Legislative Update

Much has happened this week in the State Legislature.  As I mentioned earlier this week, the House and Senate passed the Start Date Bill.  We are waiting for the Governor to sign.  Again, notables of the bill are:

1. Students may not start school before two weeks prior to Labor Day.  This year's start date may be August 20.
2. Students must finish the school year prior to Memorial Day.
3. You must either have 180 instructional days or students must receive an equivalent 1080 hours of instructional time.
4. We expect SDE guidance the week of May 21st.  
5. We will seek your input regarding the school calendar. 
6. You may likely go home for the summer only knowing summer PD plans and a start date.
7. Just as he is threatening with the budgets, the Governor is likely to veto the Start Date Bill because he wants to use the money for Medicaid

Also, the Senate passed its version of the Education Trust Fund's budget for FY 2013.  Details have not been disclosed. We fully anticipate that the governor will veto any budget that does not divert a quarter-billion dollars from the classroom to Medicaid.

THE GREATEST THREAT

...is the governor's threat to veto the budgets and force a special session in the summer.  Know that Higher Ed was cut at three times the rate of K-12, and they want that money back. The governor still wants to layoff thousands of teachers and divert the money to Medicaid. Special projects that were cut from the Senate budget want their money back as well. A summer session might not turn out so well for K-12.

Stay tuned.