The only things that has changed from yesterday’s report are that the bonus payments for National Certification were fully restored, $75,000 was added for Jobs for Virginia Graduates and the early out retirement option is definitely dead.

The budget conference committee deliberations are over and we will begin checking the fine print in the days ahead.  In the meantime, thanks to our champions in the Senate (Colgan, Saslaw, Houck, Wampler and Stosch) we will have an honest rebenchmarking as we battle to achieve full funding of the Standards of Quality in the next biennium.

The battle to get an honest rebenchmarking was a bitter one, pitting the Senate against the House and the Governor.  Our champions left some blood on the field of battle as the news stories detail.

The RTD reported Thursday:

Attempts to break a logjam over proposed restrictions on non-instructional schools employment collapsed, in part, because of an unlikely alliance between the Republican House and Gov. Timothy M. Kaine, a Democrat.

Kaine and the House favor reining in support staff, but the Senate, with a slender Democratic majority, wants to preserve non-classroom positions.

"I don't give a damn about the governor," said Sen. R. Edward Houck of Spotsylvania, a retired educator and the No. 2 Democrat on the Senate Finance Committee.

The RTD reported today:

Friday produced one substantial breakthrough, however. The oddly divisive issue of whether to limit the amount of non-instructional staff the state would fund at local schools were negotiated away as senior Kaine administration finance staff huddled with House and Senate conferees.

Kaine, a Democrat, proposed funding non-teaching staff such as janitors, administrative aides and school nurses on a ratio secondary to teaching staff. In the budget he proposed 2½ months ago, Kaine advocated cutting state funding for school support personnel but not teachers. And he proposed a fixed proportion for calculating how many of the non-teaching positions the state would fund in the future.

The Republican-dominated House sided with Kaine while the Senate, run by Democrats, and the influential public school teachers’ lobby opposed a permanent ratio limiting state money for non-teaching staff.

In the compromise reached Friday evening, the ratio remains through June of 2010, giving state education officials time to assess funding criteria beyond that.

In Kaine’s private morning huddle with six Senate and six House conferees, state Sen. Janet Howell, D-Fairfax County, bluntly underscored the intraparty differences over school support staff funding.

“We don’t consider you an honest broker,” Howell told Kaine according to accounts by several witnesses in the private meeting that Howell confirmed.

“We were discussing an issue that he has already taken a strong position on,” Howell said afterward. “It was in the context of putting forward suggestions.”

The bottom line on this issue is that, thanks for funds from the Obama Stimulus Bill (ARRA) almost all of the $375 million in policy driven cuts is restored, and we will have an honest figure upon which to base next year’s rebenchmarking.

Some of the issues are a bit technical, but I’ll offer the broad strokes.

The local match will be required for the at-risk programs.  This protects programs for children who most need our help.

No vouchers or tuition tax credits.

All but $10 million of the $375 million of policy driven cuts from the introduced budget is restored – the Federal Stimulus bailed us out here.  This should save a lot of jobs.

We will have an honest rebenchmarking of the Standards of Quality for the next biennium.

The early out retirement program is in deep trouble as it hurts the long-range actuarial standing of VRS.  Most localities have indicated that they will not participate if the plan is offered.  If it comes out of conference it will be altered.

The statewide insurance plan is gone.

VEA’s primary goals going into the session were to minimize the cuts and keep the cuts from being permanent.  The cuts have been drastically reduced, and it appears that we will have an honest rebenchmarking of the Standards of Quality.

This information is of a preliminary nature and all of what is above depends on actions to be taken in the hours and day(s) ahead.  Stay posted.

The Washington Post reported:

But the sharpest disagreements remain over a House-backed proposal by Gov. Timothy M. Kaine (D) to cap the number of support staff members and aides that schools can hire. Under Kaine's proposal, schools would receive funding for one non-instruction support staff position for every four teachers.
 
Del. Clarke N. Hogan (R-Charlotte) said House Republicans agree with Kaine that the funding formula needs to be changed to make sure the budget stays balanced in future years. Hogan said the provision will save the state about $600 million in fiscal 2011 and 2012.
 
"If we don't take the action that the governor wants to take, we end up with a train wreck," Hogan said. "The Senate doesn't want to come to grips with that."
 
But negotiators from the Democrat-led Senate disagreed with the governor.
 
"We're really saying that should be up to the superintendents. The General Assembly should not be micromanaging the school system," said Sen. Charles J. Colgan (D-Prince William), chairman of the Finance Committee.

The Richmond Times-Dispatch reported:

Attempts to break a logjam over proposed restrictions on non-instructional schools employment collapsed, in part, because of an unlikely alliance between the Republican House and Gov. Timothy M. Kaine, a Democrat.
 
Kaine and the House favor reining in support staff, but the Senate, with a slender Democratic majority, wants to preserve non-classroom positions.
 
"I don't give a damn about the governor," said Sen. R. Edward Houck of Spotsylvania, a retired educator and the No. 2 Democrat on the Senate Finance Committee.

Please go to www.veanea.org, look to the right hand corner of the page, and click on “Write state budget conferees ….” To send an urgent message to the conferees.

We need to make two requests of the budget conferees.

First, ask that they save the jobs of the support personnel so important to the daily operation of our schools, and eliminate permanent funding cuts by removing the support cap ratio from the budget.  Ask them to work with the Board of Education to study the relationship between support and instructional staff funding prior to the next session.

Second, ask them to include the Early Retirement Programs for School Division Employees in the conference report.  This plan will provide a needed option in this time of lay-offs.

A pre-written letter to conferees is available at the following link:

http://capwiz.com/nea/va/issues/alert/?alertid=12775606&type=CU

The elementary teacher planning time bill, HB 2474 with Senate amendment, was taken up by the House today.  Delegate Hugo moved that the Senate amendment be accepted.  Delegate Amundson joined Delegate Hugo in calling for acceptance of the Senate amendment.  Delegate Hamilton spoke against accepting the Senate amendment.  Clark Hogan, too, spoke against the bill.

The bill passed 85 to 12.

