It’s crunch time! In the next four days, six legislators will decide whether or not to change the law that requires adequate funding for our children’s schools. HB 458, the average daily membership (ADM) bill, is reportedly being used as a vehicle to make changes to the MAEP, ostensibly to reduce the amount required by the […]
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The Senate has adjourned the 2016 session; the House must return tomorrow to dispose of a motion to reconsider before it adjourns sine die. You can see here the results of all the bills that we tracked this session. Governor Bryant announced today that he will make additional cuts to current-year budgets, including public schools, as revenue is
Governor Bryant Announces More Budget Cuts; Senate Adjourns Sine Die Read More »
The K-12 budget bill, HB 1643, has been adopted. It provides level funding for the MAEP, under-funding public schools by $172-million. Other portions of the education budget suffered cuts, but Chairman Moore noted that conferees worked hard to minimize the negative effect on students. The Schools for the Blind and the Deaf were cut more than $300,000, an impact
K-12 Budget, Corporate Tax Cuts Pass House, Senate Read More »
Last evening, the appropriations chairmen reported that “dummy bills” (with $0 instead of actual budget numbers) were required to meet yesterday’s 8pm deadline because the staff ran out of time while preparing the reports. Twenty-four hours later, we still have no real budget conference reports for K-12 and many of the largest state agency budgets.
Deep Cuts to Most Agencies, Still No K-12 Budget Read More »
Legislators met their 8:00 p.m. deadline tonight by filing “dummy” conference reports on some budget bills, including HB 1643, the K-12 appropriation. Dummy budget bills are placeholders that include $0.00 in the line items. A dummy tax-cut bill with a reverse repealer was also filed. The appropriations chairs reported that the dummy bills were necessary because the staff
School Funding Conference Report Filed Read More »
This morning, the Senate voted 26-24 to send the charter school bill to Governor Bryant without any changes. Students in districts rated C, D, and F will now be allowed to cross district lines to attend charter schools, taking your local taxes and their MAEP allocation with them. See how your senator voted. The close vote is
School Funding at Risk, See Senators’ Charter School Vote Read More »
The Senate did not take up the charter school bill today (SB 2161), giving us another day to contact our senators. Please continue to reach out to your senator on this issue. The leadership will continue to apply pressure, and if we let up, we could lose this opportunity to have C districts removed from the
MAEP and Charter Update Read More »
Today, Sen. Hob Bryan held the charter school bill (SB 2161) on a motion to reconsider, giving senators another opportunity to vote on it, probably tomorrow. Please give your senator a call! As this bill stands now, even some districts currently rated A and B could be cannibalized by charter schools seeking high-performing students. How? Educators predict that changes
Charter School Bill Will Get Another Vote Read More »
Today, the Senate narrowly voted to concur with the House version of SB 2161, the charter school bill that allows students in districts rated C, D, and F to cross district lines to attend charter schools. The vote was 24-21, with seven senators not voting. Educators tell us they fear that districts now rated A
Senate Votes on Charter Bill Read More »
The Senate charter school bill, SB 2161, has not yet been taken up for a vote. Please continue to contact the senators who represent your school district about this bill. SB 2161 threatens to siphon resources away from the C-rated districts that are doing some of our very best work with high-poverty students, allowing their
Keep Calling on Charter Bill, News from House Read More »
