House Bill 307 w/HA 1 (Teacher Reimbursement) was signed into law

House Bill 307 w/HA 1 was signed into law on June 9, 2016. This bill provides a reimbursement upon the applicant becoming a teacher in a Delaware public school. Below is a little background information about the original House Bill 146 which was signed into law last July 2015.

In 2015, I sponsored  House Bill 146, which enacted the one-time fee of no more than $100 for an educator’s first license in Delaware, House Bill 146.   Delaware was one of only a few states that did not charge a fee for educator licensure or for certifications.  Delaware processed approximately 10,000 applications for licensure and certification each year, in addition to other processing requests for current educators, such as plus credits.  Because of reciprocity agreements and the lack of license fees in our state, the Department of Education processes approximately one to two thousand applications per year from applicants outside of the State of Delaware who do not become employed here.  Establishing a $100 fee for new licenses will help deter applicants who apply because of the lack of cost and with the intent to seek reciprocity elsewhere.  This will reduce the processing burden and allow the licensure office to better serve the needs of Delaware’s educators.

 

Email from DOJ regarding DOE Charter School Accountability Committee

The one thing I learned from all of this, the laws surrounding DOE’s Charter School Accountability Committee are very loose and the lobbying laws need to be changed. The Department of Education does not seem to think the public needs to be updated on changes to this committee’s membership or do they seem to have regulations in place to appoint people to this committee.  This committee should have additional members who are not employed by the Department of Education, work for the State Board of Education and who do not serve on a charter school or who lobby for charter schools — we need a balance.

Reardon, Allison E (DOJ)

Thu 4/14/2016 10:11 AM

To:

Williams, Kimberly (LegHall);

Dear Representative Williams:

 

Please allow this to respond to your additional concerns following receipt of our letter dated March 30, 2016. First, you provided an e-mail from David Blowman to you dated July 15, 2015 in which you were advised that  Chuck Taylor stepped down from the Charter School Accountability Committee “for the current major modification application under review.”  We followed up with the attorney for the CSAC and she confirmed that Mr. Taylor did in fact step down from the CSAC in July, 2015. However, he was invited to rejoin the committee and agreed to do so in January 2016 after Providence Creek Academy had completed its renewal process. Along these same lines, you also advised that Paul Harrell participated in the CSAC, made the motion to recommend closure of the Delaware Met School, and voted  at the CSAC convened in December 2015 when he was not a member of the  CSAC. Again, the attorney for the CSAC confirmed through DOE that Mr. Harrell was on the committee at the time he participated.  Membership on the CSAC is apparently somewhat fluid and the website apparently does not keep pace with changes in membership, but those are not issues for the Office of Civil Rights and Public Trust to address.

 

Also, you submitted that the calculation of time one spends lobbying should be based on the amount of time an individual spends lobbying while the Legislature is in session. However, our analysis is based on the specific language in the applicable statute which requires us to look at the amount of time spent lobbying “ in relation to the usual duties of [the person’s] employment.” 29 Del. C. § 5831 (b)(3).  Hence, our calculation arrived at the percentage of the person’s total work days in a year, not a percentage of days the legislature meets.

 

We hope this additional information is of assistance to you.

 

Regards,

Allison

When the Charter School Accountability Committee Approved the Five Charter School Modifications Did They Violate the Law?

Williams, Kimberly (LegHall)

Tue 3/22/2016 9:12 AM

Show all 12 recipients

To:

Reardon, Allison E (DOJ);

Patterson, Gregory B. (DOJ);

Denn, Matthew (DOJ);

Siegel, Kim (DOJ);

Good Morning Allison, do you have an update with respect to our letter dated February 4, 2016 and when can we expect an answer from the DOJ? The Charter School Accountability Committee just recently approved major modifications to Delaware Public Safety and Security, Delaware Design Lab High School, First State Montessori, and Prestige Academy charter schools and a minor modification for Odyssey Charter School. Chuck Taylor, who is not a member of the Charter School Accountability Committee (Department of Education Committee), recently voted as a member of the Charter School Accountability Committee on whether or not these five charter school modifications were approved or not. Chuck Taylor is the president of the Delaware Charter Schools Network in which the News Journal reported as one of the top five lobbyists in Delaware. He is also Head of School for Providence Creek Academy Charter School. Delaware Charter Schools Network is a member of the Charter School Accountability Committee and that seat is held by Kendall Massett; she is a non-voting member without a proxy.

Members of Charter School Accountability Committee

http://www.doe.k12.de.us/Page/2218

Modifications

http://dedoe.schoolwires.net/Page/2563

On February 25, 2016, Chuck Taylor was a voting member of the Charter School Accountability Committee in which they approved all five of the charter school modifications even though Ms. Massett is a non-voting member without a proxy. Mr. Taylor’s votes violated Delaware code/regulations.  

It is going on two months since we sent our letter to you. We have code/regulations in place that people are abusing. The state is allowing a lobbyist group, whose mission is to expand charter schools, the power to approve charter school applications and their modifications by allowing them to sit on a DOE committee. I find it frustrating that the state continues to allow this to go on.

I look forward to your response.

 

Representative Kim Williams

19th District

302-577-8476 Wilmington Office

302-744-4351 Dover Office

Kimberly.Williams@state.de.us

Facebook.com/KimWilliamsforStateRepresentative

Twitter: @kimwilliamsde

House Bill 61 (Recording of School Board Meetings) Will Be Heard in the House Today!

