Topeka Public Schools Mail - Fwd_ State Board update for ...

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KINSCH, TIFFANIE

Fwd: State Board update for Superintendents from Ann Mah 1 message TIffany Anderson To: Tiffanie Kinsch

Sun, Apr 23, 2017 at 7:06 PM

Sent from my iPhone Begin forwarded message: From: Ann Mah  < [email protected]> Date: April 23, 2017 at 6:46:57 PM CDT To: [email protected] Subject: State Board update for Superintendents from Ann Mah ReplyTo: [email protected]

State Board News from Ann Mah

Dear Dr. Tiffany Anderson,

This was a busy week, so I have lots to share. See details below.

In This Issue HB 2410 State Board Senator Moran My schedule

Quick Links www.annmah.org

School funding update The House did not finish HB 2410 before the April break. The attorney that legislative leadership hired, former senator Jeff King, is known to oppose the Kansas Supreme Court on school funding issues. He was hired to consult on the constitutionality of any bill that might be proposed. The Speaker not so happy with HB 2410 as well, because it adds $750 million to schools over five years.

So what could happen? About anything. They can keep it in committee for good. They can further revise it and send it to the floor. There are a number of Representatives who would like to make amendments to it on the floor where they can appeal to the entire body (which is more moderate than the committee). Or the House and Senate leadership could write their own bill, stick it in the shell of another bill and send it to the floor . My gut says the House rank and file want a good bill that adds adequate funding. So do the newbies in the Senate and Senate Dems. W e will see when they return May 1.

State Board items The State Board met this week. W e had regular business Tuesday and toured the State Schools for the Deaf and Blind on Wednesday. Here are some items from our meeting: 1. We delayed the signing of a contract with CETE for testing services until this year's testing is done. To say we are unhappy with their performance this year is an understatement. I can only imagine how unhappy most of you are with the testing delays experienced recently. 2. We are continuing to massage and upgrade the data we are getting from the National Clearinghouse to track success in postsecondary training/education completions. If you attended the Superintendents meeting last week, you got an update on that. By fall we will be adding in those high school students who got certificates/job training in high school and went right to work, who now show up as noncompleters. Since you are working so hard to do careertech ed, we want to acknowledge those successes. 3. We accepted for consideration the teacher prep standards for ESOL teachers. I was concerned that those teachers are not required to know a second language or even have taken a course in a second language so they can relate to what their students are going through. I would appreciate your feedback on that before we have to give final okay. 4. We saw the list of the first group of Kansas CTE scholars. Thank you to the schools that took the time to be sure our students who are doing careertech ed are recognized. 5. We got a report from the Innovative School Districts and gave them a oneyear renewal. I asked what it was they were doing that other districts could not. The only thing they came up with was the program Kansas City has doing to certify its own teachers. They said Board policies had changed to allow all schools to do most of the things they wanted to do originally. 6. We heard an excellent presentation on social media and digital citizenship in education from Kristin Magette with Eudora schools. She is the author of Embracing Social Media: A Practical Guide to Manage Risk and Leverage Opportunity. Excellent presentation and great ideas on maximizing the opportunity to use social media in education and help kids manage this part of their lives. 7. The tour of the Schools for the Deaf and Blind was awesome. These schools are doing amazing things with kids with single and multiple issues. The community at the School for the Deaf is something to see.

Meeting with Sen. Moran We met with Senator Jerry Moran on Saturday. It was a good discussion. Heard some positive things. He said the budget was largely set last year and that it would likely not reflect Pres. Trump's budget proposal. He felt that most of the education funding would be level or increased. He said that after school services and career & tech ed would be flat. He would like to see more money for IDEA. We told him we didn't expect increases but needed to keep the funding we have to move our state Vision forward.

We asked that the Secretary of Education not mess with ESSA and allow it to work. W e also stated our concerns that there were many unfilled positions in the Department and there was "no one home" to talk to about our state ESSA plans or to answer questions. We also asked the Senator where he stood on vouchers and he said that states should not be mandated to implement vouchers. He said that the President could not on his own authority move money to private school vouchers without Congressional approval, and that was not likely to happen. It was the start of a dialogue we hope to continue.

My schedule Here is my upcoming schedule: April 25: Present Challenge Award to Logan Elementary April 27: USD 437 Foundation breakfast April 28: Shawnee Heights High School Hall of Fame presentations May 4: Speak at Schools of Character presentation May 8: Mission V alley school board May 16: French Middle School "Save our City" rally May 23: Education Coordinating Council May 25June 6: Cruising the Gallapagos Islands taking pictures June 910: New state board member training in Arlington, VA June 12: Wabaunsee school board If you would like for me to make a visit to your school or school board, please let me know!

I am now scheduling meetings with local boards and looking for school activities to attend.  Let me know when would be a good time for me to visit your schools and boards. Sincerely,    Ann Mah www.annmah.org   Paid for by Ann Mah for Kansas, Nancy Grif fin, Treasurer

Ann Mah, 3351 SE Meadowview Dr, Topeka, KS 66605 SafeUnsubscribe™ [email protected] Forward this email | Update Profile | About our service provider Sent by [email protected] in collaboration with

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