Hinojosa Outlines Board's Three Main Goals at SCBA Luncheon

Educators, school principals and even an area superintendent joined business leaders Wednesday for the South Cobb Business Association luncheon. District Superintendent Dr. Michael Hinojosa was the guest speaker.

As a charismatic, knowledgeable speaker, Hinojosa uses colloquialisms and jokes frequently in his talks, which keep his audiences smiling and laughing.

His talk was similar to the one he delivered at a recent town hall hosted by South Cobb School Board member David Morgan at Mableton Elementary in December.

Hinojosa laid out the three goals he and the district are working towards during his first year as a superintendent, which includes:

a)    addressing the academic achievement of all students, by measuring value added as well as state standards,

b)   producing a four-year plan outlining the district’s expected expenditures and

c)    preparing students for both college and careers before graduation.

Goal 1: Academic Achievement of All Students

“Success is measured in many different ways, and I argue that it’s not a paper-pencil test only taken in the spring,” Hinojosa said. “There are a lot more things that define how successful a student is.”

Besides focusing on improvement for low-performing students, Hinojosa stresses that high-achieving students are missing out on a value-added education as well.

“Sometimes we commit academic malpractice by ignoring some of our high-achieving students. Yes, they’re going to be successful in spite of us, but yes, we can add value to them. Also, we need to close the achievement gap. There are no excuses for performance.”

“We have to have a belief system that all students can perform at high levels.”

The state of Georgia has applied for a waiver from No Child Left Behind, which was put in place by the Bush administration.

Hinojosa, who is from Texas, said “we (Texans) are the godfathers of accountability… We went from accountability to accountabilism. We’re eating our own, and we need to make sure we’re being fair.”

In an effort to ensure fair evaluation of teachers, students and schools, the state is adopting various accountability tools, such as a measurement of annual growth or value-added, an index of campus climate, attendance measurement and more.

Hinojosa said the district has implemented enrichment teams, Intervention Teams, at four South Cobb schools, which needed additional support.

“We want this community to be vibrant, and we’ve got to have that opportunity for success,” Hinojosa said.

Goal 2: Produce a Four Year Fiscal Plan, Discuss Upcoming Budgets Earlier

The district has produced a four-year plan, and began budget-planning discussions much earlier in the year.

Next week, district officials will present another budget update to the board.

Since October, the district’s predicted budget deficit has decreased from $72 million to $62.4 million with the proposal to cut 350 teaching jobs, to increase class sizes and to impose five furlough days for teachers.

 “We have no choice,” Hinojosa said.

The board plans to use about $20 million from its reserves as well in the coming year.

The salaries of teachers, principals and the district’s central staff lag behind the salaries of educators in neighboring counties due to the county’s Homestead Exemption, which exempts residents over the age of 60 from paying property taxes. Because of the exemption, the district receives $60 million less revenue than it could receive, Hinojosa explained.

Goal 3: Produce Career and College Ready Students

Hinojosa believes there should be career and college prepatory programs throughout the county’s schools.

He said research shows that 20 percent of jobs in the future will require a bachelor’s degree, while 60 percent of jobs will require some type of degree or certificate.

Because the high school textbooks have a much lower reading level than a technical manual, students are ill-prepared to compete, Hinojosa said.

Strategic plan, career academies and career pathways are ways to keep the county’s district competitive, he said.

In one suburban Houston school district where Hinojosa served as superintendent had three “towers” of career pathways in various career academies. Each tower would prepare students in a certain field, such as a medical field or a technology field.

To implement these new ideas will prove challenging, he said, because “we don’t have any new money and we’re not going to have any new money in the foreseeable future. So how do we redirect our current resources to make that happen?”

Teach for America and Making Changes in Cobb

Although he spent little time on the recent Teach for America proposal to bring in 50 teachers from the program to South Cobb area schools, he did address his decision to withdraw the proposal before Thursday’s school board discussion and vote.

“It didn’t work, and part of it’s our fault that we didn’t sell the idea better. We should have done that better than we did, but you know what? There’ll be another day for that. We’ve got to move on. We’ve got to find ways to make sure we have the best opportunities for our students,” Hinojosa said.

With all the challenges facing the district, such as the achievement gap in South Cobb and the looming budget deficit, Hinojosa said it is also a challenge to bring about change in Cobb.

To keep up with the changing educational landscape, “we’ve got to do something differently. I’ve learned in Cobb County, to try to change anything is pretty difficult,” he said.

As for the future of education in Cobb County, “it’s exciting; it’s scary; it’s daunting; it’s exhiliariting, but I know I’m very fortunate to be the superintendent of one of the best school districts in America. But we also have some issues that we need to address and move forward.”