Memorandum from Marsha Levine regarding Ray Budde's idea about creating Charter Schools

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November 21, 1988
M E M 0 RAN DUM
TO: Al Shanker Bella Rosenberg Marilyn Rauth Bruce Goldberg , -.. :-; I'" ...... '"

.. 'J
FROM: Marsha Levin~
RE: Ray Budde, Part II
This is a scheme for redesigning school districts according to a new model of organization including the following components:
-Decision making
-Calendar
-Compensation
-Career patterns
-Mission of schooling
-Curriculum and materials.

At the core is the notion of Charter Schools (page 4). He does not identify his assumptions in this.
Buried in alot of systems talk (which I cannot deal with), there are some good ideas. His thoughts about curriculum and materials are very compatible with the introduction of Apple Multimedia laboratories in schools.
I spoke with Dr. Budde who is interested in doing a luncheon seminar on Charter Schools. I'm a little wary of having him because I think he doesn't have a whole lot of flexibility and I think he thinks we may be somehow distorting his idea of what a charter shool is. He may not like the idea of us using his terminology although he didn't say so directly. What do you think? Should we bring him to Washington for a day?
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CONSULTANT SERVICES' SCHOOL DISTRICT ORGANIZATION • BOARD POLICY • WRITTEN COMMUNICATIONS
Ray Budde· 11 Payson Street, Attleboro, MA 02703-1610 .«(~226-7052
solS)
Dr. Marsha levine, Co-Director November 17, 1988
Center for Restructuring
American Federation of Teachers
555 New Jersey Avenue N.W.
Washington, DC 20001

Dear Dr. Levine:
I enjoyed our conversation yesterday. Forgive me for identifying you as "Marshall" -I must be hearing "l's" where there are none. We talked about two possible meetings:
"My being a part of one of your "occasional two-hour informal seninar
sessions. "

o There are quite a number of concepts wrapped up in "Education by Charter." I would appreciate the opportunity to present and discuss the "whole of it" with a small group at the AFT office.

o Janet Ange1is, my contact with the publisher (The Northeast Re•gional Laboratory in Andover), at my request is sending you six additional copies of the book. (Complimentary copies)

o I believe this could be an interesting session.


My meeting with and making a proposal to a group of 2. 4. or 6 people •half, from, the, AF[" and half from the NEA -and all interested in and
·committed'torestructur:iIi.g'American 'public education.

. , .' . , . .
o Some of the more important concepts in Education by Charter are buried in the events in the second half of the book:
The new organizational chart.
Model for a new school year.
A single salary schedule for all certified teachers, administrators, and specialists.
"A horizontal model" for life-long career patterns for teachers, administrators, and specialists.
New way to classify knowledge for the purposes of schooling.
Helping teachers create their own textbooks and learning materials.
o Included is"SKETCHES IN THE REDESIGN OF THE LOCAL SCHOOL DISTRICT" which is being published in the PROCEEDINGS of the, 198R meeting of the Society for General Systems Research which was held in May in St. Louis. This article provides additional det&i1s about the above components of a restructured school district.
Page 2
To Dr. Levine
o I don't think the present schoo]-based strategy of a little "autonomy for the teacher" here, some "shared decision making" there, and some "site-based management" somewhere else will long endure -given the power of an administrative hierarchy

(with a century and a half of tradition and history) which is deeply imbedded in the culture of the schools and in the culture of the society.

o Power is never given away -it must be claimed, it must be seized. And teachers can claim their right to have responsiqle control over the function of instruction. Teachers are the only pr0fessional group who do not control the function for which they are publicly certified.

o There's some common ground here and a common mission for the AFT and the NEA and I would like to present a 10-year strategy for working creatively on the problem • .


