Notes from the Senate Appropriations on Education meeting 1-11-12

Below are edited notes taken during the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Education meeting held Wednesday, January 11, 2012.  It is not a verbatim transcript of everything that was said.  The meeting is a pre-session performance review and budget hearing.  Those making presentations are in bold type.

State Superintendent Janet Barresi: budget reflects a desire to fully implement reforms you passed last year. Ensuring these reforms are implemented in every classroom. That underscores the request. It also reflects a desire to return to FY2011 funding. We received $100-million cut. We’re asking aid to schools return to 2011 numbers and not a full increase of department’s budget, but a good part of that. Restore funding to many programs like National Board Certified stipend.

Have 3C program: college ready, career ready, citizen ready.

Our state’s new accountability system – going through process of getting NCLB waiver which will involve implementation of accountability and A-F system. Sen. Jim Halligan: what is the status of that waiver request? Barresi: submitted in late November, clarifying questions right now and will submit final round soon. Announcement could come by end of January. Waiver would apply for the current academic year. This is an effort to provide a model of accountability for Congress to use to show other states.

Teacher Leader and Evaluation starting pilot program soon. This is about not nibbling around the edges, this is getting into the classroom. This budget reflects those efforts. It’s our desire to align policy through this budget.

Sen. John Ford: ACE remediation we’re going from $7.6-million to $9.2-million. How is that calculated? Barresi: it’s a graduated formula based on the needs of the student. It goes out per student to districts to use as they see fit for each student: software, tutoring, extra class time, etc.

Ford: on adult education matching, that’s for GDE’s right? Barresi: yes, through community colleges. that was zeroed out last year. It’s matching funds for federal money. Ford: why does it go through you instead of Higher Ed? Barresi: I’ve asked about that. We’re in talks with Higher Ed about streamlining, but included it in this budget to make sure the money is there. Ford: so you’d like Higher Ed to be in charge of that? Barresi: that would be best, yes. Halligan: would that require legislative action? Barresi: yes, it would.

Ford: professional improvement – what is that? Barresi: that’s funding to support teacher certification: fingerprinting and all that goes with that. Ford: it went from 20-million to 1 million and back up to 18-million. How did we get through the year with one million? Dept. of Ed Staff: that includes National Board Certified teacher stipend.

Halligan: as part of meeting with Jenks and Union school boards and there’s a concern whether tests are appropriate and whether they are measuring what we want to measure and we’re testing this and then moving to Common Core. Barresi: this body passed ACE legislation to say that high school diploma should mean something. It was passed in 2005 and this is the first year seniors will be required to pass four of seven. There’s been a lot of lead time. When you develop a test you make two claims: mastery of the subject and preparation for the next level. We’re saying if you pass Algebra I test you master that subject. We think this is the minimum to say “you’re prepared.” As we move to other system, tests won’t be harder, but they will be more rigorous. To roll back on these exams now will put OK students at greater deficit. This is an issue of accountability that districts have known was coming. It’s a familiar argument in other states.  We’ve been forthright in moving forward aggressively. In Bartlesville, they’ve identified students that may be struggling and they know exactly what is needed for each student.  That is the type of leadership we want to foster and we applaud. That’s the type of leadership that needs to be put out b y all districts.

Sen. Judy Eason-McIntyre: I believe students need to be prepared for 21^st Century. I continue to have concerns for Tulsa. How will ACE remediation work? It’s not that Tulsa can’t work, but sometimes kids get lost in the system and then we’re paying for prisons and things like that. Barresi: the needs of every district are different. The money flows to the district based on the number of students that need remediation. We look to the academic team at each district to use those funds in the best way.

Halligan: does the National Board Certified teacher funding include money for the current year? Barresi: no.

Sen. Gary Stanislawski: what is the purpose for the extra funding in the Flexible Benefit Allowance? Is that for the extra two months? Barresi: we were asked to produce an estimate of needs in case legislation passes that combines calendars.  Slight increase in need based on more teachers.

