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By
Otto Fajen
MNEA Legislative Director
Pre-Update
Dec. 16, 2008
SESSION RETURNS IN JANUARY
The next legislative session begins on Jan. 7, 2009.
The MNEA Daily Legislative Update 2009 will return to
cover daily events when the session begins. The daily
updates will be available by e-mail. The updates will
keep you informed in a timely manner concerning developments
on legislation affecting school children and school
employees and will advise you of actions you can take
to affect the legislative process. A weekly MNEA Legislative
Update digest will also be posted on the MNEA Web site
and will summarize legislative activity for the week.
NOVEMBER ELECTION BRINGS CHANGE
Missouri NEA members helped achieve key victories for
students and public education in the Nov. 4, 2008 election.
President-Elect Barack Obama and Governor-Elect Jay
Nixon will support policies that ensure great public
schools for every child and oppose anti-public education
attacks. The Association supported current legislators
and new candidates who will support students, adequately
fund public schools and respect education employee rights.
Missouri NEA’s goal for the state legislature
was to create a “home field advantage” in
2009 for ideas to advance public education by electing
a pro-public education majority in both the House and
the Senate. The election results in the Missouri legislature
are less clear: the support for public education varies
by issue. Some issues will have a clear majority for
public education and education employees, some issues
will not have a majority and some may have majority
support if MNEA members work diligently to educate legislators
unfamiliar with the issues.
NEW LEADERSHIP, BIG PROBLEMS FOR THE UPCOMING
SESSION
The upcoming session will include many new state leaders,
including Governor-Elect Jay Nixon, new House Speaker
Ron Richard and new Senate President Pro Tem Charlie
Shields. This will be an important year for the future
of public education in Missouri. The recent economic
downturn has created uncertainty regarding future state
revenues. The state started the fiscal year with an
operating balance of over $850 million, but withering
state revenues mean that significant state budget cuts
are expected during the current budget year and even
bigger cuts of perhaps 15 percent to 25 percent will
be made in next year’s budget.
Meanwhile, the state is being sued by parents, students
and nearly half of Missouri school districts for inadequate
and inequitable funding, and the trial before the Missouri
Supreme Court will be conducted during the next legislative
session. The Association urges the General Assembly
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.
Missouri NEA will continue to promote an agenda that
strengthens public education and public educators for
the benefit of children. Key issues for the upcoming
session will include: supporting adequate funding for
public education, protecting the constitutional rights
of education employees by enacting a good collective
bargaining law, and ensuring all children have healthcare
and come to school ready to learn.
INVESTING IN PUBLIC EDUCATION
MNEA believes public schools are a great investment
that promotes economic prosperity for all Missourians.
Unfortunately, current state school funding is neither
adequate nor equitable. Worse still, the state is facing
a bleak fiscal outlook for the next few years due to
economic slowdown, harmful tax cuts and increasing tax
credits. The Committee for Education Equality school
funding lawsuit will also go to trial before the Missouri
Supreme Court in the first half of 2009 while the legislature
is in session.
The formula base-level funding and student-need weighting
factors should be raised to research-based adequacy
figures. Local property assessments should be accurate
and uniform across the state, and local property taxes
should be deducted at a level all districts can reach.
MNEA supports adequate and equitable funding for public
higher education institutions and increased funding
for student financial aid.
MNEA supports tax reform to provide fair and adequate
taxation that supports investment in public education
and promotes economic prosperity for all Missourians.
Proposition A, approved in November by voters, repealed
gambling boat loss limits. Prop A may eventually bring
in some additional revenues, though the economic slowdown
may postpone any real effect for one or more years.
School districts on the formula may eventually see as
much as a $100 per-pupil increase due to this measure.
COLLECTIVE BARGAINING
MNEA’s key legislative focus last session was
to protect the recently won collective bargaining rights
for all education employees. Governor-Elect Jay Nixon
will support education employee rights and oppose attempts
to deny teachers the same bargaining rights provided
under Missouri’s Constitution to other public
employees.
An effective bargaining process must have a unified
employee voice. MNEA supports legislation that would
treat all public employees fairly and that is built
on broad consensus among public employee groups and
public employers. An effective bargaining law must provide
for exclusive bargaining representation, a duty for
both employees and employers to bargain in good faith,
binding agreements with a clear ratification process
and a fair process to resolve impasse and grievances.
TAX CREDIT VOUCHERS
Proven school improvement strategies help to ensure
great public schools for every child. Tax-credit vouchers
are not the answer: they do not ensure great public
schools for every child. All schools need the tools
and resources and proven strategies to help children
succeed in school. All children deserve great public
schools. Private school tax-credit vouchers leave too
many children behind. We need to focus on learning,
not bureaucracy. Taxpayers want money to go toward improving
schools, not to creating new bureaucracies to administer
private school tax-credit vouchers.
Changes in Missouri’s legislative leadership,
including the selection of new House Speaker Ron Richard
and the likely appointment of MNEA-recommended Rep.
Maynard Wallace as a key committee chair on education
issues signal a hope that the legislature will spend
less attention on the tax-credit voucher proposals in
2009.
MISSOURI NEA’S COMPREHENSIVE GOVERNMENT
RELATIONS PROGRAM
Missouri NEA will depend on a grassroots lobbying effort
led by MNEA and carried out by our Government Relation
Teams and our membership. Our members must take the
initiative to contact legislators about the key issues
affecting public education.
Here's what you can do to support MNEA’s legislative
agenda:
1. Be a part of your local Government
Relations Team.
2. Take the initiative to contact
local legislators now to discuss our key issues.
3. Attend the legislative
brunch or dinner in your area.
4. Attend the Missouri NEA Capitol
Action Days for your governance district. Capitol
Action Days begin in early February and include most
Wednesdays until the first week of May.
5. Receive and read the daily MNEA
Daily Legislative Update 2009 via e-mail while the
legislature is in session from January to May.
6. Visit the Missouri Legislative Action Center: http://capwiz.com/nea/mo/state/main/?state=MO.
The Missouri Legislative Action Center (MLAC) is a convenient,
Web-based way to lobby state legislators (and other
elected officials) on key education issues. MLAC uses
a program called CapWiz to make sending an e-mail on
a priority issue quick and easy. As priority issues
move forward this session, the MNEA Daily Legislative
Update will provide links to action alerts on the MLAC
Web site.
CAPITOL ACTION DAYS RETURN
MNEA will continue the successful program of Capitol
Action Days begun in 2007. A series of Capitol Action
Days throughout most of the session will allow planned,
face-to-face contact with legislators throughout the
session. Capitol Action Days will generally be on Wednesdays
starting with the first week in February and 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. If you are not
able to attend on these designated days, feel free to
contact Otto Fajen (otto.fajen@mnea.org)
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.
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
FINDING INFORMATION ABOUT BILLS
To find out more about legislation this session, go
to: http://www.mnea.org/gr/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/billcentral.aspx.
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.
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:
Columbia – Jan. 8, 2009
St. Charles – Feb. 26, 2009
Kansas City – Feb. 28, 2009
Jefferson County – Mar. 7, 2009
St. Louis – Mar. 21, 2009
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