July State Board News
SBOE Can't Agree on Standards Reviews
No one uttered the "e" word. Instead, tiptoeing around
the "real" subject, members of the State Board couldn't
agree Wednesday on how to approach the issue of reviewing KS curriculum
standards for history/government and science.
Kansas law requires the State Board to review curriculum standards
every 3 years (and in reality, review occurs about every 5 years,
to allow time to review and revise the accompanying assessments).
Following several 5-5 votes, and almost an hour past their scheduled
adjournment time, the Board voted to table the issue until the August
Board meeting.
At issue is whether or not a full external review of the standards
should be initiated. This would result in revised standards coming
to the State Board in July, 2004, and allow time to adopt (or not)
new standards so that the assessments for history/government and
science in '06-'07 can reflect revised standards.
Coincidentally, the primary election for 5 SBOE seats, currently
held by 4 "moderates" and 1 "conservative,"
is scheduled for August, 2004.
Citing experience in using the standards as the impetus for teachers
and others to realize that they still need revision, Bill Wagnon,
district 4, Topeka, moved to recommend a full external review for
both the history/government and the science standards. External
reviews involve draft standards from a committee of Kansas practitioners
followed by reviews by outside experts in the curriculum area.
Carol Rupe, district 8, Wichita, agreed, saying the worst thing
the Board could do would be to treat one curriculum area (implication
- science) different from the other areas.
The motion for the external reviews failed, 5-5. Voting for the
motion were Sue Gamble, Carol Rupe, Bill Wagnon, Janet Waugh, and
Bruce Wyatt. Voting against the motion were Steve Abrams, John Bacon,
Connie Morris, Iris Van Meter, and Ken Willard.
Steve Abrams, district 10, Arkansas City, then moved to do internal
reviews of both sets of standards. That motion failed 5-5 also.
With a motion from Ken Willard on the floor to do an external review
of history/government and an internal review of science, Abrams
moved to table the discussion until August.
Stay tuned.
'05 Budget Request: Add $104 Million
Following a long discussion on process, the State Board agreed
to request an additional $104m in their "enhanced" budget
request, which will be submitted to Governor Kathleen Sebelius in
September. This is an almost 4.5% increase over current appropriations.
The Board was unanimous in agreeing to ask for an additional $100
on the base budget per pupil, although several Board members made
a point of reminding their colleagues that such an amount is barely
"catch up" to where the bbpp was at the end of last fiscal
year.
They also agreed that funding for excess cost of special education
should be increased to the 90% level.
Combined, those two items would cost an additional $82.9m. Both,
several Board members emphasized, would provide additional resources
to districts for teacher salaries. The Board was unwilling, however,
to earmark any funds specifically for teacher salaries.
Other items agreed upon by the Board include:
$14m (new) for reading and mathematics literacy activities
$2.5m (new) for support to schools "on improvement" from
ESEA/NCLB
$.1m (new) to evaluate four-year-old at risk programs
$4.7m (additional) to increase at risk weighting from .1 to .11
No other suggested budget items could get 6 votes for inclusion
in the proposal.
The Board will act on the budget proposal at their August meeting.
Mathematics, Reading Standards Approved
Grade-by-grade standards for mathematics and for reading were unanimously
approved by the State Board on Tuesday. The work was required because
of ESEA/NCLB's demand that every student in grades 3-8 be tested
every year in reading and in mathematics.
The new standards will be posted on the KSDE website.
In other action, the State Board
Approved recommendations from the Professional Practices Commission
to deny 3 applications and accept 1 voluntary surrender.
Approved waivers to allow 142 schools from 47 USDs to begin the
new QPA process during the '03-'04 school year (list will be posted
on KNEA website - see Quality Schools tab)
Renewed the NWKESC, Oakley, agreement
Approved QPA waivers for
o USD 211, Norton, use district personnel for onsite teams
o USD 482, Dighton, align cycles
o USD 330, Wabaunsee East, align cycles
o USD 512, SM, delay first visits for East Antioch, Nieman, Roesland,
Shawanoe, Overland Park until May, 2004
Approved recommendations from Certification Review Committee
to deny 5 and approve 6 requests.
Approved Visiting Scholar requests for
o USD 229, Latin teacher (renewal)
o USD 512, Arabic teacher (renewal)
o USD 233, Japanese teacher (new)
Accreditation Decisions
The following schools received full accreditation status for
their next 5-year cycle:
USD 212, Almena, Long Island elementaries, Northern Valley HS
USD 228, Hanston elementary and hs
USD 259, Benton, Mayberry Magnet, Payne, Stanley elementaries and Pleasant
Valley ms
USD 283, Elk Valley elementary and hs
USD 291, Grinnell ms and hs
USD 298, Lincoln J/SHS
USD 299, Sylvan Unified elementary and hs
USD 301, Utica elementary
USD 334, Miltonvale grade and hs
USD 346, Mound City elementary
USD 359, Argonia hs
USD 362, Prairie View ms
USD 367, Swenson ece, Osawatomie ms and hs
USD 367, Trojan elementary
USD 368, Cottonwood elementary
USD 384, Olsburg elementary
USD 397, Centre elementary
USD 454, Burlingame elementary
USD 500, Chelsea, Quindaro, White Church and William A. White elementaries
USD 504, Neosho Heights, Service Valley elementaries and Oswego ms
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