Legislative Update from Schools for Equity in Education

Expand Q-comp (an alternative teacher's compensation plan) to all school districts and charter schools. Currently 44 school districts out of 343 are participating. This would provide up to $300 per pupil in funding - $195 per pupil in state aid and $105 in optional levy. Because there is a one year lag in collecting the levy portion, these funds would begin in 2010-11 school year. The $300 per pupil funding will be tied to creating and administrating this program. Schools currently receiving Q-comp would only receive the additional $40 ($26 in state aid and $14 in optional levy) from the increase from the current $260 per pupil funding for Q-comp to the $300.
Pay for Performance Plan. Provides a 1% increase to school districts for each student achieving medium growth and a 2% increase for students achieving high growth under the MDE Growth Model.

To keep the current level of class sizes and program offerings, districts need to receive inflationary increases which run around 3 - 4 % a year. The governor's proposal would only provide an average increase of 0.7% for SEE districts next year. The funding will increase the following year, but those additional funds are tied to mandates in Q-comp. Under this proposal, districts will have to cut, use reserves or pass referendum just to maintain.   In addition, the governor's proposal took away the 1% increase given last year as one-time money. Factoring that in will result in districts receiving less money for their district operating funds over the next two years than they are receiving now.

The rest of the proposal includes some small appropriations for pilot programs and other initiatives plus several reductions to save money. The governor also proposed accounting shifts to generate one-time dollars that will help balance the state's budget.

Using accounting shifts is like buying on a credit card. The money has to be paid back. The education community expected the use of accounting shifts; however, the magnitude of the shifts was somewhat of a surprise. The governor is proposing about $1.25 billion in education shifts yet he is reinvesting only a tiny fraction of that back into our schools.

Times are tough and sacrifices have to be made. Education did fare better than all other areas of the government in the governor's proposal. However, the way the governor's proposal is structured ties funding to additional mandates and very little is given to the classroom.   After all the rhetoric, will the general public understand when districts cut or ask for additional referendum?   Our children deserve greater transparency from state leaders.

What's Next?

The governor's proposal indicated his priorities and it's just the beginning of the process. Legislators have expressed concerns about his K-12 education proposal that include:

Closing the achievement gap is critical for Minnesota's future prosperity. The governor's Pay for Performance Plan would provide the least resources to the districts that have the highest percentage of struggling students.
Education Committee members have expressed a concern that K-12 dollars need to stay in K-12 education. The governor has several provisions in his K-12 proposal that direct funds to the higher education institutions for recruiting, training and improving standards for teacher licensure. Perhaps these expenditures should be in the higher education bill.
The size of the$1.2 billion shift in education will mean that schools may have to take money out of the classroom to pay the costs of borrowing money for funds that are being used to balance the budget and not invested in education.

In the coming weeks, the education committees will be hearing bills that will be held over for possible inclusion in the education omnibus bill. Their priorities and how they want to shape the education bill will become more apparent. However, in the end the governor and the legislature will have to negotiate and compromise to draft an education bill that will pass both the House and Senate and still be signed by the governor.

GRAD Standards

A hot topic at the Capitol this week was the GRAD test (Graduation Required Assessment for Diploma). Minnesota has developed a rigorous GRAD test in the belief that high rigor will increase student proficiency in math and reading which improves the students ability to achieve success throughout their life. This is the first year that students in 11th grade must pass both the reading and math portions of the GRAD test to receive their diploma. A majority of the 11th graders last year failed in math. Even though this year's 11th graders understand that the test is now for high stakes, it is predicted that a majority of them will still fail. The test is administered in the spring with results coming out in late June. This timing doesn't allow for summer remediation. Although, failing students can retake the GRAD test in 12th grade, time is running out for them. As one legislator pointed out, "This is where rigor hits reality."

Denying a diploma to a student based on a single test when they otherwise have fulfilled all other requirements will seriously affect their future. Math especially is a problem. Unlike reading where once a student reaches proficiency they tend to stay proficient because reading is a part of their everyday life, math is different. 11th graders are being tested on math concepts that they are taught in 7th - 9th grade and may not have much exposure to since then.

The education policy committees want to maintain high standards but are analyzing whether a single high stakes test is the proper measuring tool. In the short term, they want to define an alternative path for students to demonstrate proficiency to prevent a large number of students from being denied a diploma. They want to act fast and will be working on this in the coming weeks. In the long run, they want to really look at process of how to combine high states testing and high standards. It seems like discussion is focusing on using state developed end-of-course exams or a series of computer adaptive tests similar to the NWEA to complement the GRAD test especially for math areas like Geometry and Algebra II.

Working together, we can make a difference.

If you have any questions or comments, please don't hesitate to contact me.

Deb Griffiths

Director of Communications and Community Outreach

Schools for Equity in Education

612-309-0089

email: deb.griffiths@schoolsforequity.org

web site: www.schoolsforequity.org