i
~ -" • t ..:; ~.
o CORE 1990's would be a sliiri-,--;"'on-profit entity which would self•destruct at the end of the decade and during the decade would help the AFT and NEA, each using their own organizational resources) to work on the most serious obstacle ~ enduring, long-term educa•
--r-:-.
tional reform.
o Vy contact with the NEA: I've written several letters to and had two telephone conversations with Dr. Marcella Dianda, Senior Pro•gram specialist in "Instruction &Professional Development." I am sending a similar letter to her (describing proposed joint staff meeting). Both letters will be mailed today. Her phone number is 822-7350 -she will be back in her office on Monday, November 28. Call il-the spirit moves you.
As to my availability and "costs." I see th~e two meetings as being oppor•tunities for me -no need for any kind of a consultant fee. Some help on expenses would be appreciated but not necessary. Except for Christmas week I'm generally available on Monday, Tuesdays, and Wednesdays during December and January.
I look forward to meeting you in the near future.
Sincerely,
~~
Ray Budde
Attached is a resume and an extra set for Yr. Shanker.
(Note: This will be included in the PROCEEDINGS of the annual meeting of the Society for General Systems Research which was held in St. Louis in May, 1988. I retain the copyright for this paper.)
SKETCHES IN THE REDESIGN
OF THE LOCAL SCHOOL DISTRICT
by Ray Budde
Abstract. One means for reforming American public education is to change how local school districts are organized and how they function. Miller's categories of subsystems and Kuhn's c~cept of the interdependent qualities or states of subsystems are helpful in determining just what "system" is. Implementing a redesign of six key components of the organ•ization of local education would be sufficient to change t~e basic character and direction of a school district. The ob•stacles to making these kinds of substantial changes in organ•ization would be formidable as the power structure of the local school district would be radically altered. Changes of this magnitude need to be made within the context of a five to ten•year period of planning and development.
Most of the committees and task groups which studied the condition of the
public schools in the early and mid-1980's concluded that there were serious
flaws in the way we in America are educating our children and youth. That
this should be a matter of serious concern to the citizens of this country
is strongly implied in the title of the first study which was commissioned by
President Reagan shortly after he took office: A Nation at Risk: the Imperative
for EducatiOnal'Reform. l If the very nation is at risk -and, presumably,
educators bear some of the blame -we in education had better do something
about it! But what?
The remedy in the past when we were confronted with reports of serious
weaknesses in public education was "to improve the parts":
... "Raise teachers' salaries so that more of the ablest and talented young people will enter teaching."
... "Beef up teacher education. Put more substance and reality into how we train teachers."
-"Raise standards. Do more testing of competency in basic skills. Strengthen graduation requirements."
.'.

-"Tighten up the discipline. Make schools orderly so that pupils can learn."
-"Improve the textbooks and other instructional materials. Install computers in every classroom (or at every desk)."
-IJStrengthe.n preparation and inservice programs for principals , ,and superintendents so that the schools are better managed."
But this is the approach we have used for decades -and schools have changed very little. An alternative "to improving the parts" is to make sub•stantial changes in how schools and school districts and the education-serving agencies are organized and how they function. This entails as an initial step a major effort in redesigning educational organizations.
'Focusing on the school district
Most of the effort resulting from the studies advocating educational re•
form have focused on various models for redesigning the individual school. It
is my positon that unless the total school district (which includes the school
board, the superintendent, the central office staff, specialists, department
heads. and teachers) is restructured the changes at the school level will
soon be compromised and weakened.
If we're going to redesign the school district, where do we go to find
"it" -the structural timbers -the framework within which "education happens"
from day to day?
James Miller provides us with a total, almost universal, umbrella for
identifying the subsystems which make up any "living system." Clearly, a school
district is an organization in his "shred-out" of all the levels of living
systems.2 Dr. Miller lists 18 separate subsystems that are components of his
example of ano,rganization. a modern ocean liner. 3 The local school district
might well have fewer subsystems in that it is predominantly an information
system rather than a matter-energy system.
Alfred Kuhn has contributed much to my thinking about just what the rock•
bottom meaning of ,the concept of system (or organization in operation). The
system is not the collection of entities or subsystems in the system, but
rather the interdependence and the interlocking of a specific set of chosen
properties (or qualities or states) of those entities or subsystems -this
is what makes up the system.
The elements.: or components of a system are not the entities in the system, but qualities or states of those-;;tities. In the thermostatic 'system, it is not the air in the room, but its tem•perature which L~ the element in the system. It is not the thermo•stat, but the position of its switch. It is not the furnace, but its state of being on or off. Similarly, the environment is not the outside air, but the temperature of the outside air along with the properties of the wall which will determine how fast heat will move between system and environment."
Thus changing the system of the school district involves moving from the present set of qualities or states of the subsystems to a new set of desired or chosen qualities or states of the subsystems of the school district. It is not necessary to change the state of every subsystem. Changing the states of a number of the more important subsystems will force changes in many of the states of other subsystems -as it is the states, the qualities of the subsystems which are interdependent and interlocked.
Redesigning six organizational components of the school district
Now let's do a bit of a redesigning; some "organizational imaging" will'
give us some idea of what the school district of the next century might look
like. Without regard for "how we get there from here," let's redesign six
components or SUbcomponents of the organization of the school district:
Decision making related to the control of the function of instruction.
How the year is used/divided for the purposes of schooling.
Compensation plan for certified professional staff.

