K-12 Funding in Spotlight as Bitter Rivals Do Battle for Wis. Governor’s Seat

K-12 Funding in Spotlight as Bitter Rivals Do Battle for Wis. Governor’s Seat

Last fall, Wisconsin’s Republican Gov. Scott Walker used Southern Door High School’s newly installed 3D printing lab in this small town near Green Bay as a backdrop to propose a $639 million increase in public school funding.

“We know that ensuring our students’ success, both in and outside the classroom, is critical to the state’s continued economic success,” said Walker, now in a fierce campaign for a third term against long-time state schools chief Tony Evers.

The Southern Door County schools, administrators say, got almost none of that money. In fact, the 1,029-student district—rural, losing students, and hampered by tax revenue caps put in place more than 20 years ago—had to make severe budget cuts this year and pull an extra $200,000 out of its savings account. If a referendum on the county ballot this fall allowing the district to exceed its revenue cap fails to pass, there will likely be more cuts next fiscal year.

The intricacies of Wisconsin’s school spending and whether districts like Southern Door need more or less money from the state has come to dominate the gubernatorial contest between Walker and Evers, both of whom have made their education records a high-profile piece of their pitch to Wisconsin voters in the November election.

Walker says that by leading the charge to turn Wisconsin into a right-to-work state with the passage of legislation in 2011 that stripped the bargaining rights of public employee unions including teachers, he’s saved the state more than $3.5 billion, while keeping property taxes low and expanding school choice. He has claimed his most recent budget provided districts with $200 more per student, though many dispute that fact.

Under Walker between 2011 and 2013, the state cut education funding by some $800 million, hitting some districts harder than others. Spending has rebounded since then, but Walker’s critics say it hasn’t been enough to keep up with inflation.

Evers says Walker’s budget cuts over the years crippled school districts’ ability to provide students with basic resources, causing massive layoffs and a teacher shortage across the state. He has proposed to boost spending by more than $1.7 billion…

Read full article click here, may require ED Week Subscription

Bear River Region AM STEM wins 2018 Utah Excellence in Action Award

Bear River Region AM STEM wins 2018 Utah Excellence in Action Award

SALT LAKE CITY — The Utah State Board of Education Career and Technical Education (CTE) section announced that the Bear River Region is the winner of the 2018 Utah Excellence in Action award. The AM STEM (Automated Manufacturing STEM) program in Bear River Region was selected based on their uniquely inventive and effective approaches to stimulating student learning, offering extensive work- based learning experiences, maintaining strong partnerships with industry and community organizations, and preparing students for postsecondary and career success.

The AM STEM program represents the best CTE program in the state of Utah. While the program is unique, it offers a rigorous sequence of courses beginning with foundational skills to subject-matter, real-world hands-on experiences in the classroom led by dedicated educators, and meaningful work- based experiences facilitated by industry partners.

Bear River Region, in collaboration with industry partners, higher education, and secondary education, has created a career pipeline for high school students by offering a program that meets industry needs. Students involved in the program take courses at their high school that align with the requirements found in industry. The AM STEM program combines coursework with work-based learning experiences to support student exploration and skill development.

Read full article click here

Former HISD superintendent blasts district

Former HISD superintendent blasts district

Defender Network Logo

Former Houston ISD superintendent Richard Carranza is speaking out about his disappointment in HISD’s failure to pass major reforms while he was here. Carranza, who now leads the New York public school system after abruptly quitting HISD, said the district lacked the appetite for changes that would boost outcomes for lower-income and minority students.

“As soon as I left, it seemed like people just didn’t have the stomach to take the fight,” Carranza said.

In an interview with Atlantic Magazine, Carranza who was with the district for 18 months, said HISD leaders resisted changes that would benefit historically underserved students, creating inequitable access to quality education among students from all backgrounds.

The Atlantic article largely focused on his immediate reform efforts in New York City, but Carranza didn’t mince words as he talked about HISD’s current campus funding model and the geographic layout of its magnet schools, which he said have favored students from more affluent and white backgrounds. In the months before his departure from HISD, Carranza proposed shifting toward a more centralized funding model that largely would benefit schools in lower-income and predominantly Black and Hispanic neighborhoods.

“You would think if you want to integrate schools and really provide a robust push for the entire system, you would place some really sexy magnet schools in those African-American neighborhoods. No! They were all concentrated in white, upper-middle-class neighborhoods, so that if you’re an African-American student, you have to leave your neighborhood to go to those programs,” he said.

