Budget to have differentiated pay raise. Education employees earning $75,000 or less would see a 4 percent pay raise and those earning more than that would see a 2 percent pay raise under the Education Trust Fund (ETF) budget proposal to be considered Wednesday in House committee

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ETF Budget Proposal Unveiled; Slow down Virtual & Vouchers

 

Budget to have differentiated pay raise.Education employees earning $75,000 or less would see a 4 percent pay raise and those earning more than that would see a 2 percent pay raise under the Education Trust Fund (ETF) budget proposal to be considered Wednesday in House committee. Employee retirement and health care benefit requests would be fully funded, and OCE, transportation, textbooks, classroom technology and classroom supplies all would see operational increases above any pay raise costs. Additional teachers also would be earned in grades 7-12 with .5 percent adjustment to the divisors.

The two-step approach to the pay raise, which translates to a $2,000 increase both for someone earning $50,000 and someone earning $100,000, is not the only innovation in the budget. The proposal the committee will consider appropriates less than the authorized $6.3 billion projection in direct appropriations as a hedge against proration. The combination of direct and conditional appropriations for OCE and other parts of the Foundation Program still fall within ETF projections and would likely be released. However, should the economy sputter and revenue not keep pace with allocations, proration could be avoided with the use of conditional appropriations. The budget proposal also gives funding bumps to Advanced Placement, ACCESS and gifted education, and a $14 million increase to pre-K.

The Ways & Means proposal represents a responsible and good faith effort to balance the need to reward education employees and provide much-needed operational resources to local schools within fiscal realities. A conservative budget would prevent proration but recapture revenue for use in future years. More details available soon.

 

Schools Need Final Passage for Wi-Fi

The Senate has limited time to act on H.41 (Chesteen), the Alabama Ahead Act, and H.227 (Poole), its $12 million supplemental funding to implement that plan. If the legislation is not signed by Gov. Bentley by March 3, local school systems may lose their window to draw down millions in federal E-rate dollars. Schools need the two bills to pass the Senate and travel to the governor for his signature early next week.

Alabama is on the cusp of making it possible to provide every K-12 classroom in every public school with high quality Wi-Fi. Urge senators to vote YES on final passage.

 

Statewide Virtual Overreach

AASB Executive Director Sally Smith urged lawmakers to give schools time for the new virtual learning law to work before making changes. During a public hearing on S.229 (Brewbaker)Wednesday, Smith and others testified before the Senate Education & Youth Affairs Committee and explained the 2015 law was purposefully crafted to prevent Alabama’s students from experiencing the poor performance and drop-out risks occurring with virtual schools nationwide.

S.229 (Brewbaker) would compromise the local accountability component by allowing any student to enroll in any virtual program, effectively creating super virtual schools statewide. It would sacrifice the local enrollment requirement which was designed to provide monitoring and supports critical for students who are not in traditional classrooms. The data-driven approach will be in place in the next school year, and school leaders Wednesday urged committee members to allow the current law to be implemented before considering changes.

Other states see students falling well behind their peers in open-enrollment, statewide virtual programs. While those states’ policymakers struggle to protect their virtual students, Alabama has garnered national attention with its legislation to ensure student and program accountability through the local school connection.

Several Alabama school systems have partnered with vendors and made headway building progressive virtual learning programs. Enrolling students from around the state is already an option in the current law and can be done by working with school systems. Local school boards are now determining which virtual options to offer and may provide a wide menu of options while retaining local accountability. Urge lawmakers to reject the bill to allow statewide enrollment and vote NO to S.229 (Brewbaker).

 

Longitudinal Data System is Progress

By a 70-28 vote on Thursday, the House approved H.125 (Collins/Baker) to create the Alabama Office of Education and Workforce Statistics housed in the state Department of Labor. Education and business support the state’s move to harness data to drive policy. Alabama is one of only three states that do not have the capability to aggregate data from multiple sources for pre-K, K-12, post secondary and higher education and the workforce. Each entity currently secures its data, and the legislation specifically requires confidential student and workforce information to be protected. House members amended the bill to ensure cybersecurity policies apply and to require that any entity that receives state funding comply with the act.

