GEA: Hot Off The Press

NEA.org - 10/21/11
HOW COULD THEY?!? SENATE GOP LEADERSHIP SAYS NO TO EDUCATORS, FIRST REPONDERS, AND STUDENTS!TELL CONGRESS TO SUPPORT FUNDING TO MODERNIZE SCHOOLS AND CREATE JOBS
On October 20, the Senate failed to reach the required votes necessary to move an education jobs package forward. The 50-50 vote fell short of the 60 votes needed to move the bill forward. See how your Senator voted.
The focus now shifts to pushing other critical pieces of the President’s American Jobs Act – including urgently needed funding to repair and modernize schools. Senator Brown (D-OH) and Representative DeLauro (D-CT) have introduced the Fix America’s Schools Today Act (S. 1597/H.R.2498), which would provide needed funds to ensure students the learning environments so essential to their success. And, the bill will also help create good jobs to put Americans back to work, as construction and building repair generally create 9,000-10,000 jobs per billion dollars spent.
The need for school modernization funding is evident across the nation:

Arizona -- I am a high school teacher. Like most of my colleagues, I am teaching 40 students in classrooms not designed for that many students. Our school is bursting at the seams. If one more freshman enrolls for this year, they will have to take English online because there is no more classroom space.

California -- Our school is mostly portable buildings, and they are 21 years old. The buildings creak with each of our footsteps, and the louvers over the windows won’t stay open. Therefore, the room is always dark and windowless. Additionally, when I use the heater the classroom gets steamy, because the portable is not weatherproofed. Our materials are very old. This may be the last year that we can get consumable books, because our district can’t afford to adopt any new editions of textbooks. Currently, our district has to scrounge books from many sources, and mostly buys books that are leftovers from other districts.

Colorado --Year after year we come to work in 90+ temps with packed classrooms and no air conditioning….I have classes of 36 and 37 teenagers packed into desks that are falling apart, using textbooks older than they are. Every day, students ask for food, paper, pencils, fundraiser purchases, even clothes, let alone the graphing calculators we want them to have to keep up with technological advances in education. Our carpet is threadbare, stained, and approaching 40 years old, but can’t be replaced because there is an asbestos issue we can’t afford to address.

Read more stories and submit your own.

Take Action Today:

Tell your Members of Congress to put Americans back to work and ensure our children the education they deserve by supporting school modernization.

Share your story -- Keep the stories coming. We are using your stories to help put pressure on Members of Congress to do the right thing and focus on creating a great public school for every student.

NEA.org - 10/21/11
REPLACING NO CHILD LEFT BEHIND: NEA ACTIVISTS PRODUCE WINS, MORE WORK REMAINS

After a 13-hour mark-up, the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee passed by a vote of 15-7 a bill to amend and reauthorize the Elementary and Secondary Education Act.
Before the mark-up began, we had a major victory achieved through your help and activism. Specifically, the original draft bill was amended to leave design and implementation of teacher evaluation to states and districts instead of mandating it at the federal level. With your help, NEA had argued that, in a country as large and diverse as the United States, one size does not fit all, and, what works in a rural school district may be vastly different than what is effective in a large urban area. Read NEA’s press release on the bill before the mark-up and our letter to the Committee sent prior to the mark-up. With your help, NEA won several major victories in the mark-up:

Passage of an amendment by Senator Alexander (R-TN) to give additional flexibility to states and school districts to help turn around struggling schools. This was a very hard-fought victory. Passage of the amendment was due, in no small part, to your continued advocacy in arguing for more flexibility and relief from limited, federally-mandated turnaround models.

Passage of an amendment by Senator Franken (D-MN) to ensure that school districts will not force teachers to transfer to other schools to meet requirements of “comparability” among schools.

Passage of an amendment by Senator Bingaman (D-NM) to help schools that serve disadvantaged and low-income students purchase computers, software and other technology and train teachers in the use of technology.

