2007-2008 Resolutions
I.
GOVERNANCE, LOCAL AND STATE
A. ROLE OF SCHOOL BOARDS
1. Each school board is responsible
for leadership in the following five priority areas:
VISION
The
board envisions the education future of the community and then formulates the
goals, defines the outcomes, and sets the course for its public schools.
STRUCTURE
The
board establishes a sound organizational structure and creates an environment
that will permit all students to attain a high quality education. The board
employs an administrator, adopts missions and goals in harmony with its vision
through a strategic planning process, develops and approves policies, provides
fiscal oversight, and sets high standards for students and staff.
ACCOUNTABILITY
The
board causes the continuous assessment of all conditions affecting education
and ensures that schools are accountable for results in student learning.
Boards monitor student achievement, make program corrections as necessary, keep
the public informed of the status of education programs and progress, and
ensure the proper and efficient use of resources in
school operations.
CONDUCT AND
ETHICS
The
board conducts business in an ethical, fair, respectful and responsible
manner.
ADVOCACY.
The board serves as public
education's most important advocate on behalf of students and the schools. This
includes advocacy to the voters for needed resources, such as facilities and
funds. It also includes advocacy to other state and local agencies and private
groups whose efforts could help the schools achieve their vision.
2. The
Vermont Legislature should review and revise existing statutory roles
prescribed for school boards, superintendents, and principals. Overlapping duties should be reviewed and
simplified, if possible. Duties that are time-consuming but not essential to
core board duties - define vision, establish structure, provide for
accountability, and advocate for students and public schools in an ethical
manner - should be optional. School boards should be permitted by law to
delegate duties as they see fit to administrators, subcommittees and other
panels that are accountable to school boards.
B. LOCAL DECISION MAKING
Local school
boards have been given responsibilities by state statute to oversee public
education in their districts and to make the important decisions necessary to
assure the provision of high quality education in an efficient and effective
manner. As local boards are accountable,
they must be assured that there is no state interference in their
decision-making responsibilities.
The VSBA
supports public school innovation which can offer rich and diverse educational
opportunities for all students. VSBA supports the recommendations of the
2001-2002 Charter School Study Commission that state that Vermont should not
enact charter school enabling legislation because existing law allows for the
establishment of new schools, programs or "'schools-within-schools"
that can readily accomplish many of the goals that larger, urban school systems
in other states seek in charter schools.
By drawing funds away from existing small public schools, charter school
legislation may undermine the ability of public schools to serve the
educational needs of
While existing law allows the granting of waivers to schools relative to meeting specific regulations, all publicly supported schools should adhere to state or comparable standards and administer the statewide assessments.
D. TECHNICAL EDUCATION
The VSBA supports efforts to create an integrated system of technical education that will provide high quality learning opportunities available to all students statewide. To that end, we support the effective coordination of academic and technical education governance.
VSBA supports governance models that assure a majority presence of publicly elected officials who can be held accountable for the public funds invested in technical centers.
E. STUDENTS ON LOCAL SCHOOL BOARDS
VSBA believes that local school boards benefit from having an ongoing student voice in their discussions of all school matters that are not subjects of executive sessions. While VSBA encourages its members to include students as active participants in the consideration of educational issues, the Association favors the participation of students as non-voting members and opposes a legislative mandate on this issue.
F. BOARD REORGANIZATION
VSBA supports a
clarification of state law allowing school boards to remove a board officer and
elect new board officer(s) at any time such action is deemed appropriate by a
two-thirds majority of the board.
G. SELECTION OF THE COMMISSIONER OF EDUCATION
The VSBA supports the appointment of the commissioner of education by the State Board of Education for the following reasons:
1.
The
oversight of public education, unlike other state services, has been delegated
by the General Assembly to locally elected officials. The highest state level educational official
should not be subject to the partisan political agenda of any single
individual.
2.
