2019 LEGISLATIVE SESSION HIGHLIGHTS PRESENTED BY UTAH CHARTER NETWORK | KIM FRANK
HIGHLIGHTED BILLS OF SIGNIFICANCE TO CHARTER SCHOOLS HB118** Incentives for Statewide Assessment Performance Rep. Mike Winder Allows a teacher to use a student's score on certain assessments to improve the student's academic grade or demonstrate the student's competency; prohibits a local education agency from providing a nonacademic reward to a student for taking certain assessments. HB120** Student and School Safety Assessment Rep. Raymond Ward $780,000 Ongoing The bill requires the Utah State Board of Education to create model policies for student safety and support, provide training to schools and develop a student support team pilot program. HB130 ** Public Education Exit Survey Rep. Carol Moss $3,000 Ongoing Requires the SBE to create a model exit survey for educators leaving employment and requires LEA’s to administer an exit surv ey and report results. The goal is to gather statewide data on why teachers leave employment in a district or leave the profession to help address retention. HB140 ** Civic and Character Education Reports Amendments Rep. Dan N. Johnson repeals one report and amends the receiving entity for another report on civics and character education. HB227** Utah Computer Science Grant Act Rep. John Knotwell $3,150,000 Ongoing Requires the Talent Ready Utah Board and SBE to create a computer science education master plan; creates the Computer Science for Utah Grant Program. Describes the requirements for a LEA to apply for the grant program; and describes reporting requirements of a LEA that receives money. HB236 ** T eacher Salary Supplements Kay J. Christofferson $4,843,000 Ongoing Expands the T eacher Salary Supplement Program (TSSP). Secondary Math, science, computer science and special education teachers who have been teaching those subjects in a Utah public school for at least 10 years are eligible for the stipend (who previously did not meet qualifying criteria). Provides an appeal process. This estimate includes approximately 963 additional educators qualifying for the supplement of $5,400 including employer-paid benefits . HB303** School Community Council Amendments Rep. Keven J. Stratton Requires a school community council or charter trust land council to develop and incorporate certain safety principles, including coordination regarding the safety principles with administrators.
CONTINUED… HB306 Enrollment Preference for Military Children Rep. Val L. Peterson Amends charter school enrollment provisions to establish a preference for a child of a military servicemember. HB373** Student Support Amendments Rep. Steve Eliason $27,270,000 Ongoing An LEA governing board shall inform students, parents, and school personnel about the SafeUT Crisis Line. Creates a matching grant program for districts and charters to hire or contract with school counselors, psychologists, social workers or nurses for student support and health services. SB55 Charter Trust Land Council Amendments Sen. Luz Escamilla Permits grandparents of students enrolled in a charter school to serve on the charter school's charter trust land council. SB112 Public Education Information Systems Uniformity Act Sen. Jacob L. Anderegg $17,200,000 Uniform integrated system to manage student, teacher (HR) and financial data for SBE. SB115** High-need School Amendments Sen. Kathleen Riebe $500,000 Creates a new grant program to hire first-year teachers in high needs schools and cap their class size at 20 students. The goal is to help attract and retain first year teachers to high needs schools by offering a lower-class size. SB198** Human Trafficking Prevention Training Sen. Todd Weiler This bill creates training requirements for human trafficking prevention and awareness. Requires school districts and charter schools to provide biennial training regarding human trafficking prevention and awareness to school personnel, parents and guardians, and students. Requires school districts and charter schools to provide biennial training regarding human trafficking prevention and awareness to school personnel, parents and guardians, and students. SB208** National Certification Teacher Incentive Amendments Sen. Karen Mayne $20,000 Ongoing Increases the existing stipend for National Board-certified teachers to $1,000 for any certified teacher and $2,000 for a certified teacher in a Title I school. The bill also creates a new program for educators pursuing certification to have the cost of each component paid for upfront replacing the current process of being reimbursed after certification is completed. **Additional Training or Reporting
4% increase on the WPU; $3,532 per student Student enrollment growth fully funded at a cost of $35.7 million; $15,000,000 in the TSSA Account $27,270,000 Mental health professionals in schools $4,843,000 Teacher Salary Supplements $4,000,000 Local Replacement 2-year lag (approx. $49 per charter student) $3,150,000 Utah Computer Science Grant Act
ADMINISTRATIVE COST FUNDING ADMINISTRATIVE COST FUNDING | ACF is one of the final funding inequities between district and charter schools. ACF is provided by the state to small districts and charter schools so they can fulfill extensive reporting requirements and numerous administrative services. The state has long recognized the need for smaller traditional school districts to receive additional funding to complete these tasks. Small traditional districts receive compensatory Weighted Pupil Units (WPU) to cover higher costs (see chart below). Charter schools receive $100 per student. Currently, the discrepancy in funding between small school districts and charter schools is nearly $25 million. We are requesting $8 million (one-time) with a legislative audit to determine the actual cost of required administrative responsibilities, and a recommendation on how to equability fund charter schools. Charters have the same administrative requirements as districts, with far less staff. Charter schools began receiving ACF in 2006 @ $62per student. In 2008 legislature raised the amount to $100 per student and it has remained the same for a decade! Similar to small district schools, charter school funding should be provided Charter schools have been doing their best to compensate for the utilizing a tiered schedule. The tiered schedule (shown above), uses a ratio of discrepancy for far too long by; keeping teacher and administrator salaries low and requiring administrators to wear several “hats”. Charter school WPUs under the small districts’ administrative costs schedule. (Source: Utah leaders are pulled away, too often, from their school to complete these Foundation Report, April 2016) required tasks, thus not allowing them to be the very best school leaders they can be. DISTRICT AND CHARTER SCHOOL ADMINISTRATIVE COST FUNDING SHOULD REFLECT THE PRICE OF PROVIDING SERVICES EQUAL TO The following chart illustrates that a small district school with 200 ACTUAL CURRENT COSTS. students receives $314,545 for administrative costs, while the same size charter school receives only $20,000!
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