Carranza’s comments cut to key questions about the district’s dedication to impoverished and minority students, while also raising the specter that Carranza’s abrupt departure contributed to the proposals stalling. During his tenure the district dealt with

Ultimately, HISD trustees tweaked the district’s current campus funding model and shelved the magnet proposals, to Carranza’s dismay. However, it is arguable whether trustees resisted Carranza’s proposal because they “didn’t have the stomach to take the fight.” Some trustees embraced Carranza’s proposal, but others thought the district administration was moving too hastily and did not provide enough details about the proposal’s merits.

“Carranza didn’t leave any definite plans on the table. Only ideals,” HISD Board President Rhonda Skillern-Jones said. “For me, there were conceptual changes that were never fully vetted or fleshed out by the administration.”

The district also was dealing with a large budget deficit and a looming threat of a state takeover of the school system resulting from a state law that required the Texas Education Agency to control operations of any school district in which one or more schools failed to meet state academic standards for five consecutive years, prompting a few trustees to question whether HISD was tackling too much at one time.

Former Houston Texans Player Devard Darling Awards $10,000 in Scholarships to Fort Bend ISD Students

Former Houston Texans Player Devard Darling Awards $10,000 in Scholarships to Fort Bend ISD Students

Former Houston Texans player and FBISD Alumni Devard Darling recently awarded college scholarships to deserving students through his As One Foundation.

The $1,000 scholarships were awarded to ten Fort Bend Independent School District (FBISD) high school seniors at the 10th Annual Devard & Devaughn Darling Scholarship Award Ceremony at Center Stage Art Gallery, in Sugar Land, Texas.

The As One Foundation was established in 2007 by Devard Darling, an NFL wide receiver, in memory of his twin brother, Devaughn Darling, with the mission to unlock and unleash the full potential of youth while encouraging them to achieve their dreams in the face of life challenges. 

Since Devaughn’s tragic death during a pre-season conditioning workout at Florida State University due to sickle cell trait exertion, the mission later became to educate and increase awareness of sickle cell trait while encouraging youth to achieve their dreams in the face of life challenges. The Devard & Devaughn Darling Scholarship Awards is Darling’s way of turning the loss of his identical twin brother, into something positive. It’s also a way to say thank you to the people who helped them both succeed as student-athletes.

Devard Darling, As One Founder and Scholarship Recipient Alice Opiyo

Devard Darling, As One Founder and Scholarship Recipient Alice Opiyo

“I just know Devaughn is smiling down to know we’ve awarded $100,000 in scholarships in these first ten years of the As One Foundation,” says Darling. “It is so important to show these young people they are worth our time and money. So many did that for me and my brother, now this is my chance to pay it forward.”

The As One Foundation takes its name from the fact that the doctor had been hearing two hearts beating As One while their mother carried them, unaware she was having twins. Devard lived on to fulfill his and his brother’s shared dream to play professional football and to give back to both their homes – Houston, Texas and their native Bahamas.

The 2018 Scholarship recipients are: Tyra James, Kyser Lim, Baylee Suzanne Redmond and Robert Wilson of Austin High School; Jane Akwitti, Samantha Alarcon and Wade Freeman III of Bush High School; Alice Opiyo of Clements High School; Oluwatoni Ajala of Dulles High School and Camden Kelly of Elkins High School.

 

How MAP Growth Data Drives Performance and Becomes Part of School Culture

How MAP Growth Data Drives Performance and Becomes Part of School Culture

If principals and teachers understand how to measure student growth and support students in reaching their potential and if they truly value the ability to deliver a measure that an interim assessment like MAP® Growth™ provides, then consistent data practices can become part of a school or district culture. So believes Cindy Keever, Director of Student Support at the Westfield Washington School District in Hamilton County, Indiana.

Since NWEA assessments and data practices have become an embedded, integrated system of evaluating, understanding, and educating throughout the past decade, Westfield Washington School educators feel confident about their ability to understand where students are in their learning process, no matter how their buildings, classrooms, or instructional groupings are reconfigured over time.

How did MAP Growth data come to be central to the culture of learning?

The district made a firm commitment to providing professional learning for teachers and administrators, to help all become more sophisticated users of data. To this end, they have taken all the Professional Learning (PL) workshops offered by NWEA and continue to deepen their practice. They also created buy-in for the NWEA growth model by making sure it was—and continues to be—completely visible to its entire learning community. Every student, teacher, and parent understands that MAP Growth data shows how kids are growing—and that each student knows where he or she can progress further.

