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New law expands required training
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| On Board Online • September 6, 2010
By Brian M. Butry
Communications Coordinator
New school board members will now be required to undergo training that will acquaint them with the powers, functions and duties of boards of education within one year of taking office.
Passed toward the end of this year’s legislative session by the state Senate and Assembly, the measure exempts current school board members from the requirement. It was signed into law by Gov. David Paterson on Aug. 13 and will first impact newly-elected board members next July. Similar legislation was passed by the Assembly last year but stalled in the Senate.
NYSSBA supported the legislation. |
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Schumer: Federal aid won’t last forever
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| On Board Online • September 6, 2010
By Marc Humbert
Senior Writer
As soon as the Great Recession ends, so will the big checks from Washington, according to Sen. Charles Schumer.
The New York Democrat, instrumental in winning more than $2.5 billion in federal stimulus funding for the state’s schools in 2009 and in securing $607 million for New York as part of a school jobs program this year, said those aid measures were recession-related and will almost certainly end when the economy picks up. |
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An uphill ‘Race’
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| On Board Online • September 6, 2010
By Timothy G. Kremer
Executive Director
When U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan came to Albany last week he told teachers that their commitment to education reforms was “breathtaking.” But, he also admonished New Yorkers to “stop lying to children” by dumbing down our performance standards.
The topic is a sore one for our state. In a draconian but needed move, Education Commissioner David Steiner recently adjusted “cut scores” for grade 3-8 assessments so that students deemed “proficient” will fit a statistical profile for college readiness. In plain English, our grading had become too easy.
As a result, the portion of grade 3-8 students deemed proficient in math dropped from 86 percent to 61 percent. Those proficient in English language arts dropped from 77 percent to 53 percent. |
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SED mulling ways to spend RTTT money
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| On Board Online • September 6, 2010
By Marc Humbert
Senior Writer
With a nearly $700 million federal Race to the Top award in hand, state Education Commissioner David Steiner says he will be working with school districts over the next 90 days to determine exactly how the money will be spent.
“This is not a two-minute drill, this is a four-year opportunity,” Steiner said at an Aug. 30 state Capitol news conference with U.S. Education Secretary Arne Duncan, Gov. David Paterson and others.
Steiner and Regents Chancellor Merryl Tisch have said about half the Race to the Top money will go to individual school districts. Most of that is expected to go to low-performing schools with New York City slated to receive about $250 million. |
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Test cost-cutting pared back
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| On Board Online • September 6, 2010
By Brian M. Butry
Communications Coordinator
The January Regents exams have been spared from the chopping block.
After announcing a bevy of proposed cuts to its assessment program to help close an $11.5 million budget deficit in 2010-11, officials with the State Education Department (SED) have finalized their plan and included enough money to continue administration of the January 2011 Regents exams, and administration of the June 2011 foreign language Regents exam in Italian. There is also enough money to continue translating exams into Chinese, Haitian-Creole, Korean, Russian and Spanish. |
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Paterson vetoes bill on teaching materials
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| On Board Online • September 6, 2010
By Quinn Morris
Governmental Relations Representative
Governor Paterson has vetoed a NYSSBA-supported bill that would have provided school districts with greater purchasing flexibility in the use of textbook aid.
The bill, vetoed Aug. 30, would have allowed school districts to use textbook aid – now used exclusively for textbooks – to purchase other curriculum and instructional resources that are “aligned with state standards used by students and teachers to support and enhance teaching and learning.” Purchases of many software programs, manipulatives and other teaching aids could have qualified for such aid. |
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You’ve heard of Twitter - how about Moodle?
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| On Board Online • September 6, 2010
By Paul Heiser
Research Analyst
Teachers in 99 percent of school districts in New York State said they use the Internet in student instruction. And teachers in nine of every 10 districts are using web-based educational software and tools to help with student assessment and evaluation, curriculum planning, and professional development.
These are findings from a survey of technology directors by NYSSBA and the New York State Association for Computers and Technologies in Education (NYSCATE). The survey addressed how districts are using cloud computing and other types of web-based technologies. |
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What’s cloud computing?
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| On Board Online • September 6, 2010
Like billions of people and thousands of businesses around the world, school districts are increasingly using cloud computing. And, chances are, they are finding it cheaper and more effective than the old, traditional ways of teaching students and communicating with the public. |
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Schumer: Pro-education groups helped pass stimulus
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| On Board Online • September 6, 2010
U.S. Sen. Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) spoke with NYSSBA Senior Writer Marc Humbert on Aug. 30 about federal stimulus spending for education.
Q: Tell us about your role in the $10 billion education jobs bill just approved by Congress that is set to bring $607 million to New York.
A: Right from the beginning, I felt that it was extremely important to aid our schools directly. In fact, I was very much involved in the stimulus bill (approved by Congress in 2009) which aided the schools separately from FMAP (Federal Medicaid Assistance Percentage). |
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Immigration documents and admissions
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| On Board Online • September 6, 2010
Editor’s Note: The New York Civil Liberties Union recently wrote to 139 school districts in New York State to ask them to drop requirements for immigration documents in their admissions process, and on Aug. 30 the State Education Department issued a memo clarifying what documents school districts may require in the admissions process. The article below summarizes the relevant laws – and gray areas – for school districts.
By the New York State Association of School Attorneys
The rules that determine immigrant children’s access to public education in the United States send a mixed message. Although the U.S. Supreme Court’s sweeping decision in Plyler vs. Doe permits foreign nationals without documentation to attend public school, the USA PATRIOT Act prohibits certain in-status visa holders (tourists and business visitors) from enrolling in school. The same federal law prevents certain academic visa holders (F-1 and M-1) from enrolling in school unless the school participates in a program called the Student and Exchange Visitor Information System (SEVIS).
Local school officials may find it difficult to understand which categories of foreign nationals are eligible to enroll in a public school and which are not, as well as what types of inquiry can be made at registration.
The general rule is that children are eligible to enroll in a public school district if they meet the residency requirements of that district. That includes all out-of-status foreign nationals as well as U.S. citizens, U.S. permanent residents, asylees, refugees and many foreign nationals holding lawful temporary status. |
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