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*DRAFT* MEMORANDUM
FROM:
SUBJECT:
Work-Site Satellite School Design Issues
The purpose of this memo is to provide you with some detail about the critical design
issues in the Work-Site Satellite Schools.
I. Background
The purpose of this initiative is to broaden the choices available in the public school
system by increasing the number of satellite public elementary schools located at work sites.
About 30 of these schools have been constructed since 1987, and most operate as public-private
partnerships. Typically, the employer pays for the school facility, utilities, and maintenance. The
district provides the teachers, curriculum and instructional materials. The work-site schools are
paired with "host" neighborhood elementary schools that provide administrative support and
often share art and music teachers. Through such arrangements, districts can increase parent
involvement leading to higher academic achievement, relieve overcrowding, promote diversity
(as workplaces are often more diverse than neighborhoods), offer smaller class sizes and save on
facilities and transportation costs. Companies can enjoy greater productivity and offer the school
as a family-friendly employee benefit.
More specifically, this initiative will provide tax credits to participating businesses and planning
grants to school districts in order to increase the number of satellite work-site schools. Much as
the charter schools initiative offered start-up assistance to school developers and led to an
increase in the number of charter schools from 1 to nearly 1,000 (and to 3,000 by 2002), this
initiative will increase the number of work-site satellite schools from 30 to 1,000 by early in the
next century. In designing it, we have been guided by several considerations.
First, research evidence suggests that a primary benefit of work-site satellite schools is an
extraordinary increase in the levels of parental involvement leading to higher levels of academic
achievement for students across varying racial and socio-economic backgrounds. This parental
involvement is facilitated by the high number of parents working at the same location at the
school site. Although some enrollment is drawn from the surrounding neighborhoods, a large
majority of the children should have parents working at the sponsoring company. This also
ensures that businesses have an incentive to donate facilities, maintenance and upkeep.
Second, while enrollment has been, and should be, primarily geared to the children of
employees of the participating business(es), the schools should reflect the racial and socio-
economic diversity of the company and surrounding district. In order to avoid the creation of
elite company schools, it is critical that these schools be racially balanced and accessible to all
levels of employees from executive to clerical and including contractor employees.
1
Third, the experience of Florida and California show that work-site satellite schools that
maintain close relationships with the "host" neighborhood schools are mutually beneficial: costs
are kept low since the satellite shares administration with the main - or neighborhood campus,
satellites can take advantage of special education and bilingual resources at the host school and
the enhanced parental involvement at the satellite school can lead- to increased parental
participation at the neighborhood school.
Fourth, planning for these schools must make provisions to accommodate changes in
corporate management structures (mergers, takeovers, large-scale downsizing) with the least
possible disruption to students and teachers in the satellite school.
II. Funding Issues
The budget will include tax credits for businesses that provide school facilities to be used
as work-site satellite schools: two options on the structure of those credits are described below.
The FY 2000 budget will also include $20 million for grants to be distributed to local school
districts for planning and start-up costs.
A. Tax Credits for Business
Businesses that provide facilities for use as a public school or operate existing facilities
will be eligible for a tax credit covering 25% of qualified costs, not to exceed $150,000 per year.
Qualified costs include: the value of property that the business has built, leased, or donated for
use as a public school. In order to be eligible for this credit the work-site school must be open to
children of all employees of the company (or contractor of that company), allow students from
surrounding districts to fill remaining slots in school and allow all students to complete the
academic year regardless of changes in their parents employment. Businesses that provide the
school facility as part of a consortium will also be eligible for this credit.²
There are two-options for how this credit would be distributed:
(1) Credit available to all business that request credit and have qualified costs:
Under this option, any business providing facilities for a work-site school, that met the
above criteria, would be eligible for a 25% credit of qualified costs up to $150,000.
Modeled on the tax credit for businesses that provide daycare facilities. The cost was estimated
at $500 million over 5 years. This would presumably cost less because there are far fewer businesses
with work-site schools, as compared to those with daycare centers.
2 (We are still determining how this would work, but each business would probably be eligible
for its pro rata share of the first $150,000 in qualified expenses.)
2
Pros:
-Growth is not limited. Incentive is provided for as many businesses as are
interested.
-Doesn't require new administrative mechanism, businesses that are eligible
simply take the credit as part of their tax filing.
Cons:
-It is difficult to predict the likely number of participants and, therefore, estimate
the cost of this proposal.
(2) Credits available to a limited number of businesses (up to 1,000 in 5 years):
Under this option, a limited number of business that provide facilities for a work-site
school, that met the criteria above, would be eligible for the 25% credit of qualified costs
up to $150,000. In year 1 up to 60 businesses would be able to take this credit. In
subseqent years, the limits would be as follows: Year 2 - 120; Year 3 - 240; Year 4 - 480;
Year 5 - 1,000.
Pros:
-It is easy to calculate the cost of providing this credit because the maximum
number of applicants is known.
Cons:
-Puts limits on what could be a very popular initiative.
-An agency (Ed/Treasury) would have to develop mechanism to distribute the
credits.
B. Planning Grants
Grants of up to $500,000 will be distributed competitively to 20-40 school districts.
These grants will support planning and start-up activities for the development of work-site
satellite schools, including: staff training, coordination between the district, employers, work-
site and neighborhood host schools, and coordination between districts for satellite schools
drawing students from multiple districts, staff planning with businesses on changes to facilities
prior to service as public school, information meeting with affected neighborhood schools and
potential business partners, transfers of meal and resource (art/music) services between satellite
and main host school and other start-up costs.
Grants may be used to support planning and start-up activity with businesses that agree to: (1)
provide the facility to be used; (2) make enrollment equally available to all students whose
parents work at the participating business and its contractors; (3) allow remaining spaces to be
used by students in the surrounding school districts; and (4) allow all students to complete the
3
academic year regardless of changes in their parents employment status.
School districts must also show how the school(s) will achieve a racial/ethnic balance reflective
of the community it serves or within the racial/ethnic range of other public schools in the same
school district. 3
D. Accountability
Local districts will be required to report on the number of satellite schools created and to
provide data on the achievement at satellite schools for research and evaluative purposes.
Because these schools will actually be part of an existing elementary school, they should be
required to follow whatever reporting requirements (including Title I assessments) that are
applicable at the main campus. Any assessment information should be broken out to reflect
scores at the satellite school.
³This is a requirement in Florida (which has the largest number of work-site schools). Schools
report the diverse make-up of the workforce enables the work-site schools to be easily meet this
requirement.
4
Tanya E. Martin
11/19/98 03:40:31 PM
Record Type: Record
To:
Thomas_Corwin @ ed.gov (Thomas Corwin)
CC:
See the distribution list at the bottom of this message
bcc:
Records Management
Subject: Re: Work-Site schools
I'm not sure that a work-site school could be a magnet school, at all. There isn't one in existence
that I know about, and you've identified some of the big hurdles. I've come across only two basic
models of work-site schools:
1. Satellite schools - these are the most common ones. The business donates the facility, the
school district "operates" the school and provides the teachers and curriculum.