Read full article click here

Secretary DeVos Announces New Student-Centered Funding Pilot Program

Secretary DeVos Announces New Student-Centered Funding Pilot Program

Washington — U.S. Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos today announced new flexibility for school districts to create equitable, student-centered funding systems under a pilot program authorized by the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA).

“This is a great opportunity for local district leaders to put students first,” said Secretary DeVos. “Instead of relying on complex federal rules to allocate funds, local leaders can use this flexibility to match funds—local, State or Federal—to the needs of students.”

The flexibility will allow school districts to combine eligible Federal funds with State and local funds in order to allocate resources to schools based on the number of students and the corresponding level of need. This type of system, often called “student-centered funding” or “weighted student funding”, is widely considered to be a modern, transparent and quantifiable way to allocate resources to the students most in need.

Previously, inflexible rules guiding the allocation and use of Federal funds made it difficult for school districts to create student-centered funding systems using Federal, State and local funds. School districts awarded flexibility will be relieved from Federal funding rules that would otherwise prevent them from implementing a student-centered funding system. ESSA provides for up to fifty school districts to receive the flexibility during the first three years of the program.

School districts that receive the flexibility are expected to design and implement a student-centered funding system that meets all statutory requirements of the pilot program, including the use of weights that allocate substantially more funding to students from low-income families, to English learners and to any other educationally disadvantaged student group identified by the school district.

School districts that receive the flexibility must also provide an assurance that parents, teachers, school leaders and other relevant stakeholders are consulted in the development and implementation of the student-centered funding system.

The application will open on February 7, 2018. For applicants intending to use the flexibility during the 2018-2019 school year, the application is due by March 12, 2018. For applicants intending to use the flexibility during the 2019-2020 school year, the application is due by July 15, 2018.

Link: https://www2.ed.gov/policy/elsec/leg/essa/scfp/studentcentered.html

Frequently Asked Questions

1. Who may apply?

All local educational agencies (LEAs) are eligible to apply. The Department is authorized to award flexibility to 50 LEAs.

2. How do you apply?

The application will be available for download from the Department of Education website beginning February 7, 2018. Completed applications can be submitted to weightedfundingpilot@ed.gov.

3. What is being awarded?

The program will award flexibility only. It does not include a financial award.

4. When is the application due?

For LEAs that indicate on their application that they plan to use the flexibility during the upcoming 2018-2019 school year, the application is due by March 12, 2018. For LEAs that indicate they plan to use the flexibility during the 2019-2020 school year, the application is due by July 15, 2018.

For LEAs that will not use the flexibility until the 2019-2020 school year, the time between award and use may be used for planning.

5. When will the flexibility be awarded?

The Department intends to award the flexibility on a rolling basis, with those LEAs that apply to use the flexibility during the 2018-2019 school year receiving the earliest award notices.

6. Where can I go for additional information?

Prospective applicants can email weightedfundingpilot@ed.gov with questions or comments.

Please consult Title I, Part E, Section 1501 of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) as amended by the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) for all applicable statutory requirements for participation in the program.

NATIONAL REPORT: Implementing the Every Student Succeeds Act: Toward a Coherent, Aligned Assessment System

NATIONAL REPORT: Implementing the Every Student Succeeds Act: Toward a Coherent, Aligned Assessment System

Catherine Brown, Ulrich Boser, Scott Sargrad and Max Marchitello

In December 2015, President Barack Obama signed the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA), which replaced No Child Left Behind (NCLB), as the nation’s major law governing public schools. ESSA retains the requirement that states test all students in reading and math in grades three through eight and once in high school, as well as the requirement that states ensure those tests align with states’ college- and career-ready standards. However, the law makes significant changes to the role of tests in state education systems.

For example, ESSA requires states to include a broader set of factors in school accountability systems rather than just test scores; provides funding for states and districts to audit and streamline their testing regimes; and allows states to cap the amount of instructional time devoted to testing. It also eliminates the requirement under the Obama administration’s NCLB waiver program that states evaluate teacher performance based on, in part, student test score growth. Taken together, these provisions greatly reduce the stakes of state tests for schools and teachers. They also give states substantially more autonomy over how they define school success and the interventions they employ when schools fail to demonstrate progress.

