a strong voice for kids 2nd Congressional District
a strong voice for kids 2nd Congressional District
[I wasn’t able to record much detail on the first few reports because I got to the meeting at exactly 9 a.m. and was still setting up my computer by the time the first few Board members had made their reports.]
Orr - Finally paid off some debts that he’s had the entire time he’s been on the SBE. Attended an event on Social Science.
Littleton - Quit her job because she was never home and had little time for the SBE. The presentations on CBLA made by Jo O’Brien were phenomenal.
Munn - Spoke to Colorado Close-Up.
Polis - Went to a meeting of Science educators; they were excited that next year will be the Year of Science (because of the standards review that the SBE will be doing). Was pleasantly surprised at the excitement of the Science teachers about the standards review; they are planning events surrounding it, and they passed out our flyer on the math standards. Sounds like our process of standards review is really working.
Hudak - I presented at the CSAN Regional Accountability Conferences in the metro area on February 17 (in Littleton) and February 22 (in Northglenn); there was a very good attendance at those conferences. On Read Across America Day I read to 6th grade students at Stott Elementary in Arvada; after reading to them, we had an interesting conversation about CSAP. They think CSAP is a waste of time, but they realize the importance of CSAP in reflecting what they have learned. I have spent a lot of time recently meeting with legislators on legislation, and I will be testifying on those bills later this morning.
Suckla - Has had a busy month birthing calves. She grew up on Navajo reservation, so going to the SUN conference was very meaningful. At that conference they discussed CSAP; their focus was on language and the loss of languages among Native Americans. There were over 300 languages spoken in North America when the Indians were the main inhabitants. Many on reservations are speaking both English and their native language, but schools are teaching only English because of NCLB, and many Indians feel that schools are repressing their native culture and languages. Also, they feel that many districts’ attendance policies are too strict to respect Indian culture; for example, students can be expelled if absent over 10 days, but the clans in Indian culture require mourning for 5 days for any member of the clan.
Middleton - Met recently with Cindy Stevenson, superintendent of Jeffco Public Schools. Also read to students on Read Across America day.
HB 1216 remains in limbo while discussions go on regarding whether any other party besides the local school district will be required to play a role in deciding on the improvement strategies for continuously low-performing schools. The Governor is not comfortable with the entire decision being made by the district. He might want the SBE to be involved, but he has questions about what is the appropriate level of involvement for SBE, such as vetoing the plan after it was proposed or working along the way to devise one. Also, Rep. Marshall has been absent recently for personal reasons.
SB 50 - All that remains in the bill currently is the provision to allow districts to adopt resolutions that they don’t wish to take NCLB funding or to comply with NCLB to the extent possible. Districts already have the power to do this.
SB 71 - One of the provisions remaining in the bill is to allow districts to retain their exclusive chartering authority without asking the SBE every year to renew it. Also, it still allows BOCES to charter school. Most of the bill has been revised, so that rather than changing numerous laws relating to charter schools, it creates an advisory committee to consider most of the provisions originally in the bill and advise the Legislature about them.
[I was absent for about a half hour at this point in the meeting because I went over to the Capitol to testify to the Senate Education Committee on a bill of importance to the SBE, HB 1255, Special Education Excess Tuition Costs. I missed a review of some other bills.]
BUDGET: The Joint Budget Committee recommendation for school finance in the Long Bill is to increase for pupil growth at 1.08%, for at-risk pupils at 7.94% (16,046 students eligible for free lunch), and 0.1% for inflation. JBC staff recommended a 6% increase from the General Fund each year for the next 15 years, based on the Pacey Model developed to project the solvency of the State Education Fund, but the JBC is recommending 5.5%. The proposal for the School Finance Act fully funds the Giardino lawsuit settlement at $20 million. It reduces the amount of State Education Fund money for charter school capital construction by 50%, and it eliminates the matching funds for districts to the charter school capital construction funding. It adds back full-day kindergarten funding for Unsatisfactory schools (will be about $414,660 to Denver only).
DISTRICTS’ FISCAL HEALTH: A bill that passed last year requires additional accountability from school districts for budgeting and accounting. Another bill requires CDE to include an accreditation indicator about districts’ budgeting, accounting, and reporting requirements. Vody Herrmann of the School Finance Unit reported on her analysis of the fiscal reports that districts turned in. There are 8 districts that had less than 3% for their Fund Balance, and there are 126 districts that had more than 15% Fund Balance. (TABOR requires a 3% reserve). There are 120 districts that improved their fiscal condition.
