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In an interesting political move, the General Assembly is expected to grant what may be referred to as ’emergency budget super powers’ to the Governor this week. Although it may appear harmonious at first, rest assured, this is anything but. No doubt, there is some very savvy political play set to unfold – the details of which, are being closely guarded. As for the rest of us… Waiting and watching is the name of the game.
Check out the story below:
From WRAL: Legislative measure gives Perdue more budget power
RALEIGH, N.C. — North Carolina lawmakers have rolled out a bill that would give Gov. Beverly Perdue more authority to reduce spending throughout state government to free up extra cash to help close an expected budget gap next year of more than $3.5 billion….
Links to the respective articles are:
http://neatoday.org/2011/01/14/who’s-really-to-blame-for-underfunded-pensions/
http://neatoday.org/2011/01/19/does-bullying-really-get-better/
http://neatoday.org/2011/01/21/governors-seek-authority-of-education/
http://neatoday.org/2010/10/07/how-finland-reached-the-top-of-the-educational-rankings/
(BE SURE TO CHECK OUT THE ‘GALLERY’ SECTION)
&
http://www.newsobserver.com/2011/01/23/938231/the-new-power-brokers.html#ixzz1BxZOhUUm
http://www.newsobserver.com/2011/01/24/940346/legislative-committees-getting.html
With the state forced to come to grips with a $3.7 billion budget deficit everyone knows cuts are coming to the K-12 education, the single biggest item in the state’s general fund budget. The how and where of budget cuts is just as important as their size. Unfortunately, the conventional wisdom is to weather the economic storm and apply across-the-board cuts.
This is a bad idea. Doing so falsely assumes the economic downturn is a temporary hiccup and that all programs deserve to be treated equally.
What is needed now – more than ever – is to know how to remake and resize education spending but not impact student learning. It’s a challenging though not impossible task. Fortunately, Michael Petrilli and Marguerite Roza of the Thomas B. Fordham Institute provide policymakers with a blueprint of 15 ideas for how school districts can “smartly” reduce education budgets. The fifteen ideas include:
Granted not all these recommendations will be applicable and easy to implement. However, they represent a far better option for dealing with the current crises than slap-dash across the board budget cuts. If you’re seriously interested in learning how our schools can navigate the current crisis, Petrilli and Roza’s suggestions should be considered a starting point for state and local discussions on the education budget.
From Under the Dome:
RALEIGH — Republicans members picked Mecklenburg County lawmaker Thom Tillis as speaker of the N.C. House this afternoon.
Tillis beat out current minority Leader Paul “Skip” Stam, an Apex attorney. That means that not only will the leader’s gavel will pass from the Democrats to the Republicans, but also that it will leave the Triangle: Joe Hackney, a Chapel Hill Democrat, had held the post since 2007.
Tillis, a 50-year-old management consultant who has worked for Fortune 500 companies, is congenial and polished, and has the reputation for focusing on the big priorities. He was first elected just four years ago, but has moved quickly up the leadership ladder in his party. He is currently minority whip, and generated hefty goodwill among fellow GOP members during this year’s campaigning by raising more than $350,000 to help Republican candidates to Stam’s more than $240,000.
Tillis’ selection still has to be elected by a vote of the full House when it reconvenes in January, but that is expected to be no more than a formality, given the GOP’s new 68 – 52 edge over Democrats.
He’ll move into the top job in the chamber as the Republicans begin a history-making year. It will be the first time in more than a century that the GOP has held both the House and Senate, and they’re eager to start work on a priority list of legislation that got nowhere under Democrats, including a proposal for a constitutional amendment to limit eminent domain and legislation to limit the effects of the federal health care overhaul on North Carolinians.
Read more: http://www.newsobserver.com/2010/11/20/815546/house-republicans-pick-tillis.html#ixzz15uyHw82E
November 20, 2010
Governor Perdue requested a plans for 5% and 10% cuts from all state-funded agencies.
