Retirement Seminar

The JEA sponsored retirement seminar was on Thursday evening.  There was a good turnout.  Judy Burton, Jordan District Director of Payroll, stated that there will be a district sponsored seminar on March 7.  Watch for more information to come. 

Second Day at the Legislature

This morning I attended the Joint Public Education Appropriations Subcommittee.  The Executive Appropriations Committee directed each subcommittee to cut their budget by 7% as a base.  Supposedly they will add items back in later.  They claimed it is not the intention of leadership to cut education. 

Several legislators asked for what education leaders want cut.  They say they don't want to randomly cut.  A couple members of the committee stated that this effort if futile, because the revenue numbers are not in.  Why make a budget without knowing the hard numbers? 

Some options include reducing the value of the WPU approximately $292.  Another option would be to eliminate all below-the-line items (items paid for on a year-by-year basis with one-time money) including many programs, transportation, and the educator salary adjustment of $4200.  Yet another option is to cut the "flexible allocation" which is distributed like the WPU.  This is money that is given to districts to spend as they see fit.  One option presented was to move everything to above the line, cut the 7%, and let the districts decide how to spend what was left.  An additional option is to pay for student growth above-the-line (WPU on-going funds) and cut the 7% from below-the-line. 

As you can see, there is a lot of discussion to be had yet on the budget.  I would say not to worry too much about these early budget numbers you will see in the news.  The Chairs, Senator Chris Buttars and Representative Merlynn Newbold, will make recommendations for the 7% cut to be presented at the committee meeting on Monday, January 31.

This morning, the House passed HB 218 - Clubs in Public Schools which adds language that the playing fields of high schools are part of the school and should be available to school clubs for their use when not being used by UHSAA sanctioned sports.  It now goes to the Senate.

Yesterday, two resolutions passed favorably out of committee.  SJR 1 and SJR 9 would both change the control of public education from the State Board of Education to either the legislature or the governor.  See this article for more information.

Today was Charter School Day on the Hill.  JEA Member, Jeff Bossard, was there with Principal Steve Jolley and students from Itineris Early College High School, a charter school run by Jordan School District.

First Day at the Legislature

Nothing about education came up on the floor today.  HB 199 - Advertisements on School Buses sponsored by Representative Jim Bird of West Jordan was in committee today.  This would bring about $3 million in revenue to the state.  UEA is supporting this bill.

Some resolutions to watch are SJR 1 and SJR 9.  Both address the "general control and supervision of the public education system".  SJR 1 leaves the control with the State Board of Education, "as provided by statute", which statue could be changed.  SJR 9 puts this control in the hands of the Governor.  Both are, in effect, limiting or diminishing the responsibility of the State Board of Education.  Either one would be a constitutional amendment requiring a vote of the people.

Another bill UEA is watching is HB183 - School District Leave Policies sponsored by Representative Grover.  This bill is targeting association leave paid by the school district specifically where the district pays for part of the local association president's full-time salary.  You dues dollars fund my part-time JEA salary.  JEA requests very little association leave time from Jordan District. 

An interesting event going on today was Utah State University's Research on Capitol Hill day.  Undergraduate student researchers had displays about their research and answered questions.  I spoke with Morgan Summers about her research "Critical Issues in Middle and Secondary Mathematics Placement:  A Case Study".  She told me that the implementation of the Common Core State Standards will impact which math classes are available to students in high school, making the initial middle school math placement important. 

I also spoke with Matthew Richardson and Lauren Harper about their work on "The Self-Perceptions of Non-Profit Organizations".  They found that non-profits need to be business-like in dealing with personnel and finances, but that when working with clients, they must work to their non-profit mission.  The conclusion was that non-profits see themselves as stewards of funds and using those funds wisely to move their mission forward.

