tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-77791635694181324652024-02-08T09:45:03.816-08:00MCSBA on Public EducationJody Sieglehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11774202560993547210noreply@blogger.comBlogger22125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7779163569418132465.post-31899222454067561572014-05-01T11:45:00.000-07:002014-05-01T11:45:44.149-07:00The Push Back - What Happens When You Criticize Mom, Apple Pie, and Favorite Teachers
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<span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif";">We all have warm
glossy associations with certain emotional touchstones.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Most adults remember when our national self-image
was pretty much summed up by thoughts of Mom and apple pie, along with some caring
school teachers.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There are war stories about
soldiers who credited focusing on these memories with sustaining them during
prolonged adversity.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>No one would have denigrated
these symbols of American life. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif";">Yet some high
profile leaders, in their relentless pursuit of change, have forgotten how
important these basic concepts can be to people.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And the unexpected criticism of mothers,
apple pie, and teachers has led to a push back of growing dimensions.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Consider the following:</span></div>
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<u><span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif";">Criticizing
Moms and Teachers</span></u></div>
<span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif";"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif";"><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif";">Secretary of
Education Arne Duncan chose to belittle mothers for their lack of support for
new standards saying, </span><strong><i><span lang="EN" style="font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-weight: normal; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">“It’s
fascinating to me that some of the pushback is coming from, sort of, white
suburban moms who — all of a sudden — their child isn’t as brilliant as they thought
they were and their school isn’t quite as good as they thought they were, and
that’s pretty scary.”</span></i></strong><strong><i><span lang="EN" style="font-family: "Georgia","serif"; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;"> </span></i></strong><strong><span lang="EN" style="font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-weight: normal; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">Mothers did not take well
to having their concerns about standardized tests being shrugged off with a
glib assertion that they were overly protective and had exaggerated assumptions
about their children’s intelligence.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In
the commentary on Duncan’s statement, it was repeatedly pointed out that had he
said this about any other racial group there would have been screaming
outrage.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></strong></div>
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<strong><span lang="EN" style="font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-weight: normal; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"></span><o:p></o:p></span></strong> </div>
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<span><span lang="EN" style="font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 11pt; font-weight: normal; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">In
another similar instance of disparaging the source of criticism, NYS Education Commissioner
John King, after a public forum that dissolved into yelling, cancelled upcoming
public forums with the statement,</span><strong><span lang="EN" style="font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 11pt; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"> </span></strong><strong> </strong></span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">“In light of the clear intention of
these special interest groups to continue to manipulate the forum, the
PTA-sponsored events scheduled have been suspended.” </span></i><span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif";">Unfortunately the audience was made up of
parents and teachers, albeit angry ones, but parents and teachers nevertheless.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Neither group took well to being accused of
being a special interest group, with the implication that their specific
concern was not worth hearing.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The
outcry was heard around the state and the Commissioner soon scheduled another
series of public meetings, but the damage to his image among the insulted
groups had been done.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">One result of this damage was visible in April at the annual
meeting of New York’s statewide teachers’ union, NYSUT.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>NYSUT members voted “No Confidence” in the
Commissioner. This unprecedented “No Confidence” vote was a statement of profound
philosophical disagreement with the Commissioner on how education should be
led.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>After the teachers voted, a spokesman
for the Commissioner dismissed NYSUT’s action as “politics.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But what can be gained by choosing to ignore
a deeply held concern of a group representing 600,000 people who are
professionals in his field?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<u><span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif";">Imposing new
standards<o:p></o:p></span></u></div>
<span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif";">Regardless of
one’s view of the value of the Common Core Learning Standards, where their
introduction has been characterized by top-down imposition on teachers and
students with no opportunity for parents and education professionals to have a voice
in the changes in their schools, there has been push back. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Many social media sites support the positions
of unhappy parents and educators. <o:p></o:p></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif";">The growing opposition
to the Common Core manifests itself in a variety of ways – locally by parents
opting their children out of state tests, and statewide by involving political
leaders in issues that were previously left to state boards of education.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif";">In response to
public anger, Indiana has terminated its involvement with the Common Core Learning
Standards and North Carolina is currently considering a similar action.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Here in New York, changes to the planned
implementation for the use of data from state tests were included in the state
budget document, and other proposed laws intervene with the roll-out of teacher
evaluation and certification requirements.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
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New York State’s new budget, in response to public outcry, terminated the State
Education Department’s plan to put student data in a cloud-based data base
called inBloom. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span><span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The
state’s Race to the Top grant application committed New York to creating a data
base that would carry all information about student and teacher
performance.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The stated goal was to
collect data in a way that would improve instruction.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The goal was quite sweeping as Arne Duncan
described it in a speech in June 2009, “Hopefully, someday, we can track
children from preschool to high school and from high school to college and
college to career." </span><span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif";"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Parents recoiled at the idea of their children’s personal
information –hundreds of data points including grades, discipline records, family
issues, health, and economic data – being stored in a giant multi-state cloud-based
data base.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Motivated by a lack of
confidence in the absolute security of such a cloud, the push-back against it
became an irresistible force and the state legislature passed legislation
withdrawing from inBloom.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>New York
became the final state to separate from inBloom and the data base is closing down.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<u><span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Apple Pie<o:p></o:p></span></u></div>
<span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif";">And as for the
apple pie, because of strict new federal nutrition standards, pie has become something
you won’t find in school lunches because it is does not fit into the
constraints of the nutritional allowances. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The considerable outcry about limits on portions
and menu items has resulted in Congress and the Department of Agriculture
backtracking on their overly strict guidance.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>There are also current bills before Congress modifying the federal role
in limiting food choices and returning those decisions to local districts.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Caution to the leader who thinks he can ignore the voice of
the people.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Leadership is about leading,
about motivating people to embrace ideas and actions, and it requires trust.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Being appointed or elected to an office may
give a person a title but it does not make them a true leader.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This is something people in leadership
positions might want to ponder.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
Jody Sieglehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11774202560993547210noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7779163569418132465.post-17663939358087181952014-03-12T08:12:00.000-07:002014-03-12T08:12:14.628-07:00The Power of Public Outrage
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The power of public outrage should not be
underestimated.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Although school leaders
struggled to be heard in their pleas to the State Education Department about
how the Common Core Learning Standards should be introduced in New York’s
schools, it wasn’t until the broader public added their voices, and their
outrage, that the SED and the Legislature and Governor really began to pay
attention.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></div>
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Over the years there have been many instances when our requests
to legislators for laws that would be helpful to schools were brushed off with
the explanation that the public wasn’t calling out for that particular
change.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Legislators who cited the lack
of a public outcry as a reason not to act do not necessarily seem pleased now that
they have a public clamoring for changes with the Common Core.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></div>
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With the power of public outcry in mind, school leaders are
trying to draw attention to the Gap Elimination Adjustment (GEA), hoping to
make it a pivotal issue this year. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>As the
budget discussion began, most of the public and even many legislators did not grasp
the impact of the GEA’s automatic reduction to school aid after a district’s
aid is calculated.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></div>
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The GEA was instituted during the recession to help the
state with its revenue problems. Although initially a one-time adjustment to debit
money off the bottom line after a district’s state aid was calculated, it was
subsequently made a permanent part of the funding formula, a constant negative
number in the calculation of aid. <o:p></o:p></div>
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The amount of money subtracted from school aid by the GEA is
staggering - $8.5 BILLION statewide over the past four years, over $355 MILLION
in MCSBA districts alone!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This loss is
crippling schools’ ability to offer the programs students need, an impact on
the development of the next generation that cannot be calculated.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But the dollar loss can be calculated and for
the coming year, the Governor’s budget proposal includes another $1.3 BILLION GEA
cut, including $65 MILLION locally.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></div>
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The public is beginning to understand the GEA.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Dissonance is growing louder as people
question the conflicting messages from the Governor’s office that the state has
a surplus and can rebate tax money to homeowners yet still uses the GEA to
siphon money off the bottom line of school aid. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></div>
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With all the pressure on districts created by the cap on the
levy, the governor’s push for a freeze on increases in local taxes, and the
continuing depletion of reserve funds, the insidious impact of the GEA is
becoming more obvious.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Many school
leaders are showing their communities that despite all the other limits on
revenue, if this money was not taken away, they could fund their programs
without exceeding the tax cap for years to come.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></div>
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The public doesn’t rise up when they are content; they rise
up when they are angry.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It is
intoxicating to imagine the public demanding adequate funding for education,
but they could, and they might, because to understand the GEA is to be appalled
by it. <o:p></o:p></div>
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We need to take every opportunity to inform people about the
GEA. <o:p></o:p></div>
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<o:p> </o:p></div>
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<o:p> </o:p></div>
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<o:p> </o:p></div>
Jody Sieglehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11774202560993547210noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7779163569418132465.post-23236540198054489102014-01-08T15:03:00.000-08:002014-01-08T15:03:50.793-08:00A Troubling Trend in Tax Policy
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As school boards and the state both begin developing their
annual budgets, the awareness of fiscal need is unrelenting.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Everyone will struggle to make the best use
of limited tax revenues.<o:p></o:p></div>
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In this climate, there is an alarming new trend among
developers of retail properties to request, and for Industrial Development
Authority Boards to award, exceptionally long periods of time for Payment in
Lieu of Taxes (PILOT) dispensations on property taxes.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Although the typical duration of a PILOT has
been ten years, developers are now asking for PILOTS that will run for 20, 25,
and even 35 years.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>These requests to be
relieved of normal property tax obligations for such lengthy periods represent a
fundamental change in the expectations of developers for how they would run
their businesses.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Admittedly starting a new business is risky. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>25% of new businesses fail in their first year
and only 47% of retail operations are still operating four years after they
open.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So one can understand why
developers would seek to leverage every possible financial advantage.<o:p></o:p></div>
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But discounting taxes for a quarter century is more than a
tax break to help a business get started – it is a primary change in how
businesses operate.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></div>
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Giving a 25-year tax break to build a store or restaurant
makes questionable sense when so much can change in a quarter century, especially
purchasing patterns.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Consider that 25
years ago a first class stamp cost 25 cents, a gallon of regular gas cost $1.12,
the US population had 67 million fewer people, and the Dow Jones Average was in
the 2,000’s (compared to the current 16,000).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>25 years ago Kodak employed over 50,000 people locally. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
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And Google, on-line shopping, social media,
and all the other elements of an Internet driven world were not yet part of
anyone’s plan, even among the small number of scientists who understood the newly
invented information sharing system called the Wide Area Information Server.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Considering the potential for changes in demographics and
economic structures, the arguments that motivate a decision in 2013 may cause
an unreasonable public burden by 2038.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Whenever
a PILOT is granted, taxes are shifted from a singular business to all the other
taxpayers in the community.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And one has
to wonder, if a business claims it cannot operate unless its property taxes are
reduced for such a long period of time, perhaps it needs to rethink its
business model. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></div>
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So far only a few MCSBA member districts in towns with large
shopping malls have had to deal with a request for an extended PILOT, and their
experiences have not been encouraging. Although
school districts are informed about these requests and are allowed to provide
information at public hearings about the impact, school districts do not have
any official role in the final decisions of Industrial Development Authorities.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></div>
</span><span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">
</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Cambria;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">The lack of a legal role for the schools in making decisions
about extended PILOTS is a serious omission and should be changed if this trend
continues. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>School districts set tax
rates with the concerns of the entire community in mind, and a community can
hold a school board accountable for their decisions.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In contrast when IDA’s make their decisions,
they are looking at a single request, and basing much of their decision on the
claims of a self-interested business. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>IDA
boards do not have any direct accountability to the larger community.<o:p></o:p><br />
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</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times New Roman;"></span> </div>
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Business interests can change over time but a community’s
need for an equitable financial foundation does not.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Other factors, not extended PILOTS, are what
will determine whether or not a given business survives over time.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In the meantime, the community’s residents
and the businesses with long standing will bear the shift in the tax burden
without any similar access to tax relief. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></div>
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School systems are seeing more and more limits put on their state