Those voting Nay were Abbitt, Byron, Cox, Hogan, Janis, Lingamfelter, Massie, Morgan, Poindexter, Putney, Sherwood and Mr. Speaker.  This is a vote to remember in November!

There are many who helped us on the bill, but Delegates Tyler and Hugo must be mentioned along with Senator Whipple.  Please thank all 85 Delegates that voted right.

HB2474, the elementary teacher planning time bill, is not on today’s calendar.  That gives us one more day to contact Delegates urging acceptance of the Senate amendment.  Please go to the link below and click on “Take Action Now!”

http://capwiz.com/nea/va/issues/alert/?alertid=12758126&queueid=2960853376

The budget conferees are hard at work at this time.  Please stand up for public education by sending the pre-written message that is available at the following link:

http://capwiz.com/nea/va/issues/alert/?alertid=12740741&queueid=2958104301

The budget conferee deliberations over K-12 funding begin in earnest on Tuesday evening.  Delegate Hamilton announced, on the floor today that the conferees have agreed to restore $357.5 million in K-12 funding.

The total decrease in Direct Aid state funding reduction for FY 10 in the Governor’s introduced budget resulting from policy changes was $375 million.

It appears that the policy driven reductions on Direct Aid state funding to localities will be reduced to $17.5 million as a consequence of the ARRA (Federal Stimulus).

The ARRA also directs some federal funding directly to school divisions through existing federal funding formulae, such as Title I, Title II, Title VII and School Lunch.

Both revenue streams will need to be taken into account to determine the impact of the combined state and federal actions on your school division.   

Thanks for all you are doing to advance VEA’s legislative agenda this session!

Three VEA bills (HB2089 - ESP Grievance Procedure Enhancements, HB2474 - Elementary Planning Time and HB2632 - Statewide Health Insurance Plan for School Board and Local Government Employees) were up for a final vote in the Senate today – what happened?

HB2089 (Del. Fralin) passed the Senate without amendment, so that bill should now head to the Governor’s desk.

Prior to the final vote, HB2632 (Del. Shannon) was recommitted to the Committee on Finance.  The fate of this measure is unknown as the insurance industry is working to kill this measure which has the potential of reducing industry profits.  When we save they lose.

The planning time bill, passed the Senate today, but fireworks may result in the debate regarding acceptance of the Senate amendment on the House floor in the days ahead.  As introduced Delegate Hugo’s elementary planning time bill (HB2474) simply read, “Each school board shall ensure that all elementary school teachers in its employment are provided at least an average of 30 minutes per day during the students' school week as planning time.”

The House amended the bill, changing it to, “Upon certification from the Superintendent of Public Instruction that the existing Standards of Quality staffing allocations of resource teachers and librarians or other appropriate instructional positions are sufficient to provide an average of 30 minutes per day during the student's school week as planning time to all elementary teachers, each school board shall ensure that all elementary school teachers in its employment are provided at least an average of 30 minutes per day during the students' school week as planning time.”

The Superintendent of Public Instruction has indicated that she will not offer the required certification, and that she will defer to each division superintendent to guide her regarding the certification for each local school system.  The House amendment renders the bill worthless.

The Senate has stripped the bill of the House amendment and passed the bill.

Now the bill goes back to the House.  If the House votes to accept the Senate amendment (the deletion of the House amendment) the bill goes to the Governor’s desk.

If the House rejects the Senate amendment, then the bill goes to a committee of conference.

Please urge your Delegate to vote to accept the Senate amendment to HB 2474.

Delegate Shannon’s HB2632, the bill to provide a statewide health insurance plan for teachers, has been revised and reported by the Senate Finance Committee, but the bill now faces strong opposition from the health insurance industry.  The money teachers save will reduce the corporate profits.

The Planning Time bill (HB2474) and the ESP Grievance bill (HB2089) continue to advance.

Help the cause by calling the Constituent Viewpoint Hotline and urging your Senator to support HB2632, HB2474 and HB2089.  The Constituent Viewpoint Hotline numbers are (800) 889-0229 and (804) 698-1990.

The Senate Education and Health Committee took three actions of note in support of VEA’s legislative agenda today.

They unanimously reported Delegate Hugo’s HB2474, the elementary planning time bill.  The bill was stripped on House amendments which would have required that the State Superintendent of Public instruction certify that localities had sufficient resources to provide planning time.  This bill will now go to the full Senate on the uncontested calendar.  As the House and Senate versions are in conflict, this bill will go to conference.  Stay tuned – we’ll need you to contact conference committee members in support of the Senate language once the conference committee is appointed.

The committee unanimously reported Delegate Fralin’s HB2089, which improves the ESP grievance procedure.

Finally, the committee killed Delegate Janis’ HB2104, the last remaining tuition-tax-credit/voucher bill.  Unfortunately, tuition-tax-credit/voucher language is embedded into the House budget.  We will work with conferees to remove that language.

Your calls and emails made a difference!

The significance of President Obama’s American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) is just beginning to sink in.  Bush bailed out the banks and Obama has bailed out the schools!  U.S. Department of Education ARRA funding for the 2009-2010 school year for Virginia includes the following:

State Fiscal Stabilization $1,202,770,052
Title I - $165,311,666
Ed. Technology - $10,801,292
IDEA Part B - $261,415,033
IDEA Part B, Pre-School - $9,470,492
Grand Total - $1,696,587,551

Dr. Frank Barham, the Executive Director of the Virginia School Board Association wisely sent a message to school board members across the state last night offering that, “Our [VSBA] advice is that you implement no RIF policies, amend or adopt new budgets until you get the printout from the state in the next few weeks.”

Please urge your superintendent and school board to follow Dr. Barham’s advice. 

The Senate Budget bill was reported by Finance Committee and went to the full Senate today.  Almost all cuts in the introduced budget were restored.  The stimulus package money is for both of the next two school years, so we need to hope, pray and wish with all or our might that we are out of this recession prior to FY 2012.  Obama’s stimulus package saved us from massive lay-offs in the next two school years.

Both the Elementary Planning Time Bill, Hugo’s HB 2474, and the ESP Grievance Procedure enhancement bill, Fralin’s HB 2089, come before the Senate Education and Health Committee tomorrow morning. 

