AZ COMMON CORE ACTIVISM
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Join "Mommy Lobby AZ" and start "following us" at @MommyLobbyAZ for current Education Action
Items! This is an example of our action items in previous years
"Common Core Action Items"
in our local communities to stop The Common Core System= Standards + High-Stakes Testing + Data Mining.
Frank Riggs was the first candidate to file at the Secretary of
State's (SOS) Office
for State Superintendent of Public Instruction on 4/30/18! Mommy Lobby AZ was
proud to join Frank and Cathy Riggs when he filed his 7,500 petition
signatures to qualify for the State Superintendent of Public Instruction
office! Way to go Frank! Thank you for continuing to listen to
parents and supporting our parental rights to direct the education of our
children!
Frank Riggs files for State Superintendent of Public Instruction on 4/30/18! |
A State
Superintendent of Public Instruction (SPI) Candidate Forum was held in Chandler on 1/30/18. This forum was sponsored by the Chandler
Education Association/Valley Interfaith Project. Each of the 8 candidates
who are running for SPI were asked 5 questions including why they are the
best candidate to run for SPI. Frank Riggs was the clear winner in
this forum because he supports local control over education and he is the
most qualified person to run based upon his "Executive" experience in the
business community; as a former school board member and school teacher; and
as a former Congressman. He has the most experience in education at the
state level and federal level! Please support Frank Riggs today by donating your
time, by making a donation and signing his petition on his website. Vote
Frank Riggs for State Superintendent of Public Instruction in
2018!
Vote Frank Riggs for State Superintendent of Public Instruction in 2018! |
The current Superintendent of Public Instruction (SPI), Diane Douglas, Rebranded
Common Core a 2nd time in our state by voting to pass the 2016 English
Language Arts (ELA) and
Mathematics standards at the 12/19/16 State Board of Education (SBE)
Meeting. Superintendent Douglas's Arizona Department of Education
(ADE) staff- Carol Lippert and others- presented at the Arizona Standards
Development Committee (ASDC)
meeting on December 14, 2016 the supposed changes to the 2013 College and
Career Ready Standards (ACCRS), which are now being called the "2016 Arizona
English Language Arts (ELA)
and Mathematics Standards", and can be found on the ADE
website here
for ELA
and here for Math. See the
2016
ELA and Mathematics Standards for yourself and You Be the Judge on how
similar the 2016 Standards are to the 2013 ACCRS standards (aka Common
Core)!
Very little has changed in the 2016 ELA and Mathematics Standards and
our students are still being exposed to developmentally inappropriate
standards across the grade levels! Members from the Arizona Standards
Development Committee (ASDC) released a press release to the Arizona Republic
exposing the "Rebrand of Common Core" in 2016 as well! Superintendent Douglas
continues in 2017 to tell the lie
that
"Common Core has been repealed and replaced!" Arizonans Against Common
Core and Mommy Lobby AZ are now supporting Frank Riggs who is running in
2018 to replace Superintendent Douglas. Visit
his website today and sign
his petition, donate your time and make a donation to "Restore local
control over education in Arizona!"
Frank Riggs for State Superintendent of Public Instruction in 2018! |
Are you confused with the process that bills go through in the
AZ Legislature? Review this document "AZ
Legislature 101" and this document "Legislative
Glossary" to understand how this bill process works in our AZ Senate
and House of Representatives. See how an Arizona Bill goes from an "Idea
to a Law" here.
2018 AZ Legislation:
SB1008- Average Daily Membership (ADM). This bill is tied to SB1083 (Recess Bill). ADM calculation will include "all the time a student is in school" which includes recess time. This bill passed the Senate Education Committee 7-0, passed Senate Appropriations 9-0-1, passed Senate Rules, and passed full Senate with a vote of 29-0-1. Passed House Education 9-0-1, passed House Rules and passed full House with a vote of 56-0. Signed by the Governor on 4/10/18!
SB1057- County School Superintendent Report. This bill allows the school budget report, from local Local Education Agencies (LEA's), to no longer being required to be sent from the 15 State County Superintendents but to be sent directly to the Arizona Department of Education (ADE). This bill passed the Senate Education Committee 7-0, passed Senate Rules, and passed full Senate with a vote of 30-0. Passed House Education 8-0-2, passes House Rules and full House 58-2. Signed by the Governor on 3/16/18!
