OSSBA Legislative Update Week of April 27- April 30, 2015 1. Charters / School Choice a. SB 505 by Sen. Gary Stanislawski, R-Jenks; creates the Statewide Virtual Charter School
Revolving Fund for the collection of fees relating to administrative services of the SWVCS Board b. HB 1696 by Rep. Lee Denney, R-Cushing; formerly identical to SB 782; was amended in the Senate to allow the city councils of Oklahoma City and Tulsa to sponsor a charter school in those districts without local board approval; would permit the local boards to call an election to ask voters if they approve of the charter school as authorized by the city c. HB 1693 by Rep. Kevin Calvey, R-Edmond; amends the Equal Opportunity Education Scholarship Act by extending the years in which a tax credit is given to a scholarship granting organization; the tax credit after the first year, and for subsequent years would be limited to 75% of the first year gift; also expands eligibility requirements for students to receive the scholarship; assigned to Conference Committee d. HB 1034 by Rep. Dan Kirby, R-Tulsa; allows Indian Tribes to sponsor a charter school anywhere or reservation or former treaty area as recognized by the Bureau of Indian Affairs; Sent to the Governor 2. Testing/ Curriculum a. HB 1268 by Rep. Dennis Casey, R-Morrison; creates exemptions to the financial literacy
b.
c.
d.
e.
requirement for students with the most significant cognitive disabilities and requires the SDE to provide resources for English Language Learning students to help with the financial literacy curriculum and , encourages, not mandates, schools to have 1 teacher responsible for teaching financial literacy; Sent to the Governor HB 1321 by Rep. Jadine Nollan, R-Sand Springs; allows students who score satisfactory and/or passing on certain alternative tests to be exempt from related EOI’s; for example, would allow students who score satisfactory on military enlistment test; students enrolled in Career Tech courses that are recognized by corresponding industries and students enrolled in concurrent college level courses to be exempt from taking corresponding EOIs; HB 1622 by Rep. David Derby, R-Owasso; would require new assessments be adopted for the 2016-2017 school year; removes all non-federally mandated testing requirements; gives the State Board of Education the authority to control the adoption, revision and development of assessments; assigned to Conference Committee SB 707 by Sen. John Ford, R-Bartlesville; allows the State Board of Education to adopt graduation requirements and to work with the Regents for Higher Education, Career Technology, Dept. of Commerce and the Office of Educational Quality and Accountability in setting graduation requirements; allows SBE to choose to not administer non-federally mandated state tests; the goal is to align the assessments to the new state standards and to measure if a student is ready to undertake college credit bearing courses in Oklahoma Colleges; assigned to Conference Committee HB 1690 by Rep. Chad Caldwell, R-Enid; would remove students who reside in long-term care facilities and receive education services from being counted in the A-F grading system; assigned to Conference Committee; 1
HB 1823 by Rep. Scott Martin, R-Norman; A-F bill; SBE would be authorized to study and make recommended revisions to report cards to the legislature with the goal of having a clear, transparent, statistically reliable accountability system; assigned to Conference Committee 3. RSA and Curriculum a. HB 1065 by Rep. Jadine Nollan, R-Sand Springs; would require only the reading comprehension and vocabulary portion of the Reading Sufficiency Act (RSA) test for promotion purposes; assigned to Conference Committee b. SB 630 by Sen. John Ford, R-Bartlesville; extends the Student Reading Proficiency team “sunset” by 5 years; includes 1st and 2nd grade teams for students in need of intense remediation; moved 3rd grade retention threshold from “Limited Knowledge” to “Proficient”; assigned to Conference Committee c. HB 1684 by Rep. Lee Denney, R-Cushing; Requires a counselor or mental health provider to be part of the professional development committee/ team every year as opposed to every 4 years; also adds to the training requirements in the areas of recognizing and reporting child abuse, neglect, sexual abuse and available resources for handling those issues; Sent to the Governor d. HB 2088 by Rep. Jason Nelson, R-OKC; would require the new academic standards to be fully implemented in 2016-2017; assigned to Conference Committee e. SB 136 by Sen. Gary Stanislawski, R-Jenks; requires the Statewide Virtual Charter School Board to make publicly available a list of online courses that are of high quality and aligned to the standards, and specifically emphasize STEM areas; f.
4. Funding Issues a. Ad Valorem Reimbursement Update- The estimate is that $28.2 million is needed for the ad b. c.
d. e.
f.
g.
h.
