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STATE BOARD OF EDUCATION MEETING REPORT- FEBRUARY 2011

By: Stuart Bennett | February 17, 2011, 12:46 pm

The second meeting of the Georgia State Board of Education for 2011 was February 9th and 10th in its usual two day format.  This month there were discussions about math, CRCT test erasures, the new Longitudinal Delivery System (LDS) and more discussions about math. The Rules, Charter and Budget Committees met and moved several actions forward for discussions in the Committee of the Whole on Wednesday with the state board taking official action on Thursday morning.

On Wednesday afternoon, The Committee of the Whole heard presentations from the DOE staff of the following items:

  • Math curriculum revisions

  • Charter Schools

  • Advanced Placement scores

  • Longitudinal data system

  • Race to the Top

  • CRCT Erasure Analysis


The Board took action on the following RULES committee recommendations:

  • Reinitiated Rule 160-4-2-.20 State-Funded K-8 Subjects and 9-12 Courses for Students Entering Ninth Grade in 2008 and Subsequent Years.  This rule was reinitiated at the January 2011 State Board of Education meeting to expand the mathematic interventions for struggling high school mathematics students beyond students who entered ninth grade in the 2008-2009 and 2009-2010 school years to include students who entered ninth grade in the 2010-2011 school year. These interventions allow the Mathematics Support I, Mathematics Support II, and Mathematics Support III courses to count as core or elective credit for the students entering ninth grade in 2008, 2009, and 2010, as listed above. This rule is being reinitiated again at the February 10, 2011, State Board of Education meeting to expand the mathematics course listing for struggling high school mathematics students to include GPS Algebra, GPS Geometry, GPS Advanced Algebra, and GPS Pre-Calculus. This months’ reinitiating will also expand the intervention timeline by one year for allowing the Mathematics III course to count as a core instead of a required course for high school graduation. This intervention would apply to students entering ninth grade in 2008, 2009, and 2010.

 

  • Adopted a resolution extending the state wide exemption of all statutory and regulatory class size maximums for the 2011-2012 school year.

  • Approved student requests for waivers of high school graduation requirements.

  • Waived the following Rule(s) by request of local school district(s):

    1. Personnel Required - Screven County

    2. Duty Free Lunch - Thomas County (Middle School)

    3. Statewide Passing Score - Oconee County (implementation of standards-based report cards in grades K-5

  • Approved the National Educational Technology Standards for Students.

The Board took action on the following Charter committee recommendations:

  • Denied petitions for review of decisions by the Charter Commission denying charter status for Imagine Marietta, Met South High, and West Chatham Preparatory Academy.

  • Took no action on action by the Charter Commission to deny charter status to the three petitioners listed above.

  • Took no action on Charter Commission approvals of petitions for four schools: Chattahoochee Hills, Cherokee Academy, Georgia Connections Academy, and Heritage Preparatory Academy.

The Board took action on the following Budget Committee Recommendations:

  • Grant, Title IC, Banks County, $146,958 in Migrant Education Program funds.

  • Contract, Georgia Tech Research Corp., $1,596,064.70 for the development of instructional resources and professional development.  From Race to the Top funds.

  • Grant, Title IV-A Safe and Drug Free Schools carryover funds to eligible school districts ($1,152 per district).

  • Grant amendment, CTAE awards to eligible school districts, $1,328,592 total.

  • Acceptance of a Verizon Foundation grant, $50,000, to support development of GPS teacher and student digital resources.

  • Grant amendments to allocate Special Education funds to six charter schools, $219,014 total.

  • Grant amendments to eligible school districts, $4,500,171 total, for meeting excess cost needs with students with disabilities.

  • Contract, Marriott Atlanta Airport, $115,177, for hosting a Title I conference.

  • Authorization for the State Superintendent to reduce the Laurens County Title IA, Title IIA and Title VIB grants by $127,575.

The next scheduled monthly meeting of the State Board is March 9, a one-day meeting. The Board will hold a planning retreat on the evening of March 9 and during the day of March 10.