Halligan: OCPA put out information on how Oklahoma compares to countries around the world. It says how does the average math student compare if they dropped into Canada or Singapore. I recommend it for your reading. There is no district that is above the 50^th percentile compared to Canada. Barresi: yes, that’s borne out by NAEP scores. Halligan: what are your comments on what we should be doing about the performance of the schools? Barresi: what we need to focus on is increasing teacher capacity on how to teach mathematics to students with different learning styles. It is certainly something we need to address as a state.  Halligan: but those with satisfactory and above on math is 66%. Barresi: yes, that is comparing OK students to OK students. That’s why we welcome the national examinations as they come down. We will be able to see how OK students compare across the country and we can assess our progress.

Halligan: so our tests say two thirds are doing satisfactorily on math, but a district like Stillwater is in the 34^th percentile in Canada.  Barresi: Yes, that gap has been there for some time.

Sen. Earl Garrison: is there anything showing how students who take four years of math do compared to other countries? Barresi: yes, that is a select group and I’m looking at all students in the state. But when 75% of jobs coming into the state will require mastery in algebra and technical reading, post-high-school graduate work or technical training, we need to make sure our high schools are preparing students properly.

Halligan: OSU Education professor Ron Cox found that roughly 50% of 9^th graders in OKC and Tulsa end up graduating. Can that be true? Barresi: I might suggest we go down to the 6^th grade to find cohorts. Problem is lack of longitudinal student reporting system. We were discouraged to not win Race to Top because it included $12M for such a system. Without firm data, we can’t peg that, but it is concerning to me to hear those numbers. We can’t assume they were all dropouts. If a student moved out of state, the school has no idea about that. We need better way to keep statistics.

Halligan: have you thought about looking at Colleges of Education to find programs that are best producing teachers. Barresi: our longitudinal system will seek to identify student performance based on teacher and the college they attended. Discussions with Higher Ed about curriculum used. Halligan: any thoughts about merging Teacher Prep with Higher Ed? Barresi: I stand ready to work with whatever the legislature decides.

Halligan: we passed legislation to allow districts to share superintendents. What has been the response to that? Barresi: we haven’t seen that yet, but we encourage it. We’d also like to see an increase in the number of interlocal cooperatives where districts share funding and get stronger buying power. That kind of model needs to be encouraged throughout the state.

Halligan: what do you see as future in online learning? Barresi: it’s unlimited. A student in Antlers could take an AP Statistics course. There’s so much content teachers have at their hands to enrich their classroom. Blended learning where students are in a classroom taking a course on a computer with a teacher there to help. Halligan: what do you think about the Khan Academy? Barresi: I can’t say enough about it. I can foresee a 5^th grader struggling with math having their parents use it to help them get back on track. Department is getting ready to launch iTunes U presence.

Halligan: why does the Land Office use ADA and you use ADM? Barresi: I’ll have to get back to you on that.

Halligan: in terms of revolving funds and the amounts you have in them, where are you on that? Barresi: we get reports on that and try to make decisions based on historical evidence of what has been used in the past.

Halligan: what do you think about Teach for America?  I think it’s a wonderful program.  It has resulted in increase in talent in the classroom that can move into administration.

Halligan: if we have best Early Childhood program in the country, why do we need law saying no social promotion past 3^rd grade? Barresi: unfortunately, students are still coming into Kindergarten who are not ready for school. And if they go into 4^th grade without proper comprehension skills, they continue to lag behind. We must ensure that we provide best early childhood programs for parents who want to participate in that and we must make sure that students entering 4^th grade have the tools to succeed beyond that.

Stanislawski: complaints we hear from districts is number of exams students take starting in 3^rd grade. How effective are all these exams in monitoring student performance? Is it necessary to have them in the younger grades? Barresi: I can’t imagine Scott Brooks going into timeouts or halftime without data on how to adjust. It’s time we quit nibbling around edges and we look at how students are performing. It’s not too much data at all. We need to know how students are doing. How can we adjust programs w/o knowing how students are doing? Can’t imagine a company going forward based on anecdotal evidence. It’s critical we have good testing that compares us to students across the country. Stanislawski: I guess the problem is that nothing has been done with the data in the past. Barresi: I would agree.