Career patterns for teachers, specialists, and administrators.
A major mission of the school.
Instructional materials and sources of information for teaching.

Sketch 1. Organizational Chart REDESIGN mE FRAMEWORK FOR
A Typical Medium Si&~ School District of 4550 Pupil.CONTROL OF INSTRUCTION•••
FROM A FOUR-LEVEL
UNE AND STAFF ORGANIZATION •••
LI ....
.. oaITIO...
I I
TO A '!WOo-LEVEL FORM OF ORGANIZATION IN WHICH GROUPS OF TEACHERS RECEIVE EDUCA•TIONAL CHARTERS DIRECTLY FROM THE SCHOOL BOARD.
Comments
I
HIGH 6CHOOL PRINCIPAL
1.00 PUPILS IN
(;.".\0':. • • 1 Z
I
I
TEACHEH&
TEACHEFcS
TEACHERS


• ELL....... ,TARy PRINCIPAL... ~U"IL& IN EACH OF
THR~&: "., aCHQQLS


Organizational Chart Medium Size School District
SOiOOL BOARD
I

I
PROGRAM
MONI~ING
~
& EVALUATla-I
I

TEACHERS FI...NCT I a.l1 NO I...Nt:£R 3-TO-5-YEAR EDUCATIONAL CHARTERS
I
ISUPER I NTENt:£NT I
C'\:M.11 TTEES I
I
I I I ,
II I
PRINCIPALS
: I

I
I
J

K-12 SERVICES
o The present administrative hierarchy of the
school district has been well over a century
tn the making. Teachers have been and con•
tinue to be at the bottom level of the organ•
izational chart of the school district.
o Under collective bargaining, the school board
and administration tend to hold on to the con•
trol of curriculum and instructional matters
as being within "management rights."
o There is a flavor in the recommendations of a
number of the educational reform reports which
call for: "Teachers need to have more auton•
omy." "Teachers should have more of a say in
the decision-making process." • • • Given the
strength of the present structure, these pro•
posals may simply be rhetoric. Books on
"democratic leadership" well'e being written
back in the 1950's!

o "Education by Charter" accomplishes a number
of purposes, chief of which is to give tea•
chers full responsibility for instruction -
the professional area for which they have
been trained and the field in which they have
been publicly certified.
o Teachers' con trol over the function of instruc•
tion is counterbalanced by a carefully de•
signed "inside-outside" system of program
monitoring and evaluation.
o Computer technology now enables a school board
to fund educational charters for periods up
to five years despite the ,fact that revenue
is still received annually and that decisions
may be made during the life of a charter that
will effect the total cost of the programs
and services covered by the charter.

Sketch 2. REDESIGN TIlE SOlOOL YEAR TO PROVIDE FIVE MORE " WEEKS OF EDUCATION FOR STUDENTS AND A FULL WORK YEAR FOR TEACHERS. • •
BY MOVING FROM A l82-DAY YEAR TO A 2l7-DAY "EDUCATION YEAR" FOR STUDENTS AND A l86-DAY FOR STUDENTS AND A 229-DAY FULL
WORK YEAR FOR TEACHERS. • • WORK YEAR FOR TEACHERS.
School Calendar -1985-1986 -182 days for students -186 days for teacllers*
FALL SEfoIESTER • it DAYS 13 days for holidays/vacation
Starts Tuesday, Last day,Fri September 2 January 24
I
SPRINC SEMESTER • i! DAYS 7 days for holidays, vacation. and snow days
Starts Monday. Last day.Tues January 27 June 17
I
*Wed. & Thurs .• Aug. 28 & 29
and .Wed. & Thurs., June 18
&19: Teachers' meetings
and opening & closing school.
Comments
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o The rationale for the present 9 1/2 month rural-based school year is no longer vi•able. Yet this pattern for use of the year is deeply imbedded in our culture.
o Summer programs which have required students to attend have done poorly. Summer programs where attendance is voluntary do much better.
o The hot continental summer which much of America experiences in July and August makes it almost impossible to hold school in non-airconditioned buildings.

