• Support Us
  • Tales from the Meeting
facebook
rss
twitter
youtube
email
pinterest
  • Home
  • District Sites
  • Categories
    • Advocacy
    • Data and Accountability Center
    • Family-School Partnerships
    • Funding and Finance
    • School Policy and Procedure
    • Special Education
    • Standards
  • Glossary
  • Special Reports
    • Alabama Accountability Act (AAA)
    • Bullying Forum Resources
    • The Hidden Cost of Public Education
    • Student Harassment Prevention Act
    • Transparency Projects – 2010 and 2009
    • Reports and Stuff
  • About
    • About Us
    • Business Documents
    • Ethics Policy
    • Fundraising Policy
    • Privacy Policy
    • Our Supporters
  • 2016 Legislative Session
    • 2015 Legislative Summary
    • 2014 Legislative Summary
    • 2013 Legislative Summary
    • 2012 Legislative Summary
    • 2011 Legislative Summary
  • Support Us
Latest News
Goodbye. But only for a moment
Special Education Services Division Complaint Resolved
Enrollment Opens for Alabama’s Non-Traditional High School Diploma
Some Answers About the Alabama Accountability Act from New Reports Mandated by Law
State Department Violated Federal Disability Laws, Test Accommodation Policy Must Be Rewritten
What the Annual Alabama “School Incident Report” Shows
Alabama’s A-F School Grading System Is Almost Ready
Wanna Know More About Who Gets Paddled in Alabama’s Schools?
More Than 90,000 Alabama Students and Nearly 15,000 Teachers Missed a LOT of School – Look Up Your School
How Alabama Compares in the Latest ACT College and Career Readiness Report

Quick Reads – April 14, 2016

Posted On Apr 13 2016
By : Trisha Powell Crain
Comment: 0
Tag: 2016 Legislative Session, Education Savings Accounts, ETF Budget, PREP Act, public charter schools, state board of education, teacher evaluations

Quick Reads 0414These are going to be really quick reads.

Alabama’s statehouse reporters are doing a remarkable job keeping up with what Alabama’s lawmakers are doing.

And there’s some other stuff going on, too.

The State Board of Education will name an interim superintendent…

…at Thursday’s board meeting. Here are the names of the six applicants.

The meeting starts at 10 a.m. (or whenever the work session ends…it starts at 9 a.m.). Here are the agendas for both.

Both will be streamed online (as always) at this link.

An update on the A-F Grading System is expected…

…at Thursday’s work session. The bill authorizing the A-F grading system was passed in 2012 with an original deadline of December 2013. Deputy State Superintendent Dr. Melinda Maddox will give an update. Full disclosure: I served on the task force charged with creating the grading system. Our work ended in October 2015. Former State Superintendent Dr. Tommy Bice said at the March work session that the board would receive a final version at the April board work session.

I’ll be tweeting live. Follow me at @alschoolconnect. If you’re not on Twitter, check out the right side of this page for the feed.

The PREP Act has been shelved…

…according to Sen. Del Marsh (R-Anniston), the bill’s sponsor. He told the press on Tuesday evening, April 12, that he was pulling the PREP Act from consideration.

Sen. Del Marsh says he’s shelving the PREP Act. #alpolitics pic.twitter.com/unfvMYzdVa

— Tim Lockette (@TLockette_Star) April 13, 2016

The Senate passed their version of the Education Trust Fund budget…

…and because it is different from the House version, the House must either agree (officially called “concur”) or a conference committee will be called. Sen. Arthur Orr (R-Decatur) said today he expects the budget to end up in a conference committee.

The $6.3 billion budget is the largest ETF budget since FY08.

The $12 million that was in the budget for the PREP Act was re-allocated, with an additional $3.75 million for each transportation and OCE (other current expense), while the $3 million allocated for the Teacher Mentoring Program (which would have been created in the PREP Act, but now has money but no regulations) remains.

Read more about that budget here.

Sen. Marsh added an amendment to the pay raise bill…

…to allow additional compensation for teachers holding advanced degrees only under certain conditions. It applies beginning January 1, 2017.  It passed Here’s what the amendment says:

“additional compensation for an advanced degree shall only be provided if the advanced degree is earned in the same field of study as the subject matter the person is teaching, unless:
(i) the advanced degree is in education administration or counseling; or (ii) the person teaches a subject that is in critical shortage, as defined by the local school system and approved by the State Department of Education; or (iii) the teacher is required to transfer to another area or subject.”

Along with teachers making $75,000 or less, the Senate added Principals and Assistant Principals to the 4% pay raise. Teachers making more than $75,000 will receive a 2% raise.

That bill passed unanimously.

The legislature will convene again next Tuesday.

The Education Savings Account, Senate version, was pulled from the committee’s agenda…

…no word on why or whether or when it will be back.