valorem reimbursement fund. FBA / Health Insurance Update- The estimate is that an additional $8 million will be needed for FBA. HJR 1024 by Speaker Jeff Hickman, R-Fairview; effects ad valorem collections; would allow a qualifying manufacturer an automatic 100% ad valorem exemption for 5 years for new, expanded or acquired manufacturing facilities UNLESS there is unanimous disapproval by the county commissioners; does not permit the reimbursement of lost ad valorem to school districts during that time period; assigned to Conference Committee HB 1498 by Rep. Dennis Casey, R-Morrison; defines per pupil expenditure for reporting purposes; assigned to Conference Committee HB 1962 by Rep. Weldon Watson, R-Tulsa; ad valorem bill; would add “oil” and “natural gas” that has been extracted from the land and is being stored in Oklahoma to be exempt from taxation under the “Freeport Exemption” in the Oklahoma Constitution; Fiscal Impact to school districts unknown at this time; Sent to Governor HB 1963 by Rep. Weldon Watson, R-Tulsa; dealing with tax protests; if taxes are successfully protested, meaning it is discovered during a lawsuit that an entity should have paid more in ad valorem tax, the taxes cannot increase for that year- they can only increase in subsequent tax year; Sent to the Governor SB 786 by Sen. Clark Jolley, R-Edmond; this bill states that unless the legislature adequately funds health insurance (FBA), the State Board of Education is required to allocate funds from the formula to the schools; assigned to Conference Committee SB 454 by Sen. John Ford, R-Bartlesville- OTRS bill; because it deals with the pension system, this bill has to have an actuarial study; it will come back next year where it left off in Senate 2
Committee with recommendation as to whether it’s feasible can raise OTRS cap for returning educators
5. Mandates a. HB 1604 by Rep. Ben Sherrer, D-Chouteau; changes the dropout reporting information to
include name, address, age and race of any dropout; assigned to Conference Committee
b. HB 2049 by Rep. Jason Nelson, R-OKC; state privacy law expanded to school districts; would
require parent consent before students can login to student based web applications (online testing, assessments, student portals) c. SB 239 by Sen Ervin Yen, R-OKC; requires extensive training in recognition of sudden cardiac arrest; adds requirement that students/ parents sign off on SCA notification; Sent to Governor 6. Elections and Employee Issues a. HB 1275 by Rep. Josh Cockroft, R-Shawnee- moves school board elections to April every year;
b.
c.
d. e.
f.
g. h.
i.
filing remains in December; if 2+ candidates file then the election is in February with a runoff in April if no one gets more than 50% of the vote; if only 2 candidates file then the election is in April; assigned to Conference Committee HB 1442 by Rep. Chad Caldwell, R-Enid; would allow a school board to fill a vacancy if they are unable to fill by appointment, on an at-large basis until the next election when only those eligible to run in the ward/ district for that seat could file with the election board; assigned to Conference Committee SB 312 by Sen. David Holt, R-OKC; removes January from date to call special elections (bonds); also limits special election dates to fill vacancies to 4 times a year; assigned to Conference Committee HB 1290 by Rep. Ed Cannaday, D-Porum; 1 year TLE delay; assigned to Conference Committee HB 2014 by Rep. Jeff Coody, R-Lawton; Special Reserve School Officer Bill; allows local school boards to have a policy that would allow a CLEET trained employee to carry a firearm at school and serve as kind of a resource officer; assigned to Conference Committee SB 29 by Sen. Josh Breechen, R-Coalgate; by October 1 of each year the State Department of Education must notify teachers of expired certificates; if renewed by 12/31, then backdated to 07/1 of that same year; assigned to Conference Committee SB 706 by Sen. John Ford, R-Bartlesville; TLE Delay Bill; assigned to Conference Committee SB 711 by Sen. John Sparks, D-Norman; requires reporting to SBE if an employee terminated for something that could be a crime (no liability or penalty for failing to notify or notifying in good faith ); assigned to Conference Committee HB 1460 by Rep. Kevin Wallace, R-Lincoln and Logan Counties; would allow a public or private school to create a policy regulating the possession of knives on school property or in any school bus or vehicle use by the school for purposes of transportation; sent to the Governor
7. Signed by the Governor a. SB 5 by Sen. Ron Sharp, R-Shawnee ; volunteer and employee immunity from liability for
reasonable force in disciplining a child; signed by the Governor on 4/21/15; effective 90 days after legislative adjournment 3
b. SB 20 by Sen. Ron Sharp, R-Shawnee; Recognition of out-of-state certification and licensure;
c.
d.
e.
f.
g.
reciprocity for teachers with 5 years of teaching experience out of state; must be highly qualified and have a current certificate, can then teach in the same grade/ subject area without taking and paying for competency exams; signed b the Governor 4/21/15; effective upon signing SB 782 by Sen. Clark Jolley, R-Edmond; charters statewide; increased accountability, accessibility and transparency; additional requirements in charter application to include compliance with the Open Meeting and Open Records Acts; requires a majority of the board to reside in geographical boundaries of district; allows conversion of local school site to charter by the school board; provides a procedure for closing poor-performing charters; very strict and limited appeal process to SBE; signed by the Governor on 4/24/15; effective upon signing HB 1691 by Rep. Lee Denney, R-Cushing; authorizers OKC and Tulsa Public schools to contract with private education management companies to operate school sites in their district and then operate under flexibility of Charter Schools Act; Signed by the Governor on 4/24/15; effective upon signing HB 1521 by Rep. Katie Henke, R-Tulsa; allows one-time incentive pay and one-time retention pay to recruit teachers to the district outside of collective bargaining (i.e. could use to pay for moving expenses); signed by the Governor on 4/13/15; effective 11/1/15 HB 1749 by Rep. Tom Newell, R-Seminole; prohibits state agencies from deducting pay roll dues (includes school districts as state agencies); signed by the Governor on 4/2/15; effective 11/1/15 SB 162 by Sen. Jim Halligan, R-Stillwater; Requires the State Board of Education to work with experts to determine if there can be additional testing exemptions for severely disabled students; signed by the Governor on 4/28/15; effective upon signing
4