School board travel tab rising

Travel costs for the Charlotte-Mecklenburg school board are rising,  in part because members want to have a stronger voice in national policy.

The board allots $5,150 a year for the chairman to travel and $3,100 for each of the other eight members,  a total of $29,950 a year.  For the last couple of years they spent far less -- $17,529 in 2011-12 and $12,500 the year before.

Ellis-Stewart

For 2012-13,  the board spent $24,024.  At-large member Ericka Ellis-Stewart,  who was board chair for the first half of the budget year,  spent just over $7,200,  the largest amount  (read the summary for all members here).  Obviously that's more than her normal allotment,  even figuring half a year at the higher rate.  Current Chairman Mary McCray says the board agreed to cover her travel costs for Council of Urban Boards of Education sessions when the board endorsed her appointment to the CUBE steering committee.  The steering committee meets five times a year at locations around the country,  and members are required to attend four of those meetings,  McCray said. The board added $5,000 to Ellis-Stewart's travel budget for that purpose.

This month,  Ellis-Stewart went to a CUBE summer issues seminar in Seattle at a cost of about $1,870.  She was one of three members,  along with McCray and Joyce Waddell,  who went to the National School Boards Association annual conference in San Diego,  at a cost of more than $2,000 each.  She also spent almost $1,200 on an NSBA Federal Relations Network conference in Washington, D.C., and about the same on a trip to Indianapolis for the Council of the Great City Schools fall conference.

Ellis-Stewart's role is part of the board's strategy for making their views known to local,  state and national lawmakers,  all of whom shape education policy and spending in CMS.  McCray,  a Democrat,  and Vice Chair Tim Morgan,  a Republican,  have spent a lot of energy lobbying the Republican-dominated state legislature and the Democratic-majority county commission.  Ellis-Stewart,  also a Democrat, was tapped to be the expert in national issues.

McCray was the second-largest spender,  with a 2012-13 tab just over $4,500.  Other than the San Diego conference,  that travel was in-state.  Morgan spent about $1,200,  all of it for in-state travel.

Waddell spent just over $4,000 on the San Diego trip and four in-state conferences,  including some of Richard McElrath's unspent allotment.

Eric Davis took the most expensive single trip,  spending almost $3,100 to join the Chamber of Commerce inter-city trip to New York City in October 2012.

Rhonda Lennon and Richard McElrath spent nothing on travel last year,  according to the CMS tally.

PreK-8s, Bright Beginnings top CMS research plan

Measuring the impact of Bright Beginnings prekindergarten and figuring out whether the recent switch to preK-8 schools benefits students are among top research goals for Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools, Chief Accountability Officer Frank Barnes told the school board Tuesday.

Barnes

Several board members said they're eager to see that data.

The 2010 decision to close three struggling middle schools and add grades 6-8 to eight elementaries raised questions in the affected neighborhoods.  Some parents still believe the combined elementary/middle schools endanger the young children and give older students fewer academic options than they'd get in larger middle schools.  Proponents say students benefit from the more personalized setting and avoid the academic slump that often comes with the switch to middle school.

In September,  Morrison presented a preliminary study of the first year of pre-K-8s that found mixed academic results. Barnes said Tuesday a follow-up is expected in late fall or winter,  after results of 2013 state exams are in.

Barnes said CMS is also working with researchers from UNC Charlotte to study the district's prekindergarten:  "Is it working, where is it working best and are there challenges?"  Most school board members say they support public prekindergarten,  but many have voiced frustration that CMS failed to deliver on early promises to monitor how Bright Beginnings students do as they move through school.  Former Superintendent Eric Smith created the program in 1998.  Tracking of student results vanished during ensuing leadership changes,  even as the program's cost has risen.

Other research plans include identifying signs that students are at risk of dropping out and studying the "instructional culture" of CMS schools, part of a research project with TNTP.  Barnes said CMS hopes to refine the district's annual surveys of principals,  teachers,  students and parents.  Results of those surveys used to be posted online;  Barnes said the 2012-13 results haven't been released yet but should be posted later this summer.

Barnes told the board that he and his staff are still working on a reliable way to report on school success.  In 2012,  CMS withdrew its school progress reports after the Observer uncovered errors in the data.  A subsequent CMS review found even more problems.

Board member Ericka Ellis-Stewart asked Barnes how he plans to restore community confidence that CMS can get the numbers right.  Barnes said he's working on a system that uses data verified by the state,  but new state exams and uncertainties about a proposed letter-grade system are delaying that effort.

"Part of what I recognize is that trust is earned,"  Barnes said.  "I think what we will have to do is season by season,  year by year re-earn that trust."

Ellis-Stewart taking part in Obama visit

Ericka Ellis-Stewart, recently elected to chair the Charlotte-Mecklenburg school board, will get a chance to meet President Obama when he visits Charlotte tomorrow.

Details weren't immediately available;  Ellis-Stewart is in Raleigh this afternoon meeting with a legislative education committee.  But the district confirmed that the reason a special meeting on the superintendent search was announced for Wednesday morning,  then postponed,  was that the chair was invited to be part of the visit.

The president is scheduled to fly into the Charlotte airport and make a quick visit to the Freightliner truck plant in nearby Mount Holly.