More work needs to be done to ensure the final bill works for students and educators – particularly to reduce the continued emphasis on testing. The Committee will hold a hearing on the bill on November 8, and then the bill could move to the Senate floor. So, there is still time to weigh in. Contact your Senators Today: Tell the Senate to pass an ESEA reauthorization bill that will work for real students in your schools and classrooms.

NEA.org - 10/21/11
WE HAVE ALMOST REACHED OUR GOAL: SIGN PETITION TO THE WHITE HOUSE TO REPEAL SOCIAL SECURITY OFFSETS
A petition to urge the Administration to support repeal of the Government Pension Offset (GPO) and the Windfall Elimination Provision (WEP) is now available on the White House website. We only need several hundred more signatures to reach the goal of 5,000 signatures by October 26! The GPO and WEP unfairly cut or eliminate many public employees’ earned Social Security benefits. The petition needs a lot of signatures in order to get the attention of the President. Sign today! Learn more about the Government Pension Offset and the Windfall Elimination Provision. To sign the petition:

1.) Go to http://capwiz.com/nea/utr/1/LJLKQREUVO/MRQCQREXWG/7481993421
2.) Click on “Create an Account” on the blue bar at the bottom of the page. Fill in the information and click “Register.”
3.) Check your email for a letter with the links back to the site. It may take several minutes to arrive. Click the link and sign the petition.
4.) Trouble shooting:

The site is often swamped. If you can’t get the “register” screen, bookmark http://wh.gov/4KL and try later.

If the link they send you doesn’t seem to work, go to wh.gov/4KL again and try to sign the petition, anyway.

If you think you may have signed in and nothing has happened yet, refresh the wh.gov/4KL page and try to sign the petition.

NEA.org - 10/21/11
CHEERS AND JEERS
Cheers to:
Senators who offered important amendments and made pro-public education statements in the Senate HELP Committee’s ESEA mark-up, including:

Senators Harkin (D-IA), Enzi (R-WY), and Alexander (R-TN), for recognizing that the federal government should not mandate from Washington, DC the terms and provisions of teacher evaluation systems. A proposal to mandate teacher evaluations based in significant part on standardized tests was dropped from the Senate Committee’s ESEA reauthorization legislation.

Senator Alexander (R-TN), for offering a very important amendment to give states and school districts more flexibility in developing models to help turnaround struggling schools. The amendment passed in committee.

Senator Franken (D-MN), for offering several key amendments, including one to prevent forced transfer of teachers. The amendment passed in committee.

Senator Sanders (I-VT), for offering two very critical amendments to address provisions around “highly qualified teachers” – one requiring a teacher to complete a state-approved teacher program and full-state certification to be “highly qualified” and the other saying that teachers who are not “highly qualified” can still teach, but needs mentoring and support. The amendments failed in committee.

Senator Murkowski (R-AK), for offering several important amendments, including one to address dropout prevention and one to address the “highly qualified” teacher definition for specialized teachers in tribal areas. Senator Murkowski withdrew her dropout amendment after speaking on the record about its importance. The other amendment passed in committee.

Senator Isakson (R-GA), for offering an amendment saying that testing of students with disabilities should be done with appropriate assessments as determined by the Individualized Education Plan (IEP) team. The amendment failed in committee. Senator Bingaman (D-NM), for offering an amendment to help schools that serve disadvantaged and low-income students purchase computers, software and other technology and train teachers in the use of technology. The amendment passed in committee.

Jeers to:

Senators Pryor (D-AR), Ben Nelson (D-FL) and Lieberman (I-CT), who joined with all Republicans to vote against the Teachers and First Responders Back to Work Act, which would have saved hundreds of thousands of educator, police, and firefighter jobs.

TSTA.org - 10/07/11
SBEC DISCUSSES WARNING LETTERS
The State Board for Educator Certification (SBEC) met in Austin on October 7, 2011 and took action on several items.
1. Approved amendments to rules in 19 TAC 243.3 that

Revised proposed language to the definition of Deferred Adjudication which still allows SBEC to consider it in disciplinary matters but doesn’t equate it with a guilty conviction; and

Removed proposed language that would have allowed SBEC to issue warning letters to educators whose conduct may not rise to the level of an official sanction.