SB1082- Full-Day Kindergarten. The bill proliferates Full-Day Kindergarten in local LEA's but it does not have a clear "opt out" clause. Any achievement gains from Full-day Kindergarten are lost by 2nd grade. This bill passed the Senate Education Committee 7-0, passed Senate Appropriation 10-0, passed Senate Rules, and passed full Senate with a vote of 28-1. Passed House Education 9-0-1, House Rules, and full House with a vote of 46-13. Signed by the Governor on 3/16/18!
SB1083- Recess Periods. This bill would mandate school recess periods. We support this bill because the LEA's won't listen to parents about the benefit of having recess. We don't support another mandate or more governmental control over schools, however. Example of recess no longer being offered in Chandler Unified School District after 2nd grade. Parents fought this and also in a Phoenix District (Christine Davis) through petitions and their voices were ignored. This bill passed the Senate Education Committee 7-0 with an amendment, passed Senate Rules with an amendment, and passed full Senate with a vote of 26-3-1. Passed House Education 9-0-1, passed House Rules and full House with a vote of 57-1. Signed by the Governor on 4/5/18!
SB1289- National motto and state motto display. This bill would require schools to display: 1) the national motto; 2) the national anthem; 3) the pledge of allegiance; 4) the preamble to the Arizona Constitution; 5) the Declaration of Independence; 6) the Mayflower Compact; 7) writings, speeches, documents and proclamations of the founding fathers and U.S. Presidents; 8) published decisions of the U.S. Supreme Court; and 9) acts of the U.S. Congress. This bill passed the Senate Education Committee 6-0-1, passed Senate Rules, and passed full Senate with a vote of 17-13. Passed in Senate Education with 8-2 vote, passed full Senate with a vote of 17-13 vote and full House with a vote of 33-24-4. Signed by the Governor on 4/10/18!
SB1378- Bond overrides, funding sources. This bill requires the informational report or publicity pamphlet for a school district budget override or bond election to include a statement of the total amount of revenues the school district received per pupil from federal, state and local funding sources for the fiscal year and any additional per pupil revenue or expenditure information the governing board chooses to provide. This bill passed the Senate Education Committee 4-2-1, passed Senate Appropriations 5-3-2, passed Senate Rules, but failed in a full Senate with a vote of 14-16 so bill is now dead.
SB1411- Annual Achievement Profiles. The dashboard assigns A-F letter grades on multiple academic and educational performance indicators, which then go towards providing an overall letter grade. This bill passed the Senate Education Committee 7-0 with an amendment, passed Senate Rules with an amendment, and passed Senate COW with an amendment and passed full Senate with a vote of 30-0. Passed in House Education Committee 8-0, passed House Rules and full House with a vote of 60-0 with an amendment. Passed full Senate 28-0-2. Signed by the Governor on 5/2/18!
SB1444- American civics education. This bill requires that the SBE include American civics education in social studies, and requires the ADE to develop a 5-yr pilot program for 9th-12th graders that enhances the focus on American civics education in participating schools. This program will begin in the 2019 school year in both district and charter schools, and these LEA's can volunteer to participate for 5 consecutive years. This bill passed the Senate Education Committee 6-0-1, passed Senate Appropriations 9-1, passed Senate Rules, passed Senate COW, and passed full Senate with a vote of 29-0. Passed House Education Committee 7-0, passed House Appropriations, passed House Rules and full House with vote 52-7-1. Signed by the Governor on 5/15/18!
SB1497- Student/teacher data collection, prohibition (AzMERIT bill). This bill ensures that LEA's must keep student information private unless they have written permission from the parent or eligible student to release any information from a student's education record. This bill passed the Senate Education Committee 7-0, passed Senate Rules, and full Senate with a vote of 30-0. Passed in House Education with a 7-3 vote and House Rules, and currently "Retained" on COW calendar as of 4/11/18...Bill died since no final vote before Sine Die!
SB1519- School Safety and Orders Appropriation. This bill increases funding for 100 more School Resource Officers (SRO's), behavioral health screening, school counselors, school safety training, etc., and details requirement before a STOP order can be issued by a judge to individuals who are deemed a danger to themselves or others while possessing a firearm. This bill passed the Commerce and Safety Committee 4-3-1 and proceeding through the Senate but changes are expected...Bill died because no final vote before Sine Die!
HB2037- Statewide College Readiness Exam- 11th grade testing. This bill would have the general fund pay for local LEA's to offer the ACT/SAT as an alternative assessment to AzMERIT. Prevents the SBE from administering the statewide assessment in science to high schools, and instead requires the board to adminster to all high schoolers a statewide college readiness exam with a science portion- ACT, SAT, etc. This bill passed the House Education Committee 9-0-2, passed House Rules and full House with a vote of 60-0. Passed in Senate Education 7-0 with an amendment, and now in Judiciary Committee...Bill died because no final vote before Sine Die!
