State Policies for the Nitty-Gritty of School Life

Abstract

ACCORDING TO songwriter John Lennon, Life is happens while you're busy making other plans. With all of the attention being paid to big initiatives to improve schools - high-stakes assessment, comprehensive reform packages, voucher proposals, etc. - sometimes it is easy to forget the little daily details needed to provide a good education. In our push for results, these smaller components nevertheless have their rightful place. Indeed, they frequently set the tone for our fond memories of life classrooms. Though perhaps mundane, they're not unimportant. This Stateline is dedicated to recent policies that affect what happens while you're busy making other plans. Revenues. Wyoming recently enacted a bill (H.B. 161) that makes school fund-raising sales exempt from sales tax. Also Wyoming - and at no small cost - legislators March were close to agreeing that it is necessary to invest a computer-based system of data collection. They sought to purchase a statewide system for $4.3 million. Transportation. According to the March 2003 School Transportation News, North Carolina is voluntarily going to equip 13 buses of its fleet of school buses (they are state-owned North Carolina) with three-point occupant-restraint systems. Derek Graham, the state transportation chief, said this is a fact-finding mission that does not mean it will be statewide. In the meantime, Arkansas passed H.B. 1042, which bans the use of a cell phone while driving a school bus. People. In November 2002, the Massachusetts legislature decided to require volunteers to have their backgrounds checked prior to being allowed to volunteer schools. Although salary is certainly not a minor detail to teachers, a proposal by Tennessee Gov. Phil Bredeson would set $37,000 as a goal for the average teacher's salary. Time. Policy makers South Dakota, who were apparently concerned about losing minutes of instruction to other activities, passed H.B. 1041, which specifically limits to 16.5 hours the time spent parent/teacher conferences that count as hours in session. Of those 16.5 hours, districts are allowed to count no more than 5.5 hours as inservice training for teachers. The state board South Carolina has approved uniform starting dates for all public schools the state, beginning 2004. The regulation requires that all schools begin the academic year within a 10-day time period falling between the last Monday before Labor Day and the Wednesday after Labor Day. The uniform date is intended to give all districts equal time to prepare students to take statewide academic achievement tests. Citizenship. In an effort to increase the civic engagement of high school students, H.B 1028 Arkansas allows high school students to work at the election polls. Kentucky enacted similar legislation last year. Pennsylvania became one of the latest states to amend its law requiring all schools - private, parochial, and public - to display the U.S. flag. The flag must be displayed every classroom, and schools must provide for the daily recitation of the Pledge of Allegiance or singing of the National Anthem. In addition, Arkansas now requires public school districts to allow and encourage teachers to read or display documents of state history (S.B. 57). Home-schoolers. South Dakota added itself to the list of states that allow home-schooled students to participate high school extracurricular activities. Early learning. Sixteen governors addressed the importance of early learning their state-of-the-state addresses this year. And March the Arkansas House of Representatives approved by a vote of 90-0 H.B. 1951, a bill that would require the state department of education to provide the public with a list of skills children should have when they enter kindergarten. The bill has since moved to the Senate. Health and safety. Utah's state board of education agreed on a new policy that prohibits personnel from making recommendations to parents with regard to health treatments. …