On a day
that was not all good news, the progress on SOL reform is good news
indeed. Delegate Greason’s HB 930
reported from the House Education Committee today on a unanimous vote. This bill will reduce the number of SOL tests
given in grades 3-8 from 22 to 17.
Authentic assessment will be used to assess content no longer assessed
with SOL tests. The bill establishes a
Standards of Learning Innovation Committee to address ongoing SOL reform. This committee includes a representative from
VEA.
Here is the
meat of the bill as it relates to the reduction of tests:
The Standards of Learning assessments administered to students
in grades three through eight shall not exceed (a) reading and mathematics in
grades three and four; (b) reading, mathematics, and science in grade five; (c)
reading and mathematics in grades six and seven; (d) reading, writing,
mathematics, and science in grade eight; and (e) Virginia Studies and Civics
and Economics once each at the grade levels deemed appropriate by each local
school board.
Each school board shall annually certify that it has provided
instruction and administered an alternative assessment, consistent with Board
guidelines, to students in grades three through eight in each Standards of
Learning subject area in which a Standards of Learning assessment was not
administered during the school year. Such guidelines shall (1) incorporate
options for age-appropriate, authentic performance assessments and portfolios
with rubrics and other methodologies designed to ensure that students are
making adequate academic progress in the subject area and that the Standards of
Learning content is being taught; (2) permit and encourage integrated
assessments that include multiple subject areas; and (3) emphasize
collaboration between teachers to administer and substantiate the assessments
and the professional development of teachers to enable them to make the best
use of alternative assessments.
Delegates
Greason and Krupicka worked tirelessly on this bill, and VEA thanks them for involving
us at every step of the way.
Delegate
Dickie Bell’s virtual school bill, HB324, reported on a 12-10 vote. This bill creates a stand-alone virtual
school students can enroll in instead of coming to the public school in their
locality. It provides both state and local
funds to the virtual school, and it exempts the contracts with private vendors from
the Virginia Public Procurement Act. We
will have to work hard to kill this bill when it gets to the Senate.
Senator Miller’s SB 158, which provides for a November 2014 advisory referendum on the
question of whether a bipartisan advisory commission should be created to
propose redistricting plans for the House of Delegates, state Senate, and
congressional districts, passed the Senate 36-4.
Finally, the
Senate Finance Committee reported Senator Watkins’ SB 422, despite our
protestations, on a 15-2 vote. This bill
applies to the Virginia Retirement System (VRS) Hybrid Plan, which is for
employees who were hired on or after January 1, 2014 or who chose to opt in to
the plan. The Hybrid plan is part
defined-benefit (with a 1% multiplier rather than the 1.7% multiplier enjoyed
by Plan 1 and 2 members), and part defined-contribution (you can contribute up
to 5% of your salary, and your employer provides up to a 3.5% match).
When the
Hybrid Plan was created in 2012, VEA pushed to have both the defined benefit
(DB) and defined contribution (DC) managed by VRS, rather than allowing private
vendors (VALIC, Horace Mann, ING, Lincoln and others) to administer the DC. Having VRS administer the DC ensures low administrative
costs, low fees, and returns that are historically better that those gained by
the private vendors.
SB 422, and
the House companion carried by Delegate Jones, HB 877, will allow your local
school board to opt out of the VRS DC plan, and contract with a private vendor
to provide that portion of your retirement.
It will be their choice and not yours.
These bills
put the economic interests of the financial services corporations ahead of the
financial interests of school employees.
Some points
to take into consideration are:
·
The use of school division plans rather than the
VRS plan will result in higher administrative costs and higher fees for
employees as the pool of investors will be smaller.
·
The use of a division-specific plan will put
additional administrative costs on the school division to ensure compliance
with various legal provisions.
·
Employees will not be able to get consolidated
information from VRS about their retirement in opt-out localities, adding
complexity to the employee’s retirement planning.
·
School divisions not only choose who the vendor
will be, they can change vendors leaving employees with multiple accounts.
·
Employees already in the hybrid plan were promised
the defined contribution plan from VRS.
These bills change that provision.
·
Employees who were already in VRS Plan 1 or 2 may
have already chosen the hybrid plan with the understanding that the defined
contribution portion would be managed by VRS.
This could change in January 2015, past the point where employees could
reconsider their decision to go into the hybrid plan.
·
403(b) plans will likely have higher administrative
costs and higher fees than the VRS administered 457. This will reduce retirement benefits.
School board
employees hired after January 1, 2014, already have a reduced retirement
benefit as compared to their more senior colleagues. These bills further degrade this benefit, and
they benefit no one but the investment companies.