Septuple School Calendar -1996-1997*
JULY TERM II PAYS
StarB LB.I dBY
W, July ,~ W, AllY. 7

AUGUST r,RM . 42 DAyS Starts ~:~oaRP.A"
Lest day W, AU!I· I~ r I Oct. 11
I ~
pelCB,s T£OM . 12 Q"X5 Starts "ETE"AHB
f"A'I' ."Ir~1\
H, ~ct.21
1

le~ t day
r, [..,c .2r
JANUARY TERM ~tarB :;~ H, Jan. f. ."e, AM MARCH TCHM ~tort~ 1";, I"drch 17 .; QAYL ~z DAYS .. "t"'.r>rN""DAV ...tAM M.nT .... " Ln ...,~ WK "NO e ... EAK La<..t da'( It.,l'Iarc+. f la~t Cc'lj \.', ~ay I!'
~_. 28 DAYS "(_ ..0,; t A\... Starts DAY ."r,", WI "'dy 21 .t!. r .. n la~.t day .. 'o-.. u ..... ',,1t·1)" 1 " [actl terr. is precec{'d by two da;s fvr plann ing titnt· for Ifacners and (.thC'f !:otaff.

The SEPTUPLE SCHOOL CALENDAR might just work•••
o Ii a great deal of creative thought goes into
how to use the five extra weeks of schooling.
o I f "Education Credit" can be given to such
activities as: supervised work experiences;
learning experiences in summer camps and in
community recreation programs; independent
study projects; and group and family educa•
tional travel.
o If schools can be flexible enough to accom•
;Qdate family vacations at any time during
the year.

o A new. extended school year can be designed 0 Ii,over a period of years, teachers can use

using holidays as starting. inbetween. and ending points for terms of varying length.

o After considerable trial and error. the author found that Base 7 was the most useful factor in building terms, and half•terms and an easy-to-use credit system.

o The decimal credit system provides for numerous ways to give "Education Credit" for experiences in the 21-day. 28-day. and 42-day terms. (21 hrs....1 unit; 42 hrs. = .2 unit; 210 hrs. = 1 unit.)


part of their work time in professional, non•teaching activities such as: planning; writing curriculum materials; half-term and term-long sabbaticals; and filling administrative and specialists positions.
0 If airconditioning is installed in a sizeable ~mber of classrooms in the school district.
o If, on the rationale that the reform of public education is necessary for ,the society to sur•vive and pro~per. the federal government funds the costs of extending the school year provid•that extension is a part of a total reform plan of the school district.
"
Sketch 3.
REDESIGN 'IHE SALARY SCHEDULES FOR TEACHERS. SPECIAUSTS AND
ADMINISTRATORS. • •
FROM SEPARATE SALARY SrnED•UlES AND PLANS WHICH COlllPEN•SATE SPECIAUSTS AND ADMIN•ISTRATORS AT HIGHER LEVELS AND RATES THAN TEACHERS. • •
re A SINGLE "PROFESSIONAL EDUCATORS SALARY SCHEDULE \·!HICH COMPENSATI:S TEACHERS AT THE SAME LEVEL AND RATE AS SPECIALISTS AND ADMINISTRATORS.
Assumptions
o By 1996. the school year in many

communities will be four weeks long•er for students and five weeks long•er for teachers.

o Given inflation and some adjustment in the salary level for teachers generally, a salary of $55,000 for a teacher with a masters degree and 12 years of experience would be plau•sible for a 42-week work year.

Comments

o Schools exist to pass the culture on to the next generation and to prepare that generation to live in both'tocey's and tomorrow's world.


