May 20, 2013

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House rejects teacher performance evaluation proposal

April 11, 2013 By

The House has strongly rejected a teacher evaluation bill that was a priority for the Majority Republican leadership.

Representative Kevin Elmer (R-Nixa) sponsored the proposal that would have created a teacher evaluation system.

“To say that the system is OK is offensive to me. To say that we’re doing all we can, I contend, is untrue. To say that we accept the status quo, I say ‘No.’”

The legislation would have tied teacher performance evaluations to student growth. More than 50 members of Elmer’s own party helped vote it down.

See the legislation, HB 631

Representative Genise Montecillo (D-St. Louis) also voted against it. She says the state is already evaluating performance.

“We have a new evaluation system that we had through the waiver process and I was concerned that this would interfere with that.”

Representative Mike Lair (R-Chillicothe), who chairs the House Appropriations Committee on Education, spoke against the bill on the floor. He said it reflects a concept that is a wrong approach to education.

“I don’t want our education legislation to be put forth on a business model. If education was a business we wouldn’t keep half of the students we have. We need to educate them all. To do so, you can’t use a business model.”

Following more than an hour-and-a-half of debate that wrapped up at almost midnight, the House failed to perfect the bill 55-102.

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State Senator proposes bill that would issue report cards on school performance (AUDIO)

April 4, 2013 By

A bill in the senate would require public schools in the state to be issued an annual report card on their performance.

State Senator Michael Parson (R-Bolivar) wants the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education to issue public and charter schools throughout Missouri annual report cards with letter grade ratings.

Parson says the fundamentals of the bill would place a focus on closing the achievement gap, college and career readiness, attendance, and graduation among students. He says it’s important for parents to know how their school district and schools are performing. “The jist of what this bill is, is to try to make a grading system more legible for parents,” he said.

And Parson says schools and districts should be responsible and accountable for their performance when it comes to educating children. “I think if we all look back to our school days, when you got a report card that was always the day you were either excited or a little eerie,” he said. “I’m not here to put extra burden on a school or teachers, that’s not what my plan.”

Each public school in the state would be given a letter grade of A, B, C, D, and F.

 

To view the Senate bill, click here.

 

AUDIO: Mary Farucci reports. (1:03)

 

 

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House bill would let schools commission law enforcement officers

April 3, 2013 By

The State House has given initial approval to a bill to let the state’s schools hire school law enforcement officers.

Representative Sheila Solon (photo courtesy; Tim Bommel, Missouri House Communications)

Representative Sheila Solon (photo courtesy; Tim Bommel, Missouri House Communications)

The proposal’s sponsor, Representative Sheila Solon (R-Blue Springs), says it is a response to the school shooting that left 20 students dead at a Connecticut elementary school in December. She says it would extend to the rest of the state’s schools the ability to do as those in her hometown do.

She says Blue Springs is, “The only school district in the state of Missouri that is allowed, by statute, to hire its own officers and they’ve had that ability since 2009. Currently the school district has 11 full-time officers and it’s getting to hire 6 more that patrol the schools, and it has worked out very well.”

See the proposal, HB 152

The bill received bipartisan support during floor debate, including from Representative Genise Montecillo (D-St. Louis), who says she worked with a school resource officer when she taught.

“I think there’s a lot of fear now that we’re going to have more police officers in our school and there’s going to be guns in our school, but the reality is for many of our schools these officers are already there and they’re making a very positive influence.”

Montecillo added, the officer at the St. Louis area school she taught in developed a great relationship with the students.

“We were able to prevent so many incidents just by the fact that they trusted him. For some of our students, that’s the only positive influence they have with police officers.”

The bill would have the Drug Abuse Resistance Enforcement program create the training for school resource officers.

An amendment was added to the bill that would change the requirements for reporting crimes against children to law enforcement. It was offered by Representative Marsha Haefner (R-St. Louis).

“This is the same loophole that was important in the Jerry Sandusky case, and when looking at the Missouri law we found that we had the same discrepancy in our law that they had. This is just to tighten that up and is part of the recommendations from the Task Force on the Prevention of Child Sex Abuse.”

The amendment would make anyone the state considers a “mandated reporter” report a suspected crime to law enforcement, personally.

The package requires another favorable vote to reach the Senate.