Stanislawski: one of my concerns is the age at which this state puts kids in 1^st grade. A lot of kids born on july 1^st might not be ready. Moving that date to September 1^st – could that enhance the educational experience for kids? Barresi: it does go to the heart of our early childhood program. Vast majority of early childhood programs are federally funded. So if we graduate that student and he’s not old enough to go to Kindergarten, there’s nothing for them. I’m talking about 9,000 students living in poverty with a parent working two jobs to get food on the table. These children are doing a lot of time in front of a TV, don’t have the opportunity to be read to or play on playgrounds. They will lose a critical year of development and there will be academic slide. Our desire is to make sure they still have access to our Kindergartens and then, if they are not ready to go to 1^st grade, there is a transitional 1^st. Parents are the best teachers and I encourage Parents as Teachers program. But we can’t reach every parent. So I urge the continuation of the programs and keeping the entry age for Kindergarten where it is.

Stanislawski: when does Early Childhood begin? Barresi: over 70% of 4-year olds are in programs. Some districts have early head Start for 3-year-olds. Stanislawski: so why would these 9,000 children stay at home? Barresi: they only get one year in the program. If this is changed, we take away the right of a parent to choose when to put their children in school. I have two and chose to hold them back, some of my staff have them and decided to go ahead.

Barresi: our total request is $2.4-billion, an increase in $157-million for this year. We believe it’s prudent, brings us back to FY2011 levels and allows implementation of reforms this body has passed.

Career Tech State Director Phil Berkenbile: we did survey of companies we do business with. We have need for 8500 newly trained workers which will increase next year to 13,000 workers.  We could have 500 truck drivers hired today if we had them trained. We found ways (webcast, etc) to save on travel over $320,000. We now close between Christmas and New Year’s which saves on utilities. Instituted electronic leave process which saved $94k. We sent budget request in with top 5 priorities: 1. Industry training ($5.6M) 2. Annualize supplemental request of $1.4M 3. Career Readiness Certificates taken over from Dept. of Commerce ($600K), 4. New Career Tech programs at comprehensive schools ($1M) 5. Equipment Modernization Grants for comprehensive schools ($2M).  We had additional requests beyond that: $6M for modernizing equipment at comprehensive schools and health benefit allowance ($4M).

Stanislawski: what percentage of the Career Tech pie comes from the state, federal and local sources? Career Tech Chief of Staff Bruce DeMuth: it varies from district to district based on their wealth. On average, it’s a third state and federal and the other two-thirds comes from ad valorem. But that varies widely across the state.

Sen. John Sparks: do you know if ad valorem money is restricted in use? DeMuth: that can vote up to 10 mills for operations and 5 mills on building.

Ford: I think I’m a little confused. Your projected FY2012 budget is $167M and $128M is for local school support. The remaining 22% is used to run the agency? Berkenbile: reads percentages from annual report: 65.3% go to technology centers, 15.5% to comprehensive schools, 14.2% to run the agency, 3.9% to skill centers and 1.1% to colleges.

Berkenbile: Career Techs can assess up to 15-mills, but we assume 12 in the funding formula. If a district assesses below 12, we don’t “top them up.”

Halligan: I don’t understand why all of the health care cost increase is borne by the state. Berkenbile: that started long before I became director. It’s how it’s always been done. Sparks: I suspect it’s because the state mandates the health coverage, so if we didn’t pay for it, it would be unfunded mandate and Lord knows we don’t like those (laughter in room).

Berkenbile: we’ve lost about 190 high school programs. That money has been used to offset cuts elsewhere.

Halligan: do the people in the field – is there a surcharge they pay to receive benefits from the system? Does Drumright make a contribution to the operation of the agency? Berkenbile: no sir. DeMuth: think of us as what the Regents for Higher Education is for a state college or university. School districts don’t pay money to the Department of Ed for its services.

Halligan: if you take all the tech centers and the agency headquarters together, what is the budget? Berkenbile: I don’t have that number with me.

Eason-McIntyre: Are we anticipating even more cuts for the upcoming budget? Ford: I think we’re anticipating a stand-still budget. Halligan: but just because it’s stand-still statewide doesn’t mean each agency will be stand-still.

Halligan: a constant refrain I hear from constituents is that they have job openings that can’t be filled. I don’t understand why so many companies have jobs paying $40K and yet so many people are unemployed. Berkenbile: I think we have too many people on unemployment welfare who decide to stay on that instead of going to Kingfisher, Enid or places like that. They think they can stay on welfare checks and it’s just as enjoyable. And people don’t want to move to where the jobs are.

