Nevada County Picayune and Gurdon Times Newspaper Archive

Major changes to occur in education

There will be major changes in education starting with the 2004-2005 academic year, which begins in August.

Rick McAfee, superintendent of the Nevada School District, explained some of the changes schools will face at the January meeting of the Nevada School Board. Little he said was encouraging.

He began by saying House Bill 1109 sets the number of students in a district at less than 350 for consolidation purposes. This bill also administratively reorganizes districts.

Under the bill, he said, the consolidated schools would have one superintendent, but the students would be left where they were.

School board would also be rearranged, with each district having one representative. McAfee voiced his displeasure at this saying local control is needed for school districts.

Senate Bill 42, he said, is being "held hostage" in the House of Representatives. "It would take $440 million to fund, and that's why it's being held hostage."

SB42 is the school funding bill. McAfee said the state isn't using a matrix concept for funding, but is instead basing it on a per student basis. This means larger districts would continue to receive more money than smaller districts and could result in an inequitable funding situation which could wind up back in court.

SB42 also addresses teacher salaries, but has no means of funding the salary increases. McAfee said Sen. Jody Mahoney, of El Dorado, is holding the bill hostage until a tax is approved to provide the money it will require.

Salaries will be based on teachers with bachelor and master degrees with up to 20 years experience. McAfee said members of the education committee he's on fought to get the experience level down to 15 years, which would have saved money. But, after the committee adjourned at 11 p.m. Wednesday, Jan. 14, some disgruntled members called and got Gov. Mike Huckabee out of bed, who, in turn, got members of the legislature out of bed. The end result was the reinstating of the 20 year experience limit.

Under the new state salary schedule, a teacher with a BA degree and no experience would be paid $27,891 per year, while those with a MA degree would make $30,750.

Those with 20 years experience holding a BA would be paid $41,447, while those with a MA would receive $45,695. In some instances, McAfee said, teachers with 20 years experience and a MA in small districts could be making more than the superintendent.

Under the bill, he added, teachers would be required to have 190 day contracts. This is five days more than current contracts. In addition, teachers would be required to attend 10 in-service days during the summer, and these days could not be consecutive.

Act 35, he said, is the law dealing with student assessment and educational accountability for school districts. This has been signed into law by Gov. Huckabee.

This law, McAfee said, is tied to the federal No Child Left Behind program, the Lake View ruling and ACTEP testing. It requires students to take two types of test, norm-referenced and criterion-based for students in grades K-8.

"This has never been done in any state in the nation," he said. "There is no test for students in kindergarten through the second grade, and one must be developed for the state."

This law does away with societal advancement. Societal advancement allowed students to be passed to the next grade even if their grades didn't warrant it. Parents could request the district pass their children.

Act 35 states elementary school students can be held back up to two years in any grade if they fail to pass the required courses and tests.

It also requires all high school students to pass their end of course exams. The results of these exams will now be included in the permanent record of all students. For those high school students who fail their end of course exams, they will be required to be remediated until they can pass the tests.

One of the problems, McAfee said, is districts don't get the results back from the standardized tests until September or October. The state has moved the testing dates back to December, which means students will be tested on a half-year's courses instead of the entire year's program.

Schools will also be rated from 1-5, with 1 being those districts needing immediate improvement, and 5 being excellent districts.

McAfee said SB42 is being held up because of tax bills, with there being four up for consideration that might provide the $440 million needed. The leading contender at this time is a statewide 1-cent sales tax.

Nevada Elementary Principal Sandra Browning said teachers have been preparing students for the Benchmark and ACTEP exams scheduled for March, with two junior high teachers attending workshops for Advanced Placement courses.

She said there will be a chili supper for district patrons on Jan. 22, at 6 p.m., followed by a talk about how students are doing in math and literacy.

The district's uniform committee will meet and report to the board at its next meeting Feb. 26. The meeting was moved from Feb. 19, as Nevada is hosting the district basketball tournament.

The board voted to change the district's calendar, moving Spring Break to April 5, because of state testing on April 2, and moving the prom from April 23 to April 30. The Future Business Leaders of America will be having its state convention on April 23.