2. Charter schools -- these are regular charter schools, except that (1) the charter is located at a
work-site, but most charter are located in unconventional sites and (2) in FL and TX, the charters
are allowed to use a preference for enrollment. In Texas, the charter's attendance boundary is
limited to the work site. In Florida, they've actually changed the charter law to allow for an
enrollment preferernce.
There may be a school district that can convince a business to run a magnet school, located at a
work site, that may have some features of the satellite and charter work-site schools (good
partnership from business, some employees' kids enrolled, more racially diverse than neighborhood
schools) but certainly not all of them (transporation would be an issue, the majority of students
might not have parents working on-site, etc.).
Thomas_Corwin @ ed.gov (Thomas Corwin)
Thomas_Corwin @ ed.gov (Thomas Corwin)
11/18/98 01:49:15 PM
Record Type: Record
To:
See the distribution list at the bottom of this message
CC:
Michael Cohen/OPD/EOP
Subject: Re: Work-Site schools
Here's a question that occurred to me when I read the attachment;
people might want to think about it before the next meeting:
How could a worksite school be a magnet school?
A magnet is typically open to anyone in the district (or in part of
the district, or anyone who meets certain threshold criteria, etc.).
If this is true, then a magnet worksite school could not claim the
following benefits that we are saying apply to worksite schools:
-- No transportation costs (If some kids do not have parents who
work at the worksite, the district would have to supply
transportation)
-- Employer looks at it as a desirable employee benefit, like
on-site child care. (Not all the kids will have parents who are
employees. The employers may look at the other kids as free riders,
may not want to provide facilities, etc for them.)
-- Strong parent involvement. (Again, if the parents are not
working on site, they are no more likely to be involved than parents
in general.)
The other benefits, such as relieving district facilities programs,
could still apply, but my question, I think, raises a larger issue: a
worksite schools initiative wouldn't seem to work very well as a
public school choice initiative because, as it's been carried out so
far, it doesn't provide parents with very many choices. Those who are
fortunate enough to work for employers who are involved in these
programs have a binary choice -- the worksite school vs. the
neighborhood school (or whatever other choices the district already
provides. The rest don't get any more choices.
Tom C.
Reply Separator
Subject: Work-Site schools
Author: [email protected] at Internet
Date: 11/17/98 6:40 PM
(See attached file: WORKSIT.SUM)
We will try and schedule a work-site schools meeting by the end of this
week or on Monday. Attached is a rough(!) summary of some of the
information I've gathered on existing work-site schools.
Below is my list of the issues and outstanding questions (and person
responsible for the answer) from yesterday's conference call:
1. Existing Authority or new legislation: use broad authority in FIE to
run competition in FY 2000. Develop legislation for the long-term as part
of the ESEA reauthorization.
Q: How long will it take to have absolute priorities under FIE made
effective? Leslie Mustain.
2. Size: small demonstration or larger program? How much money in FIE?
3. Cost to the district of implementing satellite school/what activites
planning grant would cover
(1) interdistrict satellite schools -- Sylvia Wright - Minnesota
schools
(2) within same district - Tanya Martin - Florida schools
4. Interest from business community
(1) outreach to NAB Mike Cohen/Gerald Tirozzi
(2) discussions w/ work-site consultant -- Tanya Martin
5. Existing research and evaluations
(1) Search for existing studies/contact Gary Hoaklander (sp?) --
Sylvia Wright
* *NOTE: Miami-Dade has done a three-year study, please call the
district to get copy.
(2) OERI/review of successful schools Ann O'leary to identify OERI
contact
(3) Research/data from daycare centers (business interest, diversity)
-- Ann/Judith to identify contact
6. Existing State legislation programs
(1) What states have legislation on satellite schools (DE, CA, FL) --
Peggy Kearns
(2) What states have enacted tax incentives for satellite schools
(FL) - Peggy Kearns
7. Tax credit
(1) Options for tax credits for companies that provide facilities for
work-site schools - Bruce Davie, Treasury
Message Sent To:
Peggy_Kerns @ ed.gov (Peggy Kerns)
Sylvia_Wright @ ed.gov (Sylvia Wright)
Ann_O'Leary @ ed.gov (Ann O'Leary)
Judith_Johnson @ ed.gov (Judith Johnson)
Leslie S. Mustain/OMB/EOP
Scott R. Palmer/PIR/EOP
Neera Tanden/WHO/EOP
bruce.davie @ treas.sprint.com
Tanya E. Martin/OPD/EOP
Message Copied To:
Tanya E. Martin
11/19/98 06:04:43 PM
Record Type:
Record
To:
Thomas_Corwin @ ed.gov (Thomas Corwin)
CC:
See the distribution list at the bottom of this message
bcc:
Records Management
Subject: Re: Re[2]: Work-Site schools
WORKSIT.ME Attached is a rough draft of a memo laying out design issues around a work-site
schools initiative (includes footnotes, so convert before printing).
Below are some quick reactions to Tom's other questions:
1. Termination. At the two sites that I know of that went through this, the employees' children
were allowed to finish out the school year. I think it makes sense for districts to require businesses
that they partner with to make a similar provision.
2. Elementary school. There are work-site junior and high schools - Florida has about 10. They are
funded through school-to-work and learn-and-serve (an Corporation for National Service grant).
However, there is no attempt to serve predominantly children of employees -- in fact the students
usually have some career (Disney, Zoo) interest they are pursuing. For this program, we are, I
think, focused exclusively on elementary schools. This is in many ways an extension of the on-site
daycare concept -- and has many of the same benefits.
3. Non-Classroom activities. Some companies have jumped into this concept wholeheartedly and
built elaborate playground and media facilities at their on-site schools. Other satellite schools use
the gyms/auditoriums at the local neighborhood "host" school Some satellite schools also take
temporary advantage of existing corporate space for some of their needs i.e. using the company
auditorium for school assembly meetings. Some satellite -- like daycare centers - utilize
neighbohood parks. This is one of those site-specific issues that we need to be aware of, but will
ultimately be resolved by the district at the local level (and would be one of the "planning" activities
our grants could support).
4. Special Ed/Bilingual. The Hewlett Packard school hasn't had to deal with this much (but said
they would probably bring the students from the satellite school to the host school (1/2 mile) via a
bus that the district pays for). I'm waiting for some information on how Miami handles this, as
they have a significant LEP student population. I'd imagine that this too would be a
planning/implementation issue that we would support with grant funds.
5. Liability. We need more information here, but from what I have (DE/FL), the satellite schools
and their employees have the same immunities from liability as other public schools. Delaware is
specifically setting out regulations for satellite schools to protect health and safety concerns, but to
allow those schools to meet different facilities requirements and to spell out the liability obligations
of the district and of the employer providing the facililty. We should find out how charters handle
this when they are using spece that is provided by another organization.
