IVBE LEGISLATIVE PRIORITIES – 2008
1. IVBE supports enabling parents/families
to select the public or private schools that best serve the needs of their
children. We ask the Legislature to do this because the only remedy for
the broken education system is to adopt a “free market” approach
with no mandates other than prohibiting racial, ethnic and religious discrimination,
and ensuring safety to life. A system of accountabil
ity for student achievement
must accompany any plan.
2. Parents/guardians must give prior written approval to any survey
administered in K-12. No information from such surveys shall be disclosed
without parental consent.
3. Bonuses mandated by the A+ Plan must be calculated and awarded based
only on the number of students per school who are actually counted to compute
the school grades. Our research, as well as media reports, shows that less
than half the students in some districts have been counted towards the
grades. This explains why schools with high state ratings cannot qualify
as having made adequate yearly progress under the Federal No Child Left
Behind Act.
4. Instructional Personnel” must be redefined as those
who teach full class loads 90% of their typical employment day.
5. All grant proposals voted on by Florida school boards must be accompanied
by answers to specific questions that the Marion County School Board has
mandated and is using.
6. Curricula review and selection committees at school, district and state
levels must be constituted of 50% peer-elected, non-employee parents/guardians/community
representatives.
7. We urge the Legislature to request the Office of Civil Rights
to approve an amendment to the META consent decree so that intensive English
can be taught to LEP students. When California implemented this, test scores
and parental satisfaction increased significantly.
8. A cap must be placed on the fees charged to charter schools by management
companies. Additionally, when audits of charter schools reveal operational
deficits, the state must monitor and, if necessary, take over operation
until the deficits are eliminated.
9. Transition services must be provided to eligible ESE students from the
ages of 13 to 21
10. Audits of social services funded with school district funds must be mandated to determine administrative costs, actual services given and ratio of clients to staff. Administrators must be defined as anyone not having direct, consistent contact with clients that provides counseling or other services described in the mission of the agency.
