South Pasadena PTA Joins Forces with Local Parents to Reform Education

South Pasadena PTA family members and educators had an important reason to rise early on a Saturday morning.

Local parents, grandparents and teachers met to discuss recent budget cuts in the California education system and find out how to come up with solutions at the inside Glendale’s Pacific Park Community Center auditorium.

Two speakers who specialize in education legislation and advocacy joined representatives from the Five Star Coalition of PTAs: Burbank, Glendale, La Canada, Pasadena and South Pasadena.

Education expert Mary Perry works with non-profit organizations that advocate for public education. As Deputy Director of EdSource, Perry specializes in school finance.

Perry’s speech was surprising, said Altadena resident Cushon Bell who has two sons enrolled in Pasadena schools and a third son who will enter a classroom next fall.

“In general, the electorate, who will be voting in June, is conflicted and in a lot of cases they are not educated in what they’re voting on and how it effects children in the classroom,” Bell said.  

She said she now feels compelled to educate people about state school finances and hopes more people will get involved.

“The future of our state depends on our kids and how well they’re supported in what we do for them,” Bell said. 

The second speaker at the forum was Morgan Polikoff, Ph.D., from the USC Rossier School of Education. Polikoff addressed tough questions and current research results on the No Child Left Behind Act.

"The design of the law encourages teachers to teach to the test," Polikoff said. The Act had three criterion for teachers: a Bachelor's Degree, ability to administer a test and requiring each student to score at proficiency level by 2014. If students at a particular school did not perform well on exams, the school would receive sanctions and fewer resources, Polikoff said.

Most California schools could not reach the standardized testing results required by the federal standard. In 2009, 50 percent of California public schools failed the adequate yearly progress (AYP), one method of evaluating a school’s performance under the No Child Left Behind Act, Polikoff said.

Research investigating state standards and assessments associated with No Child Left Behind found negative results, he said. 

The speaker addressed recent reforms, which aim to limit federal involvement in state education, employs college and career readiness standards and improves teacher preparedness and evaluation systems. It also gives parents the choice to send their child to either a public or private school. 

Updated: The forum was informative and brought together a large number of parents and educators, said Deb McCurdy, the Legislative Liason for the South Pasadena Council PTA.  

"I was impressed with the clarity and scope of the presentations by Mary Perry and Dr. Polikoff," McCurdy said. "The forum was also very well-attended, which is a good sign that the various stakeholders in our education community are interested in coming together to create positive change."

Education finances are complicated in California, especially when it comes to the budget and No Child Left Behind, McCurdy said. 

"I knew that California had some very basic systemic flaws with regard to our budget process and the way public education is funded, but I didn't realize the extent," she said.  

California school districts are required to submit their budgets by the end of June, but that the state is not required to provide budget amounts, or information about budget amounts, until the beginning of July. In recent years, the state does not produce numbers until after July, making it difficult for schools to prepare their budgets.

McCurdy added that No Child Left Behind doesn't address the main problem of why schools are struggling. "I was also surprised to learn just how intricate and ridiculous the 'No Child Left Behind' law is," McCurdy said. "I knew it was flawed, requiring every single school to have every single child proficient in math and language arts by 2014 is about as unrealistic a goal as anyone could set, but the mechanics of the law seem absurdly punitive and not conducive to actually making things better for students."

The reform mission isn’t complete for the PTA Forum.

On March 12, the Five Star Coalition will host a forum from 1 to 3 p.m. at Glendale High School, 1440 E. Broadway, Glendale, said Glendale PTA parent Jaimi Zwerling. Working as a group, they will host local legislators, educators and families to discuss what programs suffered and the ones with continued successes.

The plan comes back to the why they came together in the first place, she said.

“The reason why we brought everyone together is because PTA feels very strongly that if we don’t work together we probably won’t achieve what we need,” Zwerling said.

The forum's website ptaforum.org, will continue to create dialogue, pinpoint issues and provide additional information for how each district can take legislative action, Zwerling said. 

“Hopefully, maybe, we won’t be here in the next year or five years,” Zwerling said. 

Editor's Note: South Pasadena Patch corrected a quote from Dr. Morgan Polikoff regarding the No Child Left Behind Act. Patch also included additional comments from Deb McCurdy, the Legislative Liason for the South Pasadena Council PTA after the original story was published.