Education Bill Bogs Down on Charter School Issues

The Deseret News reports this morning that the Education bill remains in limbo until the House and the Senate can agree on whether on not to expand Charter Schools next year. Sen. Howard Stephenson, no friend of public education, is leading the charge for more Charter Schools. Today is the last day of the session so it would be good to let your legislator know how you feel. UEA is not opposed to Charter Schools in principle, but in a year of cuts everyone should share in the pain.

Thanks again. To enter the MARCH BLOG CONTEST please email rick@ogdenweber.org with the words "CHARTER SCHOOLS" in the message. We will draw for prizes in the April OEA and WEA AR meetings.

Congrats to February Contest Winners

Congrats to Genevieve Kirch at Roy Elementary and Pat Albers at Farr West Elementary, our February Blog Contest Winners for Weber. They won $25 gift cards from Blockbuster. Enjoy the movies. Look for clues in upcoming blogs for the March gift card giveaway.

Legislature sets Public Ed funding for next year.

• HB2 prohibits expansion of charter school capacity in the 2010-2011 school year.
• HB2 cuts 5.2% from 2010 budget.
• The value of the Weighted Pupil Unit remained the same.
• School districts have the option of closing school for up to 5 days.
• $2.9 Million was set cut from Career and Technical Education.
• Quality Teaching Block Grant of $77.6 Million was cut.
• Aging school bus fund of $8.8 Million was cut.
• The remaining $5 Million of the original one time $20 Million Performance Pay was cut.

School Districts will now make the tough decisions of how the cuts will affect their budgets for next year.

Legislature Appropriations Sets Cuts in Budget

The Executive Appropriations Committee met Friday and came up with a cut of 5.2% from the 2010 Budget (next year). Now we have the hard job of finding places to cut that much out of the budget.

RayLynne Phillips, Midland Elementary, was awarded the "I Love Teaching" award and Joel Robbins and Anneke Petersen were awarded the "E+ Team" award at Weber School Board last week. Congratulations.

Thanks for reading. Rick

Another day in paradise...

Hi, back from the "hill" where we met with legislators and teachers from Weber County. Janalyn Duersch, Stephanie McGaughey, Elizabeth Carlin, Marlene Irons, and Glen Larsen met with and lobbied our legislators representating our UEA positions. Check the www.utea.org site for information on sending emails to our legislators this last few days of the session (ends March 12).

Future Educators and members of FCCLA at OHS sponsored a fun assembly for Polk Elementary and Dee Elementary. Sammy the Saver Rabbit taught the kids songs that will help them save their pennies. Our NEA SOAR grant helped pay for the assembly.

Have a great weekend. Rick

Professionalism Presentation at Freedom

It was my pleasure to attend Freedom Elementary's faculty meeting and talk about professionalism, ethical behavior and the contract. I enjoyed spending about 20 minutes talking about some of the responsibilities and protections our contract provides. I also talked about areas of concern that we need to be aware of that could harm your job status or your license to teach. I have presented to about 10 schools and still have a few more scheduled. Let me know if you would like me to schedule something at your school.

Thanks again for everything you do for students in Ogden and Weber School Districts.
Rick

Budget Proposal Nears Final Draft

The good news is that public ed might only see a 6% cut next year and the bad news is that public ed might see a 6% cut next year. The legislature and governor are in discussion to finalize a 6% cut for public ed's 2010 budget. In approximate terms that means somewhere around $8 million in cuts in Weber and around $3 million in Ogden. To put that in literal terms, it costs about $500,000 per school day to run Weber District. Weber's salary steps and lanes usually run over $1 million each year. Insurance costs are trending at a double digit increase again. Bus purchases, textbook adoptions, and sabbatical requests are all possible areas of cuts. The construction projects will continue because those bonds have been sold and capital funds are used. We are entering negotiations in both districts. As we see the direction the districts want to go we will represent our members in mitigating cuts to salary and benefits.

Thanks again for reading. Rick

WSU College of Ed Intro to Education Class

Weber State now offers incoming freshman a class ED 1010 Into to Education to introduce potential teacher ed students to the career. Weber, Davis, and Ogden also offer concurrent enrollment classes to high school students. Davis and Ogden also have organized (along with WSU College of Ed) Future Education Association chapters that have been very active. Several of the professors have invited me to teach a unit of school law. It is a great opportunity to talk to possible teacher ed students and introduce them to many of the professional and ethical standards that we all deal with each day. Encourgage your students to search out and register for the concurrent classes and if they show interest in becoming a teacher, they should look to get involved at WSU.

Congrats to the OEA members who won $25 Subway gift cards for entering the blog contest.
Jill Detamore, Heritage Elementary and Lisa Vipperman, Highland Jr. High were the big winners.

Look for elections in OEA this week and WEA next month.

Thanks for reading the blog. Tell a friend. Rick