6. Size of employer. These school have been started mainly with large employers. The only other
exception are: Miami International Airport (includes children from several airport vending shops)
and Broward county is opening a school sited in an industrial park -- again a situation with multiple
employers. Its probably worth a call to Des Moines and to the Miami Airport to see how they
handle issues of employer participation.
7. Class Size. Right -- the size would be determined by how many teachers the LEA provided.
The exception seems to be CA. The principal stated that under CA's class size intiative, they face
penalties for classes that are above an absolute maximum of 20 students. I asked what they did
when they had 27 second graders. They create mixed grade-level classes - one second grade, one
third grade and one seond-third grade combined. 9this happens at both the satellite and the host
school0.
Thomas_Corwin @ ed.gov (Thomas Corwin)
Thomas_Corwin @ ed.gov (Thomas Corwin)
11/19/98 02:44:36 PM
Record Type:
Record
To:
Tanya E. Martin/OPD/EOP
cc:
See the distribution list at the bottom of this message
Subject: Re[2]: Work-Site schools
This is interesting. It seems consistent with my comment, yesterday,
that businesses are likely to want to house schools that serve only
children of their employees, not the entire community.
Some more questions that have occurred to me:
1. What happens to employees who terminate their employment with that
business? Do their kids have to leave the school? How would we
handle this under our demo program? (The issue would seem
particularly salient for employees who are involuntarily terminated.)
2. Does this type of model make sense only for elementary schools?
The briefing paper notes that the existing schools are typically K-3,
K-2, even K-2. It's easy to envision that type of program. (The
school has, say, one class in each of three grades. It only takes up
three rooms at the place of work.) It is much harder for me to
conceive of operating a comprehensive high school or a middle school
at the worksite.
3. Even at the elementary school level, how have the worksite schools
handled non-classroom activities? l.e., what have they used for the
gym, the playground, the auditorium?
4. How have these schools handled students who need special education
and bilingual education? For instance, have the various types of
special ed supportive services staff been on site? Have the businesses
provided rooms for pull-out services? I hope they haven't excluded
these types of students from participating.
5. How have the schools handled liability concerns?
6. Does the model mainly work only where there is a large employer that is
willing to house a school? The briefing paper notes that, in most cases,
the schools have been set up by employers with at least 900 employees.
The only exceptions seem to be the ones at the Mall of America (where there
isn't one employer, but presumably the Mall management is the business
partner), the downtown Des Moines school (where there is an employer
alliance), and the school in Clearwater (where I can't tell what is going
on). I guess you could have downtown schools set up in different
communities, a la Des Moines, but how viable is this? Who takes charge and
assumes any liability? What happens as stores open and close in the
downtown area, as as small businesses move in and out and expand and
contract? A 3M-type employer might be able to protect the school even
during periods when it is downsizing; other employers may not.
7. Finally, although we can note that the existing workplace schools tend
to have small classes, we can't act like this is something that magically
happens under model. If there are, say, 18 first-graders whose parents
work at the site, and the LEA elects to conduct a first-grade class at that
site, then you'll have a class of 18. If there are 28 kids, the LEA will
be unlikely to provide 2 teachers, and you would likely have a class of 28.
Tom
Reply Separator
Subject: Re: Work-Site schools
Author: [email protected] at Internet
Date: 11/18/98 6:23 PM
From Florida's 1998 Charter Schools law revisions (provision on charter
schools in the work place):
(22) CHARTER SCHOOLS-IN-THE-WORKPLACE
(a) In order to increase business partnerships in education, to reduce
school and classroom
overcrowding throughout the state, and to offset the high costs for
educational facilities construction,
the Legislature intends to encourage the formation of business partnership
schools or satellite learning
centers through charter school status.
(b) A charter school-in-the-workplace may be established when a business
partner provides the school
facility to be used; enrolls students based upon a random lottery which
involves all of the children of
employees of that business or corporation who are seeking enrollment, as
provided for in subsection (6);
and enrolls students according to the racial/ethnic balance provisions
described in subparagraph (9) (a)
8. Any portion of a facility used for a public charter school shall be
exempt from ad valorem taxes, as
provided for in S. 235.198, for the duration of its use as a public school.
Also subparagraph (9)(a)8 provides that Florida work place charters must
show :
the ways by which the school will achieve a racial/ethnic balance
reflective of the community it
serves or within the racial/ethnic range of other public schools in the
same school district.
(Embedded
image moved Thomas Corwin @ ed.gov (Thomas Corwin)
to file:
11/18/98 01:49:15 PM
PIC29881.PCX)
Record Type: Record
To: See the distribution list at the bottom of this message
cc: Michael Cohen/OPD/EOP
Subject: Re: Work-Site schools
Here's a question that occurred to me when I read the attachment;
people might want to think about it before the next meeting:
How could a worksite school be a magnet school?
A magnet is typically open to anyone in the district (or in part of
the district, or anyone who meets certain threshold criteria, etc.).
If this is true, then a magnet worksite school could not claim the
following benefits that we are saying apply to worksite schools:
-- No transportation costs (If some kids do not have parents who
work at the worksite, the district would have to supply
transportation)
-- Employer looks at it as a desirable employee benefit, like
on-site child care. (Not all the kids will have parents who are
employees. The employers may look at the other kids as free riders,
may not want to provide facilities, etc for them.)
-- Strong parent involvement. (Again, if the parents are not
working on site, they are no more likely to be involved than parents
in general.)
The other benefits, such as relieving district facilities programs,
could still apply, but my question, I think, raises a larger issue: a
worksite schools initiative wouldn't seem to work very well as a public
school choice initiative because, as it's been carried out so far, it
doesn't provide parents with very many choices. Those who are
fortunate enough to work for employers who are involved in these
programs have a binary choice -- the worksite school vs. the
neighborhood school (or whatever other choices the district already
provides. The rest don't get any more choices.
Tom C.
Reply Separator
Subject: Work-Site schools
Author: [email protected]_at Internet
Date: 11/17/98 6:40 PM
(See attached file: WORKSIT.SUM)
We will try and schedule a work-site schools meeting by the end of this
week or on Monday. Attached is a rough(!) summary of some of the
information I've gathered on existing work-site schools.
Below is my list of the issues and outstanding questions (and person
responsible for the answer) from yesterday's conference call:
1. Existing Authority or new legislation: use broad authority in FIE to
run competition in FY 2000. Develop legislation for the long-term as part
of the ESEA reauthorization.
Q: How long will it take to have absolute priorities under FIE made
effective? Leslie Mustain.