Please call the Constituent Viewpoint Hotline urging your Senator to support HB2774 and HB 2089.

The Constituent Viewpoint Hotline numbers are (800) 889-0229 and (804) 698-1990.

The details regarding the Obama stimulus package are becoming available, and every educator in Virginia should be breathing a huge sigh of relief.  What does it mean?  Well, it requires maintenance of effort from the state to qualify for the money.  So, the Kaine budget cuts, and House cuts and the Senate cuts must be restored.

For the 2010 school year this means the $27.5 million for school construction and the $340 million for the support staff cap must be restored.  In addition, $109.45 million is available to the state for other K-12 restoration and school renovation.  Title I, Title 2, Title VII and School Lunch funds add another $255.65 million.  The total of all money for K-12 appears to be $732.6 million.

Much more detail will follow, but suffice it to say that school boards across the state will be able to rewrite their local budgets.  Lay-offs and deep cuts should be off the table.

The action today was in the Senate Finance Committee, where Senator Saslaw protected the General Fund and education funding from a number of efforts to raid the fund to fund transportation.  Delegate Saxman’s Tuition Tax bill was passed by indefinitely on a 9-5-2 vote.

Delegate Shannon’s HB2632, our statewide health insurance bill, was passed by indefinitely as well, but only because the intent of the bill is incorporated into the Senate Budget proposal.  Delegate Shannon helped us advance an idea that the Senate picked up on.  The bill is dead, but a statewide insurance option for school board employees is alive in the Senate budget proposal.

In a startling turn of events, Del. Hugo's elementary planning time bill HB2474 was amended and unanimously reported by the Senate Committee on Education and Health's Public Education Subcommittee.  The bill had not been on the published docket, and Delegate Hugo received a patron's notification for a later date.  At meeting's end, Senator Blevins asked me why Hugo had not attended as they would have taken up the bill.  When I indicated that it had not been on the docket, Blevins asked staff about it.  The Committee clerk said it had been added after initial publication of the docket.  Blevins called Hugo, who came down to present his bill to the reconvened committee.

Hugo presented the bill effectively.  VEA offered testimony in support of the bill as did VAESP.  VASS spoke against the bill.

Senator Howell moved to strip the crippling House amendments from the bill, and her motion passed on a unanimous vote.  Senator Locke moved to report the bill, and the vote was unanimous!  We can thank Senators Howell, Locke, J. Miller, Ruff and Chairman Blevins for their support.

The bill will now go to full committee most likely on Thursday morning.

Please follow the link below and personalize the pre-prepared letter to your Senator on this issue:

http://capwiz.com/nea/va/issues/alert/?alertid=12677066&type=ST

We need letters!  Urge your colleagues to write as well.

The funds from Obama's American Economic Recovery and Reinvestment Act (AERRA) of 2009 may well save the jobs of many educators across Virginia.

The economic news today went like this:  The hole in the State Budget grew by
$.8 billion  The state gets $.8 billion from AERRA for Medicaid.  So we broke even there.  Now the good news - there is $.9 billion for K-12 and Higher Education.  The days ahead will tell how these funds will be used in Virginia, but VEA will first and foremost try to urge lawmakers to use it to prevent job losses among teachers and support personnel. 

It appeared at one point that we had a real chance of making the House cuts to K-12 education temporary.  Delegate Ken Plum authored the initial amendment, and he had the support of the Democratic caucus.  We began lobbying the amendment feverously.  Key Republicans-- Morgan Griffith, Bob Tata, Tim Hugo and Dave Nutter-- began working for support of the concept in the Republican Caucus.  Delegate Nutter planned to move the amendment, but the amendment became subject of a House Republican Caucus meeting and there was such division in the caucus that the Nutter amendment was replaced by a very broad amendment from Delegate Putney that does nothing to help public education.  The Putney amendment was used to block consideration of the Plum and Nutter amendments.

The manner in which the House makes its cuts to public education funding are permanent, affecting the baseline for the technical rebenchmarking for the 2010-2012 biennium.

The question , “Shall the cuts be permanent?’ will be central to the work of the conference committee.  The war is not over, but we lost a battle today.

We thank these 43 delegates from both parties who stood up for us on this important vote:

Amundson, Armstrong, Barlow, Bouchard, Bowling, Brink, Bulova, Caputo, Crockett-Stark, Ebbin, Eisenberg, Englin, Hall, C. Herring, Hugo, Hull, Lewis, Marsden, Mathieson, McClellan, McQuinn, Melvin, J. Miller, P. Miller, Morrissey, Nichols, Phillips, Nutter, Plum, Poisson, Pollard, Rust, J. Scott, Shannon, Shuler, Sickles, Spruill, Tata, Toscano, Tyler, Vanderhye, Ward and Watts.

We need to remember this vote in November of 2009.

A significant policy issue before the General Assembly is whether the cuts to K-12 public education funding should be temporary or permanent.  Unfortunately, the amount to be cut may increase as revenue projections deteriorate.  That possibility makes the manner in which the cuts are to be administered all the more important. The underlying question is, “Should we return to Virginia’s current level of support for public education when the recession is over?”

If it is our intent to return to current or higher levels of support for public education when times improve, there is a better approach than what was offered by the Governor and incorporated by the House into HB1600. The manner in which the Senate reduces K-12 funding is not permanent and does not change the funding formula for future years.  The Senate preserves the long-standing funding methodology for K-12 education in Virginia.  Item 140#2s states, “The Department of Education shall not calculate the cost of the technical rebenchmarking for the 2010-2012 biennium using the ‘support position funding cap’ methodology change proposed in SB850 [HB1600] as introduced.”

Call your delegate prior to Thursday’s debate urging him or her to support the floor amendment that will be offered to make the cuts to k-12 temporary.

