1 / 29

Election Toolkit 2006: The Issues

Election Toolkit 2006: The Issues. www.mnea.org. We’re fighting for them. Missouri NEA promotes a proactive agenda that strengthens public education and public educators for the benefit of Missouri’s children.

jeb
Download Presentation

Election Toolkit 2006: The Issues

An Image/Link below is provided (as is) to download presentation Download Policy: Content on the Website is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use and may not be sold / licensed / shared on other websites without getting consent from its author. Content is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use only. Download presentation by click this link. While downloading, if for some reason you are not able to download a presentation, the publisher may have deleted the file from their server. During download, if you can't get a presentation, the file might be deleted by the publisher.

E N D

Presentation Transcript


  1. Election Toolkit 2006:The Issues www.mnea.org

  2. We’re fighting for them. • Missouri NEA promotes a proactive agenda that strengthens public education and public educators for the benefit of Missouri’s children. • MNEA also continues to lead the fight to defeat the many harmful proposals pushed by out-of-state extremist groups and other opponents of public education.

  3. School formula • MNEA supports common sense, data-driven revisions to the state’s school funding formula. • The Augenblick adequacy study shows that the SB 380 formula was $900 million short of adequate funding when it was fully funded in 2001. • The SB 380 formula was $800 million underfunded last year.

  4. School Formula (continued) • The newly enacted Senate Bill 287 formula reduces full funding cost to $200 million below that of the current formula. • The new formula base level funding and at-risk aid should be raised, and the new formula should be funded within two years.

  5. Funding Discussion • What impact does inadequate funding have on your district, your school and your classroom? • What impact does investment in education have on economic development in your community? • How would adequate funding affect your parents and your students?

  6. Tax-credit vouchers • MNEA opposes tax-credit vouchers, also known as “charitable scholarships.” • House Bill 1783 (2006) would have diverted up to $40 million per year from public schools to support vouchers to private, religious and home schools. • Tax credit vouchers take away funding we need to support proven, positive programs to help struggling students and parents and close achievement gaps.

  7. Voucher Discussion • What positive steps should the legislature take to help schools with hard-to-serve students and to close achievement gaps? • Would enacting tax credit vouchers help accomplish any of those positive steps? • How will tax credit vouchers affect parents and students? • Who benefits? Who loses?

  8. 65 percent mandate • MNEA opposes the 65 percent mandate initiated by out-of-state interest groups and now supported by Gov. Matt Blunt. • This new mandate doesn’t increase school funding by one dime. • Schools will be required to cut vital school staff and services that help children come to school healthy and ready to learn.

  9. 65% Discussion • Why do the supporters of 65% want to argue that schools need to reallocate money to reach the 65% target? • What would it take to actually increase resources for classroom instruction in a positive and helpful way? • How will 65% affect parents and students?

  10. TABOR (spending cap) • MNEA strongly opposes the spending limitation known as TABOR, Taxpayers Bill of Rights. • TABOR limits spending increases to CPI plus population growth (3%/year), while the real needs for public service grow in proportion to the overall economy (5%/year).

  11. TABOR (continued) • TABOR is a proven failure in Colorado, where voters suspended the measure for five years due to TABOR’s harmful effects on education and other services. • TABOR would force further cuts in K–12 and higher education and healthcare. • TABOR petition supporters will be back in 2007, trying to get it on the 2008 ballot.

  12. TABOR Discussion • What is the best investment the state can make to promote economic development, better jobs and higher personal incomes in Missouri? • How will TABOR affect Missouri’s quality of life and economic success in the future? • How will TABOR affect parents and students?

  13. Early Childhood Education • MNEA supports statewide universal access to quality pre-kindergarten instructional programs for all children. • Early childhood education is a proven program that works to reduce achievement gaps and promote success for all students. • All pre-kindergarten teachers should be properly certified, compensated on the regular teachers’ salary schedule and have access to the tenure and due process rights of other teachers.

  14. Early Childhood Discussion • What are the benefits of early childhood education? • Who benefits most? • How do parents benefit? • How should the state allocate early childhood funding between public and private providers?

