| On Board Online • February 9, 2015 By Courtney Sanik Your district policy manual probably says nothing regarding transgender students - nor does it have to, according to Jay Worona, NYSSBA deputy executive director and general counsel, and Linda Bakst, deputy director for policy services. Existing policies should help the district protect the rights of transgender students and address concerns that may be aired by other students and parents. Worona and Bakst recently presented a complimentary NYSSBA webinar entitled Transgender Students in the 21st Century. One message was that existing policies should help guide school officials even though those policies probably don't mention transgender students specifically. For instance, your general policy on Equal Opportunity and Non-Discrimination establishes the civil rights of transgender students. Transgender students are protected by the Dignity for All Students Act because it lists actual or perceived gender, including identity and expression, as a protected class. Therefore, your district is obligated to protect the rights of transgender students consistent with these laws as well as federal antidiscrimination laws. How it does so is up to administrators. |
| On Board Online • February 9, 2015 By Lynn L. Lenhardt In Greek mythology, Tantalus was punished in Hades by standing beneath a tree with succulent fruit just out of reach. He stood in a pool of water, but it would recede whenever he bent to take a drink. That's the way it is with school districts and the healthy amount of state aid proposed by Gov. Andrew Cuomo. The governor has proposed increasing state aid by $1.1 billion, but has refused to release district-level details in documents called school aid runs. The governor wants the state Legislature to pass his package of education reforms before revealing district-by-district aid figures. According to the Division of the Budget (DOB), schools should expect to receive state aid runs on April 1, the legal deadline for the state budget to be adopted. This is a really awful plan. Schools end up being the casualty in what amounts to a game of legislative three-dimensional chess. Let me explain why. |
| On Board Online • January 26, 2015 By Cathy Woodruff NYSSBA is weighing in against a proposed rule change that would explicitly require schools to administer the stand-alone field tests used to vet potential questions for future state tests. NYSSBA "opposes stand-alone field tests, based on concerns expressed by its members and the parents of the children they serve," Executive Director Timothy G. Kremer wrote in a Jan. 5 letter to Deputy Education Commissioner Ken Wagner. Parents have complained that field tests rob schools of instructional time, and some districts have refused to participate. "While NYSSBA recognizes that required standardized tests need to be validated, it believes such validation should not be dependent upon stand-alone field tests," Kremer continued. "Instead, such validation should be accomplished by the insertion of sample questions in existing tests and by producing more versions of the tests." Kremer's letter also acknowledged that the State Education Department's reliance on stand-alone field tests is largely a consequence of insufficient state funding to embed more trial questions within regular "operational" exams. He noted that NYSSBA "has long advocated for the state to fully fund the state assessment program." |
|
|
| On Board Online • January 26, 2015 By Cathy Woodruff In his State of the State address, Gov. Andrew Cuomo proposed bumping up the cap on the number of charter schools that can be authorized in the state by 100 more schools. But with a total of 460 charters allowed under the current cap and just 248 charter schools open, it's reasonable to wonder why anyone would be talking about raising the cap. Since 460 minus 248 equals 212, doesn't that mean that plenty of charters remain up for grabs? Well, no. |
|
|
| On Board Online • January 26, 2015 By Cathy Woodruff The Board of Regents has declined to approve a plan by leaders of a small Orange County school district to turn their high school into a charter school emphasizing science, technology, engineering and math (STEM). The Regents returned the charter proposal from the Tuxedo school district at their January meeting, seeking revisions and additional information after several members of the board expressed concern about the financial impact the conversion could have on neighboring school districts. "I would suggest that we have to send this back until we can address this issue," said Regent Harry Phillips, whose lower Hudson Valley district includes Tuxedo and several nearby school districts. He said the plan, as it stands under current laws and regulations, would present "a tremendous challenge" for at least one neighboring district, Greenwood Lake. Tuxedo Superintendent Carol Lomascolo told On Board her district's leaders remain committed to pursuing the conversion of George F. Baker High School to a STEM Academy charter school and will strive to address the concerns raised by the Regents. |
| On Board Online • January 26, 2015 Timothy G. Kremer Did you hear the one about the tax cap, the tax freeze and the tax credit? I wish there were a funny punch line, but unfortunately, this is no laughing matter, especially if you're leading a school district in an area of the state with lower property wealth. That's because Gov. Cuomo is tying yet another initiative to the property tax cap. In case you missed it, the governor chose property tax relief as the first proposal to unveil as part of his 2015 "Opportunity Agenda." |
| On Board Online • January 26, 2015 By Paul Heiser The property tax cap for school districts for 2015 will be 1.62 percent, the state comptroller's office has announced. The amount is based on the inflation rate on the national Consumer Price Index for 2014. Under the tax cap law, property taxes levied by school districts generally cannot increase by more than 2 percent or the rate of inflation, whichever is lower. This is known as the 'allowable levy growth factor.' However, the law does allow school districts to levy an additional amount for certain expenditures that are excluded from the cap, such as capital projects. An override of the levy limit is also permitted with at least 60 percent voter approval. |
| On Board Online • January 26, 2015 By Eric Randall
"If we want to invest in the system, make it the right system," Cuomo said in a combined State of the State and budget address on Jan. 21. "Our education system needs dramatic reform and has for years." Among the boldest changes proposed were a new way of rating teachers, a five-year tenure process and a new intervention model for chronically underperforming schools. In answer to longstanding criticism of the 3020-a disciplinary process, Cuomo proposed making it easier for administrators to dismiss teachers with consistently poor evaluations. |
<< Previous Page Next Page >> |
Gov. Andrew Cuomo has proposed what he called a "large investment" in school funding - an increase of $1.06 billion, or 4.8 percent - but said a long list of reforms are needed to ensure that money is spent well.