Delegate email addresses are available at the following link:
http://dela.state.va.us/dela/MemBios.nsf/MWebsiteEL?OpenView
Delegate office phone numbers are available at the following link:
http://dela.state.va.us/dela/MemBios.nsf/MWebsiteTL?OpenView
The Constituent Viewpoint Hotline numbers are (800) 889-0229 and (804) 698-1990.
If you do not know who your delegate or senator is, please go to this site for help:
http://conview.state.va.us/whosmy.nsf/main?openform

Two voucher/tuition tax credit measures, Saxman’s HB1965 (50-47) and Janis’ HB2104 (59-39), passed the House today.  We will do our best to stop these measures in the Senate crossover.

Delegate Hugo’s HB2474, the elementary planning time bill as amended passed the House on a 96-2 vote.

Delegate Shannon’s HB2632, the statewide insurance plan bill passed in its amended form on a 90-9 vote.

Today was the last day for each chamber (House and Senate) to act on its own legislation.  All bills now cross over to the other chamber. 

Our focus is now upon the budget.  Please take some time to click on “Virginia Education Association warns of ‘devastating effects’ of school budget cuts.” on the main page of this web site.  The VEC Statement should be required reading for every Virginian.

Despite statements from Republican and Democratic leadership in the House, the House budget includes permanent cuts to K-12 funding, adopting the support personnel ratio proposed by the Governor.  Thankfully, the Senate cuts are temporary.

VEA will be seeking amendments to the House budget to make the cuts temporary and to provide bonuses to NBPTS national certificate holders.  Please stay tuned as the vote on these amendments will probably be on Thursday.

We have been busy preparing for tomorrow’s press conference in response to the House and Senate Budget proposals.  See tomorrow’s posting for details.

Two voucher/tuition tax credit measures, Saxman’s HB1965 and O’Bannon’s HB1985, were engrossed by the House and passed to their third reading on Tuesday.  We will do our best to stop these measures in the Senate crossover.

Delegate Hugo’s HB2474, the elementary planning time bill, was amended and engrossed by the House and passed on to the third reading tomorrow for a final vote.

Delegate Shannon’s HB2632 was amended, at VEA’s request, by Delegate Kilgore, to address the concerns of VACo (the Virginia Association of Counties).  The bill was then engrossed and passed on to the third reading and final vote tomorrow.

Five of VEA’s legislative goals are advancing as we reach crossover tomorrow.  Your efforts are making a difference!

We have been flooded with calls about the Teacher and Support Staff Enhanced Retirement Plan.  Please don’t count on it until you find out that your school division has chosen to participate.  Although the state is proposing the plan, localities pay for its implementation.  Consider, too, the cost of health insurance prior to age 66 when Medicare kicks in.

The Senate Finance Committee killed yet another Stosch autism voucher bill (SB1544) yesterday evening.  The vote was as follows:

YEAS--Wampler, Stosch, Stolle, Quayle, Norment, Hanger, Watkins--7.

NAYS--Colgan, Houck, Howell, Saslaw, Miller, Y.B., Marsh, Lucas, Whipple, Reynolds--9.

The Department of Planning and Budget said the cost of implementing the bill could not be determined, but that the Department of Education would have to create two positions to administer this new voucher program.  Isn’t it interesting to see “conservatives” vote for bills the cost of which cannot be determined?  Who said car tax?  How many more teachers would have been RIFed had this bill passed?

The General Assembly meets over this weekend, and the money committees report their budget amendments on Sunday.  Your staff will be busy Sunday evening analyzing the budget documents.  We will participate in a Tuesday Virginia Education Coalition news conference regarding the budget proposals.

The elementary planning time bill, Delegate Hugo’s HB2474, has been miraculously pulled from the grave by its determined sponsor.  It was amended and passed the House Appropriations Committee with only Delegate Landes voting against it.  Delegate Hamilton moved to report the bill and Lingamfelter seconded the motion.  Hugo worked hard to get this bill out of committee, as did Nutter and Tyler.

The statewide health insurance plan bill, HB2632, which is co-sponsored by Delegates Shannon (D) and Kilgore (R), was reported by the House Committee on General Laws Thursday.  This bill will now go to the full House on Monday, but will be on the contested calendar as it passed by the narrowest of margins (11-10).  VACO objected as local government employees are not included, but VEA does not object to their inclusion.  Delegate Kilgore is expected to offer a floor substitute to address the VACO concern on Monday. 

Please phone and email your delegate urging support of this measure (HB2632) that may reduce health insurance costs, especially for members in small school divisions.  If your division would not benefit from participation, it can opt out.

Also, urge support for the Elementary Planning Time bill, HB2474.

We should have two bills before the full House on Monday.

Delegate email addresses are available at the following link:
http://dela.state.va.us/dela/MemBios.nsf/MWebsiteEL?OpenView

Delegate office phone numbers are available at the following link:
http://dela.state.va.us/dela/MemBios.nsf/MWebsiteTL?OpenView

The Constituent Viewpoint Hotline numbers are (800) 889-0229 and (804) 698-1990.
If you do not know who your delegate or senator is, please go to this site for help:
http://conview.state.va.us/whosmy.nsf/main?openform

Delegate Fralin’s HB2089, which improves the ESP grievance procedure, passed the House today.  This is the first VEA bill to clear the House this session.

Delegate Hugo worked HB2474, our planning time bill, hard.  Delegates Tyler and Nutter did too.  But, unless some miracle occurs, the bill is dead for this session.  The blame lies with those on the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Elementary and Secondary Education.  Not one member of this subcommittee advocated for passage of the bill, and not one member of this subcommittee voted against referring the bill to its grave.  The following subcommittee members have some explaining to do:  Tata, Hamilton, Sherwood, Cox, Hogan, J. Scott, and Joannou (Bacote was absent).  In addition, we are told by Delegates that VASS lobbied against the bill.

The statewide health insurance plan bill, HB2632, which is co-sponsored by Delegates Shannon (D) and Kilgore (R), was reported by the House Committee on General Laws.  This bill will now go to the full House, but will be on the contested calendar as it passed by the narrowest of margins (11-10).  VACO objected as local government employees are not included, but VEA does not object to their inclusion.  Please phone and email your delegate urging support of this measure that may reduce health insurance costs, especially for members in small school divisions.  If your division would not benefit from participation, it can opt out.