CDE staff met with the Harrison School District and reached an agreement with them on specific plans to move them towards getting back to full Accreditation status. They have devised a process, the Instructional and Management Audit, to be done within the next month, which will be a "thoughtful diagnosis to help the district in their efforts to improve student achievement and close achievement gaps." An Audit Team has been created consisting of people from Harrison, CDE, and some nearby districts that have had success in closing achievement gaps (Pueblo 60 and Fountain/Fort Carson). The Accreditation Unit will be working collaboratively with the Title I Unit to work on maximizing resources, such as Title I funding. Gary Sibigtroth, Assistant Commissioner in charge of Accreditation, said that this is a unique model that hasn’t been done anywhere in the country.
[I was absent for about a half hour at this point in the meeting because I went over to the Capitol to testify to the Senate Education Committee on a bill of importance to the SBE, HB 1246, Assessments of Students with IEPs. I missed a presentation by Jo O’Brien on the new rules for the Colorado Basic Literacy Act that she has been giving around the state.]
We reviewed the draft of a letter we wish to send to the House and Senate Education Committees. The purpose of the letter is to clarify some possible misunderstandings or confusions resulting from a presentation to the Joint House and Senate Education Committees last week, which I was in the audience for and DeHoff listened to over the Internet. It was a presentation by Academy School District 20 from Colorado Springs primarily to explain why they decided not to have their students take the NAEP exam (National Assessment of Education Progress) and thus opt out of No Child Left Behind (since NAEP participation is a requirement of NCLB). The part of their presentation that was of greatest concern to the SBE was when the district asserted that "CDE has no plans to review the [state’s content] standards." They presented a report rating Colorado’s content standards as a C or D. Also, members of the Education Committees asked many questions regarding how CSAP relates with NAEP and ACT.
The letter explains that the SBE has already put in place a plan and process for reviewing the content standards and is currently reviewing the math standards. It provides information about other national reports on Colorado’s content standards that rate it an A or a B. It points out the following: "The 10-year-old Colorado model content standards are some of the most established standards in the nation. Few other states have had such stable and well-regarded standards. Unlike most states which have had to terminate their focus and content for revolving agendas, Colorado has had a stable body of expectations and an equally stable and aligned assessment roll-out to evaluate our standards." The letter gives information about NAEP, explaining that "the NAEP’s national standards and benchmarks for proficiency are in line with what Colorado educators and parents set for our students more than a decade ago." We found the letter satisfactory and will send it as soon as it is retyped and signed.
We reviewed the goals and objectives that we came up with at our recent Retreat, in order to "word-smith" them and determine if we want to make any changes or additions. Below are the revised goals and objectives, with the additions and changes we made in capitals:
Goal #1: Fulfill our role as the state’s educational authority. Objectives: Lead the conversation about the evolution of the public education system; positively and pro-actively impact state and federal legislation; continue and strengthen our partnerships with and leadership WITHIN the educational community; and optimize and responsibly exercise our authority.
Goal #2: Maintain commitment to and support of accountability reform and accreditation. Objectives: Develop and advance a plan to close the achievement gap; prioritize, increase, and coordinate resources to support our field services; take leadership in the implementation, connection, and coordination of state standards; advance the COLLECTION and utilization of relevant and objective data about public education; AND ENCOURAGE THE INTEGRATION AND COLLABORATION OF THE DELIVERY OF EDUCATIONAL SERVICES.
Goal #3: Take a leadership role in improving the long-term financial stability of education funding. Objectives: Play a constructive role in developing a comprehensive school finance solution; continue our leadership in AND education of the public about the School Trust Lands; and participate in prioritization and protection of the budget, including libraries.
Goal #4: Improve educator quality, recruitment, retention, and placement. Objectives: Improve quality and accountability of preparation programs; and support professional development that increases student achievement through teacher quality.
Goal #5: Improve choice opportunities for Colorado students. Objectives: Increase access to online programs; increase accountability of online programs through accreditation; support implementation of principles of accountability for all choice models; and adhere to THE SBE’S principles of school choice.
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