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Week Two Ends With Education Committee Action Week 2 and counting: Friday was the first ‘Educator Day on the Hill’. It is always productive and powerful to have teachers, the people who do the work of education every day, talking in person with the elected legislators who represent them personally and the schools where they teach. There were educators from small and large districts, urban and rural, elementary, secondary and Special Education. There were good conversations about several important issues. Legislators learned from their teacher constituents and teachers learned a lot about the legislative process. The Senate Education Committee began the day Friday. SB132: Higher Education Scholarship Amendments, a bill to revise the criteria for New Century Scholarships, was presented by Sen. John Valentine. Concern about ability to fund the scholarship program is the driver behind the proposed changes. Changes include higher academic standards to qualify, earlier timelines for application and the requirement that a scholarship recipient be enrolled in a higher education program in the Fall following graduation (with some exceptions). The bill passed out of committee and will move on for debate by the full Senate where some amendments are likely. Sen. Pat Jones presented SB49 (second substitute): Vending Machines in Public Schools. The Senator stated the second substitute was not the bill she had hoped to pass. The revised bill has “lost its teeth,” she said. However, she feels bringing public attention to the issue of childhood obesity and encouraging healthy nutrition for students is important. Debate on other bills allowed inadequate time for the presentation and for public comment. There were many people who had come to testify to the bill who were not able to testify. The House Education Committee meeting in the afternoon ended the week. Rep. Marie Poulson presented HJR3: Joint Resolution on Teacher Performance Pay. It passed with a unanimous recommendation by the House committee. UEA strongly supports HJR3. It establishes a framework to guide legislative action on any performance pay proposals. It identifies those elements that must be included in performance pay programs if they are to be successful and acceptable to educators. These include collaborative development, open to all educators who qualify, fair and objective criteria aligned with school improvement programs, and a sustainable source of funding among other things. HB268: Public School Innovations, sponsored by Rep. Keith Grover, was pulled from the agenda by the sponsor who indicated he is still working on the legislation. UEA has serious concerns about this bill and will keep educators informed as it moves through the process. It is likely to be back on the House committee agenda next week. On Monday the Senate Government Operations Committee will begin considering several pieces of ethics legislation. The Public Education Appropriations Subcommittee will meet in the afternoon to begin its deliberations on education priorities and what recommendations it will forward for FY2011 education funding. THIS IS THE TIME for teachers to contact their legislator expressing the good things that are happening in their classrooms and their schools and where funding is most needed to help them most effectively continue positive work with students. To send a letter to your legislator expressing concerns about the public education budget, click here. Conversations with individual legislators will intensify as the retirement bills begin to move through the legislative process in the coming week. The Senate Retirement Committee will meet at noon on Wednesday and consider SB43: Post-retirement Employment Amendments, SB63: New Public Employees’ Tier II Contributory Retirement Act, and SB94: Supplemental Benefit Amendments for Noncontributory Public Employees. To send a letter to your legislator expressing concerns about the retirement bills, click here Educator Day on the Hill Today’s Educator Day on the Hill was a great success. We ended up with more than 20 people from nine different locals. Many legislators had a chance to talk to teachers first hand. The day started at 7:30 a.m. with a quick overview and then most of the group headed to the Senate Education Committee. Participants listened and also had the opportunity to provide testimony. Everyone then dispersed to speak with their own representatives and senators. We even had two of the teachers from Cache get interviewed by Richard Piatt for KSL-TV. At the noon debrief, six legislators stopped in to touch base and answer questions. It was nice to get a chance to say thank you to Representatives Laura Black, Marie Poulson, Jim Bird, Johnny Anderson, Rhonda Menlove and Steve Mascaro for their support of education issues. The day ended with attendance at the House Education Committee. Thank you to everyone who participated. Our next Educator day on the Hill is just a few days away, Wednesday, Feb. 10. Please contact your local president or UniServ director if you will be able to attend. We are hoping to hand deliver retirement information to every member of the House so the more the merrier. New Retirement Bill Introduced Sen. Liljenquist today introduced SB63: New Public Employees’ Tier II Contributory Retirement Act. This is the third and perhaps most onerous of the senator’s proposed changes to the Utah Retirement Systems. The bill would eliminate the current retirement system for all new hires and replace it with a choice between a defined contribution plan and a greatly reduced hybrid defined benefit/defined contribution plan. For a comparison of the current and proposed plans, click here.SB77 and More Budget Reviews UEA had a large team at the Capitol today advocating for public education and teachers. The UEA Legislative Team was joined by Susan Firmage and Joel Briscoe from DEA and Bonnie DeSpain, a retired UEA member. SB77: School District Leave Policies remained on the Senate second reading calendar. Although debate of the bill was expected, other bills and a visit from US Senator Bob Bennett filled in the morning floor time. There have been many, many contacts with senators concerning this bill. In addition to the UEA, superintendents and principals have weighed in, providing information and examples of the negative impacts this bill would have on districts and school employees. The bill may be debated tomorrow. On Monday, members of the Subcommittee will bring their individual priorities for funding programs. They will discuss, debate and determine the recommendations to make to Executive Appropriations. New revenue projections for the state of Utah will be received by the Legislature about February 15. After that overall funding plans will begin to form. Legislature Day 8: Budget Issues Dominate The Public Education Appropriations Subcommittee held its fourth meeting. The