Delegate email addresses are available at the following link:
http://dela.state.va.us/dela/MemBios.nsf/MWebsiteEL?OpenView

Delegate office phone numbers are available at the following link:
http://dela.state.va.us/dela/MemBios.nsf/MWebsiteTL?OpenView

The Constituent Viewpoint Hotline numbers are (800) 889-0229 and (804) 698-1990.

If you do not know who your delegate or senator is, please go to this site for help:
http://conview.state.va.us/whosmy.nsf/main?openform

Delegate Hugo’s Elementary Planning Time bill, HB 2474, went not to the full House Appropriations Committee as expected, it was taken up yet again by the House Committee on Appropriations Subcommittee on Elementary and Secondary Education.  They have now referred the bill to the Joint Subcommittee on Elementary & Secondary Education Funding.  We’ll do our best to keep this bill alive, but this is looking like a stealth kill.

Delegate Shannon’s HB2632, which directs the state to come up with a statewide health insurance option for school board employees, was reported by the House Committee on General Laws Subcommittee on Professional/Occupational/Administrative Process on a five to one vote.  This may be a tool to reduce health care costs teachers and ESP.  Delegate Gilbert moved to report the bill and Carrico, Ed Scott, Eisenburg and Gilbert joined him in voting for the bill.  Only Chairman Cosgrove voted against the bill. 

This bill may be taken up by the full General Laws Committee as soon as Thursday afternoon.  Committee members are:

Jones (Chairman), Albo, Wright, Oder, Gear, Cosgrove, Carrico, Scott, E.T., Iaquinto, Gilbert, Miller, J.H., Fralin, Abbitt, Phillips, Barlow, Hull, Ward, Dance, Tyler, Bulova, Eisenberg, Bowling

The Senate Finance Committee killed Governor Kaine’s cigarette tax proposal, SB947 carried by Senator Janet Howell on a tie vote.  This creates a $147 million dollar hole in the budget – those funds will have to come from various areas of the budget including K-12.

In an unusual meeting of the House Committee on Appropriations Subcommittee on Elementary and Secondary Education no vote was taken on Delegate Hugo’s HB 2474.  We are assured that the bill will be heard by full committee tomorrow.  Committee members are:

Putney (Chairman), Morgan, Tata, Hamilton, Ingram, May, Sherwood, Cox, Landes, Jones, Hogan, O'Bannon, Lingamfelter, Abbitt, Phillips, Scott, J.M., Joannou, Brink, Ware, O., Howell, A.T., BaCote, Dance, Shannon, Bowling

Delegates Hugo, Tyler and Nutter deserve thanks for personally working to assure passage of this bill.  Please call your delegate if he or she is on the committee.

Also before committee tomorrow is Delegate Shannon’s HB2632.  This bill directs the state to come up with a statewide health insurance option for school board employees.  This may be a tool to reduce health care costs teachers and ESP.  The House Committee on General Laws Subcommittee on Professional/Occupational/Administrative Process will hear this bill.  Subcommittee members are:

Cosgrove (Chairman), Carrico, Scott, E.T., Gilbert, Miller, J.H., Barlow, Ward, Eisenberg

The Constituent Viewpoint Hotline numbers are 800-889-0229 or 804-698-1990.
The email addressed for each delegate are available at:
http://dela.state.va.us/dela/MemBios.nsf/MWebsiteEL?OpenView

VEA’s 275 Lobby Day participants, and those who participated in Virtual Lobby Day, made a difference.

The message of “minimize the cuts and make them temporary” will continue to pressure the General Assembly to protect our schools, as much as is possible, from the ravages of the recession.

First, Delegate Lingamfelter, agreed to delete from his HB1844 the provision which would have dropped the requirement that charter school employees be public school board employees.  This policy shift would have had negative consequences to charter schools and our system of public education.  We deeply appreciate Delegate’s Lingamfelter’s action in regard to HB1844.

Second, Delegate Fralin’s bill to improve the Educational Support Personnel grievance procedure was reported unanimously from the House Education Committee this morning.  VEA Lobbyist and counselor, Milton Brown, took the lead on this bill and is doing an excellent job.  The bill now goes to the full House.  As it reported unanimously, it will go on the uncontested calendar and may have smooth sailing through the House.

Third, Delegate Pogge’s HB1746 required that the “value and benefits” of marriage be included in the Family Life Education program.  Your president, Dr. Kitty Boitnott, spoke eloquently to the dangers of a one-sided value laden approach to the teaching of information regarding marriage and the possible impact of such an approach on the self-esteem of children of non-traditional families.  The bill was subsequently amended to add the concepts of “challenges and responsibilities.”

Also this morning, VEA Vice President Meg Gruber, stood up in the House Privileges and Elections subcommittee on several pending measures that could affect the constitution.  Thank Meg for rising early to speak to the VEA Legislative Agenda.

Please go to the www.vastudents.org web site and sign on the Alliance for Virginia’s Children petition which educators will present a week from today.  Please urge colleagues, family and friends to sign on.

To those who came to Richmond and those who participated in Virtual Lobby Day – THANKS!  You make a difference!!!

The major policy shift that will take place if Delegate Lingamfelter’s HB1844 passes is the result on changing “a shall” to “a may” on a single line of the bill.

This policy change, interestingly enough, is not noted in the bill summary or the fiscal impact statement.  Note:  your lobbyists do read the bills to catch just this kind of trickery.  As Henry Howell used to say, “There’s more sneaking around in the middle of the night in Richmond than Santa Claus.”

Here is the change:  “Public charter school personnel [shall] may be employees of the local school board or boards granting the charter.”

What a difference a single word can make!

What doors can this open and what questions does it raise?

Teachers employed by a public charter school would be employees of the charter school board and not employees of the system – no salary scale, no VRS, no grievance procedure, no continuing contract …..

Well funded national organizations could come into your locality and deal with your school board to make your county high school a charter school and contract to provide faculty.

Prince Edward County, which closed its schools and used public money to support white-flight institutions, could legally support those schools again under this bills provisions.

For folks who wish to start charter schools, this policy shift would make them assume liability, do their own payroll and hiring, and leave them open to suits that would break them.  The only charter schools that don’t need the support of the division's human relations staff would be those backed by wealthy corporate interest who would like to set up publicly funded private schools, Virginia’s new charter schools.

