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Signing up new members in Southwest ISD
Southwest Educators Association signed up new members at the district new teacher orientation; the recruiters, from left to right, were Treasurer Monica De Luna, President Janet Rodriguez, Association Representative Rosalinda Casillas, and staff members Nicki Roberson and Susan Salinas.

 News & Information

September 1, 2010
TSTA deplores crippling education cuts
The Texas State Teachers Association today strongly objected to crippling proposals outlined by the Texas Education Agency to delay purchases of much-needed English and science textbooks and cut funding for other critical education programs, including science labs, dropout prevention, teacher mentoring and fitness grants for middle schools.

The organization of teacher and education support professionals decried Gov. Rick Perry’s slash-and-burn approach to balancing the state budget while most of the state’s school districts already are struggling to cope with a shamefully under-funded school finance system.

“All that educators and other taxpayers can expect from Gov. Perry is lip service,” said TSTA President Rita Haecker. “Although he talks a good game of preparing today’s young people for tomorrow’s jobs, his budgetary policies are wrecking the public schools and jeopardizing our children’s future.”

“The governor can talk all he wants about school savings, as he did yesterday in Abilene. But most school districts and educators already are stretched so thin, there is little, if anything, left to save,” she added.

The Texas Education Agency -- headed by Perry’s appointee, Education Commissioner Robert Scott -- has posted its proposed 10 percent cuts in the public education budget for the 2012-2013 biennium, as requested by the governor. The $261.6 million in reductions include:

  • $48 million for English, Spanish and science textbooks that were to be purchased over the next biennium. Some of the books scheduled to be replaced are up to 10 years old. Updated materials are critical for students who are now facing newly approved end-of-course exams.

  • $35 million for science labs, even as high school students, for the first time, are required to complete four years of science to graduate.

  • $42 million for the Student Success Initiative, a program that helps students struggling to pass standardized tests.

  • $13 million for the Texas High School Completion and Success Initiative, a dropout prevention program. This is particularly hurtful at a time when Texas’ high dropout rate – which the governor tries to underplay – is a major economic and social problem.

  • $3.5 million for Communities in Schools, another dropout prevention program.

  • $12.9 million for teacher mentoring, a key component to ensuring that young, quality teachers remain in the classroom.

  • $1.5 million for teacher professional development opportunities.

  • $11 million for physical education and fitness programs for middle schools with large numbers of low-income students, despite growing concern over childhood obesity.

  • $13 million for the Windham School District, a program that helps prison inmates obtain GEDs with the goal of reducing recidivism This cut, according to TEA, would reduce the number of offenders passing the GED by 20 percent, increase recidivism and increase offender behavioral problems.

TEA also plans to cut by about two-thirds the $10 million that the Legislature appropriated to equip new school buses with passenger seat belts. This all but guts a 2007 law requiring the seat belts on new buses.

TSTA urges the Legislature to reject these crippling cuts when it writes the new state budget during the 2011 session. Before lawmakers make any cuts in the face of an anticipated $18 billion revenue shortfall, they should spend all the money in the Rainy Day Fund, a potential $9 billion. The Rainy Day Fund was created to help meet fiscal crises, not to use as a perpetual savings account.

Then lawmakers should consider a balanced revenue source that treats all taxpayers fairly and adequately meets the state’s needs.

August 26, 2010
TRS search committee meets
Today, the Executive Director Search Committee of TRS met to discuss the status of the search with the search firm of Korn Ferry, which has been employed to screen applicants for the position of Executive Director. The Committee and Korn Ferry discussed the qualities that the perfect candidate should possess. The Committee set its next meeting for Sept. 29, at which time Korn Ferry will present a list of candidates to the Committee. The Committee will begin interviewing candidates in mid- to late-October. 

In addition, this afternoon, TRS appeared before the Legislative Budget Board to present its Legislative Appropriations Request. The request contained information on which we have previously reported.  In summary, TRS made a base request of $4.5 billion, an increase of $465.1 million over fiscal year 2010-11. TRS also made a $465.8 million request for one exceptional item, a one-half percent increase in the state contribution to the fund each year of the biennium (moving the state contribution to 7.2% and 7.7%, respectively). TRS’ request for TRS-Care will maintain the current state contribution rate of 1%.

August 25, 2010
Discount and free shipping from SmileMakers
SmileMakers, a Staples-owned company that is an NEA Member Benefits partner, is now offering NEA members a special back-to-school discount: 10% off all orders plus free shipping. It's easy to use. Visit www.SmileMakers.com or call 1-888-800-Smile (7645) and use promo code NEAMMM.  SmileMakers offers thousands of classroom items to help your members "Create. Motivate. Educate."  The offer runs through October 31. 

 

August 23, 2010
NEA President to be in Texas Friday
NEA President Dennis Van Roekel started a five-day, seven-city media tour on Monday, August 23 to raise public awareness about what NEA members are doing at the school and district level to rejuvenate public education. The tour ends in Texas on Friday.

Day one - August 23 - Denver, CO - Dennis spent the day exploring the success of the Denver Classroom Teachers' transformation efforts through collaboration with the school district and the collective bargaining process.

Day two - August 24 - Missouri - Dennis will learn about the school-business partnerships that district management and NEA leaders have established in Columbia, MO, and will announce a $10,000 NEA grant that will allow the local Association to expand their partnership efforts to include the community through NEA's Public Engagement Program - Later in the day, Dennis will travel to St. Louis to participate in an editorial board meeting with the St. Louis Post-Dispatch - and - to take part in a town hall meeting with members that will be carried by satellite and a webcast to some half-dozen locations throughout the 'show me' state.

Day three - August 25 - Columbus, OH - Dennis will visit Columbus, OH, to see the progress of a $555,000 federal grant the Association has secured with Ohio State University to bring an extensive 'community service learning' initiative to Ohio's capitol city.

Day four - August 26 - Tampa, FL - Dennis will participate in editorial board meetings with the daily papers in Tampa and St. Petersburg - and then conduct a town hall meeting with NEA members in Hillsborough County (Tampa) to find out more about the local Association's use of the collective bargaining process to achieve school transformation.

Day five - August 27 - Texas - Dennis will be in San Antonio to highlight the success of local pre-K programs in achieving academic success - and - will then move to Austin to visit with several of the state's leading education reporters and another town hall meeting with members.

Blog: www.nea.org/backtoschooltour

Photos: http://www.flickr.com/photos/neapr/sets/72157624632013893

Daily social media release: http://www.nea.org/home/1709.htm

August 20, 2010
Two TSTA members are finalists for math/science award
Two TSTA members are among the finalists for the Presidential Awards for Excellence in Mathematics and Science Teaching. Lorene Wallace is a first grade teacher at Brykerwoods Elementary in Austin ISD with six years of teaching experience, and Stephanie Weaver is a third grade teacher at Shadycrest Elementary in Pearland ISD with 14 years of teaching experience. http://www.tea.state.tx.us

 

August 19, 2010
TSTA member in running for Teacher of the Year
Beth Huckabee, a biology teacher at Flour Bluff High School in the Flour Bluff ISD, is a finalist in the Texas Teacher of the Year program. http://www.tea.state.tx.us

August 17, 2010
Ways and Means will examine tax breaks
House Ways and Means Chairman Rene Oliveira, D-Brownsville, said the Legislature’s search for new revenue next session will include a look at every exemption and tax credit now available to taxpayers. It is imperative, he said, that the state create a tax system in which everyone pays a fair share of the burden. 

The committee met to hear testimony on ways the revised franchise tax could be changed to improve compliance and fairness.  That tax was approved in 2006 to help pay for reductions in local school property taxes but has failed to bridge the revenue gap. Consequently, school districts all over the state are facing budgetary problems. 

According to the comptroller’s office, the franchise tax is expected to produce approximately $3.84 billion in 2010.  And, as the economy recovers slowly, future revenue expectations are about $5 billion a year.  As one member of the committee pointed out, this is nowhere near what is necessary to make up for the lost revenue from the 2006 property tax cuts. 

Some witnesses complained that the franchise tax was imposing significant tax bills on small businesses that might be operating at a loss. Other witnesses predicted that problems with the tax will be cured as time goes by. And, it was noted, there is a lot of concern among the business community about the prospects of the Legislature attempting to revise the tax in the face of an anticipated $18 billion revenue shortfall next year. 

The comptroller’s office reported that the expected value of the Rainy Day Fund on Aug. 31, 2011, will be $8.2 billion, that sales tax revenue has started to creep back up over the past four months and that the comptroller will not consider providing a new revenue estimate until the end of the calendar year in December.    

August 16, 2010
TRS discusses retire/rehire and service credit costs
The Teacher Retirement System Board met in Austin last week to discuss a number of issues facing retirees and employees considering retirement.  

The rules around service credit costs and employment after retirement have become confusing as a result of “band-aid” legislation passed since 2001, but the TRS Board must get legislative authority during the upcoming session in order to fix them.   

TRS staff cited two reasons the system for purchasing service credit needs to change: it’s confusing for the purchaser because there’s a dramatic change in rates from year to year, and certain service credit hours are subsidized inequitably.  

Here’s what the TRS staff recommends:

·          for amounts withdrawn, add 8 percent reinstatement fees, compounded annually;

·          for unreported amounts, use 12 percent of salary plus an 8 percent fee, compounded annually;

·          for out-of-state, the suggested cost basis would be the actuarial present value; and

·          the substitute suggested cost basis would be same as unreported.  

TRS says there would be an increase of $233 million to the fund with these changes, but they do not anticipate an actuarial change. 

Because employment after retirement is a complex issue, TRS staff has a new handbook that will be released in September. The staff recommends three options for future legislation:               

Plan A would dictate any new employment after retirement would result in forfeiture of the annuity for months worked with no exception. Limits would be applied prospectively to those who retire after a “selected date” and employers would pay a surcharge. There would be no limits on employees retiring before the selected date.   

Plan B would allow substitute work and half-time work without forfeiture of the annuity, but any full-time work would forfeit the annuity; limits would be applied prospectively to those who retire after a “selected date” with no limits prior to that date; and employers would pay a surcharge on those who retire after that date.   

Plan C would allow substitute work, half-time work, and full-time work without loss of annuity. Full-time work would only be allowed after a sit-out period of 12 consecutive months immediately following retirement. The limits would be applied prospectively to those who retire after a “selected date” with no limits before that date, and employers would pay a surcharge on those who retire after that date.  

TRS staff gave the board its budget summary request for the coming legislative session. TRS will request 6.644 percent, the current rate, for the state contribution rate for the next biennium. TRS will also request 1 percent for TRS Care as the growth assumption is 5 percent for payroll only and not costs. TRS has one exceptional item of a .5 percent increase for each year of the biennium for the state contribution rate to make the fund actuarially sound.   

TRS staff reported that the trust fund as of May 31 is $94.2 billion, an increase of $0.7 billion from the end of the second quarter and an increase of $5.5 billion from the fiscal year beginning net assets of $88.7 billion. 

SBEC meeting: TSTA concerned about vague ethics rules
At last week's meeting of the State Board for Educator Certification,
TSTA Government Relations Specialist John Grey presented on an attempt to create vague ethics rules presented by SBEC staff. The initial rules were much worse. Upon initial offer, TSTA and others pushed back against staff, which removed the item in the previous meeting. Another stakeholder meeting was held, and the rule was improved, but not acceptable. Words like “appropriate” and “good moral character” remain in the document, and these words lead to no-win situations for teachers. 

TSTA testified against certain aspects of revised § 247.2 (Code of Ethics and Standard Practices for Texas Educators). Specifically, TSTA disagreed with wording in Standard 1.10 in which SBEC requires the educator to “demonstrate that he or she is fit and worthy to instruct or supervise the youth of this state.” TSTA pointed out that the burden is in the wrong place – that SBEC is the gatekeeper in this situation, and it is incumbent upon SBEC to prove that an educator is unfit and unworthy to instruct or supervise the youth of this state. 

Further, TSTA pointed out that there is a major problem with Standard 3.2, in which an educator can be the subject of disciplinary action for engaging in negligence that “adversely affects or endangers the learning, physical health, mental health, or safety of the student or minor.” TSTA emphasized that under such a standard, an educator may be the subject of disciplinary action for a mere accident, leaving this standard ripe for abuse by rogue administrators. In addressing TSTA’s comments on this standard, SBEC counsel demonstrated that she failed to grasp the concept of the debate at hand. 

Finally, TSTA testified that Standard 3.9 is also ripe for abuse by subjecting an educator to disciplinary action for “excessive” electronic communication with a student. Students and educators could engage in fruitful math and science discussions over email that a crusading administrator could deem “excessive” and then unnecessarily report that educator to SBEC for disciplinary action.

After hearing testimony, the board began deliberations on the new set of ethics rules. SBEC staff specifically responded to Grey’s testimony. Among other things, staff defended using the number of texts as a means of disciplinary action, despite their content. This would be due to the fact that cell phone companies don’t carry content long enough to aid the investigation. In general, the lead SBEC counsel encouraged the board to “trust us.” The motion was passed with minor revisions. 

Members heard testimony from SBEC staff regarding the pilot program regarding principal evaluations on teacher preparation programs. This program is intended to effectively implement Senate Bill 174, which requires accountability for these programs. Staff used an outside source, SEDL, to analyze data from principal surveys. This will allow SBEC staff to remove redundant questions and streamline the process for using these forms to better assess teacher preparation programs. -- report by Paul Henley, TSTA Teaching and Learning staff

August 11, 2010
Contact AARP by Sunday!
AARP’s Board of Directors and National Policy Council have invited the public to provide input for the development of the AARP’s approved policies for next two years. Please contact them by this Sunday! Ask them to make it their policy to support the repeal of the WEP/GPO Social Security offsets.

Tell them how the WEP/GPO legislation has affected you, your family and/or your friends and why they should be supporting repeal.  Scroll down to the portion of the form titled “Retirement Income – Chapter 4.” http://www.aarp.org/about-aarp/public-policy-input  

President signs jobs bill
The U.S. House passed the education jobs bill by a vote of 247-161, and President Obama has signed it into law. TSTA President Rita Haecker praised the move, which means an estimated $830 million to Texas teachers.

RELATED LINKS:
More about the vote
NEA's Education Votes website
TSTA President praises House for passing funding bill
Grading Texas: Making school kids a partisan issue

August 10, 2010
Jobs/FMAP bill passes! Major victory for educators, students, parents and the nation
Today, the U.S. House passed the education jobs/FMAP bill by a vote of  247-161 (see the vote tally at http://clerk.house.gov/evs/2010/roll518.xml).  This means the bill only has to go to the President for signature and it becomes law!  The President will sign the bill this evening at 5:00pm, so that the implementation process can begin immediately.

A detailed account is available at http://neatoday.org/2010/08/10/house-delivers-victory-for-students-and-educators-nationwide.

New figures from the U.S. Department of Education estimate that some 161,000 educators who had received pink slips will be heading back to school this fall.

This victory is a result of an amazing team effort involving every level of this Association.  The participation by members, the multiple contacts with every single congressional office, the calls, emails, and personal visits by affiliate leaders and staff were unprecedented.  Thank you all for everything you did to help achieve this incredible victory. more

TSTA praises House approval of education jobs funding
The Texas State Teachers Association today applauded the U.S. House of Representatives for giving final approval to a $10 billion emergency funding package for educators. The bill is worth an estimated $830 million to Texas teachers. 

“Texas educators say, ‘Thank you!’” said TSTA President Rita Haecker. “With Texas’ public schools already under-funded, and the Texas Legislature facing an $18 billion revenue shortfall next year, this extra money couldn’t have come at a better time.” 

Haecker also commended U.S. Representative Lloyd Doggett and other Texas Democrats for including a provision in the bill to guarantee that the money is spent for public education and not diverted by the governor and legislative leaders to other programs. 

“Some teachers are losing their jobs. Others are faced with higher health care premiums to help school districts balance their budgets. It is time for Governor Perry and other Republican leaders, who have been hyperventilating over political hyperboles, to quit playing political games with Texas teachers and school kids,” she said. 

“What the Doggett amendment is attempting to do is make it clear that Texas will use the federal funds in the way the bill intends them to be used – maintaining current programs, retaining current staff and, where possible, hiring additional staff to handle the still-growing Texas student population.” 

An estimated 1,000 to 2,000 Texas teachers lost their employment contracts this year. An additional, unknown number of teacher positions were lost to attrition amid a flurry of school district budget cuts throughout the state. 

The bill also includes additional federal funding for Medicaid, crucial health care funding for low-income families.

Congressman Doggett rebukes Governor Perry
"We require that the state of Texas specifically forward the new federal aid to our local school districts, not divert or spend it on something else," Congressman Lloyd Doggett said on the floor of the House. He says he wants to hold Gov. Perry accountable and not see "more mismanagement and interference from the state of Texas." Watch the video at
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Qg6qzDC6JQ.

NEA news release on passage of education jobs bill
House action is victory for students and educators across the country; action on education jobs package comes as students return to classrooms 

The U.S. House of Representatives today approved legislation containing emergency funds to help states cope with the Great Recession and stave off massive layoffs of educators. The House joined the Senate in passing H.R. 1586, the Education Jobs and Medicaid Assistance Act, legislation that will keep educators working and will extend the increased federal match for Medicaid (FMAP). A Congressional Budget Office analysis found that the legislation, which is fully paid for, will reduce the deficit by $1.4 billion over 10 years. The bill, which will save some 161,000 educators’ jobs, now goes to President Obama for his signature.   

“This is a victory for students and educators across the country,” said NEA President Dennis Van Roekel. “With this vote, the House reaffirmed that the road to economic security and prosperity runs directly through our nation’s schools. As a result, we expect to see fewer crowded classrooms, reinstated bus routes and fewer cuts to education programs and services.”  

NEA recognized House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and the House leadership for addressing the education funding crisis. Speaker Pelosi last week issued a call for the House to return early from its August recess to take that final vote and speed the funding to public schools.  

“We appreciate the unbending support of Rep. Pelosi and the House leadership for putting students ahead of politics,” said Van Roekel. “Fiscal relief to struggling school districts and students should remain a top priority during these tough economic times.”  

NEA has been a strong advocate for students and educators. Its national campaign, called “Speak Up for Education & Kids,” has mobilized educators and others concerned about the budget crisis facing states and public education.  

Over the past few months, NEA members from across the country have been sharing their personal stories and concerns about how layoffs and program cutbacks would affect students. Some have visited Washington to lobby their members of Congress, while others have expressed their concerns via radio, television, and the Internet.  They have galvanized their communities in protest of unfair budget cuts, and after long days in their classrooms — classrooms they knew they wouldn’t be returning to in the fall without federal aid — they sat down and wrote heartfelt emails to their representatives and senators, imploring them to make students and education a priority. 

The campaign yielded impressive results. It produced more than 300,000 emails, 100,000 telephone calls, and delivered 42,000 postcards to Congressional offices. Speak Up for Education & Kids on Facebook secured almost 35,000 fans. And educationvotes.nea.org, the association’s portal for activists, generated 60,460 visits and 92,889 page views.  

“Several months ago, many considered an education jobs package an impossible dream,” said Van Roekel. “But this victory is the direct result of educators across America speaking up for education and students. Looking ahead to the reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (No Child Left Behind) and the mid-term elections, NEA will capitalize on our members’ commitment to making public schools a fundamental right for all students.” 

The Education Jobs Fund and FMAP received strong support from governors and members of Congress from both sides of the aisle, as well as from the Obama administration, including Education Secretary Arne Duncan and key economic and domestic policy advisors. It also received the strong support of more than 185 national and state organizations.   

“We urge President Obama to move swiftly and sign this bill into law,” said Van Roekel. “With students heading back to school in the next few weeks, it’s imperative that the funds make their way to the nation’s schools quickly.”  

For information on Speak Up for Education & Kids, visit www.facebook.com/speakupforkids

For information on saving educators’ jobs, visit www.educationvotes.nea.org 

Follow us on twitter at www.twitter.com/NEAMedia

Two new PSAs from TSTA President Rita Haecker
You may be hearing these public service announcements on your local stations this fall! TSTA President Rita Haecker recorded them while at the NEA Annual Meeting in New Orleans this summer.

"Learning to Study"
"Helping Your Child Stay Organized"

Report highlights need for collaborative professional development and common standards
A new report, “Advancing High-Quality Professional Learning Through Collective Bargaining and State Policy,” calls for more collaboration and a common set of standards for developing policy on professional development for teachers.

The study is the result of a three-year partnership between the National Staff Development Council (NSDC), National Education Association (NEA), American Federation of Teachers (AFT) and the Council of Chief State School Officers (CCSSO). This report explores how states and districts can support high-quality professional learning opportunities for educators. 

Among those working on the report  were TSTA President Rita Haecker, Executive Director E.C. Walker, former OCALD Director Brenda Pike and Teaching & Learning Specialist Paul Henley.

Professional development—or professional learning—refers to activities teachers undertake to enhance professional knowledge and skills or career opportunities, with the goal of improving student learning. 

The report contains recommendations and examples of legislation, regulations, administrative guidelines, and collective bargaining language in 12 policy areas.  Members of the task force who worked on the report hope it will be used to guide the development of collective bargaining agreements, memorandums of understanding, and state policies that strengthen professional development in order to improve teaching and learning.  

After examining state policies and local bargaining agreements, the task force drew some broad conclusions:

•        There is wide variation in state policies and collective bargaining language pertaining to professional development across states and districts;

•        The quality of professional learning for teachers is improved when it is embedded in state policy and collective bargaining; and

•        Collaboration among stakeholders at the school, district and state level is needed to create and sustain policies that promote high-quality professional development for teachers.

“The project is a landmark collaboration among school, district and state stakeholders to develop policy recommendations about professional development for effective teaching and student success,” said Stephanie Hirsh, NSDC’s executive director. “The four national organizations formed a productive partnership that serves as a model for how state and local stakeholders can join forces to create and promote collective bargaining agreements and policies to strengthen and enhance the quality of teaching and student learning.”  

“High-quality professional development is necessary to ensure that all teachers are able to meet the needs of diverse student populations, effectively use data to guide reform, engage parents, and become active agents of their own professional growth,” said NEA President Dennis Van Roekel. “This report demonstrates that professional development is most effective when it is incorporated into collective bargaining agreements and policies that drive the day-to-day work of teachers.”    

Six states were represented on the task force: Minnesota, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, and Texas.

To read the full report and review the task force recommendations, please visit www.nsdc.org/news/advancinghighqualityprofessional
learning.pdf.

August 9, 2010
Obama in Austin: Education is economic issue of our time
From the Austin American Statesman: President Barack Obama said in a speech at the University of Texas this afternoon that education “is the economic issue of our time.”

Addressing a friendly and appreciative audience in Gregory Gym, the president sought to underscore the link between long-term economic prosperity and a better-educated population.

“It’s an economic issue when the unemployment rate for folks who’ve never gone to college is almost double what it is for those who have gone to college,” he said. “Education is an economic issue when nearly eight in 10 new jobs will require workforce training or a higher education by the end of this decade. Education is an economic issue when we know beyond a shadow of a doubt that countries that out-educate us today will out-compete us tomorrow.” more

NEA applauds Speaker Pelosi for taking historic step; House to vote on education jobs bill on Tuesday
The National Education Association and its 3.2 million members applaud Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) for her decision to call the members of the House of Representatives back to Washington, D.C., to vote on critical funding for public sector jobs and extended federal support of FMAP. 

The House has already voted twice on legislation that would save 140,000 education jobs as well as those of first responders such as firefighters. Passage of this Senate-approved bill (H.R. 1586) will benefit students by ensuring that class sizes do not skyrocket and that critical programs are not cut. 

“The Speaker's decision to call lawmakers back to work demonstrates her commitment not only to putting American workers back to work but also to making sure that children do not bear the brunt of our nation’s economic woes," NEA President Dennis Van Roekel said.  "Getting educators back into schools and classrooms is right for students, right for communities, and right for our future.  Without this bill, students would be facing  class sizes of 35 and 40 students, cuts to courses they need to graduate, and less instruction time.

"In addition, the Medicaid assistance to states that is embedded in this bill will fulfill our important obligation to ensure that low-income Americans have access to basic healthcare.  Providing Medicaid assistance to states also means that other dedicated public servants—firefighters and police, for example—will be able to stay on the job and work to keep our communities safe.

"Some critics of this legislation first complained that it wasn't paid for. That is not true. This legislation is fully paid for, and the Congressional Budget Office analysis shows it actually will reduce the deficit over the next decade. Others claimed that this legislation will benefit ’special interests.’  Since when did the needs of our nation's students, the health of low-income Americans, and the safety of our communities become special interests?  There are no more excuses. We urge swift passage of this essential legislation. The bottom line is that we need to keep schools open, educators working and students learning," Van Roekel said.

For information on Speak Up for Education & Kids, visit www.facebook.com/speakupforkids.

For information on saving educators’ jobs, visit www.educationvotes.nea.org

Follow us on twitter at www.twitter.com/NEAMedia.

August 5, 2010
Got a question for a State Board of Education candidate?
We bet you do. The League of Women Voters of the Austin Area is sponsoring a forum at the KLRU-TV studio for State Board of Education candidates for Districts 5 and 10. This is your opportunity to make your voices heard and have the candidates respond to your questions. You are the experts in your fields, you are the ones who work with the students on a daily basis and you are the ones who will have to incorporate the changes into your lesson plans.

To submit your questions, go to www.lwvaustin.org, click on the “News” tab and choose “SBOE Questions.” Please indicate if you would prefer that your name not be used in the event that your question is selected.

There are about 300 seats in the Austin City Limits Studio, and they will be available to the public on a first-come basis. When ticket information on the forum becomes available on the KLRU web site, www.klru.org, you can make reservations. For more information, please call the office of the League of Women Voters of the Austin Area at (512) 451-6710. 

New job bank for all Texas school districts
The Texas Education Agency has debuted a new statewide web-based school district job search tool. The website, http://www.tea.state.tx.us/districtSearch.aspx, brings together information from the state’s 1,200 public school districts and charter schools.

Senate passes education jobs bill
Today, the Senate, on a 61-39 vote, passed the $10 billion Education Jobs Fund and $16 billion in increased federal Medicaid matching money (FMAP) for the states. Republican Sens. Snowe and Collins of Maine joined with all Democrats and Independents to pass the critically needed legislation.

The state-by-state breakdown for both the Education Jobs and FMAP funding will be posted at www.nea.org/lac.

NEA has been in communication with house leaders to get a handle on what our target list may like to ensure that the House passes the Senate package. The House will be called back from summer recess to complete work next week.

August 4, 2010
Pelosi to call U.S. House back next week to pass Senate bill to save teacher jobs, help seniors and children
Speaker Nancy Pelosi issued the following statement this afternoon on calling back the House of Representatives into session next week to pass the Senate bill for emergency state aid to save teacher jobs and help seniors and children.

"The House welcomes the passage tomorrow by the Senate of the long-delayed support for teachers, nurses and urgent services for children and seniors and people with disabilities.  The House passed the state assistance (FMAP) bill twice last year and the funding to keep teachers on the job in December and this spring."     