and local revenues.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This emergence of
requests for extended PILOTS becomes another constraint.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>School finance is difficult enough but in
this instance, long-term decisions that impact district finances are being made
by a separate appointed board, not elected leaders whose primary responsibility
is the well being of the school district.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span><o:p></o:p></div>
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<o:p> </o:p></div>
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<o:p><span style="font-family: Cambria;"> </span></o:p></div>
Jody Sieglehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11774202560993547210noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7779163569418132465.post-3911919081910765512013-11-22T12:30:00.000-08:002013-11-22T12:30:56.158-08:00Common Core Controversy and Other Issues in Education
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Issues around the Common Core Standards are generating a
great deal of attention.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Here in
Rochester there have recently been three large forums where people could ask
and/or comment on the issues with our local members of the Board of Regents,
with the Commissioner of Education, and with members of the Assembly
Minority.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>For the latter group I
submitted written testimony which I am posting here as well.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></div>
<br />
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<o:p> </o:p></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Testimony to
the New York State Assembly<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Memorial Art
Gallery<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Rochester, NY<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">November 20,
2013<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Respectfully
submitted by Jody Siegle, Executive Director<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Monroe County
School Boards Association<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
</div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Thank
you for the opportunity to submit testimony to you.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>My name is Jody Siegle and I am the Executive
Director of the Monroe County School Boards Association, a non-profit
organization that is made up of 21 school districts in Monroe County.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">You
are here to gather information and opinions about the Common Core standards,
which make up one of the anchors of the Regents Reform Agenda.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p> </o:p></span><span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The
Common Core standards, the structure of the state exams, the new teacher and
principal evaluation plans, and the about to be implemented inBloom data base
have all become highly controversial. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In
the 25 plus years of my involvement with public education in New York I have
seen a succession of new state initiatives such as the Regents Action Plan, the
New Compact for Learning, and Shared Decision Making, and also federal
initiatives like No Child Left Behind and Race to the Top, each requiring major
transitions in how schools operate.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But I
have never seen the widespread frustration that has now evolved into the anger
and turmoil that motivated this hearing today.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p> </o:p></span><span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Ordering
change is not the same as motivating it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Someday the current situation should be studied as an example of how not
to implement change.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The wisdom,
experience, and values of school leaders, teachers, and parents have been
ignored throughout this process and the resulting frustration should not be
underestimated.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But I ask you to be very
thoughtful in whatever action you take so that valuable ideas about learning
contained within the Common Core standards are not discarded in a wholesale
rejection because of their poor implementation.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p>E</o:p></span><span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">ach
state and federal education initiative has the goal of raising student achievement,
especially the outcomes in high need districts characterized by high dropout
rates.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Even before the NCLB law required
it, NYS required our schools to disaggregate student test data. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Analyzing subgroup performance revealed that
certain groups of students clearly weren’t succeeding in school while other
subgroups were doing very well.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That
discovery led to some thoughtful planning at the local level but not higher
up.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The state failed to ask why particular
subgroups were struggling, and instead developed sweeping reforms for everyone
that never addressed the real problems interfering with student progress.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">One
problem too often overlooked and sometimes even denied is the impact of
poverty.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Poverty is not an excuse but it
is a fact and a factor in the lives of over 50% of the children in New York’s
schools.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The effect of poverty is not
the same for every child but data makes it clear that there is a causal
relationship between poverty and poor student performance. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">I
have attached MCSBA’s recently approved position paper to this testimony.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The paper calls out the state’s responsibilities
for the wellbeing of students and families.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>While the schools do not shirk from their responsibility for educating
the state’s children, their work is complicated when children do not arrive at
school ready to learn.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This can mean
kindergarteners who lack language and were deprived of critical early stimulation
for brain development or it may mean students who cannot concentrate because
they are hungry, depressed, or frightened because of the uncertainty in their
lives outside of school.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Schools have
their role helping children but so does the state.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>All the agencies that support children and
families are under the direct responsibility of the governor, and those same agencies
have seen major cuts in their budgets in recent years.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">I
believe, and our membership believes, that there won’t be any substantial
progress on increasing student performance and the graduation rate in high need
communities unless we address the impact of poverty on the lives of
students.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The best standards in the
world will not overcome the effect on a child of hunger or fear.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I urge you to read our position paper and keep
it in mind as you consider making changes to solve the problems around the implementation
of the Common Core standards. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="mso-tab-count: 3;"> </span>#<span style="mso-tab-count: 2;"> </span>#<span style="mso-tab-count: 2;"> </span>#<span style="mso-tab-count: 2;"> </span>#<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Here is the above mentioned MCSBA position paper.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It can also be downloaded at <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
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<a href="http://www.monroe.edu/webpages/mcsba/files/approved%2C%20%20democracy%20and%20public%20education%20in%20nys%20position%20paper.pdf"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Calibri;">http://www.monroe.edu/webpages/mcsba/files/approved%2C%20%20democracy%20and%20public%20education%20in%20nys%20position%20paper.pdf</span></a><o:p></o:p></div>
<br />
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<o:p><span style="font-family: Calibri;"> </span></o:p></div>
<div class="Default" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt 0.5in; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="color: windowtext; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span><b><span style="color: windowtext; font-size: 18pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">DEMOCRACY AND PUBLIC EDUCATION IN NYS <o:p></o:p></span></b></span></div>
<br />
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<b><span style="color: windowtext; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">In response to Governor
Cuomo’s statements about underperforming schools, the MCSBA membership submits
the following: </span></span></b></div>
<br />
<div class="Default" style="margin: 0in 0in 11.25pt 0.5in;">
<span style="color: windowtext; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.5pt;">• </span><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><b><span style="color: windowtext; font-size: 11.5pt;">No
government leader can freely criticize school performance as if it is someone
else’s problem – </span></b><span style="color: windowtext; font-size: 11pt;">Each
agency of government has a role in the overall welfare of our communities and
as a society we <b>ALL </b>have a collective interest in the success of every
student as a learner and a productive citizen. </span></span></div>
<div class="Default" style="margin: 0in 0in 11.25pt 0.5in;">
<span style="color: windowtext; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.5pt;">•</span><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><b><span style="color: windowtext; font-size: 11.5pt;">Children
are shaped by their lives outside of school </span></b><span style="color: windowtext; font-size: 16pt;">– </span><span style="color: windowtext; font-size: 11pt;">Children
spend less than 15% of their time in school. The environmental factors that
influence children outside of school cannot be ignored. These can include
families in crisis, violent neighborhoods, lead poisoning, food insecurity,
drugs and other substance abuse. Chronic absenteeism and poor school
performance can be linked to each of these factors. </span></span></div>
<div class="Default" style="margin: 0in 0in 11.25pt 0.5in;">
<span style="color: windowtext; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.5pt;">•</span><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><b><span style="color: windowtext; font-size: 11.5pt;">The
high correlation between poor school performance, poverty and family stress is
well documented </span></b><span style="color: windowtext; font-size: 11.5pt;">– </span><span style="color: windowtext; font-size: 11pt;">The dropout rate for low-income high
school students (the lower 20% of family incomes, which represents an annual
income of $21,000 or less) is twice as high as the dropout rate for
middle-income students and four times higher than for high income students</span></span><span style="color: windowtext; font-family: "Arial Rounded MT Bold","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Arial Rounded MT Bold";">. The City of
Rochester has the sad distinction of having one of the highest child poverty
rates in the nation. </span></div>
<div class="Default" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt 0.5in;">
<span style="color: windowtext; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.5pt;">•</span><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><b><span style="color: windowtext; font-size: 11.5pt;">The Governor has direct
responsibility for the wellbeing of New York’s children</span></b><span style="color: windowtext; font-size: 11.5pt;">– </span><span style="color: windowtext; font-size: 11pt;">Although the Board of Regents, which is appointed by the
Legislature, oversees public education, ALL other agencies concerned with
children fall under the leadership of the Governor. Some of these agencies
include: <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<ul><ul>
<li><span style="color: windowtext; font-size: 11pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Office of Children and Family Services (OCFS)</span></span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="color: windowtext; font-size: 11pt;">Office of Persons with Developmental Disabilities (OPWDD) <o:p></o:p></span></span></li>
<li><span style="color: windowtext; font-size: 11pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Department of Health (DOH) <o:p></o:p></span></span></li>
<li><span style="color: windowtext; font-size: 11pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Office of Mental Health (OMH) <o:p></o:p></span></span></li>
<li><span style="color: windowtext; font-size: 11pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Department of Correction <o:p></o:p></span></span></li>
<li><span style="color: windowtext; font-size: 11pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: small;">S</span>tate University of New York </span></span></li>
</ul>
</ul>
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<i><span style="color: windowtext; font-size: 11pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">These
agencies have been decimated by cuts and closures and by regionalizing offices.
The trickle down effect of this has greatly diminished the ability of our local
communities to provide critical supports to children and their families. <o:p></o:p></span></span></i></div>
<br />
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<span style="color: windowtext; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.5pt;">•</span><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><b><span style="color: windowtext; font-size: 11.5pt;">Boards
of Education members are elected local officials who are directly accountable
to their constituents for the public schools in their communities – </span></b><span style="color: windowtext; font-size: 11.5pt;">The academic performance of children
who live in poverty does not invalidate the right of citizens to elect their
own representatives. <i>The Governor’s proposal to remove locally elected
boards violates the foundation of our democratic principles. <o:p></o:p></i></span></span></div>
<br />
<div class="Default" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt 0.5in;">
<span style="color: windowtext; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.5pt;">•</span><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><b><span style="color: windowtext; font-size: 11.5pt;">Although the Governor continually
criticizes the high cost of public education in NYS, he has largely ignored
education leaders’ pleas for mandate relief – </span></b><span style="color: windowtext; font-size: 11.5pt;">Education leaders have provided
evidence and testimony on what reliefs schools need to be more cost effective.
This has fallen on deaf ears. <i>In fact, the current education reform that was
legislated after his promise for mandate relief has been extraordinarily costly
to implement and has created many new mandates. </i><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<br />
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><b><span style="color: windowtext; font-size: 14pt;">If the
state is serious about improving student results, it must acknowledge and then
act on its moral and constitutional obligations to help its neediest citizens
arrive at school ready to learn. </span></b><span style="color: windowtext; font-size: 14pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<span style="color: windowtext; font-size: 7pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">______________________________________________________________________
<o:p></o:p></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><b><span style="color: windowtext; font-size: 7pt;">MONROE COUNTY SCHOOL BOARDS
ASSOCIATION</span></b><span style="color: windowtext; font-size: 7pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span><br />
<span style="color: windowtext; font-size: 7pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">220 Idlewood Road, Rochester, New York 14618-
585-328-1972- www.mcsba.org<o:p></o:p></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="color: windowtext; font-size: 7pt;">Approved, October, 2013</span><span style="color: windowtext; font-size: 11pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span><br />
<br />
<br />
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<b><span style="font-size: 16pt;">Supporting Data<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<br />
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><b><span style="color: windowtext; font-size: 11.5pt;">Research
repeatedly proves that environmental factors influence child development,
including the ability to learn. </span></b><span style="color: windowtext; font-size: 11.5pt;">Research also identifies successful programs that can
mitigate the negative effects of poverty, and which could be brought to scale
to help needy children.</span><span style="color: windowtext; font-size: 14pt;">*
</span><i><span style="color: windowtext; font-size: 11.5pt;">This is a state issue
because New York communities like Rochester and Buffalo have some of the
highest poverty rates in the nation. <o:p></o:p></span></i></span></div>
<br />
<div class="Default" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><b><span style="color: windowtext; font-size: 11.5pt;">Poverty’s
impact varies across a continuum of needs so there are no one-size-fits-all
solutions. </span></b><span style="color: windowtext; font-size: 11.5pt;">In 2013 a
family of four qualified for Reduced Price Lunch with an income of $43,567
while a child whose family lived on a single minimum wage salary would only
have a family income of $15,080. A child living in the latter situation would
need to cope with challenges and deprivations significantly different from a
child living in the former situation. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<br />
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><b><span style="color: windowtext; font-size: 11.5pt;">The
American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) has committed to advocating for addressing
the health effects of poverty because: </span></b><span style="color: windowtext; font-size: 11.5pt;">“<i>…Poverty can inhibit children’s ability to learn and
contribute to social, emotional, and behavioral problems. Poverty is a
contributing factor to toxic stress, which has been shown to disrupt the
developing brain of infants and children and influence behavioral, educational,
economic and health outcomes for years.</i>” </span></span></div>
<div class="Default" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><b><span style="color: windowtext; font-size: 11pt;">The AAP goals include</span></b><span style="color: windowtext; font-size: 11pt;">: <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<ul><ul>
<li><span style="color: windowtext; font-size: 11pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Expanding access to affordable health care services. <o:p></o:p></span></span></li>
<li><span style="color: windowtext; font-size: 11pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Expanding access to basic needs such as food, housing and transportation. </span></span></li>
<li><span style="color: windowtext; font-size: 11pt;"></span><span style="color: windowtext; font-size: 11pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Promoting positive early brain and child development and school readiness and success. <o:p></o:p></span></span></li>
<li><span style="color: windowtext; font-size: 11pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Supporting parents.</span></span></li>
</ul>
</ul>
<div class="Default" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.65pt;">
<b><span style="color: windowtext; font-size: 11.5pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Governor Cuomo’s own New NYS Education Reform Commission
Report, “Putting Students First Action Plan,” recognizes this relationship: <o:p></o:p></span></span></b></div>
<i><span style="color: windowtext; font-size: 11.5pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">“Research shows that a child’s most formative years are
during early childhood, at the very beginning stages of their formal education,
and even prior. The education and guidance children receive during these years
have a profound effect on their academic success at every subsequent stage.