DPI provided their recommendations this week for cuts to the public schools budget. A 5% cut would result in a $369 million reduction in state funding, but the federal stimulus funding will also be gone, adding $304 million to this amount. A 10% cut would require $701 million and this coupled with the lost federal funds could mean as much as a $1.1 billion cut to the K-12 budget.
Information released today indicates part of the DPI recommendation includes raising class size one student, from 18 to 19, in K-3. Class increases are also being recommended for Grades 4-12. In addition, teacher assistants would be eliminated except for Kindergarten. This would eliminate 13,000 teacher assistant positions. Funding for teacher assistants were hit hard in the past few budget years and so this is not surprise, but how will teachers manage with more children and less help in Grades 1-3.Other areas recommended to be cut are professional development and technology, two areas heavily funded in the federal Race to the Top grant.
Remember, this is just the beginning of the 2011-2012 budget process. Governor Perdue is expected to release her plan for trimming state government soon, which may help to limit the cuts to public schools that were proposed by DPI. The 2011General Assembly convenes in late January and the new Republican Senate and House majority members have already said they want to look at zero-based budgeting, and require justification for all state spending. School systems in NC will begin to understand soon what it will mean to them as the state faces a $3.2 billion deficit in preparing their 2011-2012 budget.
Hang on tight folks, it’s gonna be a bumpy ride for education funding next year.
November 9, 2010
Co-Chairs Representative Yongue and Senator Foriest opened the meeting.
National Board Certification Program for Principals:
Joan Auchter, Chief Program Officer presented on the National Board Standards for Accomplished Principals. She reviewed the nine standards developed to become a National Board Principal. The standards are: Leadership for Results, Vision and Mission. Teaching and Learning, Knowledge of Students and Adults, Culture, Strategic Management, Advocacy, Ethics, and Reflection and Growth. More information can be found at the NBPTS website: www.nbpts.org. NBPTS is working with the Southern Regional Education Board to pilot the test. Currently, 19 states and 660 principals are in the field test pool. North Carolina has 59 principals from 37 counties involved (more than any other state). The purpose of the field test is to get feedback on the assessment and to establish scoring materials and a passing standard. Principals involved in the test are submitting all work electronically. When asked about how many principals may be successful in getting their certification, Ms. Auchter noted, that 4 out of 10 teachers gain National Board certification, but it’s too early to know the success rate for principals until the field tests are completed.
Kris Nordstrom fiscal analyst presented on the fiscal impact of implementing this certification program at the state level. Certain assumptions are necessary. First certification is only for principals (not assistant principals). Next the model developed assumes 1.5 percent of all state-funded principals will earn certification, and once certified they would receive a 12 percent salary increase. For purposes of this cost estimate principals would assume the cost for the application fees. The estimated cost is $320,000 per year in state funds to support the salary increase. After ten years the cost would require $3.6 million in state funds based on the assumptions in the model.
Committee Discussion: There were questions about the NC counties where principals were participating in the field test, salary increases for principals who have a PhD, and how does the PhD program differ from NBPTS certification. Could institutions of higher education provide some of these standards as part of the principal’s education program? Can undergraduate degree programs be combined with certification? Can we quantify savings at the school with a certified principal directing the school program? What possible savings (reduced costs) can be gained for improved education at the school? Will a certified principal improve the graduation rate? Who will monitor the data? Several members are concerned about adding a program to the state education budget and the costs associated with the new program.
Race to the Top:
Bill Harrison presented an overview of the slightly less than $400 million 4-year grant that North Carolina was awarded this year. He advised members the funds are only for four years and they would not be coming back to the state to request those dollars be put into the education budget at the end of the grant. The purpose of the grant is “Building Capacity.” He mentioned reading a recent Education Week article, where it was reported 75 percent of US students in 4th grade were proficient in meeting state reading and math standards, when looking at the same results for these students on international standards the results are not as high. The Common Standards will help get most of the States on the same page for Reading and Math. Finally, he told members competent caring teacher and principals are critical to the success of the NC RttT plan.