Educational
change is a long term process requiring constancy of purpose and stability that
could be undermined by making the position a political appointment by governors
serving two-year terms.
3.
As
the only constitutionally mandated service, public education requires an
independent voice to advocate for the long-term best interests of
4.
Expanding
the authority of the governor with regard to the appointment of commissioner
from its current veto power to a gubernatorial appointment would shift the
balance of power between the legislature and the administration.
5.
The
current law ensures that the background of the commissioner will include an
intimate understanding of public education.
H. PROPOSAL ON HEALTH
The VSBA supports a statewide cost effective health care plan that provides coverage to all Vermonters and urges the state legislature to create and implement such a plan.
II. FINANCE
A. EQUALIZATION
VSBA
supports the restoration of “...substantial equity to all Vermont’s children
according to 16 V.S.A. §1” in state funding for school construction through the
recommendations of the State Department of Education as directed by the 2002
General Assembly.
B. SPECIAL EDUCATION
The VSBA supports a funding system that reflects a district’s implementation of identified best practices within a system that recognizes special education as one component of an integrated educational system. VSBA supports a funding system that does not impose arbitrary caps on the State’s contribution as long as districts can demonstrate responsible implementation and management of programs and finance. In addition, the VSBA supports a special education funding formula that shares the costs of special education equitably across districts statewide.
VSBA supports Act 34 of 2001 which states that “Human services are primarily the responsibility of the state and federal governments. Therefore, it shall be the goal of the general assembly to develop a system in which the costs of special education services delivered by human service providers shall be paid for primarily by federal and state general fund dollars.” VSBA urges the General Assembly to assure the adoption of an interagency agreement between the Department of Education and the Agency of Human Services that appropriately defines special education services that are not primarily educational in nature and to assure that those services are provided through general funds.
VSBA urges the federal government to contribute its promised share of special education funding through IDEA and supports the necessary changes in federal law to allow local districts to use federal special education funds to reduce the local share of special education expenditures as long as appropriate services are provided to identified students.
VSBA supports a federal requirement for states to maintain their percentage share of financial support for special education as federal share increases.
C. CAPITAL SPENDING
1.
General Education Construction: Schools require
predictability and stability in state aid in order to plan successfully over
the long term. VSBA supports
continuation of state funding from the General Fund at the rate of 30% or more
of eligible capital expenses.
2.
Technical Education Capital Expenses: VSBA urges the General Assembly to support
technical education capital funding at 100%.
D. DATA COLLECTION & REPORTING
The passage of the federal No Child Left Behind Act as well as state and local needs make the necessity for accurate and informative data more important than ever. The legislature should continue to fund the integration and close linkage of state and local information systems to maximize the efficiency and productivity of data collection, analysis and reporting at both levels.
1. The State Department of Education should promulgate consistent and understandable definitions of data.
2. The Department must analyze and coordinate all its requests for data from local districts to assure that all such data are needed and utilized in a way that improves student learning with the goal of reducing the negative impact on local districts.
All requirements for information from local districts should be accompanied by a streamlined and easy‑to‑use mechanism for collection and submission.
The VSBA strongly supports the protection of student privacy rights. Any data collection, maintenance or distribution system must be developed with the primary objective of protecting personally identifiable information about students.
E. ADULT STUDENTS
IN TECHNICAL EDUCATION
The VSBA urges the state legislature to fund 100% of the costs of educating, in technical education centers, persons over 21 years of age who lack high school diploma.
F. USE OF PUBLIC FUNDS
The
VSBA does not support channeling tax dollars directly to private educational
institutions in districts that provide public schools for the education of
local students, except at the discretion of local school boards as allowed by
current law. VSBA opposes indirect
support to private educational institutions through the granting of tax credits
or tax subsidies targeted to the tuition or expenses. Public education funds in
G. CONSOLIDATION
VSBA encourages the Vermont Department of Education and the General Assembly to provide technical assistance to local school districts that wish to pursue issues of consolidation of schools and/or school boards. Financial incentives should also be considered where appropriate to offset related costs.
