Current Issues

Federal - Current Issues

 

The “sequestration” federal budget cuts went into effect March 1. The cuts included $2.9 billion in education. The budget cuts would become effective during the 2013-3014 school year.

On March 6 the House Appropriations Committee passed a bill that would extend the current stop gap funding for government operations through September 30, the end of the current fiscal year. This bill (Continuing Resolution 933) is set to expire on March 27. On March 18 the Continuing Resolution was considered and amended by the Senate. As a result of changes to the bill made in the Senate, House action will be necessary before it is sent to the President for his signature. Congress will need to complete consideration before March 27th to prevent a shutdown of the federal government.



ESEA's Reauthorization

The House Education and Workforce Committee in February, 2012 and the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee in October, 2011 both passed versions of Elementary and Secondary Education Act Reauthorization (ESEA aka NCLB). Neither chamber has tried to bring the measures to a floor vote. 

The House bills are the Student Success Act, HR 3989 and the Encouraging Innovation and Effective Teachers Act, HR 3990.

 

Virginia’ ESEA Waiver

The Virginia Board of Education approved an alternate methodology for revising Annual Measurable Objectives (AMOs) in mathematics for every student subgroup, including the three proficiency gap groups, for accountability years 2013-2014 through 2017-2018 based on new and more rigorous mathematics assessments administered for the first time in 2011-2012. Note that the same methodology would be used in 2012-2013 to recalculate reading AMOs through accountability years 2017-2018 based on new and more rigorous reading assessments to be administered for the first time in 2012-2013.

The changes come in response to the request for Virginia to submit an alternate methodology and revised student subgroup AMOs to USED for approval. Revised Annual Measurable Objectives (AMOs) will be calculated for every student subgroup, such that by the 2017-2018 accountability year (2016-2017 assessment year) the minimum required pass rate will be the same as the Year 6 AMO for the all students subgroup (73% for mathematics). AMOs in the intermediate years will serve as academic progress measures.

The revision includes an amendment that would allow a school to meet federal accountability requirements through an additional safe harbor provision. Federal requirements may be met if the passing rate exceeds the AMO target and falls within 5 percent of the previous year's passing rate. This provision could not be used for more than two consecutive years.

The revised methodology will continue to address USED’s flexibility application requirement of cutting in half within six years the failure rate of the all students group and every student subgroup at a school with greater gains required of lower performing subgroups. Schools with pass rates higher than the AMOs for one or more subgroups will be required to maintain or improve those pass rates annually to ensure all subgroups in every school make continuous progress. The starting points (Year 1 AMOs) used to determine the federal accountability determinations for the 2012-2013 accountability year based on 2011-2012 assessments will remain as calculated using methodology approved by USED on June 29, 2012. The pass rate of the school at the 20th percentile of total number of students with assessment records for the state represents the starting point (Year 1 AMO) for calculating the AMOs. (This procedure for calculating a starting point is consistent with the methodology in the NCLB Act of 2001.)

 

Additional information about the new Annual Measurable Objectives is available at: http://www.doe.virginia.gov/federal_programs/esea/flexibility/faq_amo.pdf

Virginia Implementation Documents

http://www.doe.virginia.gov/federal_programs/esea/state_implementation.shtm

 

 

 

Current State Legislative and Executive Out-of-Session Committee Activities and Studies

 

Various legislative and executive committees meet throughout the year to study education-related policy issues.  The following provides links to and information about many of these policy-making entities, their current activities, and their recently completed study results.

 

 

Commission on Youth

Home Page: http://vcoy.virginia.gov/

2013 Activity: The Virginia Commission on Youth does not currently have any education-related studies scheduled for consideration or release in 2013.

Recent relevant Commission on Youth reports:

 

Comparison of Academic Achievement in Virginia with Leading Industrialized Countries  (September 2012)

 

School Enrollment Practices for Virginia’s Kinship Caregivers (April 2012)

 

 

Governor's School and Campus Safety Task Force

Home Page: http://dcjs.virginia.gov/vcss/SchoolCampusSafetyTaskForce/

2013 Activity: The Governor’s School and Campus Safety Task Force continues to meet to discuss potential policy initiatives intended to address K-12 school safety.   The Task Force is expected to meet at least once more prior to June 30th, the date for which the authority for the Task Force expires.

 

 

Joint Commission on Health Care

Home Page: http://jchc.virginia.gov/

2013 Activity: The 2013 General Assembly adopted two potentially relevant studies which were referred to the Joint Commission on Health Care, the findings of which are due to be released prior to the 2014 General Assembly Session: 

 

  • HJ 687 (O’Bannon) directs a study of the factors affecting health care costs, including a review of policies, practices, and initiatives expected to help control health care costs while maintaining quality of care; factors considered to be the primary contributors to the increase of health care costs; approaches undertaken in other states and countries to control health care costs; and the likely impact of federal Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act provisions on the cost of health care.

 

  • SJ 330 (Northam) directs the a study of the service needs of individuals with autism and autism spectrum disorders transitioning from public and private secondary schools, including needs related to housing, employment, and day support services.

