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February 14, 2008

Full Senate votes to repeal continuing contract law

The full Senate took up SB 420, Sen. John Vratil’s (R-Leawood) proposed repeal of the continuing contract law. Despite an attempt by Sen. Anthony Hensley (D-Topeka) and Sen. Janis Lee (D-Kensington) to convince others that there might be unintended consequences to adoption of the bill, it ultimately passed on a vote of 37 to 3.

Continuing contract provisions still exist for teachers in another section of the law but KNEA General Counsel David Schauner had raised with the Education Committee the possibility of unintended consequences. “Why repeal a section of law that has served both teachers and school districts well since 1951?” Schauner had asked.

House to launch multiple attacks on public education

Bills to reduce teacher quality standards; weaken teacher rights move front and center next week

The Legislature has been off to a slow start, not really pushing a heavy change agenda for education – at least until this week.

Taking the gloves off, House Republicans have launched a series of anti-teacher bills, several of which will get a hearing next week.

Among those up are three that would lower standards to get a teaching license.

• House Bill 2842 would legitimize the “passport to teaching” from the American Board for the Certification of Teacher Excellence as appropriate for entry into a Kansas classroom. The ABCTE, formed several years ago to counter the rigorous National Board for Professional Teaching Standards, sets passage of a multiple choice content test as appropriate for teacher licensure.
• And if you haven’t even done the ABCTE multiple choice test, try your luck under House Bill 2874 by Rep. Mike O’Neal (R-Hutchinson). Under this bill any “school district, school district cooperative or interlocal, school district service center or a community college” can provide “teacher training to any person desiring to obtain a teacher’s license but who does not meet the requirements for licensure…” Anybody can teach if they can just find some “provider” willing to hire them!

Now in case your salary isn’t low enough – Kansas ranks 37^th out of the 50 states in teacher salaries – House Bill 2870 will help depress teacher salaries for most teachers even more! This “teacher pay” bill by Rep. Clay Aurand (R-Courtland) would encourage districts to grant large “bonuses” (at least 5% more than that teacher’s base pay) to new math and science teachers so that the district can get a state grant of $1000 for each current math or science teacher. This bill would encourage districts to divert money from negotiations to pay a few teachers more, leaving most teachers with less.

These bills are legislative responses to the teacher shortage. Rather than taking a comprehensive approach to the shortage which would include mentoring and induction, college tuition forgiveness, quality professional development, and support for better teacher salaries and benefits, legislators choose to concentrate on lowering standards for entry into the profession and paying a few teachers more at the expense of most teachers.

We have yet to see where the Kansas Association of School Boards will stand on these bills. Generally they agree that any bill which reduces teaching standards and teacher rights is okay by them. Lower teaching standards means you can get people for less and fewer rights means they won’t ask for more later.

Our legislature is working incrementally back to the days when school boards paid teachers based on gender and the age of their students.

Dyslexia bill brings emotional testimony

Parents and other advocates for students with dyslexia filled the House Committee meeting today to share their experiences with Representatives.

The bill, HB 2778, would require schools to screen all students for dyslexia and, if they believe the student may have dyslexia, to notify the parents and provide services. While we agree that early diagnosis is key in overcoming future learning difficulties and support the underlying intent of the bill, there are questions that still have to be answered on this piece of legislation.

For example, it is not clear how screening of all children would be handled – who would be responsible for conducting the screening? And while the bill speaks of funding and a determination by the commissioner as to whether or not enough funds were appropriated, there is no appropriation in the bill, nor is there a provision for how schools would handle the mandate if funds are not appropriated. The bill also requires implementation of specialized reading programs next year leaving little time for the state department to approve the required assessments and program guidelines.

We will look for amendments to provide funding and clarify other aspects of the bill.

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