Unpreparedness in kindergarten permeates through the education pipeline, as
these students are often the same ones who cannot read or do math at grade
level, who drop out of high school, or who need remediation in college, if they
even pursue a college degree.” <o:p></o:p></span></span></i><br />
<br />
<div class="Default" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.65pt; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><b><span style="color: windowtext; font-size: 11pt;">The report’s recommendations
included: </span></b><span style="color: windowtext; font-size: 11pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<ul><ul>
<li><div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="color: windowtext; font-size: 11pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Increase access to early educational opportunities by providing high quality full day pre-kindergarten for students in highest needs school districts.</span></span></div>
</li>
<li><div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="color: windowtext; font-size: 11pt;"></span><span style="color: windowtext; font-size: 11pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Restructure schools by integrating social, health and other services through community schools to improve student performance. </span></span></div>
</li>
</ul>
</ul>
<div class="Default" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><b><span style="color: windowtext; font-size: 11.5pt;">Only when
our elected leaders begin to confront the facts around poverty and legislate
meaningful support for child development will we truly be able to break the
terrible cycle of poverty and school failure. </span></b><span style="color: windowtext; font-size: 11.5pt;">Left unaddressed, poverty not only
diminishes the potential of the children but also results in huge future losses
to our economy. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<br />
<div class="Default" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><b><span style="color: windowtext; font-size: 14pt;">*</span></b><span style="color: windowtext; font-size: 10pt;">For information on successful
programs that can help mitigate the impact of poverty check out The Children’s
Agenda at http://www.thechildrensagenda.org/ourwork.php and/or <u>How Children
Succeed</u> by Paul Tough <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<br />
<div class="Default" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="color: windowtext; font-size: 10pt;"><o:p><span style="font-family: Calibri;"> </span></o:p></span></div>
<br />
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<span style="color: windowtext; font-size: 14pt;"><o:p><span style="font-family: Calibri;"> </span></o:p></span></div>
<br />
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
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<o:p> </o:p></div>
Jody Sieglehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11774202560993547210noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7779163569418132465.post-18449067288623850382013-11-07T11:43:00.000-08:002013-11-07T11:43:26.199-08:00About the Common Core Standards
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
The Common Core standards and testing regimen are receiving
a lot of attention here this week.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Monday night the two local members of the Board of Regents took
questions from a large gathering of school administrators, superintendents,
teachers, and school board members.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The local
newspaper is running a lengthy article explaining the Common Core standards and
school testing.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And one local television
station is administering the 3<sup><span style="font-size: x-small;">rd</span></sup> and 4<sup><span style="font-size: x-small;">th</span></sup> grade state
exams to a group of adults to get their reaction to the controversial
tests.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
Today the Commissioner is holding a community forum here for
the public. This particular forum is one of the recently arranged public meetings
scheduled in response to the outcry after the Commissioner abruptly cancelled
all his public forums following a particularly contentious evening. <o:p></o:p></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
With all that in mind, what follows is a guest post, a perspective
on the Common Core standards, submitted by Sherry Johnson, MCSBA Assistant to
Executive Director. <o:p></o:p></div>
<br />
<br />
From Sherry:<br />
<br />
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There has been a lot of fallout from the recent cancellation
of Commissioner John King’s PTA forums.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>People
angry with the State Education Department’s (SED) current reform agenda have become
angrier and misinformation abounds, much of it associated with the Common Core
standards.<o:p></o:p></div>
<br />
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The issues around New York’s education reform agenda are
many, but the Common Core standards themselves shouldn’t be the target.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Most teachers, administrators and other
education leaders who have dedicated their own education and careers to helping
children learn and succeed believe that these standards do offer a better
opportunity for students to become higher achievers.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The Fordham Institute compared every state’s
current standards to the Common Core standards.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>In NYS for English Language Arts, the state received a “C” whereas the
Common Core standards were given a B+.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>In Math, the state was graded a “B” and the Common Core standards an
A-.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>While you can argue whether this is
or isn’t a large enough grade variation to make the change, it was primarily the
desire for “Race to the Top” dollars that drove SED to adopt them.<o:p></o:p></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
The real issues causing all of the uproar are about
implementation and testing.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>On the SED
Engage NY website, the catch phrase has been “we are building the plane as it
flies in the air.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Any
pilot will tell you that planes are fully constructed and test piloted before
passengers are allowed on board.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Their
own lives, the lives of their passengers and the future of the airline company,
depend on that plane being delivered safely to its destination.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So why such an analogy?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
SED made the decision early on, that regardless of where
schools were with their implementation, they would test kids on these new
standards, knowing full well that scores would be dismal. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They believed people would accept and support
this “work in progress” agenda.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But at
the district level, educators were trying desperately to get curricular gaps
identified, new curriculum written and teachers trained while simultaneously
negotiating APPR (Annual Professional Performance Review) agreements with their
teaching units.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This work was further
complicated by a steady stream of changing guidance from SED; some of it even after
their own deadlines had passed.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></div>
<br />
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The work of the reform agenda has also been extraordinarily
expensive, far exceeding anything districts were led to expect when they signed
on.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Leaders in the education field,
pleading for more time and resources to do this right so that new curriculum
could be delivered in a quality manner were told no, and thus the poor results
are not surprising to them. <o:p></o:p></div>
<br />
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Imagine signing up for a course at your local college and
after taking the time and energy to complete the course, you are given a test
with questions about information you haven’t been taught.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Now imagine that the results of this same
test which your instructor didn’t develop, didn’t know what questions would be
asked and can’t determine whether you have passed or failed is used to measure
their competence as an instructor.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
That is what teachers and their students endured this
year.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Logic and experience tells us that
a plane being built in the air while flying can’t deliver its precious cargo safely
to its destination.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The Common Core
standards are not the problem here. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The
natural consequence of not listening to the professionals in the field who
asked simply to be allowed to finish building the plane before putting children
in it, has placed Commissioner King and SED in the uncomfortable position of
having to explain to many upset parents and others why they thought this was a
good idea in the first place.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<o:p> </o:p></div>
Jody Sieglehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11774202560993547210noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7779163569418132465.post-34043361339958672052013-05-20T09:46:00.000-07:002013-05-20T09:46:20.982-07:00School Budget VOTE Day
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
Tomorrow New York State school districts have their annual
school budget vote and school board member elections.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
For every district in the state (except the Big Five cities),
the vote is the culmination of each district’s planning process and the means
for the community to select the people who will make district policy and other decisions
on behalf of their communities.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The
budget proposal is the end result of months of study and discussion but it
cannot be finalized until the community passes judgment on the work through
their votes.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
Sadly, typically only five to ten percent of the eligible citizens
vote on their school budgets.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Lots of
people don’t notice or even forget the vote is happening.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>School elections are non-partisan; board
members are unpaid; and board service is not perceived as a stepping stone to
other political positions.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>All of this
means that school board budget votes and board elections are not accompanied by
the high-profile media onslaught that characterizes elections for other levels
of government.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
Ideally citizens should be able to act without constant communications
prodding them to vote. People should note
the district newsletters and calendars that announce the date of the vote, and
then make casting a ballot a priority.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></div>
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 11pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">If
you live in a district with a budget vote tomorrow, find the time to vote.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Read your district’s budget newsletter
(generally available online if you misplaced yours) and the statements of the
people running for the board of education.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>And then, as an informed citizen, vote.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span></span>Jody Sieglehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11774202560993547210noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7779163569418132465.post-53310069867926577532013-05-10T13:15:00.000-07:002013-05-10T13:15:15.419-07:00Newsweek’s 2013 Best High Schools and Monroe County Schools
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: "Helv","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Helv;">Newsweek has released their 2013 list of America’s Best High
Schools.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>15 Monroe County high schools are
cited on this list.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>These schools
represent the diversity of the communities in our county.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There is a school from the city and a school
from one of the smallest villages.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There
are schools from solidly middle class towns and also from districts with high free
and reduced lunch rates.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: "Helv","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Helv;">It is worthwhile to note that in a state where the quality
and cost of public education are often criticized by state leaders, the same
leaders who regularly endorse the idea of charter schools, the Newsweek data
tells a different story.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
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<span style="color: black; font-family: "Helv","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Helv;">Of the list’s 2000 nationally ranked high
schools, 194 are from New York State.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>How does this compare with other states?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>In this measure of high level academic performance, New York outshines the
other states. California has almost
twice as many people as New York but only 30% more schools on the list (253). <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Texas, with 30% more people than NY, has fewer
schools (165).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And a state often cited
as an education powerhouse, Massachusetts, which has only 34% of the population
of New York has a disproportionately smaller number of schools on the list, just
48 or 24% of New York’s number.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Many
states, of course, have only a handful and sadly some have only 1 or less.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: "Helv","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Helv;">Schools on the list are identified
as selective (students must pass selection criteria to be admitted), magnet,
charter, or open enrollment.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Of New York’s
194 schools, only 1 is a charter school.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>And while there are a number of selective or magnet schools on the list,
the vast majority are open enrollment schools.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: "Helv","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Helv;">And when one looks more closely at New
York’s data, Monroe County’s school district’s accomplishments are notable.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>New York is the nation’s third largest state
with approximately 2,685,000 K-12 students.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Monroe County’s student population represents only 4% of the number of
students in the state yet 8% of New York’s listed high schools are located
here.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
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<span style="color: black; font-family: "Helv","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Helv;">The Newsweek list is just one of numerous
rating systems that organizations use to evaluate and characterize the work of
public schools.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There are many ways to define
excellence in education.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
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<span style="color: black; font-family: "Helv","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Helv;">All this does not mean that there are
not schools in New York where students are performing woefully below the level they
need to be at to make good lives for themselves. These results in no way
eliminate the need to constantly analyze what schools do so we can learn and
improve our programs.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But it does mean
that in a lot of places around New York State educators are doing a great job
and students are benefitting from attending these great schools.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span><o:p></o:p></div>
Jody Sieglehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11774202560993547210noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7779163569418132465.post-61682155894235647892013-04-26T13:34:00.000-07:002013-04-26T13:34:49.685-07:00The State Education Department and College and Career Readiness
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Someone recently asked me, “What does it mean to be College
and Career Ready?”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That particular
phrase is regularly used by every state and national education leader, and it
appears in virtually every communication from the State Education
Department.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The singular purpose behind adopting
the Common Core Curriculum was that it was believed that these standards will
make students College and Career Ready.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Well, what does that mean?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">The definition begins with the highly commendable goal that
all students should be ready for college study or to begin their working careers
when they graduate from high school.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But
being ready for the Fashion Institute of Technology and Caltech require different
sets of readiness skills.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And for the
student who masters welding at the BOCES 2 WE-MO-CO Career and Technical
Education Center, readiness means preparation to walk right into a skilled job
with a metals fabrication company.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">How can the State Education Department characterize
readiness for such different paths in terms that will be meaningful?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Given
the desire to find ways to objectively evaluate students, the department has
developed a general standard for readiness.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Relying on a review of student high school records compared with the
performance of college freshman, they deduced that for students to be able to
do C work or better in college, they need to have received a score of at least
75 on their English Regents and an 80 on their math Regents.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">The high school graduation rate used to be the standard for
