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By
Otto Fajen
MNEA Legislative Director
Number
9
March 5, 2009
BUDGET
The House Budget Committee heard more Appropriations
Committee reports and marked up House Bill 2 (Allen
Icet), the elementary and secondary education bill on
Mar. 4. The committee met again on Mar. 5 and may vote
on the final committee form of the bills by the end
of the week. Once the committee versions are completed,
floor debate will occur next week, the last week before
legislative spring break. The Senate Appropriations
Committee will begin hearings on the budget bills after
spring break, once the bills have passed the House.
The Senate committee does not take public testimony
at that stage, but does hear a presentation on each
bill before beginning its markup debate when amounts
can be revised. Once the Senate committee is through,
the bills are taken up for floor debate by the Senate
and then generally the bills go to conference committee
to reconcile differences. Often, the Senate will deliberately
adopt changes in amounts to preserve “differences”
and, thus, flexibility for both houses in conference
on a number of items.
H.B.
2 is the elementary and secondary education budget bill.
The filed bill was introduced on Mar. 2 and includes
$413 million in federal stimulus funding, primarily
as increases to Title I funding and special education
funding. The bill also includes $520 million in federal
budget stabilization funding, mainly used to supplant
state general revenue in the basic equity formula. H.B.
2 also assumes that increased gambling revenues under
Proposition A will amount to $103 million, and those
funds are included in the equity formula.
The
use of the budget stabilization funds in this “shell
game” approach to supplant general revenue was
expected, since this allows the legislature to use these
federal funds to fund core operating costs such as the
basic equity formula and free up general revenue that
can be used for a wide variety of purposes. Legislators
are looking for “one-time” expenditures
to fund with general revenue, since building in more
core operating costs will lead to additional budget
gaps in two years when the federal funds are exhausted.
It is not entirely clear, however, whether the federal
stimulus and stabilization funds can be used to such
a great extent to free up general revenue in this type
of “shell game,” and revisions may be required
later in the process as that question is clarified.
The
Missouri Constitution provides that no money, even federal
funding, may be taken from the state treasury except
as provided by an appropriation bill passed by the legislature
and signed by the governor. The governor can suggest
a spending plan in his proposed budget, but only the
legislature can actually enact an appropriation. The
governor retains the line-item veto, meaning that, within
a bill, he can delete any particular line of appropriation
in its entirety without affecting any other particular
line in that bill.
In
addition to plugging in more than $930 million in federal
stimulus and stabilization funds in to H.B. 2 and backing
out over $500 million in general revenue, the House
Budget Committee also seems poised to make several grievous
cuts:
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State professional development funding would be
eliminated. The funding was cut from $20 million
down to $15 million for the current budget year
and the governor had proposed another cut down to
$10 million, but now the budget committee appears
intent on eliminating the funding altogether. The
MNEA strongly opposes this cut. At a time when more
and more is expected of teachers, the state must
maintain its investment in professional development
resources for teachers. The Association will work
to restore professional development funding as the
bills move forward and will need strong member involvement
and education of all legislators on the value of
professional development in improving instruction
and helping all students succeed.
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Safe Schools Grants will be eliminated. The current
funding is about $3.7 million per year. This funding
has helped school districts across the state make
important improvements in school safety.
Rumors
were spreading recently that Career Ladder funding will
be cut, but the committee plans to maintain funding
at the current year level.
The
committee has also moved funding for the A+ Schools
program to the Department of Higher Education budget
contained in H.B. 3. The governor issued Executive Order
09-09 earlier this year to make that transfer along
with transferring the other postsecondary education
assistance programs from other departments to DHE. Some
concerns have been raised regarding this part of the
move, since the A+ Schools program is not just a higher
education scholarship but, also, a program within high
schools to ensure all students pursue a course plan
that leads to some meaningful option upon high school
graduation. House Resolution 552 (Mike Dethrow) is now
on the House calendar awaiting debate. The resolution
would disapprove the A+ Schools and other transfers
within Executive Order 09-09. If the resolution is adopted,
the budget bills will need to be revised to move the
A+ funding back to H.B. 2 and the Department of Elementary
and Secondary Education.
