Commissioner's Newsletter
March 5, 2004
Dear School Administrator:
Here are some important news items for your information and use.
NEW NCLB GUIDELINES FOR TESTING "LEP" STUDENTS
On February 20, the U.S. Department of Education issued new guidelines related to the inclusion of Limited English Proficient (LEP) students in state assessment programs, as required under No Child Left Behind. The new provisions provide greater flexibility in testing first-year LEP students and in counting these students’ scores for AYP purposes.
Walt Brown, our director of assessment, is preparing a detailed explanation of how these changes will affect testing procedures this spring. Superintendents and district test coordinators will soon be receiving a memorandum with specific details about the changes and how the new options may be accommodated at the school and district levels.
This is a very important issue. Because all the test booklets and instruction manuals have already been printed for this year’s MAP administration, we must issue new instructions regarding coding and some test-administration procedures. It will be critically important for you to make sure that all of your staff understand the changes that have been authorized and how they could affect your test administration this spring.
SURVEY ON SCHOOL TAX ELECTIONS
By now, I am sure you have seen our news release about upcoming tax levy elections. Because of the attention this issue was beginning to attract, we talked last month with the Missouri School Boards Association (MSBA) and the Missouri Association of School Administrators (MASA) about conducting a survey. These organizations sometimes conduct their own surveys about tax levy issues, while DESE has typically collected results after the elections. I’m pleased we were able to coordinate our efforts with MSBA and MASA, so that school districts did not have to answer multiple surveys. Every school district responded to our short questionnaire, and we appreciate everyone’s cooperation. Please note that we have updated our online news release and the "final count" of districts with ballot issues next month.
More than 20 percent of all school districts will be seeking tax increases on April 6. We know that more districts will have ballot measures in June or August – or are still trying to decide if they should. I am confident that many districts will be making significant budget and staffing decisions for next year based on the outcome of the April elections.
The face of public education in Missouri could look quite different next year, literally, based on the results of the April 6 election. If your district is preparing for a tax levy or bond issue election, I hope these survey results are useful to you. They certainly reinforce the message that many districts are "in the same boat" financially.
SURVEY ON HIGH SCHOOL GRADUATION REQUIREMENTS
Within the next few days, all superintendents will be receiving (by e-mail) a short questionnaire about high school graduation requirements. We are conducting this survey in cooperation with the Missouri Association of Secondary School Principals (MASSP).
Across the nation, there is growing interest in and focus on issues involving secondary education. Knowing that at least some districts exceed the state’s minimum graduation requirements, we would like to develop an up-to-date picture of the graduation standards that now exist throughout the state.
This is a very short questionnaire that may be completed online. We need your responses by the end of March.
REVISED "CONCEPT PAPER" ON SCHOOL FINANCE
Last September, the State Board of Education adopted a formal "concept paper" that discussed several key ideas and principles that would need to be considered in the development of a new Foundation Program formula. We sent you a copy of that paper.
During its February meeting, the Board adopted a revised version of this document. A new copy is enclosed for your information. The primary change is in the "Minimum Local Effort" section on the first page. The Board elected to remove one sentence that had been interpreted by some to mean that we were advocating taking local tax money from one district and distributing it to other districts. The term "basic/general education" used in the original paper also has been changed to "essential education."
Many ideas will be put forth before Missouri adopts any significant revisions in the current funding system. I hope the enclosed document is helpful to you and your board in understanding our views on what some of the fundamental issues should be.
USING THE SPECIAL EDUCATION LISTSERV
Our Division of Special Education uses the Special Education Listserv (SELS) as its primary means of communicating with school districts and others about special education issues. Messages distributed through the SELS include important information for school officials and other stakeholders about funding, compliance, data collection, professional development, etc. The SELS is a "closed" listserv. It is available only to special education contacts in public schools and a limited number of professional and parent organizations.
Each school district and organization may enroll one contact person to receive SELS messages, but we encourage you to establish your own distribution systems for sharing messages with other staff. SELS messages may be posted only by Ms. Lina Browner, the DESE employee who manages the listserv. Members of the listserv may not post their own messages or respond directly to messages on the SELS system.
To change or update your district’s SELS contact person, or if you have questions about the operation of this listserv, please contact Ms. Browner, executive assistant for the Division of Special Education, at 573-751-5739 or lina.browner@dese.mo.gov.
"PUBLIC SCHOOL ACCOUNTABILITY REPORT"
Enclosed is a copy of our recently published "state report card" – the Missouri Public School Accountability Report. This includes, for the first time, state-level data that we are required to publish under NCLB, along with the state-level version of nearly all the data included in your district-level "report cards." This report provides a great deal of important information in a compact format. I hope you find it useful.
ASSISTANT COMMISSIONER FOR SCHOOL IMPROVEMENT
The position of Assistant Commissioner of the Division of School Improvement is currently vacant. We anticipate filling this position by July 1. A job description and other information about the position may be found on the DESE Web site; select "Career Opportunities" in the left column.
Given our preoccupation with immediate financial problems, it is easy to forget some of the "good things." This week I attended a rally at the Capitol marking the 20th anniversary of the passage of legislation that established Missouri’s Parents as Teachers (PAT) program. Parents as Teachers "put Missouri on the map" as a national leader in the field of early childhood and parent education.
It is estimated that PAT has served 2 million Missouri children since it began. Today, school districts are serving half of all the eligible families in the state, and many districts serve well over half of their eligible families. PAT programs now operate in every state and several foreign countries.
Despite the financial difficulties we all face, it is my hope that Missouri will continue to be a leader in early childhood education. I think we probably all agree that the smartest investment we can make, in many cases, is in high-quality early childhood and parent education. As we look to the future, I firmly believe that public schools must do more to increase access to effective parent education and preschool services.
If you have not taken time to note the anniversary of the PAT program in your district and to acknowledge the contributions of your early childhood staff – including those who work in early childhood special education – it is something you should consider. Every school district can claim part of the credit for making Parents as Teachers such a success story for Missouri children, families and communities.
Sincerely,
D. Kent King