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SENATE
FORCES VOTE ON MOHELA BILL, SESSION FACES SLOW DOWN
Shortly after midnight on April 19, the Senate majority leaders
took the extraordinary and unfortunate step of forcing an
end to debate on Senate Substitute # 6 for Senate Committee
Substitute/Senate Bill 389 (Gary Nodler). S.B. 389 contains
many provisions relating to higher education, including the
Missouri Higher Education Loan Authority asset sale. Numerous
amendments were offered by minority members during the day,
but most amendments were defeated by a party-line vote. Sen.
Nodler, then offered a new substitute that removed $46 million
in funding for projects at institutions in the districts of
the senators who continued the filibuster: Chuck Graham and
Jolie Justus. Debate was cut off by the highly unusual step
of moving the “previous question” or P.Q. This
practice, while common in the House, is rare in the Senate.
Following the three P.Q. motions needed to perfect S.B. 389,
the Senate majority members approved the two P.Q. motions
needed to close debate and approve House Bill 16, the supplemental
appropriations bill that now contains the list of projects
to be funded under the MOHELA asset sale in S.B. 389.
Generally,
stifling debate in this fashion is an indication of a failure
to work diligently to include minority ideas and seek consensus.
Unlimited debate serves to promote a key value in Missouri’s
governing tradition, the notion that the majority should govern,
not rule. This tradition ensures that policies enacted by
a mere majority, but which affect all Missourians, adequately
honor the legitimate interests of all parties. Failure to
respect that tradition undermines the democratic process,
ceding total power to the current majority, but leaving every
new policy enacted not as a thoughtful and enduring compromise
on an issue, but as the one-sided agenda of the party in power,
with the minority waiting until the next election and hoping
to turn the tables. The consequence of this action for the
remaining four weeks of the session is not yet clear. Senate
minority members may now seek to stop passage of further legislation
this session, and Senate majority members may choose to close
off debate on other bills.
The bill
contains many provisions relating to higher education, but
the most notable and controversial portion addresses the sale
of loan assets of MOHELA and the use of such proceeds for
capital projects at various public colleges and universities.
The bill also contains language that caps college tuition
increases to the percentage increase in the Consumer Price
Index unless a waiver is obtained from the Coordinating Board
for Higher Education. Missouri NEA continues to have strong
concerns regarding the impact of the tuition caps on the quality
of programs and the effect of the MOHELA asset sale on the
ability of that entity to fulfill its core mission of providing
financial assistance to Missouri students.
SENATE
EDUCATION COMMITTEE CREATES OMNIBUS BILL, INCLUDING SCHOOL
RETIREMENT PROVISIONS
The Senate Education Committee met after morning adjournment
on April 18 and quickly voted out a Senate Committee Substitute
on House Bill 489 (Brian Baker). H.B. 489 revises gifted education
law to require districts to identify gifted students in all
cases, even if there only a few in the district. The SCS for
H.B. 489 includes several provisions that have already passed
the Senate: 1) the early child care ratings system from Senate
Bill 161 (Charlie Shields); 2) the state mentoring standards
mandate from S.B. 236 (Charlie Shields); and, 3) the renewal
of 25 and Out and the enhanced factor for 31+ years of service
from S.B. 244 (Rob Mayer). Missouri NEA supports all provisions
of the SCS. The inclusion of Public School Retirement System
and Public Education Employee Retirement System provisions
in SCS/H.B. 489 offers another vehicle for the renewal of
the vital school retirement provisions.
INCLEMENT
WEATHER MAKE-UP DAY FORGIVENESS IS PASSED, BUT ISSUE REMAINS
The legislature has enacted special make up day forgiveness
for the 2006-07 school year. The Senate passed House Committee
Substitute/House Bill 678 (B.J. Marsh) on April 16. The same
language passed both chambers so the bill is now considered
“Truly Agreed To” and will now go to the governor
for signing. The bill grants six days of snow day forgiveness
this year for districts with eight or more cancelled days.
The bill also exempts school districts in declared federal
disaster areas based on inclement weather in January 2007
from making up days and time lost due to the inclement weather,
regardless of how many other days were missed.
While
H.B. 678 is now passed, two concerns remain on the issue:
1) technical concerns regarding the language leave legislators
searching for other vehicles to attach revised language to;
and, 2) the broader question of whether to adopt more comprehensive
long term requirements regarding school calendars and make-up
days.
SENATE
MAY DEBATE “BACK DOOR” VOUCHER ATTEMPT
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
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. The resolution is also 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 |
SENATE
MAY TAKE UP ABCTE MANDATE
The Senate Education Committee voted Senate Committee Substitute/House
Committee Substitute/House Bill 620 (Scott Muschany) “do
pass” on April 11. The bill is likely to come up for
debate soon on the Senate floor later in the session. 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.
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.
Missouri
NEA also supports establishing state teaching standards, so
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 |
SENATE
COMMITTEE MAY CONSIDER “INTELLECTUAL DIVERSITY”
MANDATE
The Senate Education Committee may hear House Bill 213 (Jane
Cunningham) next week. 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.”
Missouri
NEA strongly 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. A mandate to promote
“intellectual diversity” undermines the effort
to hire the most qualified applicants for faculty positions,
since it creates the expectation that hiring committees will
pry into the personal lives and ideological viewpoints of
applicants and give those factors weight in the hiring process.
This undermines an institution’s pursuit of excellence
and, instead, promotes controversy and politics in the hiring
process.
SCHOOL
VISION SCREENING BILL
The House took up and passed Senate Committee Substitute/Senate
Bill 16 (Delbert Scott) on April 19. The bill requires that
each child enrolled in kindergarten or first grade shall receive
a comprehensive vision examination. The bill is now Truly
Agreed To, i.e., passed the same way by both houses, and will
now go to the governor for his signature. Missouri NEA opposed
the bill. The Association supports the objective of ensuring
that all students have a vision screening and all vision problems
are diagnosed and treated as early as possible. However, the
bill allows parents to “opt” their students out
of the vision exam. A concern remains that needy children
may be opted out and remain unserved and thus struggle in
school with impaired vision while school staff are busy dealing
with paperwork to ensure that other students have had the
eye exams. Proper vision correction is essential to learning
to read and ultimately to school success. Testimony indicated
that the current vision screenings work well but could benefit
from further investment in training and education. The Association
believes the state should invest funds to ensure that all
beginning students are in school and ready to learn and that
needy students get the vision exams and eyeglasses they need
to see properly in school and learn to read. The bill’s
fiscal note indicates that about $500,000 would cover the
uninsured costs of the comprehensive vision exams.
URBAN
EDUCATION ISSUES
The House Special Committee on Urban Education Reform met
on April 17 to hear the following House Bills:
- H.B.
1052 (Michael Brown) authorizes community improvement districts
to sponsor and operate a polytechnic institute for science
and technology within the authorizing city or county. This
proposal appears to be similar to the high tech high schools
established originally in San Diego as charter schools.
H.B. 1052 would authorize a community improvement district
created by a city or county to establish such a school.
- H.B.
1272 (Talibdin El-Amin) establishes the Metropolitan School
District Improvement Act regarding public schools in the
City of St. Louis. This bill is very similar to Senate Bill
690 (Jeff Smith). The bill includes many provisions, most
of which are limited to apply only to St. Louis Public Schools.
The provisions include “mega-looping,” differential
pay for teachers, performance pay for improving schools,
additional requirements for student assessments, teacher
assessments, alternative education, early childhood education,
school uniforms, after-school programs, longer school day
and longer school year. While the Association supports the
positive portions of the bill, other provisions raise strong
concerns, including the differential pay for teachers, and
the extra mandates on student assessment and teacher assessment
and the mandated longer school year and school day.
- H.B.
1281 (Rick Stream) establishes the St. Louis Neighborhood
Schools Improvement Act. The bill would establish a process
for splitting the St. Louis City school district into five
smaller districts. The bill also requires certain provisions
within St. Louis City schools: every child from kindergarten
through third grade shall be placed in a reading and a math
program until the student reaches proficiency, and the successor
districts shall create a performance-based teaching evaluation
program and earmark funds for principal training and alternative
schools.
EDUCATION
OF FOSTER CHILDREN
The Senate Seniors, Families and Public Health Committee heard
Senate Bill 630 (Jolie Justus) on April 17. The bill establishes
the “Foster Care Education Bill of Rights Act.”
Each school district shall select a staff person as the educational
liaison for foster care children. The liaison shall ensure
and facilitate the proper educational placement, enrollment
in school and checkout from school of foster children. Missouri
NEA supports the approach of S.B. 630 in improving continuity
of placement and school district involvement in the planning
of educational service for foster care students.
The bill
provides that a child placing agency shall promote educational
stability for foster care children by considering the child’s
school attendance area when making placement decisions. The
foster care child shall have the right to remain enrolled
in and attend his or her school of origin pending resolution
of school placement disputes.
In addition,
each school district shall accept for credit full or partial
coursework satisfactorily completed by a foster care pupil
while attending a public school, nonpublic or nonsectarian
school. A school district may permit access of pupil school
records to any child placing agency for educational case management
needs and to assist with the school transfer or placement
of a pupil.
SENATE
MAY DEBATE BILL ON ST. LOUIS CITY SCHOOLS
The Senate is also likely to debate Senate Bill 652 (Maida
Coleman). S.B. 652 contains numerous provisions related to
St. Louis Public Schools. The bill includes the following
items:
- requires
the state board promptly classify a district as unaccredited
when test scores warrant it, rather than waiting for the
next Missouri School Improvement Program cycle review;
- creates
a “transitional school district” for every district
declared unaccredited;
- allows
SLPS to have a longer school day;
- allows
the SLPS school board to appoint one of the three members
to the “transitional school board,” rather than
the president of the board of aldermen;
- eliminates
the “transitional school district” when SLPS
becomes accredited;
- revises
the provisions on “lapsed” school districts;
- creates
a pilot program on “mega-looping” in SLPS;
- requires
student assessment every six weeks in SLPS;
- requires
alternative schools in SLPS to serve students with chronic
truancy and behavioral problems;
- raises
the compulsory attendance age to 17 years; and
- gives
the Joint Committee on Education the task of studying the
issues regarding education service delivery in unaccredited
districts.
SEX
EDUCATION MANDATES
The House and Senate debated abortion and sex education bills,
House Bill 1055 (Therese Sander) and Senate Bill 370 (Delbert
Scott) simultaneously on April 17, but neither bill was completed
that day. However, H.B. 1055 was perfected by the House on
April 18. The bills include various provisions relating to
abortion services, alternatives to abortions and includes
the provisions of S.B. 432 (Gary Nodler) establishing additional
mandates on human sexuality instruction in public schools.
Missouri NEA continues to oppose the additional mandates and
restrictions on human sexuality instruction contained in the
bill as unneeded restrictions on local control of curriculum
and instruction.
STUDENT
ACHIEVEMENT COMMITTEE
The House Special Committee on Student Achievement met on
April 18 and heard House Bill 1104 (Leonard Hughes). The bill
authorizes an income tax credit for contributions to nonprofit
special needs education support organizations. The committee
then voted the bill “do pass.”
LABOR
ISSUES
The House Special Committee on Workforce Development and Workplace
Safety was scheduled to meet on April 18 to hear House Bill
440 (Steve Hunter), but the hearing was cancelled. The bill
enacts a number of mandates specifically on labor organizations
not subject to the federal Labor Management Reporting and
Disclosure Act, including public disclosure of an extensive
list of financial information. The bill also includes mandates
regarding internal discussions and debate among members of
labor organizations. Missouri NEA strongly opposes these onerous
and unneeded mandates targeted specifically at labor organizations.
PROPERTY
TAX FREEZE
The Senate Ways and Means Committee met on April 18 to hear
Senate Joint Resolution 23 (Luann Ridgeway). The SJR would
limit reassessment of residential real property to years in
which transfer of title occurs. Missouri NEA opposes this
attack on local school revenues derived from property taxation.
Residential property assessments would not grow according
to growth in real property values unless a property is sold.
SJR 23 is similar to a voter-approved property assessment
limit enacted many years ago in California that has had a
harmful long-term impact on local school property tax revenues
in that state. Missouri should learn from that experience
and avoid a similar mistake.
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 contains 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: HB1000) 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 continued this week. MNEA
members from Governance Districts 2 and 6 and higher education
members 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 email 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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