Teachers and Staff You May Want Read Up On This Proposed Title 1 Regulation before the US DOE Comment Window Closes on November 7th

The federal government is proposing a change to a Title 1 regulation – Supplement-not-Supplant under Title 1 of the Every Student Succeeds Act. Click on the link to read more about the proposed regulation.  Below is one part of the regulation that is concerning people:

• A formula that allocates resources including staff positions and non-personnel resources directly to schools, and that ensures each Title I school gets all of the funding it is entitled to, as measured by the sum of (1) the number of personnel in the school multiplied by the district’s average salaries for each staff category, and (2) the number of students in the school multiplied by the district’s average per-pupil expenditures for non-personnel resources.

In other words, districts could be forced to move staff from one building to another because of salary levels in buildings.

If you are interested in sending a comment to US DOE, click here.  The comment period closes on November 7, 2016 at 11:59 pm.

CCSSO Executive Director Chris Minnich said, “It’s clear that the Department has listened and tried to incorporate feedback in this proposed rule. However, we are disappointed with the language we have seen in the proposed regulation. Schools would be forced to move resources around at the last minute each year to try to meet a federal mandate, rather than doing what is in the best interest of students. The Every Student Succeeds Act gives states more flexibility so we can create opportunities for all kids, and this proposed rule is not consistent with the law. Unfortunately, in the Department’s effort to ensure resources go to the students who need it the most, they have created a situation where the reverse is likely to occur in many places. We look forward to helping get this right before the rule becomes final.”

 

Did you know the State Board of Education evaluates its own process and performance?

I was on the State Board of Education website today and found the State Board of Education Procedures Manual. On page 8 of this manual, it goes over how the State Board will be evaluated. They have no evaluation process, they apparently monitor themselves.

Evaluation The Board will monitor its own process and performance to ensure continuity of Board improvements, integrity of Board actions and progress toward Board goals. The Board will be accountable to the public for competent, conscientious, and effective accomplishment of its obligations as a Board. The Board may seek the input from others regarding the effectiveness or impact of Board initiatives as part of the evaluation process, and may utilize the services of an independent consultant in doing so.

Check out E.R. Educators to the Rescue

Please take a minute and “LIKE” E.R. Educators to the Rescue on Facebook. This page was developed by two Delaware public school teachers. Below is information about their page.

This page is for public education teachers and those who support public education in Delaware. We sincerely want to improve the learning experiences of our students/children.

This page is meant to provide information all public school teachers and parents must know about testing; the who, what, when, where, why and hows of its creation, its longevity and the intensity that never lets up.

Our classrooms have transformed from actively engaging, creativity-based, vibrant learning environments that promote learning and foster a love of learning to a monotone atmosphere of digitalized learning, scripted lesson plans, assessment-laden daily activities. A severe disconnect from the joys of learning and discovery has occurred. The lights have gone out in our classrooms. Young children especially need interaction with a human teacher and one another, not a computer or tablet for a large portion of their day. They need to hear and see and feel and do and experience and observe. High-stakes testing has robbed us of our profession and taken the joy from teaching and from learning.

This intent of this page is to be nonpartisan and will support any and all political figures that provide assistance in helping to rescue our students from the over-use and developmentally inappropriateness of high stakes testing.

Simply put, you can hold schools, their teachers and administrators accountable for their job duties and end high-stakes standardized testing.

Join our group, get informed and start taking action. We ask all members to maintain conversations and comments to a professional level. If you fail to do so, you will be dismissed from the group and all offensive material will be deleted.

“Do the best you can until you know better. When you know better, do better.” Maya Angelou

Your School Property Taxes Help Fund Charter Schools, See the Reports Showing How the Taxes Have Been Misspent and Stolen -Auditor of Accounts Investigative Reports

Charter schools are funded through our property taxes and the state. The Auditor of Accounts reports that are shown below, shows how our tax dollars were mismanaged or stolen for personal purchases. Go to the 2nd page in each document and you can read what the Auditor of Accounts found with each investigation. Please sign a letter to all Delaware Senators asking them to support House Bill 186, Charter Audit bill instead of Sen. Sokola’s bill which does nothing to protect your tax dollars. There are charter schools that do a great job managing our tax dollars, my bill will just have all charter schools audits done through the Auditor of Accounts Office like all our public schools districts do.

