Commissioner's Newsletter
December 20, 2004
| New Guidance on Background Checks | SB 960-Property Tax Rates by Subclass & Opt-Out Provision |
| Revised Certification Requirements for Administrators | New Permit Requirements for Bus Drivers |
"Successlink" Evaluation |
Kindergarten Transition |
Profiles of 2004 Gold Star Schools |
Air Force JROTCC Program |
Dear School Administrator:
Following are some important end-of-year news items for your information and use.
NEW GUIDANCE ON BACKGROUND CHECKS
As you know, more stringent requirements regarding background checks for most new school employees take effect on January 1, 2005. This is due to a recent state law. It requires that all school district employees hired after January 1 who have contact with students undergo a comprehensive background check, including a fingerprint check by the FBI, before employment.
I sent you information about this issue in my September 16 letter. At that time, I also emphasized that we will require all teachers to have valid certificates in order for their students’ attendance hours to be counted for state aid purposes. As part of this requirement, we advised you to make sure that every teacher has a certificate – even if this meant requesting a substitute teacher’s certificate until the employee’s regular certificate could be issued.
Because of the new law, we expect a continuing backlog of requests for teaching certificates due to the delays involved with processing the mandatory background checks. Until now, requests for substitute certificates have been processed quickly, but now these applications also will be subject to the fingerprint check requirement. This means an application for a substitute certificate will take just as much time as the application for any other teaching or administrative certificate.
To prevent further overloading of the system, we now request that you do NOT seek a substitute teaching certificate for any employee as a stop-gap measure until that person is able to secure a regular certificate. If you are preparing to hire a new person or considering a prospect who does not have full certification, please do not submit an application for a substitute certificate in an effort to "short cut" the system. It won’t help. Assuming the person will be eligible for a regular certificate, allow that person to follow the regular application procedure for his or her certificate. And be patient.
SB 960 – PROPERTY TAX RATES BY SUBCLASS & OPT-OUT PROVISION
Please remember that counties have until January 1 to decide if they are going to opt out of the multi-tax rate system for property taxes authorized by legislation passed in 2004 (Senate Bill 960). The School Finance Section provided superintendents with information about this issue in the August and October finance memos. Please refer to those memos for detailed information. Also, the Missouri School Boards Association recently sent its members information about this issue. This is another reminder of the approaching deadline.
Due to some potential problems with the implementation of the law – particularly for districts in multiple counties that do not all make the same opt-out decision – DESE encourages school districts located in more than one county to contact their county commissioners and encourage them to opt out of the multi-tax rate system for now. The county may opt in later, but cannot opt out after January 1, 2005. The only county that does not have the choice to opt out of the multi-tax rate system is St. Louis County.
REVISED CERTIFICATION REQUIREMENTS FOR ADMINISTRATORS
During its meeting last week (December 16), the State Board of Education approved several revisions in current regulations regarding teacher certification, including some important changes in the requirements for new principals and other administrators. All of these changes grow out of a recent change in state law and our continuing efforts to streamline and simplify statewide certification requirements.
Some of the key revisions approved by the Board include:
Discontinuing the three-level certification system that has been in place for adult education and literacy teachers, for administrators and for career education certificates and replacing it with a two-level system (initial and continuous certificates), as required by law.
Establishing a Temporary Authorization Certificate process for the career education area that requires candidates to earn college credit of not more than 18 hours over three years.
Moving business and marketing certificates from the career education to the professional classification category.
Adding student services certification as a qualifying teaching experience for the special education administrator’s certificate.
The Board also approved several changes in the requirements for administrator certification. The proposed changes in these regulations generated a large number of comments from the field, both pro and con. The Board reviewed all of these comments and made several changes in the policy to reflect suggestions made by various individuals and organizations. The final regulation approved by the Board includes these key provisions:
There will now be a two-level certification process for principals, career education directors and special education directors. It consists of an initial (four-year) certificate and a continuous career certificate for those who meet specified requirements during the initial certificate period.
Administrators will be able to obtain an educational specialist or higher degree in the areas of educational leadership, curriculum and instruction, or reading and literacy. The previous policy only provided for an advanced degree in the area of educational leadership.
New administrators will not be required to start work on their advanced degrees (educational specialist or doctorate) during the four-year period of their initial certificate.
For more information about the revised regulations approved by the Board, please contact Rusty Rosenkoetter, director of educator certification, at 573-526-3579.
