Maine ASCD Weblog

More About District Consolidation Amendments

I just received this information and thought it should be shared:

Media Update from the Maine Department of Education
April 18, 2008

Update on Reorganization Legislation Enacted by the Legislature

The Legislature gave final approval this morning to LD 2323, An Act To Remove Barriers to the Reorganization of School Administrative Units.  The House voted 92-41 on Thursday night and the Senate voted this morning 22-12.

LD 2323 was not a Governor’s bill.  It was sponsored by Sen. Peter Bowman.  It included nearly all of the provisions of the original LD 1932 as written by the Education Committee, including the three non-controversial financial fixes in the original Majority Report adopted by 10 members of the Committee, as well as several technical and other amendments added by the Committee. All these provisions were also in the Minority Report on LD 1932. 

In addition, LD 2323 was amended by House Amendment “G,” presented by Rep. David Farrington. House Amendment “G” included the text of what was a separate bill, LD 2280.  That amendment was added without dissent under the hammer (details below).

The key provisions from LD 1932 that are in the new bill:

• Allows local cost-sharing agreements
• Allows minimum special education subsidy receivers to remain eligible for minimum subsidy if they join a new regional school unit (RSU);
• Removes the 2 mill minimum requirement;
• Allows an exception for some units of 1,000 to 1,200 students (in isolated rural areas);
• Clarifies the roles and responsibilities of local school committees and regional school unit boards and the relationship between the two; and
• Includes other technical corrections and clarifications. 

The bill does NOT include the one-year delay in the budget validation referendum requirement that was in the original LD 1932 (so all units must use the budget validation referendum process this year).  This is the only provision in the Education Committee’s LD 1932 that was not part of the new bill.

LD 2323 also authorizes the Commissioner of Education to approve a plan for an alternative organizational structure if the plan satisfies the purposes of the school administrative reorganization law, including:

• The structure must result in consolidation of system administration;
• The structure must include consolidation of special education administration, transportation administration and administration of business functions;
• Adoption of a core curriculum;
• Adoption of consistent school policies, calendars, and collective bargaining agreements; and
• Requires any alternative organizational structure to conform to the same budget format and referendum approval procedures as regional school units. 

House Amendment “G” incorporated all of LD 2280, passed previously in the House.  Some have referred to this as the “Bucket A” bill drafted by the Education Committee. This amendment contained technical fixes and minor changes largely around deadlines and timing of the budget validation referendum process and a change to the calculation of penalties. 

The bill moves the Nov. 4 deadline for communities to approve reorganization plans by referendum to Jan. 30, 2009 (and adjusts related deadlines accordingly). It extends to 14 days the amount of time municipalities may take before holding a budget validation referendum after the school budget meeting. It reduces the required ballots for the budget referendum from two to one. And it simplifies calculation of the penalty for communities that opt out – units would be subject to a 2 percent higher mill rate expectation.

More detail on key provisions from the original LD 1932 that are included in LD 2323

The following provisions are unchanged from the Education Committee’s original LD 1932:

1.       Cost-sharing agreements. The bill allows school units to negotiate a local cost-sharing agreement to compensate for cost-shifting that occurs as a result of reorganization. The original law set a formula for cost-sharing based on valuation and does not allow for locally crafted cost-sharing agreements. This removes a barrier to almost every potential RSU. One potential RSU has a complete and approved plan that is conditional upon passage of legislation to allow for local cost-sharing agreements and several more are very close to having a complete plan that cannot be implemented without this legislation.

2.       Minimum special education subsidy. The bill allows school units currently eligible for the minimum special education subsidy to keep that eligibility when they join in a new RSU, even if the new RSU is not a minimum subsidy unit. This removes a potential barrier to 63 minimum special education subsidy units.

3.       2 mill minimum. The bill removes the requirement, found in the law as enacted, that every SAU joining an RSU must raise a minimum 2 mills. Roughly two dozen municipalities currently raise less than two mills and could be forced to increase their education mill rate as a result of the existing law as written.