HB2158 now SB1390- Additional Tax Rate- Prop 301 renewal. This bill extends the Prop 301 tax rate, which expires June 30, 2021. Beginning July 1, 2021 this bill established an additional 0.6% Transaction Privilege Tax (TPT). This tax would not be considered local revenues for the purpose of expenditure limits for school district. This bill passed the House Education Committee 9-1-1 and SB1390 passed through complete House with a vote of 53-6-1. Signed by the Governor on 3/26/18!
HB2373- Classroom Teacher Supply Assistance. This bill requires school district and charter schools to create a classroom teacher supply assistance account in their Maintenance and Operation (M&O) budget. It appropriates $8.7M in 2018, $11.6M in 2019, and $14.5M in 2020 to the ADE to distribute to each district based on the total number of teachers employed. This bill passed the House Education Committee 6-3-2 and now in House Appropriations...Bill died because it did not make it through Senate for a vote.
HB2377- Teacher's School Supplies Tax Credit. This bill establishes a tax credit, capped at $400, for educational supplies and materials purchased by a K-12 schoolteacher and use in the teacher's classroom. Married teachers, filing jointly, may claim tax credit separately. Contains a retroactive effective date of January 1, 2018. This bill passed the House Education Committee 6-3-2, passed House Rules, and bill died in full House 23-31. HB2377 passed full House with an amendmendment with a "reconsideration" vote of 34-20 on 3/8/17. Passed Senate Education with amendment 6-0-1, now in Senate Rules...Bill died because no final vote before Sine Die!
HB2435- English Language Learners (ELL)- Instruction and Budgeting. This bill alters the English Language Learner (ELL) program, lowering the minimum amount of time ELL students are required to be in English language development each day. The State Board of Education (SBE) must adopt research-based models for structured English immersion that include a minimum amount of English language development. For K-6: 120 min/day or 360 hr/yr; and 7-12: 100 min/day or 300 hr/yr. Allows districts and charters to submit SEI and alternative English instruction models for SBE approval. Requires Auditor General to conduct an analysis of the effectiveness of all models adopted by SBE and identify the most effective. This bill passed the House Education Committee 10-0 with an amendment, passed House Rules, and full House with a vote of 56-1-3. Passed in Senate Education Committee 6-0 with an amendment, passed Senate Rules and now "retained" in Senate COW...Bill died because no final vote before Sine Die!
HB2520- K-3 Reading Requirements. This bill makes various changes to the K-3 reading program administered by the ADE. It modifies Move-on-when-reading (MOWR) retention requirements: 3rd grade can be retained if a student doesn't demonstrate sufficient reading skills, rather than skills that "fall far below" the 3rd grade level. Prohibits a student from being retained if the assessment data isn't available before the end of the current school year, rather than the beginning of the next school year. Allows ELL, or student with limited English proficiency, to be promoted regardless of the amount of English language instruction the student has received. Allows a student to be promoted if the student demonstrates sufficient reading skills or adequate progress through a collection of SBE-approved assessments. It also required reporting from LEA's. This bill passed the House Education Committee 9-0-2, passed House Rules, and passed full House with a 59-0 vote. Passed Senate Education committee 7-0, Senate Rules and full Senate with an amendment vote of 29-0-1. Passed in the House with a final vote of 57-0-3. Signed by the Governor on 5/16/18!
HB2561/SB1473- Civics literacy state seal. This bill requires the SPI to establish a State Seal of Civics Literacy Program, which will recognize students who graduate with a high level of proficiency in Civics. It has the same requirements for the Superintendent and schools that exist with the State Seal of Bi-literacy Program. State Board of Education to work with "ASU's School of Civic and Economic Thought and Leadership," along with other experts on fundamental civic knowledge, on adopting a list of assessments through research-based methodology to determine a student's proficient in civics. This bill passed the House Education Committee 9-0-2, passed House Rules, and passed full House with a 34-25-1 vote (HB2561), and full Senate with a vote (SB1473) of 17-13. HB2561 passed in Senate Education Committee 5-0, Senate Rules and full Senate with vote of 17-13. HB2561 transmitted to Governor's desk! SB1473 passed with a vote of 57-1-2 with an amendment in House so transmitted back to Senate which voted 17-13. Signed by the Governor on 4/3/18!