2. Size: small demonstration or larger program? How much money in FIE?
3. Cost to the district of implementing satellite school/what activites
planning grant would cover
(1) interdistrict satellite schools -- Sylvia Wright - Minnesota
schools
(2) within same district -- Tanya Martin - Florida schools
4. Interest from business community
(1) outreach to NAB -- Mike Cohen/Gerald Tirozzi
(2) discussions w/ work-site consultant -- Tanya Martin
5. Existing research and evaluations
(1) Search for existing studies/contact Gary Hoaklander (sp?) --
Sylvia Wright
**NOTE: Miami-Dade has done a three-year study, please call the
district to get copy.
(2) OERI/review of successful schools -- Ann O'leary to identify OERI
contact
(3) Research/data from daycare centers (business interest, diversity)
-- Ann/Judith to identify contact
6. Existing State legislation programs
(1) What states have legislation on satellite schools (DE, CA, FL)
--
Peggy Kearns
(2) What states have enacted tax incentives for satellite schools
(FL) - Peggy Kearns
7. Tax credit
(1) Options for tax credits for companies that provide facilities for
work-site schools - Bruce Davie, Treasury
Message Sent
To:
Peggy_Kerns @ ed.gov (Peggy Kerns)
Sylvia_Wright @ ed.gov (Sylvia Wright)
Ann_O'Leary @ ed.gov (Ann O'Leary)
Judith Johnson @ ed.gov (Judith Johnson)
Leslie S. Mustain/OMB/EOP
Scott R. Palmer/PIR/EOP
Neera Tanden/WHO/EOP
bruce.davie @ treas.sprint.com
Tanya E. Martin/OPD/EOP
Message Copied To:
Judith Johnson @ ed.gov (Judith Johnson)
Ann_O'Leary @ ed.gov (Ann O'Leary)
Sylvia_Wright @ ed.gov (Sylvia Wright)
Peggy_Kerns @ ed.gov (Peggy Kerns)
Leslie S. Mustain/OMB/EOP
Scott R. Palmer/PIR/EOP
Neera Tanden/WHO/EOP
bruce.davie @ treas.sprint.com
Michael Cohen/OPD/EOP
Message Copied To:
judith_johnson @ ed.gov (judith johnson)
ann_o'leary @ ed.gov (ann o'leary)
sylvia_wright @ ed.gov (sylvia wright)
peggy_kerns @ ed.gov (peggy kerns)
Leslie S. Mustain/OMB/EOP
Scott R. Palmer/PIR/EOP
Neera Tanden/WHO/EOP
bruce.davie @ treas.sprint.com
Michael Cohen/OPD/EOP
kristi_kimball @ ed.gov
peggy_kerns @ ed.gov (peggy kerns)
sylvia_wright @ ed.gov (sylvia wright)
ann_o'leary @ ed.gov (ann o'leary)
judith_johnson @ ed.gov (judith johnson)
Leslie S. Mustain/OMB/EOP
Scott R. Palmer/PIR/EOP
Neera Tanden/WHO/EOP
bruce.davie @ treas.sprint.com
Michael Cohen/OPD/EOP
*DRAFT* MEMORANDUM
FROM:
SUBJECT:
Work-Site Satellite School Design Issues
The purpose of this memo is to provide you with some detail about the critical design
issues in the Work-Site Satellite Schools.
I. Background
The purpose of this initiative is to broaden the choices available in the public school
system by increasing the number of satellite public elementary schools located at work sites.
About 30 of these schools have been constructed since 1987, and most operate as public-private
partnerships. Typically, the employer pays for the school facility, utilities, and maintenance. The
district provides the teachers, curriculum and instructional materials. The work-site schools are
paired with "host" neighborhood elementary schools that provide administrative support and
often share art and music teachers. Through such arrangements, districts can increase parent
involvement leading to higher academic achievement, relieve overcrowding, promote diversity
(as workplaces are often more diverse than neighborhoods), offer smaller class sizes and save on
facilities and transportation costs. Companies can enjoy greater productivity and offer the school
as a family-friendly employee benefit.
More specifically, this initiative will provide tax credits to participating businesses and planning
grants to school districts in order to increase the number of satellite work-site schools. Much as
the charter schools initiative offered start-up assistance to school developers and led to an
increase in the number of charter schools from 1 to nearly 1,000 (and to 3,000 by 2002), this
initiative will increase the number of work-site satellite schools from 30 to 1,000 by early in the
next century. In designing it, we have been guided by several considerations.
First, research evidence suggests that a primary benefit of work-site satellite schools is an
extraordinary increase in the levels of parental involvement leading to higher levels of academic
achievement for students across varying racial and socio-economic backgrounds. This parental
involvement is facilitated by the high number of parents working at the same location at the
school site. Although some enrollment is drawn from the surrounding neighborhoods, a large
majority of the children should have parents working at the sponsoring company. This also
ensures that businesses have an incentive to donate facilities, maintenance and upkeep.
Second, while enrollment has been, and should be, primarily geared to the children of
employees of the participating business(es), the schools should reflect the racial and socio-
economic diversity of the company and surrounding district. In order to avoid the creation of
elite company schools, it is critical that these schools be racially balanced and accessible to all
levels of employees from executive to clerical and including contractor employees.
1
Third, the experience of Florida and California show that work-site satellite schools that
maintain close relationships with the "host" neighborhood schools are mutually beneficial: costs
are kept low since the satellite shares administration with the main - or neighborhood campus,
satellites can take advantage of special education and bilingual resources at the host school and
the enhanced parental involvement at the satellite school can lead to increased parental
participation at the neighborhood school.
Fourth, planning for these schools must make provisions to accommodate changes in
corporate management structures (mergers, takeovers, large-scale downsizing) with the least
possible disruption to students and teachers in the satellite school.
II. Funding Issues
The budget will include tax credits for businesses that provide school facilities to be used
as work-site satellite schools: two options on the structure of those credits are described below.
The FY 2000 budget will also include $20 million for grants to be distributed to local school
districts for planning and start-up costs.
A. Tax Credits for Business
Businesses that provide facilities for use as a public school or operate existing facilities
will be eligible for a tax credit covering 25% of qualified costs, not to exceed $150,000 per year.
Qualified costs include: the value of property that the business has built, leased, or donated for
use as a public school. In order to be eligible for this credit the work-site school must be open to
children of all employees of the company (or contractor of that company), allow students from
surrounding districts to fill remaining slots in school and allow all students to complete the
academic year regardless of changes in their parents employment. Businesses that provide the
school facility as part of a consortium will also be eligible for this credit.²
There are two options for how this credit would be distributed:
(1) Credit available to all business that request credit and have qualified costs:
Under this option, any business providing facilities for a work-site school, that met the
above criteria, would be eligible for a 25% credit of qualified costs up to $150,000.
'Modeled on the tax credit for businesses that provide daycare facilities. The cost was estimated
at $500 million over 5 years. This would presumably cost less because there are far fewer businesses
with work-site schools, as compared to those with daycare centers.