measuring a school’s effectiveness.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But
now, as a result of the conclusions about freshman year performance, the State
Education Department reports how many students meet this 75/80 achievement
level.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They report how many students
graduated and also how many graduated College and Career Ready. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">But when readiness is defined so numerically, does it really
tell the public if students are prepared for the career path they want to
pursue? <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Simply meeting the readiness
standard will not help a student get into Caltech, and missing the standard
does not mean someone won’t thrive at the Fashion Institute of Technology.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Doing well on the English and math Regents
exams is certainly an important goal, but when the public is told that students
are not ready for college or career, they need to know if that decision is
based on a full assessment of a student’s preparation and abilities.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">T</span>he
state is trying to set a meaningful standard.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>The question is, is this a meaningful and appropriate standard for all
students?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>If all the students do not
meet this particular standard, does it mean a school has failed?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>If a particular student does not meet this
standard, does that mean the child is a failure? <o:p></o:p></span></div>
Jody Sieglehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11774202560993547210noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7779163569418132465.post-67219079439868308782013-04-12T14:52:00.000-07:002013-04-12T14:52:15.812-07:00Speaking Out Is Better Than Opting Out
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">As New York State’s elementary and middle school
students<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>are about to begin taking their
annual state exams in English Language Arts and Math, controversy around these
high-stakes standardized state assessments is increasing.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>An anti-test movement is growing among
parents who are frustrated about the emphasis on this type of assessment and
the time devoted to standardized tests.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Opt-out websites are appearing on the internet created by parents
who are skeptical of the value of the testing regimen and don’t want their children
subjected to the hours of testing.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>These
idealistic intentions, however, will not solve a problem of overreliance on
standardized tests.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">There is no legal way for a parent to pull their child from
the state testing program, just as they cannot declare their child will no
longer take math quizzes.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Nevertheless,
advice on how to keep one’s child from sitting for the state tests is being
disseminated.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Some parents advocate
keeping their child home on test days, but this is not a legal absence. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Others suggest pulling the child out of school
once the exam has started, which would be unfairly disruptive to other students.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Many websites suggest telling a child to refuse to take the
tests.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That approach is striking for the
burden it puts on the child. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>What is
gained by putting a child in a position where he or she is asked to defy either
their teacher or their parent?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Civil
disobedience is a complex personal act, not something that should be imposed on
a child.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Can an elementary school
student distinguish why they would refuse one test but not another?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Furthermore, refusing to have a child tested is not a benign
act; there are consequences for both the school and the child. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Federal and state laws require annual testing
in 3<sup><span style="font-size: x-small;">rd</span></sup> through 8<sup><span style="font-size: x-small;">th</span></sup> grades.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Student performance on the state tests is
used to determine if schools are effectively educating their students.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Poor scores have consequences for a school’s
program and for teachers’ evaluations.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>If too few students take the tests, the school’s performance is rated
lower.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Schools can be forced to
restructure or close as a result of poor performance on state tests.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The tests are also used to assess individual student
progress and are used to determine whether a student needs additional help.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Many school leaders, meaning superintendents and board of
education members, share parents’ concerns about testing but school leaders must
take an oath to uphold the law.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>While
they may advocate for change, they are compelled to comply with the law.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The schools have no options around
administering these tests.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<u><span style="font-family: Calibri;">What an individual (or a movement) can do<o:p></o:p></span></u></div>
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Testing laws do not take away the public’s voice, and people
should not conclude they are helpless.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But
people need to direct their concerns to the actual decision makers, in this
case the Board of Regents and federal representatives.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">It is the Board of Regents who makes the decisions about the
design and administration of New York’s assessments.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The Board of Regents is the state’s board
of education.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It is made up of 17
individuals elected by a joint vote of the State Assembly and Senate to set
education policy for the state.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Most of
the Regents represent one of 13 state judicial districts, so there is a Regent
who views each community as his or her constituency.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Another 4 Regents serve as At Large members.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Together they hire the Commissioner of
Education, just as local school boards hire the superintendent. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The Regents are an autonomous unit of the
government, constitutionally separate from the Governor and the Legislature. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Two Regents live here in Rochester.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>If someone wants to see state education
policy changed, they are the people to talk to.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Or write.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Or email.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Below is a link to the Board of Regents
website along with contact information for the Chancellor, Vice Chancellor and
the two local Regents.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">In addition to Regents requirements, the Elementary and
Secondary Education Act (No Child Left Behind) is the original federal law that
mandated this testing.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This law is overdue
for reauthorization in Washington, so anyone wanting to see changes in its
requirements should contact their federal representatives.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">If you are someone who is troubled by the state’s testing
regimen, speak out.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But make sure you
are speaking to the actual decision makers.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<a href="http://www.regents.nysed.gov/members/"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Calibri;">http://www.regents.nysed.gov/members/</span></a><o:p></o:p></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span lang="EN" style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 9pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN;">Merryl H Tisch, <br />
Chancellor; At Large<br />
Regents Office, 89 Washington Avenue, Albany, NY 12234<br />
Phone: (518) 474-5889 Email: </span><a href="mailto:RegentTisch@mail.nysed.gov"><span lang="EN" style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 9pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN;"><span style="color: blue;">RegentTisch@mail.nysed.gov</span></span></a><span lang="EN" style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 9pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span lang="EN" style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 9pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN;">Anthony S. Bottar, <br />
Vice Chancellor; Judicial District V -- Herkimer, Jefferson, Lewis, Oneida,
Onondaga, and Oswego Counties<br />
120 Madison Street, Suite 1600, AXA Tower II, Syracuse, NY 13202<br />
Phone: (315) 422-3466 Email: </span><a href="mailto:RegentBottar@mail.nysed.gov"><span lang="EN" style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 9pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN;"><span style="color: blue;">RegentBottar@mail.nysed.gov</span></span></a><span lang="EN" style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 9pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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At Large<br />
74 Appleton Street, Rochester, NY 14611<br />
Phone (585) 436-2944 Email: </span><a href="mailto:RegentYoung@mail.nysed.gov%20"><span lang="EN" style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 9pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN;"><span style="color: blue;">RegentNorwood@mail.nysed.gov </span></span></a><span lang="EN" style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 9pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN" style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 9pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN;">T. Andrew Brown,<br />
Judicial District VII - Cayuga, Livingston, Monroe, Ontario, Seneca, Steuben,
Wayne, Yates Counties<br />
925 Crossroads Building, Two State Street, Rochester, NY 14614<br />
Phone (585) 454-3667 Email: </span><a href="mailto:RegentCottrell@mail.nysed.gov"><span lang="EN" style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 9pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN;"><span style="color: blue;">RegentBrown@mail.nysed.gov</span></span></a><span class="MsoHyperlink"><span lang="EN" style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 9pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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Jody Sieglehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11774202560993547210noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7779163569418132465.post-47718481790827832702012-11-02T12:55:00.000-07:002012-11-02T12:55:37.758-07:00Testimony to NYS Commission on Education Reform<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 11pt;">Good Afternoon Members of the <st1:state w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">New York</st1:place></st1:state> Education Reform Commission:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 11pt;">My name is Jody Siegle and for the past 24 years I have been deeply involved in public education policy and district oversight, first as a school board member and now as Executive Director of the Monroe County School Boards Association (MCSBA). MCSBA is made up of the 21 districts here in <st1:placename w:st="on">Monroe</st1:placename> <st1:placetype w:st="on">County</st1:placetype> including two BOCES, the city of <st1:city w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Rochester</st1:place></st1:city>, and the surrounding suburban and rural districts.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We serve 111,100 students.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 11pt;">MCSBA was created to provide a place for the school board members and superintendents here in <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:placename w:st="on">Monroe</st1:placename> <st1:placetype w:st="on">County</st1:placetype></st1:place> to share ideas and training.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That cooperation has benefited all of our school districts. This booklet, “The Best for Less: Cost Saving Strategies and Shared Services in Monroe County School Districts,” which can be downloaded from our website at <a href="http://www.mcsba.org/"><span style="color: purple;">www.mcsba.org</span></a>, documents how we work across district lines to save money and to offer better programs to our students.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 11pt;">I am here to say this is a region with very strong school districts and where student performance falters, it is most often tied to poverty.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Living in poverty is often accompanied by factors that affect how children cope with their lives, and school performance is affected by those factors.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But I am also here to say there are specific programs that have been proven to bring about positive changes in the lives of children who live in poverty and because of that, improve their school performance.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 11pt;">I am extremely proud of the work done by the staff and the students in our schools. For suburban and rural districts the graduation rate averages 89.6%.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 11pt;">In our county SAT scores substantially exceed both state and national averages. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The 2012 Annual Advanced Placement Report ranked New York State 2<sup>nd</sup> for the percentage of students in the class of 2011 who scored 3 or higher on their AP tests and last year Monroe County students received 8,970 scores of 3,4, or 5 on their AP exams.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 11pt;">Additionally thousands of high school students take dual enrollment courses at regional colleges as well as acquiring certificated skills in career and technology programs through their districts and BOCES.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The success students have with these optional programs ensures in very real terms that they are college and career ready.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>These students start their college studies having already earned a significant number of college credits. We also estimate that in a typical year our seniors are offered over $50 million in college scholarships.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 11pt;">Clearly the schools are benefiting the students and their families.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And the community’s strong support for the work of the public schools is evidenced by solid budget passage rates, with pluralities well over 60%.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 11pt;">I say these things not to boast but so you will realize that within this community there are education leaders who know how to provide the programs that children need to thrive across a wide range of measurements.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 11pt;">There are many measures of student and school success. But measures of success are also measures of failure.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>If we are to provide every child with the best opportunities, we need to identify what problems impede success. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 11pt;">Legislated solutions which are based on ideas but not research can impede progress.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Well-intended but ill-conceived laws fail to home in on the real issues, and instead mire everyone in compliance details of one-size-fits-all plans that truly fit no one.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They do not help the districts that need help and they interfere with the successful work done in districts that are doing well. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 11pt;">Right now school districts are being forced to spend millions of dollars and to redirect staff time implementing untested unpiloted programs that were imposed on districts while the problems that working educators ask for help with are ignored.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This is not how to make headway on real problems.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 11pt;">You have a unique opportunity to draw attention to what works and suggest ways to replicate those programs.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>You also have the ability recognize that not every district needs to make the same changes as every other one and we will lose if we toss aside what is already successful.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 11pt;">We have two systems of education in our state – hundreds of districts, the majority of districts, where students are doing well, and unfortunately a smaller number of districts that includes the large urban centers, where we see alarmingly poor performance.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 11pt;">Our city of <st1:city w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Rochester</st1:place></st1:city> has the 7<sup>th</sup> highest child poverty rate in the nation!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Free and Reduced Lunch rates are rising all around the county.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The reality of this poverty is so much more terrible than any statistic.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Did you know that superintendents dread closing school because of weather because they know it means that hungry children may not get to eat that day?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Did you know that Foodlink the local hunger prevention program, has a BackPack Program (<a href="http://foodlinkny.org/fight_hunger/programs-initiatives/"><span style="color: purple;">http://foodlinkny.org/fight_hunger/programs-initiatives/</span></a>)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 11pt;">to provide children with discreet packages of food to take home on weekends to ensure they will have something to eat?