Education Week - January 21, 2015 - 19

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Unions Battling Push by Republicans
To Dilute Obamacare Employer Mandate
| MARKETPLACE K-12 | The Republican-led U.S. House of
Representatives has approved legislation that attempts to alter a
NEW JERSEY: Gov. Chris Christie, widely viewed as a likely presidential contender, used his Jan. 13
State of the State address in Trenton to highlight his record on education.
rules for day-care centers, and improve
workforce training to better respond to the
needs of the job market.
VERMONT
GOV. PETER E. SHUMLIN (D) * JAN. 15
In a state where declining student enrollment
and rising property taxes have fueled debate
over education spending, Gov. Shumlin used
his annual address to lawmakers to propose
measures on school mergers and to reduce local
spending.
The governor said his education proposals were
intended to serve dual purposes: cutting costs
and improving quality. The state faces a projected
$94 million budget gap, and among Mr. Shumlin's
cost-cutting measures is a plan to consolidate
some libraries and the Community High School
of Vermont, which is run through the state's
department of corrections.
Gov. Shumlin's recommendations-some of
which are expected to face stiff pushback-
include: providing up to $3 million in construction
aid for school districts that pursue consolidation;
banning teacher strikes and school boardimposed
union contracts; and ensuring that highlevel
spending decisions, such as the hiring of a
principal and provision of health-care contracts,
are made at the supervisory level. Mr. Shumlin
also wants principals to be able to hire all of their
building staff.
WASHINGTON
GOV. JAY INSLEE (D) * JAN. 13
In his address to legislators, Gov. Inslee vowed
to invest more in education, tying it to broader
issues of equality and the economy. "The future
demands a higher level of achievement," he
said. "Investing in stem [science, technology,
engineering and math] and workforce training
pays off attracting the most innovative companies
on the planet."
Mr. Inslee highlighted a $2.3 billion K-12
budget proposal that would in part fund highquality
preschool for 6,000 low-income children,
all-day kindergarten, and class-size reductions for
grades K-3. The proposal would also give teachers
a cost-of-living allowance for the first time in six
years and seek to make college more affordable
by increasing financial aid and freezing tuition.
Mr. Inslee noted that as the economy continues
to rebound from the recession, the trend of
cutting education spending must be reversed.
Washington's state supreme court has held the
-C.G.
legislature in contempt over the way it funds
public schools. If lawmakers don't comply with
the court's orders by the end of the session, the
legislature could face sanctions.
WEST VIRGINIA
GOV. EARL RAY TOMBLIN (D) * JAN. 14
Gov. Tomblin highlighted two new education
initiatives: funding to establish a science,
technology, engineering, and math, or stem,
network, and proposed legislation to help
skilled West Virginians enter the teaching field.
Tomblin's proposed budget includes a network
that would review current stem-related education
activities and refine and expand local programs.
About streamlining the process of becoming
a teacher, Mr. Tomblin said: "We must give local
school systems better flexibility to train and
hire subject-matter experts to fill long-term
vacancies in critical subject areas." But the
governor's proposed budget does not include an
across-the-board increase for teachers.
Finally, Mr. Tomblin announced proposed
legislation to overhaul the state's juvenile justice
system, which would put "truancy diversion
specialists" in all 55 counties, and increase the
use of community-based services to "help our
families mend, and get our kids back on track."
-M.M.
-D.R.S.
WYOMING
GOV. MATT MEAD (R) * JAN. 14
Gov. Mead did not propose many new K-12
education initiatives in his budget, but promised
to "keep working on education at every level,"
including early-childhood education, K-12 schools,
community colleges, and the University of
Wyoming.
Regarding K-12, he referenced the state's
ongoing and sometimes tumultuous efforts to
refine its state accountability system. The state is
one of only a handful that have not been granted
a waiver from requirements of the No Child Left
Behind Act.
"We started work on education accountability
in 2011, and it continues. I note this session you'll
consider a bill to improve the state assessment
system," he told the legislature during the
speech. That bill also would address teacher
and principal evaluation, and require districts
to administer adaptive tests aligned to the state
curriculum standards.