Both proposed rules received much public comment, including comments submitted by TSTA. One of our chief concerns about the warning letters was the fact that because SBEC does not maintain a personnel file on certificated educators, a warning letter would be subject to open records requests. Furthermore, educators would not have had the right to appeal or rebut the issuance of the warning letter. Fortunately, these provisions were removed.

2. Refused to rehear a certification revocation case brought by an educator whose certificate was revoked at SBEC at its August 12, 2011 meeting.

3. Suspended the certificates of the principal and test coordinator at a middle school where egregious test violations had taken place. The two educators did not maintain the security and the integrity of TAKS answer booklets and this resulted in the invalidation of all 8th grade TAKS math scores on the campus. An erasure analysis of 80 test booklets indicated an average of 17.7 erasures per answer document (state average is 0.16%) and 90% of those changes were from the wrong answer to the right answer. Light mark analysis was done on all testing documents at the school and found that a similar pattern emerged on the 8th grade math and the 7th grade writing tests.

SBEC rules require that the campus principal and test coordinator are responsible for the security of the test and that test booklets/materials must be kept in a locked room with only one key. Test materials and answer booklets on this campus were kept in an office that several people had keys to.
All 8th grade students were required to retake the math TAKS during the summer.

4. Revoked the certificate of an educator (paraprofessional) who shaved a special needs student without the knowledge or consent of the child’s parents.

5. Suspended for four years the certificate of an educator who was (1) drinking on the job; (2) took flight in her vehicle; and (3) attempted to evade arrest.

Two concerns were raised by SBEC members as they considered disciplinary action on the educator certifications. There was discussion about an apparent inconsistency over how SBEC staff determined a period of suspension or even revocation, especially relative to DWI offenses. SBEC policy has been to align any suspension with the sentence handed down at the time of conviction. The second concern was whether SBEC could “recommend” additional action, such as completion of an alcohol awareness program as a condition to come off of a suspended certificate or placing an educator on a growth plan. SBEC did make completion of an alcohol awareness program a condition for meeting the terms of the suspension but it does not have the authority to place a certificated educator on a growth plan.

TSTA.org - 06/01/11
PAY CUT BILL SET FOR HEARING; HB400 IS BACK
The special session will begin to speed up Thursday, and one of the first items of business is a Senate Education Committee hearing on Senate Bill 8 by Chairwoman Florence Shapiro, which would allow school districts to furlough teachers for up to six non-instructional days and reduce their pay accordingly. It also would allow districts to cut teacher pay below what they are making now by repealing a salary floor enacted in 2009. And, it would change the date for notice of non-renewal of a contract from the 45th day before the end of instruction to the 10th day before the end of instruction and remove seniority as a factor in deciding who is terminated during school district reductions in force. TSTA will testify against this bill.

In another development on Wednesday, House Public Education Chairman Rob Eissler introduced House Bill 8, which is the same as House Bill 400, which TSTA actively opposed and which died during the regular session. Its anti-teacher language is more far-reaching that Senate Bill 8.

As did HB400, House Bill 8 includes all the provisions of Senate Bill 8. It also would raise the 22-1 class size cap for K-4 to make it easier for districts to fire teachers in the primary grades. Eissler also has filed a separate House Bill 18, which includes only the class size changes.

Thanks to your help, TSTA was instrumental in killing all of the above bad ideas during the regular session. But after a fiscal matters bill necessary to balance the new state budget died in the Senate over the weekend, Gov. Perry called a special session to complete that work. And, he opened the special session to the same provisions by allowing legislation to allow school districts to operate “more efficiently.”

So, the fight begins anew.

Our guess is that Sen. Shapiro will try to win quick committee approval of Senate Bill 8 and try to pass it on the Senate floor on Friday or Saturday. The Senate will not be operating under the two-thirds rule during the special session. That means the Republican majority can pass what it wants, and that means TSTA members and other friends of the public schools need to flood their senators’ and representatives’ offices with calls against this bad legislation. Watch your email for our alerts.