Education Jobs Bill proceeds to vote
The U.S. Senate today was able reach 61 votes to proceed with H.R. 1586, which includes much-needed funds to help states cope with the Great Recession and to fund an extension of the increased federal match for Medicaid (FMAP). An amendment offered by Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.) and Sen. Tom Harkin (D-Iowa) to H.R. 1586, the FAA Air Transportation Modernization and Safety Improvement Act, would create an Education Jobs Fund to stave off massive layoffs of public school educators and harmful cuts to education programs.  The Senate also defeated by a vote of 61-38 an attempt by Sen. Judd Gregg (R-N.H.) and Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) to further stall the bill with a procedural tactic, claiming that the legislation added to the federal deficit, despite the fact that the Congressional Budget Office reported that the legislation would reduce the deficit by over $1 billion in the next 10 years. 

According to a National Education Association analysis, the fund will prevent layoffs of approximately 138,000 educators. Both the education jobs funding and the FMAP extension are fully offset. The Congressional Budget Office confirmed yesterday that H.R. 1586 will actually reduce the budget deficit by $1.4 billion over the next decade.   

“The educators, students and parents who have fought hard for crucial funding are now one step closer.  This bill is fully paid for, and will actually reduce the budget deficit over the next 10 years," NEA President Dennis Van Roekel said. "It’s a no-brainer. We thank Senator Reid, Senator Murray, Senator Harkin, and Senator Schumer for their steadfast leadership.  We applaud Senators Snowe and Collins from Maine in particular for not allowing partisan roadblocks to stand in the way of what students need.” 

For more information on Speak Up for Education & Kids, visit www.facebook.com/speakupforkids.

For more information on saving educators’ jobs, visit www.educationvotes.nea.org.

Follow on twitter at www.twitter.com/NEAMedia.

August 1, 2010
Deadline approaches for National Board applications
Now that the new school year has begun, many Texas teachers and counselors are considering candidacy for National Board Certification, the nation’s only advanced teacher certification. Interested candidates must submit their applications to the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards by December 31, 2010. To qualify for candidacy, educators must hold a bachelor’s degree, possess a valid state teaching license and have completed three full years of teaching or counseling experience. 

National Board Certification can offer license portability and can contribute to Continuing Education Units for educators across the state. In many areas, National Board Certification can also provide higher salary potential. Full or partial financial support is available for most candidates to help pay the costs. 

“The National Board Certification process was both the most demanding and rewarding experience of my teaching career,” said National Board Certified Teacher Michael Humphreys. The thoughtful scrutiny I applied to my practice ensured that my students were getting the best product I could deliver. I continue to be a reflecting practitioner and I become a better teacher with every year that passes.” 

Today, there are more than 500 National Board Certified Teachers in the state. For more information, or to find a mentor that can walk you through the candidacy process, visit www.nbpts.org or call 1-800-22TEACH. 

July 31, 2010
Launch of Strengthen Social Security Campaign
NEA and Other Advocacy Groups Hold News Conference Launching Strengthen Social Security Campaign and Opposing Cuts to Social Security

This morning in Washington, DC, NEA President Dennis Van Roekel joined with representatives of the AFL-CIO, Alliance for Retired Americans, NAACP, and others at a press conference to launch the Strengthen Social Security Campaign, a coalition of over 60 labor, civil rights, women’s, and disability rights groups. Van Roekel said “We look forward to working with this broad coalition to help the American people celebrate the great success of Social Security, and to ensure that 75 years from now, Social Security will be as strong as it is today.” He also spoke to NEA’s core belief that that we need to strengthen Social Security, not weaken it. He urged strong opposition to any cuts to Social Security benefits, including increasing the retirement age, and any effort to privatize Social Security, in whole or in part.

In addition, Van Roekel stressed NEA’s strong support for complete repeal of the Government Pension Offset (GPO) and the Windfall Elimination Provision (WEP), which penalize some public employees by cutting or taking away completely Social Security benefits they or their spouse earned.

The urgency expressed by the speakers stems from the activities of the national debt commission. This group has been charged with finding ways to reduce the national deficit and co-chair of the commission. Commission Co-chair and former White House Chief of Staff Erskine Bowles has suggested that as much as three-quarters of the savings the national debt commission has been asked to propose ought to come from cuts to government spending rather than tax increases. The speakers at today’s news conference cautioned the national debt commission not look to the Social Security program for spending cuts.

The core message of the campaign is that Social Security belongs to the people who have worked hard all their lives and contributed to it. Social Security is a promise that must not be broken. If you pay in, then you earn the right to benefits for yourself, your spouse and your dependent children when you retire, experience a severe disability, or die.

To learn more about the Strengthen Social Security Campaign, please read about the following developments:

1) Launching of the campaign website at http://strengthensocialsecurity.org.

2) Additional organizations have joined the campaign (now totaling more than 60): American Association of People with Disabilities, American Federation of Teachers, Center for Community Change, Disability Rights Education and Defense Fund, International Assoc. of Heat & Frost Insulators and Allied Workers, League of Rural Voters, NAACP, National Indian Council on Aging, SEIU, Southeast Asia Resource Action Center, Women Employed, and United Steel Workers have recently joined the campaign. A list of all members is on the campaign website.

3) Social Security 75th Birthday Events: Birthday events are being planned during the Congressional recess, many with members of Congress. Information about these events is now available and will be updated on the campaign website. This is a great way for NEA members to be involved locally to celebrate Social Security and to get members of Congress to take a stand to protect and strengthen Social Security. Let us know if you are planning a local event or taking part in one in your community.

July 25, 2010
SBOE approves use of PSF for charter purchases
At Friday's State Board of Education meeting, the push to use Permanent School Fund (PSF) money to fund charter school land and building purchases returned. (PSF is used by the SBOE to fund textbooks. Interest earned on the fund is disbursed to districts at the discretion of the board.)

Mavis Knight moved to defer any action until more study had been done on the idea. Miller thought the move was not a thoughtful one.

Hardy spoke to the idea that only 3% of public school students attend charter schools. Putting the PSF in jeopardy would make 97% vulnerable to bad real estate decisions. Allen said sitting superintendents were against it and that he had not heard from anyone "outside this circle" that was in favor of this movement. He said that there were many questions that had been asked but no actual answers were provided.

"Nobody here is going to be writing a check for anyone." He told the board to wait on the Attorney General's opinion and any movements by the legislature. Only the commissioner has to expend funds to look into this. Approving an "intent" statement would send a message to the commissioner and the legislature.

Bradley said that we were in real estate investments already. The SBOE already owns empty shopping malls and abandoned buildings and there is even a possibility that a charter school has set up in one of them. Bradley said the S & P 500 has earned 1% over the last 10 years. He would take a rent check over that 1% anyway. Craig moved to delay action until September 2010 based on the lack of full understanding from board members and the absence of two board members. The action requires either a favorable Attorney General opinion or express legislative authority.

The motion to include charter school land and buildings as an investment strategy passed on a 7-6 vote.

The Committee on Instruction passed a motion to include invited testimony from each Technology Applications review panel member in September. This could signify the beginning of a pattern that brings vertical team members to the board before real deliberations begin. The board also chose to re-extend contracts to current legal counsel.--report by Paul T. Henley, TSTA Teaching and Learning Specialist

July 23, 2010
SBOE makes $100 million available for charter facilities
The State Board of Education approved a new asset allocation for its $22.2 billion Permanent School Fund Friday that includes, for the first time, making about a $100 million available for charter school facilities and putting $1.5 billion in a risk parity strategy. more

July 22, 2010
SBOE: Common Core, TPM and using PSF for charters
Today's meeting of the State Board of Education began with Commissioner Robert Scott discussing Texas' refusal to join with 48 other states in adopting the new Common Core standards for English and Mathematics. 

For Texas to join this coalition, Scott said he would have to break three laws: 

1. Standards are to be set by the State Board of Education.

2. Standards are to be created with input from teachers, stakeholders and the general public.

3. Standards must now include College-Ready components.

He noted a new study by the Fordham Foundation that gave Texas an A minus inits English Language Arts and Reading standards. He felt that this showed Texas' strength in creating standards.  

Texas received a C in math standards. Scott said he believed many Texas teachers would disagree, and that you cannot base policy on one report (that is, unless you get an A minus. Besides, math is next in line to be reviewed and any necessary improvements could be handled there, Scott said. 

Scott went on to address recent attacks from legislators regarding the Texas Progress Measure or TPM. There is a belief among Democratic legislators that the TPM was used to make sure more schools passed the Texas school accountability system during an election year. When called to testify on this, Scott sent an aide who either didn't or couldn't answer many of the legislators' questions. 

Scott referred to these allegations as "silly" and said accountability decisions were made by Texas Education Agency staff, not politicians. He spoke of the first growth measure Texas proposed, which was refused by the U.S. Department of Education. The new system uses a statistical regression analysis to predict the future. Scott told the board that this is used in other states, although he did refer to it as both "a black box" and "voodoo." 

Some board members have been pushing to redirect the Permanent School Fund investment strategy to include the purchase of land and buildings for charter school organizations. Since the fund determines the amount of money available for textbooks each year, other members pushed back. The idea failed on a 7-7 vote. After much further deliberation today, the board voted to create an investment portfolio that did not include such investments. 

The board then studied every question in the Frequently Asked Questions document that TEA will be releasing to publishers regarding supplemental science materials. TEA will make adjustments as necessary to ensure the board will pass it tomorrow on final reading. There was a fair amount of trepidation regarding the price of these supplementary materials.

Since this was new territory, publishers will bid before the board can determine a fair value for these materials. Final decisions would have to come in January, when a board with new members will take over.--Paul T. Henley, TSTA Teaching and Learning Specialist

July 21, 2010
Got questions? SBOE candidate forum Sept. 28
The League of Women Voters of the Austin Area is sponsoring a forum at the KLRU-TV studio for State Board of Education candidates for District 5 and 10.   

As educators, you probably have many questions and concerns. This is your opportunity to make your voices heard and have  the candidates respond to your questions. You are the experts in your fields, you are the ones who work with the students on a daily basis and you are the ones who will have to incorporate the changes into your lesson plans.  

Please go to www.lwvaustin.org. Click on the “News” tab and choose “SBOE Questions.”  Please indicate if you would prefer that your name not be used in the event that your question is selected.   

There are about 300 seats in the Austin City Limits Studio, and they will be available to the public on a first-come basis.  When ticket information on the forum becomes available on the KLRU web site, www.klru.org, you can make reservations.  For more information, please call the office of the League of Women Voters of the Austin Area at (512) 451-6710.   

Take this opportunity to participate in the SBOE forum by either submitting a question or attending the forum. 

July 20, 2010
TSTA: More resources needed for teachers
Richard Kouri, assistant executive director for public affairs for the Texas State Teachers Association, today told the Senate Education Committee that the state needs to commit significant resources to properly recruit and retain teachers. He said more funding also is needed for induction, mentoring and professional development.

Kouri directed the committee’s attention to TSTA’s latest biennial survey on teacher moonlighting and morale, which shows that the number of teachers taking extra jobs during the school year has increased while morale is down among veteran teachers. The survey, conducted for TSTA by Sam Houston State University, indicates that four of every 10 teachers had to moonlight during the recent school year to make ends meet. This is the highest percentage since TSTA first started conducting the survey 30 years ago. About 47 percent of respondents said they have considered leaving the profession.

Kouri made it clear to the committee that it is time to stop discussing issues and start solving the problems that the Texas Legislature has created.

The committee met to hear testimony on attracting, training and retaining high quality teachers, properly evaluating teachers, and dismissing ineffective teachers.

More teachers forced into extra jobs
Four of every 10 Texas teachers moonlight during the school year to make ends meet, and 56 percent take extra jobs during the summer, according to a survey by Sam Houston State University commissioned by the Texas State Teachers Association.

The 40.8 percent of respondents who said they held second jobs during the current school year was the highest percentage since TSTA first started sponsoring the biennial survey, “Texas Teachers, Moonlighting and Morale,” 30 years ago. It was a significant jump from the 28 percent who reported moonlighting in 2008 and the 22 percent who reported having extra jobs when the first survey was conducted in 1980.

“It is a shame that so many of our dedicated educators have to struggle with extra jobs to support their families, but they have no choice,” said TSTA President Rita Haecker. “They are to be commended for going the extra mile each day for their students and their families. It is past time for our elected state officials to give these professionals the professional pay that they deserve.”

Almost half of the respondents (46.7 percent) said they were seriously considering leaving the profession, but the fact that 58.6 percent also were their family’s major breadwinners made that prospect difficult for many teachers.

The online survey of 907 teachers was conducted this spring by faculty members at Sam Houston State University.

The average number of hours, 15.2 percent, that teachers spent on extra jobs each week during the school year also was the highest amount recorded for the survey, as was the 56.4 percent of teachers who took summer jobs. In 2008, the average number of hours spent moonlighting each week during the school year was 11.5, and 34 percent of respondents reported summer jobs.

Some 68.6 percent of the moonlighting teachers believe their teaching quality would improve if they didn’t have extra jobs but said they couldn’t afford to give up the additional income without a raise in their teacher pay. Most (63.2 percent) said they would quit their second jobs during the school year if their teaching jobs paid more. On average, they said that would require a raise of $8,534 a year.

The average salary of teachers responding to the survey was $50,019 a year. Their average classroom experience was 17.7 years.

Overall, the average teacher salary in Texas, according to data for the 2008-09 school year, the most recent available, was $47,157. That was 34th in the country and $7,176 below the national average.

Other findings from the survey included:

  • The respondents’ average age is 49.

  • 78.9 percent are women.

  • 43.8 percent have master’s degrees.

  • Only 28.8 percent consider the quality of teaching at their schools better than it was five years ago.

  • They spent an average of 15 hours a week outside of class on school-related work.

  • Their out-of-pocket expenses on school supplies averaged $564 a year.

  • Their average out-of-pocket expenses for health insurance averaged $222 a month.

  • Only 32.1 percent believed they had adequate time to prepare and teach.

  • Discipline (57.7 percent) and paperwork (22.3 percent) were identified as the worst problems in their schools.

  • Only 6 percent believed a single standardized test should determine whether a student gets promoted.

  • 51 percent of respondents taught in urban districts and 38 percent in suburban schools.

  • 37.4 percent taught in high school, 35.9 percent in elementary grades and 24.9 percent in middle school.

For poll data and questions, see the Pressroom.

 

July 19, 2010
Texan wins NEA's César Chávez award
Juanita Valdez-Cox of Texas received NEA's César Chávez Acción y Compromiso Human and Civil Rights Award, presented to a nominee who follows in the exemplary footsteps of César Chávez in philosophy, work, and leadership. Watch the video

 

July 15, 2010
Senate must approve jobs bill

The $10 billion education jobs bill, which the U.S. House has approved, is now before the Senate. Please call your senators and urge them to do the right thing for educators and support the bill. Click on this link to make your contacts: http://capwiz.com/nea/issues/alert/?alertid=15205681

 

July 12, 2010
NEA Click & Save's deals for August
NEA Click & Save, the online discount buying service for NEA members, highlights select retailers and merchants each month. Check out these featured “Buy-lights” for August. 

Sony: Save up to 10% on CyberShot digital cameras and HD camcorders, plus free shipping on orders over $25

Dell: Save 30% off—or more

Brooks Brothers: Receive 15% off online, in store & catalog

Target: Save 10% off your next purchase

La Quinta: Save up to 15%--rates as low as $59

Six Flags: Enjoy up to 50% off Six Flags theme parks nationwide, all summer long 

July 9, 2010
El Paso County invited to meet NEA vice president
All TSTA members in El Paso County are invited to meet NEA Vice President Lily Eskelsen at a reception July 28 from 6-8 p.m. The reception will be at the Socorro ISD District Service Center at 12440 Rojas Drive in El Paso. Follow Socorro Education Association on Facebook for updates.

 

Child Nutrition Bill reauthorization update
The Child Nutrition Bill directly affects millions of students and thousands of food service workers in the public schools. The Senate passed their version of the bill out of the Agriculture Committee in March. (NEA's letter on the Senate bill is at http://www.nea.org/home/38662.htm.)

House Education and Labor Committee Chairman George Miller (D-CA) introduced the House bill, HR 5504, in June, and there was a committee hearing last week. (For more information, including a recording of the hearing, go to: http://edlabor.house.gov/hearings/2010/07/hr5504-improving-nutrition-for.shtml.) 

Chairman Miller intends to mark up the bill the week of July 12. NEA Government Relations is sending information to the committee reiterating NEA’s support for a robust bill with adequate funding, nutritional standards and professional development and protection for education support professionals. To continue recent momentum, NEA is partnering with the Child Nutrition Forum, Food Policy Working Group and others.

July 8, 2010
Opportunity for Response to Intervention leaders
Because NEA is a founding partner of the Response to Intervention Action Network, NEA members are invited to participate in a free year of the Leadership Network. This opportunity is available only to the first 250 applicants who apply. The Leadership Network is designed to support district and building RTI leaders at any stage of RTI implementation by providing mentoring from an experienced RTI implementer, free resources, involvement in an online community, and more.  The application process closes July 30. http://www.rtinetwork.org/connect/leadership-network  
 

July 7, 2010
Study: later start time improves student performance
The Associate Press today reports, "Giving teens 30 extra minutes to start their school day leads to more alertness in class, better moods, less tardiness, and even healthier breakfasts, a small study found."

 

According to the AP, "The results appear in July's Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine" and the "results mirror those at a few schools that have delayed starting times more than half an hour. ... 'There's biological science to this that I think provides compelling evidence as to why this makes sense,' said Brown University sleep researcher Dr. Judith Owens, the study's lead author and a pediatrician at Hasbro Children's Hospital in Providence, Rhode Island." more

 

July 6, 2010
NEA Representative Assembly ends
The 2010 NEA Representative Assembly came to an end today. The most comprehensive coverage about what happened can be found at www.nea.org/ra. That includes a comprehensive listing of all the policy actions taken by RA delegates – resolutions, new business items, etc. Other links:

• NEA President Dennis Van Roekel's keynote address can be found at http://www.nea.org/grants/40155.htm.

• All of NEA’s press releases for the RA are at http://www.nea.org/home/1709.htm. Four of those releases have links to NEA Social Media Releases: ESP of the Year, Greatest Education Governor, National Teacher of the Year and NEA Friend of Education.

• Photos of RA activities can be found on Flickr at http://www.flickr.com/photos/neapr/sets.

July 2, 2010
Thank them--and continue the jobs fight
Educators who want to thank their representatives in the U.S. House for approving the education jobs funding can do so by clicking on the first link below. Then, you can continue the fight by clicking on the second link to urge your U.S. senators to complete work on the package:

Thank you to the House http://capwiz.com/nea/issues/alert/?alertid=15205786

Email your Senators http://capwiz.com/nea/issues/alert/?alertid=15205681

House approves jobs funding
The U.S. House of Representatives last night (July 1) approved legislation containing emergency funds to help states to cope with the Great Recession and stave off massive layoffs of educators and cuts to programs. The spending measure, which includes billions in aid to public schools and other critical domestic priorities, now moves to the Senate. According to a National Education Association analysis, the funds will save the jobs of approximately 138,000 educators.

The timely action by the House of Representatives comes at a critical time. School budgets across the country have already been cut to the bone, forcing massive layoffs of teachers and education support professionals. Some districts are moving to four-day school weeks, gutting critical services and programs for students, or even closing schools entirely. Other districts are projecting class sizes to double as a direct result of the layoffs. These layoffs and cuts are coming at the same time schools are facing demands for better academic outcomes.

NEA launched a national campaign called Speak Up for Education & Kids to mobilize educators and others concerned about the budget crisis facing states and to raise awareness about the consequences of inaction. NEA will continue to put pressure on policymakers until they put students before politics.

"We applaud the House of Representatives for speaking up for public education and students. We are especially grateful to Rep. David Obey (D-WI) and the House leadership for working so hard to address the immediate education and jobs crisis,” said NEA President Dennis Van Roekel.

"Similarly, we appreciate the unbending support of governors across the country to ensure financial relief for struggling states and keep our nation on the road to economic recovery.

"Today, as a direct result of educators' voices and efforts, we are a step closer to making sure children do not have to bear the brunt of our nation's economic woes. Most importantly, however, the much-needed funds will keep class sizes from ballooning and prevent many harmful cuts to critical services and programs for students.

"We urge the Senate to act swiftly to pass the emergency funding bill and stave off more economic damage to our schools. We need to keep schools open, educators working and students learning."

For more information on Speak Up for Education & Kids, visit www.facebook.com/speakupforkids For more information on saving educators' jobs, visit www.educationvotes.nea.org/ Follow us on twitter at www.twitter.com/NEAMedia

July 1, 2010
Scott misses appropriations subcommittee hearing
State Education Commissioner Robert Scott was a no-show, but the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Education still heard an update this week from the Texas Education Agency on anticipated, 5 percent budget reductions.

Adam Jones, deputy commissioner of finance & administration, assured the subcommittee that the Life Skills budget would not be cut as originally proposed. But items listed for possible spending reductions include steroid testing, Humanities Texas, the District Awards for Teacher Excellence (DATE) and the school bus seat belt program.

The panel discussed how these cuts could affect student achievement and expressed concern over cuts being made to the grant program for science labs.  Other programs on the chopping block include grants for non-profits, including Junior Achievement, Rural School Technology and Teach for America.

The virtual school network also could experience budget cuts, considering the generous appropriation for the current biennium. But TEA cautioned that enrollment in virtual classes is expected to double or even quadruple from last spring and may require the appropriated amount.

There was heated discussion during the hearing about the use of the Texas Projection Measure to improve schools’ ratings under the state accountability system. The Texas Projection Measure is designed to project a student’s ability to pass the TAKS test within three years after that student has failed the test.  This analysis is then used to determine how a school is rated for that school year. 

Since this is the first year TEA has used the Texas Projection Measure to rate campuses, it is reflecting an inaccurate improvement for many campuses, said subcommittee Chairman Scott Hochberg (D-Houston). 

That measure was one of many issues that Chairman Hochberg said he wanted to discuss with Commissioner Scott. He expressed frustration with Scott’s absence several times during the hearing. Scott’s scheduled presence had been confirmed by agency staff the day before.  Chairman Hochberg closed the hearing by stating that apparently the commissioner works for one person, referring to Governor Perry.

Here is a link to the TEA’s budget reduction document:
http://ritter.tea.state.tx.us/lar/FivePrecentReductionTEAl.pdf

June 30, 2010
Juanita Valdez-Cox wins HCR Award
The César Chávez Accíon y Compromiso Human and Civil Rights Award is given to a nominee who follows in the footsteps of César Chávez in philosophy, work and leadership. To be eligible for this award, the nominee must meet one or more of the following criteria:  

  • Engage in activities that dignify workers and their jobs and give them hope for a better life.  

  • Exemplify the nonviolent philosophy of César Chávez in improving the status of labor and the lives of workers.  

  • Demonstrate devotion, resilience, and strength in organizing traditionally disadvantaged workers.  

  • Combine labor relations techniques and grassroots organizing to achieve improvements in working conditions.

  • Make notable contributions to the labor movement through commitment, action, and negotiation.  

This year, Juanita Valdez-Cox of Texas was chosen to receive the Chavez award. She is the director of La Union del Pueblo Entero, which was founded in 1989 by Chávez. LUPE is committed to building stronger, healthier communities where people have the power to effect social change through community organizing and civic engagement.

Valdez-Cox will be honored at the NEA Human and Civil Rights Award Banquet Friday, July 2 at the New Orleans Convention Center Ballroom. http://www.nea.org/hcrawards

June 29, 2010
The pitfalls of privatization
Privatization has a place in government, but state officials must be careful when contracting with private vendors for public services, former Deputy Comptroller Billy Hamilton told a House committee today. 

“Vendors (often) promise more than they can deliver,” said Hamilton, a former, longtime state employee and budgetary expert who now is a consultant. 

Testifying before the Select Committee on Government Efficiency and Accountability, Hamilton said vendors and state government usually share the blame when things go wrong with privatization contracts. 

He said state government is sometimes “behind the curve” on technology and advised that state officials who are contemplating a contract with a private vendor visit other states with similar, existing programs to see “what lessons were learned.” 

Privatization, Hamilton emphasized, shouldn’t be a government philosophy, but a sound business decision. 

Celia Hagert, senior policy analyst with the Center for Public Policy Priorities, pointed out that one of the biggest privatization failures in Texas was the multimillion-dollar contract between the Health and Human Services Commission and Accenture for services that included eligibility screening of applicants for social services. The controversial contract was canceled a few years ago. 

Hagert said the Accenture contract left the Health and Human Services Commission with a “large budget hole” and undermined public confidence in the agency. She proposed several reforms, including: 

  • Stronger accountability requirements and conflict-of-interest restrictions. 

  • Giving a state agency the chance to demonstrate its own employees can perform a public service better than a private contractor. 

  • Making sure that a state agency has the ability to oversee and enforce a private contract. 

The state should contract out only those services that state employees can’t adequately and cost-effectively perform, Hagert said. 

Wanda Garner Cash, a journalism professor at the University of Texas at Austin and former newspaper editor and publisher, urged legislators to make it clear that any private vendor performing public services is required to comply with the state’s Public Information Act. 

Brian Collister, a reporter for WOAI-TV in San Antonio, testified that he was unable to get records from a private contractor operating a red light camera system.

High risk pools begin soon
If you do not have access to employer sponsored health care coverage, the temporary high risk health pools established under the new health reform law are set to begin soon.  Many NEA members lack employer sponsored health care due to an insufficient number of hours worked or an inability to pay the premium, and because they have been turned down for coverage in the individual insurance market due to a preexisting condition exclusion.  

To qualify for coverage under the high risk pools, legal U.S. residents with a pre-existing condition must have been without health care coverage for at least six months. Fact sheets prepared by the Department of Health and Human Services which outline the eligibility, premium rules, role of the state, and the allocation of federal funding can be found at www.hhs.gov/ociio/initiative/hi_risk_pool_facts.html and  http://healthreform.gov/forums/blog/blog_20100430.html.  

Watch this site for news about Texas: http://www.txhealthpool.org.

Attorney general protects educators’ pay raise
The Attorney General Greg Abbott has issued an opinion protecting a state-ordered pay raise for educators. The attorney general’s ruling, issued today, provides that a statewide pay boost received last year won’t be eroded by local school districts during the upcoming school year. 

“This is good news for Texas’ hard-working educators,” said TSTA President Rita Haecker. “This assures a cost-of-living increase that many teachers would not have received otherwise.” 

The attorney general said the statewide pay increase approved by the Legislature for 2009-2010 was in addition to step increases under a school district’s current salary schedule, local supplements and career ladder supplements. Teachers will continue to receive those step increases and supplements as previously scheduled for 2010-2011, he said. 

TSTA advocated for this interpretation.

Are charter schools better?
A new federally-funded study on charter schools, released today, finds "some are more effective than nearby traditional public schools, and others are less effective. Among charter schools popular enough to hold lotteries, overall, our results suggest that they are no more successful than nearby traditional public schools in boosting student achievement." more

June 28, 2010
Adopted social studies TEKS online
The color-coded version of the adopted social studies TEKS and the updated historical figures documents are now posted at http://www.tea.state.tx.us/index2.aspx?id=3643.


June 22,2010
House Committee on Pensions, Investments, Financial
The House Committee on Pensions, Investments & Financial Services met in Austin today to hear invited testimony on interim charge #2 which directs the committee to examine Texas school districts’ administration of their employees’ optional retirement investments. The committee invited Ronnie Jung, Executive Director of the Teacher Retirement System, John R. Morgan, Deputy Securities Commissioner for the State Securities Board and Mike Geeslin, Commissioner of the Texas Department of Insurance. Mr. Jung testified that TRS is charged with two legal obligations for retirement products and they are to certify companies and cap fees for services and to maintain a website listing all 9,000 products available to school district employees. Jung stated that TRS has no direct authority over the regulation of these products other than to certify them for sale in Texas. Currently, the sale of retirement and investment products seems to be going smoothly as TRS has received very little feedback on these products from its customers.