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Sponsor discusses tax credit scholarship for children with autism, other disorders

April 1, 2013 By

A state legislator is trying for the sixth year to see legislation passed that he says could help many children like his late grandson.

Bryce’s law would create a tax credit scholarship to help the parents of children with an autism spectrum disorder, Down syndrome, Angelman syndrome or cerebral palsy get specialized educations that meet their unique needs. It is named for Bryce Scharnhorst, who died in 2007 from complications related to autism and epilepsy.

Representative Dwight Scharnhorst with a picture of his late grandson, Bryce.

Representative Dwight Scharnhorst with a picture of his late grandson, Bryce.  (photo courtesy; Missouri House Communications)

Representative Dwight Scharnhorst (R-St. Louis) says in caring for his grandson he saw firsthand how those programs can benefit special needs children, but they are expensive. He says the state has a responsibility to help pay for them.

“Our Constitution promises a free public education to every child. It does not designate that this one will cost more than that or this one will cost less. It says a free public education, and we are not delivering it. We’re actually violating the Constitution of our state right now by not putting these children where they can be educated.”

The proposal would offer an income tax credit for up to half of a taxpayer’s state liability, or up to $250,000, for donations to a scholarship that helps pay for specialized educations.  That is pared down from earlier versions of the bill that offered the credit for up to 80 percent of liability and $800,000.

Scharnhorst stresses it is not a tax deduction.

“That tax money, instead of going into General Revenue, goes into a scholarship fund that is administered by DESE.  The Department of Education will administer what organizations can be formed to dispense this money.  There’s oversights in every way, there’s means testing in every way.”

Some opponents of the bill view it as creating vouchers that would reduce general revenue funds and state education funding.

Scharnhorst says to school administrators who oppose his proposal, “Let our people go. It’s time. You have brought nothing to the table to address this. You’re suffering from it … please allow these kids to get the same opportunities that you would give the average or gifted child.”

He says without specialized educations, the children his bill covers can become violent and unmanageable, and that can lead to tragedies like the shooting in December at a Connecticut elementary school.

“That was an autistic child with a parent that was to my understanding an educated person, but didn’t know how to handle this child. We saw the ramification of that. In St. Louis in the last couple of weeks there’s been a story that’s hit the news of a family that is actually caging a 6-year-old child in the basement. If you’ve seen pictures of this cage, it just tears your heart out.”

House Speaker Tim Jones (R-Eureka) says he wants to see Bryce’s law clear the chamber this year.

Jones says, “Why we have decided to mandate autism [insurance] coverage on one hand but have failed to provide relief to parents to provide the best education for their autistic children is something that I think this General Assembly has failed on, and it’s been because of the special interests that govern the education establishment in our state.”

The bill has been passed out of a House committee with bipartisan support.

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DESE Commissioner says new Common Core Standards will help prepare students for college (AUDIO)

March 28, 2013 By

The Department of Elementary and Secondary Education has introduced new Common Core State Standards that would establish consistant learning goals for all students in the state and better prepare them for college.

Department of Elementary and Secondary Education Commissioner Chris Nicastro says the new Common Core State Standards are relevant to the real world that would focus on the knowledge and skills in areas such as Mathematics and English Language Arts, that students will need in order to succeed in life after high school.

The new standards would align with college readiness and entry-level college courses that over time, is expected to reduce the need for remedial coursework for freshmen entering college to be on track for college and career readiness.

“It was created through a state led initiative and have been adopted by more than 40 states now, including Missouri,” Nicastro said. “We believe that the Common Core State Standards have enhanced our academic state standards.”

Prior to the new standards, different standards were in place that Nicastro says created many difficulties for students. The new standards will help better prepare graduating high school students for college.

“With a clear road map of academic expectations students, parents and teachers can all work together toward shared goals,” she said. “Communicating those goals is really important and we believe that these standards provide a clear idea for what we’re trying to accomplish.”

The new standards are set to help better prepare graduating high school students for post- secondary education aka college and in the workforce. Nicastro says a diverse team of parents, teachers and administrators, researchers, and content experts developed the Common Core Standards to be academically rigorous, attainable for students, and practical for teachers and districts.

 

 

AUDIO: Mary Farucci reports. (1:03)

 

 

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