Also on Thursday, the Senate Education Committee will hear Shapiro’s Senate Bill 6, an instructional allotments bill that also died during the regular session.

And, the Senate Finance Committee and House Appropriations Committee will hear Senate Bill 1 and House Bill 1, respectively, the new fiscal matters legislation necessary to balance the state budget passed during the regular session. Remember, that budget cut $4 billion from the public schools, and SB1 and HB1 include provisions for distributing those cuts among the state’s 1,000-plus school districts.

TSTA will once again urge legislators to spend the remaining $6 billion in the Rainy Day Fund. That, after all, is taxpayer money that taxpayers set aside for an emergency, and this is an emergency. We also will urge lawmakers to find new tax revenue to lessen the budget cuts.

TSTA.org - 04/29/11
NEW TEACHER APPRAISAL BILL PASSES SENATE
Student achievement, as measured by test scores, would count for 30-50 percent of the criteria for determining teacher effectiveness in the appraisal process, under a committee substitute for SB 4 that passed the Senate this week. www.tsta.org/news/current#ew

RETIREES' 13TH CHECK BILL APPROVED BY HOUSE COMMITTEE
In certain circumstances, the Teacher Retirement System (TRS) board could supplement benefits for retirees with a so-called 13th check, under one of three TRS-related bills that passed a House committee this week. www.tsta.org/news/current#13

TSTA OPPOSES RETIREMENT CHANGE
TSTA went on record against a bill that would create defined contribution retirement plans for persons eligible to participate in the Employees Retirement System of Texas and the Teacher Retirement System of Texas. www.tsta.org/news/current#change

STEM BILL APPROVED BY SENATE
Under SB 1620, the State Board of Education would establish a process through which an applied STEM course could satisfy the math and science curriculum requirements for recommended and advanced high school programs. TSTA supports this bill, which was approved by the Senate and won routine approval on the Local and Uncontested Calendar. www.tsta.org/news/current#STEM

SUGARY DRINKS RESTRICTED UNDER HOUSE-PASSED BILL
The House passed legislation restricting the sale of sugary drinks in middle and high school cafeterias this week. HB 127 expands restrictions already in place in elementary schools. Students would be able to bring such drinks from home but couldn’t purchase them in the school cafeteria. www.tsta.org/news/current#sugary

SENATE PASSES BILLS ON BULLYING, CHARTERS
The Senate on Tuesday passed several education-related bills, including SB 205, which requires each school district to adopt a policy prohibiting bullying, cyberbullying, harassment and intimidation, consistent with the district student code of conduct. TSTA supports this bill. www.tsta.org/news/current#char

SENATE EDUCATION APPROVES TRANSFER BILL
A school district could revoke a child’s transfer under certain conditions in one of several bills approved by the Senate Education Committee this week. www.tsta.org/news/current#transfer

UPDATE ON IMPLEMENTATION OF STAAR
STAAR will replace the TAKS beginning in spring 2012. Here’s an update from Texas Education Agency. http://ritter.tea.state.tx.us/taa/studassmt042511.html

HOW TO REALLY THANK A TEACHER
NEA urges parents, students, community leaders and other caring individuals to celebrate National Teacher Day on May 3 by taking action. www.tsta.org/news/current#thank

ALABAMA, MISSOURI NEED HELP
Alabama Education Association is still assessing the destruction and loss of life of AEA members and their students’ families from the tornado that hit central and north Alabama on Wednesday.

“The losses are almost unbelievable and heartbreaking,” an email from Alabama Education Association said, asking for help, thoughts and prayers. Checks, made out to the AEA Foundation, can be sent to the AEA Foundation, P.O. Box 4177, Montgomery, AL 36103.

Missouri NEA members and students are “finding themselves in desperate situations” following the tornado and flooding on Good Friday, according to MNEA President Chris Guinther.