View this document on Scribd

View this document on Scribd

View this document on Scribd

View this document on Scribd

 

 

What’s going on in Dover this week!

Today, David Bentz was sworn in as the State Representative representing the 18th District, he replaces Rep. Mike Barbieri. Former Rep. Barbieri stepped down from his seat during the summer to become the new director of the Division of Substance Abuse and Mental Health.

Tomorrow, House Bill 186, charter audit bill, will be heard in the Senate Education Committee, I am hopeful it will be released from the committee. We have seen the abuse that has taken place with some of our charter schools using taxpayer funds inappropriately. Currently, charter schools hire their own auditors, they are not required by law to go through the State Auditor’s Office.  All Delaware school districts including votechs go through the State Auditor’s Office for their audits.

Thursday, Rep. Kowalko will attempt to override Governor Markell veto on House Bill 50, Opt Out bill.

Education Funding Improvement Commission, Are the Recommendations in Place Already?

Senate Joint Resolution Number 4 created the Education Funding Improvement Commission to review and make recommendations to modernize and improve Delaware’s System for Funding Public Education. The chair of this commission is former State Representative Scott from Dover. My impression from working with him on the House Education Committee, he is a big supporter of a weighted funding formula.  I do not support removing the unit count; I support enhancing it by adding a weighted funding formula, like the state does for Special Education.

Note: The state does not fund Basic Special Education kindergarten through 3rd grades. I filed House Bill 30 last year, it is currently in House Appropriations Committee, this would add Basic Special Education funding for kindergarten through 3rd grades.

After attending the meeting this week, I got the impression that the recommendations may already be developed, I could be wrong. I think we are heading down a dangerous road if the unit count is removed completely. Just because something has been in place for many years does not always mean it is a bad thing. Lets see if this commission and WEIC Funding Student Success Committee agree on each others recommendations.

Click here to read Senate Joint Resolution #4. You can read more about the commission by clicking here.

The commission is suppose to make recommendations regarding the following:

(1) Transitioning to a student-focused funding system and weighting funding based on demographic characteristics of students.

(2) Introducing more flexibility for the state, districts, and schools to raise and spend resources more effectively for their students.

(3) Improving the way revenues are collected and allocated for education throughout the State.

The Commission may also consider the following topics:

(1) The amount of funding necessary to prepare a student to be successful.

(2) More effective uses of current funding sources.

(3) Those groups of students that would benefit the most from receiving additional funding, such as low-income students, high-need students, rural students, and English language learners, and the amount of resources or nature of support that those groups would need to be successful.

(4) Adequacy of resources available for students with special needs.

(5) Whether additional resources are needed to better serve students who are homeless, have behavior challenges, or are adjudicated delinquent.

(6) Whether, and how, different types of funding should be allocated, including operational funds, capital funds, and grants.

(6) Ways to provide more flexibility for schools and districts to use funding to best serve student needs.

(7) Current and future system resource constraints and demographic trends.

Letter from State PTA to Delaware Legislators asking Them to Support House Bill 50 Veto Override

Good Morning Everyone,

Happy New Year. As you begin the new legislative session,  I would like to share the number one thing that is weighing on parent’s minds this year; the ability for a parent’s right to choose to opt out of the state assessment, SBAC.

Delaware PTA is very aware that the way the law reads now they can opt out however, they do so with a fear of repercussions and penalties for their children and their children’s schools.  They do so with no protection from threats. They do so with no guarantee of constructive instruction while other students test. Parents want to exercise choices when it comes to their children’s education. Our membership of over 8000  finds no value in SBAC. We appreciate the assessment inventory task force however, did you know there is no PTA representative on this task force. There is no representation solely of parents. How can this be permitted? So we, as parents, turn to you to make this right.