4.       Cost-center format. The original law contained a technical error by referring CSDs and SADs to a different budget format requirement than for RSUs. The bill corrects this error so that all school units will now be required to prepare their annual budgets with 11 cost centers. This is a request of superintendents and others in the field and affects all CSDs and SADs. This does not change any of the requirements surrounding the budget validation referendum process.

5.       Isolated rural units. The bill allows the Commissioner to approve so-called “doughnut hole” school units of between 1,000 and 1,200 students in isolated rural communities.

6.       Ownership of school property. The bill clarifies that municipalities may retain ownership of school property as negotiated in the formation of regional school units.

Note: All items above were part of the original LD 1932 as approved by 10 members of the Education Committee and the minority report endorsed by the remaining three members of the Committee.

Bill text and other info at: http://janus.state.me.us/legis/LawMakerWeb/sponsors.asp?ID=280028851

Be sure to find the original bill text and the text of House Amendment “G,” the only amendment adopted by the Legislature to LD 2323.

>>

Here is an article from the Saturday, April 19th Portland Press Herald

~John Brandt

Consolidation Moves Forward

In literally the "11th hour," the Maine State Legislature has passed the necessary amendments and refinements to the school district consolidation legislation. With some compromises added to the mix that appear to only help the folks in Mount Desert Island, the amendments were passed in the wee hours of this morning.

I did hear confirmation on the vote on the noontime news today and have just found one print confirmation of this news on the Mount Desert Islander on line news.

The net effect is that the consolidation legislation that was passed last year can/must now move forward. As many districts head into a week of spring vacation, administrators and schools board will now need to scramble to get caught up as many had been waiting for action from the Legislature.

~John Brandt

Digital Disconnect?

I just read the article in THE Journal about the results of the 2007 Speak Up Survey and was not at all surprised to read that large numbers of teachers, administrators and parents thought that they were "doing a good job preparing (their local) students jobs and careers of the future." Administrators, BTW, had the highest number of affirmations (66%).

At the same time - and here is the "disconnect" - students, particularly those in middle and high schools, believe "teachers are limiting their use of technology in schools" and that security practices "were limiting their ability to take advantage of technology for learning."

This got me to wondering how we in Maine are doing in this regard. After all, we have spent hundreds of millions of dollars with our Maine Learning Technology Initiative (MLTI) - the "laptop program." One would expect that Maine would therefore be leading the nation in results. But at this point, I just don't know. I've asked the good folks at Project Tomorrow, who organize the survey, if it was possible to get state aggregated results. I'll let you know what they say.

In the meantime, here were some of the more striking survey results:

What teachers say...

• Most common use of education technology: homework and practice (51%). Ugh!

What students say...

• Following a trend identified in every Speak Up survey since 2003, girls in all grades continue to be more likely to identify themselves as having beginner or average tech skills compared to boys, and less likely to say “advanced.” Hmm.

~John Brandt

More consolidation drama

Just when you thought the issue was settled, the Maine House of Representatives pull a big surprise last night. According to an AP wire story, the House last night passed a bill repealing the entire school district consolidation legislation.

The issue now moves to the State Senate.

Don't blink.

~John Brandt

Veto, now what?

As predicted, Gov. John Baldacci vetoed the bill that would have significantly changed the school district consolidation legislation passed last year. The governor noted that the creation of "super unions" would have resulted in an increase to school costs. There was apparently very little effort attempted to override the veto.

The governor has already proposed additional legislation that will "tweak" the current law. According to the Portland Press Herald:

The governor said his new bill is designed to allow school units to negotiate local cost-sharing agreements. It also aims to allow districts that receive a minimum special education subsidy to continue to do so when they join a new school district.

Interestingly, the article in the PPH garnered only two "comments," thus far, and both in support of the governor's action. This is surprising given the amount of time the legislature spent on this topic.

It is assumed that school districts that have been moving forward with their consolidation plans can continue to do so. Those who have been taking a "wait and see" attitude, will have to get things into high gear.

