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Legislation
MSTA Action
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| Budget dominates session but more cuts to come | Charters, open enrollment are non-factors | Bills passed this session | No changes to formula, summer school | Ed. departments to remain separate | School safety measure finally passes | Parents as Teachers changes due to cuts | Career Ladder survives tight budget |
Career Ladder survives tight budget
Career Ladder's future provoked much discussion this legislative session, but funding for the program prevailed.
The program's future looked uncertain throughout the session, as legislators from different houses volleyed funding for it. The House version of the K-12 education budget contained full funding for Career Ladder. State revenues continued to slide, though, and the Senate Appropriations Committee had the task of cutting $500 million more from the budget. The committee removed Career Ladder funding from the budget it sent to the Senate floor.
When news of the elimination spread, Senate Appropriations Chairman Rob Mayer talked with teachers in his district about the benefits Career Ladder offers their students. As Mayer learned more about the program, he worried the cut was unfair. Mayer also spent more than an hour discussing Career Ladder and other programs with MSTA lobbyists. He said he wanted to support teachers for the work they had done this school year, but needed to find the money in an already devastated budget.
Many senators expressed support for Career Ladder. After three hours of discussion on the Senate floor, senators adopted a substitute bill from Mayer that restored the funding.
Teachers used their voices when the threat of cutting the funding for work they had already completed appeared. Legislators heard the message and approved funding for work that was completed during the 2009-10 school year. Lawmakers also clarified that, in the future, they will not fund this program in arrears. Due to a change in the law, there will not be state funding for the program in 2010-11.
HB1543 (Wallace) cut the requirement that the General Assembly make an annual appropriation for the program. Beginning in fiscal year 2012, money will be appropriated before teachers start Career Ladder work for the school year. Districts could pay for Career Ladder in years when state funding is not available.
This legislation also removes the variable match portion of Career Ladder. In future years local funding would cover 60 percent of Career Ladder, with the state funding 40 percent.