a strong voice for kids 2nd Congressional District
a strong voice for kids 2nd Congressional District
Mary Frances Nevans, Director of State Board Relations, reported that we got a hotel in Snowmass Village for Colorado’s contribution to the NASBE Silent Auction. Her office is going forward on many rule-making activities. She is working on getting new tables for the Board Room to have our Work Sessions in the round, rather than up at the podium. She is working with Commissioner Jones and Jo O’Brien on that event at which we will be honoring the 17 students with perfect ACT scores. We will be holding an Open House for the Legislature, legislative staff, and others after the Board meeting on November 7. Possibly on November 19, the people from CLASS (Children’s Land Alliance Supporting Schools) will be coming. We may possibly be having a "coffee" at the CASB conference on November 30 at 7:30 a.m.
SUCKLA: Introduced new staff – Anne Barkis, our Legislative Liaison, and Pamela Hoppe-Ice, Director of Online Instruction. Was unable to attend the CASB Board meeting, so she submitted a written report. She is still on the DOLA Mineral and Energy Board.
DEHOFF: Hosted an Education Conversation with Elaine Berman last night at the Independence Institute. There was good interaction and was glad to have Berman with him; it must have been an interesting experience for her, with that audience.
BERMAN: Agreed that the Education Conversation at the Independence Institute was an interesting experience. Was part of leadership team on charter schools that recently went to a conference in Albuquerque; the participants from Colorado included people from the Senate, the House leadership, Colorado Children’s Campaign, Matt Gianeschi (Governor Ritter’s Education Policy Director), and herself. Recently visited the eastern plains – Strasburg, Byers, Agate, and Limon; learned a lot – she has only been in Denver, so it was good to see that part of the state. Will be going next week with the rest of us to Philadelphia for NASBE, but will be going a day early for the meeting on school nutrition with a team from CDE.
HUDAK: I also conducted one of the Education Conversations, along with Senator Windels; we heard some negative comments about CSAP; people are concerned about its effect on schools, causing them to cut back on art, music, and physical education. There was a lot of support for increasing civics and community involvement in the schools. I attended the last meeting of the P-20 Council; a couple of important things mentioned were the importance of early childhood education and the need for finding ways to reduce truancy. Concern was expressed about too much testing. A comment was made that we need fewer standards that go more in depth. The EPASS group of tests were touted (Explore, PLAN, and ACT), but it was pointed out that they are not designed for accountability purposes. I attended the Smart Start Colorado Accomplishments presentation, which covered the progress that has been made in improving early childhood education and services. I discussed the task force that I have been co-chairing on eligible facilities education; we are working on finding ways to improve the coordination, staffing, and funding in facilities and will have a bill to propose. I asked to have our task force present to the SBE about what we’ve been working on.
LITTLETON: Attended the Read to Achieve Board meeting for the last time and the CSEAC (Colorado Special Education Advisory Committee) meeting for the first time, since she and I are switching as liaisons for the two committees. Had a meeting about the Troops to Teachers program to discuss alternative licensure and how we can get these math, science, and engineering experts into classrooms sooner. Was part of a discussion in Academy District 20 about severe allergies that many students have, such as food allergies –they seeing a great increase. Hosted one of the Education Conversations in Colorado Springs, which was held at (former State Representative) Keith King’s new charter school, Colorado Early College. Several legislators came. The group came up with several goals for our public education system, including creating citizens in a democratic society. Attended a meeting at Pikes Peak Community College about collaborative safety, where several people said they are very enthused about the new Commissioner. Pikes Peak Work Force has a novel course for $49 for teachers in which businesses help them determine what job skills they need to know. Attended a meeting of the Base Realignment and Closure committee – troops are starting to come in to Colorado Springs and they are discussing how to deal with the large influx of students. Did Read Across America in Harrison with Superintendent Mike Miles.
SCHAFFER: Met with a retired teacher trying to get license renewed; he had to take 3 hours of additional coursework to move his license from Wyoming to Colorado.