~John Brandt

Spring News

Maine ASCD News
April 2008

Exciting New Professional Development Opportunities

Maine ASCD has two new professional development activities coming this spring. Beginning in a few weeks, a new on-line Moodle course is being offered. "What the Heck is a Professional Learning Community (PLC) Anyway?" will be taught by Acton Elementary School's principal, Kyle Rhoads. The on-line course which will mix readings, on-line discussion groups and listserv activities all provided through the Maine ASCD Moodle board, will begin on or about April 21st and run until late August. Several “breaks” will be built into the course. A complete program description and registration materials may be found on our website:
http://www.maineascd.org/moodle-plc

Coming back to Maine in early May, Pam Robbins will be presenting, "Promoting School and Student Success: Promising Practices" at the Elks Conference Center in Waterville. Pam has many fans here in Maine and is always a great presenter. This event - on May 8th - will provide practical strategies to promote staff and student learning, healthy, collaborative learning cultures and school success. Designed for both teachers and administrators, this program will include techniques to re-energize faculties and add vitality to school improvement efforts. Participants will leave the session having experienced the strategies and equipped with tools that can be implemented immediately in their contexts. A complete program description and registration materials may be found on our website:
http://www.maineascd.org/05022008

Journal of Maine Education Published

The 24th annual issue of the Jounal of Maine Education (JME) has been published and mailed to current members. The theme of this issue, Challenges and Opportunities of Technology's Role in Schools, is both timely and informative. To get the whole issue one needs to be a current Maine ASCD member, however we have provided a bit of a teaser and have published one of the great articles online. "Racing to Catch Up: Preparing School Staff for Teaching in Today’s Learning Environment" by Dave Fournier is available on our website: http://www.maineascd.org/node/40

A complete description of the 2008 JME may be found here: http://www.maineascd.org/jme

Jim Burke's "Tools of Thought" Well Received

Despite the less than spring-like weather, the audience of 60+ educators raved about Jim Burke's presentation last week in Portland. Being a classroom teacher, Jim's presentation provided highly valuable and pertinet advice and methods for engaging students and increasing thinking skills and literacy. He detailed methods for the teaching of literature and writing using constructive and instructive approaches that the participants found highly valuable. Many have asked for Jim to come back - something Maine ASCD is considering.

Maine ASCD Voucher Accounts

With budgets - and budget cuts - on everyone's mind, one of the best way to stretch your professional development dollars is with a Maine ASCD Voucher account. Working just like your bank debit card you may deposit any sum (minimum $100) in the Voucher Account today and use the account to pay for activities over the next 12 months. The next time you want to attend a conference or workshop, simply check off "Voucher Account" and you're done. No purchase orders to fill-out, checks to write, envelopes to stamp. In fact, you can register over the phone or via e-mail using your account number. Maine ASCD Voucher accounts opened between now and June 30th will enjoy a 10% discount. Complete details on our website: http://www.maineascd.org/voucher

Where are we now?

I have been away from active blogging for a few weeks partially due to being rather busy, but mostly because I wanted to continue to focus the blog on the upcoming Jim Burke "Tools for Thought" event. Now that Jim is here in Maine, along with the 60+ brave souls who made it here to Portland in our latest snowstorm, we can concentrate on other things.

Last year when we were actively engaged in the day-to-day trials of the school consolidation initiative, I reported here almost daily on what was happening. So where are we now?

As you no doubt know, the Legislature has taken on the school consolidation legislation again this year, ostensibly to refine it and make it work better. But, politics being politics, once the door was open, the cat came out of the bag - just to mix a few metaphors.

The latest hubbub is that the law which was passed last year is about to be rather dramatically altered by this year's Legislature. At the same time, there are several districts - mostly in the southern part of the state - that are well into the consolidation process and have plans approved or close to approval. There are also a number of districts around the state who have halted their consolidation efforts. And just about all districts are taking a wait and see attitude.