More on ESAs here.

The Alabama Public Charter School Commission approved a contract for a start-up charter school…

…and it can be found here.

The Alabama High School Athletic Association (AHSAA) adopted rules to allow homeschoolers to play sports at the school the child would be zoned to attend…

…but there are a lot of hoops for homeschoolers to jump through and rules to follow, including taking AHSAA-criteria tests in all four core subjects at the end of each semester for academic eligibility beginning with seventh grade through the end of the first semester in 12th grade at the public school where they participate in sports.

The new rules also make provisions for virtual and public charter school students. Here are the new AHSAA bylaws.

State Board of Education Republican primary runoffs will bring someone new to the board….

District 1 incumbent Matthew Brown (R) was defeated by challenger Jackie Zeigler. Zeigler faces Democratic challenger Ron Davis, the former Prichard mayor, in November’s general election.

District 7 incumbent Jeff Newman defeated challenger Jim Bonner. No Democrat qualified to run, so Newman officially retains his seat for another four years.

Annual Standardized Testing is underway…

…and that includes the ACT Aspire for grades three through eight and also 10th grade. All 11th graders will take the ACT college entrance exam next Tuesday. State Board of Education Mary Scott Hunter (R-District 8) tweeted this for inspiration.

Next Tuesday all Alabama juniors will take the ACT. Encourage students to be rested & take the test seriously. pic.twitter.com/aMIzK56n0F

— Mary Scott Hunter (@MaryScottHunter) April 14, 2016

Teacher Survey (7,500 responses!) results released…

…that highlight teachers views on their working environment. Haven’t had a chance to read through the details. Read the ALSDE’s news release here.

Here are the results of our much smaller, non-scientific web poll where we asked teachers to tell us what they need to improve student learning.

Share this

  • Click to email this to a friend (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Pinterest (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on LinkedIn (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Google+ (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Reddit (Opens in new window)
  • Click to print (Opens in new window)
About the Author
    Previous Story

    Quick Reads – April 12, 2016

    Next Story

    Who’s in Charge of Alabama Education?

    Related Posts

    0

    Public Charter School Operators Letters of Intent Released by the Commission

    Posted On Jul 07 2016
    , By Trisha Powell Crain
    0

    How Charter Schools Can Open in Your Neighborhood

    Posted On Jun 21 2016
    , By Trisha Powell Crain
    0

    How State Lawmakers’ Decisions Impacted Money for Schools This Year

    Posted On May 11 2016
    , By Trisha Powell Crain
    0

    How Do States Choose the Chief State School Officer?

    Posted On Apr 24 2016
    , By Trisha Powell Crain

    Alabama School Connection Tweets

    Tweets by @ALSchoolConnect

    School Tweets – direct from Twitter

    Tweets from https://twitter.com/ALSchoolConnect/lists/al-k-12-twitter
    Creative Commons License
    This work by Alabama School Connection is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

    Terms of Use
    Privacy Policy

    Past Editions of K-12 Must-Read News

    August 29 to September 25, 2016
    July 25 to August 28, 2016
    June 24 to July 24, 2016
    May 23 to June 23, 2016
    May 2 to May 22, 2016
    April 18 to May 1, 2016
    March 16 to April 17, 2016
    February 23 to March 15, 2016
    February 1 to February 22, 2016
    January 11 to January 31, 2016
    December 21, 2015, thru January 10, 2016
    November 30 thru December 20
    November 11 thru November 30
    October 21 thru November 10
    October 6 thru October 20
    September 14 thru October 5
    August 24 thru September 13
    August 3 thru August 23
    July 16 thru August 2
    June 18 thru July 13
    May 19 thru June 17, 2015
    May 18, 2015
    April 27, 2015
    March 30, 2015
    March 11, 2015
    February 2, 2015
    January 5, 2015
    December 16, 2014

    All past editions available on Storify at https://storify.com/ALSchoolConnect

    This website is intended for informational purposes only. The ASC is a nonprofit news organization and exists only to keep the public informed of issues as they relate to the K-12 education system in Alabama. In the event you feel an error has been made, please contact us immediately at the e-mail link below. The ASC does not maintain offices nor a working telephone number dedicated for the organization. Links are provided as a courtesy, not as an endorsement.
    loading Cancel
    Post was not sent - check your email addresses!
    Email check failed, please try again
    Sorry, your blog cannot share posts by email.
    • If half of it melts at the beach, you’ve still got plenty. Vodka
    • What is an insurance promotion? All of the latest bet365 new
    • One notable feature is the emphasis on quality
    • Concerning the Province of Acbalec Manzi 44. Installation of
    • Пин Ап - официальный сайт онлайн казино
    • Регистрация на сайте и программа лояльности казино Casino X
    • Media conference: NZ arrests in U. It's okay if a few larger