The legislative session is not over as the legislators grapple with bringing closure to the budget issue by trying to reach agreement on a package of cuts and taxes. But, they did pass significant legislation before closing last week. SB 6696 was passed to support the state’s RttT bid. This bill will:
*Revise teacher and principal evaluation processes.
*Create additional opportunities for teacher certification.
*Add another year for a total of three probationary years.
*Allow the state to intervene in failing schools.
In an Education Week article Representative Sullivan shared his thoughts about the legislation boosting our state’s chances. I believe that it provides us with a better platform to write the grant, but still lags behind what many states have done to prepare for this opportunity.
"At the current time, we have very little chance of getting a grant from the Race to the Top program," said Rep. Pat Sullivan, D-Covington. "But hopefully, with these changes to our system, we will be in a much better position to compete with other states."
The second piece of important legislation is HB 2776 that puts in place recommendations from the Quality Education Council’s work to implement last year’s education reform bill HB 2261. This is a very positive step to demonstrate a commitment to change that will:
*Begin a new way to fund schools using a prototype school model .
*Increase the state’s funding of maintenance and operation’s costs formerly called NERC’s.
*Lower class size in grades K-3.
*Implement an improved funding formula for transportation expenditures.
They accomplished much in a short period of time.
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I read the bill in order to understand how a "prototypical" school was being defined. I found that definition and see that our configuration is significantly different from the three prototypes. What I can't tell is whether that will hurt us in any way in terms of funding. Any insight?
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