Boone County Schools Superintendent Jeff Hauswald addressed Florence City Council Tuesday, where he was asked about Amendment 2, which would add language to Kentucky’s constitution that would enable legislators to provide public funding for non-public education.
Hauswald, who has served 27 years in education, was formerly the superintendent at Monroe County Schools in Bloomington, Indiana, where a voucher program is currently in place.
Amendment 2 in Kentucky would not create a voucher program; rather, it would give the general assembly the power to create such a system if it so chooses.
Council member Lesley Chambers broached the subject.
“In two weeks our voters have to make a decision on how they’re going to vote on Amendment 2,” Chambers said. “Could you elaborate a little bit on how such an amendment affected the Indiana schools and share with us any research that you’ve done or that your board has done?”
Indiana, Hauswald said, introduced charter schools, then vouchers, then vouchers for all.
“What we found was that the students that took advantage of those were students that were high performing and were on paid lunch, generally not our marginalized population,” he said. “So it began to segregate our students in Indiana. And what we also know is that the greater the percentage of poverty, the more the cost to educate a student.
“And so as you get poverty density, it’s not a linear relationship…It’s exponential. As our paid lunch students began to take vouchers, what we began to see in public education was greater density of poverty, so greater costs,” he added.
The superintendent said it had an adverse impact on per pupil funding, and teacher and staff salaries were stagnant, creating the slowest growth in 25 years.
“It created a lot of challenges,” he said. “Of course, the interesting thing with the Kentucky amendment is that, unusually so for a constitutional amendment, it’s light on details. It just simply says we’re going to give permission for the legislature to do what they want. And so without knowing the details, it’s hard to make those comparative analysis. It gives them permission, but, of course, the devil’s in the details.”
Hauswald spoke at the council meeting to introduce himself now that his first year is underway. He began by speaking about how schools are doing as the new year unfolds.
He said he wanted to introduce himself to let council know the school community is ready to partner with the city on any projects and ideas that come forward. The community is supported by what he termed, “a three-legged stool” – that of the government, the schools and the business community.
“I was given the opportunity to serve as superintendent and hit the ground listening, as they say… that’s the importance of getting to really know the community, engaging with a lot of stakeholders, a lot of community groups,” he said. “I try to start almost every day in a school building, it keeps me grounded.”
He noted that Boone County Schools is the third largest school district in Kentucky and the second highest performing of all the large districts. The district has an enrollment of more than 20,000 students in 27 schools.
Addressing the gaps
The district is highly efficient, he said.
“Our schools are not only well staffed, but the number of students we put in each building reflects a type of fiscal conservatism,” he said. “Our board of school trustees adopted its tax rate recently. We are proud that our rate now is the lowest it’s been in 12 years.”
Among his and his staff’s priorities, he said, are plans to address several identified gaps, both academic and fiscal.
“We talk about gaps a lot,” Hauswald said. “We talk about learning gaps, gaps that exist between our students from disinvested communities, our students of poverty, and our students on paid lunch. We talk about gaps that exist between our English learners and those families that have English as a first language. We talk about gaps between students with learning exceptions, differently abled students, and gaps that exist between students that do not have individual education plans.”
One related goal is to ensure that all staff – salary and hourly – are paid a living wage, he added.
Targeting achievement gaps
Hauswald said a plan to address academic achievement gaps involves putting strong educators into classrooms where they are needed most.
“We’re also having conversations about how we make sure that our funds are equitably distributed so that all the students are getting the services they need, and what that looks like,” Hauswald said. “We know that not every student needs the same thing. One size fits all simply doesn’t work…We’re investing in just-in-time, professional development for our teachers and our support staff. We believe that is going to give marked improvements academically.”
He said the district is developing a strategic plan to help meet the goals he laid out. The first one, he said, is academic achievement. The second is meeting the needs of staff for professional development. Third, he said, is a focus on community, and fourth is on business operations and efficiency.
Additional plans
In Florence, especially, there is growth in the population of English language learners, Hauswald said. The district is looking at new methods and technologies to help address the issues and provide more support to students and staff.
“We’re really working to make sure that we have all of the personnel needed to provide the services, so that those students don’t just hit the ground learning English, but they’re able to advance in their academics, including math and science and social studies, simultaneously while they’re learning English,” he said.
Ready Learn is another project Hauswald said is a top priority. The program works to ensure students entering kindergarten have the skills they need to start school, such as communication, cooperation, participation, listening.
“We’re really working within our within our budget to expand early childhood education and provide more seats,” he said. “We’re preparing to build a early childhood center and that will open by 2027 to provide more of those services, because that way, when our students enter kindergarten, they’re ready to learn.”
Education is an investment that pays off many fold, said Hauswald.
“For every dollar we invest in public education, in a K-12 setting, the return on investment to the community is $20,” he said. “We see public education as investment.”