Dr. June Atkinson spoke on the RttT grant as well. She noted NC is one of 11 states to receive that grant and the grant funding will be a “Game Changer” for NC. It will provide NC with the funding to move faster and further in their reform efforts. The two key goals of the grant are 1) Increase the Graduation Rate from 74.2 percent statewide to 85 percent and 2) Strong student Achievement. All 115 LEAs and 44 charter schools have just submitted their scope of work plans to access their portion of the RttT grant funding. Not all of the charter schools were eligible to submit plans because the grant is tied to the Title I program and not all charter schools have a Title I program. Dr. Atkinson also noted that there are 111 low-performing schools in the state who will be assisted with the RttT grant funding. The RttT grant is like a contract and if NC wants to make changes to the contract they will be required to get approval from US Educcation. Department (USED).
Mr. Adam Levinson the director of the grant presented some key facts on the grant. The LEA funding portion is $165 million with $35 million being set aside for the Technology “Cloud” program. The remainder of the funding $199 million will be used by DPI to implement 15 additional strategies listed in the table below as well as funding from administration for the grant:
| Coordinator | Initiative | Objectives | Budget |
| Peter Asmar
Philip Price |
Technology Infrastructures and Resources | 1) Establish Technology “cloud.”
2) Digital tools and resources to support RttT. 3) Prepare educators to use online resources and tools. |
$34,639,376 from LEA resources |
| Martez Hill | Evaluation and Policy Analyses | 1) Ongoing evaluations to improve RttT initiatives.
2) Summative analyses for future program, policy, and funding decisions. 3) Conduct analyses of NC policies to consider removal of policy barriers and development of policy reforms. |
$9,498,277 |
| Angela Quick | Transition to new Standards and Assessments | 1) Gain stakeholder support for transition.
2) Ensure teachers understand the new standards and assessments. 3) Ensure Stakeholders understand and use summative assessments effectively. |
Instructional Improvement and Professional development Budgets |
| Adam Levinson | State Data Use | 1) Make NC data accessible to stakeholders.
2) Ensure stakeholders are able to make use of the data. 3) Data used to support decision-making and continuous improvement processes. |
Professional Development Budget
|
| Angela Quick | Instructional Improvement System | 1) Increase the use of instructional improvement systems.
2) Develop statewide instructional improvement system to support curriculum-embedded assessments, diagnostic assessments, curriculum monitoring, and summative assessments. 3) Provide technology infrastructure to support instruction. 4) Prepare teachers to make effective use of the instructional improvement. 5) Improve student achievement outcomes. |
$23,299,248 |
| Lynne Johnson/ Rebecca Garland | Teacher and Principal Evaluation processes | 1) Fully implement the NC teacher and principal evaluation processes. | $5,320,100 |
| Pat Ashely | Performance incentives for lowest achieving schools | 1) Opportunities to earn incentives based on student performance.
2) Transition to classroom-level incentives by 2012-2013. |
$19,048,745 |
| Lynne Johnson/ Rebecca Garland | Teacher effectiveness and evaluation planning | 1) Develop a state-level transparent system for integrating student achievement growth data into evaluations for all teachers and principals. | $700,840 |
| Lynne Johnson/
Bill Harrison |
Regional Leadership Academies | 1) Increase the number of principals qualified to lead transformational change in low-performing schools and in rural and urban areas. | $18,608,809 |
| Lynne Johnson | Expand Teacher recruitment and licensure programs | 1) Increase the number of Teach for America teachers in low-performing schools.
2) NC Teacher Corps recruit college graduates to teach in low-performing schools. 3) Induction support program for new teachers including, a 3-year support for teachers in low-achieving schools. |
$20,244,287 |
| Lynne Johnson | Strategic staffing initiatives | 1) Support development, implementation, and evaluation programs to strengthen staffing in low-performing schools. | $250,000 |
| Bryan Setser | NC Virtual Public School Expansion | 1) Expand availability of virtual courses in Math and Science for low-performing schools and other schools where curriculum may be limited. | $6,456,023 |
| Lynne Johnson | Research on effective of teachers and principals | 1) Use data and lessons to make decisions about program improvements, expansion and closures. | N/A |
| Lynne Johnson | Professional Development | 1) Create, train, and support teachers and principals as professional development leaders to establish professional development capacity.
2) Develop resources to support effective professional activities. 3) Align professional development with reform initiative in RttT plan. 4) Expand online professional development infrastructures. 5) Evaluate professional development activities to determine impact on teaching practices and student achievement. |
$37,027,995 |
| Pat Ashley | District and School Transformation System | 1) Improve performance of all low-performing schools to move all schools above 60 percent level. | $41,980,147 |
| June Atkinson | Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics thematic schools and network | 1) Develop four coordinated STEM schools each focused on a major area relevant for NC economic development.
2) Use anchor schools as centers for professional development, curriculum development, technology use, and innovation to impact networks of STEM schools throughout NC lowest-achieving schools. |
$10,146,297 |
*Please note in preparing this overview the external partners who may receive contracts or who have contracts pending for the grant funds were not listed to simplify the table. If you would like a list of the partners please submit a request for the information.
The plan is to raise statewide achievement standards. The SBE provided updated student achievement targets at their November meeting last week. Each LEA and charter school will set their own targets based on their present student achievement levels. NC is anticipating release of the federal funding by early December. Staff noted the entire sum will be sent once the State plan is approved by USED. The LEAs will then have full access to their funding. All of the money could be used immediately or through the next four years.
Committee Discussion: Members raised concerns about the assessment inconsistency footnote. As tests/assessments change to match the new Common Core Standards curriculum, how can you correlate data on student test scores against older test data. Another member addressed the issue of using the Common Core standards. Overall, there appeared to be concerns about how the one-time $400 million funding would be spent, and who would monitor, and oversee the use of funds to ensure the goals were being achieved.
The Joint Legislative Education Oversight Committee is scheduled to meet December 7th.
Tuesday, November 9th, 2010
By Chris Fitzsimon
http://www.ncpolicywatch.com/cms/2010/11/09/a-hint-of-things-to-come/
If you are wondering how the new Republican majorities in the General Assembly will handle the state’s $3.5 billion shortfall next year, a few statements in the last few days provide some clues.
The leading candidates for House Speaker, Representative Paul Stam and Representative Thom Tillis, appeared this weekend on the WRAL-TV public affairs show On the Record along with NC GOP Chair Tom Fetzer.
The program started with a news story about the potential cuts to services to people with disabilities and included a comment from an official with the ARC of North Carolina, a group that provides services to the disabled and advocates on their behalf. She said that deep cuts on top of the ones made in the last two years would be devastating and pointed out that 7,000 people are currently on the waiting list for help.
A few minutes after the story, host David Crabtree asked Fetzer if it would be a public relations problem for the Republican Party if its legislative leaders followed through on their pledge not to raise any new revenue to address the shortfall and made it up by deeply slashing the state budget and cutting services like the ones featured in the story.
Public relations may have been an odd thing to ask about, but Fetzer’s response was far more troubling. He told Crabtree that “we need people to get in charge and do what’s best for the whole state of North Carolina and if some special interests get trimmed along the way, then so be it.”
The message was clear. People with disabilities are a special interest. Anybody who opposes the Republicans’ efforts to cut 20 percent or more from education and human services must be a special interest too, people with a mental illness, teachers, at-risk kids.
It’s not much different than what the head of the Locke Foundation calls advocates for people who need services or teachers who speak out for smaller classes—he lumps then all together in what he calls the “spending lobby” in Raleigh, people he thinks should be ignored or run over when it comes time to write the budget.
