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First, an important reminder: this weekend (Feb. 20)
most legislators will be in their home districts holding
town hall meetings with constituents. This is an
excellent opportunity for you continue to build
relationships with your legislators and express your
opinion on education issues — especially with
legislative budget proposals set to be released soon.
Check the
list of town hall meetings and plan to spend an hour
or two at one or more of these important events. (Thank
you to our colleagues with the League of Education
Voters for providing this list)
This morning, the House Education Committee held a
public hearing on four bills: SB 6629, SB 6702, SB 6533
and SB 6778.
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SB 6629 would convene a working group to make
recommendations defining a basic education program
for highly capable students.
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SB 6702 would provide for a program of education
for juveniles confined in adult jail facilities.
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SB 6533 would allow high school credits to be
provided for physical education, visual and
performing arts, and elective requirements for
educational experiences selected by parents and
students.
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SB 6778 would allow an alternative route to a
high school diploma. If a student completed the
minimum course requirements for admission to a
public four-year higher education institution,
attained at least a 3.0 cumulative grade point
average in those courses and completed a culminating
project and a high school and beyond plan, they
would be awarded a high school diploma. These
students wouldn’t be required to earn a Certificate
of Academic Achievement or a Certificate of
Individual Achievement. The bulk of today’s hearing
was spent on this bill. The Latino/a Education
Achievement Project (LEAP) had almost 500 students
in town and many of them were on hand to testify in
favor of this bill.
In budget news, we continue to await a legislative
budget proposal. Word is that a Senate proposal could be
released on Tuesday or Wednesday of next week; however,
that has not yet been confirmed. And as we reported
yesterday, the House Ways & Means Committee has
scheduled a public hearing for the House’s
yet-to-be-released proposal on Tuesday, followed quickly
by a scheduled executive session the next day. It still
remains unclear if the House simply scheduled its
committee meetings in anticipation of the Senate’s
action — or if House budget-writers intend on jumping in
front of their Senate counterparts. With only 20 days
remaining in this session, time is running short for
action. We hope to have more firm information to provide
on Monday.
Finally, earlier this week we reported on a education
funding plan introduced by Sen. Joe Zarelli. SB 6858 is
intended to provide for more ample, equitable and
dependable state funding for public schools. We also
reported that because the bill was introduced so late it
would likely not be heard this session — sometimes the
legislative instincts prove to be wrong. The Senate
Early Learning & K-12 Education Committee has scheduled
SB 6858 for a public hearing on Monday, Feb. 22.
Whether the bill will move is still to be determined;
however, we are pleased that we’ll have another
opportunity to remind legislators that a comprehensive
funding plan for K-12 education needs to be developed
and implemented. SB 6858 may not be that plan, but it
does further drive the discussion.
According to Zarelli’s Budget Tidbits (Budget
Brief #6), SB 6858, if adopted, would:
- Restructure K-12 financing. A portion of the
current school district local levy would be
converted into the state property tax. The plan
would reduce all school districts’ local levy
authority by 12 percent and increase the state
property tax levy by an equivalent amount. The state
property tax levy — constitutionally dedicated to
the support of common schools — would be increased
by 88 cents in 2011, generating an estimated $828
million a year.
- Fully fund school districts’ pupil
transportation and operating costs. The increased
state revenues would be used to fully fund the
Quality
Education Council’s recommendations on enhanced
state funding.
- Hold all school districts “harmless.” The bill
includes a “hold harmless” provision, requiring the
state to appropriate sufficient funds to ensure no
district receives total revenues that are less in
the 2011-12 school year than the total revenue
received in the prior year.
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