A few folks will be happy to find out that House Bill 61 is on the agenda today. Here is a link to House Bill 61. House Bill 61

This bill requires that all public meetings of the boards of education of public school districts, vo-tech school districts, and public meetings of charter schools’ boards of directors be digitally recorded and made available to the public on the districts’ and charter schools’ websites within seven business days. The recordings will not be considered the official board minutes.

Currently the Red Clay Consolidated School District, Christina School District, and the Capital School District on a voluntary basis approved by their boards of education have been providing the public digital recordings of their board public session meetings via the district’s websites.The Delaware State Board of Education is required by the State Board of Education to make available within one business day digital recordings of its board meetings on the Delaware Department of Education’s website.

 

Members of the General Assembly asked AG Denn if the Executive Director of the Delaware Charter Schools Network should be Registered as a Lobbyist?

Last July, the News Journal reported that Delaware Charter Schools Network was one of the top five lobbyists in Delaware. Yet, when the Public Integrity Commission was contacted and when the January 2016 lobbyist report was reviewed, Delaware Charter Schools Network, Executive Director Kendall Massett and Board President Chuck Taylor were not registered lobbyists. They both are members of the Department of Education Charter School Accountability Committee which makes recommendations as to whether a charter school will open, expand, close, go on formal review or be modified. They both are seen regularly in Dover speaking with Senators, Representatives, members of the Department of Education, and the State Board of Education. They are soliciting support for certain educational bills and then lobbying hard against other educational bills. They wrote Senate Bill 171 (Sen. Sokola’s replacement bill for my Audit Bill) and they were in Dover on June 30th to campaign against House Bill 186 – Charter Audit Bill.

Yesterday, I was reviewing the current lobbyist report and Kendall Massett is now listed on the report. I am hoping DOJ will respond to our letter soon.

View this document on Scribd

 

FOIA complaint filed against the State Board of Education

My email to AG Denn regarding the State Board of Education, January 21, 2016 meeting.

AG Denn, I am writing to you today to file a complaint with regards to the State Board of Education most recent board meeting held on Thursday, January  21, 2016 in the Townsend Building, Dover. If you listen to the State Board meeting audio from Thursday, you can hear that Dr. Gray instructed someone to have a side bar conversation during the State Board meeting, this was a public meeting she should not have instructed someone to go off the record, I have provided the audio below. Later on during the meeting after the WEIC Commission left, I witnessed along with Mike Matthews, RCEA president, Dr. Gray coming over to the attorney’s table and asked the attorney questions about WEIC and what had taken place with the vote and the amendment, again she should not be asking questions off the record. The State Board violated open meeting laws.

Also, the vote they took, in my opinion violated Senate Bill 122. The board was suppose to vote yes or no –if it was no, they were to write to the commission their reasons why. They voted yes with an amendment  I have provide Senate Bill 122 below.

Please let me know if your office will be looking into my complaint.

http://www.doe.k12.de.us/site/default.aspx?PageType=3&ModuleInstanceID=6317&ViewID=E324842B-E4A3-44C3-991A-1E716D4A99E3&RenderLoc=0&FlexDataID=16089&PageID=1770

http://legis.delaware.gov/LIS/lis148.nsf/vwLegislation/SB+122/$file/legis.html?open

Representative Kim Williams

19th District

302-577-8476 Wilmington Office

302-744-4351 Dover Office

Kimberly.Williams@state.de.us

Facebook.com/KimWilliamsforStateRepresentative

Twitter: @kimwilliamsde

State Board Audio of WEIC Discussion

The State Board of Education did not follow the law with regards to WEIC as stated in Senate Bill 122. The State Board was suppose to vote no or yes –if they voted no they needed to send a response back to the commission as to why they voted no. The State Board President, Dr. Gray, instructed someone (possibly Donna Johnson) to have a side bar off the record, which in my opinion, should not have happened, again I think they broke the law with regards to open meeting laws. The president of the State Board would not allow for Dr. Allen or Dr. Rich to give a public comment even though it was promised. The attorney for the State Board stated that the law allowed for public comment if the President agreed to it.

After the WEIC Commission left and the meeting was still taking place, the State Board President Dr. Gray, came over to the attorney’s table and had another side bar conversation, off the record, asking the attorney about WEIC.  These are public meetings and there should be no conversations off the record.

Audio of State Board Meeting

 

House Out-of-Session Pre-File for January 7, 2016

Below is the House Out-of-Session Pre-File for January 7, 2016.

View this document on Scribd

My Comments to the State Board of Education

Below are my comments that I made to the State Board of Education. They send their Executive Director to almost every committee, group etc. outside the State Board meeting room, so they are hearing one sided views.

View this document on Scribd

DE State Board of Education, if you are going to agree to participate in these educational committees, send your actual board members

 

If the Delaware State Board of Education cannot send their own board members to sit on education committees, then stop asking and accepting committee assignments.

You are doing our state a disservice by not participating in these meetings. You are being informed by one person and not hearing the views of the entire committee/group. I do not care how many times you view a presentation, it is not the same as hearing the dialogue that takes place between the actual members and the public. This practice needs to change, if it does not, then we need to make sure you have no seat at the table. You are making decisions that are hurting our schools and our students and it needs to stop.