<br /><br />When children are hungry, cold, depressed, and stressed one cannot rationally expect there to be no impact on school performance.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So what can we do to mitigate the effects of poverty that undermine the healthy development and successful education of children?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 11pt;">All children need supportive attentive adults in their lives if they are to thrive.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Academic studies, medical reports, and human instinct tell us that children need care to grow up well.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This is especially important in a child’s earliest development. Because tragically, if children are not “ready to learn” when they enter kindergarten, they begin a challenging catch-up process that may never end.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It makes sense to ensure every child begins school ready to learn.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 11pt;">Fortunately there are programs that have been studied and have proven records of effectiveness in countering the toxic effects of deprivation.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They also result in less child abuse and criminal activity later in life.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They can make life-changing differences in the lives of children and we ignore providing this help at peril to our society.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 11pt;">Professionally staffed, properly run mentorship programs that provide long-term support and guidance have a proven track record of mitigating the negative effects of an otherwise inadequate environment for nurturing a child.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The Nurse-Family Partnership has demonstrated its effectiveness in multiple studies in several cities, including <st1:city w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Rochester</st1:place></st1:city> (<a href="http://www.nursefamilypartnership.org/locations/New-York/Monroe-County-NFP"><span style="color: purple;">http://www.nursefamilypartnership.org/locations/New-York/Monroe-County-NFP</span></a>).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It assigns a nurse to high-need low-income first time pregnant parents.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The nurse meets with the woman regularly through the pregnancy and until her child is 2 years old.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The nurse provides information on nutrition, stimulation, and the general care of a baby.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The nurse also helps the mother understand how to better organize her life and encourages the mother to finish school so she can better provide for her child.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Research by the Children’s Agenda (<a href="http://www.thechildrensagenda.org/whatwedo.php"><span style="color: purple;">http://www.thechildrensagenda.org/whatwedo.php</span></a>)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 11pt;">here in <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:city w:st="on">Rochester</st1:city></st1:place> and by other groups has shown that children of mothers in this program overwhelmingly enter kindergarten ready to learn!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Not prioritizing this program and making it available for all who need it is alarmingly short-sighted because every child who enters school not ready to learn is already on track to be more costly to educate and at greater risk to drop out.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Pre-K is very important but birth to 3, when critical neural networks are being established, must not be overlooked.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 11pt;">Other programs with a demonstrated track record of success are also available for older students. The Hillside Work Scholarship program (<a href="http://www.hillside.com/hwsc.aspx"><span style="color: purple;">http://www.hillside.com/hwsc.aspx</span></a>)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 11pt;">provides mentors, employment and consistent long-term mentoring to high school students, with a graduation rate 50% higher than the unmentored peer group.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 11pt;">Our state and our districts are spending hundreds of millions of dollars on new teacher assessments, new curriculum, and new tests.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Will any of those things change the future of an at-risk child as much as a responsibly assigned mentor?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>No, they won’t.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I work in K-12 education but I am here to say if we want meaningful change we need to ensure that young children get the stimulation and guidance they need to develop and thrive.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 11pt;">We have all heard and witnessed that what gets tested gets taught.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It is also true that what gets reinforced gets valued.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>How we treat others ripples out from ourselves, whether we are talking about the example set by a school board in a district, a teacher in a classroom, or the education leadership in the state capital.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And long before a child can read a book or take a class, how we treat young children will shape their readiness or lack thereof.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 11pt;">Please do your due diligence – do not make recommendations on buzzwords, assumptions, and untested ideas.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There is much that is valuable in education today, hundreds of districts are doing an excellent job.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But other districts are struggling and it is important to make sure our finite resources of time and money are well used to bring about improved learning in our schools.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 11pt;">Thank you for the opportunity to address you.</span><span style="font-family: Georgia;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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Jody Sieglehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11774202560993547210noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7779163569418132465.post-6994393018104631342012-09-21T14:44:00.001-07:002012-09-21T14:47:37.826-07:00Career and Technical Education<span style="color: black;"><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none;">
<span style="color: black;">Since the mid-1990’s the Board of Regents has been wrestling with the question of how to assess and give credit for career and technical education courses.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They have struggled with how to ensure that different assessments for different fields can represent equal accomplishments.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Entire generations of children are passing through our schools while the Regents try to decide what and how a high school diploma should signal about a student who has pursued vocational studies.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: black;">Yet despite the Regents’ difficulty, in schools across the state, career and technical education is an important part of the curriculum.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Our <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:placename w:st="on">Monroe</st1:placename> <st1:placetype w:st="on">School</st1:placetype> <st1:placename w:st="on">Boards</st1:placename> <st1:placename w:st="on">Association</st1:placename> <st1:placetype w:st="on">County</st1:placetype></st1:place> book, <u>The Best for Less</u>, which can be read or downloaded at our website at <a href="http://www.mcsba.org/exemplary/2011BestForLess-Web.pdf"><span style="color: purple;">http://www.mcsba.org/exemplary/2011BestForLess-Web.pdf</span></a> , tells about the many types of career and technical education programs in our districts.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: black;">Collaboration across district lines has allowed districts to offer a wide variety of vocational and technical education opportunities. Students from all county school districts participate in these programs offered through the two local BOCES and the Rochester City District partnerships with many area businesses.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b><span style="color: black;">Career and Technical Courses</span></b><span style="color: black;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><b><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span style="color: black;">High school students can select courses in business, construction, technology, health services, and trades (mechanical, technical, industrial). They learn theory, practice skills, and receive school-to-work counseling.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b><span style="color: black;">School- to-Career</span></b><span style="color: black;"> I<b>nternships</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: black;">High school juniors and seniors can participate in up to 150 hours of on-the-job work experiences with<b> </b>mentors<b> </b>to study career options not offered at BOCES or their home schools.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b><span style="color: black;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>TAMS</span></b><span style="color: black;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">Technical Awareness Modules</span><span style="color: black;"> help freshmen and sophomores explore technical career options before committing to extensive study in any one area.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: black;">Delving into all that is offered shows students preparing for a wide variety of essential trades.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There will be more on the breadth and depth of the programs in another entry.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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</span>Jody Sieglehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11774202560993547210noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7779163569418132465.post-34473719911233927782012-09-08T10:56:00.000-07:002012-09-08T10:56:31.311-07:00What school boards do – Part 2
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What I did on my summer vacation (Why board retreats are
important) <o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
By Sherry Johnson<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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I am always a little surprised when a community member asks
me how my summer vacation “from board meetings” is going.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Many people don’t understand that
school governance happens all year long and most boards meet all year to
support that role.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
In July, Boards of Education have their re-organization
meeting where they make important decisions about banks, attorneys and
appointments for district personnel to transition the school district into
their new year.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>At that meeting
newly and re-elected board members take their oath of office.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
During the summer, boards are able get detailed updates on
student performance and other measurements of their district’s progress.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They use this time to develop goals for
the coming year.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It is also during
this summer time frame that school boards may choose to have a retreat.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Boards of Education have retreats for a number of reasons
and many are the same reasons one would go on a faith, marriage or
self-introspection retreat.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Boards
are made up of 5, 7, or 9 individual members, all elected by their communities
to represent them at the table of school leadership.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That role is multi-faceted, extremely complex and ever
evolving.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>To know it well and to
keep up with the demands takes more than comprehending information from a
meeting packet and coming to the meeting with a decision in mind.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Working with other members who have
different backgrounds, different approaches to problem solving, and different
priorities can stress the relationship that members have with each other and
their superintendent.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>New board
members change whatever dynamic previously existed within that structure.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Retreats allow for everyone to come
together outside of regular business meetings and develop into an effective
leadership team.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Many boards hire outside consultants to help with specific
issues, including relationship issues.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Others will use local or district folks who are trained in a particular
topic that the board would like addressed.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This year we asked the MCSBA Executive Director, Jody Siegle
to come and speak to us about the importance of advocacy and what we can expect
this fall both legislatively and from the State Education Department.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>For our own self-reflection, we asked a
local school attorney, himself a former board member with many years
experience, to help us become a more cohesive team.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He had us take a survey to identify what our individual
expectations were and where we thought things could improve.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He used the results of that survey
along with a team building exercise to guide us through the process.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In the end, as a board, we had a
heightened awareness of all we had accomplished together during the course of
the year together and we felt confident that we could continue to work even
more effectively to help the district achieve the goals we defined for the
coming year.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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Self-reflection for Boards of Educations should not be
overlooked or taken lightly.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Board
members are only effective when they work as partners; it takes effort to keep
a team highly functional.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
As the new school year begins, just like a fresh box of
crayons and a clean pad of paper, hope springs inspired by the possibilities of
what could be for our students, our schools and our communities.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Effective Board leadership can make
those possibilities real but success will require each person to accept his or
her responsibility as a member of a leadership team working together to meet
the many challenges that school governance requires of them.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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<br /></div>
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<br /></div>
<!--EndFragment-->Jody Sieglehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11774202560993547210noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7779163569418132465.post-412983678757100342012-09-08T10:51:00.000-07:002012-09-08T10:51:20.730-07:00What school boards do – Part 1
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Century Schoolbook';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 15px;"><br /></span></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Century Schoolbook';"><span style="font-family: "Century Schoolbook"; font-size: 11.0pt;">This
is a time of change in public education, and the responsibility to deal with
this change falls directly on local boards of education.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Seeing that each district complies with
new laws and meets the community’s expectations for its schools is the job of
the school board, the most grass-roots level of government.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Century Schoolbook';">
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="font-family: "Century Schoolbook"; font-size: 11.0pt;">Here in New York
State there are 697 school districts, and all but three are overseen by
non-partisan elected boards of local citizens who serve without pay. School
board members are elected as individuals by their communities, but a<span style="color: black;">ll decision-making is done as a corporate body.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>As trustees, board members have great
authority; as individuals, they have none. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoBodyText">
These volunteers model an impressive commitment to their
communities’ well being.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Most
school board members say they are motivated by a desire to give back to their
communities.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>By the time school
board members attend board meetings, visit schools, attend programs in their
district’s schools, attend training programs, and complete the required reading
of materials, reports, and background information, they typically spend a
minimum of 500 hours each year on their board responsibilities.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Many board members, especially board
officers, spend much more than that, well over 1000 hours.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Century Schoolbook"; font-size: 11.0pt;">What
occupies all those hours?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>What
follows is a brief description of the legal responsibilities of school boards
here in New York State.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Complying
with all the new laws and how boards function will be covered in future blog
entries.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="font-family: "Century Schoolbook"; font-size: 11.0pt;">Legal obligations of
school boards:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Century Schoolbook"; font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><br />
The school board is the chief legal entity of the district.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The board can enter into legal
contracts on behalf of the district.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>The board can sue and be sued.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Each newly elected or reelected board member takes an oath of office
that they will comply with all legal obligations that apply to the district.