OCAST Michael Carolina, Executive Director: our mantra is innovation and entrepreneurship. Our mission is technology-based economic development for high-paying jobs and sustainable economic impact. Award process is outside peer-review for R&D awards. FY2012 budget is $17.8M.We’ve been as high as 22.4M back in FY2007. Awarded 2,312 projects over 23-years.

Ford: what is this $35M? Carolina: that is in our revolving fund, but our appropriation was $17.8M. We make grants over multiple years and those in the revolving funds are committed to those years.

Carolina: We need to be in a position to support manufacturing, especially in high-tech industries. Agency has had focus on efficiency to be smaller, use technology when possible. For every dollar put into OCAST, we attract $20. General and admin cost is 3.9% so we are putting a lot into operations.

Stanislawski: if ROI is 20:1, do any of the companies return their initial investment? Carolina: no, we’re talking jobs created.  Stanislawski: since this is an agency designed to create jobs, have you ever thought of how to become self-funded? Carolina: we have, through our business technology loan program and seed capital allocation.

Garrison: I love this program. The research is shared, right? Carolina: that is exactly true.

Carolina: OCAST is an investment in Oklahoma’s Science and Technology future. $217M invested over 23-years has resulted in $4.4-billion in terms of jobs, capital, etc.  For FY2012, created or sustained 1549 jobs with average salary of $62,953. 88 inventors assisted. Awarded $16.5M to 54 projects.

Stanislawski: do you ever do longitudinal study to track by year how many become successful? How long it took? Carolina: yes, we do track that. More than 85% of companies we’ve funded are still in business in OK. Companies are in good position to get federal funds as well. We need to have the kinds of technologies to attract federal dollars.

Carolina: Technologies we focus on: advanced materials, agriculture, alternative energy, biotechnology, information technology, meteorological sciences, sensors/electronics.

Carolina: from what we see when we ask small business owners, what they need are three things: a skilled workforce – which they say they don’t have, management talent and innovation capital. If we are to realize potential, we need more college graduates. The only way to keep graduates in the state is to grow high-tech jobs that they can compete for.

Carolina: requesting $43.1M for next year. May be a bridge too far, but we only fund half of the projects that are asking for money. We’d like to evolve to the point where we can fund equipment.

Halligan: with all the talk about Boeing moving, people ask if we can supply that number of engineers. Carolina: you don’t just turn on a spigot, but I know our three research universities are looking at that and putting planning into place.

Halligan: the EDGE Fund policy board has $14M in revolving fund. Would you share your thoughts on that? Carolina: that is similar to OCAST in that it’s obligated to researchers in out years.

Halligan: buried in the report it says value of nano-biotech has grown from $2M to $20M, can you talk about that? Carolina: a company called Rupture Pin Technology is the reason for that.

Oklahoma School of Science and Math (OSSM) President Dr. Edna Manning: I think we’re at the point where the students are paying back the investment you made in them. More than a third of our graduates go to college in engineering field.

Halligan: ever a thought of entering into summer program with a company that needs engineers that might convince students to stay here? Manning: we do that already with our mentoring program. Typically, though, companies are looking for college students.

Manning: we will be ready to accept additional students next year provided we have funds from state to do so. Would require extra faculty – about 50% increase – but not more classrooms.

We’ve had what amounts to 22% cut in funding over the past few years. We are now at the point where the carryover is gone and we will have further cuts. At the main campus, we’d have to cut 30 students and close one or more of the regional centers. Any further cut damages mission of main school and regional centers.

Manning: asking for $8.5M which would put us back to levels before cuts over the past couple years. We want to increase number of students, re-employ faculty so we don’t have as many half-time people and offer all the courses we want to.

Manning: for too long as a country we’ve said “I wasn’t good in science and math, don’t worry about it.” In my mind, it’s a matter of focus and expectations.

Dept. of Libraries director Susan McVey: Summer reading program reached 30% of eligible children in 2011 which is a dramatic increase. That is federal funding.

Halligan: I would go to Google for searches, why go to your website? McVey: this is different. It’s more like an academic search of copyrighted information.

McVey: we’re helping smaller libraries have websites. They are hosted on our servers. We’ve funded development of a template that allows an online presence (federal dollars).