2017 AZ Legislation:
SB1098- Menu of Assessments. This bill would have the State Board of Education (SBE) establish a "Menu of Assessments" for 9th-12th grade for the 2018/2019 school year and the 3rd-8th grade for the 2019/2020 school year that an LEA can choose from other than the AzMERIT statewide assesssment. Local LEA's can choose to "opt out" of the "Menu of Assessments" if they report to the SBE/ADE by July 1st before the 2018/2019 school year but must stick to using that same assessment for a 3-yr period. This bill passed and was signed into law by the Governor on 4/21/17.
SB1131- K-3 Reading Program. This bill made various changes to the K-3 Reading Program concerning program administriation, retention policies, intervention strategies and reporting requirements. This bill passed and was signed into law by the Governor on 3/31/17
HB2481- Menu of Standards. This bill would have the State Board of Education (SBE) develop a "Menu of Standards" that LEA's could choose from instead of the Arizona College and Career Ready Standards (ACCRS) or the 2016 Arizona English Language Arts (ELA) and Mathematics Standards {aka Common Core Standards}. This bill did not make it out of the first House Education Committee.
2016 AZ Legislation:
SB1197- Cursive Writing Requirement. This bill would require students to legibly write cursive by the 5th grade (this is missing from the Common Core standards).This bill passed but was vetoed by the Governor on 3/30/16 because he said this requirement would be covered by the "Arizona Standards Development Committee's" review of the Common Core Standards. This cursive writing requirement still has not been captured by this committee.
SB1321- Menu of Assessments. This bill would require the State Board of Education (SBE) to provide a Menu of Assessments that a school district or charter school can choose from for the statewide assessment. This bill was replaced with HB2544 during third read in the Senate.
SB1416- State Board of Education (SBE) vs. Superintendent of Public Instruction (Powers and Duties). This bill was fought against heavily in 2015 (with HB2184) and it was intended to reduce the powers of the constitutional office of the State Superintendent of Public Instruction (SPI) over employees that reported to her which claimed to work for the SBE. This bill was Senator Dial's bill and would reduce the powers of the SPI's authority even more than in 2015, with HB2184, so "We the People" fought it heavily and killed the bill in the House by having it held. Unfortunately, this bill was resurrected with HB2620, but to a lesser degree, and only reduced the SPI's authority over 4 SBE employees and increased her power by putting the Teacher Investigation Unit back under control with the Arizona Department of Education (ADE). HB2620 passed and was signed into law by the Governor on 5/12/16.
SB1430- A-F Accountability System. This bill would establish a new A-F Accountability system, achievement profiles, and school improvement plans for district and charter schools. Schools will be graded again in the fall of 2017 for the 2016-2017 school year. This bill passed and was signed into law by the Governor on 5/12/16.
SB1455-Parental Opt Out. This bill would allow parents to "opt out" of the statewide assessment without retribution to a school's letter grade or student's GPA. It would require the State Board of Education (SBE) to establish and "opt out" form at the local school district and governing charter school level for parents to use. This bill failed in the Senate with an 11-18 vote and 1 not voting. There was a motion to reconsider the bill but sine die occurred (legislative session ended) before this could be done.
HB2056- Parental Opt Out. This bill provides a way for parents to "opt out" of the statewide assessment (AzMERIT) without retribution to a school's letter grade or student's GPA. It would require the State Board of Education (SBE) to establish and "opt out" form at the local school district and governing charter school level for parents to use. This bill became a political "hot potato" and was held by Rep. Paul Boyer, and his "Menu of Assessments" bill (HB2544) was pushed forward instead. Senator Sylvia Allen resurrected the bill by pushing forward a strike-all bill SB1455.
HB2088- Student Survey and Assessments Parental Consent. This bill would require a local school district or charter school to gain parental consent before a school survey or assessment was given any time during the school year which gathered personally identifiable information (PII). It was amended to only include surveys and requires schools to gain parental consent when they were administered only at the beginning of the school year. This bill passed and was signed into law by the Governor on 5/18/16.
HB2190- Education Omnibus (Title 15 Deregulation bill). This bill was intended to deregulate Title 15 and remove outdated statutes based on the Title 15 Review Committee findings. However, more was added then was taken out of Title 15 with this bill! This bill passed and was signed into law by the Governor on 5/18/16.
HB2544- Menu of Assessments. This bill would require the State Board of Education (SBE) to provide a Menu of Assessments that a school district or charter school can choose from for the statewide assessment. Starting in the 2017-2018 school year, schools will be able to pick from a menu of statewide assessments. This bill passed and was signed by the Governor on 3/11/16.