Public education is governed by Education Law as well as Labor Law, General
Municipal Law, Real Property Tax Law, Local Finance Law, Public Officers Law,
decisions of the Commissioner of Education, and federal law. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="font-family: "Century Schoolbook"; font-size: 11.0pt;">School
boards have the authority and the obligation to adopt policies for their
districts, many of which are required by state and federal law.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="color: black;">School boards
are primarily policy- making bodies.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Well thought out policies make a district work well by providing </span>the
guidance the staff needs for many situations.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>School boards develop policies for the admission,
instruction, discipline, grading, and, when appropriate, the classification of
students. School boards also must adopt a Code of Conduct for the district and
ensure that it is disseminated annually through the district.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Additional policies specify many other
aspects of district operations.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="font-family: "Century Schoolbook"; font-size: 11.0pt;">The
school board must hire a superintendent.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Hiring a capable superintendent is one of the board’s most important
duties<span style="color: black;">.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>The superintendent will take the board’s policies and then will use them
to manage the everyday operation of the district. The superintendent is like
the CEO of a district.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Century Schoolbook"; font-size: 11.0pt;">School
boards receive and then act on superintendent recommendations. Among other
things, these include tenure recommendations, negotiated contracts, and the
hiring of personnel.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="font-family: "Century Schoolbook"; font-size: 11.0pt;">School
boards must be responsible stewards of all the district’s assets and property,
which constitutes a significant investment of community resources. The school
board is responsible for purchasing, leasing, maintaining, and insuring all
buildings, properties, equipment, and supplies.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="font-family: "Century Schoolbook"; font-size: 11.0pt;">School
boards must prepare an operating budget each year and then submit it to the
public for a vote to either approve or reject it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Boards in the Big Five districts submit their budgets to
their city councils.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: "Century Schoolbook"; font-size: 11.0pt;">School boards must set annual goals and then monitor progress
meeting them.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Century Schoolbook"; font-size: 11.0pt;">School boards must comply with the Sunshine
Laws that require all board meetings to be held in public where anyone can
attend and listen.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>With limited
exceptions, all school board discussions about making decisions and the decisions
themselves must be made in public.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Strict executive session rules limit private discussions to certain
personnel matters, issues concerning specific students, and real estate and
contract negotiations where a public discussion would weaken the board’s
ability to obtain a good result.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="color: black;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Century Schoolbook"; font-size: 11.0pt;">School
boards act as judges at the final level of local appeals in complaints against
the district. Due process rights for someone with a grievance against the
district begins at the building level, moves to the superintendent, and finally
goes to the board. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: "Century Schoolbook"; font-size: 11.0pt;">In addition, school boards are also authorized to receive and
approve charter school applications for schools to be operated within district
boundaries and are the only entity that may approve the conversion of one of
their existing public schools into a charter school.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<!--EndFragment--></span><br />
<!--EndFragment-->Jody Sieglehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11774202560993547210noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7779163569418132465.post-54313996927344469182012-05-26T08:38:00.000-07:002012-05-26T08:38:52.009-07:00Tax Levies and Voter Turnout<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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In the days before this year’s school budget vote, reporters
all over the state kept asking, “What impact did the tax cap have on this
year’s budget proposals?”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>After
the vote was over and 96.5% of the budgets in the state had passed, including
99% of the budgets that were at or below their permissible levy limit,
reporters then asked, “Did the tax cap affect this year’s vote?”<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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Now that the data is in, it is possible that one of the ways
the cap affected the vote was quite different from what state leaders
anticipated.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Looking at Monroe
County, it appears that the introduction of the cap resulted in many people
deciding not to vote.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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Slightly over 3,000 <u>fewer</u> people voted here this year
compared to last.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But it isn’t
just that fewer people voted; it is notable which voters chose not to.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Many fewer “no” voters went to the
polls. There were 2,130 fewer “no” votes compared with last year; 70.1% of the
votes cast were affirmative votes.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Is this a coincidence or something else?<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
In 2003 over 50,500 people voted on our member districts’
budgets, very much in contrast to this year’s 29,169 voters.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>A review of that decade’s statistics
reveals a steady reduction in voter turnout even though the plurality of “yes”
votes has remained relatively constant.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Over the ten years the plurality of “yes” votes has fallen below 60%
(58% in 2010) only once and climbed into the 70% range twice (75.6% in 2009,
70.1% in 2012). In the remaining seven years “yes” votes averaged 64% of the
votes cast.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There have been only 4
defeated school budgets over this time period out of 180 separate district
budget votes.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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What is the relationship between strong support for
education yet eroding voter turnout?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>One explanation is that discontent is more motivating than satisfaction.
In our region “no” voters have to be aware that, given the infrequency of
failed budgets, they are mainly voting to make a statement.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>If they are not compelled to make a
statement and so don’t vote, turnout will be affected and that certainly seems
to have happened in Monroe County this year.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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One can surmise that many “no” voters stayed home this year
because they believe the state’s cap on school tax levy increases addressed
their oft-articulated concerns.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>But with the cap just in its first year, what explains the previous
years of falling voter turnout?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Perhaps the trend can be explained by looking at what voters were voting
on. <o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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In the first four years of this time period, when voter
turnouts still averaged over 48,000 people, proposed levy increases averaged
over 4.5% per year.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Voter turnout
was falling during this period but only slightly.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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Then in 2007 the proposed levy increase dropped to 2.75% and
voter turnout dropped 28%!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In the
years since then both the number of voters and the size of the levy increase
have closely correlated, with voter turnouts dropping almost every year the
levy increase was small.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The one exception to this trend was in 2010, the year state
aid was deeply cut after being frozen the year before.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Schools were forced to make major
budget cuts and countywide the proposed levy increases averaged only .09%.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Voter turnout jumped by 32% that year,
probably to make a statement to Albany.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>But that year was atypical in many ways.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Voter turnout fell again the next year, dropping by
21%.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Of course, at the district level there are exceptions to
these generalizations. Strongly contested school board races bring out more
voters, as was the case in the only two local districts that had more voters
this year than last.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Hot local
issues can also increase turnout.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Nevertheless, at least here in Monroe County, the trend is clear.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Lower increases in the tax levy mean
successively fewer people are likely to come to the polls, and the ones that do
will be predominantly “yes” voters.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Unless another issue motivates voters, the tax cap may unintentionally
promote lower voter turnout</span><!--EndFragment-->Jody Sieglehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11774202560993547210noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7779163569418132465.post-85295555610904898092012-05-11T18:51:00.000-07:002012-05-11T18:51:32.312-07:00May 15 - School Vote Day<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';">Tuesday, May 15th, is the annual school budget vote and
school board election day.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>New
York is one of only a few states that require citizen approval for each year’s
school budget.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';">
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
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Why vote?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>First
and foremost, this is how your local school district finalizes its budget.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>No other level of government depends on
this form of public involvement.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>You can’t vote on your town, county, or state budgets.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But when it comes to the education of
children, the entire community has the unique opportunity to have a say on the
direction of their district’s future. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
To put this year’s budget together, local school leaders
have had to deal with fundamental changes in how state aid is allocated, with
the new tax cap law, with specific budget items like health care and pensions
where the obligatory costs rise far faster than inflation, and with planning
for expensive new operating and curricular initiatives mandated by new state
laws.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They have had to decide to draw
down their reserve funds to maintain their priorities.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The goal has been to develop budgets
that will continue to provide high quality programs and services despite the
problems created by multiple years of frozen and reduced state revenues. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Sadly, despite all this hard work, many people question the
value of voting, or just ignore it. But the results from the ballot box drive
numerous subsequent events.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></div>
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The annual vote lets you help shape your district’s future
for years to come because this is when school board members are elected for all
suburban, rural, and small city school districts. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>These unpaid volunteers establish district policies, hire the
superintendent, and oversee the finances.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>The board sets the expectations for the operation of the entire
organization, determines the quality of the programs provided to the district’s
students, and, ultimately, affects whether the community is regarded as a
desirable place to live<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Board
members devote hundreds of hours a year to their duties.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></div>
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Many school board races are contested this year.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>If you are concerned about your
district’s future, become informed about who is running and what they believe
in, and then vote. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></div>
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The budget vote also influences how state leaders assess peoples’
attitudes towards public education.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Our Albany representatives regularly have to make choices between
competing needs.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Legislators will
look at school budget votes to learn what thousands of voters in their own
communities are thinking.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>A large
affirmative turnout makes a strong statement to state representatives about what
their constituents’ value.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></div>
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So May 15th is approaching and the school board has done the
best they can.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Now they need the
community to do their part and vote.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
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Sometimes budgets fail because a community opposes the proposal.
Then the board must make changes in response to the community’s message. But it
is an outrage if a budget fails because not enough people bothered to
vote.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And the only way to make
sure that doesn’t happen is for each citizen to take the time to vote.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></div>
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If you forgot to read the district budget newsletter and
already recycled it, the information it contained is still readily
available.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Your district’s website
has budget, candidate, and poll location information.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So does your public library.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>You can link to your district website from our own MCSBA
website, <a href="http://www.mcsba.org/"><span style="color: windowtext; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">www.mcsba.org</span></a>, by clicking
on Member Districts.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></div>
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In a democracy, the people who show up to vote get to make
the decisions.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Be a part of making
good decisions for your school and your community.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Vote on May 15!<o:p></o:p></div>
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<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>*<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>*<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>*<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>*<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>*<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>*<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>*<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>*<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>*<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><o:p></o:p></div>
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Some facts about the budgets here in Monroe County
districts:<o:p></o:p></div>
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School board members are taxpayers, too, and since long
before the tax cap law they have been striving to ease the burden on local
taxpayers.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></div>
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The four-year average of the annual
increase in the tax levy for our 18 suburban and rural member districts is
1.91% per year.<o:p></o:p></div>
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The four-year average of the annual
budget growth for our 18 suburban and rural member districts is 1.6% per year.<o:p></o:p></div>
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All of the districts have proposed tax levy changes lower
than or equal to the permissible limit on the increase in the property tax levy
as calculated by the new tax cap law.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
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<!--EndFragment-->Jody Sieglehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11774202560993547210noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7779163569418132465.post-60048174078829207752012-05-04T13:11:00.000-07:002012-05-04T13:11:29.236-07:00Schools Partner with Towns and Community Groups<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
