• Allocation of funds via formulas based on the percentage of poverty;
• Limitation on regulations to ESEA programs;
• Specification that federal government should supplement, not dictate the local policies;
• Direction that a reduction in federal funds be accompanied by a reduction in federal mandates;
• Connection of children’s health and personal and social development to students and families;
• Direct allocation of funds to the local level;
• Direction that school systems should not be required to spend state and local funds for federal mandates.

Statement on Reauthorization
“As reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act moves in to its fifth year, AASA’s Executive Committee applauds the efforts of both the House and Senate to move reauthorization. Reauthorization is crucial to providing the nation’s schools with relief from current law, which is both broken and lacking in the flexibility states and local school districts need to support student learning and achievement. We also applaud the openness of the Chairmen to the views of educators — including school administrators — which has resulted in an excellent first step in both the House and Senate, and welcome the opportunity to work with both chambers to make improvements as reauthorization moves forward.” Read full statement here.

From AASA’s The Leader’s Edge

K-PREP Blueprints and Testing Format

Blueprints, a link to sample items and the test plan (number of items and testing times) are available for the new Kentucky Performance Rating for Educational Progress (K-PREP) spring 2012 assessments in grades 3-8 and on-demand writing at grades 10 and 11.

• K-PREP Blueprints for reading, mathematics, science, social studies and on-demand writing
• Link to K-PREP Sample Assessment Items (On-demand writing items are newly posted.):

K-PREP Number of Items and Testing Times

Shared by Mr. Simmons

Beshear would not cut the K-12 schools’ main funding formula, but because there is no new money and more students, spending per student will go down from the planned $3,903 in 2012 to $3,833 in 2013 and $3,827 in 2014. That doesn’t count a proposed 4.5 percent cut in 2013 to other educational services, such as family resource centers, extended school services, professional development and technology

The current two year budget cycle our district has been cut well over $150,000 which is larger amount than the contingency we are mandated to maintain. The proposal appears to ensure we will lose that much or more in the coming two years coupled with the large jumps in the retirement payroll tax added by the General Assembly.  KDE’s NCLB waiver requests includes taking taking districts’ Title II allocation which we use to hire a teacher. They did say next year we get to keep our allocation.

During this same time period we are undergoing as large an instructional reform or larger than KERA in 1990. It’s good to be a teacher.

A lady in a faded gingham dress and her husband, dressed in a homespun threadbare suit, stepped off the train in Boston, and walked timidly without an appointment into the president’s outer office. The secretary could tell in a moment that such backwoods, country hicks had no business at Harvard and probably didn’t even deserve to be in Cambridge. She frowned.

“We want to see the president,” the man said softly.

“He’ll be busy all day,” the secretary snapped.

“We’ll wait,” the lady replied.

For hours, the secretary ignored them, hoping that the couple would finally become discouraged and go away. They didn’t. And the secretary grew frustrated and finally decided to disturb the president, even though it was a chore she always regretted to do. “Maybe if they just see you for a few minutes, they’ll leave,” she told him. And he sighed in exasperation and nodded. Someone of his importance obviously didn’t have the time to spend with them, but he detested gingham dresses and homespun suits cluttering up his outer office. The president, stern-faced with dignity, strutted toward the couple.

The lady told him, “We had a son that attended Harvard for one year. He loved Harvard. He was happy here. But about a year ago, he was accidentally killed. And my husband and I would like to erect a memorial to him, somewhere on campus”. The president wasn’t touched; he was shocked.

“Madam,” he said gruffly, “we can’t put up a statue for every person who attended Harvard and died. If we did, this place would look like a cemetery.”

“Oh, no,” the lady explained quickly, “we don’t want to erect a statue. We thought we would like to give a building to Harvard.

The president rolled his eyes. He glanced at the gingham dress and homespun suit, then exclaimed, “A building! Do you have any earthly idea how much a building costs? We have over seven and a half million dollars in the physical plant at Harvard.” For a moment the lady was silent.

The president was pleased. He could get rid of them now.

The lady turned to her husband and said quietly, “Is that all it costs to start a University? Why don’t we just start our own?” Her husband nodded. The president’s face wilted in confusion and bewilderment.

Mr. and Mrs. Leland Stanford walked away, traveling to Palo Alto, California where they established the University that bears their name, a memorial to a son that Harvard no longer cared about!

Shared by undisclosed source

(This is actually an urban legend, http://www.snopes.com/glurge/stanford.asp , but still a well written reminder to be slow to judge and to not believe everything you read on the internet)

FRANKFORT, Ky. – Kentucky’s ranking in an annual grading of all states on key education indicators rose dramatically this year, placing the state 14th in the nation for its work on academic standards, the teaching profession and many other variables related to public education.

Each year, Education Week (a national publication that focuses on P-12 education) produces a special issue, “Quality Counts.” The report tracks key education indicators and grades states on their policy efforts and outcomes. Last year, Kentucky ranked 34th in the nation in this annual report.

“Kentuckians should take a great deal of pride in the Commonwealth’s standings related to P-12 education,” said Gov. Steve Beshear. “Kentucky continues to show measureable progress in education, and the rankings provided in ‘Quality Counts’ recognize the hard work of teachers, administrators, parents and community members.”

The full report is available at http://www.edweek.org/.

