Your opposition the PREP proposal has been duly noted and caused significant changes to be made! The latest substitute for S.316 (Marsh) made specific changes critical to removing school leaders’ objections to the bill.

 

 PREP Substitute Earns AASB Support; House Says NO to Vouchers

Your opposition the PREP proposal has been duly noted and caused significant changes to be made! The latest substitute for S.316 (Marsh) made specific changes critical to removing school leaders’ objections to the bill.

VAM requirement is GONE

“I’ve listened to education leaders around the state and I decided to remove the value-added model from the PREP legislation,” said Sen. Pro Tem Del Marsh.The substitute removes the value-added model requirement as a growth model after the entire education community strongly objected. School leaders presented evidence that other states using VAM are backpedaling because the model isn’t working.

Reduction in Force (RIF) is REMOVED

All RIF language has been eliminated from the substitute. The RIF, or layoff caused by a loss of student enrollment or funding, is governed by the 2011 Students First Act, which eliminated significant legal fees and multiple hearings.

Evaluation is now SDE process/model

To their credit, state Department of Education staff worked hard and convinced bill proponents to use the SDE’s recently adopted evaluation model and leaves evaluation decisions to educators. It authorizes locally developed evaluations — as long as they meet specified criteria — as an alternative to the state model.

That evaluation has a 4-tier rating system. It includes: Ineffective, Developing, Effective and Exemplary. The substitute now incorporates the state’s student growth component at 25 percent using multiple student growth measures. The SDE/local board retains flexibility to develop the remaining 75 percent .

Finally, the evaluation includes student surveys for grades 3 and higher and requires a professional growth plan.

The tenure reforms reflect long-standing AASB resolutions and would:

• Lengthen the time for teachers to become eligible for tenure from three to five years;
  
• Tenure eligibility is linked to effective and exemplary ratings in the last three years;
  
• Trigger a personnel action upon two consecutive ratings of ineffective that may include: intensive professional development, revocation of tenure status or termination.
  
• Allow re-eligibility for tenure after revocation upon three years effective or exemplary ratings; and
  
• Limit tenure eligibility to teachers. 

The bill also provides incentives for teacher recruitment and mentoring. Should state funding be provided, there would be $5 million for a teacher recruitment fund to attract teachers to struggling schools (as defined by the act) and $3 million for the teacher mentoring program.

Because you were involved in this process and stood firm in opposing critical conflicts in the bill, PREP has been transformed. Thanks to the many school leaders who engaged in advocacy and made a difference. The substitute now provides a balanced approach to incorporate the SDE’sevaluation process and provide tenure reforms.

AASB pledges to continue to collaborate as the bill moves forward. Thanks to Sen. Marsh and his staff and all of the school leaders who have worked since last year to find a bill that could be supported. AASB supports the substitute to S.316 (Marsh).

 

Special Ed Voucher Stopped in House, Fight Not Over

House members Tuesday decisively stopped H.84 (Johnson, K.), the proposal to divert public school dollars to private schools/services for special education students. On a procedural vote, the measure failed 33 to 54 and was denied floor consideration.

School leaders strongly objected to the bill, and your lawmakers voted with you. H.84 would have provided funding for 1,000 students to draw a grant of 90 percent of a student’s public school funding, or $4,800, to pay for private education. Lawmakers voted to protect the most vulnerable students. The bill had no accountability or minimum requirements/safeguards in place and would have drained $4.8 million of programmatic special education funding from public schools. Click HERE to see how your lawmaker voted on the procedural vote.

The Senate version, S. 395 (Brewbaker), is on the agenda Wednesday for the Senate Education & Youth Affairs Committee. AASB has requested a public hearing to oppose the bill.

Please call members of the committee to urge a NO vote on S.395.

Committee members include Sens.: Dick Brewbaker (chair),Quinton Ross (vice Chair), Paul Bussman, Vivian Figures, Del Marsh, Jim McClendon, Trip Pittman, Hank Sander and Shay Shelnutt.

