Prize and Punishment

Brownsville, TX

As readers know, I’m not a big fan of Eli Broad or the Broad Prize. I've long been concerned about the growing power and influence Broad, Bill Gates, the Walton Family and their muscle foundations, exercise over public schools. But if there was ever a district that could use Broad’s $1million award and the clout that goes with it, it’s definitely Brownsville, Texas. Hurricane-battered Brownsville splits this year’s award with four other runner-up districts, including Miami-Dade (How’s that for irony? Broad gives a prize to a district that just fired its prize-winning superintendent, Rudy Crew. But I digress).

The Brownsville Independent School District serves nearly 50,000 students — 98 percent Hispanic and 43 percent learning English. Ninety-four percent of students qualify for free or reduced lunch, a common measure of poverty. Surrounding Cameron County had the highest poverty rate for a county of its size in the country at 34.7 percent, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.

Brownsville is also one of the sites where the Dept. of Homeland Security is building their 18 foot-high, 670-mile long fence to prevent the movement of people back and forth across the border. I suspect that the people of Brownsville would rather have the $3 billion now being spent on the fence used to pay for schools and health care.

You listening, President Obama?

More irony. The award went to a district that would be punished under rules set by the now, practically defunct NCLB since its middle schools haven't made AYP for three years running.

Yet Brownsville is hailed by Broad:

"In the face of stark poverty, Brownsville is outpacing other large urban districts nationwide because it is smartly focusing all resources on directly supporting students and teachers."

This all says a lot more about NCLB’s failed, punitive, test-crazy policies, than it does about Brownsville. Let’s just hope that the Broad Prize doesn’t become their kiss of death.

For more on Brownsville, see Eduwonkette’s post, “Brownsville Station.”