Missouri
NEA supports incorporating federal economic stimulus
revenues into next year’s budget in a careful
way to maintain vital public services, while seeking
to address the structural budget deficit, improve the
fairness of the state tax code and ensure adequate funding
for public education and other vital public services.
EDUCATION
OF FOSTER CHILDREN
The Senate gave final approval (Third Reading vote)
to Senate Bill 96 (Jolie Justus) on Mar. 4. 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 intent of S.B. 96 in improving continuity
of placement and school district involvement in the
planning of educational service for foster care students.
The bill will now move to the House for consideration.
The
Senate Health, Mental Health, Seniors and Families Committee
met on Mar. 3 to hear S.B. 306 (Tom Dempsey). The bill
establishes the Show-Me Health Coverage plan within
the Department of Social Services to provide health
care coverage through the private insurance market to
low-income working individuals in the state. The maximum
enrollment of plan participants is subject to appropriations.
Under the plan, a health care account is established
for each individual and payments for his or her participation
can be made by the individual, an employer, the state,
or any philanthropic or other charitable contributor.
An individual’s health care account shall be used
to pay the individual’s deductible for health
care services under the plan.
Missouri
NEA supports the bill. The Association supports universal
health care for all students, staff and all other Missourians
as a basic right. The private insurance market and employer-provided
insurance is the main option for many Missourians who
currently have health care coverage and will be a significant
part of the ultimate solution to health care coverage
for all Missourians. Reforms to health care should be
guided by the goals of universal coverage, minimizing
employer impact and ensuring that all parts of the health
care provider system are accountable for making health
care better, safer and less costly.
QUALITY
RATING SYSTEM FOR EARLY CHILD CARE
The House Elementary and Secondary Education Committee
met on Mar. 4 to hear several bills, including House
Bill 387 (Robert Wayne Cooper). The bill would establish
a quality rating system for child care facilities. Missouri
NEA strongly supports this effort to evaluate programs
and provide parents with information that will improve
the quality of early child care and education programs
across the state.
“SCARLET
LETTER”
The Senate Education Committee heard Senate Bill 41
(Jane Cunningham) on Mar. 4. The bill includes several
provisions affecting school employees, including a provision
to grant civil immunity on job references. Missouri
NEA opposes the bill.
The
bill does nothing to improve the process by which issues
or questions regarding employee performance or conduct
are adjudicated by a school district. Substantive due
process would provide access to a fair, impartial hearing
to determine the facts in the matter but is not included
in the bill.
The
bill requires districts to maintain data even on unsubstantiated
reports of alleged employee sexual misconduct. The bill
creates an expectation that applicants for school employment
will waive their right to keep such information confidential
and requires districts to report this data to other
districts upon request if the employee waives that right.
Failure to waive such rights will automatically serve
as a “red flag” to a potential employer,
even if the information is related to a false allegation
or wrongful termination. This “guilty until proven
innocent” presumption will be profoundly unfair
to education employees.
The
MNEA believes the bill should include substantive due
process rights for all education employees (or the ability
to bargain due process rights locally). The requirement
that districts maintain and transmit records relating
to unsubstantiated allegations should be removed. The
Association also believes granting broad civil immunity
on job references is both problematic and unnecessary.
Any such immunity should be narrowly worded to refer
to specific, adjudicated offenses by employees.
NO
TAX JUSTICE IN “FAIR TAX”
The state needs a fair, adequate and sustainable tax
policy to fund investment in public schools and other
vital services. The House Tax Reform Committee heard
House Bill 814 (Ed Emery) and H.B. 318 (Chris Kelly)
on Mar. 4. Both bills would attempt to eliminate the
state income tax and replace it with a state sales tax.
The bills would make Missouri’s tax code profoundly
less fair, less adequate and less sustainable. Missouri
NEA strongly opposes this type of regressive tax change
that will keep Missouri from obtaining the revenue it
needs to invest in public schools, public higher education
and other vital public services like healthcare.
