SAI news via emailSAI Legislative Priorities for 2012
Mission Statement: SAI’s mission is to support, encourage and develop Iowa’s leaders and learners.
The following items are presented as areas that SAI would like legislators to consider as legislation is developed for the 2012 session.
Allowable Growth
All Iowa school district budgets are under serious stress with zero percent allowable growth for 2011-2012. The allowable growth rate for 2012-2013 has been set at 2 percent, which is a welcome improvement. For 2013-2014, we support an increase of 3 percent in allowable growth. This allowable growth should be used to fund current programming. If additional resources are needed to implement the Branstad-Reynolds reform model titled One Unshakable Vision; World Class Schools for Iowa, funding should be provided in addition to the 3 percent increase in allowable growth.
Preschool
We support the current Voluntary Preschool Program as it exists in the Iowa Code and emphasize how important it is to have early childhood education available to all children and financed through the funding formula. We believe the current preschool program with qualified teachers will be a strong factor for success in meeting the Vision’s goal of ensuring third grade literacy. We believe preschool is an important step in helping to reduce the achievement gap present in Iowa schools. The preschool funding level has been changed for 2011-2012. We believe more time is needed to evaluate the impact of that change to see if the reduced funding will meet the needs of the program.
Tax Equity
We support property tax reform efforts that address both taxpayer and student inequities. This includes lowering the highest school additional levy rates to the state average. The tax equity reform must be revenue neutral for the districts not receiving the equity adjustments.
ELL Funding
For many school districts in Iowa, ELL funding is an important issue. State funding often does not provide enough revenue to cover all of the program costs. In the past, school boards were allowed to fund the deficit locally. We support that ELL funding deficits continue to be left to the local school board’s discretion as has been allowed in the past.
Secure an Advanced Vision for Education
We support using the SAVE funds for their original stated purpose. A diversion of these funds for any other purpose would be a violation of trust with the citizens of Iowa.
Modified Allowable Growth for Dropout Prevention
We support revision of the Iowa Code and administrative regulations to provide school districts greater flexibility in how funds can be used for dropout prevention and remediation efforts in school districts. Needs vary from district to school district, and flexibility of use with these funds can work well to meet the needs of students.
Concurrent Enrollment
We support the ability of school districts to allow for students who begin a concurrent enrollment class under the Senior Year Plus program to continue for high school credit if they decide to drop the college credit under the community college’s timeline. We also support allowing non-proficient students to be able to take advantage of concurrent enrollment opportunities. All students can gain tremendously by becoming involved in the concurrent enrollment programming opportunities.
One Unshakable Vision; World Class Schools for Iowa
We commend the Branstad administration and the Department of Education for their important work and interest in school reform. We share their interest in educational transformation. Many important details are being developed on the One Unshakable Vision; World Class Schools for Iowa blueprint. We will update our recommendations once the details are shared. There are many aspects of the vision that are encouraging, and we have some questions about other parts of the vision.
We believe that all costs of the reforms included in the Governor’s recent report shall be funded with additional resources and not through repurposing existing pre K-12 funds. The resource of time shall also be allocated in order to allow the Iowa Department of Education and local school districts sufficient preparation to collaborate to build the capacity needed for the reforms.
The importance of district and building leadership for the changes needed in schools across Iowa cannot be overlooked or minimized. School administrators and school boards must be able to lead schools and districts if long-lasting change is to be successful for increased student achievement. Under the Iowa governance model for schools, these leaders will be held accountable for the necessary results. They must be given the time, resources and authority necessary to lead in order to achieve the needed outcomes.
AEA Support
We support the AEA system in Iowa and believe it should be funded appropriately to support students and school districts across the state. AEAs will be very important partners as we proceed with One Unshakable Vision; World Class Schools for Iowa. Any reduction in funding to the AEA system is a reduction in services for the children and schools in Iowa. The additional reduction in AEA funding for FY 2013 is problematic if schools are to meet increased expectations.
Administrator Mentoring and Induction
We support the inclusion of teacher and administrator mentoring and induction programs in the current educator quality/compensation law. Administrator mentoring and induction should be extended to two years, as is currently the case for teachers. Funding for required administrator mentoring and induction needs to be reinstated after being cut last session.
Parent Engagement
A statewide effort should be implemented to support parent engagement in all Iowa schools. This program could be based on Iowa’s current Statewide Parent Information Resource Center.
School Administration Manager Program
We support funding a statewide School Administration Manager program so that all schools can realize the benefits. SAMs can significantly affect the amount of time the principal has to be an instructional leader and will improve student learning as a result.
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