October 6, 2010

We are well into the school year and things have gone surprisingly well, particularly given the economic climate. As we go into fall, teaching and learning continue to be the primary focus of our schools. The new grade level configurations appear to be working well. And, we had great crowds at a number of events celebrating the culmination of Railer 125. Thanks to all of you who participated. We also won the Wichita Funds for Schools first competition so have a check for $1000 to start our project fund for the buildings. Each month a different deal will benefit our school district and, if it is of interest to you, please support the school district by purchasing the deal. The weather is gorgeous; fall sports continue and parent conferences are underway. First quarter ends next week. Let me know if there are specific areas you’d like me to respond to in future blogs. I’d much rather these be conversational in tone this year. Thanks!

Everything Old is New Again!

Everything Old is New Again! I’ve always loved that song and it so typifies the beginning of every school year. I had the opportunity to visit all of our schools this morning and the energy and excitement were contagious. There is nothing better than watching a kindergartner coming in the front door of the school for the first day! We are blessed to have our bond projects virtually all completed in time for the start of the year and are anxious to show them off to our community. Our community thank you and schools’ open house will be Saturday, October 2 from 2 to 4 p.m. All buildings will be open for public tours as a means of showing the results of our successful bond vote in November of 2007 and a way of thanking our community for its continuing support of our students and our schools!

The 2010-2011 school year promises to be eventful on a number of fronts but I want you to know that our priority will be providing the best educational opportunities possible for all of the students of USD 373. Please go to the community page of our website if you have questions you would like to have answered, or e-mail me at jmorton@newton.k12.ks.us. Here’s to a year of outstanding teaching and learning as we prepare our students for their roles in the 21st century world.

Summer Update

I decided to do a summer blog so it would at least look like I’m keeping up with our web page. I would have to say that it has been an extremely busy summer so far. There used to be a little down time to pause and reflect on the year, clean out some old files, and get ready for the new one. Now, however, it all seems to keep going.

Anyway, here’s what has been happening in USD 373. We appear to have all staff hired at this point; we have not filled approximately 18 vacancies in the past two years. We are glad, however, that we were able to fill essential positions for next year. Payment from the state continues to lag behind both for special education and general fund payments; at least they do arrive. With the change in contract, there will be one less conference day next year, making our contract 192 days rather than 193. I will convene the calendar committee during the report week and we’ll make a change recommendation which will then go to the board for approval. I doubt that the change will alter the calendar in a significant way.

The board reorganization is tonight which will set things in place for the coming year; new officers, committee assignments, revised district goals go into effect. As usual, it promises to be a challenging year, but the wonderful thing is that our staff continues to meet whatever challenges we have before us.

We will be having our culminating activities for Railer 125 the first weekend in October, including an open house showcasing the completed bond projects. It should be a great weekend centered around homecoming activities. I encourage you to participate. Thanks for your continuing support of USD 373. Please let me know if you have thoughts, comments, etc.

John Morton

Update for May 18, 2010

It really is hard to believe that the 2009-2010 school year is rapidly drawing to a close. We had a wonderful graduation last Saturday evening honoring the class of 2010 and our 125th graduation from Newton High School. It appears to me that the seniors look younger every year only, please don’t tell them that.

This has certainly been a year of ups and downs. Despite the economic and budget turmoil, our staff members have worked their magic with students and teaching and learning of high quality has continued in USD 373. And, while it appears that we will be down nearly three million dollars by the start of the next school year from the onset of the budget reductions, I believe we have been fiscally very responsible and our goal has been not only to maintain employment for all of our staff but to maintain quality education. It is, after all, the primary reason that many of us entered the education profession to begin with; our desire to make a difference in the lives of our students and contribute to the future of our community, state and nation.

So this blog is really a salute to our staff for their fine work this year. Every staff member has been important and every staff member has helped to make a difference for all of our students. We will miss our retirees and those who are leaving us for other opportunities; we will welcome those new to us in August. And, we will look forward to Graduation 2011 in May 2011! What an awesome and humbling experience it is to be an educator in 2010. Thank you for everything.

Positive assessments!

Time for some uplifting thoughts. For those not intimately tied to state assessments, there is little knowledge of the amount of time and resources involved in making sure that all of our students have the opportunity to demonstrate what they know on these important tests. Having directly participated in the administration of the reading assessment at the elementary level this year, I am certainly more aware than ever of the tremendous number of staff members and resources which must be focused on making sure our students have every opportunity to succeed. I have been truly amazed at both the dedication and tireless efforts of a number of our staff throughout the district to make sure our students have the best opportunities for success. While I have some philosophical differences with using single data points to describe overall student success, it is what we have to deal with and we deal with it in the best ways possible. So, this blog thanks all of our staff who have helped with state assessments. Your efforts are greatly appreciated and continue to help our students demonstrate just how much they have learned.

Morton Blog for March 25

Apparently, a tax is not a tax when it is levied at the local and not the state level. Currently, in Topeka, an effort is afoot to put making up the budget shortfall and the loss of stimulus funding at the feet of every local community within the state of Kansas. This action smacks of hypocrisy at its worst. At best, it begs the question; at its worst it is disingenuous! What it means for us locally is this; We would need to raise our Local Option Budget by 7.7 mills while losing $627,000 of our general fund and $813,000 out of our LOB, for a total reduction of $1.44 million. Every other district in Harvey County would face a similar scenario. This reduction would come on top of the nearly $2.4 million we have been reduced already.

What is the net result? First, it means that the legislature would essentially divest itself of having to fund education in our state, even though such funding is required by the Kansas constitution. Second, the burden of taxation would be distributed again unequally throughout our state, with those least able to make up deficits by increased mill increases having to bear the largest increases. Finally, such a move compromises the quality of education and the availability of educational opportunities for nearly every student in the state of Kansas.

And, even worse, this only takes care of next year; the worst year, 2011-2012, is yet to come. This narrow, convoluted, short-term thinking must stop! We need a three year plan at minimum to get us on the other side of the current fiscal fiasco. To do anything less borders on the criminal. Please tell our legislators to stop this madness and deal with the fiscal and budget realities in a way that will ultimately benefit our entire state and, most important, our children who are the future of Kansas!

Just the facts, please...

Perhaps you also read the column by Leonard Pitts in the Wichita Eagle this morning. His premise was that facts don’t seem to matter as much anymore in dealing with issues. I am hoping that this is not a sign of the times. Recently, our school district, and all others throughout the state, has been characterized as spending over $13,000 per pupil. This “fact” comes about as the result of totaling all of our funds together and then dividing by our full time pupil equivalent to get a cost per pupil. However, such a figure includes flow through money for special education since we are the sponsoring district, money from bond and interest payments, and KPERS payments which only flow through the district.

To characterize the aid for each student in this way seems both disingenuous and dishonest. The money dedicated to students, their education and support services, is generally found in two operational funds, the general fund and in the supplemental general fund. We can’t seem to have a meaningful dialogue with our legislators or other critics of public schools because we can’t agree on the facts. Maybe in the coming weeks as we attempt to deal more directly with our current financial dilemma, we can agree on the ground rules and find some common ground from which to discuss where we go from here. That will depend on the facts, won’t it?