In this edition of Fast Five on Friday, you will find articles on the following:
Ø Link to January 19 Superintendents’ Webcast (Attachment)
Ø Governor’s Budget Submission
Ø 2012-13 SEEK Forecast
Ø NCLB Waiver Update
Ø KBE to Consider Resolution to Support KEAT Message on Funding
Ø Legislative Update for Week of January 16-20
Fast Five on Friday
(Six this Week)
Link to January 19 Superintendents’ Webcast - For those of you who were unable to watch yesterday’s superintendents’ webcast, you can view it by clicking here. Also, the PowerPoint used during the webcast is attached to this e-mail.
Governor’s Budget Submission – As you are aware, Governor Beshear gave a speech on his budget submission to a joint session of the legislature this week. You can see the text of the speech at http://migration.kentucky.gov/nr/rdonlyres/56C095EE-B6D6-4714-887D-3A703771870B/276285/2012BudgetAddress.pdf . Additionally, you can find the Governor’s proposed executive branch budget and Transportation Cabinet budgets at www.osbd.ky.gov. The Six-Year Highway plan is available at www.transportation.ky.gov.
2012-13 SEEK Forecast – KDE has calculated the 2012-13 SEEK district allocations based on the Governor’s proposed budget as presented to the General Assembly on January 17, 2012. These calculations can be found at: 2012-13 SEEK Forecast
This calculation is based on the Governor’s proposed $3,833 per pupil amount, a $725,000 equalization level, and the KDE/GOPM Consensus Inputs for such data elements as Assessments and AADA. It is for budgeting and analysis purposes only and will not be used for determining actual payments to the districts. The SEEK budgeting tool is also available to assist with your analysis of the SEEK allocation at: https://odss.education.ky.gov/webforms/
As the legislature considers other budget proposals for SEEK, those numbers will be run through the SEEK calculation and posted to the website so that you will know the impact of those proposals. Until a budget bill is passed, the calculation will be run using the KDE/GOPM Consensus inputs. Once the budget bill is passed and the appropriation is final, your district forecast inputs will be utilized. At that time, the SEEK Forecast and Detail District Payment Schedule will be calculated for the payments beginning in July and will be posted to the website.
If you have any questions, please contact Kay Kennedy at Kay.Kennedy@education.ky.gov or Chay Ritter at chay.ritter@education.ky.gov.
NCLB Waiver Update – Yesterday, KDE staff made a few minor changes to the ESEA waiver request and submitted it for final approval to the United States Department of Education. We are being told that a decision on approval may come as early as next week and everything looks positive. The final version is posted on KDE’s website at: http://www.education.ky.gov/NR/rdonlyres/A01D0C2A-4F26-4B81-96BC-DCB777EB41F1/0/RevisedESEAflexibilityrequestFINAL011912.pdf .
KBE to Consider Resolution to Support KEAT Message on Funding – As most of you know, seven education advocacy groups have formed a coalition called the Kentucky Education Action Team (KEAT). KEAT is urging the Governor and the General Assembly to address funding challenges by reversing the decline of state dollars to fund public schools. The seven organizations are the Kentucky Association of School Administrators, Kentucky Association of School Councils, Kentucky Association of School Superintendents, Kentucky Education Association, Kentucky Parent Teacher Association, Kentucky School Boards Association and the Prichard Committee for Academic Excellence. You can find the press release issued by KEAT at http://www.kasa.org/documents/KEATnewsreleaseFINAL.pdf , the video of their press conference at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=56YPPtYoNtk and their message at http://www.kyeat.org/KEAT/Home.html .
At the February 1 session of the Kentucky Board of Education, the board plans to take up a resolution in support of the work that KEAT is doing to communicate the serious funding challenges that public education is facing and the effects of the situation on Kentucky’s students.
Legislative Update for Week of January 17-20 – The following information will provide a summary of legislative activities for the week of January 17-20. If you have questions, contact Kevin Brown at kevin.brown@education.ky.gov or Tracy Herman at tracy.herman@education.ky.gov .
v Budget
The first step in the adoption of a new state budget began with the Governor announcing his budget priorities Tuesday night in his address to the General Assembly. His budget proposal has been filed as HB 265.
Additional information can be found at the Office of the State Budget Director’s website under 2012-2014 Executive Budget Recommendations. http://osbd.ky.gov/publications/buddocs.htm
We will keep you posted as the budget continues through the process.
v House Education Committee
The House Education Committee heard three bills this week and all passed out of committee as follows:
HB 89 (Rep. Derrick Graham) requires at least one parent representative of the school council to reside in the local school district.
HB 216 (Rep. Jeff Greer) requires compulsory school age attendance to be raised from 16 to 18 over a two-year period. Commissioner Terry Holliday along with First Lady Jane Beshear testified on behalf of the bill.
HCR 42 (Rep. Jody Richards) directs the Legislative Research Commission to create a task force to develop a strategy to provide computing devices to fifth and sixth graders for school and home use.
v Senate Education Committee
The Senate Education Committee changed its scheduled agenda due to the Senate convening earlier than expected on Thursday. The two bills that were on the agenda were postponed until next week.
v Passed the House and now go to the Senate
HB 30 (Rep. Terry Mills) allows local school boards to sell advertising on school buses with certain prohibitions on types of advertising.
HB 91 (Rep. Linda Belcher) defines "digital citizenship" and requires local school boards to implement acceptable use policies around the defined term.
v Passed the Senate and now goes to the House
SB 84 (Sen. Ken Winters) requires local boards of education to adopt rules, regulations, and bylaws which shall specify the requirements for conducting meetings.
v Next Week
The House Education Committee hasn’t released its agenda yet, but the Senate Education Committee is scheduled to hear the two bills that were postponed from this week’s agenda and probably other bills as well regulations that have been referred from the Education Assessment and Accountability Review (EAARS) committee. Those bills are:
SB 21 (Sen. Jimmy Higdon) permits a school district to adjust its calendar to keep schools open on the days of a regular election, a special election, and a primary election if no school in the district is used as a polling place.
SB 86 (Sen. Ken Winters) establishing options for early high school graduation is expected to be heard.
v Future Meetings Affecting KDE
Currently, KDE will present its budget recommendations to the House Budget Review Subcommittee on Primary and Secondary Education on Wednesday, February 1, 2012. The committee is scheduled to meet at noon in Annex Room 111.
If you have questions on any of the articles included in this edition of Fast Five, please contact me at the e-mail address or phone number found below.
Terry Holliday, Ph.D.
Commissioner of Education
Kentucky Department of Education
Office 502-564-3141
Fax 502-564-5680
E-mail Terry.Holliday@education.ky.gov