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On eternal litigation and what education is Thursday, Nov 30, 2006 By John Brummett I sat there equal parts conspicuous and honored. A crew from Fayetteville's public school cable channel came to the Capitol to tape a panel discussion on state education issues. It brought in Sens. Jim Argue of Little Rock and Shane Broadway of Bryant, two of the six most integral, knowledgeable and hard-working legislators on public school reform. (Others: Bisbee, Bryles, Mahony, Elliott - the latter two term-limited.) Then the crew plopped me in a chair between Argue and Broadway. We probably resembled the interior of an offensive line. Two interesting items arose. One was the ongoing debate about whether the Arkansas Supreme Court should maintain control of the Lake View case. The other was the profound matter of what an education is, actually. Is it simply a matter of the 38 core courses that the state mandates? Or should we transcend that traditional curriculum to provide "life skills" instruction and innovation to engage students not college-bound or traditionally achieving? In that order: Argue said it didn't matter whether the Supreme Court kept the case open. He reminded us that the court closed the case three years ago, then, in an unprecedented recalling of its mandate, reopened it a year later on the motion of the Rogers School District's lawyer, David Matthews. Either way, legislators should assume the court is watching closely, and that's not a bad thing, Argue said. Broadway said that even if the case gets closed, lawsuits against something or other about a state educational system are practically ubiquitous around the country. We've had them in 31 states. Now that we've litigated equity and adequacy in many states, the talk among national legislative groups, Broadway said, is that the next round of public school lawsuits may be in federal court and center on whether the federal No Child Left Behind requirements amount to unfunded mandates or are otherwise unfair. As the right-winger in the group, I came out four-square for separation of powers and asserted that there is no separation if the judicial branch presumes to maintain ongoing monitoring of the legislative branch. Courts have power to rule on cases, but the responsibility then to close them. Closed means closed. This idea that the Supreme Court needs to maintain open-ended jurisdiction to make sure each new legislative session maintains appropriate pace on progress is fatally flawed. State policy can only operate at two-year intervals, since that's how the Legislature makes budgets and laws. There will always be a chance a new legislature will not do enough. That's especially true considering that term limits means we have no idea who our legislators will be in 10 years. Are we prepared to make Lake View the eternal lawsuit? People tend to resent the courts. Judges don't need to give people good reason. Then one of the Fayettevillians asked about something the Fayetteville School Board has mandated - a formal district goal to find innovative ways through extra-curricular and "co-curricular" activities to engage otherwise disengaged kids. Broadway was receptive to the idea of "life skills" instruction, saying that we lose maybe a fifth of our public school students through our traditional methods, but that we shouldn't abandon them. We're talking about requiring instruction in such things as how to balance a checkbook, show up for work on time and get along with others in teamwork. Argue? Not so receptive. He's the guru of the 38-unit standard. He said we don't need to dilute our new, rigid, bold and fruit-bearing commitment to these basic courses by assuming that some kids simply can't handle them. Maybe Arkansas could, for once, forge ahead, not retreat, he said. He said we should keep adapting the core curriculum, most urgently to enhance technology instruction because our public schools lag dreadfully behind the private sector in that area. Me? I'm just a newspaper guy. All I know is a story when I see one. And this debate about what education ought to be - I'm thinking that's one. ------- John Brummett is a columnist for Arkansas News Bureau in Little Rock. His e-mail address is jbrummett@arkansasnews.com; his telephone number is (501) 374-0699. |