Ethics Review for License Renewal

I just took the Educator Ethics Review to renew my license.  It took about 30 minutes.  They encourage you to read two sections of Utah Code before starting.  You can look at them while you are doing the test too.  There were 25 questions, most were scenarios where you had to apply your knowledge of the Code to unethical situations.  If you miss one, you are told the correct answer and why.  Be careful!  I missed two questions, because I inserted the word "not" or left out the word "not" in my head (as in "not ethical" versus "ethical").

Two More National Board Certified Teachers

I recently found out about two more JEA Members who have earned National Board Certification.

Lisa Craig is a Physics teacher at Riverton High School.

Amy Merritt teaches second grade at Foothills Elementary.

Way to go!  Great work and congratulations to these two JEA Members!

Western Region Leadership Conference

JEA VP Kevin Ball, JEA Executive Board Members Lauren Flygare and Karl McKenzie, and I attended the NEA Western Region Leadership Conference from last Friday evening through last Sunday at the Hilton downtown.  The theme was "Turning Hope into Action, Action into Power".  We met as a state caucus then listened to NEA President Dennis Van Roekel speak at the opening dinner. 

Saturday was spent learning about and then discussing a particular element about the Association.  Political Action, Member Concerns & Representation, Funding Public Education in a Difficult Economy, Education Policy and Membership Organizing were the focus areas.  After focusing on one area all day, we met together to make a plan.  We did this as the Jordan UniServ.  We decided that funding is a huge issue, and we need to get the TEF message out, educate members, and work with legislators to help increase funding for public education in Utah.  One part of this is looking at each work site or building as its own education association with the AR leading the members at that site.  This is an interesting concept we will be looking at further.

Lily Eskelsen was the speaker at lunch on Saturday.  She talked about her visit to Honduras.  While there, she visited with local villagers about how they were working their way out of poverty.  The lessons she learned from them are:

• focus on assets
• empower the powerless
• answers come from within - not from "experts"
• build a culture of cooperation and support from the bottom up

Watch Lily's video explaining some of her thoughts from Honduras.

She also spoke about the PISA Report that ranks the U.S. 10th in reading, 17th in math, and 12th in science out of 65 nations.  The countries that are outperforming the U.S. are doing exactly the opposite of what we are seeing as part of "education reform".  In other nations, they have equity, no high-stakes tests, no ability grouping, local authority, better teacher preparation, and pre-school. 

Lily is a local, having been Granite Education Association President and UEA President.  You may want to start following her blog, Lily's Blackboard.

Women's Leadership Training Program

Last week from Wednesday night through Friday about 2:00, I attended the NEA Women's Leadership Training Program in Advancing Your Leadership Skills.  The first part of the training was basic information about leadership, attributes of leaders, and how the Association is set up from the local building level up to the NEA level. 

The most interesting information was about NEA's commitment to social justice.  These are the types of injustice NEA is working to prevent, with historical examples.

• Exploitation:  what one group does only benefits another group (slavery)
• Marginalization:  exclusion of group from society (Indian reservations)
• Powerlessness:  no access to make decisions (women's right to vote)
• Cultural Imperialism:  group's culture is the norm (White Anglo Saxon Protestants in Western culture)
• Violence:  random attacks against a group (burning crosses on lawns of blacks during 1960's)

I'm sure you can think of examples of each of these occurring in your classroom or elsewhere in your life.  This is important, because if there is not social justice, there is not a great public school for every student.  NEA has a Department of Human and Civil Rights and you can see an overview at nea.org.

One of the great things about attending these trainings is to meet and network with others from around the nation.  One gal from Kansas said they had a big district, because they just opened their second high school.  The lady from Nebraska teaches in a K-12 school that is it's own district!  The woman from New Mexico said they are not able to sit down and negotiate salary or benefits; they are told what they will receive, and she is glad they currently have a "benevolent" superintendent.  I have already corresponded with a couple of these ladies and have some ideas to use in the coming year.

The concluding event on Friday was lunch where NEA President, Dennis Van Roekel was the speaker.  He is very inspiring to hear speak.  I had the opportunity to meet him.  He talked about the power we have as the largest labor organization in the country.  We need to use our unified voice to be powerful at the District and State levels.