Urgent - calls needed on ed bill don't complain contribute your opinion!

Begin forwarded message:

From: Norman Session <nsession@rcsd.ms>

Subject: Urgent - calls needed on ed bill

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House Bill 890 could come up for a vote in the House tomorrow. It is a very bad bill (it was amended by the Senate to allow for-profit charter operators in C, D, & F districts without local board approval; to create an unfunded mandate on literacy, etc.).

It is rumored that a procedural maneuver could result in the House concurring with the Senate version. Doing so means there would be no further opportunity to correct the serious problems in the bill. 

Please let your representative know right away that you expect him or her to cast a vote to invite conference so that the bill can be fixed. A "walk" (absent or present but not voting) is, in effect, a vote for the bill with the bad language intact.

Your representative is:

 Rep. Bennett Malone     Personal:     Capitol: 601.359.4073

Capitol Switchboard:  601.359.3770

If your legislators are not listed above it is because we do not have your street address and zip code in our database. Click here to send it to us.

HB 890 includes:

• Charter school language that:

- Allows charters in C, D, and F districts after June of 2016 – only A and B districts would have veto authority

- Allows for-profits to manage charter schools

- Allows students from any school district to cross district lines to attend a charter school

• An unfunded mandate on literacy with no reading coaches, no training for teachers and no funding, just new reporting requirements and retention of children without improving instruction

• A phased-in approach to the 21 ACT and 3.0 GPA requirement for entry into the schools of education

Each of the initiatives included in this bill is already in conference in another bill. The best option would be to let HB 890 die on the calendar so that each of these important initiatives can be dealt with separately.

The bill could come up at 10 a.m. tomorrow. Please ask everyone you know to call their representatives right away.

Many, many thanks,

Nancy 

This message sent to nsession@rcsd.ms by nloome@msparentscampaign.org. The Parents' Campaign 222 N. President St. Suite 102 Jackson, MS 39201 Unsubscribe | Update Profile/Email Address | Forward To A Friend | About This List

The mission of the Rankin County School District is to prepare every student with the cognitive and social skills necessary to be productive members of an ever-changing global society.

The mission of the Rankin County School District is to prepare every student with the cognitive and social skills necessary to be productive members of an ever-changing global society.

This email and any attachments to it may be confidential and are intended solely for the use of the individual to whom it is addressed. If you are not the intended recipient of this email, you must neither take any action based upon its contents, nor copy or show it to anyone. Please contact the sender if you believe you have received this email in error.

MAEP could be cut to fund other programs

                                   

Dear Norman,

The House and Senate are negotiating the K-12 funding bill for the next school year, deciding how much the state should invest in the education of our children. We need to make absolutely certain that our schools’ budgets are not cut any further. We cannot afford to move further backward!

While both chambers have passed versions of the appropriations bill that provide level funding (same as this year) for schools, there are murmurings at the Capitol that indicate that some are considering taking funds from the Mississippi Adequate Education Program (MAEP) appropriation to fund other initiatives.

Please call your senator and representative. Here are some things to be aware of as you discuss education funding with them:

• Mississippi’s General Fund revenue collections to date for this year are $132-million above the estimate on which this year’s budget was based. Click here to read more.

• The House and Senate have passed or are considering measures that give away millions of dollars in General Fund revenue by way of tax credits for corporations and other entities. Click here to see a list of bills that give away taxpayer dollars through tax credits.

• The House and Senate are negotiating bills that could increase significantly the requirements placed on schools and school districts – all of which will cost money. Unless these programs are adequately funded (outside of MAEP), they will be unfunded mandates on school districts which will drain resources from programs currently being offered in our schools.

• Refusing to fund an adequate education for our children should call into question the seriousness with which legislators are approaching education reform. If we want our students to achieve at the same level as the students in top-performing states and countries, we must be willing to do the things that have made them successful. Read more.

Ask your legislators to provide at least level funding for the MAEP plus the increase in retirement costs that districts will be required to pay – with no additional unfunded mandates.

Your legislators are:

 Rep. Bennett Malone     Personal:     Capitol: 601.359.4073

 Sen. Josh Harkins     Personal: 601.209.8448    Capitol: 601.359.2886

If your legislators are not listed above it is because we do not have your street address and zip code in our database. Click here to send it to us.

For the past five years, schools have been underfunded to the tune of $1-billion, resulting in crowded classrooms and reduced offerings in gifted, art, music, languages, and other elective programs. High quality professional development for teachers has also been a victim of budget cuts, as have intervention programs, reading coaches, and extracurricular activities. Budget cuts have diminished significantly the ability of our schools to provide a high quality education for our children.

Now that revenues are increasing, it is time to move closer to fully funding the MAEP – what state law says is adequate to provide a successful, or “C” level, education for our children (a quality level some have claimed is unsatisfactory).

