Escambia public education could be our albatross

I’ve received complaints that in my criticism of Superintendent Malcolm Thomas’ 10-year leadership that I haven’t taken into consideration that the state’s standards are more strenuous than what his two predecessors faced ( Outtakes—May, Paul Were Better ).

While the grading system has gotten more complicated – taking in improvements of the lowest performing students and adding science and social studies, etc., the grading scale has gotten more lenient (Under 2014 grading scale, Escambia would have 22 ‘F’ schools).

How does Escambia County School District’s ratio of school grades compare with the rest of the state? Not well.

For last school year, the state gave out grades for 3,250 schools, with percentages rounded up: 32 percent got ‘A’s; 26 percent got ‘B’s, 36 percent got ‘C’s, 6 percent got ‘D’s and 1 percent got ‘F’s. Across the state, 58 percent of the public schools received better than a ‘C.’

Escambia County had 49 schools receive grades for 2017-18 school year, including three charter schools and its virtual academy: 20 percent got ‘A’s; 7 percent got ‘B’s, 37 percent got ‘C’s, 29 percent got ‘D’s and none got ‘F’s. Two-thirds of the schools received either a ‘C’ or ‘D.’  A complete reversal of the statewide percentages. Yet the district received a ‘B’ grade, thanks to the softer grading scale.

This is why I’m worried that Escambia County will have trouble providing the skilled work force for the job demands of our future (and present) economy – Outtakes—Our Next Labor Force.

We have a crisis in our local public education. The Studer Community Institute’s ‘Brain Bag’ initiative and the Achieve Escambia’s Pre-K push will have an impact maybe five to ten years from now. However, we have over 40,000 children in the system today–over 60 percent are in ‘C’ or ‘D’ schools.

The 49 Escambia County schools that received grades had 35,979 students: only 6,136 attended an ‘A’ school.  If we excluded Brown Barge and West Florida, where students have to apply to attend, only 13 percent of our students are in an ‘A’ school.  Another 7,638 are in a ‘B’ school – 21 percent.