Jung was asked by the committee to give an update on the AG opinion which ruled that TRS could not issue an extra check using state funds and the status of that appropriation from the state. Jung stated there is approximately $20 million currently being held by the comptroller which is less than initially stated at a TRS board meeting. These funds were to be rolled into the TRS fund upon receipt; however the Texas Comptroller has yet to release the funds. Witnesses for the Securities Board and Texas Department of Insurance had little to add except to assure the committee that recent legislation passed has made operations and enforcement of these products better overall.

June 21, 2010
TSTA at Democratic State Convention this week
The Texas Democratic State Convention will be held at the American Bank Center in Corpus Christi June 24-26. TSTA will caucus on June 25 from 1:00 to 2:30 p.m. in Room 225 A-B of the American Bank Center. For more information on the convention, visit www.txdemocrats.org.  
 

June 18, 2010
TSTA's Richard Kouri talks with Equity Center Radio
Richard Kouri, TSTA’s assistant executive director of public affairs, talked with Equity Center Radio today about the current state budget and how difficult it will be to fight for new funding for schools during the 2011 Legislative Session. He emphasized that new funding is a must if Texas is to compete nationally and globally. He also discussed how crucial the concept of equity is, and how inequities in our current funding system trickle down to the teacher and student level, with a devastating effect. www.equitycenter.org

Charters are heard at TEA
The Texas Education Agency conducted a hearing today on proposed amendment to 19 TAC Chapter 97, Planning and Accountability, Subchapter AA, Accountability and Performance Monitoring, §97.1005, Performance-Based Monitoring Analysis System. To view the proposed amendment, go to http://ritter.tea.state.tx.us/rules/commissioner/proposed/
0510/97-1005-ltrprop.html
.

The hearing was conducted upon the request of the Texas Charter School Association which testified along with numerous witnesses from different charter schools from across the state. The consensus among the charter witnesses is that the PBMAS system is unfair to charters and a one size fits all system is unfair for these alternative education settings.

Several of the witnesses testified that the reporting requirements are to voluminous and burdensome and require too much extra work which takes away from educating students. Testimony also criticized the effect PBMAS has on schools focused on dropout recovery and with the budget crisis looming that TEA is requiring charters to used limited funds to do more. One witness stated that the PBMAS should be a self reflecting tool and not an accountability system. One witness stated their charter did not want to get dragged into the PBMAS system.

Buy a home for half price
The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development wants to make American communities stronger, promote home ownership, build a safer nation and take an active role in the revitalization of cities. The purpose of the Good Neighbor Next Door sales program is to improve the quality of life in distressed urban communities by encouraging law enforcement officers, teachers (preK-12), firefighters, and emergency responders to purchase and live in homes in these communities.

What are the benefits for the participant? The lottery winner may purchase the property at a 50 percent discount from the current "as is" appraised value which is the list price. For example, if the home has a list price of $150,000, a participant can buy it for $75,000. You can also apply for an FHA-insured mortgage with a down payment of only $100 and you may finance all closing costs, repairs, improvements, appliances and all acquisition expenses. You must live in the home for three years, but after that you can sell the home and keep all the profit.

If the home you want to purchase needs updating or repairs, you may use FHA's 203(k) or the new 203(k) Streamline Mortgage program. This mortgage option allows you to finance both the purchase of the home and any needed repairs and/or updates you want to make to the home. You have the benefit of one loan for both costs and one monthly payment. It is a home improvement loan and property acquisition loan combined in one. www.halfpricehome.net/LOTTO_ENTRY.html

To find out about the NEA Home Financing Program, go to www.neamb.com  and click on Loans, then NEA Home Financing.

SBEC approves new CTE standards
The State Board for Educator Certification on Friday approved new certification standards for CTE courses.  SBEC now has a list of certifications that would make a teacher highly qualified for any given CTE course.

The board also created certifications in Hindi, Italian, Urdu and Turkish languages. And new TExES examinations have been created for Latin and Speech with cutoff scores determined by a panel of educators.

A citizen petitioned the board to allow non-practicing physicians in good standing with the Texas Medical Board to be certified to teach lower-level healthcare courses.  The petition was given to staff for investigation, and the board will consider the proposal in a future meeting.

SBEC staff proposed amendments to other categories of certificates, eliminating certifications because the courses were no longer offered.  Board member Dr. Susan Graves expressed concern that Integrated Physics and Chemistry had been removed.  SBEC staff told her that all out-of-date courses were being removed.  After a short pause, staff realized that the SBOE had reinstated IPC as a course, even a course for the new 4 x 4 curriculum.  Staff will reassess that and get back to the board on the item.  The item will be up for public comment, as well.

On occasion during the meeting, new board members needed to be apprised of PDAS, the difference between hiring and certifying, and other core issues of teacher certification.  While this slowed the process, the meeting moved rather quickly.

TRS hires search firm
During its quarterly meeting on Thursday and Friday, the Board of Trustees of the Teachers Retirement System of Texas voted to hire the search firm of Korn/Ferry to assist the Board in its search for a new Executive Director. The Board also voted to set the compensation and benefits of the prospective Executive Director at between $260,000 and $325,000.

Deputy Director Brian Guthrie laid out TRS’ legislative appropriations request for 2012-2013.  TRS will be asking the state to increase the state’s contribution to the Pension Fund to 7.2 percent in 2012 and 7.7 percent in 2013. TRS will not be making any request for increased contributions from teachers. Guthrie said the request for TRS-Care is the statutorily required 1 percent of payroll.

The Policy Committee is conducting the required four-year rule review of Chapters 21-51 of TRS’ rules. The amendments recommended by staff at this meeting comprised updates, clarifications, and reorganizing of existing rules. Staff recommended that many of the rules be readopted without changes. In September, the Committee and staff will address proposed changes that involve significant policy issues or additional technical amendments.

The next Board meeting is scheduled for August 13.

June 17, 2010
Contest: email for Educator Jobs
NEA is sponsoring a competition among the states to see who can send the most emails to Congress in support of Education Jobs funding in the Emergency Supplemental Bill. From Wednesday, June 16 through Wednesday, June 23, encourage your friends to send an email to Congress using the capwiz link. Only entries submitted through http://www.capwiz.com/nea/issues/alert/?alertid=15132996&type=co will be accepted. The three states with the highest percentage participation, based on population, will have state specific content featured on Education Votes in the coming weeks, and six participants will be randomly selected to win an 8GB iPod nano. http://www.educationvotes.nea.org/2010/06/11/email-your-members-of-congress-win-an-ipod-nano  
 

Employers expect some education after high school
A new report makes clear that some education after high school is an increasing prerequisite for entry into the middle class. In 1970, for example, nearly three-quarters of those workers considered to be middle class had not gone beyond high school in their education; in 2007, that figure had dropped below 40 percent, according to the report. 

And yet, the report further underscores a trend evident in recent years in reports of the Bureau of Labor Statistics: that sometimes a certificate in a particular trade, a two-year associate’s degree or just a few years of college may be as valuable — if not more so — to one’s career (and income) as a traditional four-year bachelor’s degree. more

Senators study special education
The Senate Committee on Education, meeting this week, discussed some of the challenges of teaching Texas’ 440,000 special education students. The panel is charged with evaluating the effectiveness of current instructional programs for these students and recommending possible improvements. Only 70 percent of special education students graduate from high school. 

Chairwoman Florence Shapiro, R-Plano, said that one in 98 students is now diagnosed in the autism spectrum, an unprecedented number for the public school system. The number of autistic students in Texas increased by 404 percent from 1999 to 2009. Committee members also expressed concern about an increase in ISS (in school suspension) placements. 

To try to determine what educational programs may be working for this special needs population in other parts of the country, the committee took testimony from two out-of-state experts. The first was Lauren Morando Rhim, a Ph.D. and president of LMR Consulting.  Rhim also is the author of Unique Schools for Unique Students, which explores the charter school setting as an alternative for special education students. 

Dr. Rhim said she has found that, unlike most teachers in a traditional class setting, teachers in charter schools take on fully the obligation of educating inclusion students.  She said she detected a stronger commitment to IDEA in charter schools focused on this special needs population.  She credited intensive teacher training that allows a teacher to meet the individualized needs of each student.  And, she said, there was no reason that traditional public schools can’t use these same principles. 

The second national witness was Ilene Lainer, founder, former chair and current trustee of the New York Center for Autism Charter School. She also is executive director of the New York Center for Autism in New York City.  This charter school is funded through state funds and foundation grants because there was no other school in the city that could deal with the special population of students with autism.  The school serves only children who are moderate to severe, and enrollment is through a lottery system. Applicants are chosen from three diagnostic groupings to assure an appropriate distribution of students. 

The student’s individualized learning plan is reviewed weekly, and teachers make home visits to determine what issues at home might be affecting a student’s learning progress. 

Senators were impressed by this concept and innovative charter school but expressed concern about how special education improvements may be impacted by the huge revenue shortfall anticipated next session. They suggested that maybe education dollars and health care funding could be combined to help address the needs of this student population. 

Another witness, Sandi Jacobs, vice president of the National Council on Teacher Quality, said a report she conducted found several areas of concern in the training of special education teachers in Texas. She said Texas does not require any content preparation in the elementary grades and that secondary special education teachers also have no subject matter major in teacher preparation course work. Also, a number of programs require less preparation in instruction in reading, compared to normal course work requirements, she said.   

Jacobs said there is a real disincentive for teachers to go into special education because they are required to know content for all subject areas instead of just having to focus on one subject area, especially at the secondary level. 

June 16, 2010
TEA offers conference on education's future
The Texas Education Agency will host Focus Forward: Looking Ahead in Texas Education July 26-28 in Austin. The conference will address several emerging education issues, including:

• Educational Technology
• Teacher Effectiveness
• Student Achievement
• School Support
• College Career Readiness
• Educational Leadership
• Data Systems

Registration is free and open to teachers, principals, superintendents, educator preparation program staff and other educational stakeholders. Registration and a preliminary agenda are now available online. http://www.tea.state.tx.us/focusforward.aspx

TSTA president on radio: concerned about education
From the website of KLBJ News Radio in Austin: Rita Haecker, President of the Texas State Teachers Association, says there are several pressing issues facing education across the state and the nation. “The first is that we’ve had a tremendous amount of educators that have been laid off, nationwide, because of funding cuts.” 

In Texas, Haecker says more than two-thousand public school educators will be let go. She says layoffs mean larger classes, and that’s not a good thing for teachers or students because it would impact the learning environment and would hurt a teacher’s ability to address the needs of students.

She says there’s also concern about one test score to assess learning, as well as the “No Child Left Behind” law.  

She says part of the solution may lie in finding a different way to fund education because the current system is not adequate.

Lost your job? Salary cut? NEAMB can help 
We know many members have been affected by layoffs and salary reductions, whether their own or that of a family member. NEA Member Benefits may be able to help with its job search service, financial counseling, mortgage assistance programs, credit card and insurance payment options, and retirement savings waivers. For details, go to www.neamb.com and click on the Member Assistance article or search for “Member Assistance," or speak with a representative by calling 800-637-4636 toll free or emailing ask-us@neamb.com.
 

June 15, 201
Immigration law creates uncertain role for school police
"Nearly two months after Arizona enacted a controversial law requiring police officers to ask about the immigration status of suspected undocumented immigrants involved in a 'lawful stop, detention, or arrest,' educators, police agencies, and advocates are beginning to sort out what the new requirements mean for the police officers who work in public schools," Education Week reports. read the full story
 

June 11, 2010

Dallas and Houston among 25 U.S. 'dropout epicenters'
"Diplomas Count," a study released Thursday by Education Week newspaper, reported that 65 percent of Texas students in the Class of 2007 graduated on time, up from 59 percent in 1997. But the Dallas and Houston school districts are among 25 "dropout epicenters" that produce one-fifth of all dropouts in the U.S. more

 

Dallas ISD to open campus for older students
Pending final approval later this month, Dallas ISD will open a high school this fall for students as old as 25. Dallas currently has 780 students who are considered "over-age." more


June 10, 2010
Diplomas Count Report: it's free for now
This year's Diplomas Count explores the graduation-rate challenges facing many students and districts and looks at how schools are using data to help students finish high school and earn diplomas. The entire report is available free from Education Week for a limited time. more

 

Early College High School Graduates earn AA degrees
A select group of Texas seniors are graduating this year with not only a high school diploma but also an associate of arts degree under the state’s Early College High School (ECHS) program. more

 

June 9, 2010
ERC recognizes negative effect of increased rigor on college attendance, dropout rate
The Joint Advisory Board Texas Education Research Centers (ERC) met in Austin this week to review and approve additional grant proposals requesting the use of Texas data on public school students and employees of public schools.  No identifying information comes with the data and it is encrypted.   

Several board members expressed concern with a few of the proposals using the highest level of math in high school as an indicator on how well or successful a student will be in higher education. 

It was recognized that the passage of the 4x4 and requirement to pass all 12 end-of-course exams to be accepted into a four-year college or university is an adverse consequence of the new law and could pose significant problems for some students. It was further acknowledged that this increased rigor has caused an increase in the dropout rate and will continue to do so when the end-of-course exams go into effect next school year.   

The board continues to review new research projects in an effort to determine best practices. The following proposals were granted by the committee: 

1. UT Dallas Proposal 1 – Measuring Growth for Students with Disabilities: A Portrait of their Rates of Growth and the Impact on School Accountability

2. UT Dallas Proposal 2 – A Stitch in Time: The Effects of a Novel Incentive-Based High School Intervention on College Outcomes

3. UT Dallas Proposal 3 – Evaluating school performance using long-term measures of student outcomes

4. UT Dallas Proposal 4 – The Effect of Schooling Decisions on Post-schooling Earnings: Evidence from Texas

5. UT Dallas Proposal 5 – Effects of Developmental Courses On College Attendance

6. UT Dallas Proposal 6 – The Effects of Early Childhood Circumstances on Intermediate and Later Life Outcomes

7. UT Dallas Proposal 7 – The Heterogeneous Returns to Higher Education: Considering College Quality, College Path, and Choice of Major

8. UT Dallas Proposal 8 – A Research and Evaluation Agenda for the Texas High School Project: Determining Effectiveness of Past Projects, Identifying Practices that Influence Student Achievement, And Using Data to Inform Future Project Activities 

The first proposal includes tracking students who withdraw from public schools due to their parents' concern that the system does not meet the needs of disabled students, and the final proposal includes an analytical framework for a teacher effectiveness research category. 

The ERC meets again in September. 

Live webcast of TRS board meeting June 17-18
Watch the live webcast of the Teacher Retirement System's next board meeting June 17-18. www.trs.state.tx.us

Visit the Board of Trustees section for agendas, minutes and archived webcasts. www.trs.state.tx.us/info.jsp?submenu=board&page_id=/about/board_of_trustees 

June 8, 2010
Supreme Court denies review of unfunded mandates case
The U.S. Supreme Court has denied NEA's petition to review the lower court decision in School District of Pontiac, Mich. v. Duncan, 09-852. The lawsuit, originally filed on April 20, 2005, asked the courts to recognize that the 2001 No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) requires the federal government to pay for the billions of dollars in mandates imposed by the law. The suit was based on a provision that states: “Nothing in this Act shall be construed to authorize an officer or employee of the Federal government to... mandate a State or any subdivision thereof to spend any funds or incur any costs not paid for under this Act.”  

The plaintiffs, including several school districts, alleged that because the federal government has never provided sufficient funding to cover the costs of NCLB compliance, states and school districts have had to divert funds away from proven educational programs to pay for the NCLB testing, paperwork and other requirements.  

"At a time when class sizes are skyrocketing, curriculum offerings are being slashed, and hundreds of thousands of educators are losing their jobs, we believe the federal government should make good on the promise of Sec. 9527(a) and excuse states and school districts from complying with the unfunded NCLB mandates," NEA President Dennis Van Roekel said. www.nea.org/esea  

June 7, 2010
Smithsonian Ocean Portal transports visitors
Using the best web 2.0 technologies, the Smithsonian Ocean Portal transports visitors to the coastline, the open waters and the deep ocean, providing experiences and perspectives typically out of sight and reach of the general public. A few of the adventures and educational quests:

• Ocean Life & Ecosystems -- information about marine life species and their environments

• Ocean Science -- the latest experiments and research of ocean scientists

• The Ocean Over Time -- the evolution of the ocean

• For Educators -- activities, lessons and educational resources

• Photo Essays -- feature stories on ocean life

• The Ocean & You -- important ocean issues and ways to make an impact

• Find Your Blue -- participate, share and take action 

The website also includes the Ocean Portal Blog and RSS feeds. http://ocean.si.edu

June 4, 2010
New professional development on disproportionality
NEA has added a new video workshop entitled
"Truth in Labeling" to the free offerings available from the NEA Academy On Demand site.  This 90-minute video presentation features NEA IDEA Resource Cadre members Daryl Gates of Louisiana and Rosemary King-Johnston of Maryland.

Some culturally and linguistically diverse populations are over- or under-represented in special education and gifted/talented programs resulting in disproportionality in schools across the country. Culturally and linguistically diverse students are also disproportionately identified under the special education categories of emotionally disturbed and mentally retarded and they experience harsher disciplinary actions, such as school suspension. Based upon the NEA "Truth in Labeling" guide*, this workshop shares what federal statutes require and what educators are doing to reduce disproportionality.

This new resource joins other excellent professional development resources available on the NEA Academy On Demand site including, The Puzzle of Autism, Creating Great Public Schools using Universal Design for Learning and Creating Capacity: Preparing Educators for Response to Intervention.

*NEA's "Truth in Labeling" guide was developed in collaboration with the National Association of School Psychologists and is available for purchase from the NEA Professional Library and free download on the NEA
Academy On Demand site. http://ondemand.neaacademy.org
 

June 3, 2010
RTI Leadership Network: applications due
The RTI Action Network has created a Leadership Network to support district and building leaders in the effective implementation of Response to Intervention. Designed to accommodate busy educators with full schedules, the Leadership Network will provide important guidance on how to proceed to get results for improved student achievement. They are accepting applications for the 2010–11 Leadership Network program until July 30. more

 

Call Congress! $23 billion for public education is at stake
We have two to three weeks before this support to our state’s budget is gone. Click here to take action. And check out these TV spots: "If we were Wall Street bankers, Congress would help us" and "Speak Up ESP ad." 

 

TEA says TAKS passing rates are up
Preliminary results from the 2010 Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills (TAKS) show that passing rates on the standard test rose at grades 3-5 and 7-11 and that an overwhelming majority of the Class of 2011 passed the exit-level state exams required for graduation. Additional information about test results for Texas students will be posted at http://www.tea.state.tx.us/index3.aspx?id=3631&menu_id=793. At this point, TEA only has statewide results.


June 2, 2010
Act now! $23 billion for education is at stake
$23,000,000,000. This is the potential money from the education jobs bill. We are closer but without engaging our members, we may leave that money lying on the table. We have two to three weeks left before this support to our state’s budget is gone. We need members contacting Congress.  

Check out NEA's TV ads –  one ad where kids ask, “If I were a Wall Street banker, would Congress listen to me?” is creating quite a buzz. The new TV ad highlights the impact on students when our ESP members are laid off. Go to www.educationvotes.nea.org and in the right hand column, scroll below the Fund box and click on the featured video.

At www.educationvotes.nea.org you can also email members of Congress and become an activist. This is money in our state’s coffers to save our members’ jobs. Please take the time to help! 

NEA president to be on C-SPAN Thursday
NEA President Dennis Van Roekel will be on C-SPAN tomorrow. We are sending the program information in hopes we can generate some positive calls into the show.  He'll be on Washington Journal the morning of June 3. The host, Susan Swain, will start off the discussion with a few questions & then will ask the callers to start phoning. They also take questions from Twitter and emails.

Call-in numbers: Democrats: (202) 737-0002, Republicans: (202) 737-0001, Independents: (202) 628-0205. 

Email: journal@c-span.org                                        

Twitter: http://twitter.com/cspanwj  

Show website: www.c-span.org/series/washington-journal.aspx   

Help NEA HIN improve its website
The NEA Health Information Network (NEA HIN) is conducting a website assessment to get a better understanding of what NEA affiliates and members want and need. Please share your thoughts in this survey. more

June 1, 2010
TEA gets $50,000 dropout grant
The Texas Education Agency has received a one-year, $50,000 AmeriCorps Planning Grant from the Corporation for National Community Service, through the OneStar Foundation, to expand effective dropout prevention strategies that encourage students to graduate from high school and become college and career ready. more

 

May 27, 2010
TSTA to participate in Republican, Democratic conventions
The Republican Party of Texas Convention will be at the Dallas Convention Center June 11-12. TSTA will caucus on June 11 from 10 a.m. to noon in Moreno Room AB of the Hyatt Regency Dallas at 300 Reunion Blvd. For more information on the convention, visit www.texasgop.org

The Texas Democratic State Convention will be held at the American Bank Center in Corpus Christi June 24-26. TSTA will caucus on June 25 from 1:00 to 2:30 p.m. in Room 225 A-B of the American Bank Center. For more information on the convention, visit www.txdemocrats.org.  

May 26, 2010
"Speak Up for Education & Kids" today
NEA launched a national campaign to mobilize educators concerned about the budget emergency facing public education.  At issue is the “Education Jobs Fund,” legislation that would provide $23 billion in emergency funding for education jobs. Joining NEA President Dennis Van Roekel at a press conference this morning were Secretary of Education Arne Duncan, Reps. Dave Obey (D-Wis.) and George Miller (D-Calif.) and AFT President Randi Weingarten, who all challenged other members of Congress to “Speak Up for Education & Kids.” more

 

May 25, 2010
Action alert: public school jobs at risk
Thousands of public school employees are in danger of losing their jobs. TSTA/NEA asks its members to contact their representatives in the U.S. House, urging them to support inclusion of the $23 billion Education Jobs Fund in the Emergency Supplemental funding bill.

 

Here is how to do it: on Wednesday, May 26, call

1-866-608-6355. You will hear talking points and will be connected to the U.S. Capitol switchboard. Ask for your House member by name. Tell your representative that public education faces a budget catastrophe and that he/she should support including funding to save education jobs in the emergency funding bill  (known as the “emergency supplemental” funding bill).

What can you do today?

Become a “fan” of Speak up for Education and Kids  http://www.facebook.com/#!/speakupforkids on Facebook 

Check out the new TV commercial, playing across the nation this week http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fdFPyEW88X0  

Visit Education Votes to learn more about the members we’re fighting for with the jobs campaign. You’ll also find all the tools you need to spread the word — the television and radio ads, print ads, our flyer, and audio news releases. http://www.educationvotes.nea.org

May 21, 2010
Social studies TEKS pass with last-minute changes
On day three of the State Board of Education meeting, the board met as the Committee of the Full Board, trying to finish the TEKS approval process with eight courses left to cover.

 

The process has been flawed, at best. Today was no exception. Amendments were written and passed without real debate. Typical debate during the late morning and early afternoon hours centered around two things. 

1. LAST-MINUTE ADDITIONS 
“Here we are today at the last minute looking at new language and trying to decide….” --Mary Helen Berlanga

Board members spent a fair amount of time making the point that after years of hard work, members were throwing out amendments at the last minute again.  Teri Leo started talking about the newest documents, “the ones that staff just gave us [this morning] of the stuff we did last night.” Some members were unaware that the document existed and were directed to their SBOE mailboxes at 3 p.m. to get the new, morning version. 

2. TOO, TOO MUCH 
“…but we just keep piling on.”  --Pat Hardy 

There was a general argument, used by both sides, that the curriculum was too broad and the book too thick. This has been contentious throughout, but it got especially pointed today. Any last-minute addition would be greeted by both complaints, depending on the politics of the person making the amendment. 

Among the highlights of the TEKS debate: 

  • Benefits vs. Effects of Free Enterprise: Free enterprise will have benefits, but no effects 

  • The Unenlightened Jefferson: Thomas Jefferson was reinstated in world history as a philosopher, but the Enlightenment was removed. 

  • Giving Kids a Break: There is consideration for depression and other teen issues in the Sociology TEKS. 

  • Finally: Oscar Romero was added as an example of a world leader. 

  • Prove It: “separation of church and state” issues will be dealt with through the “compare and contrast” method. 

  • Equality and justice are now American values. 

Lawrence Allen said it most succinctly: Standards are to be a guide, then curriculum can go anywhere it wants to underneath. 

“We need to admit that we don’t know how to write curriculum.  We pass curriculum.”  

The final vote on the new Social Studies TEKS was 9-5. 

In other action, TSTA testified as to the successful process shown by State Board for Educator Certification when changing how they oversee colleges and groups that certify teachers. This was followed by TEA staff reports on the Permanent School Fund. The board also heard testimony regarding asset allocation. A notice will be posted seeking money management companies to take over the part of the Permanent School Fund that was at Goldman-Sachs. The Committee on Instruction did not meet this month, and the Committee on School Initiatives had no major business. 
--Dr. Paul Henley, TSTA teaching & learning specialist

House panels hear budget issues
The Texas Tomorrow Fund, formula funding for higher education, capital funding needs,  the role of virtual courses in high school and college and an environmental tax exemption were among issues discussed this week before the House Higher Education Committee and its appropriations subcommittee. 

The committee heard about the history of the Texas Tomorrow Fund and its reinvention in 2007 as the Tuition Promise Fund/Tomorrow Fund II.  Currently, the new fund is $10.2 million over-funded, but the benefits are not guaranteed.  The Texas Tomorrow Fund has an unfunded liability of about $605 million, which needs to be addressed.  Committee members heard from Daniel Sherman, the consulting actuary for Buck Consultants, who suggested a transfer of funds to the Texas Tomorrow Fund from either a pension plan with extra cash on hand or from a trust fund.  But committee members expressed concerns about potential constitutional barriers to such a transfer. TRS was not specifically named as a potential loaner.   

Raymund A. Paredes, commissioner of the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board, discussed formula funding for higher education.  He also discussed the Generation Texas Campaign and the role it will play in trying to increase college enrollment and completion. It also will stress improvement of academic preparation in K-12.   

Paredes said there has been significant improvement in success rates but more needs to be done.  He said five institutions in Texas have six-year graduation rates of 50 percent, but the rest have six-year graduation rates between 39 percent and 12 percent.  Paredes testified that access to college for low-income and minority students has increased in recent years but not their completion rates. 

Paredes stressed that performance funding be provided to recognize achievements in student success. He said allocations be based on enrollment at the end of the semester rather than at the 12th day of class and supplements be based on challenges addressed by the institution.  Paredes complained that the current system of funding, which is based on past student enrollment, does not allow for growth. 

The committee also considered virtual/distance learning in the college context and the possibility of allowing for dual credit in high school for distance learning courses. Witnesses had mixed opinions. It was suggested that there be an age cut off for distance learning, as older students tend to prefer it more than younger students do, and that there be some blending of face to face context and technology for future virtual classes. Witnesses said distance learning has a place in higher education for those students who can’t attend classes in person because of where they live, their employment or family needs. 

The appropriations subcommittee met upon adjournment to hear testimony on tax exemptions. 