People are often unaware of how much their school district operations are interwoven with the quality of life for the entire community.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In addition to the classroom experiences, extracurricular activities, and athletics everyone associates with public schools, school districts build liaisons and partnerships with their towns and community groups in a wide variety of ways. By collaborating with one another, their town governments, cultural institutions and other groups, <place w:st="on"><placename w:st="on">Monroe</placename> <placetype w:st="on">County</placetype></place> school districts offer a wide range of specialized programs to meet the needs of their students.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Here are some examples; others can be found in our <u>Best For Less Publication</u> </div>
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(<a href="http://www.mcsba.org/exemplary/2011BestForLess-Web.pdf"><span style="color: purple;">http://www.mcsba.org/exemplary/2011BestForLess-Web.pdf</span></a>).</div>
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Local <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Rotary</b> clubs collaborate with school districts to bring high school students from around the globe to attend high school in <place w:st="on"><placename w:st="on">Monroe</placename> <placetype w:st="on">County</placetype></place>. This famous international exchange program helps local students learn about the world from their peers in other countries and gives them an opportunity to be an ambassador for their nation. </div>
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The annual <b>Senior Transition Day</b> in the <place w:st="on"><placename w:st="on"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Wheatland-Chili</b></placename><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"> <placetype w:st="on">High School</placetype></b></place> provides students an opportunity to learn from community members who help them explore everything from apartment renting, insurance selection, ballroom dancing, cooking, college life, car repair, and more.</div>
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The <b>Family Support Center</b> in the <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Spencerport District’s</b> <placename w:st="on">Administration</placename> <placetype w:st="on">Building</placetype> is a collaboration of the District and the Town of <place w:st="on"><city w:st="on">Ogden</city></place>. The Center offers free counseling services for children and families, as well as community-wide educational programs and support groups for parents. The Center also includes a resource library and information on local social service and mental health resources.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Several other districts also maintain family support centers.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
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Continuing education programs for adults are offered by many school districts in <place w:st="on"><placename w:st="on">Monroe</placename> <placetype w:st="on">County</placetype></place>.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>One example is the <place w:st="on"><placename w:st="on"><b>Greece</b></placename><b> <placename w:st="on">Central</placename> <placetype w:st="on">School District</placetype></b></place><b> Office of Community Education.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></b><country-region w:st="on"><place w:st="on"><span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">Greece</span></place></country-region><span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">’s program</span> serves thousands of adult learners every year. More than 450 people participate in adult literacy programs learning subjects from adult basic education to citizenship. The district also offers a variety of workforce development programs for adults. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>People looking to change careers or improve their skills can enroll in career certificate classes in the areas of office technology, customer service and sales, custodial maintenance and repair, and pharmacy technician. </div>
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The <b>Rush-Henrietta Cooperative Wetlands Education Program</b> is a cooperative venture of the <place w:st="on"><placename w:st="on">Rush-Henrietta</placename> <placetype w:st="on">School District</placetype></place> and its community. Educational signs as well as instructional programs inform visitors about the features and value of this wetlands environment. </div>
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The <b>Gates Chili Central School District</b> also hosts a similar nature trail on the property of its <place w:st="on"><placename w:st="on">Neil</placename> <placename w:st="on">Armstrong</placename> <placetype w:st="on">School</placetype></place>, and <b>West Irondequoit’s</b> <b>Helmer Nature Center</b> has been providing a wide range of learning programs including classes in awareness, animal habitats, snowshoeing, Native American culture, pioneer living, outdoor cooking, and more since 1973.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
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<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><b><br /></b>Many <place w:st="on"><placename w:st="on">Monroe</placename> <placetype w:st="on">County</placetype></place> school districts collaborate with civic groups like the YMCA to provide before and/or after school child care in school facilities.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>One example is <b>West Irondequoit’s K-6 Extension Program</b> offered through the district’s Community Education Department.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The morning program begins at 7 AM; the afternoon program runs until 6 PM. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Children are provided with appropriate snacks, exercise, time for homework and reading, and enrichment activities. </div>
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<b>Coping Power</b> is an after school program in some <city w:st="on"><place w:st="on"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Rochester</b></place></city> schools.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This program for pre-adolescents is coordinated by a group of pediatricians and helps students learn strategies for reducing aggressive behavior, improving social competence, and increasing problem-solving abilities.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
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The <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Brighton Food Cupboard</b> is a program of the <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Brighton Central School District</b> with the Jewish Community Federation, Foodlink, and other community organizations and volunteers.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Working through local social service case managers, the cupboard provides a means to prevent and reduce hunger and food insecurity for individuals and families living in <place w:st="on">Brighton</place> and surrounding communities.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
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<br /></div>Jody Sieglehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11774202560993547210noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7779163569418132465.post-28223748741090611622012-04-18T12:06:00.000-07:002012-04-18T12:06:47.811-07:00Experience learning – the E3 Fair<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="color: black;">We know that when students are excited about a subject, the effect of that enthusiasm spills over into other areas of learning and enhances performance.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We also know that experiential learning is internalized far more readily than passive learning.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Given the importance of such things, several blogposts over the coming year will be devoted to learning experiences that can be life changing because of the stimulation and new exposures they provide.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="color: black;">One such unique event is next week, the annual E<sup>3</sup> Fair at the Rochester Institute of Technology.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>E<sup>3 </sup>stands for Engineering -Exploration - Experimentation.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This fair is sponsored by RIT along with the <city w:st="on">Rochester</city> chapters of the IEEE (<place w:st="on"><placetype w:st="on">Institute</placetype> of <placename w:st="on">Electrical</placename></place> and Electronics Engineers) and AMSE (American Society for Mechanical Engineers).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Many local engineering firms also participate.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span><span style="color: #663333;"><span style="color: black;">The objective is to provide students an opportunity to learn about engineering professions, to meet and interact with practicing engineers, and to begin learning how to "engineer" solutions to problems.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="color: black;">Research has shown that the seeds of interest in STEM subjects are often sown in middle school, and this fair is for students in grades 6-8.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The students can participate in the fair by creating an exhibit about an experiment or project that involves engineering or technology, or by being part of a team of students who build a motorized LEGO vehicle or LEGO robot to perform a specific task.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span><span style="color: #663333;"><span style="color: black;">In preparation for the fair, teams of students spend weeks working with mentors in their home schools to design and prepare their LEGO constructions for these competitions.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="color: #663333;"><span style="color: black;">Over the past two years more than 1400 middle school students from throughout the surrounding area have participated in the fair.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>High school students also attend to talk with exhibitors about career opportunities in engineering and technology.</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="color: #663333;"><span style="color: black;">The fair, which is free to attend, is open to parents and community groups as well.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This year the fair will run from 9:00 AM to 2:00 PM at the <place w:st="on">Clark</place> gymnasium on the RIT campus.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>For more information, go to the event website at</span> </span><a href="http://www.e3fair.org/"><span style="color: blue;">http://www.e3fair.org</span></a><span style="color: blue;"> .</span></div>Jody Sieglehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11774202560993547210noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7779163569418132465.post-50807032873190772682012-04-13T12:59:00.000-07:002012-04-13T12:59:24.678-07:00Math Awareness Month - Mathematics, Statistics, and the Data Deluge<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt;">The American Mathematical Society, the American Statistical Association, the Mathematical Association of America, and the Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics has announced that the theme for Mathematics Awareness Month, April 2012, is <b>Mathematics, Statistics, and the Data Deluge</b>.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt;">In the world of education reform, few concepts have received more attention than data, or rather the acquisition of data.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Data and credibility are often seen as one and the same.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Some people believe data can replace verbs and adjectives to describe complex activities such as what makes up good teaching. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>New data is used to create statistics, and for some purposes, statistical analysis is officially usurping judgment as the basis for decision making.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt;">This pursuit of data and the interpretation of the statistics that result has fundamentally changed our education system.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The mass of data school districts are required to report to governing authorities has changed the job description of school administrators.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The need to collect and process this data has changed the nature of the work being done at BOCES.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The difficulty of creating a statewide computer system to process the data has plagued the State Education Department, which is investing new millions after old millions to try to get a system that can handle this ever growing mass of data.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Meanwhile at the district level Assistant Superintendents for Instruction are spending hundreds of hours learning how to evaluate their staff in a manner that supports the conversion to data.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>These changes are driven by the demands of collecting data, not by what we learn from the analysis.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt;">When new ways to create data are put into law or regulation without establishing the validity of that same data, major political problems result.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Case in point, witness the conflict over our state’s new teacher and principal evaluation system’s use of data to measure performance.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>For educators who have lived through successive redesigns of assessment systems to measure teaching and learning, only to see each rejected by next set of leaders, the most recent assertion that everyone should accept and trust information gleaned from the new data is not sufficient to instill confidence.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt;">We are witnessing a growing urgency about measuring things that were not measured numerically in the past.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Albert Einstein had a favorite quote, "Not everything that counts can be counted and not everything that can be counted, counts.” <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt;">The theme of Math Awareness Month merits thoughtful reflection.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The data deluge the math organizations are concerned about is real. Most people don’t have the time or sophistication to determine if a statistic is revealing truth or obfuscating it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Accumulating data should not become an end in itself and collecting data should not be allowed to disrupt the real work of education. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span>Jody Sieglehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11774202560993547210noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7779163569418132465.post-43989686110229156102012-04-03T08:10:00.000-07:002012-04-03T08:10:09.216-07:00Health Insurance - Rochester Area School Health Plan (RASHP)<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">Health insurance is a difficult issue for our nation.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Depending on your perspective you may be a person trying to secure and pay for health insurance, a patient in immediate need of insurance coverage, an employer feeling the pinch of the cost of insurance, a doctor trying to negotiate overwhelming paperwork, or the US Supreme Court trying to make sense of conflicting arguments for how insurance should be obtained and provided. You may have one or even several opinions about how health care issues should be dealt with.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">But even though the major questions regarding health insurance availability, cost, and coverage are national in scope, local organizations don’t have to be passive about dealing with them.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">Most school districts in <place w:st="on"><placename w:st="on">Monroe</placename> <placetype w:st="on">County</placetype></place> participate in a variety of cooperative self-insurance plans that enable employers to reduce insurance costs without reducing coverage.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>By coming together in a group, districts can better control the risks associated with a self-insurance plan.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">Particularly notable among the local self-insurance programs is the Rochester Area School Health Plan (RASHP).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Although it took several years for RASHP to become the main source of health insurance for school employees, the effort to establish and build this cooperative has been very worthwhile.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Since 2009, RASHP has saved the school districts over $361 million (yes, million) compared to what they would have had to pay had they remained on the community rated plan. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>By enabling districts to help contain the rising cost of health insurance, this cooperative has had a direct and positive effect on district budgets.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">Information on the several local school district self-insurance plans can be found on page 30 of <u>The Best for Less</u> at <a href="http://www.mcsba.org/exemplary/2011BestForLess-Web.pdf"><span style="color: purple;">http://www.mcsba.org/exemplary/2011BestForLess-Web.pdf</span></a>.</div>Jody Sieglehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11774202560993547210noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7779163569418132465.post-4193264309436442442012-03-16T08:53:00.001-07:002012-03-16T09:11:55.974-07:00Mandate Relief – Another opportunity for success, or failure<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none;"><placename w:st="on"><span style="font-family: "Century Schoolbook";">New York</span></placename><span style="font-family: "Century Schoolbook";"> <placetype w:st="on">State</placetype>’s new Mandate Relief Council is holding a public hearing here in <city w:st="on"><place w:st="on">Rochester</place></city> today, Friday, March 16, 3:00 PM, at City Hall.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They are seeking information about how changes in state regulations and laws would enable local government and school resources to be used more efficiently and productively.