This bill will be before the House Education Committee on Monday.  Committee members are as follows:

Tata (Chairman), Hamilton, Landes, Lingamfelter, Rust, Fralin, Cole, Gilbert, Athey, Pogge, Massie, Loupassi, Gear, Shuler, Alexander, Ebbin, Ware, O., Shannon, McClellan, Tyler, Bulova, Morrissey

Please call your delegate and tell them to keep “the shall” in HB1844. 

Senator Stosch’s Autism Voucher, SB 956, bill was defeated in the Senate Education and Health Committee on a straight party line vote this morning.

YEAS--Houck, Saslaw, Lucas, Howell, Edwards, Whipple, Locke, Barker, Northam, Miller, J.C.--10.
NAYS--Quayle, Martin, Newman, Ruff, Blevins--5.

The Virginia School Board Association joined VEA in opposing the bill.

Delegate Kirk Cox introduced the House’s “Teacher and Support Staff Enhanced Retirement Plan.”  He referenced the fact that superintendents have been requesting additional “tools” to help them reduce their staffs in these times of declining state support for public education.  Cox outlined these nine key components:

1) Any school board may voluntarily elect to participate in this enhanced or early retirement incentive plan (ERIP);
2) Participating School Boards may elect to purchase between 1 and 5 years of retirement service credit for eligible employees, although the number of years they elect to purchase would apply to all eligible employees;
3) Any employee age 50 years old with at least 25 years of creditable service, as of June 30, 2009 is eligible;
4) Participation by each employee who meets the age/service eligibility is completely voluntary and will be subject to approval by their school division;
5) Eligible employees must elect a retirement date between July 1, 2009 and June 30, 2010, or as mutually agreed upon by the school division;
6) Approved participants will not be subject to early retirement penalties;
7) Approved participants also may elect to participate in a school division’s official early retirement incentive program;
8) Participating school divisions will be obligated to pay VRS for the cost of its participation at the rate of 20% of the eligible employee’s current salary, for each year of service purchased; and
9) Payment to VRS may be made in either one lump sum or 12 equal monthly payments over a period of five years.

Note that if this plan is adopted that your school board would have the option of participating.  It is not a state mandated program, and it appears that your local school board would have to pay for the program.  Localities may not choose to participate. It appears (see number 4 above) that the school board could choose on a case-by-case basis whether or not an individual could participate.

Delegate Bob “Coach” Tata (R) of Virginia Beach, who chairs the House Education Committee, stood up for public education in a morning hour floor speech earlier this week.  The Republican House Caucus joined the Democratic House Caucus and the Democratic Senate Caucus in opposition to the Governor’s proposed permanent cuts to K-12 spending.  Bob is a former educator, and we should all thank him for standing up.  Check out his speech at the following link: 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y1jD9eC2MQ4

Kent C. Dickey, Assistant Superintendent for Finance at the Department of Education, presented the 2008-2009 Teacher Salary Survey to the House Appropriations Committee, and once again Virginia has fallen in its ranking among the Southern Region Education Board states.  Virginia has fallen from last years ranking of 5th to 8th.  The Southern region states ahead of Virginia in average teacher salary are Maryland, Delaware, Georgia, North Carolina, Kentucky, Louisiana, and Florida.  How long will this disgrace be tolerated?

In the House Education Committee this morning, Delegate Fralin’s HB2089 went by for the day when concerns regarding the bill arose.  VEA and VSBA are now on the same page in regard to this legislation, and we are working together with Delegate Fralin to ensure that this bill to improve the ESP grievance procedure is redrafted prior to the next meeting of the committee.

Senate Finance met this morning, and, in light of the revenue shortfall, proceeded to kill every bill that cost anything.  Falling victim to the slaughter were two VEA bills – SB1327 which would have provided the health care credit to ESP, and SB1378 which would have opened the VRS prior service credit purchase window to teachers reaching six years of service.  Fortunately, the Finance Committee also killed Senator Obenshain’s tuition tax credit bill, SB1221.

It appears that the Governor has not prevailed in either chamber or either party regarding the manner in which education funds will be cut.  His permanent cut proposal has been firmly rejected.  Please check out “K-12 Education Coalition Gets a Lift” at http://virginiatomorrow.com/

You need to know that no organization did more to pull the coalition together than VEA.

If the General Assembly rejects the Governor’s cut methodology (Good thing!), we have to develop an alternative plan to minimize the cuts, make them fair, make them temporary, and balance the budget.  That is consuming the time of your GR staff at this juncture.

For years, we have seen broad voucher and tuition-tax-credit bills intended to offer “choice” to all students.  Delegate Chris Saxman’s HB1965, his tuition tax credit bill is an example.  Those bills routinely fail in Virginia as the Virginia Senate rejects this approach.  The new tactic of voucher proponents it to propose narrowly defined bills serving special populations.

Voucher proponents introduce narrowly defined “neo-voucher” bills hoping to crack the door open to the creation of a new entitlement – vouchers for all.

Last year we saw Senator Stosch’s bill to provide vouchers to all special education students.  This year his bill, SB956, has been narrowed in focus to serve only autistic students.  On the House side, Delegate O’Bannon (HB1985) and Delegate Janis (HB2104) have introduced neo-voucher bills for autistic children.  The stated goal of voucher advocates is to gain passage of these narrow bills for the purpose of establishing a vehicle for future amendments which will broaden the voucher plan to eventually include all students.

VEA believes the monies that would go to fund these bills would be better used to implement proven school improvement strategies in our public schools.  We believe the Commonwealth should use its resources to ensure that all of our children have great public schools.  We believe the focus of the Commonwealth should be on learning and not on creating new voucher granting bureaucracies.

Please urge opposition to these voucher and tuition tax credit bills.

Finally, Senator McEachin’s SB1327, granting the retiree health care credit to support personnel, will be considered tomorrow by the Senate Finance Committee.  Please contact your senator urging support of SB1327.   