Currently, the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) is considering applications that, if granted, would significantly expand an environmental tax exemption for some refinery equipment and cost some school districts millions of dollars in lost tax revenue. 

TCEQ is currently reviewing 10 applications from Valero Energy Corp. and eight applications from other companies for facilities in Nueces, Harris, Moore, Jefferson, and Galveston counties.

Another school finance lawsuit likely?
David Thompson, an attorney for the Texas Association of School Administrators, told a legislative committee that another lawsuit challenging the state’s school finance system could be filed within the next two months or so. The select committee, which met Thursday in San Antonio, is charged with coming up with recommendations on how to improve the school funding system. 

The Legislature last changed the system in 2006, following a Texas Supreme Court order. At that time, lawmakers ordered cuts in local school property taxes without adequately increasing state revenue to pay for them. The result has been increasing budgetary problems for school districts. 

Wayne Pierce of the Equity Center told the committee that the basic allotment for school districts isn’t high enough and said the system still provides for too much funding inequity among districts. Comparing Austin ISD to Fort Worth ISD, Pierce said there is a $1,000 WADA gap between the two districts under the current tax structure. The total funding gap will only widen with student growth, he said. 

Lynn Moak, representing the Texas School Alliance, stressed that an adequate foundation for the public school finance system would include adequate program costs for college workforce preparation, gap reduction and higher graduation rates; average cost per weighted pupil; and additions and deductions for student and community factors. The system also should include a student needs index based on poverty level, language, mobility, and at-risk status; and a community characteristics index based on teacher costs, costs of living and school district size, he said. 

Moak also urged the committee to recognize facilities financing as part of an equitable and adequate public school finance system. 

The student-teacher ratio of 22-1 for kindergarten through grade four also was discussed during the committee hearing. Jerry W. Roy, superintendent of Lewisville ISD, said his district could save $5 million if the ratio were raised to 24-1 but didn’t explain how. When asked by Rep. Scott Hochberg (D-Houston) how to fix the permanent budget shortfall, Roy said a state income tax would be the best option. 

Hochberg said if the budgetary problem lasts indefinitely, districts could try to justify a class size upwards of 44-1.  Roy responded that he would not like to see class sizes get larger over time, but simply wants the Legislature to allow for larger class sizes long enough to provide some budgetary relief. 

Eric A. Hanushcek, senior fellow at the Hoover Institution of Stanford University and chairman of the executive committee, Texas Schools Project, University of Texas at Dallas, told the committee that school districts should have more local control over their budgets. He also said parents should have more choices, including charters, when their public schools are failing. 

Hanushcek also testified that teacher incentive programs should be increased to reward teachers who are doing well. He said the state needs to find ways to rid classrooms of poor teachers. He said there is no scientific answer or right answer to how much money should be allocated per student to make a successful school finance system. 

The select committee will meet several more times during the interim in Austin to discuss options to propose during the next legislative session.

SBOE continues curriculum debate
The State Board of Education resumed its work on the social studies curriculum standards this morning after debating several changes to the standards on Thursday. 

One key, early amendment from Mavis Knight will add the following important statement to each textbook’s introduction section: 

“Students identify and discuss how the actions of U.S. citizens and the local, state, and national governments have either met or failed to meet the ideals espoused in the founding documents.” 

On most amendments, conservatives flexed their muscles to control content on everything from taxes to anti-minority ideals.  Elementary students will learn how taxation makes everything cost more money; they will not learn where those tax dollars go.   

The board has been accused of “White-Washing” the TEKS, but they deny such a characterization. 

Several Confederate generals were added, on the motion of David Bradley, yet minorities became fewer and fewer in the standards as the day progressed.  In fact, slavery has been renamed and placed as the third reason for the Civil War, behind sectionalism and states’ rights.  Secession is not mentioned. 

Conservatives refused to reconsider Dolores Huerta, the farm worker union activist who helped Cesar Chavez, for mention in the standards. They said her political views kept her from being a “good citizen.”  Besides, Bradley added, she was not a historical figure because she “wasn’t dead yet.” 

President Abraham Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address was included, but it must now be compared and contrasted with Confederate President Jefferson Davis’ inaugural address.  As a “compromise” to the objections, the conservative wing now lists the Gettysburg Address first. 

TSTA testified on Wednesday on the board’s decision in March to replace Santa Barazza, the famous Hispanic border painter, with “Tex” Avery.  Avery is famous for Bugs Bunny, but he also is infamous for racist depictions of blacks and Hispanics.  Most famously, he directed Speedy Gonzales cartoons in the mid-20th century.  Reaction was surprise from the conservative members and relative anger from the moderates and minorities.  The board voted Thursday to remove Avery, but the conservative wing refused to include a minority painter in his place.  

Lawrence Allen called for Barack Obama’s name to be added to the standards.  TSTA discovered this omission and reported it during testimony before the Mexican American Legislative Caucus on April 28.  David Bradley called for an amendment, calling for his middle name to be added (Hussein).  His rationale was that all presidents should have their full names listed.  [Note that President Clinton is referred to as simply “Bill Clinton” in the current TEKS.] 

“The intent behind what you’re doing is pretty obvious,” said Robert Craig. 

Bradley rescinded his motion, and President Obama will be included in the new standards without his middle name.

May 19, 2010
TSTA's testimony before the SBOE today
Good Afternoon, Chairwoman Lowe and members of the State Board of Education. I am Dr. Paul Henley, speaking for the Texas State Teachers Association.  I’m here to talk both process and product today.  During the hotly contested debate over the ELAR TEKS, TSTA came to you suggesting that a process be put into place.  You did that, and it was a pretty good process.  Unfortunately, though, it now has been mostly destroyed by a political struggle that gives the nation the impression we don’t have any process whatsoever.  

You have let your own political viewpoints and prejudices create the appearance – if not the reality – that the work on setting new social studies standards was a no-holds-barred competition to impose political dogma on the public school classrooms, not a process designed to build consensus on a strong curriculum for our young people. When someone leaked a set of TEKS to a conservative think tank before the public had a chance to see the actual document, he or she threw fairness out the window. 

Choosing experts to review the work of the vertical teams makes sense, but the experts need to be actual experts. Dr. Daniel Dreisbach from American University was a conservative reviewer.  You can disagree with his findings, but you cannot disagree with his credentials.  But other reviewers had no expertise, whatsoever.  Having strong conservative or liberal opinions does not make someone an expert. That’s not how this process is supposed to work. It’s not a competition. 

The same problem comes from the word, research.  The board seems to have a low bar on what constitutes research. Simply navigating Google, for example, is not scholarship. The process is damaged when pseudo- or insufficient research is the driving force behind amendments.  Perhaps the most egregious example of this came when you removed Santa Barazza, the famous border painter.  Only one of her paintings was given as grounds for her removal.  She was replaced with Tex Avery, the cartoonist behind racist characters like the Indian Princess, Uncle Tom, and Speedy Gonzales.  That’s either a lack of research or racial prejudice, but I’m giving the benefit of the doubt here.  Mr. Allen fought multiple examples of prejudicial testimony. There also was gender prejudice. At one point, the mention of teacher and NEA member Christa McAuliffe’s death on the Challenger space shuttle brought laughter.   That reaction was inexcusable. 

Some of you will be leaving the board at the end of this year, either from elections or attrition.  At this point, you should be considering your legacy.   

Our legacy is that we warned you.  TSTA can say we advised you to use a clear, cohesive process.  We admonish you now to act more wisely going forward.  The goal here needs to be well-reasoned consensus, not competition over political beliefs.  If that lengthens the curriculum setting process, then so be it.   

You have time.  Delay this process until you get it right, whenever that is.  Too much is at stake here.  It’s not about a group of politically driven board members winning their points.  It’s about our children’s education. 

May 17, 2010
'Oil in Troubled Waters'
Teaching opportunity: there's a live webcast at 10 a.m. May 18 on “Oil in Troubled Waters,” moderated by Robert Hutchings, dean of the Lyndon B. Johnson School of Public Affairs at The University of Texas. Hosted by the University of Texas at Austin Energy Institute, the public forum will examine the cause, consequences and cost of the oil spill in the Gulf. more

May 14, 2010
Attorney general strikes PAC deductions
Attorney General Greg Abbott today released an opinion prohibiting school districts from deducting contributions to political action committees from employees’ paychecks. TSTA views the ruling as an assault on teachers’ constitutional rights to political participation.

The opinion halts a practice that has been going on for years without any noticeable problems. All the deductions have been voluntary, and the TSTA-PAC contributes to both Democratic and Republican candidates. The only criteria are strong support for the public schools, teachers and school kids.

Here is TSTA’s official response:

TSTA Public Affairs Director Richard Kouri strongly objected today (May 14) to a ruling by Attorney General Greg Abbott prohibiting school districts from deducting contributions to political action committees from school employees’ paychecks.

The opinion was in response to a legislative inquiry about the legality of paycheck deductions for the TSTA-PAC and the National Education Association Fund for Children and Public Education. TSTA is a state affiliate of NEA. The deductions are strictly voluntary.

“This practice, which promotes a school employee’s constitutional right to political participation, has been going on for 20 years without any problem,” Kouri said. “We can only conclude that Attorney General Abbott is playing politics in an election year by impeding teachers’ First Amendment rights. But why?”

School districts make deductions from employees’ salaries for a wide range of purposes, including health care and professional memberships. But a strict reading of Abbott’s opinion indicates that no deduction is legal unless it is expressly authorized by the Legislature.

“Has the Legislature specifically authorized every deduction that every school district makes from a worker’s check? I doubt it,” Kouri said. “TSTA will explore every option available to allow educational employees to continue participating in the political process.”

TRS appoints executive search committee
Today, the TRS Board of Trustees met to discuss several matters. There were very few action items on the agenda. Of note, the Board did appoint an executive search committee to find a replacement for the soon-to-be-retiring Ronnie Jung.  Linus Wright will chair the committee, which will also include David Kelly, David Barth, Robert Gauntt, Philip Mullins and Nanette Sissney. On June 17-18, the Board will meet for its regularly scheduled quarterly meeting. -- John Grey, TSTA Public Affairs

May 13, 2010
ACLU issues report on State Board of Education
The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Texas today released a report calling on the Legislature to rein in the State Board of Education’s “systemic abuse” of power by limiting the board’s ability to insert personal ideologies into curriculum content. 

The report comes a week before the board is scheduled to meet to give final approval to new social studies curriculum standards. After a board meeting in March, historians and other educators – as well as many legislators – complained that conservative board members had injected many of their own political and religious beliefs into the standards. 

“The State Board of Education has abused its power by inserting members’ narrow, personal beliefs into the development of what should be a world class program of study. A public school curriculum should promote academic integrity, not ideological agendas,” said ACLU of Texas Executive Director Terri Burke. 

Here is a link to the ACLU report:
http://www.aclutx.org/files/051310ACLUofTexasSBOE
Report.pdf

Blame it (again) on the ACLU
Before the ACLU issued the above report, ACLU-bashing had already begun. "Whenever right wingers find themselves short of facts to support an argument (and that happens a lot)their favorite, worn-out alternative is simply to bash the American Civil Liberties Union, a group that they like to blame for almost every problem – real and imagined – that has ever befallen this country. Nothing apparently gets the conservative juices flowing like some anti-ACLU red-meat rhetoric," Clay Robison's latest blog begins.  http://www.tstaweb.net/archives/2010/05/blame_it_again.html

NEA, AACTE release joint policy papers on teacher quality
At a National Press Club event in Washington Monday, NEA and American Association for Colleges of Teacher Education jointly released four papers on teacher quality issues. They were produced as part of NEA's collaborative partnership with AACTE--the Partnership for Teacher Quality--created to forge progressive preparation and licensing policies at the state level and to encourage/strengthen partnerships between NEA's state affiliates and AACTE's state chapters.   

NEA Vice President Lily Eskelsen represented NEA at the event; her comments are reflected in the NEA/AACTE joint press release: http://www.nea.org/home/39267.htm

The policy papers are: 

  • Learning to Practice: The Design of Clinical Experience in Teacher Education by Pam Grossman of Stanford University  

  • Recognizing and Developing Effective Teaching: What Policymakers Should Know and Do by Linda Darling-Hammond of Stanford University  

  • Strengthening State Teacher Licensure Standards to Advance Teaching Effectiveness by Barnett Berry, Center for Teaching Quality  

  • Using Longitudinal Data Systems to Inform State Teacher Quality Efforts by George Noell of Louisiana State University and Paige Kowalski of the Data Quality Campaign 

All teacher quality policy papers are now posted on NEA's website, along with streaming video from the National Press Club event. http://www.nea.org/home/39269.htm  

PSJA ISD wins $2 million grant for college readiness
The Pharr-San Juan-Alamo ISD, which in recent years has made great strides in boosting its graduation and dropout recovery efforts, today was awarded a $2 million two-year grant by the Texas Education Agency to support a new model for a district-wide college readiness initiative called All Students: College Ready, College Connected. more

May 12, 2011
NEA working overtime for jobs bill
The National Education Association is working around the clock to win passage of the Keep our Educators Working Act. Sponsored by U.S. Senator Tom Harkin of Iowa, this legislation will provide $23 billion in federal money to stem the loss of public school jobs around the country.

We need the help of every Association member to make this law a reality, and here are some resources: 

  • During Teacher Appreciation Week, NEA President Dennis Van Roekel participated in a news conference calling for federal support for saving public school employee jobs. Dennis was joined by Senator Harkin, Congressman George Miller (D-CA) and AFT President Randi Weingarten – View excerpts from the news conference:
    YouTube - Ask Congress to Appreciate Teachers by Saving Jobs


Task force outlines how schools can help fight obesity
Yesterday, First Lady Michelle Obama joined Domestic Policy Council Director Melody Barnes and members of the Childhood Obesity Task Force to unveil the Task Force action plan: Solving the Problem of Childhood Obesity Within a Generation.  In conjunction with the release of the action plan, Cabinet Members and Administration Officials held events across the country to highlight the importance of addressing childhood obesity. more

From Statesman.com: Figures on home-schoolers are out
Statesman.com's Texas Digest says Texas Education Agency figures show that nearly 23,000 secondary students who stopped going to class in 2008 were categorized as being home-schooled and not as dropouts. The Houston Chronicle reported Tuesday that the Texas Home School Coalition estimates that more than 300,000 children are home-schooled.

State Sen. Florence Shapiro of Plano said she supports home schooling, but not when it becomes a scapegoat for dropouts. Shapiro, who chairs the Senate Education Committee, said she plans a closer look at the figures.

May 11, 2011
$50,000 in grants for raising environmental awareness
NEA and Target will award $50,000 in grants to educators to implement innovative activities, lessons or events that get students excited about “going green” and raise awareness of school-based environmentalism. The first annual NEA’s Green Across America Grants program is a national competition aimed at helping educators and students design activities that raise environmental awareness and develop eco-sustainable behavior. http://www.neamb.com/green

May 10, 2010
'Hope is alive in the Dallas ISD'
Voters in Dallas Saturday revived hope for thousands of students and employees by re-electing Dr. Lew Blackburn, Dallas ISD District 5, and electing political newcomer Eric Cowan in Dallas ISD District 7.

NEA-Dallas backed candidates were able to win two out of the three contested Trustee Elections. The only setback was in District 4 which saw incumbent Nancy Bingham defeat NEA-Dallas candidate Camile White.

Hope is now alive because employees and students have a friendly Board of Trustees for the first time in six years.  This dramatic change began in December with our candidates, Bruce Parrott and Bernadette Nuttal, winning election. Now, we have six Trustees who have been elected with the support of educators.

This turnaround would not have been possible without the coordination and cooperation of a lot of people.  NEA-Dallas, Alliance - AFT and the new citizens' group, Dallas Friends of Public Education, have all worked together to make this a reality.

That was when NEA-Dallas was able to convince five Trustees (Dr. Lois Parrott, Hollis Brashear, Dr. Lew Blackburn, Ron Price, and the late Joe May) that there was no fair way to tie teacher evaluations to student test scores.  Those five Trustees told then Superintendent Dr. Mike Moses, former Texas Commissioner of Education, no to his idea keeping DISD teacher evaluations with the PDAS.--story submitted by NEA-Dallas

May 6, 2010
RTI State Database now available
The National Center on Response to Intervention (RTI), a federally funded project of the U.S. Department of Education, has developed an RTI State Database (http://state.rti4success.org/). This site allows you to compare your state’s policies to those of other states and provides resources on topics related to RTI, such as state policy documents and briefs, professional development offerings and tools developed by states, districts or federal territories.

Some interesting facts:

1)     All states are at differing stages of implementing RTI. However, the following states do not have a defined statewide RTI framework or approach: District of Columbia, Massachusetts, Minnesota, New Jersey, Nevada, Oklahoma, South Carolina and Vermont.

2)     All states, except for Maine and the District of Columbia, include RTI in their State Performance Plans (SSP) – plans required by the federal government outlining statewide special education goals and performance indicators.

3)     Most states (32) include professional development on RTI in their State Professional Development Grants (SPDG) - funds received through Part D of IDEA.

4)     Almost all states require the use of IQ discrepancy and RTI data for identifying students as learning disabled (SLD). Four states solely require the use of RTI data (i.e., Colorado, Connecticut, Indiana and Iowa).

5)     By doing an advanced search using ‘funding’ as the search criterion, you can compare how various states are funding RTI implementation.

For more information, go to the RTI state database (http://state.rti4success.org/) or the website of the  National Center on Response to Intervention (www.rti4success.org).

May 3, 2010
Majority of fifth and eighth graders pass TAKS
An overwhelming majority of fifth and eighth-grade students have passed the Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills (TAKS) reading and math tests, which means they met the state promotion requirements that are tied to the testing program. http://www.tea.state.tx.us/index4.aspx?id=2147483794

April 29, 2010
TSTA testifies on secondary school disciplinary laws
The Senate Criminal Justice Committee met on Thursday, April 29, to hear testimony about the impact that secondary school disciplinary policies have on the juvenile justice system and the adult prison system.

The Committee is primarily concerned with ensuring the safety of students and curtailing the criminalization of students who engage in common, non-threatening, poor behavior and who can be corrected without involving the juvenile justice system. The Committee is also concerned with the fact that African-American students are being expelled at a much higher rate than any other ethnic group.

TSTA appeared and offered the following testimony:

“Public education should be designed to prepare young people for success in life. If teachers are not allowed to exercise firm and swift control of their classrooms, the environment dissolves rapidly into chaos – an environment where no student can learn – and the classroom has failed the student. Our members maintain that their number one concern is being able to maintain discipline in the classroom. They can accomplish nothing without proper discipline.

“Independent school districts and teachers have the tools and resources necessary to properly discipline students. Each independent school district has its own unique circumstances that require its school board to adopt policies that allow administrators to use their skills in shepherding young people toward the possibility of success. Some districts adopt a student code of conduct that incorporates a zero tolerance policy – some do not.

“TSTA believes that the current system creates a balance between state guidelines and allowing communities to best determine its own needs, and that each school board can craft disciplinary policies in a meaningful way that responds appropriately to the concerns of the community.

“Last session, you passed a measure that incorporated more flexibility into disciplinary determinations. We believe this new mandate will help districts determine the proper discipline under difficult circumstances. TSTA maintains that teachers need the authority necessary to create classrooms that establish a safe and effective teaching environment.

“It is also important to understand the changes made in the discipline code in 1995 were designed to move away from expelling students and toward keeping students in a school environment.  TSTA believes that a student in a DAEP or JJAEP should be receiving a quality educational experience.  Earlier this year, the Commissioner promulgated rules in an attempt to strengthen further those programs. If we need to continue to work to put appropriate programs in place, then TSTA would be glad to work with the committee to accomplish this task.”

In response to the Committee’s request for recommendations on how to correct some of the current problems with disciplining students in an appropriate manner, TSTA said that administrators may need to receive training on disciplining students in an academic environment.

The Committee will visit this issue again in the interim, most likely in the Houston area.

Haecker testifies: Mexican American Legislative Caucus
This morning, TSTA President Rita Haecker offered testimony before the Mexican American Legislative Caucus:  

I am Rita Haecker, president of the Texas State Teachers Association and a former bilingual education teacher. Thank you for calling this public hearing on the State Board of Education’s role in rewriting not only the Social Studies portion of the Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills standards, but in rewriting history itself. And, thank you for inviting me to testify and for accommodating my schedule. Your invitation signifies your concern for the interests of teachers and students. TSTA shares your concern, both with the process and the probable product. 

Let me begin by defining the word, history, from Merriam-Webster. The primary definition says simply, “Tale (or) Story.” If history is a story, we need to ask ourselves, “What is the story of the people of Texas?” 

Is it simply the story of the state’s new minority – Anglos? Of course not. Anglos have been and always will be an important part of our state’s life and history. But our state also is the story of Hispanics, African Americans and other Texans who have made significant contributions, not only to our great state but also to our nation. 

The ultra-conservative members of the State Board of Education have a narrow, ideological view that not only ignores history but also ignores the changing world we call America. They are constantly painting Hispanics in negative terms as foreigners and illegal immigrants, and they are discounting the roles of African Americans as well. 

We speak of the 1950s in terms of poodle skirts and rock and roll, but there are other stories. These stories are about separate drinking fountains, separate schools, a separate and not equal society that moved civil rights leaders, such as the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., to make a difference. But Dr. King and other African Americans have been marginalized in this curriculum. 

Dr. McLeroy produced an amendment requiring students to compare Dr. King’s nonviolent approach to civil rights to the combative approach of other black groups. When pressed to name such a group, he had no answer. Eventually, someone thought of the Black Panthers. Now, the Black Panthers were considered a violent group, and they must be taught alongside Dr. King’s legacy. 

The board refused to name Barack Obama in the history TEKS. Students will learn about the "election of the first black president," but the conservative wing just cannot bring itself to place President Obama in our nation's history. Cesar Chavez and Thurgood Marshall were both mentioned in passing. These should be examples for all our children to emulate. Instead, they are almost completely ignored. 

A person should not be judged by his or her accomplishments alone, but by how far he or she has come. This is true of our country, as well. If we do not acknowledge the inequalities of the past, we cannot show our students how America has worked to overcome them. We cannot show our children how to become the next leaders of Texas and America. 

There is one instance where board member Barbara Cargill was able to disrespect both Hispanics and African Americans with one amendment. The Hispanic artist Santa Barraza was replaced by Tex Avery, a cartoonist. Cargill kept repeating the slogan from Avery’s Bugs Bunny: “What’s up, Doc?” What she failed to mention is that Tex Avery created many, many racist characters that depicted blacks as lazy and dim-witted. He has three works on the infamous “Censored Eleven” list. These are the cartoons that United Artists refused to distribute because of perceived racist depictions of African Americans and are deemed too offensive for contemporary audiences. Tex Avery’s studio was the source of Speedy Gonzalez, as well. 

The majority of first, second, and third graders in this state are Hispanic. The current kindergarteners are 48 percent Hispanic. Rod Paige, a Texan and former U.S Secretary of Education, told a TEA-appointed committee that a curriculum must be relevant to the student in order to fight dropout issues. These social studies TEKS are not relevant to Hispanics and African Americans. Unless changed, this irrelevant set of TEKS will help worsen the state’s already serious dropout problem. Research indicates that each year of schooling results in a 5 to 12 percent gain in income. If a rising tide lifts all ships, the State Board of Education is working diligently to lower them. 

Think about this. In 2040, Hispanics will make up the majority of Texans.

These same Hispanics -- from Mexico, Honduras, and all of Latin America -- watch Univision, Telemundo, Azteca. They listen to Spanish radio stations. That’s not a bad thing, but we need to make these kids bilingual English speakers and ready to fully function in America, not Mexico. 

A key part of that process is the stories we tell them through these curriculum standards. We need more stories of those who left their native countries, came to America, loved America, and never looked back. And, that includes stories in Texas history books like the one about the Tejanos who fought and died for Texas’s independence from Mexico at the Alamo. 

During the work on the English Language Arts and Reading TEKS, we at TSTA testified many times about the board’s lack of a consistent process. One of the reasons that the final approval of those TEKS took so long was that board members were just flying by the seat of their pants. Eventually, the board created a process that was supposed to take all viewpoints into account. This seemed especially important because the Science TEKS and the Social Studies TEKS were coming up. 

Board members followed their new protocol for the first few steps, taking their initial science TEKS from the vertical teams that were set forth in statute. Then, they appointed experts to review the TEKS, and that step became an immediate political flashpoint. These experts essentially told the board that the vertical teams did not understand science. The State Board of Education then took this as a mandate to ignore the vertical teams, ignore the law, and jump back into the catfight mentality that they had always used. 

Science was a mess, but the development of the social studies TEKS has been even worse. Right-wing board members appointed ministers as so-called “experts” to review the work of the vertical teams, and they treated the ministers’ overviews with more respect than the work of teachers, college faculty, school board members, business representatives, and community leaders on the vertical teams. 

We are cautiously optimistic that new SBOE members elected this year will be less reactionary. But the next battle will take place before they get here. It will take place next month – May 19th, 20th, and 21st – when the social studies TEKS are up for a final vote by the current board. 

Academia thrives on debate and discussion, and we have differences of opinion within our ranks. TSTA is growing at a very fast pace, and our 67,000 members come from all political viewpoints. On the state board, however, the discussion is no longer a matter of opinion. It’s a matter of right versus wrong. We need parental and community input into the writing of curriculum standards. But we need to do something – legislation may be required – to ensure that scholarly, academic research and findings aren’t dismissed or diminished at the whim of a board member’s own political or religious view of the world. 

The right-wing members of the State Board of Education are the wrong wing. Unfortunately, they seem to have taken over completely. Eight people will keep our minority stories from being told because, frankly, we just don’t look like they do. 

At one point, Mrs. Knight told right-wing member Barbara Cargill that “her true colors were coming through.” Perhaps that is not quite right. It is the absence of color in these TEKS that is the problem. 

The curriculum of almost five million school children shouldn’t be decided on the political beliefs of eight people on the State Board of Education. We must develop a system that takes the politics out of the curriculum setting process and bases the education of students on best thinking of our best teachers and scholars, not the political muscle of a small group of people. 

The Texas State Teachers Association is open to anything we can do to help our mutual cause. Thank you.

SBOE Committee on School Finance/PSF to meet Friday
The State Board of Education's Committee on School Finance/Permanent School Fund will meet at 9 a.m. Friday in room 1-104 of the Travis Building, located at 1701 N. Congress Ave. in Austin.  The agenda for the meeting is available at http://www.tea.state.tx.us/index4.aspx?id=8392. This committee will not be meeting during the board's regular meeting, which is scheduled for May 18-21.


April 27, 2010

ASCD seeks nominations for outstanding young educator Nominees should be young educators who educate the whole child, helping to ensure each child is healthy, safe, engaged, supported and challenged; demonstrate educational leadership in their school, district and community; show a positive impact on student achievement; and illustrate significant contributions to the education community. Nominations close on August 1, 2010. See the criteria for consideration at www.ascd.org/oyea. Nominators of the winners receive a one-year membership to ASCD. The winners will be honored at the 2011 ASCD conference in San Francisco; participate in a year-long program of professional development and networking; and receive a $10,000 award.

