EDUCATION
EDUCATION
As is often true, several of the pre-filed and early filed bills are repeats of bills introduced in recent years that failed to pass. SB 50/HB 121 – Education – Special Education Services – Children in a Home School Setting (Brochin/Lafferty et al) are companion bills that would require a disabled child receiving regular thorough instruction in a home school setting to be eligible to receive federal pass-through special education funds. Delegate Holmes is again introducing HB 8 – Lottery for Schools Act that would require that 25% of the lottery funds other than sports lotteries be distributed to local public school systems proportionate to the amount of lottery tickets sold in each political subdivision. Funds would be used for classroom staff and instructional materials and could not supplant other state education aid.
SB 78 – Task Force to Study System Variables that Impact Student Achievement in Under-Performing Public Schools (Kelley et al) has again been introduced because of continuing concern about the achievement levels particularly of economically disadvantaged students, English language learners, and students with disabilities. The Governor would be authorized to appoint a 15-member task force to study and make recommendations by December 1, 2009, on education variables, such as educational leadership, class size, teacher quality, and facilities, that may impact on student achievement in under-performing public schools.
To express their concern about the importance of individualized instruction and the potential achievement of children with different learning styles, Delegates Cardin et al have again introduced HB 199 – Education – Reporting Requirement – Class Size to clarifly, for purposes of data collection, the definition of a classroom teacher as a person primarily responsible for students in that class. The definition would exclude school personnel, such as curriculum specialists, guidance counselors, libraries, etc. Each local school board would need to implement this uniform data collection method to be developed by the State Department of Education (SDE) and submit their information to the SDE by November 1 annually.
HB 49 – Education – Maryland High School Assessment Test Results (Ross) would require the State Board of Education to report student test scores on the Maryland High School Assessments to local school boards by July 1 each year. SB 77 (Kelly et al) – Education – Children in Informal Kinship Care Relationships would add another exception to the requirement that a child attend public school in the attendance area where the child is domiciled with his or her parent. This will would permit a child to attend school in the attendance area where the child is living with a relative who is providing informal kinship care verified through a sworn affidavit.
Under SB 96 – Education – Truancy Rates – Positive Behavioral Interventions and Support Programs and Behavior Modification Programs (Pugh et al), elementary schools that have implemented positive behavioral intervention and support programs as a result of legislation passed several years ago would have to expand these programs if their suspension rates exceed the standards in the law. Any school with truancy rates that exceed the levels specified in the bill for future years would be required to implement a positive behavioral interventions and support program or an alternative behavior modification program. Schools with these programs would have to expand them if their truancy rates are higher than the levels in the bill.
Lois Stoner