McVey: current budget is down about 19% compared to three years ago. We absorbed first year of cuts. Last two years we also had to reduce pass-through monies. About half our budget is staff, 38% is pass through, 6% is materials budget, remainder is operational. We receive $2.1M in federal funds. It’s down 7% from previous years. In order to get those funds, we have a maintenance of effort requirement. In the event we don’t meet that level, the federal funds are reduced by the same percentage. We failed to meet maintenance of effort by about 1%. This will rise to 11% because of reductions in state budget. We’ve not asked for operational funds for our agency, we’re asking for return of maintenance of effort funds.

Halligan: if you received a supplemental appropriation, how much would you get from the feds. I’m trying to determine if we can appropriate a small amount to you and you can get a nice ratio from the feds. McVey: I like the sound of that, but I’d have to look into that and get back to you.

Commission for Teacher Preparation Executive Director Linda Reid: commission has gone through monumental change. There has been change in model of teaching standards.

This is perfect opportunity to look at what we’re doing and get back to original goal of preparing teachers.

Teacher Performance Assessment Consortium: Prior to a teacher candidate leaving school, they have to be in a classroom as part of a project. They have to document how each student learns, where they are coming into the class and how they will approach teaching them.

Alliance for Clinically-based Teacher Prep: centers education coursework around experiences in the P-12 classroom. Currently in 11 states, including OK. You wouldn’t want a doctor who had never touched a patient

Revised Interstate Teacher Assessment and Support Consortium standards will: outline what teachers should know and be able to do to ensure every K-12 student is college or workforce ready. It will also serve as the framework of accreditation of Oklahoma’s teacher prep programs. This is a major change, but it’s one that universities have been anticipating. I would be surprised if there was a single Dean of Education who wasn’t on board with this. Will take 12-18 months for full implementation.

Halligan: I’ve heard concerns that we have ACE and now we’re moving to Common Core… will that pose a problem? Reid: These are in line with Common Core.

Reid: Independent Survey of 1^st year teachers – implemented in 2010to determine teachers’ perception of their preparation. Data is shared with teacher prep programs to drive program improvement.

Halligan: do you have a system for rating teacher programs? Reid: yes we are in that process.

Ford: how many of the 22 institutions that offer Bachelor’s in Education degrees are public versus private? Reid: 10 private and 12 public.

Newberry: do you have opinion on National Board Certification and its effect on students? Reid: I do. It changed my teaching. I was a good teacher, thought I was a great teacher, and came out way better. It changed my husband from an average teacher to a good teacher. It took him two years to get the certification and the process made him re-think what he was doing.

Halligan: here’s the problem I have: just like charter schools segment the population, National Board Certification segments the teachers that want to improve.  You have to be a good teacher in order to go through the process, so you can’t have statistical significance with the results.

Reid: we took a hard look at reorganization. We absorbed two director-level positions. Contracted w/ OSF to provide financial and IT services (that saved us $150K). Substantially cut “everyday” costs like communications, printing, postage, conferences, etc. Cut cost of annual report by 50% by not using glossy paper. Expanded tests that can be taken online.

Halligan: why shouldn’t you be consolidated with Dept. of Education? Reid: you have to do what you feel is best for taxpayers, but our focus is teacher prep. We will work wherever you put us. My biggest concern would be that we lose the reforms we’ve made over the past few months.

Stanislawski: why did Teacher Prep start? Why wasn’t is always a part of Dept. of Ed? Reid: it was seen that it wasn’t being done well elsewhere. We were many years ago a part of the Dept. of Ed. We have worked well with Dr. Barresi, but we have a concern that accreditation decisions have to be made with experience of what the process is. If this is handed over to a different entity, the Board that would vote on that would need to come up to speed on that.

Stanislawski: are you saying you could work with $1.6M decrease? Reid: yes, we are asking for less money. Many appropriations were for professional development and we know that Dr. Barresi is taking charge of a lot of that.

Related posts:

• Notes from the Senate GCCA and Joint Appropriations meetings on 5/12/2011
• Notes from the ‘Education in the Digital Age’ conference
• Notes from the House Conference Committee on Education 5/11/11
• Notes from the Appropriations and budget interim study 9-22-11
• Notes from the Appropriations and budget interim study 9-22-11

Posted by Oklahoma Watchdog on January 12, 2012. Filed under Oklahoma. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry