Wednesday, a House committee unanimously approved a $6.27 billion education budget that includes funding a differentiated pay raise for teachers. House Education Ways and Means members also approved H.121 (Poole) , a bill to detail the education employees salary increase.

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ETF Budget on Tuesday Agenda; Senate Derails School Wi-Fi

 

Wednesday, a House committee unanimously approved a $6.27 billion education budget that includes funding a differentiated pay raise for teachers. House Education Ways and Means members also approved H.121 (Poole), a bill to detail the education employees salary increase. Employees making less than $75,000 would receive a 4 percent increase while those making more receive a 2 percent increase. All community college personnel would receive a 4 percent increase.

For K-12, the education budget, H.117 (Poole), would begin to rebuild the state’s Foundation Program with a $195.6 million increase. Local schools rely on Other Current Expense (OCE) to pay for non-certified employees and basic operation costs. The budget increases OCE by $29 million, of which $27 million would fund employee pay raises and increases in retirement and health benefit costs, leaving a $2 million increase for operations. Likewise, for transportation, a $9.8 million increase would cover employee pay raises and benefits, but the measure level funds fleet renewal at $6,382 per bus. However, should the economy perform according to projections, the budget includes conditional appropriations to be released for much-needed operational OCE increases.

As proposed, the budget provides direct increases for the following:

Divisors — Adjusts for grades 7-12 to add 475 teachers.

OCE — from $16,281 to $16,814/unit;

Classroom materials — from $374 to $405/unit;

Technology — from $64 to $169/unit;

Textbooks — from $52.71 to $54.07/student;

School Nurses — a $1.2 million increase;

Arts Education — a $500,000 increase;

ACCESS — a $1 million increase;

Advanced Placement — a $1 million increase;

Gifted Students — a $1.25 million increase; and Pre-K — a $14 million increase (to serve an additional 2,700 students).

The committee approved conditional appropriations as a buffer against proration should the revenue projections fall short. However, committee members believe the following conditional amounts will be released:

Transportation — $3.7 million;

Textbooks — $7 million;

Classroom materials — $1.5 million;

Professional development — $1.5 million;

OCE — $17.7 million.

The Ways & Means Education plan appropriates 69.3 percent to K-12, 25.1 percent to higher education and 5.6 percent to “other.” The education budget is expected to be considered on the House floor Tuesday.

 

School Leaders’ Oppose Teacher Evaluations & Tenure Proposal

S.316 (Marsh) would require personnel decisions, including awarding and retaining tenure, be based on a specific teacher evaluation process. The proposal includes general tenure reforms local school board members support, such as limiting tenure to teachers and expanding the probationary period before being eligible for tenure from three to five years. However, the bill goes further with requirements that put school leaders in the predicament of opposing the bill despite the tenure reform efforts.

The proposal unacceptably limits school boards’ authority to make personnel decisions. As drafted, the bill requires a governing board to use evaluation ratings to take personnel actions under the Students First Act, an overly broad and unworkable proposition. AASB is concerned about changes in language that would negatively impact existing law. The 2011 Students First Act is working well and the new language, intended or not, compromises both it and the reduction-in-force law.

The proposed teacher evaluation procedures would create a litigation battlefield. The bill’s requirements are prescriptive and include such specific details in statute that it would invite a multitude of problems. The bill requires 25 percent of a teacher evaluation be based on student growth using a value-added model. The state must provide the 75 percent remaining criteria and create a default state model. A teacher would be rated on a five-tiered system.

The proposed evaluation model conflicts with the latest results coming from experiences in the field.In past years, a number of states moved to link teacher evaluations, student growth and performance. After years of initial implementation results, states now are repealing and revising those laws. The results could not be validated as accurately measuring teacher effectiveness and some states claim it pushed teachers to teach to the test because of the over-reliance on a single test measure.

S.316 also proposes additional incentives to encourage strong performance and recruit teachers to hard-to-staff areas but needs further definition to be workable. It would provide $10 million for the Legislative School Performance Recognition Program to be implemented in 2016-17; $5 million to an Alabama Teacher Recruitment Fund; and $3 million to an Alabama Teacher Mentor Program.It also would create a Teacher Advisement Committee to advise legislators about education policy.

The Senate Education & Youth Affairs Committee has scheduled a special meeting Tuesday at 12:30 p.m. for a public hearing on the bill. Members on the committee are: Senators: Dick Brewbaker (chair); Quinton Ross (vice chair); Paul Bussman; Vivian Davis Figures; Del Marsh; Jim McClendon; Trip Pittman; Hank Sanders; and Shay Shelnutt. Please contact your senator, and explain why local school leaders oppose S.316 (Marsh).

 

Senate Wi-Fi Amendment Ambush

H.41 (Chesteen), the Alabama Ahead Act, and H.227 (Poole), its $12 million supplemental funding to implement that plan, were headed for final passage and the governor’s signature Thursday but got stopped short. Sen. Gerald Dial added a floor amendment to each bill, which sent them back to the House. Before any action could be taken to address the amendments, lawmakers adjourned.

The amendments refer to the WIRED plan but deleted the plan being developed, validated and approved by the Alabama Education Technology Association (AETA.)It replaces an advisory committee comprised of experts in the field with the Alabama Ahead Oversight Committee.

The unexpected action caught bill sponsors and advocates completely off guard. All had worked in lock step to meet a March 7 deadline so systems could receive E-rate funds next year. Local school systems have been approved to draw down millions of federal dollars in the E-rate program and were awaiting the plan and funding mechanism to access the money. The Senate amendments meant that instead of going to the governor, who was waiting to sign them, the bills returned to the House. Without time to determine the impact of the amendments, both chambers adjourned and the opportunity was lost.

Officials and school systems are scrambling to try to salvage the expiring contracts with vendors or they must start a completely new application cycle. Meanwhile, the House will have to concur or non-concur with the amendments.

Local school leaders urge lawmakers to follow the lead of House sponsors Rep. Bill Poole and Rep. Donnie Chesteen to determine next steps. After years of work, school leaders are grateful for their leadership and support providing the high quality Wi-Fi plan and funding it for every public school. Please urge quick resolution for final passage of H.41 (Chesteen) and H.227 (Poole).

 

Need Virtual Reality Check

AASB opposes committee-approvedS.229 (Brewbaker), a bill that would weaken safeguards that protect local students from being herded to statewide virtual schools. The committee approved a substitute that would, as Sen. Hank Sanders noted, open the door to statewide “mega-schools” that may benefit a few but could potentially harm many.

In the effort to expand choice, lawmakers are moving far too quickly. The 2015 law requiring local school boards to provide virtual learning options takes effect this fall. This proposed legislation would undercut the local policy decisions being made to provide strong supports and best practices for students choosing to enroll virtually. By authorizing statewide open-enrollment, the bill also allows a few school systems and aggressive virtual school vendors to draw state funding without regard to performance results and accountability should the students drop from the program. Urge lawmakers to reject the bill to allow statewide enrollment and vote NO to S.229 (Brewbaker).

 

Longitudinal Data Bill Nears Passage

Only Senate action stands between H.125 (Collins/Baker) and final passage. The bill to allow the state to aggregate data from multiple sources for pre-K, K-12, post secondary and higher education and the workforce passed Senate committee this week. The bill protects confidential student and workforce information and requires cybersecurity policies to apply.

If enacted, the bill would require a statewide definition for remediation, an effort long-supported by K-12. Local school leaders urge final passage for H.125 (Collins).

 

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2016 Legislative Session

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Lissa Tucker, AASB Director of Governmental Relations

www.AlabamaSchoolBoards.org