North Dakota Commission on Education Improvement
Commission Meeting Minutes
May 8, 2008
Roughrider Room
The Chairman, Lieutenant Governor Jack Dalrymple, called a meeting of the North Dakota Commission on Education Improvement to order at 9:03am.
Commission members in attendance included Lt. Gov. Jack Dalrymple, Warren Larson, Jack Maus, Martin Schock, Jon Martinson, Mark Lemer, Doug Johnson, Paul Stremick, Sen. Tim Flakoll, Rep. RaeAnn Kelsch, Wayne Sanstead, Rep. David Monson, Greg Burns, and Dakota Draper.
After reviewing and amending the March 6th Commission meeting minutes, Sen. Tim Flakoll moved to accept the minutes as amended minutes; Rep. RaeAnn Kelsch seconded and the motion was carried.
The Lt. Governor started the meeting with Commission business. Lt. Governor announced that commission member Warren Larson will be changing occupations and will no longer be serving as superintendent of Williston public schools. He also announced that Mark Lemer will be with West Fargo public schools until June 30th and that Mark will continue to serve on the Commission as a technical advisor.
The Lt. Governor welcomed Dr. Allan Odden, Larry Picus and their associate Michael Goetz from Picus and Associates, the educational adequacy consultants that were contracted by the Commission to conduct an evidence based study of North Dakota public elementary and secondary education funding. Lt. Governor Dalrymple turned the meeting over to Dr. Odden and Larry Picus for their presentation of the results of the Professional Judgment Panels. The power point presentation topics included Core Teachers, Specialists, Extended Support for Struggling Students, Specialized Education, Other School Staff, Dollar Per Pupil Resources, and Personnel Allocation By District Size Category. Each of these topics included comments from panelists.
The Formula Sub-Committee Chair, Mark Lemer reported they have a lot of work to do. They need to work on: preliminary findings regarding delivery of $200 million of property tax relief through the per student payment and considerations in formula provisions needed to implement such a plan including mill caps, low mill levy adjustments, and future increases in mill levies.
The Curriculum Sub-Committee Chair, Sen. Flakoll reported on Indiana's Core 40. The Core 40 program focuses on math and science. A few benefits of the Core 40 program include a better economy and higher paying jobs. The program allows the state to keep the state's diploma but also has other options. Tim suggested to put a modified version on the table for public opinion. Doug Johnson visited with superindentents in the different quadrants and concluded: 75%-80% of students would qualify for the technical honors diploma, the remaining 20%-25% would have difficulty with the added math credits; there is a shortage of math and science teachers; the jury is still out on the tiered diploma; acceptance of Core 40 is high and is something superintendents are willing to look at. Rep. Monson commented that the requirement of a ½ - 1 credit of economics will be difficult for the smaller schools. Rep. Kelsch noted the added language requirement would be a good opportunity for distance learning centers, REA's or IVN centers. Dakota Draper asked if we should sacrifice electives to raise core requirements? He said there are varied opinions on core 40, some like it and some don't. The Commission Chairman said this is a great plan, and it is great that Indiana has already flushed it out from top to bottom. We should get it out to the public and get some feedback.
The Chairman distributed a handout regarding the teacher loan forgiveness incentive program and suggested that the program could be expanded.
The Assessment and Accountability Sub-Committee Chair, Paul Stremick, reported that the ND state assessment measures standards from previous years. There are no state guidelines or policies on state assessments; it varies by district. Students should have similar prep work for entering the workforce and college. Multiple exams are necessary. Chairman Dalrymple suggested the commission should roll out a plan of required assessments and get feedback from a broader audience. The consultants have assumed costs for testing in their analysis. Sen. Flakoll suggested keeping WorkKeys because the business community likes it, and the student receives a certificate.
Lisa Feldner, Chief Information Officer of North Dakota, made some comments about the 2009-2011 budget. The Information Technology Department receives approximately $4.5 million in state general funds to provide services to the K-12 community. These services are provided by four entities. The Educational Technology Council provides technology grants for classroom innovation and planning services. Edutech provides technology support, email, filtering, anti-virus software, professional development and PowerSchool support. The Center for Distance Education provides video and online courses for students in North Dakota as well as other states and foreign countries. ITD maintains STAGEnet, the state network, for state agencies, political subdivisions, higher education and K-12. In addition, ITD provides video support for all entities except higher education. ITD provides hosting, software development, and planning services for K-12 as needed. For the coming biennium, ITD is recommending that additional bandwidth be provided to schools. At present, all high schools are provided with a minimum of a T-1 circuit. However, with the increased graduation requirements and the increased bandwidth usage of educational technologies, a single T-1 is often not sufficient. Presently over 61 districts are at capacity on their T-1 circuits.
PowerSchool student administration software is used by 97 schools in ND and hosted centrally by ITD. Five larger districts have a product that is nearing "end of life", and it is a logical time to consider hosting one student information system funded at the state level. Additionally, as more educational opportunities are provided via technology, it is necessary to add staff to provide support. Finally, the staff at Center for Distance Education are funded with special funds. As a result, funding their benefits comes from the charges for student coursework. In order to be competitive in the market, general funds are needed to offset the increase in benefit costs. Proposed Additions for 2009-11: additional bandwidth for schools; statewide Powerschool licenses/hosting; additional EduTech PowerSchool staff; additional EduTech developer; additional CDE online developers; benefit increases for CDE staff.
During the public discussion Dan Huffman said the Commission can leave transportation and nutrition issues alone but needs to start talking about Career and Technical Education (CTE). For a majority of school districts the money they receive for CTE is minimal. The Commission needs to determine what it costs to educate a CTE student, and the Commission needs to recognize CTE as an added cost. The Chairman suggested that a factor be considered for CTE participants.
Scott Halvorson suggested the Commission address individualized instruction. Scott spoke to the Commission about Adult Education and the program in Bismarck. He asked the Commission to consider that when a student leaves a school, the money for that student stays with the student.
Steve Swiontek, Superintendent from Devils Lake, said he currently has a successful professional development program and does not want to see state prescribed professional development programs. He also invited the commission to Devils Lake for a Commission meeting.
The principal from Kulm school, Tom Nitschke, also said he would like to see the control of professional development to stay at the local level. He asked the commission to look closer at the funding formula for smaller schools.
Max Laird from Grand Forks said that pedagogy is important and tutors are important to the world of teaching. He asked a question about the analysis of technology expenditures, whether it included the staffing costs to maintain and keep things running?
Wayne Kutzer from CTE offered to present to the commission a presentation on "what we do and how we do it". He also noted how underfunded the CTE program is.
Warren Larson commented on transportation being woefully underfunded and the importance of providing capital for good buildings. The Chairman wondered if the Commission should put forth a recommendation on transportation funding. RaeAnn Kelsch objected and said transportation is not in the state constitution and there are other issues that need to be addressed first. Doug Johnson noted on the issue of transportation that the state's share is going down. The Chairman suggested that Rep. Kelsch and Sen. Flakoll confer on transportation as part of Sen. Flakoll's subcommittee work.
The next scheduled meeting is June 3rd in Fargo. The meeting will be held at the Fargo School District Office Building in the Board Room at 415 North 4th Street.
Lt. Governor Jack Dalrymple adjourned the meeting at 5:02pm.