2 (We are still determining how this would work, but each business would probably be eligible
for its pro rata share of the first $150,000 in qualified expenses.)
2
Pros:
-Growth is not limited. Incentive is provided for as many businesses as are
interested.
-Doesn't require new administrative mechanism, businesses that are eligible
simply take the credit as part of their tax filing.
Cons:
-It is difficult to predict the likely number of participants and, therefore, estimate
the cost of this proposal.
(2) Credits available to a limited number of businesses (up to 1,000 in 5 years):
Under this option, a limited number of business that provide facilities for a work-site
school, that met the criteria above, would be eligible for the 25% credit of qualified costs
up to $150,000. In year 1 up to 60 businesses would be able to take this credit. In
subseqent years, the limits would be as follows: Year 2 - 120; Year 3 - 240; Year 4 - 480;
Year 5 - 1,000.
Pros:
-It is easy to calculate the cost of providing this credit because the maximum
number of applicants is known.
Cons:
-Puts limits on what could be a very popular initiative.
-An agency (Ed/Treasury) would have to develop mechanism to distribute the
credits.
B. Planning Grants
Grants of up to $500,000 will be distributed competitively to 20-40 school districts.
These grants will support planning and start-up activities for the development of work-site
satellite schools, including: staff training, coordination between the district, employers, work-
site and neighborhood host schools, and coordination between districts for satellite schools
drawing students from multiple districts, staff planning with businesses on changes to facilities
prior to service as public school, information meeting with affected neighborhood schools and
potential business partners, transfers of meal and resource (art/music) services between satellite
and main host school and other start-up costs.
Grants may be used to support planning and start-up activity with businesses that agree to: (1)
provide the facility to be used; (2) make enrollment equally available to all students whose
parents work at the participating business and its contractors; (3) allow remaining spaces to be
used by students in the surrounding school districts; and (4) allow all students to complete the
3
academic year regardless of changes in their parents employment status.
School districts must also show how the school(s) will achieve a racial/ethnic balance reflective
of the community it serves or within the racial/ethnic range of other public schools in the same
school district. 3
D. Accountability
Local districts will be required to report on the number of satellite schools created and to
provide data on the achievement at satellite schools for research and evaluative purposes.
Because these schools will actually be part of an existing elementary school, they should be
required to follow whatever reporting requirements (including Title I assessments) that are
applicable at the main campus. Any assessment information should be broken out to reflect
scores at the satellite school.
³This is a requirement in Florida (which has the largest number of work-site schools). Schools
report the diverse make-up of the workforce enables the work-site schools to be easily meet this
requirement.
4
11-23-1998 25AM
FROM
407 876 0854
P.2
SCHOOLS AT WORK ASSESSMENT OF
HIDDEN VALLEY SATELLITE SCHOOL
OVERVIEW
In June 1997, Schools At Work surveyed the Hewlett-Packard employees with children
registered in the Hidden Valley Satellite School. This survey requested information regarding
parent satisfaction level with the school. In addition to rating the program and facility, these
employees were encouraged to express their opinions about their child's education, improvements
they would like to see, and how the convenience of HVSS has affected their jobs. The results of
this survey appear in this report.
In July 1997, Mary Anne Ward, president of Schools At Work, visited the Hewlett-
Packard Santa Rosa campus. During this time, she met with Dan Condron (H-P Public Relations),
Steve Neilsen (principal, Hidden Valley Satellite School), and various Hewlett-Packard
department managers. Ms. Ward also toured the HVSS campus at this time.
Based on the information obtained through the survey and on this trip, this report is an
assessment of the Hidden Valley Satellite School. Schools At Work feels the HVSS program is a
highly successful one, and found enthusiasm and support from all areas of Hewlett-Packard, as
detailed in this report. The report includes the survey results, suggestions and quotes from the
survey respondents, a summary of the H-P managers' meeting, statistics on turnover and gender
ratios, and final Schools At Work observations
-1-
1-23-1998 0: 26AM
FROM
407 876 0854
P.3
H.P. School
SURVEY RESULTS
Overall satisfaction with HVSS
93% of the respondents were very satisfied or satisfied
Quality of the education my child (or children) receives
87% of the respondents were very satisfied or satisfied
Parent/teacher relationships
84% of the respondents were very satisfied or satisfied
Opportunities for parent involvement
100% of the respondents were very satisfied or satisfied
How has HVSS impacted your desire to remain at Hewlett-Packard?
77% of parents indicated HVSS was extremely important to important in their
desire to remain at Hewlett Packard
How has your child's enrollment at the HVSS influenced the following areas
of your life?
68% of the respondents indicated less family stress
93% of the respondents indicated greater peace of mind
55% of the respondents indicated more productivity on the job
68% of the respondents indicated increased quality time with your child.
How has the convenience of the HVSS increased your involvement in your
child's academic life?
74% of the respondents indicated increased communication with teachers
74% of the respondents indicated additional time during the day with your
child
71% of the respondents indicated more opportunities to volunteer
How influential is HVSS on your desire to remain with Hewlett-Packard?
61% of the respondents indicated very influential to influential
-2-
11-23-1998 0 26AM
FROM
407 876 0854
P.4
QUOTES FROM SURVEY RESPONDENTS
I consider this school to be my Number 1 benefit at HP at this time.
HVSS is a great school! Without HVSS, I wouldn't be able to participate in my
child's class. This is very important to me and him.
As a single parent it gets to be very hard at times to juggle all schedules. The
convenience of HVSS location (on-site) including dependable daycare is the
greatest value to me as it takes the edge off an already hectic schedule.
My child shares a big part of my life. She says she goes to school at the same place
I work- HP!
-3-
11-23-1998 0:27AM
FROM
407 876 0854
P.5
SUMMARY OF MANAGERS' MEETING
To prepare them for this meeting, the managers who attended were asked to come ready
with input on how the school was affecting their departments. Each manager spoke to the
employees under their supervision who had children enrolled at HVSS, and all came prepared to
discuss the impact that the school had made on these employees, as well as the impact these
employees had made on their respective departments.
One manager discussed how a parent-employee had asked for assistance to make time in
her work-day to volunteer at the school. Together, they arrived at a way she could volunteer
during break times and make up the work time later. Since then, both the manager and the parent-
employee have been very happy with the arrangement, and the employee continues to be one of
the outstanding workers in her department.
Another manager made the comment that, with regard to how it affects her department,
"the school is invisible to me." This is an ideal impression for a supervisor to have, for it means
that the parent-employee under her supervision never allows her productivity or job
responsibilities to be aversely affected by her child's school life. In fact, this particular manager
did not even realize which of her employees had a child at HVSS until she checked her records.
These records showed not only that she had an HVSS parent-employee under her supervision, but
that this employee was one of her most productive.
As a whole, the managers felt that the presence of the on-site school resolves what would
have been conflicts between the responsibilities to a job and to a child's education. These are
conflicts that now do not arise due to the convenience of the school.
