This from Greg Stotelmyer; Photo by Steve Kaufmann/WTVQ:
Expect cuts in teacher positions
because of the state's tight budget.
Kentucky Education Commissioner Jon Draud says he suspects some of the state's 174 school districts will have to cut teacher positions because of the lean budget.
"Some have larger contingency funds than others," said Draud. "Some have more of a student-teacher ratio that would give them an opportunity to make cuts and others do not."
Around 43,000 teachers are employed across Kentucky.
Draud was at Eastern Kentucky University Tuesday to speak to future teachers. The 1960 EKU graduate told education students gathered in a lecture hall that the state does not have its priorities correct and lawmakers have "not kept" their commitments to education.
In 1990 the legislature reformed Kentucky's public education system, raising an addition $1.3 billion.
Draud says while cuts to key programs not funded by the base funding formula (SEEK) will hurt, it's unfunded programs that will hold the state back from meeting achievement goals by the year 2014.
"Where we're really hurting is moving forward some of the things we didn't get funded that we needed to have funded like the individual learning plans, our new information system, on line testing, virtual high school, I can go on and on. I mean, these things are needed to get to proficiency."
My thanks to Dr Draud for his efforts on behalf of our students.
Earlier in the day, Draud met with President Doug Whitlock and a group of university leaders to discuss ways to forge new avenues of cooperation between EKU and KDE. Eastern Kentucky University’s first doctoral degree program is in Educational Leadership and Policy Studies and will focus on the improvement of P-12 public education, particularly in rural Kentucky schools.
The Doctor of Education (Ed.D.) degree program is now accepting applicants for the Fall 2008 semester.
The Doctor of Education (Ed.D.) degree program is now accepting applicants for the Fall 2008 semester.
While on campus Draud also met with district superintendents in the Southeast / Southcentral Educational Cooperative. Here's the story from Brad Hughes at the Kentucky School board's Association.
Clearer rules, tougher enforcement coming
for school calendars in 2009-10
for school calendars in 2009-10
Richmond, Ky. – Citing confusion in some districts, Education Commissioner Jon Draud Tuesday pledged to personally review and approve all 2008-09 school year calendars that he determines have made “reasonable” efforts to meet the legislative mandate on the total number of instructional days for next school year.
However, Draud told superintendents in the Southeast / Southcentral Educational Cooperative that new guidelines will be in place for the 2009-10 school year, including a prohibition on the use of banked time – minutes added to the instructional day – to meet the minimum instructional day requirement.
“You are going to be asked to submit, based on criteria to be developed by my staff, what you are doing to try to meet the calendar requirements. I’m going to look at each one of those and if I think that what you are doing is reasonable, I’m going to approve them,” Draud said. “I’m going to be very lenient on the side of the districts because the way this came down on this issue has been, I believe, very confusing.”
Saying his decision was not a popular one with some KDE staff, Draud said he believes the budget language had “unintended consequences” when the legislature required two additional, six-hour instructional days, starting with this school year. The total number of days must be increased based on the number of six-hour days in the 2005-06 school year.
Similar language is in the 2008-10 budget awaiting Gov. Steve Beshear’s signature. However, a change sought by Draud gives the commissioner greater authority to “set parameters for what will be acceptable in lieu of a full six-hour day.
“We’re going to develop those guidelines in advance, and if you don’t follow them, you’re going to lose funding,” he said. “I don’t want you to get the impression that I don’t have the courage to enforce (the guidelines), because I do and I will.”
Draud specifically warned superintendents that the use of so-called “banked time” to meet the minimum number of instructional days is going to end. “I won’t approve things like that in the future,” he said. “I do not see how adding minutes to the day will improve instruction for kids.”
Task forces update
Draud also told the superintendents that more than 200 people have volunteered to serve on his task force to review the CATS test and the state’s overall assessment system. The commissioner proposed the task force in response to Senate Bill 1 during the 2008 General Assembly. That proposal, which did not pass, would have
replaced the CATS test with one less dependent on scoring of writing portfolios and more comparable to measuring student achievement in Kentucky versus that in
other states.
“This is very much a political issue, and I want key legislators on this task force,” he said. “We must get people to come together to decide what is the best possible assessment system for our children.”
He also said a second task force – this one to address schools that are struggling academically -- will produce a set of legislative proposals to create more options for intervention to move those schools forward. “We have to look at the culture and the leadership involved when schools have made no progress for six to seven years,” Draud said. “We cannot just sit by and allow that to continue.”
State budget
Remarking on the state budget on the governor’s desk, Draud said he couldn’t fault the General Assembly for the biennial spending plan it passed based on the available budget. But, he added, “If I had a role in the process, we would have raised new revenues. That’s an easy call for me.
“We have to get people in this state to understand the connection between taxes and services,” Draud said. “The problem is that we have to get people to understand that we need additional resources if we are to move forward.”
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