and that philosophy is evident in the Administration’s approach to education reform. The competitive grant programs – including Race to the Top, School Improvement and the Investing In Innovation grants – all require clear evidence of collaboration and consensus. The expectation forces local conversations about difficult and controversial issues and provides “cover” for local change initiatives. “ABEC,” Mr. Rose said, “is perfectly positioned to influence change.” He also acknowledged that affecting such change takes time: time for building relationships, time for difficult conversations, and time for initiating and seeing change implemented. “It’s about leadership,” he said, “about gathering together a handful of key leaders who are willing to expend personal and political capital to take risks.”  Coalitions are important. Leadership is the foundation.

ABEC has on-the-ground examples of both collaboration and controversial issues! Our public forums on the school finance proposals are underway. We convened groups in West Phoenix and Casa Grande and have four more scheduled in April 2010. One of our proposals for school finance is that we, as a state, undertake the hard work of tax reform.  We’ll begin educating our members with a series of Crash Courses next fall on the many and complex elements of the Arizona tax structure.

On a final note, plan now to attend the ABEC conference on June 7 where we’ll hear more about collaboration from Arthur Rothkopf, senior Vice President of the US Chamber of Commerce and Lois Adams-Rogers, senior advisor of Council of Chief State School Officers.   You will also hear from Dr. Tim Waters, president and CEO of Mid-continent Research for Education and Learning (McREL) who will focus his remarks on leadership.

Susan Carlson
ABEC executive director

 

 

 

… Dr. Debra Duvall, former superintendent of Mesa USD and special advisor to Governor Jan Brewer, who has been chosen as the next executive director of the Arizona School Administrators Association (ASA), effective June 1.

… Intel and ADE, for its recent National Governor’s Association’s Public-Private Partnership Award, for its Intel Teach Program in Arizona, a partnership between Intel and ADE that helps teachers incorporate technology into their classrooms (NOTE: ABEC also recognized Intel Teach as its 2009 “Best Practices” Best Overall Business-Education Partnership).