Guinther said contributions are tax deductible if checks are made out to The MNEA Charitable Fund, and “All contributions would be greatly appreciated as we help our members and students get through this terrifying time.” Send checks to MNEA, 1810 E. Elm, Jefferson City, MO 65101.

FREE CREDIT MONITORING FOR TRS SECURITY BREACH VICTIMS
The Comptroller’s office is offering free credit monitoring for people affected by their breach of personal information at www.txsafeguard.org/news/110428-offer.php. NEA Member Benefits also offers a workshop and affordable coverage for identify theft. www.tsta.org/mbc/discounts/index.shtml

TSTA.org - 04/12/11
The Week Ahead
We have long agendas in Senate and House Public Education this week including a long list of pending bills opposed by TSTA in Senate Public Education. House Pension and Investments will hear several bills to add more active and retired educators to the TRS board. TSTA supports all of the bills to increase educator representation on the TRS board however; the Governor vetoed a bill that attempted to do this last session so it is not likely to occur this session. HB 400 has not yet been set on the House calendar. As soon as it is, we will be sending out an alert on the bill.

Senate Public Education Agenda
House Public Education Agenda
House Pension and Investment

TRS PERSONAL DATA COMPROMISED
The state comptroller’s office announced today that it had inadvertently disclosed the personal records of about 3.5 million people, including 1.2 million education employees and retirees, on an agency server that was accessible to the public.

The comptroller said there was no indication that the personal information – including Social Security numbers, dates of birth and driver’s license numbers – was misused. But the agency said the information was sealed off from public access immediately after the mistake was discovered, and the agency will individually notify people affected by the disclosure.

The information was in data transferred by the Teacher Retirement System of Texas (TRS), the Texas Workforce Commission (TWC) and the Employees Retirement System of Texas (ERS). The TRS data was transferred in January 2010.

To read the comptroller’s entire press release, click on this link:
http://txsafeguard.org/

TSTA.org - 04/07/11
HOUSE EASES END-OF-COURSE REQUIREMENTS
The House of Representatives on Wednesday gave preliminary approval (second reading) to two education bills relating to end-of-course exams and textbooks.

HB 500 by Chairman Rob Eissler amends the end of course testing requirements for the achievement of a high school diploma for the minimum and recommended programs. The bill removes the requirement that 15 percent of a student’s final grade in a course be determined by the end of course exam and leaves the decision of the weight given to the test to be determined by districts.

The bill also amends the graduation requirements for the minimum and recommended plans by requiring a student to pass fewer end-of-course exams. Instead of having to pass 12 end-of-course exams – in English, math, science and social studies – a student would have to pass only four exams. The four would be in English III; Algebra I for the minimum plan and Algebra II for the recommended plan; world geography, world history, or U.S. history; and biology, chemistry, or physics. The new requirements will be required for entering 9th graders in the 2013-14 school year.

Amendments to the bill on the House floor included one prohibiting TEA from using the Texas Projection Measure to represent an actual level of annual improvement in student achievement. It may be used only to show an expected level of annual improvement. Other amendments would allow an ARD committee to determine whether passage of end of course exams are necessary for a special education student to receive a diploma, would allow a student in 5th or 8th grade taking a course that is at the high school level requiring an end of course exam to be excused from an assessment in that course, and would create a pilot program allowing at least 20 campuses to apply to the commissioner for reduced assessments in grades 3rd to 8th.

The most contentious argument of the day related to an amendment that would have tied 35 percent of a district’s or charter’s funding to the successful student performance on assessment instruments. This amendment was withdrawn by the author.

HB 6, also filed by Chairman Eissler, also passed the House on second reading. HB 6 redefines textbooks and electronic textbooks to give districts more flexibility in purchasing textbooks based on district needs.

THE HOUSE PUBLIC EDUCATION COMMITTEE ON TUESDAY
The committee considered bills related to virtual schools and public school finance. TSTA testified neutrally on HB 2843 by Jerry Madden, relating to the provision of additional opportunities for instruction through the state virtual school network, and HB 3280 by Ryan Guillen, relating to additional virtual instruction at public and private elementary and secondary schools. Both bills would expand the virtual school network in an effort to provide more options to secondary and high school students to take courses not available in their home district but offered by another district, charter school, junior college or university.