PROPERTY
TAX FREEZE
The Senate Ways and Means Committee met on Mar. 4 and
heard two related provisions intended to freeze property
taxes: Senate Bill 99 (Jane Cunningham) and Senate Joint
Resolution 4 (Jane Cunningham) are intended to limit
increases in assessed value for real property to two
percent every two years (after reassessment) until such
time as the property is sold. Missouri NEA opposes the
bill and joint resolution. This scheme is akin to California’s
problematic “Prop 13” limitation that is
currently wreaking havoc on city and county funding
due to declining home assessment values that will not
recover for a generation, even if housing market values
recover. Missouri already provides an income tax credit
for low-income seniors based on homestead rental or
property taxes paid and a separate property tax homestead
exemption. A third option is to allow property tax increases
to accumulate as a lien against the value of a house
and have the state reimburse local governments for the
lost revenues.
CORPORATE
INCOME TAX REPEAL
In addition to the property tax freeze proposals, the
Senate Ways and Means Committee also heard two Senate
Bills that would phase out the Missouri corporate income
tax: S.B. 392 (Charlie Shields) and S.B. 367 (Luann
Ridgeway). These bills will ultimately reduce state
revenues significantly, perhaps by as much as $350 million
per year. Missouri already has the lowest effective
corporate income tax rate in the country, relative to
the federal corporate tax on corporate activity allocated
to our state, among the 46 states that actually have
a corporate income tax. Corporations benefit from public
investments and public services in Missouri, just as
individual citizens do, and it is only fair that corporations
doing business in Missouri also help support those investments.
The MNEA opposes both bills to enact this unfair tax
change that would undermine the revenue that supports
public education and healthcare services Missourians
need.
TABOR
The House briefly debated House Committee Substitute
for House Joint Resolution 23 (Allen Icet) on Mar. 2.
HJR 23 is a constitutional spending limit similar to
the Colorado provision known as “TABOR,”
or the so-called “Taxpayer Bill of Rights.”
The HJR would impose a permanent, constitutional spending
limit on state government and would limit annual growth
in state appropriations to a cost-of-living-adjustment
factor plus a population growth factor. Missouri NEA
strongly opposes HJR 23. TABOR-style limits are a proven
failure and will permanently diminish the state’s
capacity to invest in public education and provide appropriate
levels of public service.
PROTECTING
MISSOURI'S FAIR AND IMPARTIAL COURTS
The House Special Standing Committee on General Laws
heard House Joint Resolution 10 (Stanley Cox) on Mar.
3. The HJR would revise Missouri’s Non-Partisan
Court Plan in a number of ways, including increasing
the number of governor-appointed members of the Appellate
Judicial Commission from three to four by removing the
Supreme Court member from the commission and substituting
an at-large gubernatorial appointee.
The
Missouri Nonpartisan Court Plan is essential for the
state to select qualified judges in a way that limits
partisan politics in the selection process. This non-partisan
plan is so effective that a majority of states have
adopted some version of the “Missouri Plan.”
Fair and impartial courts are vital to democracy and
the preservation of our rights, including the fundamental
right of access to a great public school. The MNEA opposes
the joint resolution and urges the General Assembly
to refrain from any changes in the Missouri non-partisan
court plan.
SENATE
EDUCATION COMMITTEE
In addition to Senate Bill 41, the Senate Education
Committee heard two other bills at its meeting on Mar.
4:
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S.B. 51 (Joan Bray) requires the State Board of
Education to use Missouri School Improvement Program
standards to evaluate charter schools and take appropriate
remedial actions consistent with those applied to
school districts. The MNEA supports this vital effort
to establish appropriate accountability for evaluating
the performance of public charter schools and to
require appropriate remedial action to protect the
educational interests of students.
