Wednesday, November 10, 2004

INDEPENDENT SCHOOLS SQUEEZED BY BUREAUCRACY

In both Australia and the USA

When Phillip O'Carroll started Fitzroy Community School in a Melbourne terrace in 1976, a number of parent groups were starting schools. O'Carroll and his wife, Faye Berryman, had been involved in several school start-ups, and being all too aware of the red tape involved they didn't bother. They just found a suitable venue and started teaching kids. The Victorian Department of Education eventually acknowledged their existence and registered them as an authorised non-government school in 1980. By that stage O'Carroll and Berryman had a functioning primary school with plenty of supporters. "You couldn't get away with that now," says O'Carroll. "There's so much more regulation."

The number of independent schools in Australia grew from 803 to 979 in the decade 1993 to 2003, according to the Australian Bureau of Statistics, an annual increase of 17 schools each year. It might not look many, but in comparison with the Catholic and government sectors it's an important trend. Catholic schools increased by two over the same period, while government schools dropped by 436.

Educators and community school advocates believe that the growth of non-government schools would have been much greater if it was easier to start a school. According to O'Carroll, the regulations imposed on non-government schools by state governments are so onerous they act as an impediment and a deterrent to prospective schools. "It's a roundabout way of minimising new schools," he says. "We are in a situation where our major competitor decides whether we exist. It's structurally unjust."

Although the federal government provides most of the government funding for non-government schools, to qualify schools must be registered with their state or territory government. Requirements vary, but the process usually takes between one and five years. Numerous conditions are attached, including that the school must be non-profit. New schools are required to provide evidence that they meet the government's standards on buildings and facilities, policies on discipline and child welfare (corporal punishment is usually expressly forbidden), the qualifications and character of school staff and operators, and the curriculum. While this list appears straightforward, it is far from it. In NSW just the checklist of documentation schools must provide for registration runs to 14 pages.

Vern Hughes, executive director of Social Enterprise Partnerships, an organisation that encourages and facilitates community-based provision of social services, says that the complicated process of registering turns many people off. "The hoops people have to jump through are ludicrous," Hughes says. "For many people it proves too difficult." In some states it is more difficult than in others.

When the Commonwealth Government's new schools policy was abolished by then federal education minister David Kemp in 1996, many states took the opportunity to establish new schools committees to regulate openings. In Queensland, South Australia and Western Australia, applications are assessed against the impact they are likely to have on existing schools. Some in the independent sector have likened this to giving Pizza Hut power over which restaurants can open, and where. The Grimshaw review of the registration and accreditation of non-government schools in NSW recommended this year that the same process be established in NSW, but it was not accepted into legislation. Instead, in NSW a committee has been established to exchange information about new schools and expansions between the school sectors.

Terry Chapman, executive director of the Association of Independent Schools, says this committee is "to allow sensible planning, but does not make decisions about limiting the number of schools". It's not just about competition, though, according to Hughes. Rather than drawing students from other schools, Hughes believes there is an unmet demand for certain types of schooling and that non-government schools can provide a better quality of education, as well as relieving some of the burden on the government system. "There are networks of parents of children with disabilities and learning difficulties who are interested in schools with an orientation that is specific to their needs," Hughes says. "The Victorian government ideology of inclusion (of students with disabilities in mainstream classes) places unreal expectations on teachers and kids. Much of the debate has been on high-achieving kids, but the options at the other end are terrible."

The ALESCO Learning Centre in Newcastle, NSW, is a prime example of a non-government school succeeding where others have failed. Opened in 2002, ALESCO is located within the WEA community education centre and housed in a largely unrenovated 100-year-old building in the inner city suburb of Cooks Hill. It provides a secondary school curriculum to students who have high levels of educational and social need, using only its government funding - which is substantially less than what government schools receive. "If we did not exist, these kids could not attend a government high school or TAFE," says Rowan Cox, the school's administrator. "Non-government schools fill a gap, whether at the bottom or at the top. The beauty of a non-government school is that we can be more flexible. We are based in an adult learning environment as part of a registered training organisation (RTO), but have adapted to account for the fact that our students are adolescents and need more support." Cox says she has never before been involved in so much paperwork as with ALESCO, but sees the need for schools to be accountable for their expenditure of public funding and for the responsibility of caring for young people.

While Cox does not resent the "phenomenal" amount of documentation and evidence the school is expected to produce at any time, she thinks it unfair that government schools are not always held to the same standards. "There is an inequity there. It seems that since they are government schools, if there is not enough time or resources to monitor them, then that's okay," Cox says. "We have an important social capital role. Since we opened, crime has gone down and youth unemployment has gone down. That is often not recognised, especially with regard to funding."

Back at Fitzroy, O'Carroll is less complacent about the level of accountability to government. He has seen the paperwork grow each time the school has to re-register, every six years, to the point where he is sending off a wad of paper "centimetres deep". "The process has become quite ridiculous. Many of the aspects monitored have nothing to do with education, things like town planning and building minutiae. "You have to write separate 'vision' and 'mission' statements for the school.... "Schools without much money have to divert energy from their real work to engage in a tedious bunfight, wading through mountains of clumsy regulations," O'Carroll says.

In the US, the burgeoning charter school movement has created a niche for organisations that help new non-government schools establish themselves. Charter schools are independently operated schools receiving public funding on the condition that they meet the educational and operational expectations set by the local school district - the "charter" or contract. In the US, as in Australia, the approval process and securing funding are highly complicated, and there are no government offices set up to help.

This is where the "school incubators" come in. The Apple Tree Institute in Boston and Washington DC, and the Innovative Schools Development Corporation in Delaware, offer their services to people who want to start a school but need help getting through the legal quagmire. Their services range from seed-funding, like an education-version of venture capital, to full management of the school under the direction of the charter holders.

Vern Hughes sees a need for such an organisation in Australia. Although independent school numbers are steadily growing, Hughes says that those that succeed in opening their doors "represent but a tiny proportion of those that could be established if more support were available". Hughes would like to see a "community school incubator" established in Australia to help people who have an educational imperative but lack financial, technical and legal expertise to start a new school. "We need to simplify, demystify and provide connections," Hughes says.

For many community school advocates, including O'Carroll and Hughes, the arguments for community schools are based on performance and principle. According to O'Carroll, it comes down to whether you believe parents have the right and responsibility to be the primary educators of their child, and to pursue their best interests. "Regulations should cover teacher suitability and the core curriculum, but beyond that if fee-paying parents are satisfied that the school is satisfactory it is unnecessary for bureaucrats to step in. "In a democracy we are supposed to have freedom of association, free trade and respect the prior rights and authority of families. The strong interference by central authorities is a barrier against the spirit of democracy."

Source


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For greatest efficiency, lowest cost and maximum choice, ALL schools should be privately owned and run -- with government-paid vouchers for the poor and minimal regulation.

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