To the one, these managers said that the HVSS parent-employees were the highest caliber
of employees and among the hardest working in their departments. Absenteeism and tardiness was
practically non-existent among these employees, and their supervisors had seen no conflicts
between work- and child- related responsibilities from this group.
-4-
11-23-1998 0: 27AM
FROM
407 876 0854
P.6
HVSS PARENT-EMPLOYEE STATISTICS
Turnover Statistics (1993-1997)
Turnover rate of general employee population: 5-6%
Turnover rate of HVSS parent employees: 05%
The turnover rate of HVSS parent-employees is therefore approximately
99% lower than that of the general employee population in the last four
years.
Gender Ratios
Total employee population: 3485
Total males: 2262 (65%)
Total females: 1223 (35%)
Total survey respondents: 31
Total males: 24 (77%)
Total females: 7 (23%)
-5-
04/15/99
17:07
NO.029
001
Center for Community Change
MEMORANDUM
To:
Ms. Tanya E. Martin
Associate Director for Education and Policy Planning
Domestic Policy Council
Fr:
Leigh Dingerson,
Center for Community Change
Re:
Getting Information to Parents and Communities
Date: April 15, 1999
On Monday, March 22, you met with a group of community based organizers from
grassroots groups across the country. During that meeting, we spoke with you about our
experiences working with low income parents around issues related to their community
public schools.
One of the points we raised was the difficulty that many of our organizations have had in
getting access to information about school programs, discipline policies, school
achievement and other issues. We know that the President shares our interest in making
sure that parents have the tools, and the ability to understand what's going on in their
children's schools, and the information they need to get productively involved.
One critical way for parents to become engaged in their children's schools is through the
dissemination of school "report cards" which provide parents and the community with
information about what's going on inside the school. School report cards are not just
useful to administrators comparing a districts schools among each other. They can also
be useful to parents. We're delighted that the President is considering an initiative on
report cards as part of his agenda during this year's ESEA reauthorization in Congress.
We would like to help shape that initiative based on our direct experience in low income
communities across the country.
As we promised at our March meeting, we have developed a list of the kinds of
information that we believe local schools should be required to collect and report on
through individual school "profiles" or "report cards." These are numbers or categories
which might not immediately be recognized as significant, but which we consider critical
to providing parents with all aspects of a school's program and learning environment.
We've included some simple notes explaining each of these items, but would be anxious
to meet with you to discuss them further.
Again, we appreciate your willingness to meet with us last month, and look forward to
working together on this important issue.
04/15/99
17:07
NO.029
002
INFORMATION WHICH SCHOOLS SHOULD BE REQUIRED TO COLLECT
AND DISEMMINATE THROUGH SCHOOL "REPORT CARDS"
Student Body
Total number of students, disaggregated by:
grade
race
eligibility for free/reduced price lunch
limited English proficiency
Average class size, by grade.
(Note: most states that currently produce report cards include this information
already. This would be a new requirement only for those states that currently
have no reporting or profiling of individual schools)
School Facilities
The condition of the physical plant, including:
the age of the school building
the intended capacity
the percent of capacity that the school operated at during the year
the year of most recent renovations
(Note: Overcrowding and deteriorating school buildings are a huge problem in
low-income communities. It is important that parents are made aware of the
actual classroom conditions in which their children are learning, so that they can
help advocate for city or state funding for modernization The state of Delaware
currently includes much of this information on page 2 of their school profiles.)
Teaching Staff:
Teaching and support staff should be listed by:
race
number, and percent of teachers with a masters degree
average years of experience
Support staff (teachers aides, etc.) should also be listed by number and race.
(Note: Parents have a right to know if their children are being taught by teachers
who are under-qualified, or who are teaching in areas other than their specialty.
This information can help encourage parents to press for more staff development
and training, and to assist in the recruitment of teachers of color. The
Connecticut "Strategic School Profiles" include this information.)
04/15/99
17:07
NO.029
003
Curriculum
Information should be available on:
the standardized grade-level of materials being taught in each grade at
the school
the availability of advance placement/gifted courses offered by subject
matter and grade
participation in these courses by grade and by race
(Note: In a number of instances in which we have been directly involved, parents
have learned that the material taught at their children's school is not of the
academic level to allow them access to competitive public high schools or to meet
the basic entry requirements of local colleges. In other words, even a straight-A
student at many poor-performing schools, may not graduate with the
coursework necessary to get into the high school or college of their choice
Parents cannot be expected to monitor and hold accountable their children's
schools without this information being revealed to them in the clearest terms
possible.
In addition, well-documented reports have shown that students of color
are often tracked out of advanced or gifted courses, even when offered in their
school. Requiring schools to report on the racial breakdown of students in such
advanced tracks is a critical way for parents to monitor this potential problem.
The school report cards in Connecticut and Texas - of those we looked at
- included some of this information, but none of the report cards we've seen to
date provide the full scope of data we believe is critical.)
Discipline and Attendance:
Schools should report on attendance rates
by grade
Suspension and Expulsion rates should be reported by:
grade
race
(Note: Many state profiles do require reporting on suspension and attendance
rates. Studies have shown that, often, disruptive behavior by students is a result
of boredom with poor teaching or poor quality materials, and that some teachers
are less prepared to handle behavioral problems. Because of these facts, we
believe that suspension rates should be reported both by race and by grade -
even by classroom, if possible so that parents can begin to understand if
schools need to provide additional training for teachers, or other types of support
for students and faculty.)
04/15/99
17:07
NO.029
904
School Accountability Rating
Under Title 1, school districts are required to notify schools when their
performance is under standards for a certain period of time. This information is
absolutely critical for parents. Several state report cards prominently display what the
"rating" or "status" of the school is.
In addition to that status report, we believe the profiles should include the date on
which the status was reviewed and determined.
CONCLUSION:
This information is of course among a wide range of other information - such as test
scores and per-pupil spending -- that most states already require in their report cards.
Rather than include every item that we think should be mandated on report cards, we've
focused our attention on those items that are clearly possible and already reported in a
minority of states, but which we believe should be required of all state report cards.
We would be happy to work with you and with the Administration to support inclusion of
reporting requirements and data collection provisions within the reauthorization of the
Elementary and Secondary Education Act. If you have any questions, please don't
hesitate to contact me at 202-342-0594
Work-Site Satellite Schools Meeting
Deliverables:
1. How long will it take to establish priorities in FIE for FY 2000? Leslie Mustain
2. Cost to the district in implementing satellite schools? Sylvia Wright/Tanya Martin
3. NAB/ business community? Mike Cohen/Gerry Tirozzi
4. Existing research on worksite schools and diversity of daycare centers - Ann O'Leary/OERI
5. Existing state legislation - Peggy Kerns
6. Tax Credit Options - Treasury
Open Issues:
Can charter schools located at work sites apply for work-site school grants? 2-3inTX;
Can magnet schools located at work sites (aren't any currently) apply for work-site grants? No
Who will compete for grants?