MIDDLETON: [We ran out of time; she will go later or tomorrow.]
Mark Stevens, head of the CDE Communications office, made a report. They are asking people to sign up to get e-mail communications on CDE activities; people can sign up on the CDE website. They have been meeting with CDE staff on plans to make changes on the website, to make it more user-friendly to all our constituencies. In January they will make a major effort to get public input. February 1 is the goal for the new website. Within a few weeks, they will be testing a new e-mail system for the department to use to communicate with school districts to organize and consolidate messages going out.
Suckla said that at our Board Retreat, we decided that a super-majority would be necessary to pass resolutions. Board member Peggy Littleton had submitted a resolution several months ago "calling for the rights of parents to be respected as they make health decisions for their own children," which resolves that the SBE "does not support the mandatory HPV Vaccine program by making it a requirement in order to attend school, including home schools and private schools in the state of Colorado" and "will not support forcing parents or taxpayers to fund this vaccination series." Littleton said that she would like to continue working on it with Berman and other Board members. However, if no legislation comes up on this topic, it might not be necessary to go into it. DeHoff said he thinks it might come up. Suckla said that if it does, we’ll deal with it at that time.
Board members Elaine Ganz Berman and Bob Schaffer were assigned to create a draft of a Code of Ethics for the SBE. Berman said the goal was to make it concise but rigorous. The proposal presented is 5 pages long, with 3 pages of appendices. She said she had asked Mark Stevens to make sure the language was understandable and not too "legalese." One issue that was brought up is the limit on the dollar amount of gifts that we are able to receive; the proposal was for $100, but SB 06-51 limits it to $50 – Berman asked Anne Barkis to look into it. Schaffer said that we wanted to consolidate all the laws, rules, and policies relating to Board ethics. He said that he will propose amendments tomorrow – including one about confidential matters and what constitutes them. He used as an example a confidential memo we received today from Tony Dyl, Assistant Attorney General assigned to the SBE, regarding e-mail communications among Board members; Schaffer said that the memo shouldn’t be confidential, because the public is interested in knowing about our e-mail policy. Dyl objected to that statement, saying that it is confidential, because it is advice to the Board from our attorney. Schaffer said he thinks that some of the statements in the proposed Code of Ethics might be misinterpreted by others, such as the statement referring to our needing to remain "impartial" on issues. Berman said that she is dismayed that Schaffer was supposed to have worked with her on this and now he comes in "at the 11th hour" with substantial changes. Schaffer said that he thinks communicating by e-mail is a violation of the Sunshine Law and he doesn’t think we have had any other public opportunity to discuss it previously. Middleton said that we are all very aware of the Sunshine Law and know that our e-mails are open to the public; she warned against interpreting it too strictly because we have let the public know that we have been working on it. She said our constituents want to know that we are doing our work all the time. She said we should use common sense in regard to conversations outside of Board meetings. Berman questioned whether we would have time to make substantial changes by tomorrow; she strongly feels that we should pass the Code of Ethics tomorrow. Dyl said that virtually everything in the document comes from current laws and policies, and nothing is new or original except the Penalties section.
I reminded the Board about the public meeting we had to discuss this, and I pointed out that the "Penalties" section was not there or discussed at that time. I said I think the section is childish and unnecessary (it calls for Board members to admonish one another if we violate the Code) – I said that I think the public and the press will admonish us if we violate it, and it is unnecessary for us to say to one another something like "you’ve been a bad girl." Berman said she added that part because she thinks there should be some penalty for not following the code. We will vote on it tomorrow.