The VSBA also encourages the General Assembly to amend Section 706a of Title 16 of the Vermont Statutes Annotated to allow school boards to appoint planning committees and conduct union district formation studies without prior approval from school district voters when doing so will not require an additional appropriation of school district funds. The VSBA supports any further statutory changes that will expedite the school district consolidation process locally while maintaining the ultimate authority of the voters to accept or reject school district consolidation proposals.
H. VALUATION OF PROPERTY FOR EDUCATION TAX PURPOSES
The VSBA fully supports a more equitable system of calculating common level of appraisal. Such a system should include such approaches as:
· Automatically excluding high value outliers from calculations;
· Re-examining how properties are categorized;
· Examining whether annual changes in CLA should be capped.
I. INDEX FOR THE BASE EDUCATION PAYMENT
VSBA urges the legislature in conjunction
with VSBA and other organizations to develop an appropriate index for the base
education payment that incorporates an objective measure of actual educational
expenses.
J. FLEXIBILITY IN MEDICAID SPENDING
VSBA urges the Vermont General Assembly to
modify 16 V.S.A. §2959a(e) to
allow school districts more flexibility to spend medicaid
reimbursement funds in ways that will best benefit the district including use
for the services that generate the reimbursements.
K.
USE OF THE EDUCATION FUND
The VSBA strongly supports the intended limitations on the use of the Education Fund, and opposes any diversion of funds raised through the statewide property tax to programs not within the jurisdiction of public school districts or supervisory unions.
L. CONTROL
OF SCHOOL SPENDING
School boards play all three
governmental roles in their districts: they function as the legislature, the
executive and also the judiciary. They should have broad authority and
discretion to develop strategies to carry out high quality education and to
propose to voters the level of funding they determine is needed to provide
effective education.
M. EQUALIZATION
It is the duty of the State of
Vermont to ensure fiscal equity for all school districts to allow equal
educational opportunities for all students. Significant state expenditure is
required to equalize the financial resources of districts and maintain the
educational opportunities of students.
N. UNFUNDED MANDATES
All new educational requirements or
programs mandated by the federal government or the State of Vermont should be
fully funded by either the federal or state government.
O. School Construction Funding
The VSBA supports the removal of the moratorium on school construction projects and the reinstitution of 30% or more of all eligible capital expenses; and supports applying this reimbursement rate to any eligible capital expenses incurred during the moratorium; and establishing a funding mechanism sufficient to fund capital construction needs for schools for the foreseeable future.
III. INSTRUCTION
A. STUDENT ASSESSMENT
The
State should maintain its practice of standards-based assessment and reevaluate
its assessment program in the context of the 2001 ESEA - No Child Left Behind. Tests mandated or recommended should provide accurate
and reliable information that can be used to guide instructional practice
leading to improved student achievement.
Tests and related costs of administration and teacher professional
development mandated by either the state or federal governments should be
funded entirely by the governmental entity imposing the requirement. The
Vermont Department of Education should also continue to support development and
administration of local assessment plans which may include national
norm-referenced achievement and/or aptitude tests as well as other locally
administered evaluation methods. As the
reliability of additional local assessments is assured, it may be of value to give
more weight to local assessments in the State’s Accountability System.
B. ASSESSMENT UNDER NCLB
the
Congress reaffirm its commitment to public schools by amending the No Child
Left Behind Act to assess students with disabilities in ways different from the
rest of the student population if their disabilities prevent them from
achieving the standard at the same time and in the same way that other students
achieve the standard.
C. STANDARDIZED ASSESSMENTS: USES
The
VSBA recognizes the value of standardized testing as one tool to be used in
evaluating student performance. It must
be used in conjunction with other means of evaluation to present an accurate
picture of student achievement. The VSBA
does not support the use of standardized tests alone to determine promotion
from grade to grade or as a final “gate” to a high
school diploma, nor does it support mandated annual testing such as is required
by the NCLBA.
