a strong voice for kids 2nd Congressional District
a strong voice for kids 2nd Congressional District
Found that the decision of the Jefferson County School District in denying the application of the Mountain Peaks Montessori Charter School was contrary to the best interests of the pupils, district, or community, and remanded with the conditions that the district and the charter school explore the possibility of incorporating a Montessori program into a nearby school, and that special education costs be adequately covered in the budget. (Vote was 7:1; Hudak dissented.)
Found that the decision of the Jefferson County School District in denying the application of the Teddy Roosevelt Academy Charter School was contrary to the best interests of the pupils, district, or community. (Vote was 5:3; Hudak, Middleton, and Munn dissented.)
Pam Suckla was elected Chair unanimously, and Jared Polis was elected Vice Chair unanimously. [With the power-sharing agreement in the Board’s Operating Procedures, they will switch roles in one year.]
In regard to the challenge by New Vision Charter School to the exclusive chartering authority of the Thompson School District, there was a motion to dismiss submitted by the district, claiming that there are no facts alleged that meet the standard of a moratorium, which is the grounds of the challenge. The district stated that besides having no moratorium, they don’t have any of the other conditions that would be grounds for the SBE to deny their exclusive authority. The challenger, New Vision Charter School, said that it was an unwritten moratorium and the district wouldn’t be a good charter school authorizer. The charter was denied by the district, and it has appealed that denial to the SBE. Orr moved to dismiss, and Middleton seconded. Orr said that it would "muddy the waters" at this time, with the charter school appeal in process at this time. Middleton said that we will be able to review the case during the regular appeal hearing. Motion passed 5:1 (Littleton dissented; DeHoff recused himself because he has applied to be the Executive Director of the Charter School Institute, and Munn was absent).
In regard to the challenge by Leadership Preparatory Academy Charter School to the exclusive chartering authority of the Widefield School District, it was decided unanimously to uphold the district’s exclusive chartering authority. In the hearing, the challenger, Leadership Preparatory Academy, said that despite the SBE’s decision to uphold the district’s decision to revoke their charter, the district does not deserve exclusive chartering authority because it has an enrollment limit for charter schools. They also contended that the district failed to comply with the Charter School Act because it did not use dispute resolution in the dispute with the charter school. They asserted that the district "manipulated CDE staff" to present information that was harmful to the charter school. The district said that the charter school that was formerly LPA (before the district revoked its charter and took it over for the remainder of the school year) has a new contract submitted to the district by a new group and said that the SBE determined that the district met all the criteria for exclusive authority when we made our original decision. On the issue of dispute resolution, the district said that the only issue that was eligible for dispute resolution was the treatment of students who withdraw from LPA during the year and the pro rata share of student funding, and there was already a discussion between the district’s lawyer and the charter school’s lawyer on that issue. The district said that the only other issue was whether the charter school violated its contract, and the SBE’s decision to uphold the revocation of the charter demonstrated that the SBE supported the district’s assertion in that regard. Furthermore, after the revocation, LPA was asked to provide the textbooks and other instructional materials from the school for the students to use for the remainder of the school year, and the school refused; the building was locked and the district had to resort to legal action to reclaim the materials. The district spent over $100,000 during the last year to ensure that the students from LPA suffered no disruption of their education. (The vote was 5:0; DeHoff recused himself because he has applied to be the Executive Director of the Charter School Institute, Polis recused himself because he has been personally named in a lawsuit by LPA against the SBE, and Munn was absent).
DEHOFF: Noted that he has finally "moved to the far left of the Board" [because of the location of his seat, now that he is no longer Vice Chair and seats were switched among Suckla, Polis, and DeHoff so the new Chair and Vice Chair are seated in the middle]. This year has been designated the World Year of Physics, celebrating the publishing of Einstein’s 3 great theories (one of which was the theory of relativity) 100 years ago. Said he had "repressed memories of the JBC meeting," but wanted to point out that we gave an incredibly strong message from our Board about things that are important to us, like CSAP and early childhood, and that they heard the same message from SBE members who are the most far apart philosophically (himself and I).
HUDAK: I reviewed what I thought were the highlights of the SBE’s meeting with the Joint Budget Committee in December. It was somewhat frustrating, since they again brought up the idea of not paying for students who repeat grades, and again we had to explain that the reasons it happens are not attributable to schools doing a poor job. The discussion led to their deciding to consider providing some funding for summer school (for poor students), which could prevent some grade repetition. They had some questions about reallocating some of the money for special education. I told them that the issue isn’t the category of special education that is funded, but the fact that there isn’t adequate funding for special education. I reminded the JBC that the state is supposed to pay 40% of special education costs, but it pays only about 5%. Combined with the federal government’s 18%, which is also supposed to be 40%, we have a crisis in funding for special ed. I passed out to fellow SBE members the newly published report from the School Readiness Indicators Task Force, School Readiness Indicators: Making Progress for Young Children. (The Task Force, which I am a member of, had made a presentation to the SBE a few months ago and asked us to give them a letter of support, which we did not do because some of our members did not agree with the whole report. See my Meeting Report on the Work Session from 9-8-04 for details.) Colorado was one of 17 states involved in this project. I explained that the purpose of the report was to identify the conditions of children, families, schools, and communities that contribute to school readiness; to inform state and local planning and policy making; to measure progress in improving child outcomes; and to monitor the impact of investments and policy choices. The report says: "Failure to start school ready to learn has negative consequences for the child and society. Students who start out behind are more likely to stay behind, and eventually drop out of school; get into trouble with the law; and have emotional difficulties. . . . We now know that school readiness includes much more than just developing fundamental cognitive and language skills."