HB2620- Powers and Duties of the State Board of Education (SBE) vs. the Arizona Department of Education (ADE). This bill was fought against heavily in 2015 (with HB2184) and it was intended to reduce the powers of the constitutional office of the State Superintendent of Public Instruction (SPI) over employees that reported to her which claimed to work for the SBE. This bill in 2016, formerly a lesser version of SB1416 which was held, reduced the SPI's authority over four employees which now work directly for the SBE, and increased the SPI's authority over the Teacher Investigation Unit which is now under the ADE. This bill passed and was signed into law by the Governor on 5/11/16.
2015 AZ Legislation:
SB1191- This bill puts a moratorium on the Arizona Instrument to Measure Standards (AIMS) assessment to obtain a passing score to graduate for the 2014-2015, 2015-2016, 2016-2017, and 2017-1018 school years. This bill was signed into law by Governor Ducey on 2/20/15.
SB1289- This bill disbanded the A-F Accountability System for the 2014-2015 and the 2015-2016 school years. It also put a moratorium on the statewide assessment (AzMERIT) from being counted towards a student's GPA for the same time frame. A new accountability system will be established by the SBE, with cooperation from the ADE, and presented to the Governor and AZ Legislature by December 2015. This bill was signed into law by Governor Ducey on 3/26/15.
SB1305- This bill would establish a "Continuous Standards Improvement Committee" to evaluate the "Arizona College and Career Ready" standards for improvements once a year. This bill failed in the Senate on 2/24/15 with a 12-18 vote.
SB1306- This bill would protect student data from being shared with "outside entites" and establish an approval process requirement with "parental consent" before any student data was shared. This bill failed in the House on 4/2/15 with a 29-30 vote.
SB1458- This bill would allow local school districts and governing school bodies of charter schools to adopt their own standards and assessment as long as they were as good as or better the the previous Y1999 Arizona State Standards. This bill failed in the Senate with a 10-19-1 vote.
SB1464- This bill would protect student and teacher data from being shared with "outside entites" and establish an approval process requirement with "parental consent" before any student data was shared. This bill failed to ever make it out of the first Senate Education Committee so it died.
HB2050- This bill would allow the Senate to remove State Board of Education (SBE) members from office if a 2/3rds vote in the Senate occurred. This bill never made it out of the first House Education Committee so it died.
HB2180- This bill would require the State Board of Education (SBE) to provide a "Menu of Assessments" that a local school district or governing school body could choose from to assess their students on yearly progress. This bill was "retained" on 3/24/15 in the Senate so it died.
HB2190- This bill would "Repeal and Replace" the Common Core Standards (aka Arizona College and Career Ready Standards) and replace them with our own "Arizona Standards" written by the State Board of Education (SBE), and establish a method for protecting student data from being shared with "outside entities." This bill failed on 3/30/15 in the Senate with a 13-16-1 vote.
HB2246- This bill would allow parents to "opt out" of the statewide assessment and not allow students to be penalized with a low GPA nor schools with a letter grade due to "opting out." It would require the State Board of Education (SBE) to establish and "opt out" form at the local school district and governing charter school level for parents to use. This bill failed in the Senate on 3/31/15 with a 14-15-1 vote, and this bill was "reconsidered" for another vote on 4/1/15 and failed again with a 15-15 vote.
2014 AZ Legislation:
SB1395- School Districts or Charter Schools may "opt out" of any competency requirements or assessments adopted by the State Board of Education. They must adopt their own standards or assessments, as a replacement, and they must meet competency requirements that are as good as Year 1999 standards and assessments or greater. This bill died in the Senate on March 17th with a 12-17 vote.
SB1396- Requires school districts and charter schools to adopt standards that meet or exceed standards in our state from the Year 1999, provide competency requirements, a minimum course of study and assessments unless they agree to those adopted and prescribed by the State Board of Education. This bill was amended with SB1095 (Withdrawal from PARCC bill) in the Senate Committee of the Whole (COW) by Senator Chester Crandell. This bill died in the Senate on March 17th with a 12-17 vote.
SB1388- Eliminates the State Board of Education ability to adopt standards and puts standard adoption in the hands of the school districts and charter schools. These standards must meet or exceed previous standards established in our state from the Year 1999 and provide competency requirements for grade promotion and assessment of content knowledge. The school district or charter school then obtains approval of standards chosen by the Superintendent of Public Instruction. This bill was put "on hold" and died in the Senate.
