Before I introduce what House Bill 1776 is, we need to completely understand what HB 1776 does. Representative Ross Hunter posted a good introduction on his blog. I am quoting him with permission.

“School districts are allowed to raise local levies to fund things that are not “basic education.” The state limits the amount they can raise to a percentage of the total they receive in state and federal funding. This is so that districts like Bellevue don’t raise twice as much as districts like Yakima. The standard formula is that districts can raise up to 24% of what we call the “levy base,” the total state and federal funding. Some districts are allowed to raise more for obscure historical reasons. For example Bellevue is allowed to raise 30%, Lake Washington 25%, and Seattle 34%.

“The amount districts get resulting from initiative 728 and 732 is substantial – it could be as much as $750 or more per student. We’ve had to suspend these initiatives this year, which means that the levy base for the district goes down. If the levy base goes down, the amount that a district can collect in local property taxes goes down, even though voters have already voted to approve the higher amount. It’s like the voters wrote a check that the districts are being prohibited from cashing.

“HB 1776 allows districts to compute their levy base as if they were still getting the 728 and 732 money. This doesn’t cost the state money and allows local voters control over what they do.

“We tried to pass this bill last year right at the end of the session but it got hung up in the budget discussions. We had it up for a vote on the last day but did not have time to finish the debate.”

I recommend subscribing to Ross’ website and read the information there about education. He is a great resource we have here in the 48th Legislative District.

According to BSD’s finance department, passage of House Bill 1776 would keep the district from losing 33.5 teaching positions in 2010-11.  In my opinion as a student, one additional teaching or library position is too many to lose. Let alone more than thirty positions. 

Many years ago, as a joke, the Believe PTSA Council donated a spinner to then-Superintendent Don O’Neil. When spun, the arrow would land on titles along the lines of, “Dog won’t go outside. Cancel school.” Even though they were teasing, the parents wanted the superintendent to know that, to them, district decisions to close schools for weather-related reasons seemed completely arbitrary. That this belief persists is evident from phone calls and emails to the Superintendent and the Community Relations Office every winter in which decisions are made to close schools or to keep them open. As temperatures drop and rumors of snow are beginning to surface, we thought it was time to let you know that, despite fears that school closure decisions might be made using a spinner, there are procedures we follow faithfully at the first sign of ice and snow to assess whether students and staff can get to work safely. Read more on BSD steps for determining whether to close schools due to snow or ice (PDF) >

A new Emergency School Closure Information image link has also been placed on our home page (www.bsd405.org). If you have problems accessing the text link above, please use the Emergency School Closure Information link on our homepage (www.bsd405.org) to access additional information and the “Steps for determining whether to close schools due to snow or ice.”

My name is Daniel Warwick, I am a student at Interlake High School, and I am dreading the upcoming legislative session.

I was at the November 17th School Board meeting where Bellevue’s six legislators–Representatives Ross Hunter, Deb Eddy, Marcie Maxwell, and Judy Clibborn, and Senators Rodney Tom and Fred Jarrett–gathered to discuss the implications of the upcoming legislative session on education.

Bellevue is lucky to have such a strong legislative body at our disposal. Every meeting involving them is invariably informative with occasional jokes to lighten the mood. And the mood definitely needed some lightening on Tuesday.

Senator Tom started off explaining that the new revenue forecast looks bleak. On Thursday, we learned that the State is down $2.6 billion for a one- year period. Senator Tom then stated in comparison to last year’s budget cuts, that the cuts they’re looking at now are such that “you can take every cut we just made, double it, and half again, and you’re still not there.”

Representative Hunter was quick to note that he is “not really willing to make those kind of cuts” in the $2.6 billion range. Furthermore, he stated that in regards to raising taxes, “what is the right thing” about what they can raise and what the legislature can do is not always the same.

Ross then explained how American consumption habits have changed. Instead of spending 2-3% more than they make, Americans now save 5% of their income. That money is not going into the economy.  And it has “a big impact” on our revenue forecast.

Senator Jarrett then started to explain House Bill 1776 and why it did not pass last year. House Bill 1776 is very complex and is too much to explain in this post. Before December I will post a followup explaining House Bill 1776 and why it is crucial for school district funding.

The presentation continued with all the legislators trying to show their education credentials. Judy Cliburn, speaking about last years budget cuts, reminded the audience that “everybody who had to make these cuts really cares about education and really cares about the people we are cutting from”

After some more speaking from our legislative representatives, the meeting opened up for questions.

The librarians were there in full force. Jeani, a parent of students at Spiritridge and Tillicum, asked about the education reform bill–2261–passed last year. In 2261, librarians were part of a prototypical school.

For those not familiar, librarian positions were cut from every high school and middle school this year and librarians were offered teaching positions. Senator Tom eloquently stated that 2261 was an “allocations bill” and that it shouldn’t be construed as the legislature telling schools they must have librarians.

Then, an audience member asked the legislators, “What can we do to help you in this time of crisis?”