Tillis said shortly after the election last week that the cuts the Republicans plan to make could lead to “legitimate, sad stories about people who may end up suffering,” presumably Fetzer’s “special interests.”
Stam told Crabtree that the university system is likely to suffer severe cuts next year and that may be an understatement. Another staff member of the Locke Foundation, whose right-wing budget proposals are a blueprint for Republicans, told a reporter that some campuses of the UNC system may have to be consolidated or closed.
That was the worst case scenario outlined by outgoing UNC President Erskine Bowles last week at his last meeting with the Board of Governors.
But it’s not a worst case scenario at all to the folks at the Locke Foundation and the Republican leaders with their dogmatic refusal to consider raising new revenue. It’s an opportunity, a chance to dismantle the government they loathe, regardless of the damage and pain it creates. Calling the most vulnerable people in the state a special interest hardly makes it okay to hurt them.
By Chris Fitzsimon
http://www.ncpolicywatch.com/cms/2010/11/04/a-must-read-for-new-lawmakers/
The debate about how to address the state’s anticipated $4 billion budget shortfall has already begun in next year’s General Assembly, two months before the new Republican majorities in the House and Senate are sworn in and elect their leaders.
Republican legislators are repeating their vow to address the massive shortfall with cuts alone and refuse to consider raising any new revenue to protect vital state programs from devastating reductions.
It’s a point reinforced almost daily by the radical right-wing propaganda machine that provided the ideologically-biased polls and anti-government talking points for Republicans throughout the recent campaign.
Slash and burn is the plan, $4 billion worth, from public schools, mental health programs, and health care services for children and the disabled. That’s what coming. You can count on it.
The head of Raleigh’s most well-known right-wing think tank, a place that Republicans routine look to for direction, said Thursday that the new majorities should eliminate both of the state’s national recognized early childhood programs, Smart Start and More at Four because there’s no evidence that they work.
He said the money saved could be used better elsewhere, like to balance the budget. The comments are not surprising. Similar comments have been made in recent months by a long list of Republicans who seem to have very little understanding of what the programs do and how they work.
Ironically, the comments came roughly an hour after a comprehensive study of More at Four from the Frank Porter Graham Child Development Institute at UNC-CH was released at the State Board of Education meeting.
Every legislator should read it. Researchers found that low income children who attended the More at Four pre-k program narrowed the achievement gap with their middle-class counterparts by as much as 40 percent by the third-grade.
That’s exactly what More at Four was designed to do, help at-risk kids catch up in the early grades so they don’t begin school far behind their classmates and become more likely to struggle throughout their school years and eventually drop out.
The report is just the latest confirmation by the Institute that More at Four works. Previous studies have shown that the program provides high-quality classroom learning that leads to high rates of achievement growth, particularly by kids most at risk of failure.
Critics of More at Four, including the right-wing think tanker who dismissed it so cavalierly Thursday, often claim that whatever gains children make from the program fade away as the kids get older.
It’s an odd criticism to make. No one believes that at-risk kids stop being at risk when they leave kindergarten. Many of the factors that caused them to fall behind in the first place are still there. But at least now the kids have a fighting chance and can benefit from additional help to keep them on track.
The claim also ignores compelling evidence from studies that have followed kids from pre-k programs into adulthood and found their lives to be vastly better than at-risk kids who did not have the chance to catch up before kindergarten.
There was plenty of evidence before this latest report was released that pre-k programs like More at Four make an important difference in children’s lives.
The new study that involves a data set of more 200,000 kids ought to remove any doubts, even among members of the new conservative majorities.
All they have to do is open their minds and take an honest look.
BY STEVE FORD – ASSOCIATE EDITOR
As a colleague of mine remarked, Republicans’ motto as they saddle up to take control of North Carolina’s General Assembly could be, “Do less with less.”
