Citizens and schools speak out on RTTT flaws

Here is an interesting view on the Race To The Top that I found in today's Lansing State Journal. Moran makes the point that "racing to the top" doesn't ensure quality educational experiences for our students.

Greenville schools didn't sign an MOU to be eligible for RTTT funds. Their belief is that there is no plan established that they could review.

When an athlete competes in a race, they know the course ahead of time. They have a chance to study it to see what will be the challenging portions and where they can excel. If school districts and the state is planning on Racing To The Top, shouldn't they be more concerned that they are racing a course that will change at any moment?

How the jobs crisis creates an education crisis

I ran across this article by Richard Rothstein discussing how stimulus money should be used to create jobs. Interesting, considering that Fund Surpluses in individual Michigan school districts now total $1.6 billion. Yep, that would be $1,000 per student. Or to continue programing for students that will employ more workers.

Read the article at http://www.epi.org/analysis_and_opinion/entry/how_the_jobs_crisis_creates_an_education_crisis/

Nothing better to do on a Friday night

If you are still up on a Friday night, call your legislator. They are still in session and will be considering the RTTT bills. As soon as I get an update, I will post again

RTTT bills? Results from late night legislative bargaining

While a conceptual framework was reached at 4 AM, it is considered to be fragile. Our lobbyists have stated that they are cautiously optimistic after discussions with legislative leadership. However, when the bill is printed, Don Noble and our other lobbyists will be studying the RTTT bills to ensure that our members are protected.

Here is the latest from the legislative news service MIRS

Here's the good news. The Legislative Service Bureau (LSB) is drafting the Race To The Top (RTTT) education reform bills that reflect the compromise negotiators reached at 4 a.m. this morning and conferees are already fly-specking parts of the drafts.
"We want to make sure that the intent of what we did is in the language," said Rep. Tim MELTON (D-Pontiac), chair of two of the four conference committees scheduled today.
But here's the bad news. It looks like it's shaping up to be another late night. Although the Senate and House are due in at 1:30 p.m., sources in both chambers said not to expect any action with House members being informed the attendance board will be kept open until 3:30 p.m.
It's rumored that LSB will be done printing around 4 p.m. Assuming there are no major hang-ups in reviewing the bills, conference committees will meet afterward. The reports are expected to have the votes in conference and then both chambers will need to caucus.
That means that floor votes probably won't start until this evening.
Sources say the agreement reached at 4 a.m., as broken by MIRS (See "Deal Reached On Race To The Top," 12/17/09) is still fragile. There were still talks this morning and a Senate GOP source still referred to it as the "framework" for an agreement.
Sen. Buzz THOMAS (D-Detroit), one of the conferees, said he's been communicating with others in negotiations via text message since the wee hours of the morning. Thomas, who sponsored the charter school expansion part of the package, said he "thought things were wrapped up," but there's uncertainty on the House side.
When asked if he felt caught in the middle between the House Democrats and Senate Republicans, Thomas told MIRS, "I'm still a Democrat."
Melton acknowledged that the deal still had to be sold to his caucus, but he expressed optimism that this wouldn't be a repeat of tough budget votes on K-12 or General Government that initially failed.
"I think members will be comfortable with where we're at and it will fly through with a bipartisan vote," he said.

Late nights at the Capitol, part 2

We just got word that the RTTT conference committee is going to meet again Friday at 12:01 AM. Yep, that's right, 1 minute after midnight. It seems like there has been serious disagreement between the Senate (Sen Kuipers) and the House (Rep. Melton) regarding charter schools expansion. Within the charter school issue, Sen. Kuipers would like to add 100 charter schools and change the requirements to allow more charters to open.

Cyber schools, tenure, and school reform are also still being discussed. Lots of people are trying to get presents under this education christmas tree.

Keep contacting your legislator through email, phone, text, FB, twitter or any other way that you communicate with your rep and senator. Remind them to read each bill. Even though it will be early Friday morning, they need to know what is in the bills that they will be voting on.

RTTT, cell phones, and the like

The latest from the legislative news agency MIRS...