Mary Frances Nevans and Bob Schaffer submitted proposed amendments to the SBE’s Operating Procedures. The amendments do the following:
I pointed out that the last item is under the heading of "communication," but it is really about asking staff to do work. I asked to make a clarification so that staff won’t feel uncomfortable talking with us, as they used to in the past under the previous administration. Commissioner Jones agreed that he would like a more open policy on communication between staff and Board members. He said the intent is not to create a closed environment, but to implement guidelines for how Board members will work with staff. Schaffer said he thinks the language in this section is "incredibly bureaucratic" and doesn’t know why it has been added. Suckla said we discussed it at the Retreat. DeHoff said we seem to have a fear about things and are not trusting common sense. Littleton said that our goal is not to put an undue burden on staff to work on projects that are outside the goals of the organization. I clarified that my concern is that the wording should not imply that staff needs to have the Commissioner’s permission to speak with us, but I am comfortable with a statement about our not asking staff to do extra work. I agreed with Littleton that it could be stated in a simpler fashion, rather than in four subpoints. Commissioner Jones said that it is his responsibility to direct staff on what to work on, and there are times that staff might see a conflict between what a Board member asks for and what CDE has indicated they should do; therefore, he had suggested some of the wording. I volunteered to draft a revision for this portion.
Deputy Commissioner Turner said that Accreditation contracts are "on hold" this year, but meanwhile, conversations are taking place about how they might be improved. In January, CDE will submit a proposal for changing the Accreditation rules, with hearing in February and SBE approval in March. They are gathering information from the field about how the contract might be changed; they would like more quantitative means for determining whether districts need to go on Accreditation Watch or Probation. Also, they are working to harmonize the SAR/AYP process and discussing whether an annual cycleis necessary or not – they are considering the possibility of two or three years. Over the last four years, 16 districts were put on Watch; 9 districts were removed from Watch; and 3 were put on Probation.
The Regional Managers were introduced (all were present except Gerry Difford): Sally Sherman and Ron Mitchell, Metro area; Jhon Penn and Judy Check, Southwest and West Central; Janice McDermott, Southeast; John Condie, Northwest; Jackie Webb, Pikes Peak; Wendy Dunaway, Northeast; and Michael Clough, North Central. Each regional manager presented information to us about their region, describing which school districts are in them, what their demographics are, and the services CDE is providing to them. See http://www.cde.state.co.us/cdeedserv/rgmapage.htm for a map of the 8 regions.
Berman asked about what can be done to reduce the multiple visits from CDE staff that occur, such as an Accreditation visit and a Title I visit; the staff said that they make great efforts to combine visits and reports as much as possible.
Pamela Hoppe-Ice, new Director of Online Instruction at CDE, along with Deputy Commissioner Ken Turner and Assistant Commissioner Jeanette Cornier, made a report about how the new Division of Online Learning at CDE is implementing SB 07-215. Hoppe-Ice is from West Virginia, which has a statewide supplemental online program. The bill has two purposes: to support online programs, students, parents, authorizers, and other online entities by providing information and access to data, and to facilitate the certification of multi-district online schools. The bill requires the SBE to create a standard form for a Memorandum of Understanding to be used by school districts and multi-district online schools. Approval of the form is to be done this month, at tomorrow’s SBE meeting. CDE is also submitting a proposed Interim Agreement for Learning Centers, which satisfies the statutory requirement for a "process" in the interim. By January, the SBE must promulgate rules establishing quality standards for online schools, criteria for certifying multi-district online schools, and processes and timelines for the future establishment of any new multi-district online schools, as well as "corrective actions" (for online programs that fail to enter into an MOU). SB 215 gives CDE the opportunity to provide assistance to schools and districts utilizing online programs and to set the stage for innovation with online learning.
Colorado Online Learning reports that 75% of its students are rural and 25% are urban/suburban. Colorado has a variety of online programs, including single-district online schools; multi-district online schools that are charters, non-profits, and contracted with a commercial provider; and supplemental online programs. There are over 6,000 students in online schools.
Schaffer asked if CDE incorporated suggestions from the task force that the SBE commissioned to study online schools (concurrent to the Trujillo Commission study). Turner confirmed that they did. Middleton asked if Hope Online was consulted in the creation of the Memorandum of Understanding, and Commissioner Jones said they were.