We’re about to get an earful of that old conservative anthem celebrating the virtues of limited government and low taxes. And on principle, who’s to disagree? Nobody wants more government than we need, and nobody wants to pay taxes swollen because of bureaucratic inefficiency or bloat.
But that doesn’t mean the philosophical divide between conservatives and liberals (which more or less correlates with the partisan divide between Republicans and Democrats) over the core issue of government’s proper size and mission is a trivial one. It’s all about parsing needs and wants, and then figuring out who should pay how much.
Those in line to pay the most often argue that the state can get by with doing less. Yet when the budget knife starts cutting, who gets hurt? If it’s the young and the vulnerable, the cutters have been too clumsy.
The two sides’ beliefs as to how the public is best served are about to be vigorously tested – perhaps no more so than in the arena of education.
Together, the state’s educational enterprises – public schools, community colleges, universities – swallow the largest share of money routed each year into the General Fund. For example, the budget for July 2009 through June 2010 set aside $7.4 billion for the schools, $1 billion for the community colleges and $2.7 billion for the UNC system. The total budget (this was current operations, not capital): $19 billion.
That budget was prepared under severe duress as state revenues plunged amid the recession. The situation was even worse this year. Helped by federal stimulus funds, legislators and Gov. Beverly Perdue were able to stave off serious cuts in public school expenditures.
For the next budget cycle, however, the immovable object of education costs is about to meet the irresistible force of a monster shortfall that looks to be in the range of $3.5 billion. And then there’s irresistible force No. 2: Republicans’ determination to put the budget in balance, as the state is obligated to do, via spending cuts alone. They’ve as much as said no new taxes except over their dead bodies.
Of course nobody should be eager to raise taxes while jobs are scarce, families are struggling to keep their homes and companies are caught in the recession’s downdraft. But especially when it comes to the state’s investment in our schools, the picture without some kind of revenue infusion can’t help but look grim. So much money will be needed to close the shortfall that it will be hard to avoid whacking into the budget’s largest line item.
The bitter irony is that, as the Public School Forum of North Carolina points out, this has never been a state that shot the moon with its public school outlays.
Now, says the Forum, which has kept a sharp eye on the state’s education scene since the mid-1980s, the budget squeeze could push North Carolina close to the bottom in a ranking of per-pupil expenditures.
How could that happen? The Forum says North Carolina during the last fiscal year ranked 42nd in state and local outlays for school operations – $8,743 per student. The U.S. average was $10,190.
Nobody would suggest that every state toward the top of the list is getting good value in spending more than we do. But what if North Carolina did find itself trailing the pack? That not only would signal real deficiencies in school quality, but also would amount to a failure of our responsibility to the state’s youth. It’s not the sort of thing businesses or families deciding where to locate like to see.
The legislature’s new Republican bosses will be perfectly entitled to look for ways to make state government more cost-effective. They should. And their aversion to taxes should mean a disciplined approach to spending. But just because the Democrats have taken a broader view of the government’s responsibilities, that doesn’t mean they’ve necessarily been undisciplined.
This is the fork in the philosophical road. The belief that investments in public education should be generous – they are, after all, investments with a proven record of success – does not translate into a belief in waste, feather-bedding and inane curriculums.
School systems should be well-enough funded so that every student has a capable teacher in an uncrowded classroom. Right-sizing should not always mean down-sizing and operating on the cheap. And the same applies to other state services such as higher education, mental health, environmental protection and the courts.
Let’s hope that an improving economy takes some of the pressure off the state’s budget-balancers. And if the Republicans can look beyond the self-serving calls for spending and tax cuts echoing from the special interests who propelled their campaigns, perhaps they will be able to reconcile their sincere beliefs in limited government with a budget strategy that can at least come close to meeting the state’s critical needs.
For the article: http://www.newsobserver.com/2010/11/07/784033/will-they-scrimp-on-schools.html#ixzz14n7tDKp5
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