The likely result would be a significant reduction in the level of angst regarding testing among teachers and parents. Today, states have an opportunity to use the new flexibility embedded in ESSA to develop stronger testing systems without the pressure of NCLB’s exclusive focus on summative tests. They also have the opportunity to innovate: Through a new pilot program that will allow seven states to develop radically new approaches to assessments, states can experiment with performance based and instructionally embedded tests and use technology to advance testing.

These pilot states will have the freedom to imagine a testing system of the future in which standardized tests taken on one day each year are no longer the typical way of assessing student learning.

Over a six-month span, researchers at the Center for American Progress (CAP) interviewed dozens of parents, teachers, school leaders, system leaders, advocates, assessment experts, and policy leaders in an attempt to identify what can be done to ensure that tests are being used in service of teaching and learning. Although they are few and far between, models of coherent, aligned teaching and learning systems do exist.

In these systems, the curriculum and end of year summative assessments are aligned with high academic standards. Interim tests, administered at key points throughout the year, provide a check on whether students are on track to meet the grade level standards. Short, high-quality formative tests give real-time feedback to teachers and parents so that they can use the results to inform instruction and to course correct when needed. School and system leaders use data to determine if all students receive the high-quality education they deserve and to provide more support or intervention if the results show that individual students, entire classrooms, or schools are off track.

Unfortunately, these models are the exception. Because the problems with testing are structural and systemic, they do not lend themselves to an easy fix. Nevertheless, ESSA provides an opportunity for a fresh start, and system leaders can capitalize on the flexibility in the new law to make changes in the short and long run to develop a system of better, fairer, and fewer tests.

What’s important to keep in mind is that in the new education policy world of ESSA, testing systems continue to need to be refined–not discarded. Parents and teachers want annual standardized testing to continue. Despite media reports to the contrary, there remains significant support for tests. But parents also want tests to be useful and to provide value for their children. Within this changing policy landscape CAP recommends that states:

  1. Develop assessment principles;
  2. Conduct alignment studies;
  3. Provide support for districts in choosing high-quality formative and interim tests;
  4. Demand that test results are delivered in a timely fashion; and
  5. Increase the value of tests for schools, parents, and students.

CAP also recommends that schools should provide parents with the data from all assessments–including formative, interim, and summative assessments-along with individualized resources to help their children improve. CAP recommendations for school districts, schools, and the U.S. Department of Education are also detailed in this report.

Download (PDF, 789KB)

PENNSYLVANIA: Critics say charter bill shortchanges school districts

PENNSYLVANIA: Critics say charter bill shortchanges school districts

HARRISBURG — A proposed rewrite of the state charter school law would allow public schools to keep almost $30 million by adding deductions for costs that computer-based schools don’t have.

Democrats contend the state could provide five or 10 times as much relief for school districts if it more aggressively linked charter payments to the actual cost of educating their students.

In 2014-15 Pennsylvania’s 500 school districts paid about $1.5 billion in tuition to charter schools, according to Education Department data.

The legislation, authored by state Rep. Mike Reese, R-Westmoreland County, would create a special commission to examine how much districts should be paying to cyber schools.

The legislation would also make changes to the way the state oversees charter schools, how they are approved and how their teachers are rated.

“The reforms embodied in my legislation are critical to improving and strengthening our Charter School Law, which was groundbreaking upon its enactment in 1997 but has become outdated over time,” Reese said in a memo to other lawmakers.

Charter school operators think the deductions proposed by Reese’s bill are too drastic.

“We are happy with some of the provisions” in the legislation, said Ana Meyers, executive director of the Pennsylvania Coalition of Public Charter Schools. “However, the cuts for cyber schools are steep.”

Her group hopes the new deductions are eliminated from the bill, Meyers said.

Overall, the legislation has largely shed most of the controversial elements, said Jonathan Cetel, executive director of the Pennsylvania Campaign for Achievement Now, an independent advocacy group lobbying for innovations to improve school performance.

“It reflects years of compromise and negotiation,” he said. “All that remains are commonsense policies that meet the needs of both charter schools and traditional public schools.”

Cetel added that he hopes the proposed commission would resolve the controversy over how much school districts should be paying to charters.

“I used to think a commission is what you did to kill an idea,” he said. But, Pennsylvania’s success with basic education funding and special education funding commissions suggest the approach can generate solutions, Cetel said.

Lobbyists on all sides of the issue agree it’s time the state update the charter law. But there is no consensus on how to do it and whether Reese’s legislation covers all the bases.