DeHoff said that the way the law is phrased, it opens up the possibility for a tremendous number of appeals, because districts have the right to disapprove of the establishment of Learning Centers. He said that the proposed MOU is a "disaster" and that he will be recommending a number of changes tomorrow.
Jan Rose Petro from CDE, as well as two members of EDAC (Educational Data Advisory Committee), Genie Trapp and Mary McGlone, reported on EDAC, which is a statewide representative group of school district volunteers which reviews all CDE data collections including grant applications, surveys, plans, reports, assessments, evaluations, and automated data exchange systems. EDAC determines whether the benefits derived from a data collection outweigh the administrative burden of producing the data; determines and recommends the most efficient ways of collecting data; determines if recommendations for new data collections are redundant and proposes alternatives; and reviews department-proposed data collection procedures and recommends improvements. Each EDAC-approved CDE data collection is given a stamp which informs districts and BOCES whether the form is mandatory, voluntary, or required to obtain benefit. CDE forms without an EDAC stamp are not required to be completed. In 2006-07, EDAC formally met 7 times, conducted 9 emergency reviews (e-mail and phone conferences), and in total reviewed 103 CDE data collections. The committee is extremely proud of the Data Collection Calendar which was released in January 2007. EDAC evidenced success of streamlining data by eliminating the fall English Language Proficiency Act collection by merging it into October Student Count, and by aligning the special education automated data exchange (ADE) collections with existing ADE systems.
It takes months and months – and in some cases years – for processes to be implemented for data collections, both at CDE and at the district level, because computer programs have to be put in place, etc. We were asked to take heed of EDAC’s recommendations regarding changes to the SAR.
Dr. Ed Steinberg and Laura Freppel from the Exceptional Students Leadership Unit made a presentation about the proposed amendments to the rules for the Exceptional Children’s Educational Act (ECEA), which there is a hearing on tomorrow. Dr. Steinberg explained that the USDE has recently passed "guidelines" (rules) for the implementation of IDEA 2004, and we need to change our rules accordingly. A very controversial aspect is whether we should change our rules to follow the U.S. guidelines exactly, or allow provisions in our rules that "go beyond" them with various provisions. He expounded on how other states implement them immediately and exactly, but Colorado instead has a history of spending a lot of time discussing them and including additional provisions. He said that people who move to Colorado are often confused about the differences between our rules and that of other states.
Dr. Steinberg also expounded about RTI (Response to Intervention) and how it is better than the "wait to fail" method. I questioned whether it is not just a different version of waiting to fail, since we still have to wait until students fail to respond to interventions to identify them as special education. Steinberg said that with RTI, students receive services immediately. I argued that districts won’t receive funding for special education services until students are identified, and special education is already greatly under-funded. DeHoff argued that there is a presupposition that RTI will be implemented effectively, and he is concerned that special education teachers don’t collaborate with general education teachers until students are identified. Littleton said that RTI will prevent students who are "curriculum casualties" to be helped and not misidentified as special education. Commissioner Jones said that his concern is that students receive services. He said that he agreed with my concern about inadequate funding.
Steinberg mentioned the controversial issue of doing assessments of students in the area of their "suspected disability," rather than a comprehensive amount of testing. He said that limiting the testing will prevent many hours of testing that is unnecessary. I pointed out that not all disabilities may be suspected, and many parents would like all the testing to ensure that all disabilities are discovered. But again, there is not adequate funding for all the testing.
Steinberg said that the only area in which CDE is recommending something different from the USDE rules is in the area of transition planning, proposing to start it at age 15 or grade 9, whereas the federal rules say age 16. The committee that worked with CDE over the last year for revising the rules recommended age 15; there are people who will be asking us to change it to 14. Berman asked Steinberg to make the argument for going beyond the federal rules in this one area. Steinberg said that transition activities would not be able to be planned until the end of 10th grade or the beginning of 11th grade. I asked why age 14, in 8th grade, would likewise not be appropriate, especially when there are efforts in our state to inform students in 8th grade about college planning, which is transitional. He said that there is nothing to stop anyone from doing it earlier than age 15; the rule would just ensure that it is no later.