April 26, 2010
Take a survey on violence directed against teachers
The America Psychological Association asks NEA members to take a survey on violence directed against teachers. It takes about 10 minutes. Findings will be used to formulate a report and recommendations on how to protect educators from assaults by students. Following this survey will be one that addresses the unique issues of education support professionals. The deadline for taking the survey is May 1. more

April 23, 2010
TRS executive director announces retirement
On April 22 and 23, 2010, the TRS Board of Trustees held their quarterly meeting. It was reported that the fund continues to make exceptional gains. On August 31, 2008, the TRS trust fund was valued at $104.9 billion. On February 28, 2009, the fund fell to $70.6 billion. As of March 2010, however, the trust fund had rebounded to $95 billion.

TRS will undertake a comprehensive rule review of Chapters 21-51 of TRS’ rules in Title 34, Part 3 of the Texas Administrative Code. The review is expected to be completed by the end of December of this year.

In investment news, the Board approved Neuberger Berman as the manager of TRS’ entire legacy Residential Mortgage-Backed Securities portfolio.

After an hour-long executive session, and an overt, public endorsement of Deputy Director Brian Guthrie, Chairman Kelly announced that Executive Director Ronnie Jung had notified the board of his plans to step down as the agency’s executive director, effective July 1, 2011. Jung informed the trustees of his plans to continue working as the agency’s executive director through one more legislative session.

“Ronnie has served Texans and Texas state government for 36 years, and all of us on the board are grateful that he dedicated his last 14 years to TRS,” said Kelly. During Jung’s tenure at TRS, the pension fund grew from less than $50 billion to $98 billion, and TRS oversaw successful implementation of a new statewide health care program for active public school employees.

“I have really enjoyed and appreciated the opportunity to serve nearly 1.3 million Texas public educators,” said Jung. “Maintaining a solvent retirement system is critical to the financial security of our public educators. I am confident that the board and the TRS staff are well positioned to meet the future needs of our members.”

Jung will work with the board of trustees and the new executive director to ensure a smooth transition of leadership for the system.

April 22, 2010
Committee takes on class size and teacher contracts
The Select Committee on Public School Finance Weights, Allotments, and Adjustments met to consider a number of issues including cost drivers such as class size requirements, student characteristics, school operations and student achievement. However, instead of addressing the real cost drivers, the committee focused on the class size limit of 22 students to one teacher and on teacher contracts.

Commissioner of Education Robert Scott said the class size ratio is usually a problem in smaller districts but noted that the fast-growth districts also complain about it. Districts want an average, more flexible requirement rather than having to file the waivers that are required now. Senator Robert  Duncan, R-Lubbock, said he didn’t think that 22-1 is a magic number and questioned why the same standard didn't apply to higher grades. He said the costs involved should be re-evaluated. House Public Education Chairman Rob Eissler suggested that teacher quality impacts student achievement more than class size, based on certain studies.

The other cost drivers identified by the Legislative Budget Board are building maintenance strategies, bus routes, and food services. Another concern addressed by Senator Patrick regarded legal services and how much districts have to spend on attorneys fees.

Cheryl Mehl, chair of the Council of School Attorneys, testified on behalf of herself regarding Chapter 21 of the Education Code with a focus on teacher contracts. Mehl recommended that a district be allowed to conduct a hearing to terminate a contract mid-term. It also was suggested that districts be allowed to suspend a teacher without pay without having to hire an independent hearing examiner to consider the case. She recommended amending Chapter 21 to allow suspension without pay for 30 days by the local school board and allow the school board to conduct the hearing instead.

Mehl also suggested that a district be allowed to terminate an employee under SBEC certificate revocation procedures without having to go through Chapter 21 requirements. Mehl said that this should also include termination of a teacher with a voided certificate, including a teacher in a classroom without the proper certification. Mehl also said districts should have the right to negotiate employment terms outside Chapter 21 or an infinite number of probationary contracts for retire/rehire educators.

Senator Dan Patrick asked about the cost of terminating versus the cost of keeping an educator and whether that hinders the districts' ability to dismiss poor performing teachers. Dr. Curtis Culwell, another member of the committee, said that districts can just not renew a teacher's contract for the next year but keep that educator through the term of the existing contract. It would be up to the teacher whether to appeal.

Patrick said adding more money to help the under funded districts might solve the problem. But Senate Education Chairwoman Florence Shapiro said throwing more money at the current school finance structure is not the solution and that the current system is what the select committee needs to address. Patrick said he agreed saving money on cost drivers is the primary goal but that bringing the bottom districts up should also be a priority. Patrick noted all this must be done without raising taxes.

It also was suggested that maybe school finance shouldn’t be driven by WADA (weighted average daily attendance) due to the inherent unfairness to some districts. Commissioner Scott also noted that all the grant programs need to be streamlined into the funding structure rather than having districts applying from year to year for grants with no guarantee that they will be awarded.

TSTA had the opportunity to respond. Richard Kouri, TSTA Director of Public Affairs, said he wasn’t going to talk about class size or teacher contracts as neither is really a significant cost driver for school districts. However, since the issue had been discussed at length, he said certain things needed to be addressed.

First, Kouri pointed out that TSTA has conducted a moonlighting survey of teachers every two years since 1980. In the 1980s, he said, the primary reason for a teacher to leave a district was salary but that in the last survey in 2009, reasons for leaving were tied both to salary and working conditions. The problem is that when teachers reach five years in the classroom, they have reached 80 percent of their likely career earnings. This makes it hard to retain good teachers.

The second point made by Kouri was that we need to move forward on class size ratios and not backwards and suggested that the state should be striving to attain a 15 -1 ratio rather than 23 or higher. Kouri also pointed out that most of the waivers are requested by low performing campuses, again the wrong direction for Texas students.

Kouri then proceeded to discuss the real issue that the select committee was formed to review -- school finance. According to the data he provided to the committee, Texas teacher salaries have increased by only $2,347 over the past 10 years, if a 27.8 percent inflation adjustment is factored in. The per-pupil expenditures for instruction over the past ten years have also declined by $1,406, when you factor in inflation. For a more complete analysis year by year of average salary and per-pupil spending in Texas go to http://www.tsta.org/news/current/hearing.pdf

Kouri stressed that HB 3, or the new accountability bill passed last session, will also add significantly more stress to the system once it is fully implemented and that we won’t get there by just "rearranging the buckets." Kouri pointed out that the select committee should be looking at the big picture and not making a fuss over 22-1 class size ratios and teacher contracts.

The select committee also heard from TEA on the mechanics of the weights, allotments and adjustments that go into calculating a district’s state funding levels; from organizations and civil rights groups regarding student characteristics and the changes to the student population in Texas and the challenges they face; from rural and local school districts on school operations and how smaller and mid size districts are affected by the current school finance system; and from associations for gifted and talented, career technology and TEA on student achievement allotment.

The Select Committee will be traveling to San Antonio on May 19th to conduct its next hearing.

NEA president and Desmond Tutu co-author editorial
The Most Rev. Desmond Tutu, an honorary chair of the Global AIDS Alliance, and NEA President Dennis Van Roekel co-authored an editorial on The Huffington Post entitled Facing the Future: Global Education at the Crossroads. more

April 21, 2010
House Higher Ed discusses several issues
The House Committee on Higher Education met to discuss interim charge numbers four and eight. The committee first heard from Commissioner Raymund A. Paredes about interim charge number eight, directing the study of the feasibility of offering an optional curriculum that emphasizes ethics, Western civilization, and American traditions to satisfy portions of the Texas Core Curriculum.

Commissioner Paredes said he is concerned that there is not enough course work to make up an independent study in this area. However, the consensus of the witnesses invited to testify on this issue agreed that liberal arts coursework in this area is important to help students develop independent thinking skills. There is a need for space in degree programs for these humanities classes. It was suggested that maybe universities could offer sequences of courses that are integrated but still keep flexibility in the degree programs.

Core principles and core morality and ethics are central to our society, and one witness testified that higher education has a duty to continue to address these principles in the curriculum. The recent housing crisis was cited as an example of how our society has faltered in its ethical principles. Consumers bought houses they couldn't afford, realtors handled the sales, banks financed the mortgages, security firms sold the mortgages and bonding companies rated the securities. Paredes later testified that putting together a coherent program of lower division courses in these subject areas would not be difficult as long as the student had some guidance in coordinating it.

The committee also heard testimony on interim charge number four, which directs the study of strategies for improving community college participation and success; and to further examine the role of community colleges within the state higher education system. The review is to include a review of programs, practices, and incentives to improve efficiency and productivity, such as expanding dual credit options, encourage credit by examination, and improving student preparation in high school.

Growing percentages of students are going to two year public institutions. Two year institutions constitute 57 percent of the student population, compared to 43 percent for four-year institutions. The cost of attending community colleges also can be much lower than attending four-year universiities, an important consideration in Texas, where incomes are much lower than the national average.

Community colleges have been doing an extraordinary job over the past eight years in Texas, according to Commissioner Paredes. But there are a few areas that need attention, including strengthening dual credit, facilitating transfers, aligning state funding with community college missions, and keeping schools accessible to Texas students. Community colleges have also been dealing with “harder to educate students,” while enrollments have been increasing.

But state funding has not kept up with growth, which hurts students from lower socioeconomic backgrounds. The total number of state dollars allocated to community colleges has grown, but the state revenues are not keeping up with enrollment growth. Less than thirty percent of community college funding comes from the state.

The committee also heard testimony about curriculum differences in courses among the different colleges and universities in the state. The Higher Education Coordinating Board has been addressing this issue and used engineering as an example of how the lower 17 classes required for an engineering degree can vary from school to school. Learning objectives developed under a grant given by Lumina Corp. will give an understanding of course work completion for lower classes in an engineering degree.

Finally, the committee heard and discussed how two and four year colleges work together in transferring student information. The committee heard about the relationship between Texas A&M and Blinn College and how the two schools transfer credits for students between the schools efficiently.

Commissioner Paredes testified again at the end of the meeting on this interim charge and said K to 12 needs to do its part to assure that students are college ready when they attend an institution of higher education. The Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board (THECB) commissioned a study that determined that the Texas Higher Education Assessment (THEA) test was the best assessment tool to determine college readiness. It was found to be better than ACCUPLACER.

The committee again discussed with Commissioner Paredes how most students are not prepared for college math, and how reading and writing developmental courses should be combined at the college level.

The committee still has a number of other interim charges to review before the next legislative session.

April 19, 2010
Model Teacher Leadership Standards: your comments?
Model Teacher Leadership Standards are available for public comment through Friday, April 30. It is important that the Teacher Leadership Exploratory Consortium hears from NEA members concerning the standards.  The Consortium is meeting again in June to review the survey results and public comments. http://www.nea.org/home/38496.htm 

April 17, 2010
TSTA President praises, challenges delegates
TSTA President Rita Haecker praised convention delegates Saturday for their strong recruitment efforts and challenged them to continue to build on their success.

“We at TSTA will continue to concentrate our attention and efforts on building our local teams so they can move forward toward a common goal,” Haecker said in an address at the House of Delegates meeting in San Marcos.

“That goal is strengthening their ability to have a strong impact on issues that matter to their members – pay, benefits, due process and instructional concerns – as well as (securing) an education-friendly political climate in Austin.”

Haecker and several hundred TSTA delegates and guests gave the political leadership in Austin failing grades on several education issues, including teacher pay, spending on per-pupil instruction, a high dropout rate and an over-reliance on high-stress, standardized testing.

Growing local leadership teams should be a “top priority” for TSTA, and an important part of that effort is developing student leaders, Haecker said.

“The sooner we engage our future educators, the better,” she added. “As our future leaders enter the pipeline, we must quickly identify the interests and strengths they bring to TSTA. We should never hesitate to engage them because if we wait too long we could lose them.”

Haecker said the TSTA flag is “firmly planted” throughout Texas. But she cautioned that TSTA’s work is not yet done, particularly in the face of school district budget cutbacks and an uncertain outlook in Austin, including projections of a revenue shortfall as high as $15 billion when the Legislature convenes next January.

“We have many more stops to make, more places to grow and cultivate, and we aim to do that,” she said.

“Let’s roll TSTA together to the next mountain top, the next challenge for the good of the many people who are counting on us.”

April 16,2010
Chris Bern Goes to Congress to Fight for NEA Members
On Wednesday, Chris Bern, ISEA President, testified before the Senate Appropriations Committee, Subcommittee on Labor-HHS-Education, on the education jobs crisis.  Chris did a remarkable job in representing both ISEA and NEA as he laid out a clear case for immediate passage of an education jobs package.  The hearing was a great success, as both Chairman Harkin (D-IA) and Secretary of Education Arne Duncan expressed support for an education jobs bill.  That same day, Senator Harkin introduced the Keep Our Educators Working Act (S.3206), which would provide $23 billion for education jobs. 

Read his testimony  at http://www.nea.org/home/38905.htm and watch the video of his appearance before the committee on YouTube at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G0a2MwOLdkw.

Bill White, Van Roekel, Whitmire address TSTA
Democratic gubernatorial nominee Bill White told the TSTA House of Delegates on Friday that it was time for Texas’ top leadership to be held accountable for the state of public education in Texas.

National Education Association President Dennis Van Roekel and state Sen. John Whitmire, D-Houston, also addressed the delegates’ opening session in San Marcos. Whitmire received TSTA’s Frank Tejeda Award for Public Service.

White, the former mayor of Houston and the son of two public school teachers in San Antonio, has been endorsed by TSTA in the governor’s race. He said he wanted to thank educators “for what you do at your jobs every day.”

“Nothing is more important for education than great teachers who are respected,” White said. And, he noted, teachers need more support from Austin.

“If you want school personnel to be accountable, you ought to start at the top (the governor’s office),” he said.

White criticized Gov. Rick Perry for misrepresenting one of the more critical problems facing the public schools – a high dropout rate, which the governor’s office has claimed is a low as 10 percent but which experts believe is much higher.

When 3.2 million kids enter the public high schools as freshmen and only 2.1 million graduate on time four years later, Perry’s math “doesn’t add up,” White said.

The Democratic nominee also rapped Perry for appointing a right-wing leader to chair the State Board of Education, which has brought national ridicule to Texas for rewriting history curriculum to reflect a conservative political bias.

“Wouldn’t it be great to have a governor who appoints somebody chair of the State Board of Education who understands you need to leave the curriculum to professionals,” he said.

Van Roekel said the National Education Association was continuing to fight education job losses nationwide and to assure that the Obama administration and Congress listen to teachers in reauthorizing the Elementary and Secondary Education Act.

The ESEA blueprint laid out by the administration, he said, relies too much on high-stakes standardized testing and competitive grants.

“We’ve had enough winners and losers (under the No Child Left Behind Act),” Van Roekel said. “One size fits all won’t work.”

“We (educators) need a good law that we can support,” he added, urging TSTA delegates to be actively involved in this year’s election campaigns.

Whitmire said he worked the state Senate last year to assure that a mandatory pay raise for teachers became law, and he said he remains convinced he did the right thing, every time he reads a newspaper account of a school superintendent complaining about the pay increase.

Whitmire, who chairs the Senate Criminal Justice Committee, said a strong education system was essential to Texas’ future.

“You either pay now or you pay later,” he said, noting that many school dropouts end up in prisons, which cost much more than public schools to build and operate.

April 14 2010
TSTA House of Delegates starts Friday
Democratic gubernatorial nominee Bill White will address the opening session of the Texas State Teachers Association’s state convention in San Marcos on Friday, April 16.

Also scheduled to address about 600 delegates on Friday are National Education Association President Dennis Van Roekel and state Senator John Whitmire, D-Houston.

The convention will be at the Embassy Suites Hotel, 1001 E. McCarty Lane.

Van Roekel is expected to speak about 3 p.m., White at 3:30 p.m. and Whitmire at 4 p.m. The times are approximate.

TSTA President Rita Haecker will speak to the convention about 10:30 a.m. on Saturday.

Webinar on RTI for English Language Learners 
On April 29 at 2 p.m. EDT, the National Center on Response to Intervention (RTI) is hosting a free webinar entitled, “RTI for English Language Learners: Appropriate Screening, Progress Monitoring, and Instructional Planning.” This webinar will focus on improving educational outcomes for ELLs through culturally and linguistically responsive implementation of an RTI framework in elementary reading. Specifically, the presenters will discuss critical considerations for appropriately utilizing screening and progress monitoring data with ELLs to improve reading outcomes. A case study of a first grade ELL student will be presented to illustrate the recommendations. Special guest presenters for this webinar will be Dr. Julie Esparza Brown, Dr. Amanda Sanford and Erin Lolich. Pre-registration is not required.  This webinar will be archived at  http://www.rti4success.org.

April 12, 2010
Reminder: Important elections, April 13
Several runoff elections for seats in the Texas House of Representatives are extremely important to educators. TSTA has endorsed the following candidates:

  • Rep. Delwin Jones, Lubbock, District 83 Republican runoff.

  • Mark Griffin, Lubbock, District 84 Republican runoff.

  • Mabrie Jackson, Plano, District 66 Republican runoff.

  • Humble School Board President Dan Huberty, north Harris County, District 127 Republican runoff.

  • Rep. Norma Chavez, El Paso, District 76 Democratic runoff.

You can vote in a Republican runoff if you voted in the Republican primary on March 2 or didn’t vote in either party’s primary. You can vote in a Democratic runoff if you voted in the Democratic primary on March 2 or didn’t vote in either primary. Turnout for runoff elections is often low, so please vote if you live in one of these districts. You can make a difference in critical legislative races.

Urgent: Contact senators for jobs bill
The NEA’s campaign for an Education Jobs Fund is in full swing, and there is strength in numbers. Please use this link to contact your U.S. senators and the President, urging them to take immediate action on a jobs package that includes an Education Jobs Fund – to save and create hundreds of thousands of education jobs. Please do this before the Appropriations Subcommittee hearing on Wednesday, April 14. http://www.capwiz.com/nea/issues/alert/?alertid=144746
36&type=CO

Turning Hope into Action: NEA RA theme for 2010
The theme of the 2010 National Education Association Annual Meeting and Representative Assembly in New Orleans is Turning Hope into Action. 
It builds on last year’s theme, Hope Starts Here. 

Fiction writing contest opens for Texas Book Festival
The Texas Book Festival and the University Interscholastic League (UIL) announce the 9th Annual Fiction Writing Contest, open to all Texas junior high and high school students.  Winners of the contest will be awarded cash prizes and invited to read their original compositions at the 15th Annual Texas Book Festival, Oct. 16-17 at the State Capitol in Austin.  Entries must be original fiction, no more than 2,000 words in length and written on the 2010 theme “Goodbye to All That.”

 

Stories will be judged by Texas writers, some of whom have presented their work at the Texas Book Festival.  Judges will look for excellence in use of dialogue, character development, setting, plot, conflict and resolution. All stories must be accompanied by the official entry form available on the Texas Book Festival website.  Submitted entries will be considered in three divisions: grades 7-8; grades 9-10; grades 11-12. Authors will enter the division for which they were a student during the 2009-10 academic year.  Schools are limited to three entries per division.

 

There is no entry fee. Stories must be double-spaced and formatted as a Microsoft Word document then, with the completed entry form, either faxed or emailed to the Texas Book Festival office at (512) 322-0722 or blair@texasbookfestival.org no later than July 2.

 

Cash prizes will be awarded to the first, second and third place finishers per division. First-place winners will be invited to Austin to receive an award and to read their works during the 2010 Texas Book Festival. Winning entries will also be published on the Texas Book Festival website.

 

To view the 2009 winning entries, visit http://www.texasbookfestival.org/UIL_Fiction_Contest.php

 

Entry forms are available at www.texasbookfestival.org and

www.uil.utexas.edu/academics/book_festival.html. 

 

45th ESEA anniversary: must stay true to the original intent 
Forty-five years ago, a sweeping education bill was signed into law by President Lyndon B. Johnson that aimed to provide every student—regardless of their background—equal access to a great public school that could help them see a brighter future. The National Education Association and its 3.2 million members commemorate the 45th anniversary of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA). NEA President Dennis Van Roekel released the following statement.

“I grew up in a small farming community in rural Iowa where education was so highly valued that by the time I was in the seventh grade, I knew I wanted to be a math teacher.  Unfortunately, not all students had access to the same kind of educational opportunities that I did.

“On April 11, 1965, when President Johnson signed the Elementary and Secondary Education Act into law at a school in rural Texas, I was a freshman in college studying to be a teacher. While I knew this was a historic achievement, I could not have imagined the impact this critical federal education law would have on millions of children, including many of the students I would teach during my 23 years as a high school math teacher.  

“When ESEA was passed in 1965, it gave a boost to students who were being denied equal opportunities, and it gave hope to students that they too could experience the American dream. 

“Over the last 45 years, especially under No Child Left Behind, many of the promises of ESEA have faded. When the law was signed, there was no competition for funds.  Federal money went directly to where it was needed most. 

“We must build on the original promise of ESEA to ensure that all children have the opportunity to achieve their dreams. When we are talking about our students and their education, there should be no losers.  We believe the federal government has a vital role to play in guaranteeing that all students have access to the services and supports they need to succeed.” 

For more information about NEA’s principles for the reauthorization of ESEA, visit www.nea.org/esea.

April 9, 2010
DOE approves new certification options
The U.S. Department of Education has agreed that highly qualified teacher determinations made for new elementary school teachers who began in the 2008-2009 and previous school years under the prior interpretation can remain valid for the teacher as long as the teacher remains in the same teaching assignment.

Now teachers have the option of using the Texas HOUSE provision to keep their certificate portable between assignments and between districts. You can become HQ by taking the TExES examination and be eligible to teach all subjects PK - 6.

Teachers with 4 – 8 Single-Subject or 4 – 8 Double-Subject Certificates

If you began teaching in 2007 or 2008, you will need to use the Texas HOUSE provision to become Highly Qualified to teach grades PK - 6. The 4 - 8 certificate will not allow you to do this.

Special Education Teachers without a Generalist Certificate

Special Education teachers that began teaching in 2008 or earlier are eligible to use Elementary HOUSE to document subject competency for Special Education teacher of record assignments in classes PK - 6.

Teachers Who Began Teaching in 2009

Unfortunately, you were caught in a transition phase, and you must take the Elementary Generalist TExES test to be a Highly Qualified teacher in grades PK-6.

NOTE: The Texas Education Agency was granted a waiver for those teachers with single-subject licenses in Art, Music, and Theater.

State Board for Educator Certification meets
State Board for Educator Certification met on Friday, April 9, at the Texas Education Agency building. Curtis Culwell, the Superintendent from Garland ISD, was introduced as the newest member of the board. For the first time in more than a year, the board is fully seated.

The board made several decisions in keeping with recent legislation. SBEC is now a functioning arm of the Texas Education Agency, so the board issued a memorandum of understanding to that effect. Administration procedures will now be handled in the same manner as with TEA and State Board of Education procedures.

Educator preparation programs (EPP’s) will be scrutinized more closely in coming years. This is due to Senate Bill 174. Following these guidelines, SBEC staff produced a set of surveys that will be given to principals and beginning teachers certified through EPP’s. The survey is a pilot only this year. Board members gave suggestions. Staff will take these suggestions and incorporate them into the surveys. The surveys are due to be sent by the end of the month.

New End of Course examinations (EOC’s) and an increased number of Career and Technology Education courses (CTE’s) have led to questions regarding certification. SBEC staff compiled a lengthy chart of required certifications that included new CTE courses. The certification rules were approved quickly.

The board reviewed the Educators’ Code of Ethics. This document has been amended several times in the past two years; however, rule states that they be officially visited every four years. While there were no changes at this meeting, staff indicated there will be amendments offered at the June meeting.

Board member Christi Pogue had requested a discussion on the definition of the term, student, in certification and ethics code. Mrs. Pogue was absent Friday, and the discussion was postponed until June.

April 7, 2010
Increasing autism awareness
An estimated one in 110 births in the United States is affected by autism, according to the federal Centers for Disease Control. April is Autism Awareness Month, and the National Education Association has resources to help support teachers who teach children with autism in their classrooms.

The resources include:

April 2, 2010
Live chat about teacher certification
The Texas Education Agency’s Division of Educator Credentialing recently launched a live chat system to answer questions about teacher certification. To access this user-friendly feature, look for the grey chat box on TEA’s educator certification page. Hours of operation are 8 a.m. to 5 .m. Central Time, M-F, excluding holidays. more 

Texas to get nearly $338 million for low achieving schools 
U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan today announced that Texas will receive nearly $338 million to turn around its persistently lowest achieving schools through the School Improvement Grants (SIG) program. These funds are part of the $3.5 billion that will be made available to states this spring from money set aside in the 2009 budget and the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.  

"When a school continues to perform in the bottom five percent of the state and isn't showing signs of growth or has graduation rates below 60 percent, something dramatic needs to be done," said Duncan. "Turning around our worst performing schools is difficult for everyone but it is critical that we show the courage to do the right thing by kids."

The $337,926,594 made available to Texas is being distributed by formula to the state and will then be competed out by the state to school districts. In order for a school district to apply for these funds, it must have a state-identified "persistently lowest achieving" or a Tier III school -- a school that has failed to meet annual yearly progress for two years and is not identified as a persistently lowest achieving school. 

However, Tier III schools can only receive funds once all of the state's persistently lowest achieving schools have received funds. Texas's application, which includes its list of persistently lowest achieving schools, as defined by the state, can be found here: http://www2.ed.gov/programs/sif/summary/index.html.  

School districts will apply to the state for the funds this spring. When school districts apply, they must indicate that they will implement one of the following four models in their persistently lowest achieving schools: 

  • TURNAROUND MODEL: Replace the principal, screen existing school staff, and rehire no more than half the teachers; adopt a new governance structure; and improve the school through curriculum reform, professional development, extending learning time, and other strategies.  

  • RESTART MODEL: Convert a school or close it and re-open it as a charter school or under an education management organization.  

  • SCHOOL CLOSURE: Close the school and send the students to higher-achieving schools in the district. 

  • TRANSFORMATION MODEL: Replace the principal and improve the school through comprehensive curriculum reform, professional development, extending learning time, and other strategies.         

Once schools receive SIG funds, they will be able to begin to spend them immediately to turn around schools this fall. States may apply to the Education Department for a waiver to allow them to spend funds over a three-year period. An additional $545,633,000 has been provided for SIG in 2010 and will be awarded to states to fund additional schools in the 2011-12 school year. The department has also made a request for an additional $900 million for the program in the 2011 budget. 

April 1, 2010
Socorro, Ysleta are Broad Prize finalists
Socorro and Ysleta ISDs in El Paso are two of the five finalists for the 2010 Broad Prize for Urban Education. The others are Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools in North Carolina, the Gwinnett County Public Schools outside Atlanta and Montgomery County Public Schools in Maryland.

The Broad Prize is awarded each year to the urban school districts that demonstrate the greatest overall performance and improvement in student achievement while reducing achievement gaps among poor and minority students.

House Public Education Committee hears testimony
The House Public Education Committee met in Austin this week to hear invited and public testimony on interim charges #4 (STEM Education), #3 (Campus Leadership) and #2 (Student Wellness).

On Interim Charge #4, two witnesses from the National Math and Science Initiative and the Texas High School Project testified about the importance of having properly certified math and science teachers in the classroom and that those teachers have the appropriate content knowledge. 