LITTLETON: Has been meeting with school districts about the implementation of CBLA. Met with the Steering Committee of the Reading Summit; has the evaluations, which were very positive. The message many people got was that every child can learn to read. The most likely date for the next one is Nov. 8. The week after that is the International Dyslexia Association’s conference. On a personal note, her first child graduated from college last Monday. Enjoyed the swearing in ceremony last night; was so pleased to have the opportunity to continue to serve.
MIDDLETON: Met with the Aurora school board; it was good to find out what they’re doing.
MUNN: Congratulated the new leadership and thanked DeHoff for his past years of service. Last week has been difficult for DPS with the stabbing death of a student from Montbello High School. It was a great loss, but he is confident that DPS is looking at those concerns. It is tough to discern what this Board’s role is in those events. Has shown up on behalf of this Board at several events, including the funeral. DPS is thankful for the message of our concern and support. Was a guest of the Daniels Fund for their Career Day, speaking about what it is like to be a lawyer. It was wonderful to sit with those students.
ORR: Congratulated Littleton and DeHoff on their swearing in. Said it has been a pleasure to serve on this Board. Two years ago there was a fear that we would self-destruct when we became 4:4. We have done an exemplary job of demonstrating how people from two philosophically different parties can do good things for children. As his "sun is setting" with only 2 more years on the Board, he noted that he still has more hair than DeHoff and Munn. Congratulated Suckla and Polis in their elections to leadership.
POLIS: Congratulated Suckla; looks forward to working with her during the next two years as part of the SBE leadership team. Also congratulated Littleton on her election to a first full term and DeHoff on his second term. Had a nice trip to New Zealand over the winter break. Met with some people in that country’s education community. They are going through a phase using the "whole language" method in their schools; they have a national curriculum. Visiting them gave him more appreciation for our system, which allows us to find out when something is not working. Has also visited schools in Colorado. Is working on our legislative agenda with legislators; many of the items have sponsors, such as School Trust Lands and finance issues. Looks forward to serving as Vice Chair for the next year.SUCKLA: Congratulated DeHoff and Littleton on their swearing in and Polis on his new election to Vice Chair. Given that she is Chair now, we "should start handing out aspirin now, and nerve pills for the Commissioner." Has confidence in fellow members’ ability to help out when she can’t attend various events. It has been a great month. Spent time at her home in Arizona. Had some time to speak with Gully Stanford about the GEAR-UP program on the West Slope. She and Polis were invited to sit in with Rep. Larson and Sen. Isgar on January 29 on a forum in the Durango area about increasing the age of compulsory attendance to 17.
COMMISSIONER MOLONEY: Is reminded of the phrase in politics that "what a difference a day makes" [referring to our Board’s new leadership]. This Board has set a model in the past 2 years for bipartisan leadership, and it should be equally relevant in the next two years. Suckla has an extraordinary background in education, serving on her local school board and rising to become president of CASB. Said Suckla is someone who can say that she visited every one of the 178 school districts, which she did in the mid-1990s as CASB president. Recognized CASB’s current president Mike Freeman, who was sitting in the audience. Our attention has been drawn to high schools because of the recent tragedy. Remembers how this Board rose to the occasion during the Columbine tragedy. There is much the Colorado community can do.
Approved the establishment of the following on-grounds special education schools/facilities, which have met the criteria for eligible facilities as described in the Rules for the Administration of the Public School Finance Act of 1994, as well as the requirements set forth by the Special Education Services Unit:
Approved the recommended appointment to CoLAB as a representative of an academic library of Rick Brian Forsman, Director of Denison Memorial Library, University of Colorado Health Sciences Center.
Approved the expenditure of $45,000 from the Mary Jones Trust Fund for the Colorado Talking Book Library. [The Mary Jones Trust Fund was created in 1981 with a donation of $91,000; since that time, the fund has increased to $1,147,072. The intended use of the Trust is to support projects that have an impact on a large number of library patrons. The expenditure requested is to be used for operational expenses. The expenditure is monitored by CDE Chief of Staff.]
