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“BACK
DOOR” VOUCHER ATTEMPT—CALL NOW
The Senate Judiciary Committee voted Senate Committee Substitute/House
Joint Resolution 1 (Jane Cunningham) “do pass”
on April 2 by a party line vote. The joint resolution, if
passed by both chambers and approved by statewide vote, would
prohibit a state court from instructing or ordering the state
legislature or any local government to levy or increase taxes.
The amendment states that “the appropriation of state
revenues is the exclusive province of the elected members
of the general assembly.” This latter language represents
a back door attempt to allow diversion of public funds to
private and religious schools through vouchers or other payments.
State
and federal law already holds school districts, teachers and
other school personnel accountable for closing achievement
gaps and improving student performance, but the legislature
also has a responsibility to provide adequate revenues so
that teachers and other school personnel have the tools and
resources to get the job done. The HJR is an obvious attempt
to avoid accountability for the failure to meet the constitutional
demand to adequately and equitably appropriate funds for public
education. Also, the resolution is an attempt to allow private
school vouchers by indirectly repealing constitutional prohibitions
on spending public funds on private schools. Missouri NEA
strongly opposes HJR 1.
Missouri
clearly suffers from a failed tax and revenue policy. By continuing
to pursue a strong, anti-tax policy, Missouri lacks the resources
to make the public investment Missourians expect and which
the Constitution demands. This policy, as evidenced by the
many tax cut bills passed by or under consideration in the
House, will permanently cripple the funding of K-12 and higher
education, health care and other state-supported services
and sentence Missouri to permanent, bottom-tier status in
the nation.
HJR 1
would undermine the fundamental balance of governmental powers
and leave the people of Missouri with no legal recourse to
hold the legislature accountable for failure to live up to
its Constitutional obligations. Moreover, the HJR seeks to
provide a “back door” for school vouchers by removing
accountability of the legislature to abide by constitutional
limitations on appropriation of public funds to private schools.
Action
needed:
If you haven’t already done so, please call, write
or e-mail to urge your state senator to oppose HJR 1,
the “back door” voucher proposal. The following
link will connect you to the MNEA Legislative Action
Center Action Alert on HJR 1. The action alert contains
a brief summary and an editable message box to help
you send an e-mail to your state senator on the issue.
http://www3.capwiz.com/nea/mo/issues/alert/?alertid=9597156&type=ST&show_alert=1 |
ABCTE
MANDATE: HOUSE BILL PASSES SENATE COMMITTEE
The Senate Education Committee voted Senate Committee Substitute/House
Committee Substitute/House Bill 620 (Scott Muschany) “do
pass” on April 11. The bill requires the State Board
of Education to create another alternative teacher certification
based on certification by the American Board for Certification
of Teacher Excellence and to establish mentoring standards
for beginning teachers and principals. Sens. Maida Coleman,
Chuck Graham and Yvonne Wilson are to be commended for seeing
this bill for what it is and voting against passage, but their
leadership was not enough to stop the bill from passing the
committee. The bill is likely to come up for debate on the
Senate floor later in the session.
Perhaps
the most glaring flaw with the bill is that it is more of
a replacement for the current certificate than an alternative.
The SCS creates a four-year initial ABCTE certificate that
actually leads directly to a permanent, career certificate.
Since the requirements are basically a four-year degree, the
two, multiple choice ABCTE tests and a background check, with
no requirement to ever pass the Praxis II or take any college
course work in any teaching competencies, the bill creates
a far less rigorous certification route that seems certain
to largely replace the current one, but at a terrible price
in terms of teacher preparation and ultimately in student
achievement. The SCS was amended in committee by Sen. Maida
Coleman to exclude certification areas of elementary education,
early childhood, early childhood special education, blind
and visually impaired and deaf and hearing impaired.
Missouri
NEA opposes creation of another alternative certification
program that lacks adequate requirements to ensure that those
teachers are properly trained in essential teaching competencies
before achieving full certification. Missouri NEA continues
to recommend that any alternative certification should be
probationary and lead to an initial professional certificate.
The Association also recommends that all alternatively certified
teachers should have to pass the Praxis II exam and complete
a course of study that covers all key teaching competencies
before being given a full teaching certificate.
Also,
Missouri NEA supports establishing state teaching standards,
so that state policy is clear on what teachers are supposed
to know and be able to do, how those standards will be assessed,
and how mentoring, beginning teacher assistance programs and
other professional development will help teachers meet those
teaching standards.
Action
needed:
Please call, write or e-mail to urge your state senator
to oppose SCS/HCS/H.B. 620, the ABCTE mandate bill.
