Current Issues for ECASB

Men are never so likely to settle a question rightly as when they discuss it freely.
-Thomas B. Macauly

State Legislative Network Members Return from Albany

ECASB's State Legislative Network members recently returned from Albany where they participated in this year's program, "A PARTNERSHIP WITHOUT PARTISANSHIP," sponsored by the New York State School Boards Association (NYSSBA).

"Local taxpayers are stretched to the breaking point, while communities are demanding improved academic performance. The world economy requires new skills, while elected officials have called for wholesale changes in local school governance. Meanwhile the political winds have changed. Voters brought in new leadership at both the state and federal levels. Newly elected leaders have signaled new approaches and new priorities. In this environment, we need a partnership between locally elected school officials and locally elected state officials to help our students succeed," says NYSSBA.

Attendees heard about cost containment, wise stewardship and spending for success. They met with key state legislative leaders to discuss allocation of new state aid and to press for relief from unnecessary mandates. "It takes local school leaders to mold a community’s dreams and resources into a better tomorrow, and it takes state leaders to provide the means and the direction," says NYSSBA. "You’re not in this alone and State leaders cannot shape public education’s future without knowing conditions and consequences in your district."

Recognizing that change can only occur through dedicated partnership among local school boards and state leaders, component responsibilities of these partners have been designated. Prudent management of funds has been identified as the school leaders' part of the partnership. Top commitments for school boards this year are: 1) raising the graduation rate, 2) keeping students safe, 3) managing expenses, and 4) increasing federal funding. Giving school boards the necessary resources and authority to succeed in the shared vision has been identified as the state's "part of the partnership." This includes: 1) reforming the school funding formula, 2) providing taxpayer relief, 3) refining the student testing program, and 4) improving teacher quality.
For more information, visit the NYSSBA Web site.

 

Five Topics Highlighted at Legislative Breakfast with WNY Delegation Members

Five topics - Pension Reform, Health Care Costs, The Taylor Law, Charter Schools, and Unfunded Mandates - were discussed at this year's ECASB Legislative Breakfast. Click here to see the issues statements and questions discussed with the legislators. Some 150 members and friends of ECASB attended. Such broad participation, including representatives from seven partnering organizations, helped underscore the united concern about the issues addressed. The partnering organizations were: the League of Women Voters, Western Region PTA, Erie-Niagara School Superintendents, WNY Association of School Business Officials, WNY Association of School Personnel Administrators, Instructional Development Advisory Board, and the WNY Association of Secondary School Principals.
Members of the Western New York Delegation who attended were:

Assemblyman Mike Cole
Assemblyman Dennis Gabryszak
Assemblyman Sam Hoyt
Assemblyman Jack Quinn III
Assemblyman Mark Schroeder
Sen. William Stachowski
Sen. Antoine Thompson
Sen. Dale Volker

Federal Relations Network Effort Highlights the Need for NCLB Improvements

Several ECASB members traveled to Washington, D.C., for Federal Relations Network (FRN) activities in our nation’s capitol. Highlights of the National School Boards Association program included a presentation from Representative Don Young, Alaska, whose No Child Left Behind Improvement Act proposal outlines a 40-some point plan for rectifying several problematic aspects of the No Child Left Behind Act.

Among the NSBA legislative priorities carried by the FRN team for discussion with our representatives in Washington were:

- Support of NSBA’s comprehensive proposal to improve NCLB by securing co-sponsors for the No Child Left Behind Improvement Act introduced by Rep. Don Young (R-AK-At Large). This bill has bi-partisan support and includes many provisions to grant more flexibility to the states.

- A special focus on placing Title 1 (NCLB’s main funding source) and the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act on the path to fully funding the federal share.

- Strengthening teacher quality nationally by adding common sense flexibility to NCLB’s Highly Qualified Teacher requirements.

- Improving early childhood education through creation of a new, voluntary preschool program that school districts and parents could opt to participate in, and by reauthorizing Head Start.

For more information and details on these important initiatives, please go to www.nsba.org.

Other Topics of Interest

Excellence in Education

• Read the report of the NYS Regents task force on teaching

 

Food Allergies

• Food Allergy Network Resource for both districts and parents on dealing with food related allergies
• American Academy of Allergy Asthma and Immunology (AAAAI) Includes resources such as position papers on topics such as "Anaphylaxis in schools and other child care settings"

Regionalism

• Read the "Final" Report. of the Who Does What Commission. Page contains downloadable versions of the full and summary reports.

 

School Safety

• Keep Schools Safe Web site established by the NASB and the NAAG (National Association of Attorneys General).Basic Information on a variety of School Safety issues
• Keeping Schools and Communities Safe Department of Education site; contains a wide variety of resources ranging from public statements, statistics, funding and publications.
• Early Warning, Timely Response: A Guide to Safe Schools This guide was developed by: U.S. Department of Education, U. S. Department of Justice and the National Institute of Mental Health, National Institutes of Health, and the Center for Mental Health Services of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services
• Division of Violence Prevention Site of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Includes statistics on violence in the US and links to several CDC managed violence intervention projects
• Warning Signs Publication of the American Psychological Association describing warning signs for teen violence

 

Taxation

• Campaign for Fiscal Equity This group has filed suit, charging that the funding structure in NY is inherently unfair. Similar suits in other states have radically changed the funding structure for education. Because of the profound impact this has the potential to have on education funding ECASB has been involved in facilitating public hearings in the WNY area. To find out more about this issue, click on the CFE web site

 

Vouchers/Charter Schools

• UCLA Report on Charter Schools This is a link to a pdf file of the recent UCLA report on California charter schools. A fairly objective report, it provides constructive criticism of the current California Charter school system
• Official position statement of NYSSBA
• Senate Charter School Bill This link is through the NYSSBA site... legislation can also be reached at the Senate web page