  15. Access to quality higher education • MNEA supports adequate and equitable funding for all public colleges and universities. • State funding for higher education institutions has been cut significantly in the last few years. • Students face large tuition increases at our state universities, colleges and community colleges. • If the K–12 funding lawsuit calls for increased spending and the legislature fails to increase revenues, higher-education funding is certain to see more devastating budget cuts.

  16. Higher Education Access Discussion • How do tuition hikes affect parents and students? • How is that different from a tax increase? • How will further funding cuts to our public colleges and universities affect the future of Missouri’s youth and Missouri’s economic future?

  17. Due process • MNEA supports substantive due process rights for all education employees. • Real due process protects education employees from potentially arbitrary and capricious hiring and firing decisions. • Due process ensures a fair hearing on an employee’s employment status, made by an impartial hearing officer. • Substantive due process will improve school climate and promote student achievement.

  18. Due Process Discussion • How could substantive due process improve teacher retention? • How could substantive due process improve the lives of teachers, school board members and administrators? • How would substantive due process benefit parents and students?

  19. Collective bargaining • MNEA supports collective bargaining rights for all education employees. • Teachers and other employees are better able to ensure they have the respect and resources they need to serve their students if they have collective bargaining. • Retention of beginning teachers would increase significantly if teachers were granted the respect provided by a good collective bargaining law.

  20. Collective Bargaining Discussion • How does collective bargaining support and promote local control of schools? • How does collective bargaining help build stronger and more effective local organizations? • How does collective bargaining benefit parents and students?

  21. Merit and Differential Pay • MNEA opposes merit pay and repeal of the salary schedule law. • Merit pay, based on student test scores, is a proven failure in districts across the country. • Merit pay leads to subjectivity of the compensation process. • Merit pay sacrifices the supportive environment of teacher mentoring and collaboration and creates stronger incentives to teach to standardized tests. • Merit pay will not recruit more students into teaching.

  22. Merit and Differential Pay Discussion • How would student loan incentives address teacher recruitment challenges? • How would that result in more positive outcomes for teachers and students than merit or differential pay? • How will merit and differential pay affect parents and students?

  23. School retirement • MNEA supports a strong, equitable retirement system for all education employees. • Some groups are seeking to lower benefits and reduce the liabilities of PSRS as contribution rates increase. • Recent proposals in other states seek to take control of the school retirement system away from current and retired members. • Financial companies want to profit by replacing the current system with private accounts that put all employees at greater risk.

  24. School Retirement Discussion • How will increased contribution rates affect teacher retention and recruitment in the future? • Why are we better off with a defined benefit plan? • How can we support NEA’s effort to repeal the GPO and WEP offsets to Social Security? • How does a strong school retirement system help our students?

  25. Teacher standards and ABCTE • MNEA opposes a state mandate for recognition of certification as defined by the American Board for the Certification of Teacher Excellence. • House Bill 1057 (2006) would create a state mandate for ABCTE certification. • ABCTE is a product of the extremist opponents of public education, and it lowers teacher quality standards. • ABCTE is cleverly linked to NCLB-generated “quality” shortages. • With a four-year degree, you’re just a background check, $500 and two multiple-choice tests away from being “highly qualified.”

  26. Teacher Standards and ABCTE Discussion • How might Missouri teacher standards be different if we created an independent Professional Standards Board? • Will teacher salaries increase to adequate levels if we lower standards with ABCTE? • Why should parents and students care about high teaching standards?

  27. Contracting Out • Privatization seeks to establish a corporate takeover of our system of public education. • Privatization will reduce the quality of education, the accountability of public schools to the communities they serve, and the well-being of children in school. • High quality school services are vital to help students achieve at higher levels. • Privatization will reduce the local control of school boards and public accountability.

  28. Contracting Out Discussion • How will we make sure teachers and ESPs have the quality tools and resources they need to help students succeed if school services are privatized? • How will privatization affect the local accountability of school boards and respect for teachers and other school staff? • How will privatization of school services affect parents and students?

  29. For Further Information… • Visit: www.mnea.org • Sign up for the MNEA Legislative Update • MNEA Capitol Action Days • MNEA Legislative Brunches

More Related