District on behalf of specific identified schools (like after school). LEA's compete
$
Can theyhe specialyed ?
Ensure schools are diverse
Require schools to be open to employers and their contractors (Del does this/FL does not).
Limited to elementary schools?
aborlayer Hodefine) achieve our objective
on -Site continuos (
Size of employer
Workforce survey to determine if employee population can support school
Allow consortia so long as provision is made for withdrawal from group
What do we do in case of termination/mergers?
Require participating businesses to allow continued enrollment for children whose parents have a
change in work status.
How will space be provided for non-classroom activities
Use planning money to determine how satellite schools will use company facilities, local playgrounds
etc for non-classroom activities.
How will Special ED/Bilingual services be provided?
Require that contract setting up satellite schools specify arrangement(s) for provision of special
education and bilingual services. (Transfer to host school for classes, teacher travels to satellite school,
enrollment at host school)
How are liability concerns addressed?
Schools and the employees have the same liability protections as other public schools; after-school
programs have liability protection of sponsoring organization (YMCA, district); liability for safety of actual
facility usually remains with the business.
CGAgency monae/regaine.
Cost of providing tax credits
Treasury to provide.
Tax Credits for Work-Site Schools
Proposal:
Provide a 25 percent tax credit for taxpayer/employers who enter into a cooperative
agreement with local public schools to provide space, utilities. and maintenance for satellite
elementary schools located on their work site. The base for the annual credit would include the
cost of tangible personal property or real property donated to the school plus the fair market
market rental value of real property dedicated for school use. The credit would reduce basis of
depreciable property owned by the taxpayer and similarly reduce any other deductions, such as
for charitable contributions, for with the taxpayer might also be eligible. No payments for
teacher salaries are eligible for the credit. There would be a ten-year recapture period with
respect to real property and a five-year recapture period with respect to tangible personal
property. A single taxpayer would be limited to a credit of $150,000 per year. To be eligible to
receive any credit the taxpayer must enter into a agreement with a local public school agency that
is approved by the Department of Education. The Department may approve no more than X
agreements per year. Credits pursuant to any one agreement could be claimed for no more than
10 years.
- option: dende authority to the States
So much $ per state
sholter recaprese period - -
- unit by facility (per facelity/per year)
a unto by bakpayer.
Work-Site Satellite Schools Meeting
Deliverables:
1. How long will it take to establish priorities in FIE for FY 2000? Leslie Mustain
2. Cost to the district in implementing satellite schools? Sylvia Wright/Tanya Martin
3. NAB/ business community? Mike Cohen/Gerry Tirozzi
4. Existing research on worksite schools and diversity of daycare centers - Ann O'Leary/OERI
5. Existing state legislation - Peggy Kerns
6. Tax Credit Options - Treasury
Open Issues:
Can charter schools located at work sites apply for work-site school grants?
Can magnet schools located at work sites (aren't any currently) apply for work-site grants?
Who will compete for grants?
District on behalf of specific identified schools (like after school).
Ensure schools are diverse
Require schools to be open to employers and their contractors (Del does this/FL does not).
Limited to elementary schools?
Size of employer
Workforce survey to determine if employee population can support school
Allow consortia so long as provision is made for withdrawal from group
What do we do in case of termination/mergers?
Require participating businesses to allow continued enrollment for children whose parents have a
change in work status.
How will space be provided for non-classroom activities
Use planning money to determine how satellite schools will use company facilities, local playgrounds
etc for non-classroom activities.
How will Special ED/Bilingual services be provided?
Require that contract setting up satellite schools specify arrangement(s) for provision of special
education and bilingual services. (Transfer to host school for classes, teacher travels to satellite school,
enrollment at host school)
How are liability concerns addressed?
Schools and the employees have the same liability protections as other public schools; after-school
programs have liability protection of sponsoring organization (YMCA, district); liability for safety of actual
facility usually remains with the business.
Cost of providing tax credits
Treasury to provide.
*DRAFT* MEMORANDUM
FROM:
SUBJECT:
Work-Site Satellite School Design Issues
The purpose of this memo is to provide you with some detail about the critical design
issues in the Work-Site Satellite Schools.
I. Background
The purpose of this initiative is to broaden the choices available in the public school
system by increasing the number of satellite public elementary schools located at work sites.
About 30 of these schools have been constructed since 1987, and most operate as public-private
partnerships. Typically, the employer pays for the school facility, utilities, and maintenance. The
district provides the teachers, curriculum and instructional materials. The work-site schools are
paired with "host" neighborhood elementary schools that provide administrative support and
often share art and music teachers. Through such arrangements, districts can increase parent
involvement leading to higher academic achievement, relieve overcrowding, promote diversity
(as workplaces are often more diverse than neighborhoods), offer smaller class sizes and save on
facilities and transportation costs. Companies can enjoy greater productivity and offer the school
as a family-friendly employee benefit.
More specifically, this initiative will provide tax credits to participating businesses and planning
grants to school districts in order to increase the number of satellite work-site schools. Much as
the charter schools initiative offered start-up assistance to school developers and led to an
increase in the number of charter schools from 1 to nearly 1,000 (and to 3,000 by 2002), this
initiative will increase the number of work-site satellite schools from 30 to 1,000 by early in the
next century. In designing it, we have been guided by several considerations.
First, research evidence suggests that a primary benefit of work-site satellite schools is an
extraordinary increase in the levels of parental involvement leading to higher levels of academic
achievement for students across varying racial and socio-economic backgrounds. This parental
involvement is facilitated by the high number of parents working at the same location at the
school site. Although some enrollment is drawn from the surrounding neighborhoods, a large
majority of the children should have parents working at the sponsoring company. This also
ensures that businesses have an incentive to donate facilities, maintenance and upkeep.
Second, while enrollment has been, and should be, primarily geared to the children of
employees of the participating business(es), the schools should reflect the racial and socio-
economic diversity of the company and surrounding district. In order to avoid the creation of
elite company schools, it is critical that these schools be racially balanced and accessible to all
levels of employees from executive to clerical and including contractor employees.
1
Third, the experience of Florida and California show that work-site satellite schools that
maintain close relationships with the "host" neighborhood schools are mutually beneficial: costs
are kept low since the satellite shares administration with the main - or neighborhood campus,
satellites can take advantage of special education and bilingual resources at the host school and
the enhanced parental involvement at the satellite school can lead to increased parental
participation at the neighborhood school.
Fourth, planning for these schools must make provisions to accommodate changes in
corporate management structures (mergers, takeovers, large-scale downsizing) with the least
possible disruption to students and teachers in the satellite school.
II. Funding Issues
The budget will include tax credits for businesses that provide school facilities to be used
as work-site satellite schools: two options on the structure of those credits are described below.