Salary Schedules (Annual Salaries) CERTIFIED PERSONNEL WITH MASTERS
DEGREE 1988 -
POSITIONS
Superintenden t
High Sch Principal School Psychologist Elementary Principal Guidance Counselor
Classroom Teacher
~---------------------------------------==-
Professional Educators Salary Schedule
ALL CEFTIFIED PERSONNEL WITH MASTERS DEGREEE AND TWELVE YEARS OF E}1'PERIENCE 1996 -1997 School Year
AND TWELVE YEARS OF EXPERIENCE 1989 School Year
WOftt(
36
$ 32.000
WEEKS PER 42 YEAR 48
$ 66,000
$ 48.000 44,000 40.000 56.000

POSITIONS
Superintendent
High Sch Principal
School Psychologist Elementary Principal Guidance Counselor
Classroom Teac1,er
-
WORt< 42 WF."EI<S PER YEAR 48
$ 66,000 66,000

rontracted services
-
$ 55,000 55,000 55,000 66,000*
*}'or "Lead Teacher" who works full year.
o The teaching profession is prepared for and o One way to recognize the crucial importance
is publicly certified to carry out this man• of teaching as a profession is to pay teachers
date of the public schools. at the same rate 83 bpecia1ists and administrators.
o A teacher should not have "to get out of the o From within its staff and from other school dis•
classroom" in order to have a full-time job. tricts and sources. a school district would al•
to earn sufficient money to support a family. ways have an ample number of qualified applicants
or to achieve a higher degree of status in for any specialist or administrative position
the ~ie1d of education. (even though the person who would fill that vacancy
would be paid on the same level as a teacher).

,.
C....RI!:ER PATTI!RNS
Sketch 4. REDESIGN THE CAllEER PATTERNS OF EDUCATORS ..•
TEACHI!:RS
FROM A TEACHER LEAVE THE PROMOTED TO HIGHER PAY AND STATUS.
SCALE
TO GIVING reE TEACHER TIiE OPPORTUNITY OF ROTATING BETWEEN TEACHING AND ONE ~OPE SPECIALIST AND/OR AD~NISTRATIVE POSITIONS DURING reE COURSE 40-YEAR PROFESSIONAL CAREER.
NonreneHable Cap on Number of Years in Non-Teaching Role
)'E"'JItlI - pos I TI oN
10' Superintendent
7· - Principal
5 K-12 Director
5 Counselor
3 Asst. Principal
2 Admin. Assistant
1 .,. Intern

*May·return·to princ!palship for 5 yrs. after one year of classroom teaching.
HAVING TO CLASSROOM TO BE A POSITION WITH • • t @----.IE~~EI!... 0+•@-I ,•~A~H~ __1 ,•__ J ASSI STANT PRINCIPAL GUIDANCE COUNSI!:LOR I j SCHOOL PSYCHOLOGIST , _I ----•-+ TEACHER I DI Rl!:CTCR OP' PUP I L PERSoNNIEL SI!:RVI C1ES
'Ye:ARS OP' I!:XPERI ENCIE YEARS OF AGE o 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40I I , I I .-+ 1 I I 25 30 35 40 tiS 50 55 60 65
OR OF A NEDIA DI RECTOR OF DIRECTOR OF : ADULT ~LT':.!CH-=-R_ L~~R_ L TEACHER ICURRI CULUM I----•-.., -~ ------TEACHER ~~C~I~J ASSISTANT @ L ___TE~~____ lfRI~~~~~~~-1.2:~~~RIN~~ L __ .2::~~__ ---I GUI DANCE DI RECTOR OF ,PUP I L 1-:;;-t.1 TEACHER COt.WolSELOR TEACHER IPERSONNEL siRVI CES LEFT SCHOOL DI STRI CT TO 81tL.2J I ----~ A CLI N I CAL PSYCHOLOGI ST ~L__ _ TEACHER --~

,--
SUPI!:RI NTIENDI!:NT
PRINCIPAL __l
,-------
Comments
o "Educational Administration." "School 10
Management" are not tight. rigorous
disciplines or fields. Teachers need
high levels of administrative and man•agerial skills to be successful. o
o Former teachers are already filling
more than 90% of all specialist and
administrative positions.
o With few exceptions. would be on the same every professionallo salary schedule
and would work the same number of weeks each year. o

Laying the organizational chart "on its side" provides a teacher with numerous options for a diversified career dtiring
40 years in the profession.
A teacher wanting to fill a specialist or administrative position would have to meet all state requirements for that pos!tioo:.
All administrative and specialist posi•tions would be open to outside applicane
A teacher would gain important skills and insights through filling other po•sitions during his/her careeL
~
·