As an aside, Delaware PTA is not opposed to assessments. We understand they are necessary to measure the progress of our children. However, SBAC is not a valid growth measure, does not inform instruction, and the results are received by parents after their child begins a new school year and is promoted. These are just a few reasons we do not support the use of SBAC.

Parents want the choice of opting their children out of the the state assessment. This is something you all voted on and it was passed by a majority vote in The House last Spring. That was the  democratic process at work. The Senate then voted to pass the bill. The veto by Governor Markell was disrespectful to the democratic process. The people spoke, but the Governor did not listen. When HB#50 passed there were hundreds of your constituents all thrilled that you listened to their voices.Thank you for that. Now it is time to listen to them again. Please make this right by voting to override the Governor’s veto of HB#50

With all due respect to Governor Markell, he ignored the voice of the parents, and quite frankly of the General Assembly. It is wrong on so many levels. I am confident you will make this right. We are asking all of you to vote in favor for first, suspending the rules and second , in favor of an override of the veto of HB#50.

Delaware PTA will be presenting a petition signed by hundreds of parents from up and down Delaware this Thursday Jan 14, 2016. We would like to invite each of to join us at a rally on the steps of Legislative Hall at 1 pm that same day. We invite you to listen to the voices of parents and to speak if you so choose on this issue.

Thank you for your consideration and we look forward to making a difference together.

Best Regards,
Yvonne Johnson
National PTA Board of Directors
Immediate Past President Delaware PTA
VP for Advocacy Delaware PTA
Region VP for Red Clay ( acting)
State President’s Club Secretary/Treasurer
T- 302-753-7107
yjohnson@delawarepta.org

johnsonyvonneb@gmail.com

yjohnson@pta.org

Every Student Succeeds Act is an Improvement

The House of Representatives passed a compromise bill – the Every Student Succeeds Act – by a bipartisan vote of 359-64. The Senate will vote on this next week and they will most likely pass this bill. This has been a long time coming. No Child Left Behind left us with labeling our schools, over testing our students, setting goals of obtaining 100% proficiency by certain dates and evaluating our teachers using test scores. No Child Left Behind did the opposite of what was the original intent of the bill; NCLB left many students behind. While teachers were teaching to an unrealistic test, teachers could not focus on the individual child, they lost control of their classrooms and the feds and the state dictated what teachers needed to do in order to be successful in their classrooms instead of letting teachers do what they already knew, how to teach our students!

I am happy that this bill has passed the House and we will have more local control, my question is how will our state use their new control? We already know what is needed here in Delaware and what is lacking in our classrooms; additional resources to address poverty, more resources in special education, especially kindergarten through 3rd grades, and funding for our ELL students. We know how important it is for our children to be able to read proficiency by third grade. We know how important it is for our children to have excellent early learning opportunities. I am hopeful our state will provide these things.

I read the Delaware Online article this morning about “Rare consensus in Delaware over federal education reform,” click here to read. In the article the Governor’s Office provided a statement. In the statement it states the following:

“The Every Student Succeeds Act preserves some of the most important elements of our existing system, including annual testing requirements in 3rd-8th grade and in high school, which ensure that every student counts,” the statement said. “We would have liked to see stronger requirements for timely intervention in schools where students are struggling, but overall, the Every Student Succeeds Act is an important step forward that will give states more flexibility to meet their students’ needs.”

The last sentence where the Governor’s Office noted they would have liked to have seen stronger requirements for timely intervention in schools where students are struggling. Honesty, we do not need the Feds placing requirements on us. We, as a state, can provide timely intervention by providing the necessary resources that we need -ELL funding, Basic Special Education funding for our students kindergarten through 3rd grades where the students need to be developing their reading skills to become proficient readers and finally addressing our students of poverty. This is what needs to be done. I will be listening closely to the Governor’s State of the State and I am hopeful these very important funding items will be mentioned and funded in the Governor’s proposed budget.

I am hopeful Delaware will take this opportunity to do what is needed and has been needed for many years provide the necessary resources needed to make sure all our students are successful.