There is news that the Governor is planning to veto the bill(s) that come to his desk especially if they increase the number of school districts (one of the current proposals would change the number of permissible districts from 80 to 200) and/or demonstrates no desired savings.

Some have argued that the law in its current form would not bring about the savings that were promised.

It is also evident that the Legislature has enough votes to override the Governor's veto, so politically they can all look like winners.

But the big concern is that the TABOR folks are sharpening their pencils - and swords - and getting ready to do battle again. This time they will be able to report that all of the things they predicted in would happen two years ago have happened. This plus a stagnant or depressed economy will likely push a lot of people in the pro-TABOR direction. Given the decreases in school populations, a TABOR law in Maine would result in some significant and uncontrollable cuts to education. NOTE: For those not familiar with TABOR, please see the following links - pro & con - from this Google search

So where are we now? We may be at the edge of a precipice. Stay tuned.

~John Brandt

Photo: Image by fotologic - Creative Commons

Meet Jim Burke

Maine ASCD is very excited about bringing Jim Burke to Maine this month to talk about "Tools for Thought: Strategies for Reading, Writing, and Thinking." The workshop will be presented at the Holiday Inn West in Portland on March 28, 2008. Member's price is just $135.

For those not familiar with Jim's work, we have posted three video clips on our website, graciously provided by Jim's publisher, Heinemann.

View the video clips

Read more about the workshop "Tools for Thought: Strategies for Reading, Writing, and Thinking"

Learn more about Jim and his books

"In Other's Words..."

Ethicist, and fellow Mainer, Rush Kidder has a delightful expose on the recent "kerfuffle" over whether the comments made by Sen. Barack Obama which were later attributed to Gov. Deval Patrick were plagiarism. In the article, Kidder talks about the worst example of plagiarism he had hear of, and without trying to top that story, it reminded me of one of my own experiences of plagiarism on the part of a student. In this particular case, the student was a public school teacher who was taking a continuing education course from the college where I was an administrator. What made the story "worse" was not only did the student submit for grading a xeroxed copy of someone else's words, but he then refuse to admit he had done anything wrong. It was only when I asked him teacher-to-teacher how he would react if one of HIS students pulled something like that that he relented and admitted guilt.

The Obama/Patrick issue is worthy of reflection in classrooms and I encourage teachers to read what Rush has to say and share this issue with their students. One of those "teachable moments" shall we say.

BTW, I've used a number of quotations here in this blog entry which either come from the Kidder article or are commonly used quotes in education. Unlike, Mr. Kidder, I am not providing the source after each quote, but want to make it clear I am using someone else's words. This is a large dilemma in blog writing. So much of what I often put here is from other's words. I (try to) always place the comment in quotes or "blockquotes" and link to the originator. But as Kidder points out, in this computerized world, it is very easy for students - or anybody - to "borrow a line" from someone else. And the question of right and wrong often gets very gray.

~John Brandt

Image from ABC News website

Class Clowns Beware

I read this news teaser and initially thought it was something from Jay Leno. But, seeing it was the The Times of London, I clicked ahead and discovered the follow:

A British teacher who developed a classroom chair that can't be rocked onto its rear legs already has received orders from 18 schools in the three weeks since launching the product. "It seems that it's a problem that touches everyone," inventor Tom Wates said. "For me, this started out as a way of combating the irritation of the children rocking. But at nearly every school I've been to teachers relate a story about an injury. It is a danger issue."

I have vivid memories of one or more of my more colorful classmates rocking in their chairs when I was in seventh and eighth grades. In prior years we had those one-piece "prison desks" that couldn't be turned over without a forklift. The adult versions of those student desks were used in my high school. When I eventually started working in public schools, I was a bit amazed to find the separation of chair and desk. In all my years observing students, I saw quite a few take a tumble. And yes, it just about always the student I was there to observe.

Anyway the problem is now solved by simply arching the legs of the chair. Class clowns on both sides of the Atlantic will now need to find a new way to create a distraction. Read the whole article in the Times

~John Brandt