Missouri NEA Legislative Update
Week 5, No. 1, January 30, 2012
By Otto Fajen MNEA Legislative Director
ACTION ALERT: VOTE “NO” ON PAYCHECK DECEPTION ATTACK ON WORKERS
The Senate may act on one or more bills attacking labor unions when the members convene for floor debate during this week’s session. The Senate Small Business and Industry Committee approved SCS/SBs 553 and 435 (Dan Brown) and the bill is on the Senate calendar for floor debate. The bill eliminates authorization for public labor union payroll deductions for payment of union dues. The bill also revises authorization for public labor union payroll deductions for political action.
The Association strongly opposes the bill. This attack is just more of the same old politics. All employees have the constitutional right to an effective union voice in their employment and to work together to support political campaigns without undue interference from state policies that would undermine those rights.
ACTION NEEDED: Your help is needed! Please call, write or e-mail to urge your state senator to oppose SCS/SBs 553 and 435, the paycheck deception attack. The following link will connect you to the MNEA Legislative Action Center Action Alert on SCS/SBs 553 and 435.
Type in your zip code and the alert will automatically be directed to your state senator. The Action Alert contains a brief summary and a brief, editable message box to help you send an email to your state senator on the issue. Your message will have a greater impact if you personalize the message and add your own concerns regarding the bill.
HOUSE COMMITTEE TO HEAR TENURE REPEAL BILL
The House Elementary and Secondary Education Committee will hear HB 1526 (Scott Dieckhaus) on February 1. The bill eliminates the current tenure law for new hires, and places new hires into a system of contracts of up to four years. The bill also substantially changes the existing tenure law, eliminating seniority as a factor in decisions regarding reduction in force. The bill also includes numerous mandates regarding teacher evaluation systems, such as requiring at least fifty percent of evaluations to be based on student test scores and prohibiting districts and employees from designing evaluation systems within collective bargaining negotiations. The Association strongly opposes the bill. Stay tuned for an Action Alert later this week concerning HB 1526.
HOUSE COMMITTEE TO CONSIDER FORMULA AND STATE INTERVENTION BILLS
The House Elementary and Secondary Education Committee is also scheduled to meet on February 1 to consider two previously-heard bills in executive session:
1) HB 1174 (Mike Lair) regarding the timelines and options for State Board intervention when it classifies a district as unaccredited, and
2) HB 1043 (Mike Thomson) regarding how the school funding formula will distribute funds to districts in the case where the formula is underfunded.
SENATE COMMITTEE TO HEAR OMNIBUS BILL RE UNACCREDITED DISTRICTS
The Senate General Laws Committee will hear SB 451 (Jane Cunningham) on January 31. The original bill pertained only to additional authority regarding shared educational services, but Sen. Cunningham has also filed SB 706. SB 706 contains numerous provisions relating to unaccredited districts, and the committee will consider an SCS version of SB 451 that contains all the provisions of SB 706. Thus, the hearing on SB 451 is essentially also a hearing on SB 706.
SB 706 includes numerous provisions regarding unaccredited districts, including a tax-credit style voucher for students of unaccredited districts to attend private schools and authority for other districts or district cooperatives to operate charter schools in unaccredited districts. The bill would require a school district to lapse when it becomes unaccredited, rather than after two years. The bill requires unaccredited districts to forward their local school funds to the state and allows the state to allocate those funds to transportation costs for transferring students if needed. The bill also includes standards by which receiving districts may determine available capacity for receiving transfers from unaccredited districts.
The bill also includes provisions that would apply to Kansas City, but specifically not to St. Louis City or St. Louis County. Those provisions would require surrounding districts to divide up and annex a district that becomes unaccredited and draw up new attendance boundaries. The bill also allows districts to appoint a hearing officer to conduct termination hearings, revises requirements regarding reduction in force and mandates that student performance must be a factor in educator evaluations.
The Association opposes those provisions relating to tax credit vouchers, charter school expansion, transfer of local funds to the state and mandated lapse upon loss of accreditation. The Association supports some of the provisions relating to standards for transfers from unaccredited districts.
BUDGET COMMITTEES
The House Appropriations-Education Committee will meet on January 31 to begin complete review of the DESE budget books for the K-12 schools budget and hear the presentation of the Department of Higher Education (DHE) budget books. The committee will continue on February 1 with presentations from higher education institution presidents.
HOUSE HIGHER EDUCATION COMMITTEE
The House Higher Education Committee will meet on January 31 to vote on two bills:
1) HB 1041 (Mike Thomson) to authorize the governing board of any state university to convey or transfer real property, except in fee simple, without further authorizing legislation during the next five years.
2) HB 1042 (Mike Thomson) to revise the duties of the Coordinating Board for Higher Education, including creating standards for course transfers and awarding of associate’s degrees.
BECOME A MISSOURI NEA EDUCATION ADVOCATE
Missouri NEA will depend upon a grassroots lobbying effort led by MNEA and carried out by our Education Advocates and other members. You can become a Missouri NEA Education Advocate (go to: http://www.mnea.org/Missouri/VolunteerActionCard.aspx.)
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