Local school leaders commend the legislation for requiring a consistent definition for remediation by the end of the year. K-12 leaders struggle to address benchmarks when there are multiple definitions being used. Meanwhile parents and students need relief from the added cost and time lost when students must take remedial coursework. Local school leaders urge support for H.125 (Collins), which is pending in Senate Education and Youth Affairs Committee.

 

Voucher Proposal Struggles and Should

The House Education Policy Committee discussed but declined to vote on H.84 (Johnson, K.), a proposal to divert public school dollars to private schools/services for special education students. A last-minute substitute was distributed to the committee. However, members were not prepared to vote on the proposal to provide funding for 1,000 students to draw a grant of 90 percent of a student’s public school funding to pay non-public schools/services. AASB believes the bill offers too little help to the most vulnerable students and their parents, and it fails to provide guidance, accountability or assurance that minimum requirements of applicable state and federal laws would be followed. Meanwhile, special education programs statewide would be hurt by a loss of some $4.8 million in programmatic funding. State funding does not flow with an individual student, and that funding loss would be exacerbated by a corresponding loss of federal funds.

Committee members voiced concern about the inability of most families to benefit because actual costs of tuition and special services far exceed the $4,800 voucher. Meanwhile, special education specialists and parents note the bill fails to protect special education students’ best interest and risks students losing ground before they must return to public school to make up critical lost ground. Urge lawmakers to OPPOSE H.84 (Johnson, K.).

 

Restricting Political Activities for Education

The Senate Wednesday approved S.86 (Orr) to prohibit education entities from expending public funds to advocate for a YES or NO vote on state or local ballots. A substitute somewhat lessened the severe limitations of the original bill, which would have impeded school leaders’ ability to inform voters about education-related initiatives. Only public colleges and universities, local boards of education and public schools are bound by the legislation. The activities covered are enumerated in statute. (Click here for Section 17-17-5). Providing information on ballot issues without advocating for a specific voter action would not be prohibited. S.86 is pending in House Ed Ways and Means.

 

Legislation of Interest

H.170 (Patterson) — Competitive Bid Law — would increase the length of time to contract for purchases or contractual services from three to five years; would allow purchases under a general services administration contract and under a nationwide cooperative purchasing program. Approved Wednesday in House State Government Committee.

H.47 (Poole) — Warrantless Arrest — would authorize a law enforcement officer who has reasonable cause to arrest an individual who trespasses on school property.Approved Wednesday by House Judiciary Committee.

H.318 (Williams, P.) — Public Records Law — would exempt information and records concerning security measures and equipment used on school property from being public records. Pending in House Committee.

S.274 (Ward) — Educator-Student Training — would require one hour of annual training regarding appropriate and inappropriate interaction between educators and students; would require development of training to implement by the 2016-17 school year. Pending in Senate Committee.

H.168 (Warren)— Age of Enrollment — would require a child turn 6 on or before Dec. 31 (currently Sept. 1) to start first grade. Approved by House Ed Policy Committee.

S.101 (Whatley) — Limiting Ballot Time frame — would propose a constitutional amendment to require all state and local constitutional amendments/referenda be on statewide primary or general election ballots. Would require local initiatives, including tax referenda, compete with national/state campaigns for local attention on community school issues.

H.299 (Henry) — Zero Tolerance Policies — would prohibit zero tolerance policies by local school boards.

ETF Budget to Start

Expect the House Ways and Means Education Committee to address the education budget Wednesday. Meanwhile, the Senate sent itsGeneral Fund budget to the House Thursday by a 24-10 vote. Leaders did not follow the governor’s plan to divert $181 million from education.

 

Data System Bill

Alabama is one of three states that do not have the capability of linking longitudinal data from pre-K to the workforce. Support H.125 (Collins)

 

Stop ESA/Vouchers

Urge lawmakers to oppose H.84 (Johnson). The policy is misguided and would divert resources for special education students without providing safeguards for vulnerable students.

 

Advocacy Days

Earn 2 training hours as you experience the legislative process. There is no registration fee. Register today.

March 16, April 20 and May 3.

 

2016 Legislative Session

20 Days Remain

 

 

 

 

 

Lissa Tucker, AASB Director of Governmental Relations

www.AlabamaSchoolBoards.org