It looks like both Planning Time and Tuition Tax Credits are both heading in the wrong direction.  The good news is that we now have recorded subcommittee votes.  This year they can’t kill planning time in the dark of night.

HB2474, Delegate Hugo’s elementary planning time bill, in what is a disappointing development, was referred by the House Education Committee to the House Appropriations Committee this morning.  It appeared that the bill was on its way to passage until Delegate Putney, Chairman of the House Appropriations Committee, sent a last-minute letter requesting that the bill come to his committee.  VEA had contended that the bill did not need to go to Appropriations, as JLARC says the bill “will not increase the State’s Standards of Quality (SOQ) costs.”

Delegate Saxman’s Tuition Tax Credit Bill, HB1965, was reported and re-referred to House Appropriations today by the Finance Committee.  Interestingly, this bill was heard in neither subcommittee nor committee before a straight party-line (10-9) vote.

These bills should now go to the Education Subcommittee of House Appropriations.  Delegates on this committee are Tata (Chairman), Hamilton, Sherwood, Cox, Hogan, Scott, J.M., Joannou, BaCote.  If one of these Delegates is your delegate, please call or email urging support of HB2474 and opposition to HB1965.  Note:  Joannou is the only delegate who does not have an email address.

If you do not know who your delegate or senator is, please go to this site for help:

http://conview.state.va.us/whosmy.nsf/main?openform

Support for the Governor’s proposed permanent cuts to K-12 funding is eroding.  Education Committee Chairman Bob Tata, rose in the morning hour in the House to assert that cuts to education should be a small as possible and should not be permanent.  He compared education to the fabled “Golden Goose.”

There is much discussion regarding the use of the words permanent to describe the Governor’s proposal.  He and others deride the use of the word, saying that the next General Assembly can do whatever it wants.  The way to make non-permanent cuts is to say to localities, “The state cannot meet its commitment because of the recession.  Mr. Superintendent, you have this much less than we should give you.  Do your best with what you have.

Permanent cuts, on the other hand, are the imposition of new ratios and formulae in the budget or other bills to reduce the state’s obligation.  These cuts will roll forward into the future, reducing state support in the long run.

Next year is a budget year, and the costs of elementary and secondary education will be rebenchmarked.  The Governor’s proposal will reduce the base line by $400 million.

Monday will be a very significant day for advancing VEA’s legislative agenda, and we need you to call and email your delegate in support of HB2474 and HB2089.

In the Teachers and Administrative Action Subcommittee of House Education, HB 2089, Del. Fralin's grievance bill to improve the grievance time lines for ESP, was passed as amended 5-3 on a motion by Ebbin and second by Shuler; McClellan was absent.

Voting Right were Ebbin, Shuler, Loupassi, Cole, Morrissey

Voting Wrong were Gilbert, Lingamfelter, and Hamilton

Now, this bill will be before the House Education Committee on Monday.

Also before this committee on Monday is the Elementary Planning Time Bill, Delegate Hugo’s HB2474.  We have been fighting for years to get elementary teachers some guaranteed planning time.

Please call and email your delegate urging support of HB2474 and HB2089.

Delegate email addresses are available at the following link:

http://dela.state.va.us/dela/MemBios.nsf/MWebsiteEL?OpenView

Delegate office phone numbers are available at the following link:

http://dela.state.va.us/dela/MemBios.nsf/MWebsiteTL?OpenView

The Constituent Viewpoint Hotline numbers are (800) 889-0229 and (804) 698-1990.

The Virginia Association of School Superintendents had their lobby day on Thursday.  Our organizations are on the same page regarding the Governor’s proposed budget.  Interestingly, when the press asked for information regarding the cuts to localities, a superintendent offered to the press that VEA had that information.  Also of interest is the fact that their workshops were on Reduction in Force, a sad indicator of things to come.  When was the last time things were this bleak for public education in Virginia? 

Startling all present, the Senate Education and Health Committee reversed its position of many years to pass a measure returning control of the school calendar to local school boards.

Since passage of the “Kings Dominion Relief Act” many years ago, which requires schools to open after Labor Day, the VEA and other education advocates have fought to return the school calendar to local control.  Indeed our resolution (below) was adopted in 1986.

VEA Resolution C-39:  The VEA believes school calendars should be a matter of local option for local school boards and that Association members should play an active role in the development of the school calendar.  (86, 92)

Dr. Boitnott spoke in support of Senator Vogel’s SB1266 as did a number of other leaders from the education community.  The most powerful and compelling testimony asserted that Virginia students who take AP and IB tests are at a disadvantage when competing against students from other states who have more class days to prepare for the tests which are given on a fixed national date.

Voting right were Senators J. Miller, Northam, Locke, Whipple, Howell, Houck, Quayle, Blevins.

Voting wrong were Senators Barker, Edwards, Lucas, Saslaw, Martin, Newman and Ruff.

The 8-7 vote crossed party and racial lines.

This bill should now go to the full Senate.  Please email and call your Senator urging support for SB1266.

Senator’s email addresses are available at:

 http://sov.state.va.us/SenatorDB.nsf/$$Viewtemplate%2Bfor%2BWEmailList?OpenForm

The constituent viewpoint (800) 889-0229 and (804) 698-1990.

Delegate Hugo’s HB2474, which guarantees elementary teachers planning time,  will be heard by the House Education Committee on Monday.  Call or email your delegate now!

Middle and high school teachers are guaranteed planning time by the Standards of Accreditation (SAC).  Only elementary teachers are not protected by these regulations.

Teachers who work in collaborative school environments enjoy their work more, work harder, improve their practice of teaching, and see themselves as being more effective.

Providing teachers time to plan instructionally together and observe one another so that they can improve is a key to an environment where teachers cooperate in school improvement and professional development tasks.

Planning time for teachers clearly qualifies as an essential condition for the professional practice of teaching.

Planning time can be provided at no additional cost. 

The Constituent Viewpoint Hotline numbers are 800-889-0229 or 804-698-1990.

The email addressed for each delegate are available at: 

http://dela.state.va.us/dela/MemBios.nsf/MWebsiteEL?OpenView

We have time to work with, but you are we.  Call or email your delegate today.  Urge your delegate to support for HB2474.