State
funds should be directed at measures that will have the greatest effect on
student progress, such as the reduction of student/teacher ratios, rather than
the creation of new standardized tests.
Primary
concern must be given to the protection of student privacy when data on test
results is collected or disseminated.
Inaccurate
testing results due to small sample sizes should not be reported to the public
or used to penalize schools and students unfairly.
D. SPECIAL EDUCATION
1.
The VSBA supports the research and
auditing (program and finance) being done by the Department of Education on
best practices and urges that benchmarks for accountability in programming and
financial matters be developed for application statewide. The State should
assist local school districts and agencies in collaborating to create shared
programs, services and resources to serve students who cannot be served appropriately
in regular classrooms.
2.
Congress should follow its original
intention of funding 40% of the average per pupil cost of education for each
special education student in the U.S. and should make this appropriation a
mandatory one. Additionally, the IDEA should require states to maintain their
percentage level of funding from year to year.
Congress should continue to amend the 1997 IDEA to restore balance and
common sense to the implementation of programs for special education in local
school districts. Furthermore, the U.S. Department of Education and/or the
state of
a) allowing schools to implement a single system of discipline for all students regardless of disability and allowing flexible responses to disruptive or unsafe behavior without burdensome and unnecessary process;
b) reducing unnecessary paperwork and simplifying procedures and excessively technical requirements that focus more on process than education;
c) providing federal funding of interagency programs to evaluate and serve the developmental and educational needs of children with disabilities from birth to age three and for the non-educational needs for school-aged children;
d) changes in federal “supplanting” law to allow local districts to use federal special education funds to reduce the local share of special education expenditures as long as appropriate services are provided to identified students;
e) creating financial incentives for the training and recruitment of special educators;
f) minimizing the costs of due process for school districts and providing a statute of limitations for claims against districts;
g) ensuring
that
h) refraining from adding any new mandates to local responsibilities without accompanying funding.
3. The
VSBA supports providing a free and appropriate education to children with
disabilities in the least restrictive environment that is consistent with
maintaining a safe and productive classroom learning environment for all
students.
The VSBA supports an integrated public education system
with a strong Educational Support System in each school designed to meet the
needs of all students including those with special education needs. Schools are
accountable for the outcomes of all student education.
E. SCHOOL CHOICE
VSBA recognizes the varied learning styles and needs of students and supports the provision of multiple options for student learning in the public schools. The Association supports the maintenance of the parameters of Act 150 of 2000 and the thorough monitoring of its outcomes. VSBA urges the legislature to examine closely all ramifications of the law to understand the effects on those students who choose new schools and those who do not, as well as the impact on all schools.
F. UNIFORM
KINDERGARTEN ENTRANCE AGE
VSBA supports the establishment of a common statewide entrance age for kindergarten. School districts should be authorized to grant waivers in accordance with board policies and procedures. The recommended age should be consistent with research results on child development and successful school experience. This effort should be accompanied by expansion of opportunities for pre-school education to ensure adequate preparation for school success.
G. NATIONAL
TEACHER CERTIFICATION
The VSBA encourages the State of Vermont to continue to support teachers in becoming National Board certified by paying for all or part of the certification program.
H. STUDENT
BEHAVIOR
Based
on studies underway, the state should take the lead in assuring that there are
adequate alternative placements for students who are unable to participate
appropriately in the traditional school environment and that an equitable
funding mechanism is devised to support ongoing education for these
students. The state should play a role
in facilitating regional efforts where needed and appropriate. The state
legislature should also take the lead in revamping
I. PROFESSIONAL
DEVELOPMENT FOR TEACHERS
Ongoing
professional development is critical to high quality teaching. However, the scheduling of professional
development workshops and training by the Department of Education,