Education Reform: National standards and national testing with no price tag

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Sandra in Brevard







If the Florida legislature is sincere in their concern over money needed to fund schools, why are they embracing hundreds of millions of dollars diverted to testing initiatives? I was surprised that I knew nothing about the two national consortia involved in making a new generation of computer-based testing. I went looking for information and found Missouri Education Watchdog a credible resource.

This group was recently interviewing by the Heritage Foundation. Because this is another complicated event, I offered Katie Couric's announcement of the initiative in my last blog as a start. Today, I offer the Heritage Foundation interview as the next step in understanding the complexity of national standards and national testing initiatives. Please watch.



Florida legislative update: Senator Wise proposed a bill to eliminate salaries to School Board members. Salaries are currently based upon size of the district according to a state regulation and formula. Wise says his bill offers $100 stipend per meeting and the cost savings would allow districts to use this money for classroom instruction. SB7234 will be discussed in committee soon. According to the Orlando Sentinel article, this is not the first time Wise has introduced this idea and school board members are not pleased. Is this really about cost-savings or is it yet more of governmental overreach? On Wednesday, there will be a vote on SB1466/HB5101, which will likely lead to less availability of math classes after Algebra 1 and foreign language classes. How does this help prepare a workforce to compete in a global economy?


Read all of Sandra's Blogs at Grumpy Educators

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SB736 Heads to Senate Education Appropriations Committee

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Sandra in Brevard





SB736 got a unanimous vote in the Senate Pre-K12 Education Committee and will now be considered by the Senate Budget Subcommittee on Education Pre-K12 Appropriation. The subcommittee is chaired by Senator David Simmons and Senator Bill Montford is VIce Chair. Committee members are Senators Nancy Detert, Paula Dockery, Anitere Flores, Evelyn Lynn, Jeremy Ring, Gary Siplin, and Stephen Wise. They will meet to discuss SB736 on February 15.

Some members of the Educations Appropriations subcommittee already showed some irritation with Governor Scott's budget plans for education that includes a 10 percent cut and a suggestion districts use this years funds to make up for the cut next year. Here are some highlights of their comments:

Sen. Evelyn Lynn, R-Ormond Beach, cast doubt on Scott's suggestion to plug some of the hole with stimulus money districts were given to spend for the current school year. "I just don't think that's as straight an arrow as I would expect," said Lynn, chairwoman of the Republican Senate Conference. "I look at it as a little smoke and mirrors."


"Regifting," Sen. Nancy Detert, R-Venice, interrupted.


"It seems a little bit improper," Lynn said.


Chairman David Simmons, R-Maitland, said some districts, including Broward - the state's second largest district, had already spent the money. Simmons said he's awaiting a report on all the districts.


"We'll have a better idea about whether this is real or not," Simmons said.


Senate budget chief J.D. Alexander pointed out to the governor's budget staff in his committee that their math did not add up correctly. While the staff showed cuts of $4.6 bilion in spending, Alexander pointed out the "real cut" adds up to less than $3 billion.

Reaction from the House side was similar:

“A 10 percent reduction is a significant cut,” said committee Chairwoman Marti Coley, R-Marianna.


Coley and Rep. Janet Adkins scolded Scott’s office for trying to "have it both ways" with the education budget. Scott said he’s against the use of federal stimulus money, but his office tacitly encourages school districts to use the money to boost per-pupil spending.


“It’s imperative that you go back and you redo the numbers,” said Adkins, R-Fernandina Beach.


"Committee members also questioned why budget categories had been renamed and changed. The so-called FEFP — the state's complicated, longtime school-funding formula — gets a new moniker, for example, and is now the Education Choice Fund.


Such changes make it hard to compare Scott's spending proposal with prior years' budgets, they said. "I don't know how the math adds up," said Rep. Kelli Stargel, R-Lakeland."

Reaction from Sandra In Brevard

Last year there was no detail on how much SB6 was going to cost. The Appropriations Committee must explain this year how much SB736 will cost and given the proposed cuts where the funds will come from precisely. And "fiscal impact is indeterminate" is not an acceptable response. If they do not develop a cost analysis, there's no point going forward.


Read more: http://www.miamiherald.com/2011/02/08/2057172/lawmakers-demand-budget-details.html#ixzz1Dgbq3R74

Read more: http://miamiherald.typepad.com/nakedpolitics/2011/02/gov-rick-scotts-k-12-budget-called-smoke-and-mirrors.html#ixzz1DgaK2EXH

http://blogs.orlandosentinel.com/news_politics/2011/02/scotts-4-6-billion-in-cuts-dont-add-up.html

http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/politics/os-scott-education-budget-folo-20110208,0,5917927.story

SB736: Fiscal Impact Indeterminate

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Sandra in Brevard




The Florida Senate Bill Analysis and Fiscal Impact Statement for SB736, filed by State Senator Stephen Wise, appeared on the PreK-12 Education Committee website. On page 11, Section V: Fiscal Impact Statement reads as follows:

A. Tax/Fees Issue: None

B. Private Sector Impact: None

C. Government Sector Impact:

"The fiscal impact of this bill is indeterminate.

