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Weekly Update




March 4, 2022

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Does it pay to teach in Missouri and Kansas?

Starting salary in Show-Me State is nation's lowest

Today, the Kansas City Star published an editorial calling for a more considerable boost to teacher pay other than what Governor Mike Parson has proposed. Pandemic-related challenges plagued front-line workers, and teachers faced exhausting conditions, especially as learning shifted online


Governor Parson's budget includes $21.8 million to raise the starting pay for Missouri teachers to $38,000. According to data published by the National Education Association, the average starting salary for newly minted educators is $32,970, which ranks dead last in the nation. The governor's bump rewards rookie teachers, but as the Star's editorial points out, the state needs to divert more resources to address teacher retention. 


Aligned held its first quarter board meeting last week. Dr. Paul Katnik, the assistant commissioner at the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education, provided our members with a presentation on the current state of the teacher workforce. According to Katnik, the retention rate for teachers after three years has dipped from 64.1% in 2019-20 to 55.6% in 2020-21.


The tight labor market has pushed educators towards higher-paying careers outside of education he explained.


Although the average starting salary in Kansas surpasses Missouri's at $38,314 (Ranked #33 in the nation), the average annual pay at $51,320 is just a notch higher than Missouri's at $50,817.


Missouri's ESSER III plan includes teacher recruitment and retention grants for all districts and charters prioritized by schools with harder-to-fill positions, "such as LEAs serving higher numbers of students of color and students from low-income backgrounds."


However, post-pandemic recruitment strategies will require a sustainable compensation strategy that's not held together by band-aids.


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The Missouri State Capitol exhibited a blue glow this week to show support for the people of Ukraine. 🇺🇦

Missouri News

Senate reading bill receives precious floor time

Literacy and Reading Instruction

This week the Senate devoted floor time to SB 681 (O'Laughlin), a bill that changes the make-up of the Missouri Advisory Board for Educator Preparation (MABEP) and allows schools to apply to the State Board of Education for innovation waivers to align literacy and reading instruction with regular classwork. During the debate, the bill sponsor offered substitute language to include literacy assessment requirements, create an evidence-based instruction reading fund, and establish a literacy advisory council. Senator Lauren Arthur offered an amendment to move the effective date to January 1, 2023. Senator Cindy O’Laughlin then modified the substitute to provide technical changes. Once modified, the Senate adopted the modified substitute and provided its first of two necessary approval votes. Aligned testified in support of this bill.


Educational Internships

The House Workforce Development Committee approved HB 2190 (Henderson). This legislation allows school boards of any school district to purchase insurance contracts to cover sickness, bodily injury, or death by accident for students engaged in real-world learning. The committee passed the bill by an 8-2 vote. HB 2190 is an Aligned Priority bill.


Workforce Diploma Program

The House debated HB 2325 (Patterson), a bill that establishes the "Workforce Diploma Program" within the Department of Higher Education and Workforce Development to assist students in obtaining a high school diploma and develop employability and career technical skills. 


During floor debate, the sponsor successfully amended the bill to clarify an adult high school has to offer childcare for children of enrolled students on or off-site, require each student to include a declaration of their postsecondary education or career/workforce plans as part of the ICAP, and complete a FAFSA as a condition of graduation.


Representative Ben Baker further amended the bill to include language from HB 1856, which creates the Extended Learning Opportunity Act. Once modified, the House provided its first of two necessary approval votes. Aligned testified in support of this bill.

 

Read the full Missouri Capitol weekly report.

Budget Bits

Richey presses for portal plan

The House Budget Committee convened this week to answer questions regarding HB 20 and to hear HJR 92 (Eggleston). The Sub-Committees also met to begin the mark-up process work for the entire Budget Committee.

 

HB 20 is the supplemental appropriations bill containing most of the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funds. Representative Doug Richey, who serves as the chair of the Subcommittee on Federal Stimulus Spending, honed in on the state’s IT systems, with a specific focus on the state’s inability to offer citizens a single-entry portal to access state services.


Richey wants a plan to address the portal and ensure that no system expenditures are outdated or redundant.


"We will want to make sure that what we're doing over here actually fits with the broader effort in terms of what we've been talking about, this, this overlay of all things state bureaucracy, where there's a single point of contact for citizens and or businesses and startups to where they can make this point of contact and then have access to everything they need," said Richey.


Members also followed up on the capital improvement projects for municipalities, colleges, universities, and community colleges to make sure funding remains intact. 

 

Education-related subcommittees shift funding


The House Sub-Committee on Appropriations-Education convened on Thursday morning to form recommendations for the full Budget Committee.