Read online compilation & links to full
speeches. www.edweek.org/go/sos
-A.P.
provision in the federal health-care law that critics say harms school
districts, but the measure has drawn the scorn of the nation's two
major teachers' unions.
The policy requires employers, including school districts, with 50 or
more employees to provide insurance to those who work full time-
defined as those who work at least 30 hours a week-or pay fines.
The gop-backed legislation would change the mandate so that only
employees working at least 40 hours would qualify.
Republicans say raising the hourly threshold would reduce costs
for employers saddled with big expenses as a result of the law. They
say the mandate encourages employers, including school districts, to
cut employee hours rather than pay potentially steep costs to cover
uninsured workers. The plaintiffs in a federal lawsuit filed in Indiana
by a number of school districts have made the same argument.
Workers whose coverage is not provided by their employers are
eligible to receive insurance through government-sponsored options,
such as exchanges created by the health-care law, officially known as
the Affordable Care Act.
The legislation has drawn the opposition of the 1.6 million-member
American Federation of Teachers, which, in a letter to House
lawmakers, predicted the change would disrupt the lives of workers
around the country. The union specifically cited risks for college
employees, such as adjunct faculty.
Some critics predict that raising the 30-hour threshold to 40 hours
would create greater incentives for employers to cut workers' hours,
because with the change, many more workers would be close to the
threshold for employers providing insurance.
The National Education Association also criticized the measure,
saying some employers, including K-12 districts, have misinterpreted
or mischaracterized the health-care law's provisions as arguments for
cutting employees' hours.
But AASA, the School Superintendents Association, supports
increasing the hourly threshold. The provision as written places an
unnecessary burden on school districts, the organization argued in its
letter, in which it was joined by the Association of Educational Service
Agencies, the National Rural Education Association, and the National
Rural Education Advocacy Coalition.
Pre-K Special Education Aid Misspent,
Audit of New York State Program Finds
| ON SPECIAL EDUCATION | Special education money intended for
preschool students has been misspent on services that were never
documented, including food, travel, flowers, even air conditioners
installed in personal residences, according to an audit released earlier
this month from New York State Comptroller Thomas P. DiNapoli.
DiNapoli's office has been probing the state's preschool special
education program, which, in an unusual arrangement, is provided
through special education itinerant teachers as opposed to through
individual school districts. The itinerant teachers are employed by
about 320 approved for-profit and nonprofit private providers, and
about 81,000 preschool children receive special education services in
the state, at a cost of about $1.4 billion a year.
More than $40 million has been misspent in the past decade,
the comptroller's office contends. The state education department
has agreed to implement all the recommendations in the special
education expense audits, including reviewing recommended
disallowances, and recovering disallowed expenses, according to the
audit report.
-STEPHEN SAWCHUK
New Emergency Manager Appointed
For Detroit's Troubled School System
| DISTRICT DOSSIER | Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder has appointed
Darnell Earley as the next leader of the Detroit public school
system. Earley will replace outgoing emergency manager Jack
Martin, whose 18-month tenure ended earlier this month. To take
the Detroit job, Earley will leave his current post as emergency
manager for the city of Flint, where he has served since late 2013.
His appointment was scheduled to end this spring.
Earley will be the fourth emergency manager of the Detroit school
system, which has been under state oversight since March 2009.
Under previous emergency managers, the district has lost tens of
thousands of students, closed dozens of schools, and struggled with
persistent budget deficits. Falling enrollment continues to be a
concern as the 47,000-student district faces increased competition
from charter and suburban schools.
-SEAN CAVANAGH
-CHRISTINA A. SAMUELS
-COREY MITCHELL
EDUCATION WEEK | January 21, 2015 | www.edweek.org | 19
Tyson Trish/The Record/AP

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Education Week - January 21, 2015

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