The following link will connect you to the MNEA Legislative
Action Center Action Alert on SCS/HCS/H.B. 620. The
action alert contains a brief summary and an editable
message box to help you send an e-mail to your state
senator on the issue.
http://www3.capwiz.com/nea/mo/issues/alert/?alertid=9597241&type=ST |
HOUSE
PASSES “INTELLECTUAL DIVERSITY” MANDATE
Rumors that the House would take up the open enrollment bill,
House Committee Substitute/House Bills 807 and 690 (Brian
Baker), did not materialize on April 11. However, the House
did debate H.B. 213 (Jane Cunningham) and gave the bill first
round approval on April 11 on a voice vote. The bill defines
“intellectual diversity” for reporting purposes
at public higher education institutions. This bill adds a
dozen state-level mandates regarding bureaucratic requirements
for addressing “intellectual diversity.” The House
passed the bill on April 12 by a nearly party-line vote of
97-50.
Missouri
NEA opposes this additional layer of bureaucracy and unneeded
intrusion on local control of our public higher education
institutions. The Association also opposes this rigid mandate
to promote “intellectual diversity” and undermine
the cardinal value of academe: the pursuit of truth. This
proposal is akin to state mandates for “intelligent
design” in science instruction, where the proposals
mandate presentation of “diverse” views on all
subjects, even those where the pursuit of truth has led to
the practical certainty of answers to particular academic
questions. These mandates do not serve an academic purpose;
rather, they serve a political agenda to promote controversy
at all costs and the politicization of educational programs.
Rep. Cunningham
offered House Amendment 1 which provides that campus study
on intellectual diversity shall include diversity-related
criteria used in admissions, scholarship awards and hiring.
Rep. Jonas Hughes amended H.A. 1 to require that the criteria
shall include racial and gender diversity, and H.A. 1, as
amended, was adopted. Rep. Mike Talboy offered H.A. 2 to ensure
that “intellectual diversity concerns” in guidelines
on teaching and program development shall include protection
of religious freedom. Rep. Belinda Harris amended H.A. 2 to
include “the viewpoint that the Bible is inerrant.”
H.A. 2, as amended, was adopted. The bill has clearly become
even more intrusive, heavy-handed and onerous based on these
amendments. The bill could be taken up for final passage on
April 12 but, as of this writing, the bill has not been taken
up. Missouri NEA strongly opposes this harmful mandate.
HOUSE
STUDENT ACHIEVEMENT COMMITTEE
The House Special Committee on Student Achievement met on
April 11 and heard Senate Substitute
#2/Senate Committee Substitute/Senate Bill 161 (Charlie Shields)
which creates a quality rating system for child care facilities.
Missouri NEA supports the original bill as an important step
in supporting improved early child care that focuses on instructional
readiness for children. Universal access to quality early
child care will help close early achievement gaps or keep
them from forming in the first place.
This is
the time of the session when bills from one chamber are being
loaded up in committee in the other chamber as “omnibus”
bills with many unrelated provisions within the overall subject
area of the committee, and S.B. 161 fell victim to just such
a mugging. The committee voted out a House Committee Substitute
that contains language from: H.B. 824 (emergency procedures),
H.B. 620 (ABCTE mandate and mentoring), H.B. 861 (remedial
college course reimbursement mandate on school districts),
HCS/H.B.s 807 & 690 (open enrollment), H.B. 35 (parental
consent mandate on extracurricular activities), H.B. 827 (state
reimbursement for education of children placed by the state
in residential care facilities), H.B. 425 (allows transportation
of private school students in public school buses), H.B. 1161
(allows termination of teachers involved in a strike), H.B.
771 (mandated report of administrator compensation) and authority
for the St. Louis City mayor to sponsor charter schools. Missouri
NEA strongly opposes the HCS version of the bill.
Meanwhile,
the HCS guts the original bill by limiting the application
solely to early childhood and before and after school programs
operated by school districts and removing the evaluation of
all other licensed child care facilities.
SENATE
EDUCATION COMMITTEE
The Senate Education Committee met on April 11 and heard the
following bills:
- House
Bill 265 (Jane Cunningham) expands the five-business-day
notice requirement for special education due process hearings
to expedited due process hearings. The bill was voted “do
pass” as a Consent Bill.
- House
Bill 267 (Kenny Jones) gives the local board of education
authority to identify a designee to bind the school district
in a settlement agreement reached during the resolution
session regarding a special education placement. The bill
was voted “do pass” as a Consent Bill.
