Governor Wants to Take Over MORE Schools

Remember the Governor who wanted to reduce mandates and get the government's hands out of local issues?  Neither do we.

When the General Assembly reconvenes on Wednesday, April 3, to consider amendments proposed by the governor to the budget bills that were approved by the House and Senate conferees, Governor McDonnell will ask them to extend the reach of his Opportunity Educational Institution (OEI) program.  This program is modeled after the Recovery School District plan put in place in Louisiana following Hurricane Katrina.  It allows the State to take over underperforming schools and contract with private companies to provide educational services with none of the accountability required of public schools.

Under this plan, existing teachers at OEI schools would have the option of reapplying for their jobs; however, they would then become subject to the policies of the new school which could include a completely different pay scale, reduction or elimination of benefits, or discontinuing participation in the Virginia Retirement System (VRS), as well as loss of grievance rights.  OEI schools would not even be required to hire licensed teachers! Since existing teachers have contracts with their school divisions, if they are not retained at the OEI school, they will still have to be placed in other schools within their divisions based on seniority, thus triggering a Reduction In Force (RIF) of their less-senior colleagues.

How is this likely to improve student achievement?  The decade of evidence from Louisiana says that it won't.  

Here are the ratings of the 60 RSD schools in their program that began as underperforming in 2003 (they use a letter grading system in Louisiana just like the one the Governor wants to implement here):   7 have been such complete failures that they have been reconstituted again, 29 are still failing a decade later, 16 are graded "D," 4 are graded "C," 4 are graded "B"; there are no "A" schools in the program.  Put another way, only 2/15 are average or better, 1/4 are marginally passable, and a full 60% of the schools are still failing or have gotten worse!  And this is the plan Governor McDonnell wants to bring to the 4th best school system in the nation.  For the record, the 3 states ranked above us--Maryland, Massachusetts, and New York--all have tenure, collective bargaining, and substantially better teacher compensation systems, whereas Louisiana  lacks all of those things.  Coincidence?  Why isn't the Governor proposing an improvement plan modeled after one of the states that ranks higher than Virginia and spends more on public education?

The Governor wants to spend more money on companies to run education, rather than on education.

The Senate and the House already limited the scope of this bill when they passed a compromise version from the Conference Committee during the regular session.  Now the Governor wants them to give him more money and expand the scope of the program.  This doesn't sound like the "everyone has to tighten their belts" rhetoric he's been using to cut other departments' programs.  He needs to play by the same rules he imposes on everyone else.

Please use this link http://www.veadailyreports.com/ to read the perspective of VEA's Government Relations Director, Robley Jones.

Then use this link http://capwiz.com/nea/va/issues/alert/?alertid=62553976&queueid=9414181721 to send a pre-written message (or you can compose your own) to your state senator asking him/her to oppose the amendment to SB1324S and Budget Amendment 12 that would increase its funding.

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Just a reminder that CCPSnet email servers should not be used for political lobbying, either during or after the student instructional day.  CEA is providing information to our Members regarding important legislation that is pending in the General Assembly (the Reconvened or "Veto" Session begins Wednesday, April 3) which has the potential to impact their jobs and/or those of their colleagues.  Providing this information to Members does not violate the CCPS Acceptable Use Policy; however, Members acting on this information while at work or via school division provided resources could be viewed as a violation of the AUP.   

 

As always with items of this nature, it is our intent that Members forward to their home/personal email addresses the alerts that we provide, and take the requested action from personally owned devices outside of contractual employment hours.  It's important, so please do it, but do it from home.  :)  If you have any questions, please call the CEA Office for clarification.     

CEA Election for 1st Vice President Ends TODAY

Elections for CEA's Officer positions are truly democratic (small "d"):
1 Member = 1 Vote.

Building Reps or electoral designees please make sure that your work site's ballots arrive at the CEA Office no later that 5:00 pm Friday, March 29, 2013.  No ballots will be accepted after that time.

Good luck to both Sonia and Rich!  

CEA Spring Social 2013--- A Union Strike that Will Get Everyone on a Roll

Uptown Alley: 6101 Brad McNeer Parkway, Midlothian, VA 23112

Take some time to catch up with friends and colleagues from across the school system in a fun and relaxed atmosphere at Chesterfield's hottest new entertainment venue.

Join us Friday, March 15, 2013. The fun starts at 3:00pm and goes through 7:00pm.

There will be snacks, "happy hour" prices on beverages, dedicated CEA bowling lanes and pool table, arcade access and more!

Celebrate the coming of Spring, the season of New Growth. Please Bring a Colleague who we should get to know and who should get to know us; there’ll be fun to “spare.”

