Missouri Coalition Against Common Core Legislative Update The 2015 Legislative Session Has Begun MCACC 2015 Legislation We will have two main areas that we are focusing on for this session. 1. Student Data Privacy - The State attitude regarding student data is that, because your child is in a public school, the State is entitled to collect any data that it deems necessary or of interest regarding their participation in public school. This includes data about academic performance, discipline, physical/biometric targets, family/home life and values. Currently the state collects up to 61 data points on each individual child and includes them in the MO Student Information System. There is nothing currently in statute to prevent the state from expanding the number of data points that they collect on each child. Last session Commissioner Nicastro said that the state only collects the data it is required to collect by law. That means that any time the federal government decides to expand the amount of data a state must collect for each child, there is nothing to prevent DESE from collecting this additional data. Our bill will place limits on the expansion of data collected by the state. It will require data be kept within the district to assist district personnel with the delivery of education and limit any further data reporting outside the district to aggregate form. It will also provide protection for parents and students who are being coerced by districts to supply additional data through surveys (e.g. CDC student survey), forms (e.g. Free and Reduced Lunch Progrram) and student assignments that require students to write about home life or their thoughts and feelings. Notice of Proposed Rulemaking - HB1490 - In last years bill there was language that required the state board of education to promulgate rules relating to the protection of student data collected by the state. This past week, the SBE approved a motion to get this NPRM going. We will be calling on the public to supply comments on this rule during the 30 day comment period which should end somewhere in mid February. Watch for more on this coming once the NPRM is posted in the Missouri Register. 2. Parental Rights - There are a number of parental rights bills being considered this year. We are working with other stakeholders to see if a single bill can be agreed upon by all the parties. More on that as negotiations continue. 3. HJRs to Change The Selection of State Board of Education members - There are a number of bills being filed to change how the state board of Ed members are selected, as well as bills that would establish term limits for SBE members. Reps. Dorman, Ruth, Montecillo all have bills either filed or soon to be filed on this topic. If passed by the legislature, this issue would go on the next statewide ballot for public voting as it would require a change to the state constitution. 4. USDA Smart Snack Program Exemption Days For School Fundraisers - As part of their National School Lunch Program program, the USDA requires states to have a policy regarding the number of days each school building may be exempted from the USDA nutrition guidelines in order to sell food for fundraisers (e.g. cupcake or bagel sales in school.) Many schools use these fundraisers to help buy food for needy kids to take home over the weekend, or even to fund basic school supplies. DESEs policy only allows for 5 such exemption days (based on a survey of school administrators in which the highest number of days they could select was 5). For comparison, TN and OK allow for 30 exempted days. There is no penalty to the state for having more days, nor are local districts precluded from self limiting such events for fewer days than the state allows if they so choose. This policy is causing extreme hardship for some school districts and is another example of the feds trying to tell us what we can and cant do in our schools. Our bill will seek 45 exempted days. See more details about what other states have done here. HB1490 Work Group Members Needed Teachers and Parents For various reasons, there are now positions on the standards work groups that are open and Speaker Diehl would like to fill ASAP. According to the law, any teacher on the WG must have 10 years teaching experience in the subject area and be a Missouri resident for at least 3 years. The sponsor of HB1490, Rep. Kurt Bahr, has been tasked by the Speaker with helping to fill these positions. His LA, Nina Dean, is compiling a list of candidates for Rep. Diehls consideration. She says that all she needs from potential candidates is a resume with contact information and a brief paragraph about their interest in serving. It would also be helpful if your representative could also write a short note recommending the candidate. Forward any candidate recommendations to Nina at [email protected] PLEASE VET THE CANDIDATE on their position on Common Core before submitting their name! K-5th grade - (Any one who has taught in elementary would qualify for these positions as they teach all subjects.) Math-teacher Science-teacher 6th-12th grade (These positions could also be filled by college level faculty in the subject area who would be well placed to determine whether the standards would make students college-ready.) ELA-teacher Science Teacher Social Studies (2)-teachers Parents Needed - (Parents need only be residents of the state for 3 years and have a child enrolled in K-12 education.) ELA 6-12 History 6-12 Math K-5 Work groups are meeting on average once a month in Jefferson City. There are some additional conference calls or webinars taking place. Teachers would need the support of their district in order to participate as it is unlikely they would have enough contract days off to participate otherwise. Other Bills to Watch We will follow the progress of other bills this session and alert you if we believe that it is important to provide testimony or call your legislator about them. House HB43 (Wood) Establishes guidelines for statewide student assessments HB71 (Walton Gray) Establishes a task force on police officer presence in schools and communities and seeks to establish community schools in STL and KC. The concern would be if this becomes a wedge to establish community schools in other areas. HB135 (Rowland), SB22 (Chappelle-Nadal) SB171 (Romine) Several bills that would change attendance requirements from days to hours. SB22 requires a minimum 1044 hours attendance. For comparison, home schoolers are required to attend 1000 hours and public school students attend approx 1260 over the 180 days currently required. The overall problem with these bills is that they define state required attendance at a micro level which would support the schools (MSIPs) attendance requirements and provide no special consideration for high performing students or those who have legitimate parent approved reasons for not attending school. HB242 (Lauer) Adds making a terrorist threat to the list of offenses that school administrators must report. This would be a matter of a criminal record if reported by individual student and would violate the privacy protections provided to minors in the judicial system. The language is vague and therefore dangerous. HB382 (Swan) Requires school districts to develop a system for identifying students who are at risk of not being ready for college-level work or entry-level career position in 9th grade. Micromanaging of student life choices as well as stigmatizing students who are not yet ready to make such life choices at 14 years of age. HB383 (Montecillo) Establishes term limits for State Board of Ed mbrs (2 terms, 8 years) HB365 (Spencer) Establishes the Student Accountability Act that requires a student score proficient or higher on a state assessment in order to receive a high school academic diploma. This would change an existing statute that prevents the state from setting an exam as a requirement for high school graduation. Does anyone have that much confidence in a single test that it could determine whether or not you can graduate? Senate SB1 (Pearce) SB49 (Sifton) SB22 (Chappelle-Nadal) A few large omnibus education bills in the Senate that we will need to be carefully reviewed. Researchers needed here. SB84 (Chapelle-Nadal) Establishes term limits for SBE members, 8 years max SB171 (Romine) establishes different requirements for high school equivalency. A similar bill is in the House. Requires the state to have at least one alternative to Pearson HiTest which is aligned to CC and very expensive. We like this bill. Low priority but of interest SB38 (Romine) Relates to data collected by MO Health Net. Requires DESE have a seat at the table. We need to understand why. SB78 (Emery) A-F school grading system requirement. Looks very similar to Amendment 3 which was voted down by 70+%. MNEA and MSTA likely to lobby heavily against this bill. SB110 (Schaefer) would prohibit the Mizzou curators from hiring someone who appointed them to their position, ie. they cant give Nixon a job when he is out. :) SB7 (Keavney) changes rules for small school districts who are in the hold harmless category in the foundation formula. Also SB173 (Romine) Researchers needed here. HB301 (Hicks) Relating to tax credits for employers who hire STEM graduates. Why limit tax benefits only to those fields? This is gov picking winners and losers. Researchers Needed We are in need of people willing to do research at home. This could include looking through bill text (both state and federal), reading through FOIA documents, and finding some important contact information on the web. If you are interested in helping MCACC with research, please contact anngie1984@gmail with your contact information and any area you have a special interest in or special skills. MCACC | 16309 Autumn Crest Ct. | Ellisville | MO | 63011
Posted on: Mon, 19 Jan 2015 02:45:58 +0000
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