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none;"><span style="font-family: "Century Schoolbook";">This Mandate Relief Council is the newest group designated to address the problem of unfunded and under funded mandates.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Convening a group to study mandates and make recommendations is not a new idea in <state w:st="on"><place w:st="on">New York</place></state>.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Commissions for this purpose have come and gone with virtually nothing to show for the hours of testimony and preparing reports; it is easy to understand why many people are skeptical of this new effort. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none;"><span style="font-family: "Century Schoolbook";">Yet, despite the frustrating history of past commissions, it is important to participate fully in this effort. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This year this process is being organized in a way that may make it more likely mandate issues get public attention.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>If every school district and local government flags the same few issues for Council review, perhaps the pollsters will notice and ask the kind of questions that creates buzz around issues, perhaps the public will embrace the message, and perhaps the legislators will discover they are compelled to vote with the public will.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none;"><span style="font-family: "Century Schoolbook";">This Mandate Relief Council is made up of seven members of the Governor’s staff and four legislators.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The Commission has established a procedure on their website <span style="color: #3366ff;">(<a href="http://www.governor.ny.gov/mandatereliefcouncil"><span style="color: #3366ff;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #6fa8dc;">http://www.governor.ny.gov/mandatereliefcouncil</span></span></a></span><span style="color: #6fa8dc;">)</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none;"><span style="font-family: "Century Schoolbook";">where both citizens </span><span style="font-family: "Century Schoolbook";"><a href="http://www.governor.ny.gov/webform/mandatereviewpubliccommentform"><span style="color: #6fa8dc;">(</span><span style="color: #6fa8dc;">http://www.governor.ny.gov/webform/mandatereviewpubliccommentform</span></a><span style="color: #6fa8dc;">)</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none;"><span style="font-family: "Century Schoolbook";">and elected governing boards <span style="color: #6fa8dc;">(</span><a href="http://www.governor.ny.gov/webform/mandatereviewrequestform"><span style="color: #6fa8dc;">http://www.governor.ny.gov/webform/mandatereviewrequestform</span></a><span style="color: #6fa8dc;">)</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none;"><span style="font-family: "Century Schoolbook";">can formally submit requests for changes for the Council’s review.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none;"><span style="font-family: "Century Schoolbook";">The Commission will review the mandates submitted for consideration and also seek public comment on the proposals.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>If at the end of their review the Council votes to support a change, they can direct the Governor to change regulations or, in the case of laws, prepare a program bill for the Legislature to vote on.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>With regard to changing laws, nothing about the process compels the Legislature to vote to approve a change.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none;"><span style="font-family: "Century Schoolbook";">The burden created by costly mandates has been detailed in numerous reports over many years.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>MCSBA annually updates and circulates our position papers on mandate relief as do other school board groups.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none;"><span style="font-family: "Century Schoolbook";"><span style="color: #6fa8dc;">(</span><a href="http://www.mcsba.org/legislative/positions/2011-11%20Mandates%20approved.pdf"><span style="color: #6fa8dc;">http://www.mcsba.org/legislative/positions/2011-11%20Mandates%20approved.pdf</span></a><span style="color: #6fa8dc;">)</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none;"><span style="font-family: "Century Schoolbook";"><span style="color: #6fa8dc;"></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none;"><span style="font-family: "Century Schoolbook";">As to formal reports, in my office is a 4-inch stack documenting the need for mandate relief.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It includes numerous efforts done during the past decade by both state agencies and state organizations.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Although the Mandate Relief Council is requesting new information, there is no shortage of information identifying the specific problems created by unfunded mandates or proposed solutions.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In reverse chronological order here are some of the major reports along with links to most of them.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none;"><span style="font-family: "Century Schoolbook";">2012 – </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt 0.5in; mso-layout-grid-align: none;"><span style="font-family: "Century Schoolbook";">Let NY Work, A Common Agenda for the Common Good, by a consortium of 11 statewide organizations</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt 0.5in; mso-layout-grid-align: none;"><span style="font-family: "Century Schoolbook";"><a href="http://www.unshackleupstate.com/assets/news/letnyworkagenda.pdf"><span style="color: #6fa8dc;">http://www.unshackleupstate.com/assets/news/letnyworkagenda.pdf</span></a></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt 0.5in; mso-layout-grid-align: none;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none;"><span style="font-family: "Century Schoolbook";">2011 – </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="font-family: "Century Schoolbook";">NYSSBA Essential Fiscal Reform Playbook</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Century Schoolbook";"><span style="font-family: "Century Schoolbook";"><span style="font-family: "Century Schoolbook";"> <a href="http://www.nyssba.org/index.php?src=news&refno=1742&category=Guides"><span style="color: #6fa8dc;">http://www.nyssba.org/index.php?src=news&refno=1742&category=Guides</span></a></span></span></span><span style="font-family: "Century Schoolbook";"></span> </div><span style="color: #6fa8dc;"></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="color: #6fa8dc;"></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="font-family: "Century Schoolbook";">Mandate Relief Redesign Team Report, commissioned by Governor </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="font-family: "Century Schoolbook";"></span><span style="font-family: "Century Schoolbook";">Cuomo</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="font-family: "Century Schoolbook";"><a href="http://www.governor.ny.gov/assets/documents/finalmandate.pdf"><span style="color: #6fa8dc;">http://www.governor.ny.gov/assets/documents/finalmandate.pdf</span></a></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-indent: 0.5in;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt 0.5in; mso-layout-grid-align: none;"><span style="font-family: "Century Schoolbook";">Special Education – New York State Law, Regulations, and Policy Not required by Federal Law/Regulation/Policy; an <u>annual</u> update from the NYSED</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt 0.5in; mso-layout-grid-align: none;"><span style="font-family: "Century Schoolbook";"><a href="http://www.p12.nysed.gov/specialed/publications/partb-analysischart.htm"><span style="color: #6fa8dc;">http://www.p12.nysed.gov/specialed/publications/partb-analysischart.htm</span></a></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt 0.5in; mso-layout-grid-align: none;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none;"><span style="font-family: "Century Schoolbook";">2010 – </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt 0.5in; mso-layout-grid-align: none;"><span style="font-family: "Century Schoolbook";">You Can’t Cap What You Can’t Control, Recommendations from the Mayoral Task Force on Mandate and Property Tax Relief</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt 0.5in; mso-layout-grid-align: none;"><span style="font-family: "Century Schoolbook";"><a href="http://www.nycom.org/documents/email.pdf"><span style="color: #6fa8dc;">http://www.nycom.org/documents/email.pdf</span></a></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt 0.5in; mso-layout-grid-align: none;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="font-family: "Century Schoolbook";">Property Tax Cap: Pass or Fail for <place w:st="on">School Districts</place>, NYSSBA</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="font-family: "Century Schoolbook";"><a href="http://www.nyssba.org/clientuploads/nyssba_pdf/nyssbapropertytaxcap"><span style="color: #6fa8dc;">http://www.nyssba.org/clientuploads/nyssba_pdf/nyssbapropertytaxcap</span></a></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="font-family: "Century Schoolbook";"><span style="color: #6fa8dc;">report.pdf</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-indent: 0.5in;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt 0.5in; mso-layout-grid-align: none;"><span style="font-family: "Century Schoolbook";">List of Mandates Frequently Raised in Discussions with School Administrators, Board Members and the Public, NYSED</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt 0.5in; mso-layout-grid-align: none;"><span style="font-family: "Century Schoolbook";"><a href="http://www.p12.nysed.gov/fmis/mandaterelief/documents/mandates.xls"><span style="color: #6fa8dc;">http://www.p12.nysed.gov/fmis/mandaterelief/documents/mandates.xls</span></a></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt 0.5in; mso-layout-grid-align: none;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none;"><span style="font-family: "Century Schoolbook";">2009 – </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt 0.5in; mso-layout-grid-align: none;"><span style="font-family: "Century Schoolbook";">Memorandum from the Conference of Big 5 School districts – Mandate Relief Recommendations</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt 0.5in; mso-layout-grid-align: none;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none;"><span style="font-family: "Century Schoolbook";">2008 – </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt 0.5in; mso-layout-grid-align: none;"><span style="font-family: "Century Schoolbook";">New York State Commission on Property Tax relief, commissioned by Governor Paterson</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt 0.5in; mso-layout-grid-align: none;"><span style="font-family: "Century Schoolbook";"><a href="http://blog.syracuse.com/indepth/2008/06/Suozzi%20report"><span style="color: #6fa8dc;">http://blog.syracuse.com/indepth/2008/06/Suozzi%20report</span></a></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt 0.5in; mso-layout-grid-align: none;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt 0.5in; mso-layout-grid-align: none;"><span style="font-family: "Century Schoolbook";">21<sup>st</sup> Century Government, Report of the New York State Commission on Local Government Efficiency and Competitiveness, commissioned by Governor Paterson</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt 0.5in; mso-layout-grid-align: none;"><span style="font-family: "Century Schoolbook";"><a href="http://www.nyslocalgov.org/pdf/LGEC_Final_Report.pdf?pagemode=bookmarks"><span style="color: #6fa8dc;">http://www.nyslocalgov.org/pdf/LGEC_Final_Report.pdf?pagemode=bookmarks</span></a></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt 0.5in; mso-layout-grid-align: none;"><br />
</div><span style="font-family: "Century Schoolbook";"><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt 0.5in; mso-layout-grid-align: none;"><span style="font-family: "Century Schoolbook";">Report of the Task Force on Maximizing <place w:st="on">School District</place> Resources, NYSSBA; Excelsior! Key Drivers Behind New York’s ‘Ever Upward” Property Tax Burden</span></div></span><span style="font-family: "Century Schoolbook";"><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt 0.5in; mso-layout-grid-align: none;"><span style="font-family: "Century Schoolbook";"><a href="http://www.nyssba.org/clientuploads/nyssba_pdf/CommExcelsiorReport.pdf"><span style="color: #6fa8dc;">http://www.nyssba.org/clientuploads/nyssba_pdf/CommExcelsiorReport.pdf</span></a></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt 0.5in; mso-layout-grid-align: none;"><br />
</div></span><span style="font-family: "Century Schoolbook";"><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt 0.5in; mso-layout-grid-align: none;"><span style="font-family: "Century Schoolbook";">Testimony by Thomas Rogers, Executive Director of NYSCOSS to the New York State Commission on Property Tax Relief, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Helping School Leaders Control Costs</i></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt 0.5in; mso-layout-grid-align: none;"><span style="font-family: "Century Schoolbook";"><a href="http://www.nyscoss.org/pdf/upload/TestimonyPropertyTaxCommissionOct2008.docx.pdf"><span style="color: #6fa8dc;">http://www.nyscoss.org/pdf/upload/TestimonyPropertyTaxCommissionOct2008.docx.pdf</span></a></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt 0.5in; mso-layout-grid-align: none;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt 0.5in; mso-layout-grid-align: none;"><span style="font-family: "Century Schoolbook";">The State of New York Schools: Addressing the Burden of Unfunded Mandates <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Real Solutions, Real Relief</i>, Assembly Republican Conference</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt 0.5in; mso-layout-grid-align: none;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Century Schoolbook";">2002 -</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt 0.5in;"><span style="font-family: "Century Schoolbook";">A Compilation of <placename w:st="on">Mandatory</placename> <placetype w:st="on">School District</placetype> Planning & Reporting Requirements, Drowning in a <place w:st="on"><placetype w:st="on">Sea</placetype> of <placename w:st="on">Paperwork</placename></place>, NYSCOSS</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt 0.5in;"><span style="font-family: "Century Schoolbook";"><a href="http://www.nyscoss.org/pdf/upload/Plansreports.pdf"><span style="color: #6fa8dc;">http://www.nyscoss.org/pdf/upload/Plansreports.pdf</span></a></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt 0.5in;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-indent: 0.5in;"></div></span><span style="color: cyan;"></span>Jody Sieglehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11774202560993547210noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7779163569418132465.post-15075144801285862022012-02-27T13:53:00.001-08:002012-03-16T09:01:27.833-07:00Saving money by working togetherMCSBA’s member districts collaborate with municipalities, businesses, and each other to offer excellent services in a fiscally prudent manner. MCSBA and professional organizations provide opportunities for planning to provide cost efficient programs and services. Cost efficiency is defined two ways: <br />
- Programs and services of the same value at less cost, and/or<br />
- Programs and services of added value at the same cost.<br />
<br />
This sharing of resources saves local local school districts millions of dollars every year while improving the quality and variety of services provided by the county’s public schools. These collaborations, whether long standing or relatively new, provide a wide range of services in the areas of: <br />
Instructional Program Service <br />
Central Services <br />
Insurance Cooperatives <br />
Operations and Maintenance <br />
Transportation <br />
To read about detailed examples of how Monroe County school districts accomplish this, go to <a href="http://www.mcsba.org/exemplary/2011BestForLess-Web.pdf">http://www.mcsba.org/exemplary/2011BestForLess-Web.pdf</a> .Jody Sieglehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11774202560993547210noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7779163569418132465.post-35152371745114960712012-02-23T13:42:00.000-08:002012-02-23T13:42:57.630-08:00Voters misled about 2% property tax capWe have all heard the much used phrase “2% tax cap.” Last year almost every member of the state legislature voted to impose a limit on increases in local property taxes for all local governments. Although widely referred to as the “2% cap on property taxes,” the law actually refers to the permissible increase in the total levy, not to any single property tax payer’s property tax bill. <br />
<br />
Unfortunately the popular sound bite has seriously misled the public about what this law will and won’t do. And school leaders, who must put their budgets before their communities for a vote, worry that a confused public will be angry when budget increases do not match the sound bite. <br />
<br />
People are expecting their personal property taxes will increase by no more than 2% but here is what the law really does:<br />
- People used to vote on the school district’s total budget; now they will vote only on the levy. <br />
- The law governs the permissible increase of the levy, the total number of dollars to be collected from the entire community. It does not limit the increase for any individual taxpayer. For any given property, changes in assessments and equalization rates may result in increases greater than 2%. <br />
- The allowable increase may be more than 2% because the permissible increase is calculated using a formula with several variables. The formula can, and often does, result in a permissible increase larger than 2%. <br />
- If a proposed levy is no greater than the calculated permissible increase, even if it is more than 2%, school district budgets can be passed with a simple majority yes vote. Communities do have the right to approve a larger increase in the levy if 60% of the voters vote yes. <br />
- But if voters reject the proposal twice there can be no increase in the levy over the amount levied the previous year. In the past after budgets failed, there was an allowance for inflationary increases, but no more.Jody Sieglehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11774202560993547210noreply@blogger.com0