Steinberg said there are controversial issues regarding the development of the IEP (Individual Education Plan). The proposal is to eliminate the short-term objectives – annual goals – in IEPs, to streamline them. Steinberg said that a concern is that these often do not align with the content standards.
Dr. Barbara Medina, head of the CDE English Language Acquisition Unit (ELAU), gave an update on CDE's work on relating to the Interstate Migrant Education Council (IMEC). Pat Hayes, currently on the CU Board of Regents, is the chair of IMEC and a former member of the SBE. The education of migrant children is part of Title I, Part C; it is a state-administered grant program. Most of Colorado’s migrant mobility is intra-state. About 98% of our migrant population is of Mexican descent, primarily from the Mexican state of Chihuahua. The program serves kids from age 3 to age 21. CDE is working closely with the U.S. Department of Agriculture, to monitor crops that need to be harvested. I asked whether students in this category include those whose families work in the resort areas, which the district I represent includes; Medina said no, but she said that Pat Hayes does intend to raise the issue at the national level. The reauthorization of NCLB has proposals that affect migrant children, often through the overlap with Reading First and the portions relating to English Language Learners.
Ed Steinberg and the past and current chairs of CSEAC (Colorado Special Education Advisory Committee) presented CSEAC’s annual report. Steinberg recognized me for the past 7 years that I was the Board’s liaison to the committee. Orvin Breckinstall said that CSEAC has discussed adding students to the committee. Alison Seyler said that they attended a national conference with other states’ SEACs. The committee is busy trying to reach out to school districts to see if they need help creating a SEAC in their district. They created a brochure to distribute throughout the state and to show the value of partnership and give information about forming a local SEAC. About 50 districts have one, but not all are very active. Paula Christina said that one of CSEAC’s goals for the year is increasing the committee’s visibility; they would like to host and sponsor regional meetings around the state in each Congressional District. Lisa Franklin said that another goal is to increase the awareness of CSEAC’s position papers; for example, they have one on the implementation of RTI. They can utilize it to begin conversations about the usefulness of RTI, so parents can be good partners. Their third goal is to improve the implementation of RTI.
Commissioner Jones and Deputy Commissioner Turner spoke to us about "Forward Thinking" (the CDE plan created by Commissioner Jones and CDE staff) and a crosswalk showing the linkage between the SBE’s strategic plan (vision, mission, goals, and objectives) and goals from "Forward Thinking." There was a meeting with superintendents at their CASE-led retreat recently to get feedback on the document. They have also talked with newspaper editors and the leadership of CASB. Jones said that the work continues to get broad support beyond just the education community and beyond the K-12 education community. Turner said there was interest in seeing more detail. Some concerns were expressed about the part about funneling discretionary money to districts and schools with the greatest need; Turner said that concern was expressed about funding being needed for high-achieving students as well. Jones said there was strong sentiment that the plan lacked a piece addressing school safety; he said that there are discussions going on with law enforcement and others. I mentioned the Safe Schools Partnership, which has some CDE staff participating in; Jones said that he will be meeting with them next week. Some concern was expressed about support for BOCES; districts feel that some BOCES are not providing quality service. Jones said the part referring to BOCES is to help the BOCES do their job better and provide more satellite sites for courses needed for college readiness. Middleton suggested that Kelly Leid work on finding funding for BOCES to provide more technical assistance.
Suckla pointed out the importance of the crosswalk that shows how much CDE is working on implementing the Board’s strategic plan. Berman pointed out that at the Retreat, the Board expressed tremendous support for and excitement about the Forward Thinking plan.
