BY LISA SCHENCKER, Californian staff writer
e-mail: lschencker@bakersfield.com | Tuesday, May 22 2007 10:05 PM
Last Updated: Tuesday, May 22 2007 10:07 PM
Bakersfield City School District trustees are asking state legislators to help fix No Child Left Behind.
Trustees unanimously approved a resolution asking legislators to act at their board meeting Tuesday night.
"Many of (No Child Left Behind's) provisions are inflexible and unrealistic, such as requiring 100 percent of students -- including English Language Learners and special education students -- to be proficient by the year 2014 or risk federal sanctions," part of the resolution read.
The No Child Left Behind Act is federal legislation that was passed in 2001 that set goals for the nation's students. Students are expected to make a certain amount of progress each year toward the goal of all students being on grade level in math and reading by 2014. Schools that don't make enough progress face consequences such as reorganization and staff replacement, among other things.
Congress is set to reauthorize the law this year.
Board President Karen DeWalt said she likes the idea of holding schools accountable for results but believes the law needs "tweaking."
"It makes everyone accountable, I do like that," DeWalt said. "But I think some of the goals are kind of unrealistic."
DeWalt said the goals are particularly difficult for many BCSD schools to meet because of the high numbers of students learning English in the district.
Last school year, nearly 28 percent of the district's students were learning English. Twenty-one of the district's 40 traditional schools were in Program Improvement for failing to make adequate progress toward the goals of No Child Left Behind.
Bakersfield Elementary Teachers Association President Carol Reichert thanked the board for passing the resolution.
"Erase the bad parts, rewrite it, and get it authorized," Reichert said.
Report highlights
Trustees also received several reports from different departments in the district on English learners, the budget and instruction.
Here are some highlights:
* The district is projecting an additional $5.7 million in its general fund for next school year thanks in large part to a proposed increase in a cost-of-living adjustment from the state.
* The district is projecting it will lose 19 teaching positions next school year. Chief Business Official Teri Schallock said the district expects to lose those positions through attrition. She said the projected loss is based on the fact the district had about 385 fewer students in attendance on an average daily basis this school year.
* Despite the enrollment decrease, the district had 8,574 students learning English this school year compared with 7,729 last school year.
* The district screened 24,956 students to find out their body mass indexes. More than one-third of those students were referred for follow-up because they were severely overweight.
* Five times more students needed insulin injections during the school day this year than last school year.
* All BCSD schools have English Language Development programs.