 

Virtual School Vendor Overreach

Education leaders testified Wednesday against S.229 (Brewbaker) in a public hearing before the House Education Policy Committee.The message was clear:No changes are needed to the virtual school law enacted last year.While virtual school vendors want to revisit opening the door to mega-virtual school enrollment, the current law allows any vendor a responsible pathway to offer services to public school students.

Madison City School Board member Connie Spears shared an analogy:“The captain of an ocean liner must make small adjustments, but in time, those adjustments will bring about large changes.Big, fast adjustments, however, couldlead to ruin.”Hartselle Superintendent Dr. Vic Wilsonthanked lawmakers for passing an excellent virtual school bill in 2015 and commended the current law’s approach.Athens Superintendent Trey Holladay submitted written testimony explaining why he changed from a proponent to opponent of the bill. Click HEREto learn why his experience implementing the Renaissance virtual school convinced him the bill is a “recipe for failure.”

Also testifying against the bill were AASB, CLAS, the state Department of Education and AEA.

The House Education Policy members areReps.: Terri Collins (chair), Kerry Rich (vice Chair), Oliver Robinson, Mack Butler, Barbara Drummond, Bob Fincher, Ed Henry, Barry Moore, Jim Patterson, Chris Pringle, Rod Scott, Patricia Todd and Phil Williams.

Urge the House Education Policy committee to take NO ACTION and OPPOSE S.229.

 

School Wi-Fi Plan Enacted, Funding Bill Waiting

The Senate Tuesday concurred with the executive amendment to H.41 (Chesteen), the Alabama Ahead Act, and it now is pending Gov. Bentley’s signature. The bill specifies a plan to provide the infrastructure and specifications for high quality Wi-Fi in all classrooms in every public school.

The second piece of the effort is the funding bill, H.227 (Poole),which would provide $12 million to enable the WIRED plan to begin in schools. Work is ongoing to find a path to best use the federal E-rate dollars and maximize resources for our schools to put the WIRED plan in place. School leaders urge the House and Senate sponsors to find a funding solution that can be enacted in the remaining legislative days.

 

Bills of Interest

H.47 (Poole) — Warrantless Arrests — would authorize law enforcement to arrest a person without a warrant in certain conditions for trespassing on school property. Pending in Senate Committee.

H.125 (Collins) — Longitudinal Data — would allow the state to aggregate data from multiple sources for pre-K, K-12, postsecondary and higher education and the workforce; would require a statewide definition for remediation. Pending final passage in Senate.

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 nationwide cooperative purchasing program. Pending in Senate committee.

H.299 (Henry) — Zero Tolerance Policies — would prohibit zero tolerance policies by local school boards. Amendment by House committee; Pending House approval.

S.11 (Allen) — Youth Suicide Prevention — would create the “Jason Flatt Act” to require annual training in suicide prevention. Pending final passage in House.

S.246 (Pittman) — Remove 2-year colleges from SFA — community and technical colleges’ faculty and staff hired after January 2017 would not be under the Students First Act of 2011. Pending in House committee.

 

 

ETF Budget

The Senate ETF budget committee delayed consideration of the education budget for one week. Expect the committee to vote on the ETF budget Tuesday, April 12.

 

House Says NO To Vouchers

The bill to provide special ed vouchers failed to garner enough votes to be considered Tuesday. By a 33 to 54 vote, H.84 (Johnson, K.) lost on a procedural vote. Thanks to all who contacted their House members to vote NO to the bill!

 

Applaud Changes To PREP

The PREP sub addressed school leader concerns regarding details of the teacher evaluation process and removed the reduction-in-force (RIF) language. Kudos to school leaders whose calls made these changes happen.

 

Virtual Stop

The House Ed Policy Committee learned Wednesday that the 2015 law is being implemented and no changes are required.

 

2016 Legislative Session

10 Days Remain

 

Lissa Tucker, AASB Director of Governmental Relations

www.AlabamaSchoolBoards.org