Schaffer had asked staff to answer some questions on the issue of passing periods in schools, which is really the issue of instructional time that is paid for from school funding. Stroup said that the issue is complicated. It has to do with student-teacher contact, school calendars, etc. Vody Herrmann, director of the School Finance Unit, said that her original estimate of $145 million was based on an estimate of 5-minute passing periods, which might be an over-estimate or under-estimate. Schaffer asked if auditors look at the actual time per district; Herrmann said yes. Passing time is included in districts’ funding reports based on school boards’ policies. There are 32 districts that designated passing as instructional time. Legislation excludes lunch time, but does not mention passing time. Every district is required to have a calendar for each school year that sets the number of hours per day students attend school, with no less than 160 days per school year. Districts receive funding based on the number of hours each student is in attendance, with 5 hours being considered as a minimum for full-time.
Middleton said that when we’re looking at competency-based education and getting away from seat time, this effort (to change the rules to disallow passing time from counting for funding) is going in the wrong direction, although she understands being fiscally prudent. She pointed out the issues related to seat time in regard to online education, and she said she fears the result of this discussion. DeHoff said that he hopes that confronting this issue can help us move away from the concept of "seat time." Littleton said funding passing periods would be like a staff person from CDE having to drive to a district and counting that as work time; Herrmann said it would be more like paying someone for the time it takes someone to walk from their office to another staff person’s office. She said there are only 4 states that don’t include passing time in funding.
Suckla suggested that we ask staff to bring a proposal to us about what a competency-based approach would be, rather than to "put a band-aid on this" through a small rule change. She said that districts cannot change their calendars in the middle of the school year; she suggested that January would be a good time to consider changing these rules. Middleton said she would be more interested in allowing a pilot program to see how it would work than changing the rules at this time. Suckla said she had something like that in mind and suggested that we start looking at a change in January. Littleton said she thinks we should do a stop-gap change right now. DeHoff said that any change we make in the current rules is a distraction from our ultimate goal. I made an impassioned plea for the Board to slow down this process, warning that it may have substantial implications for districts, and asking that we do a thoughtful and inclusive process to consider making such major changes, or else "all hell could break loose." I pointed out that changing the school calendar is one of the most controversial things a district could do. Schaffer said it involves only a small number of districts.
Michael Griffith from ECS (Education Commission of the States) wrote a Policy Brief on "State Education Funding Formulas and Grade Weighting." He was asked to speak with us about it. He said that no state has implemented a change from "seat time" to competency-based funding like we are contemplating; it has only been theorized. DeHoff said that New Hampshire eliminated all reference to instructional time in their school finance, but they have end-of-course exams to measure success. Griffith said that he just got back from New Hampshire, and they are not doing that exactly – they currently do not have a formula in place and do not have an approved outcome measure.
Jones said that the staff that would need to work on this is currently working on a standards and assessments review, and he encourages us to slow down, listen to the field, and give CDE more time. Suckla asked if there is support on the Board to make this an acton item. Middleton said that the P-20 Council is exploring some opportunities in the Preparation and Transitions Subcommittee; she believes that we need more time and would be informed well by their work. She repeated her concern that we are defeating our purpose by doing something right now. Berman said "ditto." Schaffer said that this is a lot of money that is "hemorrhaging" out of the state budget, and we have an opportunity to lead an effort for change. He said that there are always "excuses not to more forward." He insisted that passing time is a "loophole," and he said that we are "either for it or against it." He said that it should be an urgent issue, and he intends to put it on the agenda tomorrow as an item for future action. Middleton said that it affects teacher contracts and how teachers use their time too, including using the bathroom. She fears that it could move into other such discussions. I pointed out that the districts that could be directly affected by this are some of the largest school districts, such as Jefferson County, Colorado Springs District 11, Cherry Creek, Adams 12, St. Vrain Valley, and Pueblo District 60. I said that this is "huge," and before we do something affecting so many students and teachers, we should include as many people as possible in the discussion. Suckla pointed out that we need to vote tomorrow about whether it should be added to the agenda.
Anne Barkis, our Legislative Liaison, provided us with a report on past legislation and a summary of our previous Legislative Agenda as to which items have been dealt with and which have not. There was not enough time to discuss it, so we decided to do it after the Regular Meeting tomorrow.
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