Meeting of the Board of Regents | April 2009

Report of the

REGENTS EMSC COMMITTEE

to

The Board of Regents

April 21, 2009

 

              Your EMSC Committee held its scheduled meeting on April 20, 2009.  All Committee members were present except for Regent Cohen, who was excused.

 

ACTION ITEMS

Consent Agenda

Your Committee recommends that the Board of Regents give consent to the issuance of bonds and/or bond anticipation notes by the Board of Education of the Olean City School District in an amount not to exceed $27,475,000 for capital improvements consisting of additions to, and reconstruction of school buildings and facilities throughout the district, and the issuance of such bonds and/or bond anticipation notes in excess of the constitutional debt limit of said school district.  [EMSC (CA) 1]

 

 

Charter Schools

 

Your Committee recommends that the Board of Regents approves and issues the first renewal charter of the KIPP Tech Valley Charter School as proposed by the Board of Trustees of the State University of New York, and that its provisional charter be extended for a term up through and including July 31, 2009.   [EMSC (A) 1]

 

Your Committee recommends that the Board of Regents approves the renewal application of the Riverhead Charter School, that a third renewal charter be issued, and that its provisional charter be extended for a term up through and including June 30, 2014.   [EMSC (A) 2]

 

Your Committee recommends that the Board of Regents approves and issues the charter of the John W. Lavelle Preparatory Charter School as proposed by the Chancellor of the city school district of the City of New York, and issues a provisional charter to it for a term of five years, up through and including April 21, 2014.  [EMSC (A) 3]

 

Your Committee recommends that the Board of Regents approves the renewal application of the Pinnacle Charter School, that a second renewal charter be issued, and that its provisional charter be extended for a term up through and including June 30, 2012.   [EMSC (A) 4]

 

Your Committee recommends that the Board of Regents approves and issues the first renewal charter of the Bronx Lighthouse Charter School as proposed by the Chancellor of the city school district of the City of New York, and that its provisional charter be extended for a term up through and including May 17, 2014.   [EMSC (A) 6]

 

Your Committee recommends that the Board of Regents approves and issues the first renewal charter of the Peninsula Preparatory Academy Charter School as proposed by the Chancellor of the city school district of the City of New York, and that its provisional charter be extended for a term up through and including July 19, 2012.  [EMSC (A) 7] 

 

Your Committee recommends that the Board of Regents approves the revision to the second renewal charter of the Amber Charter School as proposed by the Trustees of the State University of New York, and the provisional charter is amended accordingly.  [EMSC (A) 8]

 

State Aid Regulations

 

              Your Committee recommends that the Board of Regents amend section 174.2 of the Regulations of the Commissioner of Education as submitted, effective May 1, 2009, as an emergency action upon a finding by the Board of Regents that such action is necessary for the preservation of the general welfare in order to immediately establish the methodology for computing allowable tuition rates for nonresident pupils for public reporting by school districts, so that affected school districts may timely prepare contracts for the reimbursement of school districts which provide instruction to nonresident pupils for the 2009-2010 school year, pursuant to statutory requirements.  [EMSC (A) 5]

 

 

MOTION FOR ACTION BY FULL BOARD

             

              Mr. Chancellor and Colleagues:  Your EMSC Committee recommends, and I move, that the Board of Regents act affirmatively upon each recommendation in the written report of the Committee's deliberations at its meeting on April 21, 2009, copies of which have been distributed to each Regent.

 

 

MATTERS NOT REQUIRING BOARD ACTION

 

Proposed Amendment to Regulations Relating to the Use of Superintendents’ Conference Days – The Committee discussed proposed regulations that would allow school districts to use up to two of its superintendents' conference days in each school year for teacher rating of State assessments.  The proposed regulations would extend the sunset of this regulation to June 30, 2013.  The Department has monitored the progress on the training of teachers and the scoring by teachers and has determined that this regulation should be extended for four more years.  These regulations will be brought back in June for final approval.  [EMSC (D) 1]

 

Draft proposed Policy on “Making-up” Course Credit and Receiving Course Credit for Independent Study – The Committee discussed these alternative paths to graduation that have been used over time to enable students to take advantage of unique learning opportunities and to accommodate special circumstances.   Staff presented proposed amendments to regulations to provide clarity and specificity on when and how these  alternative pathways can be used and by which students.   These draft amendments would be sent to the field for comments and input.   After an in-depth discussion, there was consensus among Committee members that these two issues are very different and when presented to the field, should be presented separately.   In order to provide clarity and distinction, information on making up course credit will be disseminated to the field first.  This item will include the identification of student populations and schools that would be allowed to participate.  Following a brief comment period, staff will analyze the information received and come back to the Committee with a summary of the comments.  [EMSC (D) 2]

 

Update on United States Department of Education’s Graduation Rate Regulations – Consideration of an Extended-Year Graduation Rate – The Committee discussed Federal NCLB regulations promulgated in October 2008 that call for states to set a single graduation rate goal for all students as well as annual targets for districts and schools.  The discussion focused on whether or not the Regents want to request approval from USED to use an extended-year graduation rate which would give credit to schools and districts for students who take five or more years to graduation and if staff should prepare options for the Regents to consider concerning setting a new graduation rate goal and annual targets.  Staff will draft specific options for Regents consideration on these issues.   [EMSC (D) 3]

 

Research Report on Charter Schools in New York State – The Committee discussed a proposal from the Education Finance Research Consortium (EFRC) presented by Dr. James Wyckoff who described the proposal as a multi-phase report that would include examining the effectiveness of charter schools in New York State (if the available data support such an examination), a descriptive analysis of charter schools that would look at issues including where charter schools have developed, who attends charter schools,  how expenditure patterns compare between charter schools and other public schools, whether charter schools have influenced change in other public schools, etc., as well as a review of existing studies on charter schools in New York and other states.   Dr. Wyckoff also provided the Regents with a crosswalk of the specific issues the Regents have suggested for inclusion in the report and in which phase of the report those issues would be addressed.  Following additional questions raised by the Committee, Dr. Wyckoff will modify the proposal and provide a new version for the Board to consider.  [EMSC (D) 4]

 

Grades 3-8 Testing Policy Overview – The Regents continued their policy discussion regarding changes to the scheduling of the Grades 3-8 mathematics and English Language Arts examinations later in the year.   Staff provided four possible options for the Board to consider.  The Committee chose to eliminate Option 2 which would not allow for results to be reported in time to meet Federal accountability deadlines.  The Committee suggested that staff again survey the field concerning the remaining 3 options to inform the Board in their final decision for the test schedule for the 2010-2011 school year.   [EMSC (D) 5]

 

P-16 Policy Activity Follow-up – Due to time constraints, this item was not discussed.

 

 

 

That concludes our report.

 

 

 

 

 

                                                                                    Anthony Bottar and Merryl Tisch       

                                                                                    Co-Chairs