Voice of MN Education

MASA... "At the Capitol" w/Charlie: Governor's Budget

This is a message to the members of the Minnesota Association of School Administrators (MASA) from Charlie Kyte, Executive Director.

The audio and video posts above each run for about 8 minutes. Just click on either one.
At the Capitol with Charlie: Governor's Budget from Jamie Hultgren on Vimeo.

ITEMS THAT MAY BE IN THE GOVERNOR'S BUDGET PROPOSAL

We are writing this in advance of the Governor revealing his budget and policy initiatives on Tuesday (Jan 27). However we understand that there will be more funding proposed for K-12 Education.

Expect 2-3% each year tied to student growth on the MCA's. Every District will have a portion of students showing growth. The percentage increase will be tied to this proportion. Thus if the new funding is set at 3% and you have 65% of your student showing adequate growth you would receive 65% of 3%, or about 2% new money.

Also expect a recommendation to bring Q-Comp statewide along with an increase in that funding to $300/pu.

The Governor will also be promoting several changes in teacher education and professional development. He is also recommending a change in the bargaining laws.

The Governor's proposal is better than expected given the economic situation of the state. My biggest question is 'where will the money to do this come from?'

We will get an full analysis of the Governor's proposals out to you in a couple of days. We encourage you to be positive. This is only his proposal. All legislation must pass through the legislature, but a governor has a strong hand in these negotiations.

FEDERAL STIMULUS PACKAGE LOOKS PROMISING

We sent Superintendents a spread sheet last week of the preliminary numbers. Most Districts will see more money for Title I, Special Education and funds for some amount of construction.

In addition there will be funding for energy retrofitting and even energy production. These funds will probably come to states as a large grant and then be diseminated to local units of government. All the projects Districts have submitted to MASA have also been shared with the Office of Energy Management here in Minnesota.

As you see these numbers firm up, be a bit wary of the promised Sp Ed funding. While the Feds will find a way to mitigate concerns about Maintenance of Effort (MOE), it is possible that schools may see some drop off in the states cross subsidy money to Districts as the state budget is brought into balance.

LEGISLATIVE POLICY ISSUES

The Type III bus problem is slowly being resolved as is the problem of the Math GRAD Rule.

A list of over 100 mandates to possible repeal or amend has been submitted to the education committees. We'll see how many of these the legislative committees actually decide to tackle. It is easy to ask about which mandates to repeal and much harder to actually repeal them.

Some coaches and AD's are suggesting that there be a local levy to support athletics. When surveyed, the MASA legislative committees overwhelmingly were in opposition to this idea. Their is a feeling that if any specific area could be targeted for a local levy, it should be Kindergarten and early childhood education. The return on investment for improving delivery in these areas is estimated to be over 16 to 1.

KEEP VISITING THE CAPITOL AND CONTACTING LEGISLATORS

We are just getting into what will be a long legislative session. It is imperative that our members keep visiting the Capitol and contacting your legislators.

EDUCATION MINNESOTA DATA REQUEST

All Districts in the state received a public data request from Education Minnesota for information on contracts, compensation and the employees of the District. I called Ed Mn and was told the request is routine and is an attempt to update their records.

As with any public data request you must reply. The normal timeline to respond is 10 days unless you and the requesting party agree to allowing more time. However you do not need to create any new data. You only need to provide existing data. So just send it in.

MASA... "At the Capitol" w/Charlie: Early cooperation

This audio podcast is a publication of the Minnesota Association of School Administrators by Charlie Kyte, Executive Director.

 

To view the video, click on the link below.
At the Capitol with Charlie: Early Cooperation from Jamie Hultgren on Vimeo.

There are both audio and video versions of this BLOG. To view the 7 minute audio podcast or the 7 1/2 minute video just click above and wait a few seconds as they load.

MEETING WITH GOVERNOR AND LEGISLATIVE LEADERS:

The leaders of the education organizations met with the Governor, the Speaker of the House, the Senate Majority Leader and the Commissioner of Education last Friday. There did seem to be more of a spirit of cooperation than we heard in the past. Maybe the problem is finally big enough that people have to work together!

A more complete explanation of what we heard in that meeting is in the audio and video portions of this report.

WAIT UNTIL THE FEBRUARY BUDGET FORECAST:

The next state budget forecast comes out at the end of February and will show a greater shortfall for the next biennium than the forecast we saw in November. Shortly afterwards the Governor and the Legislature must get down to the hard work of finding a solution.

REPEALING MANDATES:

The education associations with a bent toward management are just now completing a list of existing mandates that effect school districts. This is a bigger job than it looks. We must have all the Statute references. We promised to deliver this list to the legislative leaders and to the Governor by January 23rd. We will distribute it as soon as it is complete.

MANDATORY COOPERATIVE PURCHASING BILL:

This Bill was introduced without education organizations seeing it ahead of time. The authors did not recognize how much cooperative purchasing is already going n in the state. A mandatory, top down, approach will not spur innovation and cost savings. Possibly a state effort to have districts demand that cooperative purchasing prices always be requested by account administrators prior to purchasing would provide the push to get good prices without mandating a centralized system.

We don't think this Bill will ultimately be passed. However, we do acknowledge that there could be more cost savings in the management of schools technology systems and if the state would allow districts to purchase the services of 'labor' rather than just 'goods'.

CHARTER SCHOOLS....WE BOTH USE THEM AND BECOME FRUSTRATED WITH THEM:

Many school districts sponsor charter schools. In addition there is more and more interest in larger districts converting some school in the district to charter schools and we hear discussions among smaller districts of banding together into 'Commonwealth' Districts with each individual community school continuing on as a charter like school.

That said, there is still a need to tighten up the charter rules in regard to who may sponsor a school and how schools need to be governed. MASA is working on this Charter School reform legislation.

MATH 'GRAD' RULE PROBLEM TO BE RESOLVED:

We will meet on Monday, January 20th to put the finishing touches on the required legislation to resolve this issue. Once passed by the legislature, NO student will be denied graduation because of a failure to pass the Math GRAD Test. However all students will need to try 3 times to pass it.

Also the MDE will probably be able to tell schools the expected level of competency needed to pass the test well before the first test date. We expect that at least 75% of our 2010 senors to pass the test at the competency levels that will be set.

SEE YOU AT THE MSBA WINTER CONFERENCE:

The MSBA Winter Conference begins on Thursday, January 15th with 'Early Bird' Sessions the day before. Charlie will be at the Conference on Wednesday evening and on Thursday. Hope to see you there.