Committee’s Fiscal Analyst recommended FY2011 budgets for the State Office of Education, Science Education Outreach (teacher education programs in various areas of science offered through six public entities…several teachers testified to the quality of these programs in helping educators improve science instruction), Child Nutrition Programs and Educator Licensing. The fee schedule for licenses must be adopted each year by the legislature. Fees are recommended to stay the same in 2011…they have not changed since FY2008. This Committee will meet again Thursday afternoon to complete its initial review of the education budget. Discussions about priorities for funding and where cuts may be made will begin on Monday HB1 (first substitute): Minimum School Program Base Budget was debated and passed by the House. This is the first formal action taken in the budget process…essential a starting point for discussion. The bill now goes to the Senate for action. Everyday will be a day to work for improved funding above the base budget. To send a letter to your legislator expressing concerns about the public education budget, click here. SB77: School District Leave Policies is on the Senate second reading calendar and will most likely be debated Thursday morning. THIS IS THE CRITICAL TIME for local leaders, members, superintendents and local board members to contact Senators and ask them to oppose this bill. SB77 interferes with local control of elected school boards and micromanages the decisions of district administration about what is appropriate, necessary and beneficial a school district with respect to leave time for employees. To send a letter to your legislator expressing concerns about SB77, click here. PR Campaign Designed to Increase Public Awareness This week the UEA kicked off an effort to help the public understand the need to make quality public schools a priority. The goal is to assist the work of UEA’s Legislative Team by encouraging the public to support investments in public education. The campaign’s centerpiece is UtahsFuture.org, a microsite with valuable information and statistics about Utah public education. Other components of the campaign include:
Please encourage your friends, neighbors, family and co-workers to visit UtahsFuture.org, to contact their legislators and to help us Make Quality Public Schools a Priority – Now! House and Senate Education Committees Move Bills The House Education Committee discussed SB16: U-PASS Amendments. This bill expands the use of adaptive online testing in place of CRTs for districts that choose to participate. Supt. Thorne from Sevier School District testified regarding the pilot used there with success. The bill moved from committee for full debate in the House. The Senate Education Committee again discussed SB77: School District Leave Policies. No amendments were offered to address concerns raised about the bill. It passed out favorably with Sens. Dayton, Bramble and Jenkins voting ‘yes’ and Sens. Morgan and Goodfellow voting ‘no.’ Sens. Stephenson and Hillyard were absent. Contacts to senators from district board members, superintendents and local association members (by e-mail or phone) should be made immediately. Specific areas of concern include:
The Senate Education Committee also moved HB42 (first substitute) to the full Senate. This bill allows school districts to extend teacher provisional status to five years. Districts that choose to do so must establish a written policy specifying the circumstances under which provisional status may be extended. The sponsor testified this is intended to give flexibility when extenuating circumstances exist. Much of the day was spent in one-on-one conversations with senators and representatives about proposals to change the current retirement system. Thanks to Joel Briscoe, UniServ director with the Davis Education Association, who talked with Davis County legislators. Many legislators indicate they are receiving e-mails from educators and other public employees in their districts. These contacts are VERY IMPORTANT (please remember not to send e-mails from your school computers). Important meetings to follow on Feb. 3 include House debate on HB1: Minimum School Program Base Budget (this bill may be substituted prior to debate) and meeting number four of the Public Education Appropriations Committee. February 1, 2010 Association Leave Bill Leaves Unanswered Questions The Senate Education Committee met this morning. Sen. Dayton presented SB77: School District Leave Policies. The bill prohibits all paid association or union leave and requires reimbursement for costs for certain unpaid leave including benefits. Sen Dayton’s presentation of the bill clearly reflected that she is focused on our association activity. She stated that it is not fiscally responsible for a district to expend money which could/should be used in the classroom to pay an employee when doing such activity. Testifying for the bill were Parents for Choice, stating it is wrong to subsidize a private organization with a clear political agenda, and Utah Citizens for Tax Fairness. The Utah School Boards Association testified against the bill saying they believe this is an issue of local control. UEA Legislative Team member Kory Holdaway asked questions to clarify what are felt to be ambiguities in the bill, specifically asking what associations are intended to be affected by the bill and how are “regular school responsibilities” defined. It became evident there was no clarity around what was meant and what would be prohibited. Several senators indicated concerns that terms were unclear and raised questions. Sen. Dayton, recognizing that passage out of committee might be a problem, made a motion to move to the next item on the agenda. The bill will be back on the next Committee agenda. Stay tuned to see what, if any, revisions will be made to the bill. The fiscal notes on several bills have now been issued, which will allow the bills to begin to move through the process. We are waiting to see when the Senate Retirement Committee will be scheduled. Retirement— Ethics— Budget— The Fiscal Analyst presented the FY2011 Minimum School Program. The news is not good. Projected growth of 11,044 students will require 13,581 additional WPUs. Funding growth in just the Basic Program would require $35 million. Fully funding growth would require $74.5 million. After reducing some $300 million for current one-time money, which will not be available in 2011, another $101.5 million is to be cut. This would mean decreasing the value of the WPU from $2,577 to $2,464. Reductions have largely been taken in programs not funded on the WPU formulas. This approach is likely to continue along with reducing the WPU value. Committee discussion around dealing with the FY2011 budget will continue. New revenue figures will be available in mid-February and will weigh heavily in final proposals for next year’s funding. |