Secretary of Education Arne Duncan to award grants for school reform

The federal stimulus plan passed by Congress also has $5 Billion to award lasting school reform. According to today's Deseret News, states are supposed to:

• Improve teacher quality and get good teachers into high-poverty schools;
• Set up sophisticated data systems to track student learning;
• Boost the quality of academic standards and tests;
• Intervene to help struggling schools.

Applications for the special grants will be available later this spring.

To enter the April BLOG CONTEST for gift cards please email me: rick@ogdenweber.org and add the word "Stimulus" in the message.

Thanks for reading. Rick

Future Educators Association Comptetions at WSU

I had the opportunity to help judge some FEA competitions at Weber State University today. We had students from OHS and Davis County competing in several categories including displays, impromptu speaking and "FEA Moment". The FEA program met with the UEA Board of Directors a couple of weeks ago and they were very impressed with the possibility of recreating FEA chapters around the state.

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