In what can only be described as bizarre timing, the General Assembly is considering creating a new voucher program when they are cutting public school funding.

The House Education Committee will take up Delegate Janis’s voucher bill, HB2104, Wednesday morning.  This bill grants a $36,000 voucher to parents of special education students for private school tuition.  Please call your delegate urging opposition to this bill.  Should we really be funding vouchers when we are cutting funds to public schools?

The Constituent Viewpoint Hotline numbers are 800-889-0229 or 804-698-1990.

Our Governor claims he has done his best to shield public education in his budget amendments.  Let’s see if the facts align with this claim.  K-12 makes up 36% of the adopted budget.  In 2010, K-12 “contributes” 47% of the reductions.  Does it look like education was cut less than other programs to you?

For FY2010, here is how the budget ax falls:

Higher Education cut 10.1%
K-12 Public Education cut 9.4%
Mental Health cut 4.0%
Medicaid cut 3.3%
Corrections cut 4.5%
All Other 8.3%

Draw your own conclusion.

The work of legislative committees began in earnest today, with the schedule starting at 7 a.m, in House P&E and ending with a Transportation Sub starting at 5:30 p.m.  Despite the limit on bills for each legislator, a flood of bills were delivered to VEA’s box in the Bill Room today.

Janet Hilliard, Pittsylvania Education Association President , discussed sessions with two of the legislators visited by a great group that came up from VEA District 13.  Legislators told them, “Don’t worry about cuts being permanent because future sessions will adopt new budgets.”   We may be hearing that quite a bit from members of the House.  So, we all need to be ready to answer.

We do need to worry about the cuts being permanent cuts which change the manner in which our schools are funded.  Permanent cuts, like those proposed by our Governor, roll into future budgets.  In this case, the baseline is decreased by $400 million.  That cut rolls forward into the next budget.  If the cuts are temporary, the baseline is not cut.

Dr. Boitnott delivered over our Fund Quality Schools petition when she addressed the money committees today.  Thanks to you, it contained over 12,000 signatures.  It  advised legislators that  “any cuts in public education funding should be minimized and of a temporary nature. One-time cuts should be employed only if necessary. There should be no changes to the funding formula which would reduce education funding even after the economy improves.”

Stick to your guns when legislators try to tell you that it doesn’t matter whether the cuts are permanent are not – it does.  Let’s keep on message.  Minimize cuts to K-12, and make them temporary.

Three days down in what is SUPPOSED to be a thirty day session!

Monday is a holiday for many, but not at the General Assembly.  In fact, it is the day of the Richmond Regional Budget Hearing where President Kitty Boitnott will present the VEA perspective to the money committees.

Kitty will be presenting our petition, and we need to have as many signers as possible.  Please do all you can to get folks to sign on between now and Monday morning.  The petition can be accessed at www.veanea.org  or directly at http://www.fundqualityschools.org/.

Please help!

Senator Stosch's autism voucher bill, SB956, has been assigned to the Public Education Subcommittee of Senate Health and Education.  The commitee will meet Monday, 1/2 hour after adjournment.  Subcommittee members are as follows:
 
Blevins, Howell, Ruff, Locke, Miller J.

Last year’s Stosch voucher bill was for all special education students.  This year’s tactic on Stosch’s part, narrowing the bill to only autistic children, proves VEA’s point that this is an attempt to get the voucher foot in the door.  If this passes, surely the bill will broaden to include all students in years to come.

The bill provides for a $20,000 voucher.  Costs of $50,000 dollars per year are not unusual for specialized institutions for autistic children.  If the local school system cannot provide services, the local school division is obligated to pay the $50,000.  This bill does a disservice to the parents it is intended to help.

Please call your Senator urging them to reject Stosch’s voucher bill.

Two VEA bills that cost nothing have now been introduced.  We certainly aren’t going to get anything with a fiscal impact this session, but we really need to fight to get these two bills through.  This is something the General Assembly can do for teachers and support personnel in these tough times.

Delegate Hugo is sponsoring HB2474 requiring school boards to ensure that all elementary school teachers are provided an average of 30 minutes a day of planning time.

Delegate Fralin’s HB2089 improves the support personnel grievance procedure by aligning the timelines with the teacher procedure.

Please call your delegate urging support of HB2474 and HB2089.

The Constituent Viewpoint Hotline numbers are 800-889-0229 or 804-698-1990.

Finally, the Governor’s cuts to K-12 keep growing.  DOE now says the Governor cut $602.6 from the K-12 budget for FY2010.

The 2009 session of the General Assembly began today, and your lobbyists face the fact that this will be one of the most difficult sessions for public education advocates in the history of the Commonwealth.

Governor Kaine proposes just short of $600 million in K-12 cuts for the next school year, FY 2010, and he wants to make $400 million of those cuts permanent.  VEA believes he is wrong to do this, and our goal in this session is to minimize the cuts and make them temporary.

We are building support for our no permanent cuts position and we now have a majority of the members of the Senate on our side.  Senator Edd Houck has been our Senate champion, and every supporter of public education owes him their thanks.

We are now working to bring the House to reject Kaine’s proposal to do permanent damage to our schools.

The Governor says this 9.2% cut in funding to our schools won’t harm the classroom.  The lunacy of the claim is refuted in our daily papers as school systems across the state prepare to lay off teachers, increase class sizes, lay off essential support personnel and eliminate professional development for teachers.  Some systems are considering pay cuts, furloughs and elimination of participation in Governor’s schools and vocational schools.

Hanover County, for example, is eliminating 52 teaching positions and 10 special education instructional assistants.  That sounds like harming the classroom to us!

We need your help now!  Please go back to the opening page of this web site and use the Action Alert box in the upper right hand corner to send a letter to your delegate and senator.  Sign onto the petition that President Boitnott will present at Monday’s budget hearing.  Go to www.vastudents.org and sign the alliance petition.  Call the Constituent Viewpoint Hotline (800-552-9745 or 804-698-1990) and tell your delegate and senator to:

Mininize the cuts to K-12 education and make any K-12 cuts temporary.

Thanks for checking in and taking action to protect our schools.