NEW PERMIT REQUIREMENTS FOR BUS DRIVERS
Enclosed is a letter from the Missouri Department of Revenue (.pdf file) outlining new school bus permit/endorsement requirements that begin January 3, 2005. These new federal requirements govern commercial motor vehicles, including school buses that transport 16 or more passengers including the driver. These requirements affect every current and future school bus driver.
As described in the letter, the Department of Revenue will be sending a notice to all current holders of a Type I school bus permit, notifying them of the need to obtain a new "School Bus Endorsement" (SBE) on their Commercial Drivers License (CDL) by September 30, 2005. The qualifications for this endorsement include a new written examination. You also need to be aware that there will no longer be an exemption from this requirement for school district personnel who transport pupils in school buses incidental to their employment.
If you have questions about the new SBE requirements, please contact Karen Yokley (573-751-2529) or Gina Wisch (573-526-3555) at the Department of Revenue. For questions about the examination or testing locations, you may contact the Missouri State Highway Patrol Examination Division at 573-751-2341.
"SUCCESSLINK" IS CONDUCTING STATEWIDE EVALUATION
Established in 1997, SuccessLink works in partnership with the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education to provide educators with a central and trusted source of best practices in teaching. SuccessLink offers a wide range of lesson plans, inservice training and professional development services, all of which are intended to enhance student achievement.
The nationwide emphasis on ensuring that all schools and students meet high standards has increased the demand for evidence of "what works." Toward this end, SuccessLink has contracted with a Missouri-based research firm, RQ Squared, to evaluate the effectiveness of its programs in reaching teachers across Missouri and to determine the impact of these programs on teaching practices and student achievement. This evaluation process will include analysis of existing achievement data, surveys of teachers and administrators as well as in-class observations.
The evaluation period is from November 15 to February 28. Superintendents and principals may be contacted by RQ Squared and invited to cooperate with one or more components of the evaluation, which will include either written or online surveys of school personnel or in-class observations of the use of handheld computers. Our Department supports this evaluation project by SuccessLink, and we encourage you and your staff to cooperate if you are contacted by RQ Squared.
In my recent newsletter (September 16), I sent you a copy of a brochure from the Department’s Early Childhood Education Section (Preparing Kids for School) about the importance of providing a smooth transition to kindergarten for young children and their families. Practical Parenting Partnerships (PPP) also has developed a new training to address kindergarten transition. Several schools have already participated and given positive feedback about this training. The participants commented especially on the usefulness of the materials provided, the wealth of ideas available and the interactions with other participants.
PPP Kindergarten Transition Training is a one-day professional development opportunity that is ideally suited for a team that could include kindergarten teachers, school administrators, early childhood center personnel, Head Start personnel, PAT parent educators and others. College credit for participants is available through Northwest
Missouri State University. For more information, contact the PPP Center in Jefferson City at 573-761-7770.
PROFILES OF 2004 GOLD STAR SCHOOLS
Profiles of the 10 middle schools and three high schools that were honored earlier this year as Missouri’s Gold Star Schools for 2003-04 are now available on the Department’s Web site. Click on "Missouri Gold Star Schools Information" to see a detailed description of each of these outstanding Missouri schools:
Ava Middle School
Brittany Hill Middle School, Blue Springs School District
Chillicothe High School
Cole Camp Middle School
Diamond Middle School
Fordland Middle School
Houston Middle School
Mound City High School
Mt. Vernon Middle School
Rolla Middle School
South Shelby Middle School, Shelby Co. R-IV School District
McKinley Classical Junior Academy, St. Louis Public Schools
Metro Academic & Classical High School, St. Louis Public Schools
AIR FORCE ROTC PROGRAM SEEKS TO EXPAND
I received notice recently that the U.S. Air Force plans to establish 201 new Air Force Junior Reserve Officer Training Corps (AFJROTC) units in high schools across the country over the next two years. The AFJROTC program currently serves more than 100,000 students, above the eighth grade, in 744 units around the world.
Missouri high schools are invited to apply for a new AFJROTC unit. The Air Force supplies the curriculum, skilled instructors, and a program designed to instill the values of citizenship, personal responsibility and service to the community and the nation.
Enclosed is a copy of my holiday greeting card to you. Thanks to the students at Truman High School, Independence, their art teacher Babette Poston, and the staff at the Missouri School for the Deaf for helping us produce this year’s holiday cards.
Sincerely,
D. Kent King