Board Members:
Happy Snow Day?! At the writing of this bulletin, it hasn't even started snowing yet! Being a weather forecaster must be a difficult job. I know deciding when to delay, dismiss, or cancel is tough. It takes a great deal of luck to get it just right! I think the winner today is probably those schools who decided they would hold classes and dismiss early. From my research, there is only one of those, since everyone else is closed today!
The latter half of the week found me in Des Moines for both a BoEE meeting and the School Executives of Iowa winter meeting. We were scheduled to meet again this morning, but the impending weather canceled that meeting. I was on the road early this morning so I could get home before the snowstorm hit.
While much of my work on the BoEE focuses on licensee discipline, we are also the governing body that considers and enacts administrative rules related to teacher licensure. Currently we are considering rule changes regarding the number of credits necessary for teachers to earn endorsements; with particular attention to 'all area endorsements' and the 'teacher librarian endorsements'. When we look at what it takes to earn these endorsements compared to the contiguous states to Iowa, there seems to be an imbalance. For the last couple of years the legislature has heard from school leaders about teacher shortage areas and the idea of reciprocity amongst states. While I haven't decided how I'll vote yet, we have been getting quite a bit of feedback from stakeholders around the state.
The second session of the 88th General Assembly began on Monday, and outside the ceremonial nature of the first week, we were all looking forward to hearing Governor Reynolds give her Condition of the State speech. This is the first time we get to hear her proposal for supplemental state aid. Her proposal called for a 2.5% increase in SSA, which for Hudson equates to $212,714. A friend reminded me today the governor's budget has the shelf life of a banana, so we'll have to wait and see where we end up with that. By the way, the deadline for setting SSA is February 14th! Happy Valentine's Day, right?
Have a great weekend and enjoy the snow! I look forward to seeing you on Monday!
Dr. Tony Voss, Superintendent
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