March 20, 2006

When Rick Baker first ran for mayor of St. Petersburg five years ago, he focused his campaign on neighborhoods, economic development, public safety and schools. He understood that these issues were critical to the future of the city. Baker said, “It was simple – business won’t locate or even stay in a city unless the schools are good and people won’t move into urban neighborhoods unless the local schools are successful.”

Once elected, Baker began to address education as the mayor of the largest city in Pinellas County with no formal responsibility for any school in a county-wide system. St. Petersburg accounts for approximately one-third of the county’s school enrollment. This presented a dilemma because he was becoming engaged in an issue for which he had no “legal” responsibility. However, it was clear that something needed to be done. Baker recognized that it is the mayor’s responsibility to be a leader to improve not only the education experiences of the children but also their opportunities.

His initiatives had to be inclusive, owned by those who lived and worked in the city, and benefited those who resided in the city and attended the public schools. Also, these had to be focused on improving teaching and learning, community involvement, and improving access and opportunity. From his perspective it was very important to visit every school in the city at least once and meet with not just the teachers but the students so they know who their mayor is. He, also, meets at least once a month with the new county school superintendent.

One initiative is the Doorways Program. It offers students a four-year scholarship to a state institution. To participate, students must be eligible for free or reduced lunch; enrolled in sixth-grade in the city schools; and apply for the scholarship while in 6th grade. Awards are made to sixth-graders as long as they stay in a city school and maintain through high school graduation a C average, good conduct and attendance, and be drug and crime free. The trick was to find funding. Baker created a triple match approach to purchase a $10,000 prepaid scholarship. For every for every $2,500 raised, the county’s local education fund matches $2,500; then this $5,000 is matched with $5,000 from the state; and then for every $1,250 raised by the mayor, it is matched by 40 local businesses. In the first five years there are 625 students in this program.

Mentors were needed in the city’s schools. Two hundred city employees who became mentors are provided with one hour paid leave plus travel time to mentor in one of the city’s schools. More mentors were needed so CEO’s in the city were asked to partner with one of the city’s 47 schools. Now 78 companies are partnering with schools assisting with tutoring, mentoring, teacher support, and other school needs.

Realizing that it has been very difficult to recruit teachers to the inner city, Baker’s involvement has shown immediate results. He attends the system’s teacher recruitment meetings and as a result, 47 percent of new applicants requested to teach in the city’s schools while only 30 percent of the county’s teachers are in these schools. Second, he instituted a teacher loan program that provides a $14,000 interest free loan for a down payment to purchase a house or condo in the city. If the teacher continues to teach in city schools for ten years the loan is forgiven, and if they teach and live in the mid-town area the loan can be up to $18,000. In the first 18 months, 27 teachers have bought homes through this program.

He also created the Top Apple award, a recognition program for principals and assistant principals. The award is for either increasing the state’s school grade or maintaining an “A” rating. This is a televised event at the city council.

Baker has instituted a joint use effort to build or enhance playgrounds and/or athletic fields on a school site so it can be used by schools and the city’s parks and recreation department. He is also committed to have a city park within a half mile walk of every child’s home.

According to Baker, “What I believe is the most impressive initiative so far is the Partnership to Advance School Success (PASS).” It started with one school and it is now being implemented in seven other elementary schools. The purpose is to turn around a poor performing school through a business partnership. Together a three-year strategic plan focused on improving scores on the state’s standardized test is developed. The school and corporate partner team meet monthly to discuss the progress of their plan.

All of these efforts are showing results. In 2005, 38 percent of St. Petersburg schools improved at least one letter grade on their state rating while only 10 percent in the state and 12 percent in Pinellas County. Baker stated, “That is progress, but much work has to be done to insure that the effort is sustained. I look forward to continue to be engaged and assist in this progress that in the long term has great benefit for St. Petersburg.”