The National Math and Science Initiative CEO outlined the Uteach Program, which started at The University of Texas at Austin in 1997 as a new way to prepare secondary science, math and computer science teachers. It has since been expanded to five more public universities in Texas.  The hope is that every private and public university will some day have a Uteach program.  The current funding for Uteach is $25 million, which is not enough to meet the growing demand for math and science teachers.  It was reported that one-third of teachers are not properly certified in the STEM areas and 50 percent don’t have the appropriate content knowledge.  It also was reported that Uteach teachers are still teaching after 5 years because those teachers are leading AP classes and are finding their work challenging. 

Texas has 85,000 students taking AP courses, but very few minority students take and pass AP classes.  Research suggests that out of 33,000 minority students with high PSAT scores, only 1,539 minority students currently are passing AP math.  The witnesses said they would like to see more funding for Uteach programs and for AP, IB and dual course credit courses. 

To get more teachers for math and science, it was proposed that the state develop programs that would train teachers in the summer, provide incentives to go into math and science, include math and science teachers on vertical teams, and then pay an additional bonus to teachers for every student who performs.  It was also stressed that more money was needed so that AP, IB and dual credit courses could be offered to every student in every district.

The committee next heard testimony from panels regarding Campus Leadership Teams as addressed in interim charge #3.  Their  main concern was that administrators and team leaders on campus turn- around teams are not required to be certified for that purpose and thus may not have the proper training and qualifications for dealing with a failing school.  It was suggested that having a required certification for this purpose might better benefit these schools.

The committee also heard statistics on principal retention and the effect that has on low performing campuses.  The data showed the lowest performing schools have the least experienced principals. And, over the past 14 years, the number of principals participating in masters programs has dropped from 20 percent to 30 percent. Schools, according to the data, need principals and teachers to stay as a team to assure increased quality.  The findings also showed that teachers tend to tune out principals who are short-timers, and principals at high poverty schools usually leave after three years.  It takes most principals about one school year to identify which teachers need help in the classroom.  About half of all elementary school teachers stay at the same school, a third of all middle school teachers stay at the same school and about 30 percent of high school teachers will stay at the same school.

The committee was urged to fix the accountability "death penalty" sanction because it forces administrators out of low-performing schools, which has the effect of ruining careers.

The committee finally heard testimony regarding interim charge #2 dealing with student wellness.  TEA testified about its website and resources for teachers to use when dealing with students with certain kinds of medical conditions.  There also was testimony about students with asthma and the effects of swine flu on school districts.  There also was testimony on the effect of the HB 3 health classes requirement and how some districts are dealing with teaching the TEKS of health in other courses.

There are still more interim charges for the committee to address in the future.  TSTA will keep you informed of upcoming interim meetings. 

March 31, 2010
Legislators to hold SBOE hearing
The Mexican American Legislative Caucus will hold a public hearing on April 28 at the state Capitol on the State Board of Education’s role in setting curriculum standards for Texas’ public school children. The Texas State Teachers Association and other educational experts will be invited to testify.

State Rep. Trey Martinez Fischer, D-San Antonio, the caucus chairman, announced the hearing on Wednesday in a news conference, in which TSTA President Rita Haecker participated, at the Capitol.

Martinez Fischer said the caucus is responding to the SBOE’s recent rewriting of the social studies curriculum, a process that received international attention after a bloc of conservative board members succeeded in rewriting curriculum standards to conform to their own political and religious beliefs. Among other things, they downplayed Thomas Jefferson’s role on the world history stage, much to the chagrin of educators throughout the country.

Instead of playing political games with what school children are taught about history, Martinez Fischer said, “I want to play the game of doing what’s right.”

Haecker, a former bilingual education teacher in the Austin ISD, said TSTA will be happy to participate in the hearing.

“The circus-like efforts of right-wing board members to impose their own religious and political beliefs on the public school curriculum have been and still are a national embarrassment,” she said.

“It is time for legislators to enlist education experts to take a thoughtful look at what the board has done,” she added.

The Mexican American Legislative Caucus has 44 members.

March 29, 2010
Share your teaching stories
The NEA Research Department needs your help with an ambitious project to produce a book on the past, present and future of the teaching profession in America. 

NEA asks active and retired K-12 public school teachers to describe their most memorable experiences as teachers, both inside and outside the classroom, in short vignettes of no more than 1,000 words.  

It's an attempt to capture the range of teacher voices across the country, to help the public understand both the successes and challenges teachers face daily as part of their jobs.

They hope to receive stories by April 9 or as soon thereafter as possible. http://www.nea.org/home/38073.htm

March 22, 2010
Select Committee on school finance meets
The Select Committee on School Finance, Weights, Allotments and Adjustments convened its first meeting in Austin on Tuesday to review current weights and current formulas within the school finance system. The Select Committee has been charged with determining the best manner to finance public school education so that every child in Texas gets a great education. 

The Select Committee is composed of the following:

Appointed by Lieutenant Governor (Dewhurst)
Senator Florence Shapiro (R-Plano)
Senator Robert Duncan (R-Lubbock)
Senator Dan Patrick (R-Houston)
Senator Royce West (D-Dallas)
Dr. Leonard Culwell - Superintendent Garland ISD
Dr. Harrison Keller - Vice Provost University of Texas - community representative

Appointed by Speaker of the House (Straus)
Jimmie Don Aycock (R-Killeen)
Rob Eissler (R-Woodlands)
Scott Hochberg (D-Houston)
Mike Villarreal (D-San Antonio)
Dr. Richard Middleton - Superintendent of North East ISD in San Antonio
Larry Kellner - CEO Continental Airlines

Appointed by Governor
Switzer Deason of College Station - President of Crux Financial Services
Mary Ann Whiteker of Lufkin - Superintendent of Hudson Independent School District
Comissioner - Robert Scott

The Texas Education Agency outlined the current finance system and the impact of prior court decisions that dictate what the select committee cannot do in its proposed revisions to the overall structure of school finance.  Essentially, the standard is that the legislature must fund public education but there is no specified method for funding. 

Annual state aid and local taxes for funding public education total $48.7 billion, and the wealth of a district is the value of its property base divided by the number of students.   

TEA also discussed other components of school funding, such as the Foundation School Program.  Student counts determine the amount of the allotment that districts receive.  The basic allotment per student is $5,318, and multipliers are added to that amount for certain student groups.  The cost of education index has been frozen since 1991.

The current hold harmless provision as a result of HB3646, which passed last session, is now at a negative value and will be brought up to the minimum increase for the current school year.  Most school districts in Texas are at hold harmless. The purpose of HB 3646 was to bring the districts that were at the bottom in funding up to a higher level, but so far it hasn't. Currently, $5, 350 is the average revenue target rate under HB 3646 at the compressed tax rate.  Because districts are frozen at 2005 property values, many districts will be in worse financial position as the years go on. 

Many of the committee members expressed concerns that our finance system is becoming inequitable and questioned whether it is still constitutional or will remain so in the future.  Many members expressed the need to fix this system so that some districts -- such as the fast growth districts and the property poor districts -- are not penalized.  The select committee acknowledged that HB 3646 was not a solution to the problem and actually did not work the way it was intended.  The select committee gave itself some homework to see how revenue streams and funding methods can be changed to fix the problem.  

The select committee also heard from a panel on what districts are doing to promote efficiencies in energy, purchasing, teacher training and other business affairs.  The select committee expressed concern that if districts are made to do some of these things, the improvements might be perceived as mandates. The panel said they should be considered cost-savings measures. 

Commissioner Scott stated that unfunded mandates are a huge concern for the agency and that every TEA rule will be under sunset review this year to remove as many unfunded mandates as possible. 

When questioned about efficiencies in teacher quality, several of the panelists had ideas for the select committee.  One panelist suggested that having teacher training on weekends or during the summer would be more effective than during the week, when teachers have to teach and prepare for class. Another panelist suggested on-line training is better and that teachers are more receptive to training that involves educators’ feedback.  And yet another panelist suggested that having a teacher/professional in a teacher-coaching model is more effective for teacher quality.  It appears that efficiencies in teacher quality and training will be a primary focus of education policy this interim and next session.  

Senator Shapiro said that academic equality is just as important as financial concerns and that having the best teachers instruct students online is the way education should move in the future. 

Some other unfunded mandates for which the efficiencies panel complained were the 22-to1 student-teacher ratio, the 4x4 mandate, the teacher salary step increases mandated by the legislature, the transportation allotment and the "one size fits all" policies.

The select committee will meet again in April and in May in Austin and plans a future meeting in San Antonio.

March 21, 2010
Senate Committee on Education on charter schools
The Senate Committee on Education on Monday heard invited and public testimony on an interim charge to review the performance and accountability of the state’s charter schools. Charter school proponents from around the state and nation testified, making it clear they want the legislature to give Texas’ charter schools bonding and taxing authority.

Early on, it became clear that Sen. Florence Shapiro, R-Plano, the chairwoman, was attempting to shape the debate on charter school funding heading into next year’s legislative session. She proposed that the state financially support charter schools’ acquisition of facilities by giving them bonding authority, which would be guaranteed by the same state funds that guarantee bonds issued by independent school districts. Sen. Shapiro also said that charter schools in Texas should be models for dropout and recovery charters for the nation.

The chairwoman made it clear that, even though independent school districts are struggling financially, she has no problem with pulling even more money out of traditional public schools and spending it on charters.

College Tuition and Partial Fee
Exemption for Educational Aides Program
The Texas Education Agency is pleased to provide the attached information prepared by the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board (THECB) for the 2010 College Tuition and Partial Fee Exemption for Educational Aides Program. The purpose of the program is to encourage educational aides to complete full teacher certification by providing need-based exemptions from the payment of tuition and certain mandatory fees at Texas public institutions of higher education. more

March 15, 2010
Obama’s “blueprint” for reauthorization
NEA wants to hear from you
For almost a decade, No Child Left Behind has tested and labeled our kids and our schools. We know you care about your students, and we are eager to let Washington know just what you think about NCLB. Go to http://www.tsta.org/news/
current/ESEAstatement.pdf to read NEA President Dennis Van Roekel’ statement on reauthorization.

Please take a few minutes to complete the survey at http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/2ZWS8NR so NEA can let your representatives know exactly how this legislation has affected you and your students, and how it needs to be changed. Deadline for submission of the survey is March 24.

March 12, 2010
STATE BOARD OF EDUCATION MEETING
Social Studies TEKS approved
After more debate over amendments, the State Board of Education on Friday, March 12, approved the whole set of Social Studies TEKS, although they had not been fully constructed by TEA staff due to the late meeting Thursday night. Initially, the vote was 11-4 in favor, with Democrats Rick Agosto, Lawrence Allen, Mary Helen Berlanga, and Mavis Knight voting no. The fifth Democrat, Rene Nunez, later released a statement through TEA that he had intended to vote against the TEKS but had an equipment malfunction. So, the final vote split perfectly along party lines, 10-5. The Social Studies TEKS will now be posted (in full, complete form) in the Texas Register for public comment, with final adoption slated for May.

Earlier in the day, Mavis Knight had offered amendments that were accepted, and the board was generally amenable. Then Mary Helen Berlanga offered an amendment to teach students about the Tejanos who had died while fighting at the Alamo. The right wing would hear nothing of this, and the wording was changed to, “…and the 189 heroes who gave their lives.” This gave the board’s minority renewed frustration.

Rick Agosto also presented an amendment trying to reinstate hip-hop as a possible musical topic covered in the Culture section of high school history. His amendment also removed the Beat Generation. He noted that this genre contained the same characteristics that the right wing found objectionable in hip-hop.

The discussion then dropped to a melee of amendments, misunderstandings, hurt feelings, and voting mistakes. Words were struck, then reinstated, then voted on, then struck again. At one point, the Parliamentarian told the board, “You can’t get there from here.” Mavis Knight became frustrated when she learned that her amendment, which had just passed, did not reinstate hip-hop because hip-hop had just been removed--again. Eventually, Rick Agosto’s amendment failed to reach its goal.

Other business also required action on Friday. One such item involved online materials that would be developed by universities for schools to use as ancillary materials. Legislation from the last session allows the University of Texas, Texas A&M, and Rice University to develop supplemental materials to help prepare students for college entrance. The new law seems to indicate a move away from books and toward online learning. It may also indicate the legislature has lost faith in the SBOE and is giving more authority to the Commissioner.

Both the board and TEA will await an opinion from the Attorney General’s office amendments were made under this assumption that restricted the usefulness of any online materials. Online ancillary materials would be required to follow the same strict guidelines the textbook companies face.

The board will be investing in real estate in the near future. There were two finalists that were brought before the board to debate their strengths and weaknesses. This jousting was followed by reports from the Committee on School Initiatives and the Committee on Instruction. The CSI focused mainly on the revision of Educator Preparation Program accountability, which was passed on first reading. The Committee on Instruction had no major issues to bring forth.

Thursday: Ridiculous
The State Board of Education worked its way through dozens of amendments to the social studies TEKS curriculum on Thursday, with the right wing prevailing on most votes throughout the day. 

Cynthia Dunbar and her conservative wing-mates worked successfully on a series of amendments to minimize any separation of church and state characterization in the curriculum standards. One observer termed it “death by a thousand little cuts.” And, Dunbar’s fellow lameduck conservative leader, Don McLeroy, offered his revisions to civil rights history. 

Other “highlights” included: 

  • Offering some questionable amendments during discussion of the World History TEKS, Barbara Cargill publicly announced that she had a black friend in Memphis and has another friend who adopted a black baby. Mavis Knight responded, “We may have come a long way, but we haven’t arrived,” adding that Cargill’s “true colors were starting to show through.” Mary Helen Berlanga held back tears, and Geraldine Miller spoke of discrimination against Jews.

  • In Psychology, the board could not find a place to list Sigmund Freud as a significant figure. 

  • In Sociology, Cargill advocated adding Robert Nisbet to the list of important figures. Although nobody seemed to know who Nisbet was, her motion passed 6 – 3. Cargill then removed a TEKS provision that differentiated between sex and gender and their roles in society. “Sex is how we are born anatomically, and this, gender, how we appear in public as a man or a woman,” she said. She said the language was an opening to the study of “transvestites, transsexuals, or whatever.” Other board members seemed confused about how the standard treated the changing roles of men and woman in society, and some members said that such a subject merited discussion in modern high schools. Cargill responded that she had typed on “the Google” the words, sex, gender and social constructs and had received disgusting results. The amendment was passed on a record vote. It should be noted that an actual Google search resulted in articles from Lafayette University, Stanford, Duke, and the National Institutes of Health but produced no graphic content.

  • The board spent much of the afternoon removing Hispanics from the curriculum standards and replacing them with others. One key example was replacing painter Santa Barraza with Fred Avery, the creator of Daffy Duck.

At 7:35 p.m., McLeroy delivered the civil rights amendment set that everyone had been expecting. The inflammatory wording was mediated by Bob Craig, who convinced McLeroy to remove the words, “…and unrealistic expectations for equal outcomes.” McLeroy also offered language on the “adversarial approach taken by many civil rights groups…” During heated discussion, McLeroy couldn’t name any adversarial black groups. So his right wing-mates finally settled on the Black Panthers as the adversarial group to use for comparison. 

The board took a short break, and four of the five Democratic members left. With this attrition, the far right offered multiple amendments, which passed without serious opposition.  “Democratic society” was changed to “representative government” throughout the entire TEKS. Following this vote, Dunbar changed her mind, and “Societies with Representative Government,” will now be listed throughout all Social Studies TEKS instead.  All this was based on the whim of Dunbar. Craig motioned to adjourn, but the motion failed.  

At that point, Don McLeroy took over with nine amendments. “There are no ethnic Americans” he declared. Patricia Hardy noted one amendment was the most poorly written amendment she had ever seen. Hip-hop was removed and replaced by country music as culturally important. No amendment was rejected, with most votes, 8-3. 

Staff cannot have all changes prepared by Friday, so the board will vote on a nebulous document. -- Paul Henley

Wednesday: State Board of Education report
The State Board of Education met as the Committee of the Full Board at 9 a.m. to discuss the Permanent School Fund (PSF). A representative from NEPC, the PSF’s custodian was present. He presented on the PSF’s current status and options. Board members held the representative accountable for unclear and conflicting information. The testimony and ensuing discussion took over an hour.  

After adjournment of the PSF meeting, the board reconvened at roughly 11 a.m. The board passed on final adoption the TEKS for English Language Arts electives without incident.

The Liberty Foundation (formerly the Free Market Foundation) held a press conference in the lobby to decry revisionist history, including the removal of Christmas from the TEKS (the holiday had been restored half a year ago). This was followed by another demonstration by students at the University of Texas, who arrived in yellow suits declaring themselves “Students for a smarter State Board of Education.” Fox News was chastised by TEA for inaccuracies on it’s “Fox and Friends” morning television show. The agency listed each statement from Fox, followed by “Truth:” statements. 

Testimony began with Rep. Dan Flynn and Rep. Wayne Christian. Testimony, allegedly limited to two hours, became a protracted listening exercise that included, among others, testimony accusing Governor Rick Perry as a Zionist and testimony that Lyndon Johnson assassinated John F. Kennedy. The chair has been inconsistent regarding the amount of public testimony that is taken by the board at any given meeting. Thus, there is no way of knowing how long any meeting will last. 

One speaker called for the 2009-2010 Tea Party movement to be added. Mercer agreed. Rep. Eddie Rodriguez followed this testimony. There was an argument regarding whether Dolores Huerta had been removed. Apparently, she had been. The meeting went on into the evening, and Oscar Romero was also rejected.  Amendments included Medieval European capitalism and the addition of a placeholder TEKS, which can be used to add names at a later date (presumably on Friday). 

At 8:45 p.m. the board became weary enough to postpone further action until 9 a.m. tomorrow.--Paul Henley

Draft Teacher Leadership Standards: Comments?
NEA Teacher Quality Department has been working with the Teacher Leadership Exploratory Consortium, a group led by ETS, to develop a set of voluntary standards for teacher leadership. The working group includes education organizations (NEA, AFT, NSDC, CTQ, ECS, and others), state education agencies, teacher leaders, principal leaders, and institutions of higher education. 

The purpose of the model standards is to encourage professional discussion on what constitutes the range of competencies that teacher leaders possess and how this form of leadership can be distinguished from but work in tandem with administrative leadership roles to support good teacher and promote student learning. In addition, the standards could be used to inform the development of curriculum and professional learning opportunities to support teacher leaders’ professional growth. They could also be used to develop higher education programs.   

NEA has focused on creating teacher leadership standards that can be demonstrated in a variety of ways—with more course work being the least among them.  We have also stressed that there should be multiple avenues for teachers to enter leadership positions.   

The draft teacher leadership standards are now available for review and public comment at http://tlstandards.weebly.com.  All comments are welcome.  The survey will be available on the website until April 30, 2010. In addition, there is a link to the standards on the home page of NEA.org under Educator Comments Needed on Teacher Leader Standards  (http://www.nea.org/home/38496.htm). 

March 11, 2010
TRS-ActiveCare PPO benefits, premiums to change
On September 1, 2010, TRS-ActiveCare PPO benefits and monthly premiums will change. Premiums will increase by approximately 7%. For TRS ActiveCare 1-HD, the new premiums will be as follows: Employee Only will go from $245 to $262 (a 6.9% increase); Employee + Spouse will go from $600 to $642 (a 7.0% increase); Employee + Child(ren) will go from $382 to $409 (a 7.1% increase); and Employee + Family will go from $785 to $840 (a 7.0% increase). 

For TRS ActiveCare 1, the new premiums will be as follows: Employee Only will go from $278 to $297 (a 6.8% increase); Employee + Spouse will go from $633 to $677 (a 7.0% increase); Employee + Child(ren) will go from $443 to $474 (a 7.0% increase); and Employee + Family will go from $697 to $746 (a 7.0% increase). 

For TRS ActiveCare 2, the new premiums will be as follows: Employee Only will go from $370 to $396 (a 7.0% increase); Employee + Spouse will go from $842 to $901 (a 7.0% increase); Employee + Child(ren) will go from $589 to $630 (a 7.0% increase); and Employee + Family will go from $926 to $991 (a 7.0% increase). 

For TRS ActiveCare 3, the new premiums will be as follows: Employee Only will go from $498 to $533 (a 7.0% increase); Employee + Spouse will go from $1,134 to $1,213 (a 7.0% increase); Employee + Child(ren) will go from $794 to $850 (a 7.1% increase); and Employee + Family will go from $1,247 to $1,334 (a 7.0% increase). 

The premium rates do not include employer subsidies of at least $225 per employee per month. 

For all TRS-ActiveCare PPO plans, the allowable amount for out-of-network provider services, before the applicable deductibles and coinsurance are applied, will be 50% of the out-of-network provider’s billed charges. Currently, Blue Cross/Blue Shield of Texas determines this amount. 

For TRS-ActiveCare 1-HD, the individual and family deductibles will increase from $2,300 to $2,400. 

For TRS-ActiveCare 1, the individual deductibles will increase from $1,150 per individual to $1,200 per individual. 

For TRS-ActiveCare 2, the primary care copay will increase from $25 to $30, and the specialist care copay increases from $35 to $50. -- John Grey

Board considers grants to use public school data
The Joint Advisory Board of the Texas Education Research Centers (ERC) met in Austin this week to review and approve additional grant proposals requesting the use of Texas data on public school students and employees of public schools.  No identifying information comes with the data and is encrypted.   

This committee has been working to approve grants which use this data for specified studies as outlined by the grantee for approximately 18 months.  The findings for the initial proposals granted should begin to come before the committee sometime this year. 

The following proposals were granted by the committee: 

1.                  UT Austin Proposal – Examining Differential Outcome Trajectories of Similarly Qualified Latino Students/Beginning Postsecondary Education at Community Colleges versus Less-Selective Four Year Universities.

2.                  UT Dallas Proposal  - Retirement Patterns of Educators Participating in the Teacher Retirement System of Texas.

3.                  UT Dallas Proposal – Effects of Grade Retention in Texas on Student Academic Performance and School Completion.

4.                  UT Dallas Proposal – Effects of Non-Promotional Mobility in Texas on Student Academic Performance and School Completion.

5.                  UT Dallas Proposal – Measuring the effectiveness of online instruction in developmental math and English courses in Texas community colleges.

6.                  UT Dallas Proposal – Impact of Youth Village Programs on School Performance of Juveniles in Placement.

7.                  UT Dallas Proposal – Middle School Brain Years Project: TAKS Correlates of Abstract Reasoning Abilities.

8.                  UT Dallas Proposal – Longitudinal Studies of Student Test Scores.

9.                  UT Dallas Proposal – Peer Effects from Students with Limited English Proficiency: How Does Sharing a Classroom with LEP Students Affect Native English Speakers? 

The ERC will meet again on June 9. -- Portia Bosse

House Appropriations hears testimony on budget
The House Appropriations Committee conducted an interim hearing to receive invited testimony on the current state of the state budget deficit and projected revenue shortfalls.  The Comptroller and Legislative Budget Board testified regarding the probable need for a supplemental budget bill at the beginning of next session due to the structural deficit Texas is facing. 

The Texas Comptroller’s Office testified first on the economy.  The report given stated that there is a further decline in jobs in the nation by 8.4 million making the U.S. unemployment rate unchanged at 9.7%.  At the start of 2008 until January of 2009 the pace of unemployment quickened to 50,000 jobs per month.  In January of this year, Texas added slightly over 30,000 jobs.  This has been a slow process to add jobs back in Texas but the jobs are coming two-thirds from firms that are temporary help firms.  In Texas, the unemployment rate is at 8.2% at the current time. 

The sales tax rundown given showed that in 2008 sales tax revenue started to slow down and in 2009 it went negative.  Currently, it is down 13.1% which is over the 10% that was built in to the budget.  The expectation is that the first part of this year it would continue to be weak but by second half of year, the revenue stream would start to get stronger again as expectations are that the economy is coming out of the recession.  As we move into recovery the expectation is that we will have the same revenue as last year but will eventually build to an increase from that status. 

The Rainy Day Fund by the end of this biennium will be $8.2 billion and it is $7.6 billion currently.   

The LBB testified regarding how Texas balances its budget and stated that the estimated shortfall is around $11 billion.  It was acknowledge that the LBB estimate is a low estimate as Texas paid $87 billion general revenue budget with $75 billion dollars and used $6.4 billion of federal stimulus money to pay for things normally paid for by general revenue.  Thus, Texas first has to fill in the $6.4 billion to meet the levels of funding for the next biennium.  It is expected that the Permanent School Fund will be healthy enough to make a transfer next budget cycle.  The LBB made it clear that this results in an $11 billion shortfall making the deficit larger than the Rainy Day Fund.   

Texas has also seen the lowest property growth value in some time with 1.3% growth versus double digit growth seen in the past.  The LBB made it clear that growing student population can no longer be offset by property growth. 

The LBB explained that the 5% budget reductions across state agencies will turn into $1.7 billion in savings.  This is based on lower projected revenue for this biennium and what will carry over to the next session budget mark up.  The intent is to give agencies the opportunity to start slowing down spending to deal with these shortfalls.  $570 million of savings comes this year, and $1.2 billion is for FY 2011.  Several agencies including TEA testified specifically to its 5% reduction and the impact.  The following are the most frequently found cuts to meet the 5% reduction: 

  • Hiring freeze/vacancy savings

  • Savings from fewer grant applications

  • Travel reductions

  • Deferring capital (purchases and new capital projects)

  • Finance/method of finance swaps (keep revenue and use instead of GR)

  • Reduce FTEs and agency run programs

  • Reduce programs contracted out

  • Reduce programs with non-profits

  • Reducing rates to vendors

There are a few exempt items from the 5% current budget cuts as follows:

  • Foundation School Program

  • ERS and TRS (does not include insurance)

  • Medicaid Program

  • Debt Services

  • Constitutional Funds 

TEA testified regarding its 5% reduction as follows:   

$52 billion exempt from 5% requirement.  Only have $2.7 billion available for the 5% reduction.  No cuts to developmentally disabled or most fragile section of our public school children, or disciplinary programs.   

Foundation school program is about $80 million short right now but can be recovered when the economy gets better.  Lack of property growth could be the culprit but student growth is not as high as originally estimated by TEA.  However, TEA projects the increase in student growth will not be covered by property growth due to the lack of property value growth.   

The agency will look at duplicity of effort, program effectiveness and program demands in its effort to cut the budget.  TEA did not offer any details regarding specific cuts being made to its budget.  However, one cut being made as identified by the Appropriations Committee is to the “Life Skills for Student Parents” funding.  Concern was shown by several members that these parent/students would have to quit school if this funding was cut. 

The Education Sub-Committee intends to meet to review all the cuts being made to the TEA budget in the near future. 

The Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board also testified regarding its cuts.  The Board testified that 5% reduction amounts to $1.46 billion for the biennium and 72% of that money relates to financial aid and the remaining 28% will be from the agencies operating budget.  The three guiding principles used in making the reductions were to minimize reductions impacting students; preserve the most effective programs and closing the gaps; and to avoid across the board cuts. 

The Board identified “Closing the Gaps” as the most important piece of the agencies work and it is about five years from its goal.  Colleges and universities are seeing the highest enrollment in history this year so cuts to financial aid will be prioritized. -- Portia Bosse

March 10, 2010
State Board of Education report (and it's only Wednesday)
The State Board of Education met as the Committee of the Full Board at 9 a.m. to discuss the Permanent School Fund (PSF). A representative from NEPC, the PSF’s custodian was present. He presented on the PSF’s current status and options. Board members held the representative accountable for unclear and conflicting information. The testimony and ensuing discussion took over an hour.  