Sketch 6. REDESIGN THE WAY IN WHICH TEXTBOOKS AND INSTRUCTIONAL MATERIALS ARE
Sketch'. REDESIGN THE CURRICULUM TO CHANGE ONE OF THE MAJOR MISSIooS OF PUBLIC EDUCATIoo •••
FROM A CURRICULUM. • • .:m A CURRICULUM.
With a predominant em•
With a predominant
phasis on mastering al•

focus on building the most limitless amounts
skills and attitudes of of content
for lifelong learning
,,'-With -;n;--/\ilih-a'\
/'''' ly marginal /highly fo•
/' effort devoted ." /cused, long•__ ..-'to information-seek-rem mastery of very ing and information-USingj carefully selected skills and attitudes. ~c~o~n~t~e~n~t~.~__________~
Comments
o It is estimated that the amount of know•ledge is now doubling every three years.

o Traditional fields of knowledge and disci•plines of study have been breaking apart and recombining. Interdisciplinary studies pod double-name fields abound.

o Through.various kinds of technology, a pupi sitting a.t a desk in the classroom (or at horne) can now have access to this expanding universe of knowledge -in whatever categor ies are useful.

o Learning some kind of definable amount of content during ~3 years of school is no longer a viable major mission of public education.

o The pupil of the 1990's who will become the adult of the next century needs to develop the skills and attitudes to become a life•long learner -and this needs to becot:le one of the major, continuing missions of the public school.

o Required content should be highly selective Methods of checking mastery and reenforcing longterm, useable memory need to be devel•oped which transcend the confines of a single school year.


OBTAINED••• !!Q!:! OVER-REUANCE 00...
Bland. water-downed. generalized. picture•full textbooks and
textbook series•••
and commerCially prepared spirit and copy' ma•chine masters.
Comments
1Q GREATER USE OF•••
-Teacher written and designed books, . instructional mtls. and aids.
-Original sources from libraries.data banks'l -Student-created books and materials.
o Many of the major textbook publishers are now part of large corporate conglomerates. Present managers are under considerable pressure to show high profits.

o High profits are made in publishing by selling lS1:'!,qquar,tities of series of tel:tbooks and materials in as many states as possible.

o The quality of commercial texts and ma•terials is diluted by several factors: the biases and regulations of a number of large states who approve a limited number of series for adoption in the state; need•ing not to offend regional or national special interest groups; lowering the level of vocabulary so that pupils reading below grade level can "handle it"; and extrava•gant use of pictures and other visuals •this done as a perceived necessity because pupils watch so much television.

o Technology in the publishing industry now makesit possible for a school district or a consortium of school districts to set up an "Educational Materials Publishing De•partment": various options in offset presses; word processing computer soft•ware for preparing camera-ready typed manuscripts; software which enables any office to do "desk-top" publishing; and multi-color copy machines.

o With an increasing emphasis on having pu•pils write and illustrate their own poems. stories, and reports, it might be time to revive an "old technology," the hand-oper•ated spirit duplicator. This would give pupils hands-on publishing experience right in the classroom -and with seven-color capability:

o The incteasing availability of data banks and discs and "fax machines" will give stu•dents and teachers easier access to a rich variety of original source materials.


Usefulness of the theories
One could argue with some justification that the six entities chosen for redesign do not fit very well into Miller's 18 subsystems of a modern ocean liner. I would agree that ·this is an awkward fit.
Locus of decision making (Sketch 1) clearly fits as part of
the subsystem of "Decider(de)."
The length and structure of the school year (Sketch 2) and
the mission of the school (Sketch 5) could be viewed as
conceptua~ "Boundaries(BO)" of time and objective.

The compensation plan (Sketch 3) is an important dimension
of how the "captain and crew" of the school district are
sustained and motivated.

Career plans (Sketch 4) are patterns of position-holding by

personnel of the school district over 40-year periods of time.
Instructional materials and sources of information for teach•
ing (Sketch 6) are obviously "inputs" which move through sev•
eral of the subsystems.