The committee considered a number of bills related to public school finance in an attempt to revise the way the Permanent School Fund is distributed to districts around the state. The main objective for the committee is to repeal target revenue and create a more equitable system under the current fiscal crisis. However, a some of the bills would eliminate the last several teacher raises given by the Legislature.

The public school finance bills heard in committee were:

HB 839 by Gary Elkins, relating to treatment under the public school finance system of school district revenue resulting from reduction or elimination of an optional homestead exemption.

HB 2444 by James White, relating to public school finance.

HB 2484 by Scott Hochberg, relating to the state property tax compression percentage and the homestead property tax exemption under the public school finance system.

HB 2485 by Scott Hochberg, relating to public school finance.

HB 2848 by John Smithee, relating to treatment under the public school finance system of a school district that imposes a maintenance and operations tax at a rate below the rate otherwise required for entitlement to state funding.

HB 3280 by Ryan Guillen, relating to additional virtual instruction at public and private elementary and secondary schools.

HB 3433 by Richard Raymond, relating to disposition of proceeds from the development or sale of the rights to natural resources or minerals in land held by Webb County for the county permanent school fund.

HJR 143 by Richard Raymond, proposing a constitutional amendment relating to the disposition of proceeds from the development or sale of the rights to natural resources or minerals in land held by Webb County for the county permanent school fund.

The committee also approved several bills for debate by the full House, including HB1610, which would require a school district to fire an employee convicted of any felony.

The committee also approved:

HB 400, relating to flexibility for public schools to administer primary and secondary education efficiently.

HB 968, relating to expulsion from school or placement in a disciplinary alternative education program for certain conduct.

HB 2349, relating to the authority of independent school districts to invest in corporate bonds.

SENATE APPROVES ONLINE GED BILL
The Senate today passed Senate Bill 1094 by Sen. Rodriguez, requiring the State Board of Education to provide for online administration of high school equivalency exams, if online testing is authorized by the national entity that develops the exam. The bill also includes provisions for ensuring the identify of the test-taker. TSTA supports this bill.

TSTA.org - 03/30/11
ROBOCALLS AND A LEGISLATIVE ALERT GOING OUT
We will be autodialing all of our members tomorrow and sending out a legislative alert urging them to call their House members to ask them to vote NO on HB 1. Calls and emails will start going out around 10 a.m. Please assist by sending the alert through your local phone trees/email systems after 10 a.m. tomorrow.

RUMOR OF THE DAY
371 AMENDMENTS PRE-FILED FOR HB 1 Clerk's Office still tallying up numbers so the final count could change a little but looking more and more likely that the budget debate will be a multi-day event. It is possible that HB 1 could still be on the floor on April 2.

FLASHBACK - CATCHING UP ON MONDAY
TSTA appeared before a number of House committees today to support the following education-friendly bills:

HB 1827 by Ruth Jones McClendon, House Business & Industry: This bill relates to the ability of nonexempt employees to participate in certain academic, extracurricular and developmental activities of their child. It encourages parental involvement and would allow parents to take time off for their child’s school activities.

HB 1907 by Jerry Madden, House Corrections: This bill concerns notification requirements for student offenses, and the school district’s discretion over admission or placement of certain students. It mandates that teachers (1) be notified immediately when one of their students is arrested and 92) be provided the specifics of the arrest before the student returns to school.

HB 1317 by Elliott Naishtat, House Ways & Means: This bill would generate revenue through sales taxes from companies like Amazon that are doing business in the state.

HB 2403 by John Otto, House Ways & Means: This bill also applies to sales tax collection from companies like Amazon that are doing business in the state.

Please send us your news
If your school or your members are doing or have outstanding activities we would like to know. Please send them to any GEA officer. We would like to publish them.