CMS budget proposal includes ‘significant investment’ for struggling students
Superintendent Earnest Winston is proposing a “significant investment” in academically struggling students in Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools, including money to hire dozens of additional personnel.
CMS leaders want to better fund a model that uses data to improve schools by “getting students the help they need as soon as we know they need it,” Chief Accountability Officer Frank Barnes told the school board during a budget workshop Tuesday.
Winston’s 2022-23 budget recommendation, which board members could vote on April 26, allocates $14.3 million of federal relief money to support struggling students, according to the budget document. Leaders say that money will pay for benefits and salaries of about 67 additional employees.
The total proposed operating budget is $1.7 billion with an additional $332 million in temporary COVID-related money from the federal government.
In CMS, 42 schools are defined as low-performing by the state of North Carolina. Last week, a third-grade progress report showed just 13.4% of students projected to meet the year-end goal in English language arts and only 5.9% of Black and Hispanic third-grade students projected to meet the same goal.
“It’s the question everyone is asking about CMS,” Ann White, associate superintendent specializing in student services, told the Observer. “How can we get students the help they need when they need it? We’re working on the process.”
White used the example of a third-grade student needing more reading help. While every child receives regular instruction, some children, she said, need additional help beyond core lessons.
What CMS wants to do
▪ The district plans to add a director to oversee the Multi-Tiered System of Support, a model used to provide targeted support to struggling students. White said the district currently has 10 specialists who support the schools, but each specialist may be assigned to 10 to 20 schools.
“There’s not a job that oversees those 10 (specialists),” White said. “We need a key person for the whole thing.”
▪ CMS wants to add 16 facilitators, whose responsibilities would include helping teachers review data available to determine where the skill gap is for individual students.
“They would match an intervention to that child’s need,” White said. “They’re pulling reports, talking with classroom teachers. They’re finding out who needs help.”
Every CMS school has somebody designated to fill the role, but in most cases it’s an assistant principal or academic dean.
“But we realize in some of our schools, that is a very overwhelming responsibility,” White said. “We’re starting with 16 so that we can show the impact of that role on the outcomes of students.”
▪ CMS also wants to add 50 interventionists. While classroom teachers handle interventions, White said, a specialized position will ease the burden on teachers who, if they have multiple students in need of additional support, don’t have enough time.
“It is the people that (are) going to make this work,” school board member Lenora Shipp said Tuesday. “I’m concerned. Looking at this right away, this isn’t sufficient. When we talk about facilitators and interventionists, this is critical. I’m concerned we’re not doing enough to support the great need right now.”
Addressing problems
Nearly a year ago, racial equity and improving its lowest performing schools led to a bitter funding dispute between CMS and the Mecklenburg Board of County Commissioners during which the county withheld $56 million to encourage school officials to address problems.
County commissioners eventually released the money after a mediation process.
Winston wrote in his executive budget summary, “While we emerge from the acute phase of the risks of the COVID-19 virus itself, we enter this endemic phase understanding that many students have suffered educational setbacks during the past couple of years. Many of these students, particularly including large numbers of our historically underserved Black and Hispanic student populations, have seen outcomes reduced even further. We acknowledge this and are committed to bringing to bear all potential resources to resolve this crisis before it becomes too late for a generation of our students.”
On Tuesday, board member Carol Sawyer told leaders there needed to be a more “concrete way” of knowing which schools will receive additional personnel.
“There isn’t a clear picture,” Sawyer said. “(We need to) communicate to the general public how we’re targeting resources.”
Barnes said the schools with the highest, greatest levels of need, including the 42 low-performing schools, will be prioritized.
A virtual community budget engagement session is scheduled for 6:30 p.m. Thursday. Visit the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools YouTube page to view and participate in the session.