The match might have been more exact had the example for the level of organization been an information system such as a college, an adult learning center, or a research corporation.
The interdependence or the "interlockedness" of the new states of these six entities (Kuhn) is much more obvious. We need to start with the premise that the main reason the school district exists is to carry out the function of instruction.
Giving teachers responsible control over instruction makes teaching the premier professional position in the school district.
This fact is recognized by giving teachers a full-time job and paying them as the same rate and level as specialists and administrators.
With teachers on the same work year and compensation plan as other professionals, they can then build diversified careers (according to their interests and qualifications) by having the option of moving out of and back to the class•room to and from specialist and administrative positions.
Giving teachers significant amounts of time for planning and
to

curriculum development linke'd with the decentralized capa•
bilities brought on by technology in the graphic arts and copy machine industries now makes it possible for teachers
to write their own textbooks and create their own learning materials for the classroom. Access to ever-expanding data banks of information adds a very exciting dimension to pro•
viding materials for learning.
There is a flip side to teachers having responsible control over instruction. Teachers being in charge of the function for which they are trained and publicly certified would make it incumbent on them to assume as their number one responsi•
bility that of helping pupils take charge of their own learn•ing. This is especially important during a time which is
now designated as the "Age of Information." Developing the
attitudes and skills to become lifelong learners is crucial for today's pupils if they are to prosper and survive as adults.
Need for a long-term view
Changing these six entities in the organization of local education would
undoubtedly result in an observably different kind of school district. But
there is no quick fix here. Redesigning a school district and implementing
the new model of organization is not going to happen within the confines of
a single school year -or even two or three school years.
The fictitious superintendent in Education by Charter, "Dr. William
Wright," presents the community with a ten-year plan for totally reorganizing
the "Hometown Public Schools.,,5 This kind of span of time allows for a number
of things to happen.
A multi-year, computer-based program budget format can be
developed, tested, and adopted.
Groups of teachers can develop plans for educational charters and then, if the charters are granted, can field test teach•ing under the charters for three. four. or five years.
As needs develop and anxieties rise. appropriate inservice and staff development activities can be planned and carried out.
Genuine roles can be developed for parents and other citizens
on charter planning committees and charter advisory committees.
Principals have sufficient time to tryout new roles as supporters
,,

of instruction rather than administrators over instruction. The flexibility of educational charters would encourage a principal to be part of a teaching staff of a charter in his! her field of expertise.
The school district could develop within the schools or the community the capability of producing its own texts and in•structional mater·ials. Arrangements could be made to access the many regional and national data banks which could provide information which would enrich classroom instruction.
A network of outside persons from universities, other school districts, and other institutions could be formed to monitor and evaluate the impact of organizational changes over a sus•tained period of time.
Ten years allow time for the superintendent to take advantage of retirements and other terminations to start institution•ali2ing the notion of a single educational profession within the school district.
Redesigning a school district or any other social institution is indeed a challenge. It's ironic that the person who is providing the most pUblicity about making fundamental changes in the structure of organizations is Chairman Mikhail Gorbachev with his drive for "perestroika." But whether we call it redesigning, restructuring, reorganizing, or even "perestroika," the next few years will provide ·many exciting opportunities for the members of the International Society for System Sciences who are able to cross the bound•aries of the'disciplines and fields and draw ideas from many sources to create models for tomorrow's institutions.
,.

REFERENCES
1.
National Commission on Excellence in Education, A Nation . ·at .Riskt the Imperative for Educational Reform, 1983

2.
James Grier Miller,Living Systems, McGraw Hill, New York, 1978, p. 4.

3.
Living Systems, pp. 604-605.

4.
A1fre.d Kuhn, The Study of Society: A Unified Approach, Richard D. Irwin, Inc., Homewood, Ill., 1963, p. 50.

5.
Ray Budde~ .Education by Charter~· Restru~turing·School Districts, The Regional Laboratory for Educational Improve•ment of the Northeast and Islands, Andove·r, Massachusetts, 1988, pp. 26-27.


ABOUT THE AU'!'HOR
Ray.Budde has served as a teacher, junior high school principal, director of instructional services, assistant professor of edu•cational administration, and director of an area special educa•tion services collaborative.
There were three areas of emphasis in his doctoral work at Michigan State University: sociology, child growth and devel•opment, and educational :2clministration.
The concept of "Education by Charter" was first introduced to
the Systems Education Section of the 1974 annual meeting of the Society for General Systems Research. The title of the presen•
tation as subsequently published in the proceedings was: "Education by Charter -Key to a New Model of School District."
Dr. Budde now works as a consultant in school district organi•zation and written communications.

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