According to the DOE, there will be additional costs to the districts for monitoring the use of evaluation criteria by supervisors and administrators.

As part of Florida's funding in Race to the Top, the DOE will assist school districts in their development of assessment items that may be used for locally developed assessments. Specifically, the DOE will provide the following:


Resources for districts to develop assessment items for "hard to measure" content areas, including Physical and Health Education, Fine Arts, and World Languages; Assessment items for core academic areas (Math, Social Studies,


Science, Language Arts, and Spanish) for grade levels and content areas that are not already tested by FCAT or state end-of-course assessments; and Development of a technology platform that will provide districts secure access to high-quality assessment items and tools for the creation and administration of student assessments.


The DOE notes that over the next three years the grant will provide funding for the development of end-of-course exams in most subject areas. The DOE also noted that additional resources or user charges will be necessary to maintain an assessment item bank or platform at the conclusion of the grant period.

According to the DOE, there are over 400 charter schools in Florida. The DOE reports that there will be a significant impact on its staff to review the evaluation systems for these schools.

It is not anticipated that the bill revises the total funds for instructional personnel and school administrator compensation."

Senator Wise seemed to indicate that he would focus on getting legislation written, but let the Senate Education Appropriations Committee figure out how to fund it. No cost analysis ever emerged for last year's effort (SB6).

Given the current state of the economy and Governor Scott's newly released budgetary measures, it is impossible to guess if SB736 is fundable even if a cost analysis emerges. With the proposed additional slashes to education funding, it would be unreasonable to divert a single remaining local dollar and/or resource to new tests and database development. Race to the Top funds extends to those school districts who signed on. The analysis does not address funding for districts that are not getting Race to the Top support.

Reports suggest that the Governor's proposal was not received with smiles and cheers in Tallahassee. While Scott proposes lowering the forced property tax, he cannot control local (county) education property taxes. If SB736 turns out to be an unfunded mandate, will local governments have to look at local increases they control?

The devil is in the details and we just don't have enough of that. Scott's proposal has to be voted on by the legislature and it looks like Scott needs to convince them. Simply stated, there must be no unfunded mandates and no encroachment on local control.

Read the full bill analysis here: http://www.flsenate.gov/Session/Bill/2011/736

Merit Pay: Senator Wise hints at significant roadblocks to bill development

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Sandra in Brevard




Senator Stephen Wise is described as the "Senate's key player in the movement to reform teacher pay." A few key issues emerged after a week of committee meetings and from the three hour public workshop in Tallahassee on Thursday. These issues are not new, but significant ones that went unaddressed in last year's legislative attempt that led to Governor Crist's veto. Senator Wise indicates that merit pay is a complex issue that may require more than one year to sort out, the legislature needs to figure out how it will fund merit pay, and how teachers of special needs children will be evaluated. The input at the public meeting repeated last year's calls for greater local control over merit pay decision-making versus increased Tallahassee regulation. Nevertheless, Wise "hopes to have a bill in the second or third week of March."

It looks like fiscal responsibility, 100% missing in SB6, has found a place at the table this year:

"Lawmakers must also work out how to pay for a performance pay system. The state's Race to the Top money will help some districts put into place a system to evaluate educators, but the federal program does not provide dollars for a salary bump. There is a limited pool of state money for districts that want to participate in merit pay, but it is like not enough for statewide participation."

Not only was I unavailable to travel to Tallahassee for the workshop, but I could not view it via live-streaming from my workplace. So far, a replay has not been uploaded. Nevertheless, you can see Senator Wise's video invite, the workshop if it appears, and other meetings you might be interested in here:




Grumpy Note: Wise is no idiot, he's perfecty aware that parts of Florida are almost a ten hour drive from Tally. Even Jacksonville is three boring hours behind the wheel from Tallahasse. Making the trip was out of the question for most people, and he knew it.

His announcement wasn't an invitation, he went through the motions so he could tell us later he'd invited the public.  In truth, it wasn't an invitation it was pure horse manure 

Merit Pay Bill: Senator Wise promises it won't be like last time

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Sandra in Brevard


We can only hope that Senator Wise is a man of his word. He says that his committee will devise a "thoughtful" bill. According to the Orlando Sentinel, Senator Wise will be holding a meeting this Friday, January 28, so that the "public can give testimony on the controversial topic." I don't know about any of Grumpyelder's readers, but I cannot travel to Tallahassee to give any testimony. These are the things I would like Senator Wise to be "thoughtful" about as he crafts the new bill:

It must be both fiscally possible and responsible given the budget deficit.

It should place no additional fiscal burdens on school districts nor on property owners.

It must recognize that there are differences in students. For example, exceptional ed teachers cannot be measured based on the performance of their students based on one test only. Merit pay has to be fair.

It must reasonable and allow the use of multiple measures to indicate student achievement. Tennessee has been doing just that for some time and recognized as a good practice.

It must recognize the long-standing concerns by parents and community members that schools have become testing mills, too much attention on tests and not enough on instruction. The bill should not increase the teaching to tests.

Anything else? What else should Senator Wise and the committee seriously consider???


http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/education/os-florida-merit-pay-superintendents-20110126,0,6284635.story