SB1095- This state shall withdrawal from the Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers and may not implement the assessments aligned to the Common Core standards by that partnership. This state cannot enter or renew an agreement with any outside entity that develops academic standards and assessment for use in multiple state without approval, in writing, by the Speaker of the House and President of the Senate. This bill was "amended" onto SB1396 during Senate Committee of the Whole (COW) on 3/12/14. This bill died in the Senate on March 17th with a 12-17 vote.
SB1310- The State Board of Education may not adopt or revise curricular standards in a manner that would effectively implement the Common Core Standards. The State board shall withdraw from PARCC and shall select an existing national administered standardized test that is currently accepted as a high school achievement and college entrance exam. This bill died during the Third Read in the Senate!
SB1155-The governing board of a school district or the governing body of a charter school may opt out of any competency requirements or assessments that are based on the Common Core standards or assessments that are aligned with standards or assessment proposed by PARCC. This bill died in the Senate and never made it out of its first education committee.
SB1121-Prevents a school district or charter school from administering a standardized test during the 2014-2015, 2015-2016 and 2016-2017 school year if a passing score on that test is required for a student to graduate from high school. This bill was put "on hold" on 2/20/14 in the Senate and never made it out of its first education committee.
SB1466-This Bill establishes a 3-yr "smart technology pilot program" to encourage the deployment of "whole-school technology" in public school. Will allow the Department of Education to spend $5,000,000 from the state general fund in support of this program. It also allows the school districts and charter schools chosen to have "temporary waivers from school finance laws" to have increased flexibility in their budgets. This bill died in the Senate Education Committee on 2/20/14.
HB2316-This bill protects local education control and student privacy. The Department of Education may provide guidance and technical assistance to schools but may not require the adoption specific curricula or instructional approaches. Insures a 60 day public review process before a meeting is held where state academic changes are to be made, and these comments must be posted on Department of Education's website. Data collected on our students must meet state and federal laws which are designed to protect student privacy. This data cannot be shared with the federal government or vendors for the purpose of marketing or business development.This bill passed through the entire Arizona Legislature with a 16-7-7 vote in Senate Third Read and a 35-20-5 vote in the House Final Read. This bill was transmitted to the Governor's office! The Governor vetoed this bill and called it "redundant and not necessary." Since when is "local control over education" and "protecting student privacy" redundant and not necessary?! Contact the Governor and comment on your displeasure for her "vetoing HB2316!"
2013 AZ Legislation:
HB 2318- Exempting Schools from Federal mandates who don't accept Federal funding. This bill was introduced by Representative Eddie Farnsworth (LD12). It has passed through the House and Senate. This bill was held due to the budget deliberations and died when the legislative session ended (sine die).
HB 2047- PARCC to AIMS Transition. This bill was introduced by Representatives Doris Goodale (LD5) and Paul Boyer (LD20). It has passed through the House and died in the Senate in the Education Committee hearing on 3/21/13 due to our education efforts and work at the legislature. Great work! However, an amendment was introduced by Senator Rich Crandall under HB2425 as a "technical correction" to resurrect the student assessment test and to kill AIMS. This amendment also gave complete control to the AZ Department of Education over the future student assessment test (PARCC or whatever assessment was decided on) and eliminated all control of these assessments by the Legislature. Not a smart move! This bill passed really quick in the Senate on 3/21/13 and in the House on 3/26/13 without legislators having a clear knowledge of what they were voting for. This bill is now with the Governor's office for approval. HB2425 was signed by the Governor and is now law. Way to go Legislature!
HB 2563- This bill prepares teachers for Common Core implementation. This bill was introduced by Representatives Miranda, Gabaldon, Gallegos, et al. It has passed through the House and is now being reviewed in the Senate. This bill was "held" in the Senate Rules Committee on 3/5/13 so it died this session.
HB 2399- This bill allows school districts to increase their bond indebtedness limitations. This bill was introduced by Representatives Carter, Stevens Dial, et al. This bill would increase our property taxes by $400 million if implemented! This bill was "held" initially on 2/11/13 but it was brought up again on 6/10/13 for "reconsideration" and passed in the House. This bill was added as an amendment to the Governor's budget during the "special session."
SB1450- If a school violates the Family Educational Rights and Privacy (FERPA) Act state funds will be withheld from that school. This bill was introduced by Representative Kimberly Yee (LD20). It has passed through the Senate and is in the House. This bill did not make it out of the House after 4/30/13 so it died this session.