 

 

Joint Commission on Science and Technology (JCOTS)

Home Page:  http://dls.virginia.gov/commission/jcots.htm

2013 Activity: The JCOTS Broadband and Education Advisory Committee will consider the subject matter of two pieces of education-related legislation referred to it during the 2013 General Assembly Session regarding electronic textbooks:

  • HB 1915 (Surovell) would prohibit school boards from making electronic textbooks available for use by students in their residence or residences unless the school board implemented measures to ensure that every student in the local school division had access to a personal computing device approved by the Board and access to internet service in his residence or residences.
  • HB 2286 (Kory) would specify that a local school board's contracts and purchase orders with publishers of textbooks approved by the Board for use in kindergarten through grade 12 would allow for the purchase of printed textbooks, printed textbooks with electronic files, or electronic textbooks separate and apart from printed versions of the same textbook. The bill would also specify that if a local school board decided to purchase an electronic textbook, it would have provided it to each student free of charge.

 

 

Joint Legislative Audit and Review Commission (JLARC)

Home Page:  http://jlarc.virginia.gov/

2013 Activity: The only education-related study scheduled for release by JLARC is their annual report on state Standards of Quality spending (released in December).   However, the 2013 General Assembly adopted a number of relevant studies for JLARC to undertake, with results due in future years, including:

 

  • SJ 328 (Saslaw) requests a study of the efficiency and effectiveness of elementary and secondary school spending in Virginia. This study is not scheduled to commence until 2014, with executive summaries of its findings due at both the end of 2014 and 2015.
  • Budget amendment 31 #1c requires a study of options for restructuring low performing schools or school districts, with a final report due by June 30, 2014.
  • HJ 635 (Gilbert) directs a study of the amount of federal revenue that Virginia receives at the state and local level annually, by functional area, and to determine its importance and impact, with results due prior to the 2015 Session of the General Assembly.
  • HJ 688 (Byron) directs JLARC to update its 2003 review of workforce training in Virginia, with results due prior to the 2015 General Assembly Session.

 

Recent relevant JLARC Reports:

 

Technical Report: Cost of Competing Adjustment for School Divisions in Northern Virginia (December 2012)

 

State Spending on the Standards of Quality: FY 2012 (December 2012)

 

Review of Year-Round Schools (October 2012)     

 

Review of Retirement Benefits for State and Local Government Employees (December 2011)

 

Strategies to Promote Third Grade Reading Performance in Virginia (September 2011)

 

 

Task Force for Local Government Mandate Review

Home Page: http://www.dhcd.virginia.gov/index.php/commission-on-local-government/mandates-on-local-governments/force-for-local-government-mandates-review.html

2013 Activity: The Governor’s Task Force for Local Government Mandate Review continues to meet to consider the proposed repeal of state imposed mandates on localities.  The Task Force is scheduled to expire on July 1, 2014.

The 2013 General Assembly included language in the Appropriations Act requiring the Commission on Local Government to convene a task force to determine a process for preparing fiscal impact statements for legislation requiring additional expenditures by counties, cities or towns.  While school divisions are not explicitly named as participating in the task force, since school divisions are fiscally dependent on local governments such impact estimates should of necessity incorporate a consideration of fiscal impacts on school divisions.  The task force is scheduled to release its report by December 1, 2013.

Recent relevant Task Force for Local Government Mandate Review reports:

 

Second Interim Report (March 2013)

 

First Interim Report (January 2012)

 

 

Virginia Freedom Information Advisory Council (FOIA)

Home Page: http://foiacouncil.dls.virginia.gov/

2013 Activity: The FOIA Council’s Electronic Meetings Subcommittee is planning to consider two pieces of legislation that may be of interest to education and which were referred to the Council during the 2013 General Assembly session:

  • HB 2032 (May) which would allow regional public bodies to conduct electronic meetings in the same manner as state public bodies. The bill would also remove the requirement that a public body hold one meeting each year at which no member participates using electronic means. This bill is a recommendation of the Joint Commission on Technology and Science.
  • SB 889 (Black) – which would allow local school boards to hold electronic communication meetings to the same extent allowed currently for state public bodies.

 

Its Rights and Remedies Subcommittee will consider the following two pieces of potentially relevant legislation:

  • HB 2125 (Keam) would provide that FOIA requests may be made by any citizen of the United States and not just citizens of the Commonwealth. The bill also allows a public body to require prepayment before providing requested records when the cost for production of the records is likely to exceed $100.  Note that the Virginia Supreme Court recently ruled that current FOIA law allows for the restriction of FOIA requests only to Virginia citizens.
  • SB 1371 (Stuart) – would allow a public body to petition the appropriate court for additional time to respond to a request for records when the request is one of a series of requests by the same requester and a response by the public body within the time required by FOIA will prevent the public body from meeting its operational responsibilities. The bill would also authorize a court, in any action to enforce the provisions of FOIA, to decline to order production of the requested records if the evidence shows that the frequency or volume of the record requests made by the petitioner (i) constitutes an unreasonable burden on the resources of the public body, (ii) will prevent the public body from meeting its operational responsibilities, or (iii) has been made to evade the payment of any charges assessed in accordance with FOIA.

 

 

Virginia State Crime Commission (VSCC)

Home Page: http://vscc.virginia.gov/

2013 Activity: The 2013 General Assembly adopted  HJ 595 (Loupassi) which directs the Virginia State Crime Commission (VSCC) to study the incidence and determine the potential availability of penalties for sexual conduct between secondary school students 18 years of age and older and teachers or other school personnel as well as to more generally study the laws and policies governing the investigation of alleged child sexual abuse in the Commonwealth.

 

 

Michael Molloy
Director
mamolloy@fcps.edu

 

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Last Updated

June 7, 2013