The recommendations are as follows:


  • $350,000 for Independent Living Centers and Sheltered Workshops (Offset by a reduction in the core of the Virtual Schools Program)


  • $4.5 million for Access Missouri Financial Assistance Fund (Offset by a reduction in the core of the Dual Credit Scholarship Program)


  • $100,000 for Missouri Scholars and Fine Arts Academies (Offset by a reduction in the GEER II DESE Federal Emergency Relief Fund)


  • $450,000 for the commissioning of a study of higher education performance funding and higher education efficiency, institutional missions, and reforms (Offset by a reduction in the GEER II DESE Federal Emergency Relief Fund)


  • $250,000 for School Safety Training Grants Program to include hiring school counselors to provide students with mental health services related to suicide and other behavioral health needs (Offset by a reduction in the core of the Center for National Pandemic Resiliency.)

Status of Missouri Priorities

Early Care and Education


💵 Pre-K funding


Legislation to increase the state aid calculation for Pre-K.


SB 816 (Arthur) - Modifies the calculation of average daily attendance for early childhood programs. Referred to the Senate Committee on Education on 1-20-22 NO CHANGE


HB 2341 (Shields) - Modifies the calculation of average daily attendance for early childhood programs. Referred to House Committee on Rules-Administrative Oversight. NO CHANGE


✔️ Early childhood quality


HB 2365 (Shields) - Makes the early learning quality assurance report permanent. Referred to House Committee on Rules-Administrative Oversight. NO CHANGE


SB 846 (Eslinger) - Repeals the expiration date on the early learning quality assurance report program. Referred to the Senate Committee on Education on 1-20-22. NO CHANGE


SB 800 (Hegeman) - Repeals the expiration date on the early learning quality assurance report program. Scheduled for Committee Hearing. Senate-Education on 3/8/22.


🏛️ Early childhood governance


The legislation moves the Coordinating Board for Early Childhood (CBEC) away from DSS and places that board under DESE to align with the new Office of Childhood.


HB 2151 (Shields) - Scheduled for reconsideration as a consent bill. Executive session on 3-7-22.



SB 982 (Arthur) - Hearing conducted on 3-2-22.

Teacher Shortages


🧑🏻‍🏫 Alternative certifications


The following bills include language to amend the current visiting scholars' provisions.


HB 1928 (Pollitt) - Modifies requirements for a visiting scholar's certificate of license to teach.  Referred to House Committee on Rules-Legislative Oversight.


SB 999 (Gannon) - Modifies provisions regarding employment of retired education personnel by school districts. Referred to Senate Committee on Education. NO CHANGE


Read our Visiting Scholars Issue Brief.

💸 Pay flexibility  


Differentiated pay will give school superintendents and local school boards greater flexibility to address teacher shortages.


The following bill permits an alternative pay structure.


HB 1770 (Lewis) allows school districts to create differentiated teacher salary schedules. Read second time on 1-6-22. NO CHANGE


SB 1098 (Burlison) Authorizes school districts to have differentiated teacher pay schedules. Introduced and read first time on 1-27-22. NO CHANGE


Read our Differentiated Pay Issue Brief.

Personalized Learning


📝 Competency-based education


A competency-based approach awards students credits within a more individualized time frame and demonstration of mastery. 


HB 1956 (Richey) - Establishes the Competency-based Education Grant Program and Competency-based Education Task Force. Referred to the House Committee on Workforce Development on 1/27/22. NO CHANGE


SB 660 (Arthur) - Establishes the Show Me Success diploma Program, The Competency-Based Education Grant Program, The Competency-Based Education Task Force, and a competency-based credit system for high school students. Hearing conducted on 2/22/22. NO CHANGE


Read our Competency-based Education Issue Brief


👷Work-based learning


District-provided liability coverage ensures students are protected during work-based learning experiences.


HB 2190 (Henderson) creates provisions related to liability claims in educational settings. Voted "Do Pass" on 2-28-22. Referred to House Committee on Rules - Legislative Oversight.

Reports


See the current status of all Aligned Priority legislation.


See the status of all the bills we are tracking.


See all upcoming hearings on education-related bills.


See all the bills which we have testified "in support".

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Kansas News

Clock signals start of the second half


Lawmakers returned from their five-day recess on Tuesday to officially start the second half of the 2022 Legislative Session. The Legislature was Pro Forma (technical session) on Friday, making it a relatively quiet three-day week. While they slowly eased back into committee work, next week is filling up quickly with dozens of hearings already scheduled. It’s typically after Turnaround that the tempo speeds up significantly to meet bill deadlines for the year. It should be March madness from here on out!


