Board Members:
Happy Friday! I'm so happy that we were able to get a full week of school under our belt! Tuesday was probably the closest we came to a late start, but early mornings were the theme Wednesday and Thursday morning as well. I'm looking forward to a relaxing weekend!
This week we began to flesh out some of the details for the fiscal year 2025 budget. Special thanks to Dave and Matt for making time on Tuesday afternoon to consider our negotiation processes. We'll continue the budget work over the next several weeks as we refine our numbers and respond to legislation. There continue to be quite a few unknown variables yet that are certain to impact our projections. I was also able to have some conversations with special education employees about staffing levels next year with some preliminary plans. The main message that I tried to convey is that as our enrollment grows, so too will our staffing: but we have to be deliberate and strategic about how and when we add staff. And that we have to be mindful of our greater constituency and the property tax implications. My blog this week discussed this in detail, hopefully it hits the mark.
In legislative news, week three has been completed at the Capitol. While there was very little floor action this week, (which is normal at this point in the session), there was a lot of subcommittee work. Once a bill is introduced, the first step is to hold a subcommittee meeting where legislators hear public input and feedback. After that, if they approve, the bill moves on to the full committee, then to the floor of the chamber. If it clears all those hurdles, the process is repeated in the opposing chamber before it gets to the governor. There are a lot of steps before something becomes law! Keep that in mind, because the AEA bill hasn't even started the process yet. We heard last week that an amendment was set to be introduced, but at the writing of this memo it has not yet materialized. I won't speculate as to why that is, so you can draw your own conclusions. It is worth noting the teacher salary portion of the bill is included in this bill, and you can speculate as to why that is as well. Aside from that, our biggest priority right now is SSA, which by code needs to be set by February 9. That bill hasn't even been filed yet. I won't give a run down of every bill that has been filed, or even every bill that has had a subcommittee because, well that would be boring for you. Instead, I'll highlight those that I think are important and those that are; well, amusing.
HF 2002 – Requires public schools to give or mail a printed report card to parents or to give a copy to the student.
SSB 3069 – Requires Science of Reading instruction in K-3.
HSB 587 -- Would require districts to require students to sing the National Anthem. They actually sang during the subcommittee at the request of one of the Representatives. (That was amusing!)
Dr. Tony Voss
Superintendent
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