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S.B. 42 (Jane Cunningham) creates the “Teacher
Choice Compensation Package.” The bill takes
the Proposition A gambling revenues out of the formula
and uses them to fund a program of “performance
pay” for teachers willing to give up their
tenure rights. Missouri NEA opposes the bill. Teacher
compensation plans should be negotiated locally
through a collective bargaining process, not a program
mandated by the state. School improvement is promoted
by best practices, including a commitment to high
teaching standards, adequate resources for staff,
transparency of school operations, focused professional
development, effective school leadership and substantive
due process rights for employees.
In
addition to hearing the scheduled bills, the committee
also voted out two Senate Bills:
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S.B. 291 (Charlie Shields) allows school districts
to offer courses in a virtual setting and receive
state funding for virtual courses provided to resident
students. The MNEA supports this effort to allow
school districts to be leaders in virtual education
based on the core values of public education: fairness,
equality, excellence and access.
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Senate Committee Substitute/S.B. 117 (Tim Green)
recalculates the state school aid for the Riverview
Gardens School District to correct an error in tax
rate placement. The MNEA supports this measure to
correct a financial error by a former district official
that continues to have a profound negative effect
on the district’s state aid, amounting to
more that $2 million per year for the last three
school years and continuing throughout the remainder
of the new formula phase-in.
HOUSE
ELEMENTARY AND SECONDARY EDUCATION COMMITTEE
In addition to House Bill 387 on early childhood education,
the House Elementary and Secondary Education Committee
heard two other bills on Mar. 4:
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H.B. 304 (Rodney Schad) specifies what constitutes
a significant difference in the time involved in
transporting students for the purposes of elections
to change school district boundaries.
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H.B.
547 (Bob Dixon) establishes a tax credit for donations
to public school foundations.
In
addition to hearing the scheduled bills, the committee
voted out the following House Committee Substitute bills:
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HCS/H.B. 509 (Rick Stream) requires school districts
to have physical education programs meeting certain
requirements. The HCS version limits the bill to
elementary schools and removes some of the more
detailed requirements of the bill. In discussion,
committee members articulated both the MNEA’s
support for the intent of the bill, a strong commitment
from all schools to support a comprehensive program
of student wellness, including emphasis on good
nutrition and physical activity, and the Association’s
legitimate concern that the use of another state
mandate for physical education may create unintended
consequences for other instructional disciplines,
such as fine arts and social studies. Committee
members were generally persuaded by the sponsor’s
argument that if schools are not meeting these standards,
the interests of the well-being of the students
should take priority over the preference to rely
on local control.
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HCS/H.B. 689 (Rachel Bringer) makes criminal background
checks for teachers and other school personnel valid
for one year, even if they move from one district
to another or there is a change in the type of teacher
certification. The bill was voted “do pass”
as a Consent Bill. The MNEA supports the bill as
it will reduce unnecessary cost and nuisance for
many teachers in the state.
SMALL
SCHOOLS
The House Rural Community Development Committee heard
House Bill 356 (Maynard Wallace) on Mar. 3. The bill
increases the overall appropriation amount for small
school grants from $15 million to $20 million with $15
million being distributed to eligible districts in proportion
to their average daily attendance. Current law provides
increasing small schools aid up to an Average Daily
Attendance of 350 and then eliminates the aid entirely
above that ADA amount. The bill provides for a smoothly
decreasing aid amount for districts with an attendance
of 351 to 449 students that decreases proportionately
as the attendance increases.
While
the most efficient small school aid supplement would
include a fixed cost component that phases out smoothly
with increasing enrollment, this proposal represents
an improvement over the current policy by eliminating
the “cliff” effect where state aid is eliminated
by the addition of a single student. The MNEA supports
the bill.
WORKPLACE
DISCRIMINATION
The House Workforce Development and Workplace Safety
Committee scheduled a vote on two House Bills, including
H.B. 227 (Ed Emery) on Mar. 3, but the vote on H.B.
227 was postponed until the next week. H.B. 227 makes
several changes to the state’s anti-discrimination
law in employment, disability and housing. The MNEA
opposes the bill.
