Week 25: This Too Shall Evolve

Happy Friday!

Thank you for all you have done in Week 25 to meet your own professional goals, your students’ goals, and our district's goals. Our efforts are gaining dividends for our students each week as we progress through the year, but these past two weeks have made working in education more interesting because of the things happening in Little Rock. It appears that SB294 will become the LEARNS Act and completely transform our system of education.

For decades educators have seen reform initiatives come and go. Because of this pattern, one of the commonly repeated mantras among educators is “This too shall pass”. Meaningful public education reform on a large scale really has never lasted in Arkansas or the United States, but there has always been a part of the reform that has staying power, such as standardized testing. Understanding that I have tweaked that mantra a little bit by saying, “This too shall evolve”, and this is true because we have seen it happening to LEARNS since it was released on February 20th.

I will use this Wrap-up to inform readers about the latest evolution of SB294 that comes out of the many questions the language of the bill created and the testimonies given by so many people.

Salary Increases

There has been a concern or question spreading across the state that teachers’ salaries will be capped at $52,000 but that is not in the bill. Teachers are guaranteed a minimum of a $2,000 raise. The base minimum teacher pay will be $50,000 and the state is paying for the raises in perpetuity. Separately, school districts will continue to receive adequacy funds, which increase every two years. This is what districts currently use for step increases. They will have this money to put in step increases in a manner they decide best suits their district. The $50-$52,000 is the starting point, not the ending point but school districts will have to build new compensation packages that can have steps for educational attainment and experience.

I spoke with Secretary Oliva directly on Wednesday along with a few other coop superintendents and he explained that we would still receive the usual matrix per pupil funding, otherwise known as foundation funds, and that if we are making ends meet now, the new raise would not negatively impact us. We have also learned that there will be an increase in foundation funds so we will be able to afford classified salary increases. Representative Brooks stated this week that the new per-pupil amount would be $8,129, but he has since backtracked on that exact number. Our current amount is $7,413, so if we receive anything close to the $8,129 that was spoken, that will be a good increase to properly fund schools.

Additionally, the bill says that school districts must spend 80 percent of the state foundation funding they receive for teacher salaries on teacher pay. They also must publish that information on their school website for transparency purposes so teachers know how much money local districts are putting towards teacher pay compared to what the state is sending them for those salaries. This year, Mena is at 85 percent and there are only two districts in the state who do not already meet this potential new mandate.

Vouchers

There has been much concern expressed about the voucher money going to homeschoolers without accountability. In the conversation I had with Secretary Oliva, I explained that sometimes parents in our district choose the homeschool option when faced with the consequences of their students being chronically absent. He stated that we could address issues like this during the rule-writing process and that there will be accountability for parents who use state funds for homeschooling. He shares the same concerns as we do.

There are also accountability measures for those receiving Educational Freedom Account (EFA) funds. Money will never make it to the hands of parents. Funds will be put into an account specific to the student. There are “qualifying expenses” and “non-qualifying expenses” that the money can be used for. For private schools, payments will be made quarterly to those schools on behalf of the student. These funds will be audited annually. If someone is found to be misusing funds, their account will be closed and turned over to the Attorney General and Inspector General. There will also be a hotline for people to make anonymous tips for suspected misuse of funds. In year one of this plan, the ESA fund will be capped at $6M limiting the number of students who may access it.

Additionally, all students who take EFA funds will be required to take a year-end assessment as determined by the state board. This could be the same assessment required for students attending public schools or a state board-approved nationally recognized norm-referenced test. The Dept of Ed will develop a process to publicly disseminate the aggregated reporting on those testing results.

Amendments and Rules

We have seen the amendments we have asked for but there are a few concerns we still have:

* The amendments requested for the Teacher Fair Dismissal stricken from the law have been added to assure due process within the language of the bill.

* We are concerned about the service learning requirement, as well, especially for underprivileged and rural students. We have explained how ninth and tenth graders take full course loads to assure on-time graduation should they fail a course and that the service learning requirement could create difficulty for these students who have to make up courses.

* We want to be sure the maternity leave partnership includes both the daily rate of pay for the employee and the cost of a substitute. That is not clear in the bill at this point.

* Course choice is also a concern without specifics due to the logistics of what the bill implies it will be. Implications are that students will be able to take courses at multiple schools as long as schedules and transportation allow.

* The transportation innovation grants language in the bill implies that transportation means can be expanded to contract with private citizens and the sharing of buses among school districts and other agencies with large-scale transportation.

According to Secretary Oliva, educators and administrators will be directly involved in the rule-writing process and many of these concerns that still linger can be addressed and resolved when this is happening. It will also take a long time to finish all of the rules and procedures this law will create.

Closing

SB294 has already evolved into something more palatable. Since it was released, many educators have weighed in on the wonderful things in the bill while still having reservations about other things. The democratic process has been working to shape this bill into something better and as we work on rules and finally have them in place in schools, the impact of the bill will surely continue to evolve and change the way we do school.

You should listen to the testimony given this past Tuesday night by educators and parents speaking for and against this bill and learn some of the ideas behind the perceptions people have about education. You may view a recording of the House Ed Committee meeting Tuesday at this link and all other meetings are archived at this link.

Here is the latest from the Thought Exchange and it remains open at this link.

At Mena Public Schools our students are prepared, our staff is supported, and our community is confident.

Have a great weekend!