The most universally welcomed part of the proposal is the portion that would create the funding commission.

“We’d like to see something happen,” said Mark DiRocco, executive director of the Pennsylvania Association of School Administrators.

His group would like to see the funding commission created. They have reservations about a plan in the bill that would assess the performance of charter school teachers using a different process than the one used by teachers in conventional public schools.

The school administrators’ group has, thus far, taken a neutral position on the bill. It’s the same stance taken by the Pennsylvania Association of School Business Officials, said Hannah Barrick, director of advocacy for the business officials’ group.

One of the things the business officials’ group likes is that Reese’s proposal includes “immediate relief” for schools, even if it’s short of what school district leaders think they are over-paying to cyber and other charter schools, she said.

Pennsylvania’s current way of paying charter schools is based on the cost of educating each student in the conventional school system. There are now seven deductions intended to reflect that charters may not have all the costs of conventional schools. But those deductions aren’t enough, she said.

Many school districts have begun to run their own computer-based programs to provide an alternative to losing students to outside cyber schools. In those cases, school officials have found that their costs for computerized classes are at least half what they pay in tuition to cyber schools, Barrick said.

A big chunk of those overpayments are tied to special education costs, Democrats said Wednesday morning.

They estimate that charter schools receive almost $200 million a year in special education payments above the cost of teaching the special education students enrolled in their classes.

In Gov. Tom Wolf’s first year in office, he lobbied for reforms that would have saved school districts about $160 million on their charter school tuition bills, state Rep. Mike Sturla, R-Lancaster said. Sturla said charters are getting overpaid by as much as $300 million a year.

The special education overpayments come from two things, said state Rep. Mark Longietti, D-Mercer County.

Charter schools charge the local school district more in tuition for special education students. And local officials complain that students they hadn’t identified as needing special education are classified as special-ed students when they enroll in cyber school.

Second, the special education tuition rate is based on an average of the cost of providing services, and many of the students getting special education services in cyber schools are getting services that cost less than the average, he said.

Longietti was one of eight Democrats who authored bills intended to provide fixes to Reese’s legislation. The Democrats on Wednesday afternoon tried to get their bills amended into Reese’s bill on the House floor. Most of those amendments were rejected, though the House did add language suggested by state Rep. Mike Schlossberg, D-Lehigh County, that would bar charter schools from advertising that they offer free education and require them to say their costs are covered by tax dollars.

His bill now awaits a final House vote, which could happen as soon as next week. If passed in the House it would go to the Senate. Similar measures passed both the House and Senate in 2015, but the two chambers failed to reach a final agreement.

John Finnerty reports from the CNHI Harrisburg Bureau for The Meadville Tribune and other Pennsylvania newspapers owned by Community Newspaper Holdings Inc. Email him at jfinnerty@cnhi.com and follow him on Twitter @cnhipa.

Source:

ILLINOIS: Legislative update 3.24.17

ILLINOIS: Legislative update 3.24.17

The Illinois House met this week, while Senate was not in session. Lawmakers are working to meet important deadlines; to remain active in the legislative process this session, bills must be approved in their chamber of origin by April 28. Next week marks the deadline for bills to move from committee to the floor for consideration in the full House. The committee deadline has already passed in the Senate.

Here are a few highlights from this week:


Proposals address substitute teacher shortage
Illinois has a serious problem with attracting and retaining substitute teachers. House lawmakers have put forward various measures in search of a solution, including:

(Click on each bill to view its status.)
HB 3021(Martwick) requires the Illinois State Board of Education (ISBE) to implement a program to allow temporary staffing firms to contract with school districts to provide substitute teachers.

HB 751 and HB 2547 (Davidsmeyer) would affect the definition of “eligible employment” for the purpose of allowing a retired teacher to return to teaching in subject shortage areas without impairing his or her retirement status or retirement annuity by changing the ending date of the employment from no later than June 30, 2013 to no later than June 30, 2020.

HB 2898 (Crespo) removes the sunset date of June 30, 2021 to allow individuals with four years of experience as school support personnel to obtain a principal endorsement.

HB 3298 (Scherer) waives the Substitute Teaching License fee for individuals who prove they were previously employed as a full-time teacher. If a Substitute Teaching License application is from someone who doesn’t currently hold one, if granted a license, they can receive a full refund by proving they taught 10 full school days within a year of receiving their license.  Status: Passed the House Elementary & Secondary Education: Licensing, Administration and Oversight Committee.

