Ready, Fire, Aim VIDEO

Rushed Attempt to Combine Education Departments Bad for Missouri’s Children

www.benchmarkemail.com

The Missouri House Higher Education Committee heard testimony on SJR 44 and SJR 45. These two measures would place a constitutional amendment on the November ballot to combine the Boards and Departments of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE) and the Department of Higher Education (DHE). The proposal, in its current form, is a bad idea for Missouri’s children and should be opposed in the Missouri House of Representatives.
Instead of this “ready, fire, aim” approach, the state should seriously review how combining two large bureaucracies into one mega- bureaucracy would affect education for individual children in our state. These critical questions just scratch the surface of what must be answered before discussion of combining these two departments can move forward.

Charting a New Course

Virginia’s educational landscape may finally grow to include charter schools.

Options for parents are growing...PARENTS everywhere NEED to get involved.

CHICAGO TRIBUNE

CHICAGO TRIBUNE
Illinois House kills school voucher bill

Fervent lobbying by unions sinks idea to give students $3,700 to switch to private or parochial schools.
The landmark legislation would have made Chicago Public Schools the site of what experts said would be the nation's largest voucher program. Up to 30,000 of the district's 400,000 students could have left the weak schools they now attend, setting up competition for public schools.

Mo. Virtual Schools Program Could See More Funding

PLATTE CITY, Mo. -- One program is actually receiving money during a time of cutbacks in the Missouri budget. Hundreds of students in Missouri attend school through a Web camera. The Missouri Virtual Schools Program look like it will gain funding after an already financially rocky year.
At the start of the current school year, there was $4.8 million in state funds for the program to cover the cost of 1,600 students statewide. Missouri's loss of revenue meant funding for the second semester was almost entirely wiped out. That meant school districts and parents had to come up with the cash to pay for their students to go to virtual school.
The state budget passed last week gave virtual schools more than $600,000 for next year -- far less than the $4.9 million last year. Fuchs said it will be used for infrastructure and to pay more student enrollment fees. Final funding for the schools is now in Gov. Jay Nixon's hands.

Legislative Update - Week 17

SB 815 - Allows school districts to adopt a year-round educational program, implement multiple start dates for kindergarten students, and expands the Teacher Choice Compensation Package statewide.

Legislative Update - Week 17

May 3 – May 6, 2010 There have been three bills that have become targets for legislation that will potentially pass with a large number of education provisions. Since last week’s update, the language in SB 815 that would require charter schools to go through the MSIP process has been removed and some changes to the potential funding stream for summer school have also changed. Please note that these bills are all still in draft form and still have more deliberations in front of them. Legislative session ends on Friday, May 14 at 6:00 pm. A final wrap-up of all legislative activity will be sent out after that time.

SB 943

VISIT for more information-
http://www.votervoice.net/link/clickthrough/ext/106141.aspx

This bill contains modifications to the foundation formula including a mechanism to prorate the formula. Where the bill previously specified that summer school programs would have to have a strict academic focus to be funded, changes have been made to that language. The bill now would require schools with a free and reduced lunch count of over 60% to cap their funding for the program at 7% of the weighted Average Daily Attendance (ADA). For schools with less than 60% free and reduced lunch rates, the cap would be instated at 3% of the weighted ADA. This bill was passed out of committee last night.

February 25th, 2010 Parent Meeting in Kansas City, MO

An update of the Legislative Day at the Capital in Jefferson City on February 11th was discussed. The Open Enrollment Senate Bill 603 was presented and how it will empower parents to choose a school for their children without the restriction of boundaries.

Parents were introduced to how the Individualized Education Plan (IEP) is designed and suppose to work for students with special needs. A presentation about Autism, resources and success in working with families of autistic students was facilitated by ___________.

Testimonials from a high school student who experienced an unfair evaluation and lack of IEP follow up were shared. His family described the actions which led to his decision to leave school prior graduation and the disappointment the family experienced with the school administration.

Next Meeting scheduled for Thursday-March 25th at 4p. Location is Imagine Academy at 414 Wallace in KCMO.

Symposium 2010 BAEO

Symposium 2010 BAEO
Black Alliance for Educational Options
10th Anniversary

Held on March 4-6 in Milwaukee, WI at the Hilton City Center provided participants and supporters an extensive understanding of this year’s theme “A Decade of Progress…The Struggle Continues” which examined a decade of achievements. Symposium 2010 inspired and encouraged participants to continue the struggle to protect, expand and enact new parental choice policies in our chapter and states.

During these challenging times for the BAEO movement, the relentless opposition allowing low income and working class families to have the power to choose quality educational options for their children is high priority.

Battle Against the Status Quo continues…

BAEO members and guests from Kansas City and St. Louis met in February with Legislators and testify in support of the Open Enrollment Senate Bill 603. Parents choose what school you you’re your child to attend. Regardless the kind of school, Missouri Education reform is necessary because appropriate education is a civil right. Uneducated African American children usually have 3 choices: LIFE of POVERTY, PENITENTIARY or DEATH.

Number one reason parents choose charter schools is safety, parents need to be visible, raise the expectation and think outside the box along with school Administrators.

Not having caps on Charter Schools expansion per “RACE to the TOP” was not included in the Missouri funding proposal, thus making the legislation DOA (Dead on Arrival)

The battle continues…

MARCH 25th, Parent Meeting in KCMO Presented…

Parents, teachers and other attendees discussed the Individual Disability Act (IDA) and it’s Federal Funding for special needs children. Discussions including the Individual Educational Plan (IEP) for students needs an incentive for enrollment. The ability for autistic children to have ability to transfer based on desire, have specific learning goals for a projected time period rely on parents being the best advocates. The Individualized Social Family Plan (ISFP) is another attempted to disable vs. able is suppose to work.

“Children in absence of choice feel trapped,” a Bertha Gilkey-Bond quote. The KC group continues it’s efforts to educate and motivate parents to get involved in advocacy the their children and others. The teachers at the Wallace Academy is on board with the meeting and efforts to get parents to the monthly meetings.

Kansas City’s School Board April 6th Election Expects to

The KC Imagine Schools understand the need parents have for safe and quality schools for educating children. The announcement to close over 30 KC Public Schools the process for all principals to apply for school year 2010-11 positions should create more of a demand for schools to do a good job educating children. Certainly there will be more personnel to select from since no contract will automatically be offered.

This process creates competition and should weed out the “best” for staffing for all school positions. KC Schools are expressing interest in BAEO, Charter and non-traditional school opportunities,

Enrollment for this Fall should be interesting. Another example; WHY SYSTEMS of CHOICE are SO IMPORTANT??!!!