Approved the following teacher education programs to add the Special Education Generalist licensure/endorsement program:
[The two universities have approved teacher education programs and want to add the Special Education Generalist program.]
Approved emergency Type III educator authorizations for 39 initially and 7 renewals.
[Local districts may request Type III Emergency Authorization to employ non-licensed teachers, principals, administrators, or special services providers if they agree to provide an induction program. The SBE’s approval is based on consideration of whether the district has demonstrated a shortage of licensed personnel and the employment of non-licensed personnel is essential to preserving the instructional program and to the well-being of the children enrolled.]
(These remain confidential until action is taken by the Board.)
Scheduled a hearing for the April 14, 2005, meeting to consider amendments to the rules for the Administration of the Educator Licensing Act. [HB04-1104 required the SBE to adopt rules for alternative principal authorization.]
Approved payments in the total amount of $229,587,720.84 under the Public School Finance Act for December 2004 for state share of total program. [Local districts are entitled to receive monthly payments from the state by the 25th of each month, under provisions of the Public School Finance Act of 1994, as amended. The amount approved in December were estimates due to a problem with the computer program that calculates district payments.]
Approved payments of $228,475,999.64 under the Public School Finance Act for January 2005 for state share of total program. [Local districts are entitled to receive monthly payments from the state by the 25th of each month, under provisions of the Public School Finance Act of 1994, as amended. These payments incorporate in-year duplicate pupil count audits, final assessed valuations, categorical program funding, actual specific ownership tax revenues, and TABPR limitations, if any, to which districts may be subject this fiscal year.]
Unanimously approved the amended rules for the Administration of the Exceptional Children’s Educational Act (ECEA). [The proposed amendments are required for the following reasons: (1) HB 04-1297 and HB 04-1141 amended the special education tuition responsibility provisions of ECEA for public schools of choice, online programs, and charter schools; they establish notice requirements, tuition contract elements, and dispute resolution procedures for tuition cost disputes. They also necessitate amendments to be consistent with the tuition cost responsibilities. (2) They clarify special education administrative unit responsibilities for special education services. (3) They provide additional or clarifying language required by the U.S. Office of Special Education Programs, in order for the state to continue receiving federal special education funding under IDEA. The amended rules include the changes requested by the SBE at the December meeting, concerning application of the 60% rule to charter and online schools.]
Considered adoption of amendments to the rules for the Administration of the Waiver of Statute and Rule. [The SBE is required by HB 04-1141 to adopt rules for the automatic waiver of certain statutes on behalf of charter schools. At the same time, the rules must be amended to comply with the statutes regarding the new Charter School Institute, which will serve as a state authorizer of Institute charter schools pursuant to HB 04-1362.]
I moved to strike from the proposed list of automatic waivers those that have been requested by fewer than 70% of charter schools. Polis seconded my motion, which he said was very reasonable. DeHoff said that the waivers about the selection, pay, and termination of personnel are essential to the operation of charter schools. (I pointed out that they must not be, since not all charter schools have asked to waive them.) Littleton cited the statute requiring us to adopt automatic waivers and pointed out that they refer to the Charter School Institute, which says that they allow all of these waivers [she seemed to confuse our authority to grant automatic waivers as a requirement that we make all waivers automatic; otherwise, I didn’t understand what she said]. I pointed out that not all of the more common waivers on are the proposed list, and it seems unreasonable to include some that are much less common. I questioned why some of these particular waivers got on this proposed list [staff recommended the ones on the proposed list]. Suckla said that we always have the opportunity to deny waivers. DeHoff said that for these waivers, the local board still has to approve them. Vote was 4:4; thus the motion died on a tie vote (the 4 Democrats voted in support of the motion and the 4 Republicans dissented). As a result, I moved to remove only those waivers that are requested by fewer than 50% of charter schools. The motion passed 7:2 (Orr and Suckla dissented). The rules then passed 7:1 as amended (Polis dissented).Conducted a hearing on the proposed minor rule changes for the Administration of the School District Capital Construction Assistance Program. [On August 18, 2004, the SBE approved rules for the Administration of the School District Capital Construction Assistance Program. Upon review of those rules, Legislative Legal Services requested revisions as follows: (1) Remove references to back-up projects. (2) Add a section to match all statutory language regarding requirements for applications.]
VODY HERRMANN (CDE School Finance Unit): Legislative Legal Services said that including back-up projects is not authorized by the law.
I asked if there is a way that we could fight this, because having back-up projects enables projects to be approved more quickly if one on the main list cannot go forward (if, for example, a bond issue for matching funds fails). Gerwitz said that staff does not have a problem with the changes, but we still have time to have discussions with the Legislature about this. Closed the oral portion of the hearing and scheduled for Board discussion next month.
The Board will be asked to approve Colorado Christian University’s proposal to add the Special Education Generalist endorsement through their approved Alternative Licensing Program.
Nobody signed up.
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