Remember to fill out and bring your invitations; they will help us in planning the Association's strategic priorities for FY2014.

#CEAyouthere!

Read (and Play!) Across America

It’s Here!  It’s Here!  
It’s Here!  You Hear?

It’s Read Across America Time of Year!

New Partners!  New Looks!  
Play Safely!  Read Books!

CEA is partnering with 

the Community Idea Stations (WCVE) 
and the Children’s Museum of Richmond (CMoR)  

to host a Day of Play and Reading

at CMoR’s Chesterfield location

6629 Lake Harbour Drive,

Midlothian, VA 23112

(Winterpock Crossing Shopping Center) 

on Saturday, March 2, 2013,

from 10:00am-4:00pm

with visits by the Cat in the Hat.

Come Read!  Come Play!

Come Make a Child’s Day!

CEA and WCVE are sponsoring a BOOK DRIVE for the Children’s Book Bank

In middle-income neighborhoods the ratio of books per child is 13 to 1; however, in low-income neighborhoods the ratio falls to a staggering
1 (age-appropriate) book for every 300 children.

Please Help!  Ask your colleagues, parents, students, friends, neighbors, everyone to donate a new or gently used children’s book.  It’s easy: just drop them in a box at your school library and bring them to CMoR when you come to read and play!  (If you can’t make it to CMoR, just get them to CEA and we’ll drop them off on your behalf.) 

School Board to Adopt Budget

The CCPS School Board will vote to adopt its FY2014 Financial Plan, which includes both the Operational and Capital Budgets.

Tuesday, February 26, 2013, at 6:30 PM
in the Public Meeting Room,
10001 Iron Bridge Road, Chesterfield, VA 23831.

Once approved, the budget will be forwarded to the Board of Supervisors for consideration.

The Superintendent will present the school budget to the Supervisors the following afternoon,

Wednesday, February 27, 2013, at 3:00 PM
also in the Public Meeting Room,
10001 Iron Bridge Road, Chesterfield, VA 23831.

At that meeting the Supervisors will vote to advertise the maximum real estate tax rate that can be used to fund County services, including the school budget.  Once advertised, the rate can still be lowered by the BoS at their official budget adoption and rate setting meeting on April 10, 2013, but after this Wednesday the rate cannot be raised, no matter how many people call, email, or attend the public hearing on March 20.

Please contact your Supervisor and ask him/her to support a higher ADVERTISED RATE so that the public can discuss the levels of service they wish to have in Chesterfield County.

CEA President Participates in Proffer Panel

Say it ten times fast.  Trust me, it's easier than understanding school funding in Virginia!

I am thankful for the opportunity and responsibility to learn new things that comes along with this job.

This morning I served on a panel discussion regarding the use of Cash Proffers--a de facto tax on housing developers that is passed through to the home buyer--to fund infrastructure improvements in Chesterfield County.  The forum was jointly sponsored by the Business Council and the Chamber of Commerce, and there were maybe a half dozen people in the room (of the over 100 who attended) who were not in some way connected to the housing industry (developers, builders, financiers, etc.).  Though there were a number of representatives from County Government present, I believe I was the only member of the school system there (at least I did not see any others I recognized).

With me on the panel were George Emerson (one of the biggest developers in the county), former Bermuda Supervisor Jack McHale (one of the early architects and long-time supporter of the proffer system in Chesterfield), Craig Toalson (Home Builders Association), and Ted Balsamo (Village Bank).  I had a hard time keeping the old Sesame Street skit, "One of these things is not like the others," out of my head.  While I felt like the swing vote on the panel, neither adamantly in favor of nor opposed to the proffer system, I saw my role as redirecting the focus toward the currently inconsistent, unfair funding model for public education, and how that model results in a lack of long-term planning and vision for many aspects of the school system.    

The discussion was good, but I was disappointed that the closing did not include action steps for expanding the conversation into the community.  We were just starting to talk about reform rather than elimination of the proffer system, as well as dedicated tax rate changes to offset revenue losses, and shared responsibility for public infrastructure, but time ran out.  To the plus, I had an important conversation with current Matoaca Supervisor Steve Elswick regarding advertising a real estate tax rate that allows for meaningful public comment.  Now he needs to hear from the rest of his CEA constituents.

CEA Office Open House

Just a reminder that today is the big day!  The CEA Board of Directors welcomes you to our Office Open House.  Don’t forget to drop by between 3:00pm and 7:00pm to experience the feel of your Professional Organization in its NEW location:

Winchester Building, Suite 100

10800 Midlothian Turnpike

North Chesterfield, VA 23235

804-897-1756