North Dakota Commission on Education Improvement
Commission Meeting Minutes
August 1, 2007
Roughrider Room, State Capitol, Bismarck, North Dakota
The Chairman Lieutenant Governor Jack Dalrymple called a meeting of the ND Commission on Education Improvement to order at 9:10 am.
Commission members in attendance included Lt. Gov. Jack Dalrymple, Warren Larson, Jack Maus, Martin Schock, Jon Martinson, Mark Lemer, Nancy Sand, Doug Johnson, Paul Stremick, Sen. Tim Flakoll, Wayne Sanstead, Sen. David O'Connell, Rep. David Monson and Rep. RaeAnn Kelsch.
The Chairman explained the expense reimbursement procedures. Regular attendance at commission meetings will be covered. Legislator expenses for subcommittee meeting attendance will be covered but per diem will not be covered as a result of the lack of funds.
Commission members discussed the meetings schedules. The full commission and subcommittees will meet on an as needed basis. The subcommittee coordinators should schedule meetings sometime in September and the next scheduled Full Commission meeting should be on October 4th and again on November 1st.
The Commission heard from David Shreve from the National Conference of State Legislatures-Public School Finance and Adequacy (presentation on file).
Allen Odden from the University of Wisconsin presented to the Commission members School Finance Adequacy:An Evidence-Based Approach to Doubling Student Performance ( presentation on file).
Break for Lunch-12:15 to 1:00pm
The Commission members then heard from Dr. Marv Erhardt from the ND LEAD Center Strategic Exploration: Scouting the Future using Implication Wheels (presentation on file) and then from Mike Hillman with University Systems (presentation on file).
Joe Rothschiller then spoke to the members pointing out that as a business owner he felt that graduation requirements should be raised, he believes that our students will be able to meet increased expectations. He stated that his company does a math assessment for his new hires and usually new hires do very poorly on the assessment. He encouraged the Commission on behalf of the private sector to move forward with a higher standard of proficiency, competency and adequacy. There are no real expectations from high school graduates and requests that the Commission look into implementing 4 years of math.
Formula subcommittee coordinator, Mark Lemer, then gave his report to the Commission. The Formula Committee asked Jerry Coleman to look into the issue of Selfridge school funding. The committee would rely on its collective wisdom and the intent of the Commission and the intent of the Legislature in the law as well as Jerry Coleman's research to see if there is anything that can be done. Mark reported that there are some areas we might want to look at for enhancement or fine tuning to the formula:
- What sort of changes we could make to the existing formula that would move us toward the directions of adequacy.
- Actual costs of full day Kindergarten
- Looking at the weighting factors for special education and English Language Learners
Rules subcommittee coordinator, Jack Maus, submitted their recommendations to the full commission. The committee recommends that subcommittee meetings will have informal protocol and that full Commission meetings will have legislative protocol. The Oath of Office will be distributed out to Commission members. Mark Lemer moved to adopt the committee recommendation, David Monson seconded the motion. The motion was carried on a voice vote.
Advisor Selection subcommittee coordinator, Chairman Dalrymple, discussed with the members how the subcommittee will proceed. He suggested a list of prospective consultants be compiled and that OMB be consulted regarding drafting an RFP.
The Chairman then opened the floor for public input. David Massey pointed out that adult education doesn't receive foundation aid and children ages 16-21 who choose alternative education instead of traditional high school do not have adequate funding. He asked the Commission to keep this in mind when looking at educational funding.
Max Laird requested that when the Commission looks into assessment testing they remember that teachers assess students every day and suggests that more professional development for teachers to help them use their own data to assess students would be more effective than additional assessment tests.
The Commission then heard from the Superintendent from Selfridge School, Jim Gross. He asked the Commission to look into a solution to the funding problem for his school caused by the change in the formula. He points out that Selfridge received several years worth of federal payments last year when the state was establishing the baseline for schools that will stay with them from now on. This unfairly and permanently reduced the amount of state aid that the school will be allowed to receive. The Commission decided to have legal counsel look at it as well as Jerry Coleman to assess whether anything can be done for Selfridge under current law.
Chairman Dalrymple suggested that we add an additional 3 subcommittees to deal with adequacy:
- Curriculum/Class Size
- Bev Nielson
- Tim Flakoll-Coordinator
- RaeAnn Kelsch
- David Monson
- Jack Maus
- Wayne Santead
- Nick Whitman
- Teacher Qualifications/Professional Development
- Doug Johnson, Coordinator
- Warren Larson
- Dave O'Connell
- David Monson
- Martin Schock
- Nick Whitman
- Assessments/Accountability
- Paul Stremick, Coordinator
- Mark Lemer
- Doug Johnson
- Warren Larson
- Jon Martinson
- Jack Dalrymple
- Nick Whitman
There were also some adjustments to the existing subcommittees:
- Formula: added members
- RaeAnn Kelsch
- Nick Whitman
- Advisor Selection: added members
- Jon Martinson
- Nick Whitman
Chairman Dalrymple adjourned the meeting at 3:55pm.