Rep. Tim MELTON (D-Auburn Hills) said this morning that negotiations are currently stalled after Senate Republicans walked out of the room last night having tried to interject new issues into the negotiations. "I'm still at the table, as far as they know I'm still in the room waiting to negotiate," Melton said. "I didn't storm out of the room, they did." When asked specifically what the problem was, Melton said "they're going above and beyond what their own chamber passed. Stuff that may be a wish-list for them but has nothing to do with Race to the Top."Melton said the Senate came in and demanded 100 new charters without any accountability measures.House Democrats have slated a press conference for 12:30 p.m. today accusing Senate Republicans of "abandoning" negotiations on RTTT. Senate Republicans put the blame on Melton. When asked this morning where negotiations were at, Conference Committee Chair Wayne KUIPERS (R-Holland) replied, "Nowhere." Melton was also asked about a letter of intent that the administration should have filed indicating Michigan's interest in the RTTT process. Talk in the Senate was that that letter of intent was never filed, raising questions about the desire on the part of Gov. Jennifer GRANHOLM to participate.Melton told MIRS the intent letter is a voluntary thing that doesn't impact the state's application calling the raising of the intent letter a "diversion tactic" on the part of Senate Republicans.Granholm spokeswoman Liz BOYD told MIRS the Governor did submit the letter this week and received confirmation from the Barack OBAMA administration that it was received on time. The letter just has not been posted on a federal web site yet, which may account for the confusion from senators.

And it continues...

During a 12:30 p.m. press conference the House Democratic caucus aimed at putting pressure on the Senate Republicans to resume negotiations over legislation that would allow the state to compete for between $400 and $600 million in Race To The Top (RTTT) funds. Prior to the press conference the Senate was threatening to adjourn for the year. Laying out much of the argument that House Education Committee Chair Tim MELTON (D-Auburn Hills) made this morning, House Speaker Andy DILLON (D-Redford Twp.) said the House will remain until the end of the year if necessary.
Following comments by Melton and Dillon, a reporter asked if any of the House Democrats had walked over to talk to Senators, Melton said no. He argued there's a protocol to follow and that the people that leave the table should be the ones to call for talks to resume. Asked if a cell phone call had been made, Dillon asked for a cell phone and a few minutes later in front of the media dialed up lead Senate negotiator Sen. Wayne KUIPERS (R-Holland) and asked him toreturn to the table. Kuipers apparently asked to meet with the Speaker first before resuming talks with Melton and Dillon invited him to his office.However, as of 12:55 p.m., Kuipers was still on the Senate floor.Senate Republicans put the blame on Melton, accusing Democrats of not really supporting the RTTP legislation. There were big problems with the House adding items not related to RTTP requirements, like starting the school year before Labor Day.
Senate GOP spokesman Matt MARSDEN said in response to Melton's assertion that the House would stay until the Dec. 31 that the Senate still plans to adjourn for the year today. Look for more breaking news on today's session in the coming hours from MIRS.

Help MEA launch "reading program" for legislators

Encourage leaders in Lansing to READ bills BEFORE they VOTE on them

Reading is fundamental – especially for legislators.

That’s why, today, MEA is launching a new “reading program” for our elected leaders in Lansing. Just as it’s critical for our students to read their assignments before taking a test, our state representatives and senators must READ any bills on school reform before they VOTE on them.

With the federal Race to the Top deadline looming, negotiations in Lansing around RTTT-related legislation will stretch well into the evening hours. These various House- and Senate-approved bills are in conference committee where six legislators will have significant influence over any compromise. They are Sen. Wayne Kuipers (R-Holland), Sen. Gerald Van Woerkom (R-Muskegon), Sen. Buzz Thomas (D-Detroit), Rep. Tim Melton (D-Auburn Hills), Rep. Doug Geiss (D-Taylor), and Rep. Phillip Pavlov (R-St. Clair).

In these kind of last-minute negotiations, it’s common for legislators outside the conference committee to not have the opportunity to fully read compromise bills before voting.

But with our students’ futures at stake, it is essential that our leaders in Lansing do the responsible thing, read whatever bills come before them, and carefully consider the reforms they are enacting. The details of these reforms are critical – they will impact the education that students receive for years to come.

Critical areas for them to look for and oppose include:

• School reform that narrowly focuses on instituting building level reforms without addressing dysfunctional bureaucracies.
• Expansion of charter schools without proper oversight, transparency and accountability, as well as unregulated cyberschools or other new school models that don’t ensure a high-quality education for students.
• The elimination of teacher tenure and other assaults on school employee rights that ensure good working environments for employees – and good learning environments for students.
  

Act now! E-mail and call your state representative and senator today (leave a voicemail if no one is available to take your call in person). If one of your legislators is on the conference committee, urge them to consider these issues in finalizing compromise bills. If your elected officials aren’t on the committee, share your concerns and ask that they consider them as they make their decisions in the coming days.

But above all, insist that all our leaders in Lansing take the time to READ this significant legislation BEFORE they cast a final VOTE.