HB 3080 (Reis) increases the amount of time a retired educator may work as a teacher without impairing retirement status; allows 130 paid days or 700 paid hours in a school year. Effective immediately.


House Education committees update
The House Education Curriculum and Policy and Licensing committees discussed numerous proposals this week, including:

HB 3869 (Wallace) requires in-service training to develop cultural competency (rather than training on civil rights and in cultural diversity), including understanding and reducing implicit racial bias. This bill passed committee and is headed to the House floor. IFT supported this measure.

HB 3394 (Walsh) provides that the Department of Children and Family Services (DCFS) may recommend that a school district remove an employee who is the subject of an investigation from his or her employment position pending the outcome of an investigation; however, all employment decisions regarding school personnel shall be the sole responsibility of the school district or employer. This bill passed committee and now heads to the House.

HB 459 (Ives) provides that school districts may not be indebted in an amount greater than that indicated in current statute. If a district does exceed the debt limitation, it may not incur any new debt until the debt is lower than the debt limitation. This bill passed committee and is headed to the House floor. IFT opposed this legislation.

HB 266 (Flowers) allows parents to opt-out of standardized testing. The measure prevents the Illinois State Board of Education (ISBE) from assessing (testing) any student whose parent or guardian informed ISBE, in writing, that they do not wish the student be assessed. The bill requires ISBE to develop an opt-out form for parents to submit, and requires districts to distribute the forms. The bill did not pass out of committee, but the issue is likely to resurface. IFT supported this legislation.


IFT educates lawmakers about harms of mandate relief proposals
Due to the Governor’s budget impasse, a high volume of mandate relief bills have been introduced this session. With just one week remaining before the House committee deadline, IFT legislative staff continue to educate lawmakers about the harmful effects these changes would have on schools. To date, the House and Senate Education committees have not approved any of the following measures:

HB 440 (Ives) provides that physical education (PE) may (rather than shall) be provided to pupils. Because class sizes for PE are often larger than other classes, this bill may increase school district costs.

HB 663 (Morrison) provides that if any payments from the state to a school district are delayed for at least one payment cycle, the school board may discontinue, by a publicly adopted resolution, any instructional mandate in the Courses of Study Article of the school code during that time (with exceptions).

HB 670 (Morrison) provides that a school district may offer a driver education course by contracting with a commercial driver training school to provide both either or both the classroom instruction and driving practice components without requesting a modification or waiver of administrative rules.

HB 788 (Demmer) provides that all units of local government, school districts, and public colleges and universities may, by a majority vote of the governing body, exempt themselves from specified unfunded mandates if it is determined that it is not economically feasible to comply.

HB 793 (Demmer) provides that school districts need not comply with – and may discharge – any unfunded mandate or requirement placed on school districts by the school code or administrative rules. The IFT opposes this measure.

HB 2443 (Bennett) provides that a school district may offer a driver education course by contracting with a commercial driver training school to provide both the classroom instruction part and the practice driving part or either one without having to request a modification or waiver of administrative rules of the State Board of Education.

HB 2569 (Harris) provides that a school board may excuse pupils enrolled in grades 9 – 12 from engaging in physical education courses if those pupils request to be excused for any of certain listed reasons.

HB 3205 (Davidsmeyer) prohibits unfunded mandates, among other changes.

SB 13 (Cullerton) establishes a temporary property tax freeze and provides mandate relief for school districts, including greater flexibility in scheduling physical education, using commercial driving schools for driver education, and contracting with third parties for non-instructional services. SB 13 was part of the grand bargain, but did not receive a floor vote and has been referred back to the Senate Assignments committee.

SB 756 (Morrison) authorizes a school board to excuse students in grades 9-12 from engaging in physical education courses if those pupils request to be excused for any of certain listed reasons.

SB 1712 (Barickman) mirrors language in SB 13 that would allow for 3rd party contracting and physical and driver education changes without the referendum procedure for discharging mandates.

SB 1862 (Rooney) provides that the corporate authorities of a municipality may, by ordinance with a three-fifths vote, exempt the municipality from one unfunded mandate per year if it determines that compliance with the unfunded mandate creates an undue burden.

SB 2064 (Righter) provides that all units of local government, school districts, and public colleges and universities may, by a majority vote of the governing body, exempt themselves from specified unfunded mandates.

Read the full article here