After adjournment of the PSF meeting, the board reconvened at roughly 11 a.m. The board passed on final adoption the TEKS for English Language Arts electives without incident.

The Liberty Foundation (formerly the Free Market Foundation) held a press conference in the lobby to decry revisionist history, including the removal of Christmas from the TEKS (the holiday had been restored half a year ago). This was followed by another demonstration by students at the University of Texas, who arrived in yellow suits declaring themselves “Students for a smarter State Board of Education.” Fox News was chastised by TEA for inaccuracies on it’s “Fox and Friends” morning television show. The agency listed each statement from Fox, followed by “Truth:” statements. 

Testimony began with Rep. Dan Flynn and Rep. Wayne Christian. Testimony, allegedly limited to two hours, became a protracted listening exercise that included, among others, testimony accusing Governor Rick Perry as a Zionist and testimony that Lyndon Johnson assassinated John F. Kennedy. The chair has been inconsistent regarding the amount of public testimony that is taken by the board at any given meeting. Thus, there is no way of knowing how long any meeting will last. 

One speaker called for the 2009-2010 Tea Party movement to be added. Mercer agreed. Rep. Eddie Rodriguez followed this testimony. There was an argument regarding whether Dolores Huerta had been removed. Apparently, she had been. The meeting went on into the evening, and Oscar Romero was also rejected.  Amendments included Medieval European capitalism and the addition of a placeholder TEKS, which can be used to add names at a later date (presumably on Friday). 

At 8:45 p.m. the board became weary enough to postpone further action until 9 a.m. tomorrow.--Paul Henley

March 9, 2010
Watch webcast of February TRS meeting
The Teacher Retirement System's Feb. 23-25 meetings in Katy were videotaped for the purposes of creating a webcast that  members and other interested parties can view at their leisure.  Agenda items are individually listed in a catalogue; simply click on a specific item to view. more
 

NEA to Congress: ‘Economic recovery starts in classroom’
Recovery of the American economy will not be possible unless education becomes a higher priority, the president of the nation’s largest labor union said in testimony before a Senate committee today. 

NEA President Dennis Van Roekel told members of the Senate Committee on Health Education Labor and Pensions there is an inextricable link between investing in education and building a strong, competitive nation.  

“An investment in education is the long-term answer to solving America’s economic woes,” Van Roekel said.  “Higher earnings of educated workers mean higher tax payments at the local, state and federal levels. Investing in education will help prevent harmful cuts in programs, preserve jobs and reduce soaring unemployment rates.” 

Van Roekel’s testimony comes as Congress gets ready to revise the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA), more commonly known as the No Child Left Behind Act. NEA has developed guidelines for changing the law so it helps schools improve education and close achievement gaps. 

“Today’s students are tomorrow’s workforce,” Van Roekel said. “We must address the opportunity gaps to strengthen our economy and build the educated workforce necessary to compete in the global economy of the 21st century. We cannot leave a generation of students behind by continuing to deny them the best education this country has to offer.”  

“Children are not experiments,” he said.  “Policies on accountability, assessments and transforming low performing schools into great public schools should follow research—not dogma.” 

For more information about NEA’s position on ESEA, visit http://www.nea.org/esea.

March 8, 2010
NEA applauds renewed emphasis on enforcing civil rights

U.S. Education Secretary Arne Duncan announced today that the number of high school dropouts in this country is the “civil rights issue of our generation.”  To that end, he said the department would enforce civil rights laws in education that have been overlooked in the last decade.

“NEA applauds the Department of Education’s decision to step up the enforcement of civil rights laws in education to ensure that school districts across the country know their responsibilities to fairness and equal opportunity," NEA President Dennis Van Roekel said.   

"In 2008, NEA unveiled its plan to transform all public schools by 2020. A critical component of that plan included redefining the federal role in education. In particular, NEA stressed the importance of protecting and achieving equal access for students to services and supports they need to be successful. The federal government has a vital role to play in advancing the quality of America’s public schools. As such, we are pleased to see the federal government embracing its role as a supporter of district and state responsibilities by strengthening enforcement of civil rights laws in order to promote access and opportunity. Much more remains to be done, and we look forward to seeing an increased emphasis on equity of opportunity as Congress moves toward the reauthorization of ESEA.” 

To read more about NEA’s 2008 Priority Schools by 2020 white paper, visit: http://www.nea.org/home/11041.htm.  

For more information on the Department of Education’s announcement, visit: http://www2.ed.gov/news/press
releases/2010/03/03082010a.html.  

March 5, 2010
Apply for a fully-funded Galapagos trip
Apply now for the 2010 Toyota International Teacher Program to the Galapagos Islands, a fully-funded professional development program for U.S. educators. The program aims to advance environmental stewardship and global connectedness in U.S. schools and communities. It takes place Nov. 20-Dec.4, and the deadline to apply is May 26. Full-time classroom teachers and librarians of all subjects for grades 6 -12 are eligible to apply.  more


March 4, 2010
Looking for Read Across America Videos
Post your video on SchoolTube’s Read Across America channel. more

 

NEA's Read Across America contest
Do you think you had the best event in the country? Send your entry form and supporting materials to NEA's Read Across America Awards, 1201 16th St., NW, Washington, D.C. 20036 by April 20.Winners in each category receive $250. more

   

March 3, 2010
Runoff elections: the dates and our endorsements
With several House races yet to be decided, here is what you need to know about voting in the upcoming runoff elections.

 

You cannot vote in a runoff election if you voted in a different primary. So if, for example, you voted in the Democratic Primary, you can’t vote in a Republican Primary runoff, and if you voted in the Republican Primary, you can’t vote in the Democratic Primary runoff. If you did not vote in either primary, you can vote in either runoff. If you are not registered to vote, you have until March 15 to register to vote in the runoff election.

Early voting is from April 5 to April 9, and Election Day is April 13. TSTA has endorsed candidates in the following House run-off elections: District 66 Mabrie Jackson, 76 Norma Chavez, 83 Delwin Jones, 84 Mark Griffin and 127 Dan Huberty.    

Final results on TSTA races (5:30 a.m.)

Twenty TSTA-recommended candidates won outright, five lost and five will be in a run-off election. Here are the official results:


Congress
15 Ruben Hinojosa (Won)
18 Sheila Jackson Lee (Won)
23 Ciro D. Rodriguez (Won)

Governor
Bill White (Won)

State Board of Education
5         Tim Tuggey (Lost)
5         Rebecca Bell-Metereau (Won)
9         Thomas Ratliff (Won with 50.37%--recount likely)
12       Geraldine Miller (Lost)
15       Bob Craig (Won)

Senate Primary Endorsements
19        Carlos Uresti (Won)
22        Kip Averitt (Won)
29        Jose Rodriguez (Won)

House Primary Endorsements
004       Lance Gooden (Won by 100 votes—recount likely) 
007       Tommy Merritt (Lost) 
011       Chuck Hopson (Won)
015       Rob Eissler  (Won)       
027       Dora Olivo (Lost)
039       Mando Martinez (Won)       
043       Tara Rios Ybarra (Lost)
044       Edmund Kuempel (Won)   
045       Patrick Rose (Won)
066       Mabrie Jackson (Run-off)       
076       Norma Chavez (Run-off)      
083       Delwin Jones (Run-off)      
084       Mark Griffin (Run-off)            
092       Todd Smith (Won)            
098       Vicki Truitt (Won)     
099       Charlie Geren (Won)    
105       Loretta Haldenwang (Won)    
127       Dan Huberty (Run-off)    

Free webinars on RTI
The federally-funded National Center on Response to Intervention (RTI) recently announced the following schedule of webinars on topics related to RTI. NEA serves on the Center’s advisory board and is pleased to be able to offer these free resources to our members and affiliates.  www.rti4success.org 

March 3, 2:00pm EST, RTI and Instructional Coaching: An Overview, Dr. Jim Knight

April 29, 2:00pm EST, RTI for English Language Learners: Appropriate Screening, Progress Monitoring, and Instructional Planning, Dr. Julie Brown, Dr. Amanda Sanford, and Erin Lolich

May 6, 2:00 pm EST, Using RTI to Identify Students with Learning Disabilities, Dr. Evelyn Johnson

Results (1 a.m.)
From information from the Secretary of State and other sources, here is what the races where the PAC made a recommendation look like. Please check the web site tomorrow for complete and official results.

Congress
15 Ruben Hinojosa (Won)
18 Sheila Jackson Lee
(Won)
23 Ciro D. Rodriguez (Won)

Governor
Bill White (Won)

State Board of Education
5         Tim Tuggey (Lost)
5         Rebecca Bell-Metereau (Won)
9         Thomas Ratliff (Too Close to Call)
12       Geraldine Miller (Lost)
15       Bob Craig
(Won)

Senate Primary Endorsements
19        Carlos Uresti (Won)
22        Kip Averitt (Won)
29        Jose Rodriguez
 (Won)

House Primary Endorsements
004       Lance Gooden (Won by 100 votes—recount likely) 
007       Tommy Merritt (Lost) 
011       Chuck Hopson (Won)
015       Rob Eissler  (Won)       
027       Dora Olivo (Lost)
039       Mando Martinez (Won)       
043       Tara Rios Ybarra (Lost)
044       Edmund Kuempel (Won)   
045       Patrick Rose (Won)
066       Mabrie Jackson (Run-off)       
076       Norma Chavez (Run-off)      
083       Delwin Jones (Run-off)      
084       Mark Griffin (Run-off)            
092       Todd Smith (Won)            
098       Vicki Truitt (Won)     
099       Charlie Geren (Won)    
105       Loretta Haldenwang (Won)    
127       Dan Huberty (Run-off)          
 

March 2, 2010
Latest results (11:50 p.m.)

Congress
15         Ruben Hinojosa (Won)
18         Sheila Jackson Lee (Won)
23         Ciro D. Rodriguez (Won)

Governor
Bill White (Won)

State Board of Education
5         Tim Tuggey (Lost)
5         Rebecca Bell-Metereau (Won)
9         Thomas Ratliff
12       Geraldine Miller
15       Bob Craig (Won)

Senate Primary Endorsements
19        Carlos Uresti (Won)
22        Kip Averitt (Won)
29        Jose Rodriguez (Won)

House Primary Endorsements
004       Lance Gooden (Won by 100 votes, recount likely) 
007       Tommy Merritt (Lost) 
011       Chuck Hopson (Won)
015       Rob Eissler  (Won)       
027       Dora Olivo (Lost)
039       Mando Martinez (Won)       
043       Tara Rios Ybarra (Lost)
044       Edmund Kuempel (Won)   
045       Patrick Rose (Won)
066       Mabrie Jackson (Run-off)       
076       Norma Chavez (Run-off)      
083       Delwin Jones (Run-off)      
084       Mark Griffin (Run-off)            
092       Todd Smith (Won)            
098       Vicki Truitt (Won)     
099       Charlie Geren (Won)    
105       Loretta Haldenwang (Won) 
   
127     Dan Huberty (Run-off)           

Gooden upsets incumbent Brown (11:28 p.m.)
Lance Gooden who was backed by TSTA just upset incumbent Betty Brown (HD 4) by 100 votes. Look for a recount in this one.


House incumbents in trouble (10:30 p.m.)
In the House, incumbents are in trouble on both sides of the aisle. Incumbent Democrats Dora Olivo (HD 27) and Tara Rios Yabarra (HD 43) are losing and Norma Chavez (HD 76) appears to be heading for a run-off. All are endorsed candidates. On the Republican side, TSTA-backed Tommy Merritt (HD 7) is behind and Delwin Jones (HD 83) will be in a run off.

 

White cruises to victory, will face Perry in November (9:30)

Bill White, who was endorsed early by TSTA, had a landslide win in the Democratic Primary for governor. Kay Bailey Hutchison has conceded to Rick Perry in the Republican Primary, so White will be facing Perry in November.

 

On the Democratic side of the ballot, Ruben Hinojosa (CD 15), Ciro D. Rodriguez (CD 23) and Sheila Jackson Lee (CD 18)--all endorsed by TSTA--are winning big.

In SBOE District 5 Rebecca Bell-Metereau, who was backed by TSTA, is winning.  In state races, both TSTA -recommended candidates, Carlos Uresti (SD 19) and Jose Rodriguez (SD 29,) have big leads.

In Democratic House races that we are tracking, returns are still sparse but Patrick Rose (HD 45) is heading to victory. 

In the Republican Primary, Thomas Ratliff  (SBOE 19) our endorsed candidate, has a razor thin lead over incumbent Don McLeroy.  TSTA-backed Bob Craig is headed to an easy win in SBOE 15. In Senate District 22, Kim Averitt won reelection to the state senate. 

We will have an update on House races later as more returns come in.

 

Updated social studies TEKS
The revised social studies TEKS reflect amendments approved in January.
more
 

March 1, 2010
Robison joins TSTA staff
Richard Kouri, assistant executive director for public affairs for the Texas State Teachers Association, announced today that former, longtime state Capitol newsman Clay Robison has joined the TSTA staff as a communications specialist. In his new role, Robison will be the media contact for TSTA and will write news releases and articles for the TSTA web page and Advocate magazine. 

"I welcome Clay to our staff," Kouri said. "He has long been a friend of Texas teachers and understands our issues and the state political process. He brings with him more than three decades of covering Texas politics and government and, as a journalist, won six TSTA School Bell Awards."

Robison is the former Austin Bureau Chief and columnist for the Houston Chronicle and San Antonio Express-News. He is the father of three children, ages 4 to 20. One is a high school freshman in the public schools, another is a graduate of the public schools and one soon will enter the public schools. 

"Teachers open the door to wonder and opportunity for thousands of Texas children every day," Robison said. "They are partners to hard-working parents and -- in many, many cases -- are hard-working parents themselves. I'm proud to be working on their behalf."

Read his blog or reach him at (512)476-5355, ext. 1233, or     clayr@tsta.org.

Contact House GOP members  to support H.R. 2377 for  National Classified School Employees of the Year Awards
There is a chance to move forward with H.R. 2377, the National Classified School Employees of the Year Awards bill to nationally recognize the work of education support professionals. 

Advancing the bill depends on whether Republican support can be encouraged and delivered. The NEA Legislative Action Center was updated to help with this outreach. Contact House GOP members that might represent you ASAP. 

Message: “I’m contacting you to urge your support for passage of H.R. 2377, the National Classified School Employees of the Year Awards bill. 

“H.R. 2377, the National Classified School Employees of the Year Award bill recognizes the hard, important work of often unrecognized professionals who transport, feed and keep our students safe, and clean our schools and keep them running. 

“Classified school employees—including paraeducators, clerical assistants, school bus drivers, custodians, food service workers, technicians and craftsmen, custodians, school nurses, and security professionals — provide essential services to America’s public schools and institutions of higher education.  

“Your support and vote on this bill would be much appreciated.” 

Find out who your House member is and contact them here: http://capwiz.com/nea/issues/alert/?alertid=14145306  

Or call their office (Capitol Switchboard: 202-224-3121) and ask them: Will you support H.R. 2377, which may come to the House floor this week? 

Feb. 26, 2010
Congress’ all-time favorite books
For the National Education Association’s 13th annual Read Across America celebration, members of Congress were asked to share their all-time favorite children’s book.

http://www.nea.org/assets/docs/RAA_MOC_list.pdf

 

Feb. 24, 2010
Free accessible library from Bookshare
A nonprofit, federally-funded resource for K-12 schools, Bookshare (www.bookshare.org) is the world’s largest online accessible library for individuals with print disabilities, such as blindness, low vision, a physical disability or a severe learning disability that affects reading. Bookshare is free to qualified U.S. schools and students, and has tens of thousands of books including best sellers, textbooks, teacher-recommended reading and periodicals along with two software applications that read digital books. Parents and educators can sign up at http://www.bookshare.org/signUpType.
 

Feb. 22, 2010
Senate Education looks at accountability, technology
The Senate Committee on Education met today for a hearing on interim charge eight, which directs them to monitor the implementation of legislation passed during the 81st Legislative Session on the state’s accountability system. Included are the revised dropout rate calculation, textbooks and the virtual school network; specifically, the committee is to monitor the implementation of HB 3, relating to public school accountability, and HB 4294, relating to textbooks and the use of technology.   

The first panel to address the committee today discussed implementation of HB 4294 and included invited witnesses from Texas Education Agency (TEA), Brownwood ISD and TechNet Texas. All reports to date are positive regarding the implementation of the bill, and TEA reported that districts may choose from four different options for instructional material. The iPod touch and netbooks are both in pilot stages at certain districts around the state and are rated favorably by the users. 

The second panel discussed implementation of HB 3. Concerns from the committee regarded the field testing of end-of-course exams. Since field testing is optional for students, the concern is that only the best and brightest students are participating, which would render any feedback meaningless. TEA agreed with this concern but is optimistic that end-of-course exams will result in better accountability in time, even in light of a lower passage rate among students in the beginning. Another concern expressed by the committee is that educators will be unable to adequately prepare students starting end-of-course exams, due to lack of foundation being taught in lower grade levels, and that educators might not be prepared with the essential subject matters which will ultimately be covered on the exams. 

Finally, the committee heard from two panels, one on cost drivers and another on the requested cuts to TEA’s budget. The discussion from board members and administrators on cost drivers centered on state mandates of maximum class sizes in grades K to 4, and on teacher contracts and the costs associated with firing ineffective teachers. TSTA expects these two issues to be central themes in the next legislative session even though TEA reported that every request for a class size waiver was granted and districts are able to discharge ineffective teachers already. 

TSTA will continue to monitor the interim charges relevant to public education and employee rights and keep you informed. -- Portia Bosse, TSTA legislative specialist 

Feb. 25: President Obama’s Health Care Reform Summit
This Thursday, Feb. 25, at 10 a.m. ET, President Obama will host and moderate a Health Care Reform Summit at the Blair House in Washington, D.C.

 

The President has invited senior House and Senate bipartisan leadership to attend the Summit, as well as the chairmen and ranking members of the committees that oversee health insurance reform in both chambers. Vice President Joe Biden, White House Office of Health Reform Director Nancy-Ann DeParle and Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius are also expected to attend. The Summit will be broadcast live on C-SPAN. There's additional information at http://www.whitehouse.gov/health-care-meeting. The four critical topics that will be discussed include: insurance reforms, cost containment, expansion of coverage and the impact that health reform legislation will have on deficit reduction.

In preparation for the Summit, the President released his health care reform proposal this morning online (http://www.whitehouse.gov/health-care-meeting/proposal). The President’s proposal is expected to be the template for the discussions on Thursday, and it tracks closely with the Senate’s already passed bill with some improvements. The cost of the proposal is estimated to be $950 billion over a 10-year period, which is $75 billion more than the Senate bill but less than the $1 trillion cost of the House bill. It is expected to reduce the deficit by $100 billion over the next 10 years – and about $1 trillion over the second decade by cutting government overspending and reining in waste, fraud and abuse. 

Some of the highlights of the President’s proposal include:
• Imposes an excise tax on plans with premiums greater than $27,500 for families and $10,200 for singles starting in 2018 and adjusted annually by the consumer price index plus one percentage point.  The excise tax would include permanent adjustments based on age, gender and workers in high risk occupations. This would apply to all plans not just those that are collectively bargained and/or for state and local government employees.

• Expands Medicaid to all low-income, non-elderly and non-disabled people, including unemployed adults and working people with incomes below 133 percent of the federal poverty level ($29,000 for a family of 4 in 2010) with the Federal government paying a large percentage of this expansion. The Federal government will provide states with 100 percent of the cost of newly eligible people between 2014 and 2017, 95 percent of the costs between 2018 and 2019 and 90 percent in later years.

• Provides tax credits for lower and middle income people to help pay premiums. Reduces cost sharing assistance.

• Establishes a new, open competitive health insurance marketplace—an Insurance Exchange—the same as the one that members of Congress have.

• Increases the penalty for individuals who don’t obtain coverage but have hardship exemptions.

• Imposes a financial penalty on employers that do not offer coverage.

• Requires the removal of arbitrary annual and lifetime limits in health plans so people know what is covered. 

• Bans all insurance companies from imposing pre-existing condition limits.

• Requires preventive care to be covered.

• Creates a new Health Insurance Rate Authority to provide Federal assistance and oversight to States for review of unreasonable rate increases and other unfair practices by insurance companies. Insurers with a pattern of abuse could be banned from offering plans in the new exchange.

• Requires plans to cover adult dependents up to the age of 26.

• Establishes a re-insurance program for employers that offer health insurance to early retirees.

• Closes the Medicare Part D prescription drug “donut hole” by 2020.

• Eliminates the deduction for employer subsidies for retiree drug coverage under Medicare Part D.

• Imposes fees on insurance companies, medical device makers, brand name drug manufacturers, and indoor tanning services.

• Adjusts for overpayments made to Medicare Advantage plans.

• Includes an additional 0.9 percent Hospital Insurance tax for households (currently a flat tax of 1.45 percent) with incomes exceeding $200,000 for singles and $250,000 for couples filing jointly. It would also add 2.9 percent tax for high income households on unearned income including interest, dividends, annuities, royalties, and rents.

• Limits flexible spending accounts under cafeteria plans to $2,500 a year starting in 2012.

NEA’s current health reform activities
In light of the upcoming Health Reform Care Summit and the release of the President’s proposal, NEA is sending a message to Congress that we want health care reform now.  An article has been posted on NEA Today at http://www.nea.org/home/35796.htm that discusses how health care reform is, once again, moving forward in Washington.  Also on the page is information and links to NEA’s new health care reform advertising campaign with the focus on the needs of America’s children.  

Please contact your representative in Congress today and urge him/her to finish the job and deliver a health reform bill that meets the needs of America’s families.

Finally, a new report released today by Health Care for America Now (HCAN) – the nation’s largest health care campaign – shows that passing the current Democratic health care reform proposals will give residents and governments in all 50 states and DC hundreds of billions of dollars in much-needed funds.  A total of $849 billion will flow to the states, with $460 billion allocated to help families afford private health insurance coverage and $389 billion to supplement state Medicaid programs, according to a state-by-state analysis of pending legislation. This report does not include the impact of the President’s Proposal for additional Medicaid funds to the states and increased affordability credits, all of which further enhance the impact described in the report.  http://HealthCareForAmericaNow.org/CriticalHelp

Project connects kids with great explorers, great events
The JASON Project from National Geographic connects students with great explorers and great events to inspire and motivate them to learn science. Sign up for free and you can take part in the Storm Tracker Digital Lab and see if you can predict where the storms will hit. Or explore the Operation: Resilient Planet Game to begin your 3-D underwater adventure with JASON researchers. Or try your hand at Coaster Creator to see if you can build a safe and thrilling coaster. And don¹t forget to visit the JMC Message Boards to discuss your findings with teachers and students around the world. http://www.jason.org

 

Feb. 19, 2010
Calls to U.S. Senate needed now on jobs bill;
NEA jobs package call-in day Tuesday, Feb. 23

The U.S. Senate is expected to consider jobs-related legislation on Tuesday to extend unemployment benefits and COBRA health coverage. 

Educators need to call their Senators immediately and urge them to include important education-related elements in any jobs bill they consider.  We need the bill to contain the following: 

• An Education Jobs Fund to save or create hundreds of thousands of education jobs;

• An extension of federal Medicaid funding to relieve budget pressures and prevent more cuts to education funding;  and

• Private pension relief to protect retirement security.

The U.S. House of Representatives has already passed a jobs bill with funding for states to hire and retain teachers and education support professionals. 

Now is the time for you to contact your Senators. NEA and its partner-organizations are sponsoring a “Jobs Package Call-in Day” on Tuesday, Feb. 23.    http://www.capwiz.com/nea/callalert/
index.tt?alertid=14704801&type=CO  

Feb. 17, 2010
New Harris Poll: Teachers' Voices Unheard
Sixty-nine percent of teachers do not believe their voices are heard in the debate on education, according to the latest MetLife Survey of the American Teacher: Collaborating for Student Success.  www.metlife.com/teachersurvey
  

Feb. 16, 2010
How Are Texas Kids Doing?
Each year, the Center for Public Policy Priorities attempts to answer that question with its report, The State of Texas Children: Texas KIDS COUNT Annual Data Book.  

"This year's data book chronicles how decades of state fiscal belt-tightening have squeezed off investment in child well-being in Texas, noting that even though federal stimulus dollars filled the gaps in the 2010-2011 state budget, resulting in a slight increase in state spending on services to children, Texas still ranks among the 10 states with the highest rate of child poverty in the nation, as it has for every year since 2000," the Center reports.

"Furthermore, the most current data available does not yet reflect the effects of the economic recession which hit Texas children and families much later than the rest of the country." http://www.cppp.org  

Bill White Visits Laredo
Bill White was in Laredo Feb. 15, one day before early voting began, and TSTA Region 1C was there to show the gubernatorial candidate that he has the support of all three local unions, who have a combined total of 3,600 members. TSTA-Political Action Committee endorsed White in early January. 

Laredo TSTA/NEA President Rene De La Vina, Region 1C President Hilario Cavazos and Region 1C Legislative and Political Action Committee Chair Ernest Davila were present at White’s appearance at a local restaurant, crowded by public education supporters. 

State Rep. Richard Raymond introduced the former Houston mayor as the candidate who will push public education in the right direction. “Bill White understands that education is key in developing quality jobs for our city,” Raymond said, “and that is why, as governor, he will work hard to improve our public schools.”    

White told the crowd that Texas needs to do much better for its public school students, noting that our state ranks "dead last among all states in the number of adults with a high school diploma."  

Cavazos said White deserves Democrats' endorsement and that he was an excellent Houston mayor who left the city in great shape. “You want someone with the credentials and the experience that will work for our schools and not contribute to their downfall,” Cavazos said.  

Feb. 12, 2010
TRS: Two Ideas for Cutting 5% from the Budget
In response to a request from the Governor, Lt. Governor and Speaker of the House for each state agency to prepare a budget with a 5% reduction, the Teachers Retirement System has proposed two options for the consideration of the Governor and the Legislative Budget Board.

 

The first option would return the $7.4 million in General Revenue (appropriated to fund exempted salaries for administrative operations) and reduce the draw on general revenue for the state contribution to retiree health care from 1% of covered payroll to .9634%.

 

The second option calls for TRS to allow 5% of the general revenue amount appropriated to fund exempted salaries to lapse and also reduce TRS’ draws on general revenue for the retiree insurance program from 1% to .95%.

 

More information can be found here, in TRS’ letter: http://www.trs.state.tx.us/about/documents/five_percent_
reduction.pdf


Now Online: TSTA-PAC Recommendations
TSTA’s Political Action Committee has screened the candidates in the upcoming primary elections and issued a list of recommendations. Note: We are not permitted to post Congressional recommendations on a public website but members can go to the Members Only area to view the full list.

  • Full list of recommendations more

  • List of state recommendations only more

Scott Questions Step Increase in 2010-11
Texas Commissioner of Education Robert Scott has requested an opinion from the Attorney General regarding the teacher pay raise passed in House Bill 3646. Specifically, Scott is requesting a ruling on whether a teacher is entitled to a step increase in the second year of the biennium (the 2010-11 school year). The language in the bill clearly states that teachers should receive a step increase for the 2010-11 school year, according to the salary schedule in place during the 2008-09 school year. In the near future, TSTA will file a brief with the Attorney General. We will keep you updated on our progress.

