New:
Testing Bill Train is Forming
SB 926 (Flores) is moving down the road. The bill still removes all but the Algebra I and Biology End of Course exam requirements for high schools. It provides for a study to find alternative nationally normed tests for these exams. The ELA and math state assessments are moved to the last three weeks of the year. Then, the bill gets more complicated. It gets more and more difficult to figure out what is in the bill. Additional baggage has been added to make this a train bill:
A Step in the Right Direction
Have you ever been in a maze and had trouble finding the exit? Tracking bills through the legislative process is like that. Well, it is even worse because some bills get lost and others change their identity. I tried to check on the Best and Brightest bills. SB 1552 is no longer just about teacher recruitment bonuses. It is also about school improvement. But, school improvement used to be about Schools of Hope. Forget all the old bill numbers; it is time to start anew. Here’s what happened:
Senator Simmons filed an amendment to his Best and Brightest teacher recruitment bill SB 1552. The bill incorporates many of the provisions in House bill 796 and broadens eligibility for scholarships. It adds college level tests and grade point averages etc. to those high school SAT and ACT scores that seemed such a bizarre way to select and reward teachers. The new bills are not perfect but are an improvement. They could help make teaching a more attractive option in this time of teacher shortages. At least the bill provides multiple and diverse ways to qualify for salary bonuses.
Yesterday, SB 1552 changed again. Senator Simmons filed another amendment to insert some School Improvement language from HB 5105. The League was unhappy with HB 5105 last week. It promoted Schools of Hope that took control of struggling schools away from districts. Pulling students out of the district simply weakens all schools.
Senator Simmons’ amendment not only eliminates Schools of Hope funding, it maintains district control. It provides support and flexibility that has long been needed. Schools receiving grades below a “C” will have turn around support that includes:
- An additional hour of instruction.
- Wrap around community support services provided by a non-profit entity that includes health services, after school programs, drug prevention, college and career readiness and food and clothing banks.
- Principal autonomy mostly in the curriculum.
Traditional public schools that fail to improve after three years of intensive support still face a choice to either reassign students, close the school and reopen as a charter, or contract either as a conversion charter school or with an outside agency to run the school.
Politifact: Bush is Mostly Wrong
Jeb Bush is pushing privatization in New Hampshire. In this latest move, all parents would receive a voucher to attend a school of choice–private or public. Bush argues that competition from vouchers make public schools better. He cites research in Florida conducted by David Figlio. Figlio himself says that the number of students he studied was small, and it makes sense that public schools were able to make modest gains because they had not lost that much revenue.
(In the long run, public schools had lost some low achieving students to private, small and mostly religious schools in early grades, half of whom in middle school, returned.)
Be Aware: Don’t be shut out
Why are the House and Senate education committees operating differently this year? There has been relatively little discussion about differences in the policies offered by each chamber. All of a sudden, bills in the Senate have replaced House bills. There are no committee hearings open to the public on these changes. Instead, the House and Senate bills go to the conference committee that includes leaders from each chamber. They negotiate the final bills in secret.
The Miami Herald published an article questioning this approach. They are skeptical that any real input from the public will be heard.
The differences in policy have huge financial impact. For example:
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- League Members visit the office of Senator Marco Rubio
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- League Members wait to see Senator Bill Nelson
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- Education Team at the Department of Education
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