 

Folks You Should be Paying Attention to This – Information on Statewide Review of Educational Opportunities

Yesterday during the State Board meeting, they gave an update on the Statewide Review of Educational Opportunities (SREO) – formed through House Bill 56. I would pay close attention to this and DOE and the State Board’s recommendations which will be released next month at the December State Board meeting. I am not sure if the State Board and DOE are heading in the direction of the bill’s original intent, time will tell if they are or not.

House Bill 56 – Section 2.  There shall be a moratorium on all new charter schools opening until June 30, 2018 or until the State Board of Education develops a strategic plan for the number of charter, district, and vocational-technical schools in the State, whichever occurs first.  The aforementioned strategic plan shall be based on a systematic evaluation of educational needs using national models and best practices that align with the public education system, such as the National Association of Charter School Authorizers guidelines.

If you look at the two guiding questions DOE and the State Board are using, there appears to be some difference between what House Bill 56 was looking to accomplished and what DOE and the State Board are looking to do. Below is a one page document explaining what DOE and the State Board are looking to accomplish. The word that they use in their two guiding questions is “DEMAND”, I know practicable is used as well, I just don’t see best practices.

I know there is demand for more schools like Cab Calloway School of the Arts and Conrad Schools of Science. I know that they have high numbers of families applying to these choice schools and the waitlist numbers are huge. Same goes with Charter School of Wilmington and DMA, very popular schools with our Red Clay families and across district lines. I am interested in seeing DOE and the State Board’s formal recommendations.

View this document on Scribd

• Public Consulting Group (PCG) – was awarded the contract in August
• September started the project
  • Data is being collected from DOE, charters and districts
• October collecting of data and survey responses
• PCG will start the data analysis and working on draft map
• Next week the draft map will be available
• Final report will be given at State Board meeting in December

Trust is Not Given; Trust must be earned!

Yesterday, I attended an AFWG meeting that was called by Secretary Godowsky; the group had finished their work last month and had their recommendations ready to send to the State Board. The Secretary called back the Accountability Framework Working Group; he wanted to discuss with them some changes that he and State Board have decided to make to the AFWG recommendations. The State Board and the Secretary have decided that they are going to alter this group’s recommendations (AFWG) after the group had met 16 times over the last  1 1/2 years.  When the group had made their recommendations last month, all members of the group, except for Donna Johnson who was representing the State Board, all agreed with the proposed recommendations which would be submitted to the State Board for approval and then sent to US DOE. The only other person who had an issue with this group’s recommendation was the Governor.  It makes me wonder why Ms. Johnson serves on all of these committees and the actual State Board members do not. They are the ones who were appointed to the board. When I served on the Red Clay School Board, I was assigned to committees and when the committees met, I went to the committee meetings. It is important to attend these meetings so board members can get the views of the entire committee and not just one person’s views.

During Secretary Godowsky’s opening remarks, he spoke about how he wanted a workable agreement that included all stakeholders.  I was a little confused by his statement because he and the State Board were making changes to the AFWG recommendations and their changes have not been vetted through the DESS advisory committee which is the DOE’s stakeholder group. DESS approved the final recommendations of AFWG but they have not seen or approved these new proposed changes from the Secretary or the State Board.

DOE will be submitting the AFWG recommendations which will include the Secretary and the State Board’s changes to the US DOE. At the meeting, I requested that DE DOE make it clear to US DOE that the changes to the AFWG recommendations were not supported by the AFWG members. The changes were not vetted through DESS, the stakeholder group, and that members of the General Assembly spoke out against these changes.

I just cannot understand why the State Board and the Secretary want to punish schools who have no control over parents opting their children out of the state assessment.

I have to say I was so disappointed that our newly, appointed Secretary did this, he is a long-time educator. The State Board did not think that the recommendations that were put in place by the AFWG with regards to participation in our state assessment was not a strong enough penalty; they wanted something a little harsher.

I am hopeful that the Secretary listened to the group and public yesterday and will have a change of heart tomorrow and will do the right thing at tomorrow’s State Board meeting.