Feb. 11, 2010
Why Transportation Grants But Not Education Grants?
Video from the Select Committee on Federal Economic Stabilization Funding hearing: Rep. Jim Dunnam (D-Waco) questions why Texas will accept transportation grants from the federal government but not education grants. more

 

Feb. 10, 2010
Texas Recognized by College Board for AP Scores
Texas was recognized today by the College Board as one of 20 states with the greatest percentage of students earning scores of three or higher on Advanced Placement (AP) exams.

Tests are scored on a range of one to five. Colleges and universities typically give college course credit to those who earn scores of three, four or five.

Among students in Texas’ high school graduating Class of 2009, 76,875 or 28.7 percent took at least one AP exam during high school, compared to 26.5 percent for the nation. That represents a substantial increase from five years ago when 53,339 or 21.8 percent of the state’s graduating seniors took an AP test sometime during their high school career.

In Texas, 14.9 percent of the graduating Class of 2009 earned a score of three or higher on an AP test, compared to 12.5 percent of the Class of 2004 who did so.

Social sciences tests, which include history, government, economics and psychology, were the most popular tests taken by Texas students. They experienced their greatest success on English AP exams.

In the AP Report to the Nation: 2010 released today, three Texas high schools were recognized for the strong performance of their minority students.

Valley View High School in Hidalgo County’s Valley View Independent School District was highlighted as a "public school with the largest number of Latino students from the Class of 2009 scoring a three or higher" on the AP Spanish Literature exam.

The School of Science and Engineering at Yvonne A. Ewell Townview Magnet Center in Dallas ISD was again recognized as a "public school with the largest number of Latino students from the Class of 2009 scoring a three or higher" on the AP Calculus AB exam.

For the second year in a row, the Michael E. DeBakey High School for Health Professions in Houston ISD was spotlighted nationally as a "public school with the largest number of African-American students from the Class of 2009 scoring a three or higher" on the AP Calculus AB test.

Feb. 9, 2010
Update on Seclusion and Restraint Legislation

HR 4247, the Preventing Harmful Restraint and Seclusion in Schools Act, is pending in the U.S. House of Representatives. The issuance of two major reports and national news coverage of the use of seclusion and restraint tactics that lead to the deaths of students prompted the introduction of this legislation. On Feb. 4, the House Committee on Education and Labor reported the bill out of committee with a bipartisan vote of 34-10. There is no timeline set for House floor action.                                            

Before the bill was marked up in committee, NEA sent detailed suggestions and amendments to Chairman Miller's staff which resulted in:

  • preventing the creation of a national registry of educators accused of using abusive procedures

  • preventing the inclusion of a requirement that all school staff meet a certification requirement

  • focusing staff training on how to handle crisis situations safely and effectively

  • preventing provisions focused on punishing or exposing those who make mistakes

  • preventing data collection focused on targeting specific employees.  

In recognition of the good work educators do every day to make schools safe learning environments, Miller said, "This is about helping teachers, not punishing them." He added that the abusive use of seclusion and restraint in schools "...undermines the vast majority of teachers and staff who are trying to give students a quality education." 

At this point, the legislation: 

  • bans the use of physical restraint techniques that impede breathing

  • allows the use of appropriate seclusion or restraint in crisis situations that endanger students or staff

  • requires that every school site have a sufficient number of trained personnel to ensure that seclusion and restraint techniques are used safely by trained personnel whenever feasible.

NEA successfully thwarted provisions that focused on publicly identifying and punishing educators accused of inappropriately using seclusion and restraint. As a direct result of NEA’s efforts, the House bill, as it stands now, includes provisions accomplishing the following NEA goals:

  • acknowledges the right of education employees to work in a safe environment

  • supports and authorizes the use of positive behavior supports and funding for professional development

  • ensures that public schools are not unfairly targeted by applying provisions to all schools, including private schools and charters that receive public funding

  • guarantees that provisions do not focus solely on students with IEPs by applying the appropriate use of seclusion or restraint procedures for use with any student whose actions result in a crisis. 

A summary of the legislation and an outline of the myths and facts (as described by committee leadership) can be found at http://edlabor.house.gov/blog/2010/02/myth-vs-fact-preventing-harmfu.shtml. The bottom line is that NOTHING in this legislation constitutes a prohibition against the appropriate use of seclusion and restraint techniques to ensure the safety of students and staff when a crisis arises.

Innovation Awards
Tell PBS why you are an innovative educator, submit a video clip or photograph showing them how you inspire your students, and you may win a PBS Teachers Innovation Award. March 12 is the deadline. more

Feb. 8, 2010
Grant for Technology and Educational Media Services
The Technology and Media Services for Individuals with Disabilities program is designed to improve results for children with disabilities by promoting the development, demonstration and use of technology; supporting classroom educational media services activities that are of educational value to children with disabilities; and providing support for captioning and video description that are appropriate for classroom settings. For more information, go to: http://www.disability.gov/education/news_%26_events

 

Feb. 5, 2010
SBEC Okays Educator Preparation Accountability System
The State Board for Educator Certification approved the newly-mandated Accountability System for Educator Preparation Programs. Very minor adjustments were made by staff before the system was approved by the board.

The board mandated new rules regarding certification of educators from other countries, to make things easier on SBEC staff. It also approved an educator preparation program from Texas A&M-Corpus Christi and Texas State University’s Master Mathematics Teacher program.

They spent two hours deliberating four contested certification cases. Deliberation came both in closed session and in public debate. SBEC staff advised the board that it will begin review of the Educators’ Code of Ethics this year. SBEC agency administration procedures and rules will also be reviewed. -- Paul T. Henley, TSTA Teaching and Learning Specialist

Feb. 4, 2010
House Education Committee Concerned About New Exams
Today, the House Committee on Public Education met to discuss health care issues and the partial implementation of House Bill 3, particularly  the new degree plans, the end of course exams and benchmarks for courses in which students will have to meet a certain minimum to obtain a diploma.

 

Texas Education Agency (TEA) staff explained that certain courses will have end of course exams; students will have to achieve a minimum grade on them to obtain a high school diploma. The committee seemed to be aware of this requirement, except for the fact that one of those courses will be Algebra II.  So, months after the Texas Legislature passed HB 3, some members were still not aware of the drastic changes in graduation requirements. Several committee members expressed extreme displeasure that such a high level math course could keep good students from obtaining a high school diploma. 

TEA staff also informed the committee that in some courses, students will have to meet benchmarks for the entire semester to obtain a degree. By the 2011-12 school year, those benchmarks must be in place.

TEA staff stated by way of example, that if a student needed to obtain a total number of 210 academic points in a semester (equaling a 70 for each six weeks period), the student would also have to obtain a minimum grade for each six weeks grading period in that semester. If the student does not reach the minimum benchmark for the six weeks period, then none of the academic points earned by the student would count toward the minimum cumulative number of 210 academic points needed to obtain a degree. TEA staff said that if the six weeks benchmark was a 60, and a student scored a 59 for the six weeks period, the student would receive no points toward the 210 total points needed to stay on track to obtain a degree. Again, this caused great concern among several of the committee members. 

The committee will reconvene in the fall to revisit the implementation of HB 3. -- John Grey, TSTA Government Relations Specialist

Feb. 2, 2010
Inflation Has Outpaced Teacher Salaries in Many States
Inflation over the past decade has outpaced teachers’ salaries in many states across the country, according to the National Education Association’s update to the annual report Rankings and Estimates: Rankings of the States 2009 and Estimates of School Statistics 2010. Adjusting for inflation, teacher pay increased only 3.4% on average, or $177 per year, during this period.

“Public schoolteachers across the nation are continuing to lose spending power for themselves and their families in an already struggling economy,” said NEA President Dennis Van Roekel. “We need to compensate teachers fairly for the work they do."

“How can we recruit and retain quality teachers for our students if we don’t pay them what they’re worth?” said Van Roekel. “Professional work deserves professional pay.” 

Rankings and Estimates provides statistics to raise public understanding of key issues affecting teaching and learning conditions in the nation’s public schools. Highlights:

. The national average public schoolteacher salary for 2008–2009 was $54,319.

. Public school enrollment was 48,960,698, up 0.1 percent over fall 2007.

. There were 3,229,545 teachers in 2008-09. The average number of students per teacher declined from 15.3 in 2007-08 to 15.2 in 2008-09.

. Males comprised 24 percent of public schoolteachers in 2009.

. The U.S. average per student expenditure for public elementary and secondary schools in 2008–09 fall enrollment was $10, 190.

The complete report, answers to frequently asked questions and other information can be found at http://www.nea.org/home/37872.htm.

Professional Development Online: Project Share
Professional development opportunities from Texas Education Agency begin this spring and continue into the 2010-11 school year. The TEKS-based professional development for K-12 teachers and administrators will address various topics such as the new science TEKS, end-of-course exams, math and science academies, and English Language Proficiency Standards. All professional development is designed to address content-specific TEKS as well as the College and Career Readiness Standards (CCRS) and the ELPS. The professional development offered through this initiative will be provided at no cost to school districts and open enrollment charter schools.

In addition, there will be online training modules through the state’s digital platform. This new initiative, known as Project Share, was announced in November 2009 in a letter to the administrator addressed which may be viewed at http://ritter.tea.state.tx.us/taa/comm111309.html. TEA will provide more information about Project Share through the various conferences scheduled for spring 2010.  

In order for teachers and administrators to receive the full benefit of the upcoming professional development, both face-to-face and online, districts and open enrollment charter schools will be contacted by their respective Education Service Centers (ESCs) in the next few weeks with information about the professional development opportunities and schedule for access to the Project Share platform. This access will also be provided at no cost to districts and open enrollment charter schools.

Education Gets 7.5% Increase in Obama Budget Proposal
President Obama released his proposed budget for fiscal year 2011 yesterday. The budget includes a freeze on the overall level of discretionary spending apart from national security and mandatory entitlements such as Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid. As proposed, education will receive as much as a 7.5% increase, roughly $3.5 billion.
 

The President’s proposed budget will provide $1.35 billion to fund Race to the Top grants; provide $1 billion contingent on a No Child Left Behind overhaul; transform the federal student loan program; increase maximum per student award for Pell Grants to $5,710, an increase of $160; cover an estimated one million more students with Pell Grants; revitalize community colleges; provide $9.3 billion for early childhood challenge grants; help students by providing $8.224 billion for Head Start and Early Head Start, an increase of $989 million; and invest in programs that serve the needs of diverse students.

NEA feels that the budget proposal is more evidence of the President's commitment to education, that he is demonstrating that he believes education is the best anti-poverty program. NEa is encouraged by the President’s willingness to listen to educators and other stakeholders and by his promise to improve schools by investing in what works.

Students Around the World to Compete in World Math Day
On World Math Day, March 3, students ages 5-18 see who can answer the most math questions online in 24 hours. Last year, almost two million students from 38,058 schools in 204 countries answered participated. www.worldmathday.com

Learning Disabilities Webinars
The Texas Center for Learning Disabilities hosts webinars and offers information. http://www.texasldcenter.org

Jan. 29, 2010
SBOE District 10 Candidate Forums
There are two upcoming candidate forums for State Board of Education District 10. 

Thursday, Feb 11: Round Rock PTA Council will host an SBOE-10 candidate forum at 7:00pm in the RRISD Performing Arts Center at McNeil High School, 5800 McNeil Drive. 

Thursday, Feb 18: Bastrop PTA Council will host an SBOE-10 candidate forum at 6:30pm in the Cafeteria of Bastrop High School, 1614 Chambers Street, Bastrop 

Jan. 28, 2010
Oregon Voters Support Their Schools
From NEA Today: "In a stunning and welcome victory for schools, voters in Oregon [on Jan. 26] approved new tax increases on corporations and the wealthy to help fill the state’s budget shortfall. By raising the corporate minimum tax from $10 to $150 and increasing the tax rates on household income above $250,000, Measures 66 and 67 will protect nearly $1 billion in funding for schools, health care, and public safety in Oregon." more


Jan. 27, 2010
NEA Applauds President’s Plans to Invest in Education        NEA supports the concepts President Obama outlined to improve elementary and secondary education and make it possible for more Americans to attend college, NEA President Dennis Van Roekel said tonight after the State of the Union address.

“The President made it very clear tonight that he refuses to sacrifice the education opportunities available to Americans as a way of digging out of our economic crisis. A country that makes education a priority is a country bound for economic success," Van Roekel said.  

“We applaud the President’s promise to improve our schools by investing in what works. NEA members have worked years under the flawed No Child Left Behind law, so we are anxious to work with the administration to reauthorize the Elementary and Secondary Education Act in a way that celebrates successful students, educators, and schools. We know that reauthorizing this law won’t be easy, but like the President, we believe the success of our children should not depend more on where they live than their potential.  We don’t know all the details of the proposals suggested by President Obama in his State of the Union address, but we agree with him that one of the best anti-poverty programs is a world-class education.   

“We know that education helps to improve the standard of living for individuals and American families.  We support the President’s plan to transform the federal student loan program and make college more accessible for a greater number of Americans. It just makes sense to invest in our students, not banks and private companies. We especially like his proposal to forgive some student loan debt for students who choose careers in public service. And, we join him in urging the Senate to pass legislation to help revitalize community colleges," the NEA president said. 

“The need for a dramatic plan to create more jobs and put more Americans back to work has never been more urgent.  We hope that the jobs bill will include additional funding to help rebuild and restore the nation’s crumbling public school buildings. We know that safe and modern environments are essential for student learning and success. Our experience tells us that students learn better in classes with fewer students and that laying off educators is a sure path to stunting innovation and impeding America’s prosperity.  We thank President Obama for acknowledging all of this in the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act and we applaud his plans to build on that effort. 

“Finally, we’ve faced some very tough challenges, individually and collectively as a nation. The President rightfully acknowledged the pain and sacrifices of working families over the past year. President Obama has demonstrated courage and leadership in tackling some very tough issues, but we know that the battle between policy and politics will continue. We move forward with confidence that with a shared vision for America, collaboration and hard work – the best is yet to come,” Van Roekel said.

Jan. 26, 2010
STAAR to Replace TAKS
Commissioner of Education Robert Scott announced today that the next generation of student tests will be called the State of Texas Assessments of Academic Readiness or STAAR.

STAAR will replace the Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills (TAKS), the criterion-reference assessment program that has been in place since 2003.

Pronounced "star, " it will be used for the 12 end-of-course assessments mandated by SB 1031 in 2007 and the new grade 3-8 assessments mandated by HB 3 in the 2009 legislative session.

The new tests begin in the 2011-2012 school year. Students in the graduating class of 2015, who are currently in seventh grade, will be the first students who must meet the end-of-course testing requirements, as well as pass their classes, in order to earn a diploma.

The new tests will be significantly more rigorous than previous tests and will measure a child’s performance, as well as academic growth.

The grade 3-8 STAAR tests in reading and mathematics, by law, must be linked from grade to grade to performance expectations for the English III and Algebra II end-of-course assessments.

During a speech at the Texas Association of School Administrators’ Midwinter Conference in Austin, Scott said the last TAKS-based school accountability ratings will be issued in 2011. Ratings will be suspended in 2012 while a new accountability system is developed. The new state rating system will debut in 2013. more

SBOE Amends Graduation Requirements
Starting with the 2010-11 school year, students will no longer be required to earn health and technology applications credits, the State Board of Education decided last week. Although the board adopted several amendments to Texas' graduation requirements, school districts retain the authority to add requirements beyond what is required in state law and rule for graduation. more

 

Jan. 25, 2010
NEA Health Information Network’s Stomach Bug Book
The NEA HIN and USDA have created The Stomach Bug Book to educate school personnel about Norovirus, its spread and prevention, and provide helpful resources for the school community.  It is important that students and school personnel, such as custodians, food service workers, bus drivers and school nurses, understand the importance of hand washing and cleaning during a Norovirus outbreak. To order copies contact: BrightKey, P.O. Box 371, Annapolis Junction, MD 20701-0371, call 877-250-5795, or fax 301-206-9789.  

New NEA Video Available on Social Security Offsets
NEA has a new video highlighting the impacts of the Government Pension Offset and Windfall Elimination Provision on educators.  The video, which runs just over six minutes long, features an introduction and closing call to action by NEA President Dennis Van Roekel, along with testimonials from impacted NEA members about the unfair offsets. Go to http://www.nea.org/home/16491.htm and click on the right-hand side of the page. Texas' Ginny Evans is one of the members offering a testimonial.

Status Update: The congressional agenda has been focused on health insurance reform, jobs, and national security, leaving little room for action on other items, including Social Security.  However, support continues to grow for the Social Security Fairness Act (H.R. 235/S. 484), which would completely repeal both offsets.  The House bill has 314 cosponsors and the Senate has 30. 

Repeal of the offsets remains a top priority for NEA.  Social Security reform will have to be addressed in Congress soon, and NEA will be pushing for repeal of the offsets as part of any package.  In the meantime, we continue to raise the need for repeal in as many different legislative venues as possible, including as part of any discussion on recruitment and retention of talented educators. 

House Passes Jobs Package with Education Jobs Fund
Today, the U.S. House of Representatives passed the Jobs for Main Street Act, a jobs package that includes a significant investment in education, by 217-212. You can see how all members of the House voted at http://clerk.house.gov/evs/2009/roll991.xml.   

Passage of this legislation builds on the historic increases in federal education funding passed this year, in the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act and both the fiscal year 2009 and 2010 education funding packages.  These victories for public education would not have been possible without the efforts of NEA affiliates and members across the nation throughout the year.     

Action now turns to the Senate, although that chamber is not expected to act on a jobs package until January. 

BACKGROUND/ADVOCACY EFFORTS: NEA has been working aggressively for weeks to ensure inclusion of education monies in a jobs package, especially given continued state budget shortfalls. Our Government Relations and Education Policy and Practice staff held numerous meetings on the Hill with key offices, including contact with the offices of Chairmen Obey and Miller, DCCC Chairman Chris Van Hollen, Representative Bobby Rush (co-chair of House Jobs Now! Caucus), Representative John Larson (who chairs the Democratic Caucus and is drawing attention to the need for hiring faculty and staff at community colleges), Senate Majority Leader Reid, and Senator Durbin (who is leading the Senate’s efforts on jobs package). 

We sent several letters to every Member of Congress (House and Senate) outlining our proposals for the package – including a specific request for an Education Jobs Fund.  Each Hill office also received a copy of an NEA chart (see attached) providing state-by-state data on the funds that will be lost after ARRA monies expire (the “funding cliff”).  Three consecutive Ed Insider cyber-lobbyist alerts asked cyber-lobbyists to contact Congress in support of the Education Jobs Fund.   

We also worked very closely with our partner intergovernmental organizations to secure the support of governors for our proposals, and actively participated in a Save Main Street Jobs coalition.

As a direct result of hard work at all levels of this Association, the House-passed jobs package includes significant education funding.   

SUMMARY OF JOBS PACKAGE:  The Jobs for Main Street Act includes several key provisions that will make a real difference for educators, public schools, and local communities: 

•        Education Jobs Fund -- $23 billion that will help states retain or create an estimated 250,000 education jobs over the next two years. This Fund – provided as NEA requested -- will have an immediate impact, as saving an education job involves no wait time to draw up contracts or acquire materials.  It will also help keep schools fully staffed with teachers and education support professionals at a time when many students are experiencing great stress.  A recent University of California study found that children in families where the head of the household had lost a job were 15 percent more likely to repeat a grade. 

•        School Construction -- Over $4 billion for school construction, renovation and modernization to modify bonds created under ARRA to make them more attractive to school districts and investors.  As a result, it will create greater opportunities to build, repair, and modernize schools, advance student achievement and generate construction related jobs in local communities in every state.        

•        College Work Study -- $300 million.  Together with institutional matching funds, this funding will help approximately 250,000 students stay in school.  

•        Federal Medicaid Match – $23.5 billion – extends for six months the higher federal match for payments to doctors providing services to low-income families under Medicaid, thereby providing an incentive for states to commit resources to Medicaid while helping ensure services for beneficiaries.   

A complete summary of the package is available at http://appropriations.house.gov/pdf/Jobs_for_Main_
Street_Act_of_2010_Summary.pdf

Jan. 20, 2010
Laredo Editorial: Employees Need to Vote
The following letter from Rene De La Vina, full-time president of Laredo TSTA/NEA, was published in the Jan. 19 Laredo Morning Times:

 

Politics at times has been associated in our community with something negative, corrupt and detrimental to the overall growth of our schools. Some in our community view politics in our schools as a cancer that has permeated every classroom in our schools, somehow contaminating the purity and good soul of our teachers. The overall perception is that school politics is bad and those directly involved are even worse.

 

Like it or not, bad or good, school districts are governed by a school board and their members, school trustees, who got voted in through a political process we call elections. Without any input in this political process you might as well consider yourself an innocent bystander of "school politics."

 

TSTA has no interest in becoming an innocent bystander of school politics. We organize for power to move our schools forward and we make no apologies. But let's be clear here, we organize for social power and to reduce personalized power motive. We organize for social power to protect the rights of our members and stop abuses by individuals who seek to advance their own personal agendas. We organize to empower the collective and allow members to become main stakeholders in the direction of our schools.

 

That is why, as part of our organizing efforts, TSTA invites all public school employees to register to vote and make their vote count this 2010. Your vote counts and together as a voting block we can make a difference in our schools.

Things...They Are A Changin'...Done Changed!
James Harris, president of TSTA Region 2F, offered these thoughts in the January Lubbock Educators Association newsletter:

The world we live in is changing and in fact, it is changing faster by the day.  We can now go online and check out a person’s income to the dollar, what an individual paid for his home, and many more personal things.  Every little incident is quickly blown out of proportion and quickly put on the internet.  In fact, the internet is now used to search for loved ones and find one to love.  We see corruption at every level of business and government and there is a real sense that few folks do things to be helpful to others, their community, or even their jobs.  These are not reasons to fear that the sky is falling, but rather to understand that it is not business as usual and we must deal with things differently. 

Recently, the LEA President, Clinton Gill, advised members to periodically check their personnel folders.  I received a call from a teacher asking what was wrong.  The answer is “nothing is wrong.”  However, we live in a time when hackers can get into your files, they can set off a virus for fun, they can change information and they can steal your identity.  The Lubbock President is far thinking in making the recommendations-not because something is wrong, but to avoid the possibility of being a victim by circumstance. 

What we are expected to do as teachers is changing and while that change is difficult to confront sometimes, it is necessary to make the effort in order  to meet the needs of a changing society.  We will see Standard Based Curriculum in our schools soon across this state and for many teachers that will be a difficult adjustment.  While such a change seems overwhelming, it offers the creative teacher a real opportunity to help students in many more ways.  I am a person that is uncomfortable with change, but I know that as a professional, I’m in the business of change if I want to be successful.  In truth, our jobs depend on our professional flexibility.  In the face of new curriculum, new tests, and new standards, I would urge you to keep a very positive outlook and work to be part of the changes that are coming. 

I have no doubt that there will come a time in the future where we will look back at this period and be amazed that we allowed a political party to guide education because of their beliefs and that we would allow the quality of our students and ourselves to be judged by a set of tests that we had little or no input on deciding the content.  As long as we are financed by public tax dollars, we will try to meet the ever changing expectations of the political forces, but in their heart, each teacher strives to make a difference in the life of a student and you do it for the best and most pure of reasons.  The future brings big changes!  Just embrace them daily and do what you must do for the times in which we serve.  I believe with all of my heart that teachers are very special people who do a very special job and in spite of “test rankings,” you are honored by those you touch.

Jan. 19, 2010
NEA Urges Course Corrections on Race to the Top
President Barack Obama announced plans today to expand “Race to the Top,” a grant competition for education reform, during an event at Graham Road Elementary School in Falls Church, Va.

“The National Education Association shares the Obama administration’s goal of fostering innovation and reform to close the gaps in achievement and opportunity in our nation’s schools. NEA’s 3.2 million members have been part of numerous successful, targeted efforts to create optimal conditions for student learning and to develop and implement successful strategies to turn around struggling schools," NEA President Dennis Van Roekel said.

“As the Administration has recognized, educators are key partners in every successful education reform effort. The importance of collaboration must be emphasized in Race to the Top discussions and applications if the federal money is to be used efficiently and effectively.

“In light of decimated state budgets, the Administration must place more emphasis on fostering sustainability of reforms generated by Race to the Top. State and local partners must receive assurances and guidance that would increase the likelihood of sustained reforms beyond the next four years.

“While NEA supports the overarching goals of Race to the Top and its inclusion in the federal budget, the Administration must provide more detailed guidance and clarifications on how the program affects state and local laws, policies and agreements affecting school personnel. We urge the Administration to conduct a comprehensive evaluation of the first phase of Race to the Top with input from national, state and local stakeholders and make necessary course corrections. If done right, we believe Race to the Top grants could accelerate education reform at the state and local levels and go a long way toward ensuring great public schools for every student.”

Some Minnesota Schools Shift to Four-Day Week

Minnesota school districts that have begun using a four-day school week say that students, teachers and the community generally accept the shorter week and, in some cases, prefer it to the traditional five day week. That's good news, because the districts had to go to the four-day weeks whether the students, teachers or community liked it or not. more
 

Jan. 11, 2010
TSTA Endorses Bill White for Governor

This weekend, the Texas State Teachers Association Political Action Committee (TSTA-PAC) endorsed Bill White for Governor.  TSTA President Rita Haecker issued the following statement regarding the TSTA endorsement.

 

“Education was the first topic Bill White addressed in his speech declaring his candidacy for Governor, and Bill White will put public education front and center when he takes office as Governor of Texas.

 

“Having been raised by two parents who were schoolteachers, Bill White fully understands the challenges facing Texas teachers.

 

“Bill White will take steps to increase teacher salaries, aggressively attack the high rate of dropouts, logically address the damaging and degrading accountability system, and advocate for letting teachers teach instead of teaching to the test. Bill White believes in accountability but knows that high-stakes testing is part of the problem, and not a solution.

 

“Bill White has declared his commitment to putting our educational system under a microscope – not only to identify problems, but also to strategically implement solutions that will finally correct the ills that have plagued our public education system for over a decade.

 

“In 2008, Texas was 33rd in the country in teacher salaries and 44th in per pupil spending for instruction. Educational outcomes are affected by how much we invest, and we cannot create a first class school system without the resources required to educate a rapidly growing Texas student population.

 

“Bill White understands that Texas must attract and retain highly qualified teachers to give Texas students the skills needed to compete in the global marketplace. TSTA believes Bill White will usher in a new age of bipartisan educational reform in the State of Texas, and we greatly welcome the opportunity to effect that change alongside our next Governor.”

Why Bill White?

  •         He grew up in San Antonio, the child of two public school teachers.

  •         He was reelected twice as Houston’s mayor -- by margins of 86% and 91%.

  •         He was awarded the John F. Kennedy Foundation’s Profiles in Courage Award for his leadership in the wake of Hurricane Katrina, "in recognition of his political courage in leading a compassionate and effective government response to the disaster."

  •         Under his leadership, Houston had the lowest crime rate in 25 years.

  •         He served as U.S. Deputy Secretary of Energy and is recognized as an energy expert who pushes for measures to reduce America’s dependence on foreign oil. 

Learn more about Bill White and find out how you can get involved in his campaign at http://billwhitefortexas.com; see see the photos from his meeting with the TSTA PAC on flickr at www.flickr.com/photos/tstapublicaffairs/sets/
72157623119165931.

Update: Watch a video of Bill White visiting the TSTA Board of Directors in February 2010. more

 

 

 

 

 

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