- Senate
Bill 692 (Luann Ridgeway) allows charter schools to be established
in any school district that is not a K-8 district, has an
enrollment of at least 2000 students and has been provisionally
accredited for any period of three consecutive years since
July 1, 1999. A charter school in such a district may be
sponsored by any public four-year college or university.
The bill also allows a private four-year college or university
with an approved teacher education program and an enrollment
of at least 1000 located in the Kansas City school district
to sponsor a charter school. The MNEA opposes expansion
of authority for charter schools statewide so long as the
law pertaining to charter schools fails to satisfy the requirements
of MNEA’s platform, including limiting sponsorship
of charter schools to local school district boards.
- S.B.
663 (Frank Barnitz) requires the State Board of Education
to promulgate a rule to allow spouses of military members
who are certified as a teacher in another state to receive
a provisional teacher's license until such time as they
pass a Missouri background check.
- S.B.
625 (Maida Coleman) increases the “at-risk”
pupil weight multiplier for state formula aid from 25 percent
to 150 percent. Missouri NEA supports the bill as a significant
effort to improve adequacy and equity of state education
funding. Also, the bill would undo some of the funding loss
created under the new S.B. 287 formula for districts educating
a high fraction of students living in poverty. The bill
will have a significant fiscal note, probably over $1 billion
annually, when the formula is fully phased in.
- S.B.
645 (Yvonne Wilson) modifies the length of the school term
for the 2006-2007 school year by allowing a district to
meet the minimum term requirement with either 174 days of
instruction or 1044 total hours of attendance. The bill
is intended to allow districts affected by significant inclement
weather closings to make up instructional time by extending
the length of the remaining school days.
- S.B.
646 (Yvonne Wilson) modifies the definition of "bullying"
in a public school's "anti-bullying" policy to
include cyberbullying. Missouri NEA supports the bill.
The committee
also voted out SCS/HCS/H.B. 469 ( Maynard Wallace) that makes
various changes regarding school safety and employee liability.
The SCS makes only minor changes in the wording of the House
version of the bill and does not broaden the scope of the
bill. Missouri NEA supports the bill.
The committee
voted out SCS/S.B. 436 (Scott Rupp) that removes the controversial
portion attempting to reinstate a private placement preference
for early childhood education and leaves in two pilot programs
on improving coordination of early childhood service delivery.
HOUSE
HIGHER EDUCATION
The House Higher Education Committee met on April 12 to hear
Senate Bill 135 (Gary Nodler). The bill allows the Missouri
Higher Education Loan Authority to provide primary school
loans, including loans for remedial, developmental or test
preparation courses. Also, the bill allows MOHELA to establish
any research or financial aid programs to improve students'
access or completion of a higher education degree or certificate.
The committee then voted the bill out “do pass”
on a party line vote.
FINDING
INFORMATION ABOUT BILLS
To find out more about legislation this session, go to: http://www.mnea.org/capitol/legissues.htm.
This page
contains numerous links, including the NEA Legislative Action
Center, which addresses key education issues at the federal
level, and the Missouri NEA Legislative Action Center, which
will address key education issues at the state level. This
page also will contain links to legislative updates, the MNEA
Legislative Platform, legislative priorities and other policy-related
links.
To find
information about a specific bill currently pending before
the Missouri General Assembly, go to:
http://www.house.mo.gov/jointsearch/.
Type the
bill number (example: H.B.1000) or sponsor name in the “search”
box to find a link to the bill. This link will take you to
a “home page” for the bill that provides bill
text, bill summaries, fiscal notes and information on legislative
action on the bill.
CAPITOL
ACTION DAYS
MNEA’s Capitol Action Days returned this week on April
11. MNEA members from Governance Districts 6 and 9 made the
trip to the Capitol. Capitol Action Days are a great chance
to meet with legislators and discuss Missouri NEA’s
priority issues and how to support great public schools for
every child.
Capitol
Action Days will be on Tuesdays and Wednesdays continuing
through the first week of May. Your MNEA calendar includes
the dates that members of the MNEA Board of Directors selected
for your governance district.
As your
Capitol Action Day approaches, please contact Otto Fajen (otto.fajen@mnea.org)
by the preceding evening to confirm your plan to attend. If
your travel plans change and you are not able to attend on
your designated day, please call and speak to Judy Glover
at 1-800-392-0236 by no later than 9:00 a.m. of the designated
day to let us know of the change. Feel free to contact Otto
Fajen by e-mail to arrange to attend a different Capitol Action
Day.
Each Capitol
Action Day will start with a briefing at 10:00 a.m. to provide
you with the most up-to-date information. Participants should
meet MNEA Government Relations staff at the Capitol on the
second floor near the rotunda in the Senate side alcove under
the grand staircase.
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