The FY 2000 budget will also include $20 million for grants to be distributed to local school
districts for planning and start-up costs.
A. Tax Credits for Business
Businesses that provide facilities for use as a public school or operate existing facilities
will be eligible for a tax credit covering 25% of qualified costs, not to exceed $150,000 per year.¹
Qualified costs include: the value of property that the business has built, leased, or donated for
use as a public school. In order to be eligible for this credit the work-site school must be open to
children of all employees of the company (or contractor of that company), allow students from
surrounding districts to fill remaining slots in school and allow all students to complete the
academic year regardless of changes in their parents employment. Businesses that provide the
school facility as part of a consortium will also be eligible for this credit.²
There are two options for how this credit would be distributed:
(1) Credit available to all business that request credit and have qualified costs:
Under this option, any business providing facilities for a work-site school, that met the
above criteria, would be eligible for a 25% credit of qualified costs up to $150,000.
¹Modeled on the tax credit for businesses that provide daycare facilities. The cost was estimated
at $500 million over 5 years. This would presumably cost less because there are far fewer businesses
with work-site schools, as compared to those with daycare centers.
2 (We are still determining how this would work, but each business would probably be eligible
for its pro rata share of the first $150,000 in qualified expenses.)
2
Pros:
-Growth is not limited. Incentive is provided for as many businesses as are
interested.
-Doesn't require new administrative mechanism, businesses that are eligible
simply take the credit as part of their tax filing.
Cons:
-It is difficult to predict the likely number of participants and, therefore, estimate
the cost of this proposal.
(2) Credits available to a limited number of businesses (up to 1,000 in 5 years):
Under this option, a limited number of business that provide facilities for a work-site
school, that met the criteria above, would be eligible for the 25% credit of qualified costs
up to $150,000. In year 1 up to 60 businesses would be able to take this credit. In
subseqent years, the limits would be as follows: Year 2 - 120; Year 3 - 240; Year 4 - 480;
Year 5 - 1,000.
Pros:
-It is easy to calculate the cost of providing this credit because the maximum
number of applicants is known.
Cons:
-Puts limits on what could be a very popular initiative.
-An agency (Ed/Treasury) would have to develop mechanism to distribute the
credits.
B. Planning Grants
Grants of up to $500,000 will be distributed competitively to 20-40 school districts.
These grants will support planning and start-up activities for the development of work-site
satellite schools, including: staff training, coordination between the district, employers, work-
site and neighborhood host schools, and coordination between districts for satellite schools
drawing students from multiple districts, staff planning with businesses on changes to facilities
prior to service as public school, information meeting with affected neighborhood schools and
potential business partners, transfers of meal and resource (art/music) services between satellite
and main host school and other start-up costs.
Grants may be used to support planning and start-up activity with businesses that agree to: (1)
provide the facility to be used; (2) make enrollment equally available to all students whose
parents work at the participating business and its contractors; (3) allow remaining spaces to be
used by students in the surrounding school districts; and (4) allow all students to complete the
3
academic year regardless of changes in their parents employment status.
School districts must also show how the school(s) will achieve a racial/ethnic balance reflective
of the community it serves or within the racial/ethnic range of other public schools in the same
school district. 3
D. Accountability
Local districts will be required to report on the number of satellite schools created and to
provide data on the achievement at satellite schools for research and evaluative purposes.
Because these schools will actually be part of an existing elementary school, they should be
required to follow whatever reporting requirements (including Title I assessments) that are
applicable at the main campus. Any assessment information should be broken out to reflect
scores at the satellite school.
³This is a requirement in Florida (which has the largest number of work-site schools). Schools
report the diverse make-up of the workforce enables the work-site schools to be easily meet this
requirement.
4
Work-Site Satellite Schools
About 30 work-site schools have been constructed since 1987, built on corporate campuses and even in
malls (3M, Mall of America). Most work-site satellite schools are K-2 or 3, but some have expanded to K-5.
Since the first school opened 11 yeas ago, none have been closed despite downsizings and mergers that have
occurred at some participating companies. Teachers and principals report extraordinary levels of parent
involvement which they believe contribute to high academic achievement. Approximately 10 additional
work-site schools are currently in development across the nation.
States with Work-Site Schools: Florida, Minnesota, California, Texas, Iowa. (largest numbers in Florida
and Minnesota). Delaware recently passed a law to allow work-site schools.
Descriptions of Existing Satellite Schools:
American Bankers Insurance Group (Miami, FL). This is the nations's first work-site public school - it has
been in existence since 1987. ABIG has spent $2.5 million on a facility that houses 200 kindergarten
through fifth grade students. The school is run by the Miami-Dade school district, which provides teachers
and pays their salaries. ABIG is responsible for maintenance and upkeep of the facility. The school is open
everyday - except days that are both school and corporate holidays and offers both before- and after-school
programs. ABIG estimates that it saves $475,000 - more than three times the $140,000 it costs to run the
school - because it has reduced employee turnover and absenteeism. Job turnover among parents of
children attending the school is 6 percent, compared with 13.3 percent at the company overall. The school
reports that its students are more racially diverse than the district average and also score well over the
district average -- a result that they attribute to high levels of parental involvement.
3M- Minneapolis, MN. The Eastside Workplace Kindergarten is located in a strip mall near the corporate
headquarters and serves children in grades K-1. The company reports that it has outstanding parent
participation and as well as high volunteer participation from other company employees. The vast mojority
of the students are children of employees, the remaining children are from the surrounding neighborhood.
Hewlett-Packard (Santa Rosa, CA). HP opened a work-site school at its corporate headquarters in 1993.
The Company invested $400,000 to build the public school satellite location. The 2.4 acre school site is
leased to the school district for $1 for 10 years. About 80% of the 120 students (grades K-3) are children of
employees. The school is a satellite location of the Hidden Valley Elementary School. The absenteeism rate
at this school (3.3%) is the lowest in the district (avg. 6.9%) and test scores are high. Turnover is 50%
lower for workers with children enrolled than those in the general population.
Nations Bank - Jacksonville, FL. NationsBank reports 100% parent participation in the PTA and parents
volunteer for almost every activity. The school was initially launched by Barnett Bank was merged into
NationsBank. As a result of the merger, about 30 children left the school after their parents changed jobs --
they were allowed to finish the school year at the school if they chose to do so. Duval County's office of
academic programs considers the work-site schools to be "an overwhelming, unqualified success."
Des Moines, IA. A group called the Business/Education Alliance opened the Downtown school in August
1993. It serves 144 pupils in K-5. Located in an office building, the public school serves employees'
children of 19 sponsoring businesses joined by a network of skywalks. The companies pay the cost of
housing the schools, which has smaller than usual class sizes and a longer school year.
Other schools sponsored by: Mall of America, Miami International Airport, Radission Hotel, Honeywell,
Space Systems, Florida Power & Light, and Target Stores.