The last day for committees to meet and consider non-exempt bills is March 18. The last day for those bills to pass either Chamber is March 23, and First Adjournment falls a week early this year on April 1st.


Budget 


This week the House Appropriations Committee considered supplemental spending plans that include $254 million to make up for delayed KPERS payments and $200 million to eliminate the delayed school state aid payment, which has been a budget maneuver used annually since 2005. 


The public school budget was reviewed in a hearing by the House K-12 Education Budget Committee this week as well. K-12 Committee Chair Kristey Williams mentioned she would like to package the school spending plan with policy proposals that she supports, such as starting voucher-like education savings accounts and a parental bill of rights. Lawmakers debated extensively on the right percentage to use for Special Education excess costs currently set at 92%. As reported by KASB, the discussion got weedy as lawmakers tried to figure out the math. 


Bills on the calendar next week:


Monday, March 7

SB 362 — Requiring local boards of education to document and consider the school needs assessment and state assessments in the budget process.

 

Tuesday, March 8

SB 455 — Allowing K-12 students to transfer to and attend school in any school district in the state.


HB 2631 — Enacting the career technical education credential and transition incentive for employment success act to provide additional state aid for school districts based on students obtaining a credential


Read the full report from our Kansas team.

Status of Kansas Priorities


Aligned Priorities


HB 2596  - Allows school districts to contract with a transportation network company (TNC) to transport eight or fewer students to and from school functions. Under this bill, the same State Board of Education rules and regulations used to govern school buses would be changed to address single-passenger cars and vans.  Withdrawn from Calendar; Referred to Committee on Appropriations. No Change


HB 2525 - Revising childcare subsidy access for custodial parents.  

After a hearing on January 31, the Committee Report recommended the bill be passed as amended by Committee on Children and Seniors. Aligned submitted written testimony in support of this bill. Committee of the Whole - Motion to recommend favorably for passage failed Yea: 53, Nay: 66. Stricken from Calendar by Rule 1507. No change.


HB 2414 - Eliminating child daycare assistance tax credit reduction in subsequent years and limitations on eligible corporations and providing credit for employer payments to organizations for child daycare services access. Due to a change in tax policy in 2013, only large corporations and financial institutions are eligible for the credit. HB 2414 would allow any business – large or small – to offset the cost of providing childcare for their employees. NO CHANGE.

 

Other education bills we are watching.

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In the 1900s, Prosperity Corner drew citizens to meet, do business, and pass the time of day at H.H. Tieman’s General Merchandise Store. Photo Credit: Linda Rallo

Aligned tours childcare center & explores murals

This week Aligned traveled to Cuba, Missouri, to meet with local business leaders and the center staff at All Aboard Learning Center, a fully accredited and licensed not-for-profit child development center located off Historic Route 66. All Aboard offers year-round care and education for children birth through age 13.


The center's mission is to provide a safe, structured, and supportive program for the participating children while delivering a high-quality early learning experience.


Like many child care centers throughout Missouri and the nation, All Aboard struggles to keep its doors open because of the high cost of care, the low rates of subsidy, and a limit to what families can afford. Nevertheless, the quality of instruction and care children receive stands out.


Teresa Switzer, center director, explained that educators at the local school can recognize the impact, "They tell me that when school starts, they know which kids come from All Aboard and which don't, in terms of Kindergarten readiness."


Aligned is embarking on a project to meet with business leaders and stakeholders across Missouri to learn more about the state of child care and how policymakers can address some of the more dire challenges related to worker pay.


Switzer can only afford to pay teachers minimum wage, despite requiring employees to have child development credentials.


During our visit, the infants, toddlers, and preschoolers were napping. So instead of snapping photos of sleeping children, we toured the historic downtown and learned about the Cuba Murals project after our meeting.


According to Cubamomurals.com, "In 2001, Viva Cuba implemented a major project commissioning 12 outdoor murals by Cuba's 150th anniversary in 2007. Organizations and individuals supported Viva Cuba's efforts and helped the organization reach its goal. Today Viva Cuba maintains 14 murals, and Cuba is known as "Route 66 Mural City"


If you ever pass through Cuba, it's worth a stop.


Be well,

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Torree Pederson

President

Aligned

Torree@WeAreAligned.org

(913) 484-4202

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Linda Rallo

Vice President

Aligned

Linda@WeAreAligned.org

(314) 330-8442

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