Ross then said, “Come down and talk with your legislators.  We tend to be reasonably sympathetic. But having you come down, particularly on PTA day, does help focus people’s attention” towards issues affecting schools.”

Ross then issued the challenge: “Tell us what you want, it helps to know what people want to do.”

He then followed up with a caveat that “we’re going to be facing some awful choices this year and I’m going to want to make sure I’m hearing from the district what they want me to do.  And I think that you’re part of that.” 

After a few more questions the meeting was adjourned and I went back to writing this post. Based on all indications, this session will be horribly painful. I know that last year I lost one of my favorite teachers to budget cuts. I don’t want to lose another one.

I urge you to listen to our legislators and pay attention to our local political discourse. It’s not as sexy as national news, but our local legislative action affects Bellevue’s education more than anything.

I will leave you with a quote from Michelle Miller, president of the Bellevue Education Association: “Kids only have one shot at school; it’s the paramount duty of the state.”

Now, let’s hope for a good session.

Flu news:  Last week, absenteeism was averaging about seven percent in our schools, with a few schools at about 10% (similar to last year at this time).  So far this week, BSD has three elementary schools at 8% and one elementary at 10%.  The rest of the schools are at 5% or less.  View a chart (PDF) that shows the difference among symptoms of a cold, seasonal flu and H1N1 flu.

The expectations are that absenteeism and flu illness will continue to increase through the month of November.  Reminders:  Continue good hand washing practices; keep your kids home when they are ill; and get them vaccinated when the vaccine is available.

No Child Left Behind changes:  Things have changed since parents of children in Title 1 schools received a letter in August saying that BSD had no open schools for parents who wished to take advantage of the school choice option of No Child Left Behind

 We based this decision on enrollment projections, which missed the mark in a couple of schools.  Because our official October 1 enrollment was not as high as we expected at two elementary schools, families with children in Lake Hills, Ardmore and Stevenson elementaries were given the choice to move their child.  As a result, 35 students have transferred from Lake Hills, Ardmore and Stevenson to either Spiritridge or Eastgate.

November school board agendas:  We are starting to introduce school presentations based on ones that our superintendent observed in Chula Vista School District.  Over the course of the year, each school will be asked to make a 15-minute presentation that will involve school data, school goals and progress toward school goals.  Since schools are just beginning to set their goals, presentations made this early in the school year will not include progress made.  On November 3, the first school team to make this kind of presentation was from Clyde Hill Elementary School.  Odle will present on December 1.

On November 17, the school board will be asking local legislators to peer into their crystal balls and predict the state of the economy next year, and also talk about any potential consequences for school funding.  This will be an evening session so that working parents may attend.

Visit our Board webpage to access additional in information on school board meetings >

It’s official.  Our 2009-10 enrollment is 17,311.  The last time the district saw more than 17,000 students was in 1982. 

The effects of the economic downturn are finally being felt in our schools.  The percentage of students qualifying for free or reduced-price lunches rose to 20.8% from last year’s 17.7%, an unheard of 3% increase in one year.  We think this is the highest percentage in the district’s history, at least it’s the highest that any of us who have been here for many years can recall.

Interlake High gained about 180 students since October 2008.  This increase makes us wonder if families whose kids were in private school have moved them to Interlake to take advantage of the school’s International Baccalaureate program, while saving on tuition costs.  Or is it just growing pains of a high school gifted program that is now in year four of its development? 

The last indicator of economic troubles in BSD families is the growing number of students eligible to receive services for the homeless, 93 as of Oct. 15 this year, up from 48 on Oct. 15 last year. 

Other changes not related to the economy: 

• In 2008, white students comprised exactly 50% of elementary students, and this year the proportion of white elementary students is 48.4%.
• Last year’s students spoke 72 languages; this year the number of languages jumped to 81.

October 1, 2009, at Tillicum Middle School

Dr. Cudeiro held the final Coffee Hour in this first round of community meetings last night at Tillicum.  About 35 people turned out.   The total attendance for the four coffees was about 150, a respectable number considering that the days are now getting shorter and rainier.

This group focused a lot of its attention on the data and on understanding the achievement gap.  Someone asked Dr. Cudeiro what she saw as the pluses of the school system and the negatives.  She answered by naming as the positives an impressive amount of community support  (including Bellevue Schools Foundation) , good administrators, strong teachers, and the absence of gate keeping when it came to allowing students to take Advanced Placement courses.  The weakness she identified came right back to the achievement gap, as well as the need to provide students who are exceeding district standards with even more academic rigor.

The conversation also wandered to this year’s class sizes and other victims of district budget cuts, reductions in school funding by the state legislature, the need for changes in the federal No Child Left Behind law, and the importance of passing the next levy just to maintain what we have.  Several participants raised the question of where the superintendent stood on the issue of merit pay. After some discussion in favor, one participant expressed the view that  using student test scores as a measure for merit pay was not a good idea because it has “not worked anywhere in the country.”  Dr. Cudeiro said that there are some models for merit pay being implemented in several states that we could look at in the State of Washington. In response to a question about the district’s decision not to show President Obama’s speech live, Dr. Cudeiro said, “In hindsight, it was a mistake.”