“So the same day Pharaoh commanded the taskmasters of the people and their officers saying, “ you shall no longer give the people straw to make brick as before. Let them go and gather straw for themselves. And you shall lay on them the quota of bricks which they made before. You shall not reduce it… Let more work be laid on the men,- Exodus 5:6-9

“Thus says Pharaoh, I will not give you straw. Go get yourselves straw where you can find it; yet none of your work will be reduced.’ Exodus 5:10-11

“Fulfill your work, your daily quota, as when there was straw.” Exo. 5:13

“Why have you not fulfilled your task in making brick both yesterday and today as before.” Exodus 5:14

But you are idle! Idle! Exo. 5:17

Questions;

1. Can you think of any current situation in “real life and world context” that might be compared to the above passage?
2. Who in your situation would be Pharaoh? Who would be the taskmasters and officers of the people?
3. What symbolism would straw play in your comparison? What does the brick represent?

For further reflection:

1. Suppose for a moment you were a servant in the above situation. But as a smart servant who saw this coming had laid aside a contingency of straw. How would you feel if Pharaoh criticized you for it? What if he tried to come and get it?
2. Is it fair to give you more to do and less to do it with it? How would you respond if Pharaoh came up with a statute called the ”Persistently Low Producing Servant Act”. What about if each year the bottom 5% of all servants were put on this list?
3. Do you think it would be fair for Pharaoh or his taskmasters to perform a two week quota audit for persistently low producing servants? What if they repeat it every two years?   

Now consider the mathematical problem below.

There are three people who are on trains. Two are on a train headed south at 55 miles per hour and one is on a train headed north at 60 miles per hour. They are 150 miles apart. What city will they meet in? This really has nothing to do with the problem I am going to give you I just wanted to write a scenario like that. I never could get those. Now back to my question.

We have three people who are receiving $100 each. The total amount received is $300. Three more people show up (we didn’t expect them and have no clue where they came from but they are here). They too must be paid. Since there is no available funds save for the $300.00 we take $50.00 each from the three that previously received the $100 each. Now they receive $50.00. Your position is that the three who were making $100 and now $50 did not receive a cut. Defend this position!

-copied: Dr. Sam Dick, Superintendent. Caverna Independent

Governor Steve Beshear’s 2013-2014 budget proposal was submitted to the General Assembly on January 17, and I’d like to provide you with a quick overview of the potential effects. As with any budget proposal in these difficult economic times, there are positive and negative components.

I appreciate Gov. Beshear’s commitment to keeping SEEK as a focus, with no reductions to that fund. His proposal to increase funding for preschool is a good investment.

However, the 8.4 percent cuts to this agency’s operations will directly impact Kentucky’s school districts – primarily through less funding for Kentucky Education Technology System (KETS)offers of assistance and the Kentucky Educational Network (KEN), but also through our ability to provide services and support. I’m also very concerned that a lack of state revenue will hamper our ability to effectively implement the requirements of 2009’s Senate Bill 1; this school year marks the beginning of the major portions of that bill, and the work must continue to ensure full implementation.

Gov. Beshear’s proposal impacts five key functional areas of P-12 education.

(1) SEEK

• In the proposal, the total amount of funding for the SEEK appropriation stays the same and has not been reduced. 
• However, since adjusted average daily attendance (AADA) continues to increase, the per-pupil amount would decrease to $3,833 in FY 12-13 and $3,827 in FY 13-14.
• Later today, the Kentucky Department of Education (KDE) will post a projected SEEK Forecast for FY 12-13, based on the Governor’s budget proposal, at: http://www.education.ky.gov/kde/administrative+resources/finance+and+funding/school+finance/seek+and+tax+rates/support+education+excellence+in+kentucky+(seek)+2.htm
• In addition, Gov. Beshear has included a provision in his budget proposal to direct 50 percent of any surplus general funds available at the end of FY 11-12 back into SEEK to restore funding to $3,903 per pupil.

(2) Preschool

• The Governor’s budget also proposes increasing preschool funding in FY 13-14 so that 4-year-old children whose family income is no more than 160 percent of poverty are eligible. The current criteria sets the poverty level cap at 150 percent.

(3) Non-SEEK Grants

• Non-SEEK grants (with the exception of technology as identified below) would be reduced by approximately 4.5%. This could include Extended School Services, Family Resource/Youth Services Centers and other programs.

(4) Agency Budget

• KDE’s funding for the offices that perform work related to assessment and accountability; instruction and curriculum; and school improvement would be cut by approximately 4.5%.
• KDE’s funding for internal administration and operations, along with technology, would be cut by approximately 8.4%. This includes technology funding for KETS and KEN.

KDE staff are working to determine specific data for potential cuts to program areas. We will share additional information with you as soon as it becomes available.From KDE email

The Kentucky Department of Education invites teachers, administrators, district staff, parents and other education stakeholders to submit questions for Commissioner Terry Holliday’s second Twitter Town Hall Thursday, Jan. 19 from 4-5 p.m. ET. The Twitter Town Hall topics will be the 2012 General Assembly and KDE’s legislative agenda. Questions can be tweeted both before Jan. 19 and during the live event from 4 to 5 p.m. ET. Use the hash tag #AskDocH to send questions.

For those that do not have a Twitter account and would like to sign up for one, visit www.twitter.com. It is a free service and also offers apps for smartphones if you’d rather follow along off-PC/MAC. The Twitter Town Hall also will be webcast live. To listen and/or watch, you must have Windows Media Player installed on your workstation.

Commissioner Holliday looks forward to answering your questions on Jan. 19.