The
most problematic change in the bill is the change of
the definition of “discrimination.” Currently,
any “unfair treatment” based on race, color,
religion, national origin, ancestry, sex, age in employment,
disability or housing is unlawful. The bill would limit
workplace discrimination to an “adverse action”
motivated by one of those characteristics. “Adverse
action” is a much narrower term that includes
hiring, firing, failure to promote and other significant
actions affecting an employee’s status. Thus,
the bill legalizes other unfair, discriminatory treatment
of employees in the workplace. Such unfair treatment
can create a hostile or unpleasant work environment
for an employee without legally constituting an “adverse
action.” Missouri NEA believes that unfair, discriminatory
treatment in the workplace should remain unlawful.
PUPIL
TRANSFERS
The House Urban Affairs Committee met on Mar. 2 to rehear
House Bill 217 (Ted Hoskins). The bill requires Department
of Elementary and Secondary Education to establish criteria
for the admission or rejection by adjoining accredited
schools of nonresident students from unaccredited districts.
The bill does not specify the criteria by which such
decisions would be made. Without further clarification,
the bill may have the effect of forcing districts to
increase class size by accepting a large number of nonresident
students without providing capital funding to increase
school classroom capacity.
JOINT
COMMITTEE ON EDUCATION
The Joint Committee on Education met on Mar. 3. The
committee elected Rep. Maynard Wallace as vice-chair.
The committee also heard an overview of a proposed study
of K-12 education data that will be conducted over the
next few months and will then be analyzed by Stacey
Preis, the executive director of the committee. The
committee also received an update on the status of state
professional development grants, which the committee
is now required, by law, to review and approve prior
to implementation. The committee also reviewed its budget
and expenses for the current year to date.
MATH,
ENGINEERING, TECHNOLOGY AND SCIENCE (METS)
The Senate General Laws Committee heard Senate Bill
127 (Scott Rupp) on Mar. 3. The bill would require the
governor to designate the third week of March as “Math,
Engineering, Technology and Science Week.”
HIGHER
EDUCATION
The House Higher Education Committee voted out two House
Bills heard the previous week:
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H.B.
631 (Timothy Jones) revises the Missouri Teaching
Fellows Program. The program is currently open to
qualifying high school seniors. The bill raises
the Grade Point Average requirement and also allows
teachers who become certified after the bill becomes
law and agree to teach for five years in a district
that is not accredited to be eligible for a scholarship
under the program.
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H.B. 515 (Gayle Kingery) revises the composition
of the Board of Curators for the University of Missouri,
as needed, to prepare for the possible loss of a
Missouri congressional seat after congressional
reapportionment in 2010. The bill requires that
at least one but no more than two persons be appointed
to the University of Missouri Board of Curators
from each congressional district.
CAPITOL
ACTION DAYS
MNEA Capitol Action Days allow planned, face-to-face
contact with legislators throughout the legislative
session. Capitol Action Days continued this week with
members from Governance Districts 3 and 5 visiting on
Mar. 4 and members from Governance District 7 visiting
the Capitol on Mar.5.
Capitol
Action Days will generally be on Wednesdays starting
in February and continuing through the first week of
May. Your MNEA calendar includes the dates MNEA Board
members selected for your governance district. If you
are not able to attend on these designated days, feel
free to contact MNEA Legislative Director Otto Fajen
at otto.fajen@mnea.org
to let him know when you can attend on another Capitol
Action Day.
Typical Capitol Action Day agenda:
10:00
a.m. Meet for briefing, 2nd floor Capitol rotunda, Senate
side alcove under the grand staircase
10:15 a.m. Visit with your legislator/watch floor debate
12:00 noon Invite legislator to lunch
1:00-4:30 p.m. Committee hearings, floor debate, visiting
legislators
PLAN
TO ATTEND YOUR MNEA LEGISLATIVE BRUNCH OR DINNER
Legislative involvement is close to home at your MNEA
legislative brunch or dinner. The event is a great opportunity
to visit with local area legislators and hear a legislative
briefing. Area legislative brunch schedule:
Jefferson
County Mar. 7, 2009
St. Louis Mar. 21, 2009
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