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Education
Officials Ask For Kindergarten Review
Gongwer News Service, October 18, 2005
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The Legislature
should review whether school districts should be required to
provide full-day kindergarten and what should be the appropriate
age for mandatory school attendance, Michigan Department of
Education officials told a House subcommittee Tuesday.
Lindy Bush, director of the Office of Early Childhood Education
and Family Services told the Michigan House Education Early
Childhood Intervention Subcommittee that some 60 percent of
school districts offer only half-day kindergarten, yet are paid
the full foundation allowance for each child. And she said the
half-day program does not allow time to meet the recommended
curriculum for the grade.
In the State Board of Education's grade level content
expectations, children are expected to be exposed to certain
amounts of various subject areas. Laying out the expectations
for kindergarten, Ms. Bush said, "You already went over the
three hours to meet the grade level content expectations."
She said the change to state funding for education also raises
the policy question whether the foundation grant was intended to
pay for half-day students. And she noted that some districts
have programs providing for two years of kindergarten, both
years covered by state aid.
In answer to questions from the subcommittee, she said requiring
full-day programs could create Headlee Amendment problems.
Because the state now foots nearly all the bill for schools, it
could argue that it can require certain programs.
But she said the standing practice of half-day programs could
overcome that argument. "You could argue the schools are not
required to spend the full amount on each child," she said,
noting that, while the schools collect the foundation grant for
each child, the money is often redistributed to provide certain
grades and programs more funding.
Requiring schools to offer full-day kindergarten would also
reverse long-standing practices for many districts, Ms. Bush
said. "We have a legacy of half-day kindergarten because we were
an early state to adopt kindergarten," she said.
Ms. Bush said the Legislature also should consider whether
5-year-olds should be required to attend school. While current
law allows them to attend and provides state funding for them,
children are not required to attend until they reach age 6.
In addition to increasing the age range in kindergarten classes
because some children whose parents hold them back until they
are required to send them, she said it also creates attendance
problems.
"You can't send the truant officer after them when they're five
so they get into a habit of poor attendance," she said, adding
that poor attendance later often leads to school failure.
The situation also allows for some 6-year-olds to be attending
only half day when, she argued, they should be in school
full-time by that age. "There is a study that shows kids learn a
lot more if they're in school more," she said.
School Health Plan Bills Coming to House
Gongwer News Service, October 19, 2005
The House will begin in the coming weeks exploring its own
proposal for fixing the rising cost of health coverage for
school employees and retirees, said Rep. Brian Palmer (R-Romeo),
chair of the House Education Committee.
The committee heard a presentation from the Hay Group on a
proposal to merge school benefits with those for state employees
as a way to save money.
Mr. Palmer said the committee will see legislation "very soon"
that will present a plan somewhere between the Hay Group
proposal and one by AFT Michigan that would allow most districts
to join self insurance pools.
"We just believe that we have to address these issue before the
year's out," he said. "If not we don't think we're doing our
duty and we're going to have schools that are suffering and
potentially schools that are facing potential financial dilemmas
and receivership because of these health care issues."
The goal is to have legislation to the governor before the end
of the year, he said, but he said his legislation is still being
drafted. He also needs to meet with Senate leaders to coordinate
passage of any final agreement on how to address the issue.
Michigan Education Officials Lay Out
Curriculum Plans
Gongwer News Service, October 20, 2005
A Department of Education presentation to the Senate Education
committee on Thursday outlined some changes that might be on the
horizon for the state's schools. Officials also highlighted that
their goal isn't to take local control of education away from
schools.
Sen. Wayne Kuipers, (R-Holland) said many educators he has
talked to are worried that the state is attempting to develop
universal textbooks along with universal standards for course
content. He said schools don't want the state telling them how
best to teach their students.
The idea of curriculum planning is to tell students "what" they
must teach not "how," said Yvonne Caamal Canul, director of the
Office for School Improvement for the Department of Education.
The department is at work now at deciding what content schools
must teach in order to meet both state and federal standards,
Ms. Caamal Canul told the committee.
Expectations for social studies are in federal review currently
and should be ready to hand over to schools by next school year.
Math and English/Language Arts are also expected to be ready at
that time. Science curriculum most likely won't be available
until the 2007 school year.
"Once we make the decision about what must be included in the
courses, local districts will make the decision on the process
of teaching and the textbooks that will teach the content and
knowledge expectations by the state," Ms. Caamal Canul said.
One change the department may recommend to the state Board of
Education at its November 15 meeting is that students take a
math class each year of high school. Currently, department
officials said, civics completion is the only graduation
requirement in the state.
"We aren't going to mandate the sequence of classes, just the
content that should be in them," Ms. Caamal Canul said, adding
that the model she will present to board members is only one
example of when schools offer classes. For example, her
presentation pegged pre-calculus for 11th grade but as long as
schools teach what the state says they should teach in that
class, they can offer it in any grade they choose.
She said although the ACT test will be the primary model for
high school testing, it doesn't test all of the benchmarks
students are expected to meet in those grades, so another test
must be developed to test students on everything they're
expected to know at the end of each year.
Educators are also looking to develop within a year-and-a-half
course content expectations that fit alternative school formats
as well as traditional high schools, while they continue to look
at ways to weave applied or career and technical learning
programs into core curriculum classes such as math, science,
social studies and English.
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