This is a very important week for our public schools. Please make those phone calls today – ask your friends and family to call, too. It’s time for Mississippi to put our money where we profess our priorities to be – to provide great schools for all of Mississippi’s children and a brighter future for our state!

Many thanks,

Nancy 

This message sent to nsession@rcsd.ms by nloome@msparentscampaign.org. The Parents' Campaign 222 N. President St. Suite 102 Jackson, MS 39201 Unsubscribe | Update Profile/Email Address | Forward To A Friend | About This List

The mission of the Rankin County School District is to prepare every student with the cognitive and social skills necessary to be productive members of an ever-changing global society.

The mission of the Rankin County School District is to prepare every student with the cognitive and social skills necessary to be productive members of an ever-changing global society.

This email and any attachments to it may be confidential and are intended solely for the use of the individual to whom it is addressed. If you are not the intended recipient of this email, you must neither take any action based upon its contents, nor copy or show it to anyone. Please contact the sender if you believe you have received this email in error.

Don't complain if you don't make your opinion known

This is an important week for education legislation!

The House and Senate are moving quickly through their calendars to beat the February 14 deadline for floor votes on bills that originated within their own chambers.

Please check in with your legislators about the bills that are important to you.

There are several bills that are of particular concern. Please have conversations with your legislators about these bills:

House Bill 906: Provides state support for tuition to private schools. Vote no.

House Bill 1004: Provides vouchers for tuition to private schools using MAEP funds. The bill purports to provide better service to children with special needs, though the private schools receiving vouchers are not required to provide any special needs services and are not required to comply with the IEP ruling. The bill also allows special needs students to transfer to other school districts; the receiving district must accept the students if there is capacity. This provision would allow districts to avoid responsibility for providing high quality special education services while "pushing students out" to districts that are serving students well. Vote no.

Senate Bill 2141: Requires that all school board members be elected every four years in conjunction with presidential elections. This would remove all continuity and historical/institutional knowledge from the school board. Running a school district is important and complicated, and it takes months for a school board member to come up to speed on the important issues that these boards must decide. A complete turnover of the board in the middle of a school year would be unnecessarily disruptive and could do serious harm to a district. Terms should be staggered to provide continuity. Vote no. 

Senate Bill 2189: Mississippi Charter Schools Act of 2013, Senate version. This bill allows for-profit corporations to manage charter schools. Vote no.

Senate Bill 2714: Creates a charter school district in Sunflower County. This bill includes provisions that could be detrimental to students in Sunflower County, including a mandate that the charter district include at least one virtual charter school. Vote no.

Your legislators are:

 Rep. Tom Weathersby     Personal: (601)845-2017    Capitol: (601)359-3336

 Sen. Perry Lee     Personal: (601)847-1178    Capitol: (601)359-3244

If your legislators are not listed above it is because we do not have your street address and zip code in our database.  Click here to find your legislator.  Click here to send us your street address and zip code.

Time is of the essence if we hope to influence the outcome of these bills. Please call your legislators right away, and ask your friends and family to call, too.

Education Bills Passed Today

Senate Bill 2395, the Early Learning Collaborative Act of 2013. This will provide Mississippi’s first state funding for pre-kindergarten programs. The Senate vote is a big step toward an important victory for Mississippi children! Thank you for your years of work in support of state funding for early childhood education. See the vote.

Senate Bill 2347, the Senate version of the third grade literacy bill. Unfortunately, this bill omits the most important part of the Florida model which the bill was intended to emulate: reading coaches in schools and retraining of teachers in research-based reading instruction. The House version of the bill includes training and coaches, and we are hopeful that this piece will be included in the final version. See the vote.

You can find summaries of all bills on which The Parents’ Campaign has taken a position here. You can find information on all bills affecting public schools on the MDE website here.

I am so grateful to the many, many of you who are taking the time to talk with your legislators about your hopes, dreams, and concerns for our public schools and school children. You truly are making a difference!

Keep checking our website and checking in with your legislators, and I’ll keep you posted. Together, we can ensure a better day for Mississippi.

Many thanks,

Nancy

This message sent to cmaulding@rcsd.ms by nloome@msparentscampaign.org. The Parents' Campaign 222 N. President St. Suite 102 Jackson, MS 39201 Unsubscribe | Update Profile/Email Address | Forward To A Friend | About This List

The mission of the Rankin County School District is to prepare every student with the cognitive and social skills necessary to be productive members of an ever-changing global society.

The mission of the Rankin County School District is to prepare every student with the cognitive and social skills necessary to be productive members of an ever-changing global society.

This email and any attachments to it may be confidential and are intended solely for the use of the individual to whom it is addressed. If you are not the intended recipient of this email, you must neither take any action based upon its contents, nor copy or show it to anyone. Please contact the sender if you believe you have received this email in error.