Mandating Innovation?

I spent a good chunk of yesterday attending the Kansas State Board of Education meeting in Topeka. What a fiasco! How sad that the people in decision making positions are infatuated with their own one-sided agendas.

Part of the discussion yesterday revolved around charter schools and scholarships. Both were disguised as "schools of choice" and "vouchers." Throughout the entire discussion of charter schools the idea of innovation kept surfacing.

BOE members with strong ties to the current commissioner kept referring to the power of innovation within charter schools. They appeared to negate the notion that innovation could occur outside of a charter school, or heaven forbid---in a public school in Kansas!

My question, which remained unasked and unanswered yesterday, is this: "Can you mandate innovation and creativity?" I would argue, no.

Sadly, education in the Digital Age means asking new questions not offering old solutions. State BOE members need to work collaboratively for the good of ALL Kansas students and put personal agendas aside.