A tone present so far in the three Superintendent’s Coffee Hours was one of appreciation that Superintendent Cudeiro came out at night to different neighborhoods to let parents know about her plans for the district and to listen to their questions and concerns.

It’s interesting that each of the 3 Coffee Hours have been very different in terms of topics of interest to parents and concerns raised by them.

More than other groups, West Attendance Area parents wanted specifics about the district’s new math textbook committee for grades 8-10. Dr. Cudeiro said that this committee, which hasn’t yet met, will consist of parents, curriculum developers and coaches, and teachers. It will be facilitated by Executive Director Sharon Kautz. Dr. Cudeiro promised that when more information is available about the committee’s work, the processes it’s following, and the schedule of information nights for parents, it will be posted on the district’s website.

In response to another concern, Dr. Cudeiro told the audience that top-down directives don’t work when it comes to making headway toward closing the achievement gap. It will take a team effort at each school to dig into the student data, come up with a plan to address the gap in a very specific skill, and work as partners in testing strategies and making adjustments. The composition of school teams will be different from school to school. Grade level teams make sense at the elementary level, but subject area teams may be more logical for secondary schools.

One audience member recognized the Bellevue Schools Foundation for its financial support for teacher training in strategies to help all students master concepts and the building blocks of their subjects. Another recommended that parents sign up to be VIBES volunteers as one more way the community can support the elimination of the achievement gap.

On Tuesday evening at Tyee Middle School we held the 2nd of two superintendent’s coffee hours. This time, after presenting the district’s two system-wide goals as well as district-wide student achievement results on the Washington State Assessment (WASL), Dr. Cudeiro elaborated on the processes by which schools will choose an instructional target while continuing to focus on implementing our district- developed common curriculum and assessments. Each school will engage teachers in this process through the implementation of instructional leadership teams and professional learning communities. The purpose is for teachers to discuss research based practices that will enable them to better meet the diverse needs of students in their classrooms.

Superintendent Dr. Amalia Cudeiro responds to questions.

September 22, 2009, at Tyee Middle School

 

Dr. Cudeiro reaffirmed her belief that Bellevue has completed step one of improving student learning by having a rigorous common curriculum in place. “Now it is time to target our instructional strategies. We need to ask ourselves which students already know the concepts in today’s lesson and which students lack the building blocks to understand the lesson.” Giving frequent assessments, many of which are embedded in the curriculum, will help teachers answer these questions. She added, “As we go through this process, we’ll be looking at the entire school population and getting to know each of our student’s skills and challenges deeply.”

This meeting differed from the first coffee hour at Highland in that parents’ questions led to a conversation about how this kind of teaching would really work and how their kids would be affected. Parents also raised questions about the lack of consistency in the on-line grade books. They expressed the wish that all teachers would keep their on-line grade books current so that parents and kids could better assess their academic progress and understand how the kids could improve. An additional topic was the “Race To The Top” federal funding that will be awarded to states and districts meeting specific criteria such as having charter schools and teacher pay-for-performance.

Despite the differences in the two meetings, there was one common hope expressed at both sessions: Parents want to be introduced to the strategies teachers are learning in an effort to better support their kids.

PS Dr. Cudeiro referred to work being done to require common standards across all states. Here is the link for more information. http://www.corestandards.org/

September 10, 2009, at Highland Middle School

About 47 parents attended Superintendent Amalia Cudeiro’s first coffee hour last Thursday at Highland. Dr. Cudeiro showed results from the WASL exam, which revealed the gap in performance between students eligible to receive free or reduced-price lunches and those not eligible. She also shared a graph of the number of students who “exceeded expectations” on the WASL. She told the audience that every school would be working to eliminate the gap as well as to enhance the learning opportunities of students who were already meeting the district’s standards. She described training that teachers in all schools would be receiving that would help them tailor lessons to the needs of each student.

Highlights of the Q&A session included questions about the high school math adoption process; why she was investing in teacher training over lowering class size; a suggestion to increase parent involvement in meaningful ways “beyond the bake sale;” and a request to change attendance boundaries among Ardmore, Bennett, and Sherwood Forest.

In response, Dr. Cudeiro said that Sharon Kautz , Executive Director for Curriculum and Instruction (formerly Sharon Collins and formerly the Interlake principal), would be heading up an advisory committee of parents and teachers to oversee the high school math textbook pilot and make recommendations. Dr. Cudeiro told the audience that she was receiving $90,000 from the Bellevue Schools Foundation for teacher professional development, compared to the average salary and benefits cost of $81,300 for one teacher. In answer to the attendance boundary request she said, “Moving the furniture around is not going to lead to better results. My goal is to make every school a school parents want their children to be in.”

Next meeting is Sept. 22, 6:30-8 pm, at Tyee Middle School.