Delaware General Assembly Pre-Game Show: Week of March 24-26, 1015
Yet another sneaky maneuver from Markell’s Merciless Minions in their ongoing war on state employees. After agreeing to postpone their plan to screw state employees and retirees by shifting more health costs onto them, Ann Visalli and her henchpersons nevertheless convened a meeting of the ironically-named State Employee Benefits Commission to ‘temporarily’ increase premiums. In other words, shifting more costs onto the workers. And going back on their public promises. When it comes to state employees, Markell is taking his cues from Scott Walker. Or perhaps vice versa. From Day One, Markell has done little to hide his disdain for the worker bees. Guess he admires smooth-talking used car salesmen like himself much more. Right back at’cha, Jack. Glibness made you rich and made you governor. Hey, maybe that’s why Jack looks down on state employees…not glib enough for him and, of course, not wealthy enough for him. Memo to the General Assembly: We’re watching. It’s time to tax Jack’s pals. They collected all the spoils of the so-called economic recovery. Stop Markell’s transfer of more wealth to the wealthy. This. Is. Unconscionable.
The Delaware General Assembly has a new easy-to-navigate website. It’s really really good, but does not lend itself to linking as well as the previous website. Rather than doing a cut-and-paste of huge swaths of text, I’ll post highlights and encourage you to check out the site. It’s definitely much easier to access and search than it used to be, which makes me even less essential (I know, I know).
The Senate Agenda is highlighted by SB 33(Poore), which “implements the recommendations of the Individualized Education Plan Improvement Task Force“. Here are the key recommendations:
Provide more detailed and helpful information to parents about their rights and resources in the IEP process;
Solicit the input of parents and children regarding the IEP process before IEP meetings occur;
Provide advance notice to parents and children of documents that will be discussed at IEP meetings;
Require the facilitation of parent councils to provide peer support for the parents of students with disabilities;
Ensure that teachers, staff, and contract employees do not suffer retaliation for offering their candid opinions during the IEP process;
Ensure that employment planning during the IEP process is consistent with Delaware’s employment first policy;
Require a robust annual survey of parents and children to ensure that school districts and charter schools are adhering to state and federal law with respect to the IEP process.
Ensure that charter schools are attentive to their responsibilities and available resources with respect to students with disabilities.
Require that the Department of Education report to the General Assembly on the status of and possible alternatives to the IEP Plus computer system, which has been an impediment to the preparation of IEPs by teachers, staff, and contractors.
The bill’s sponsorship is bipartisan and includes such education stalwarts as Sen. Townsend and Rep. Kim Williams. (Hmmm, seems like a ‘huge swath of text’ to me…well, it’s a work in progress, and I thought it was important.)
HB 10(Barbieri) leads off today’s House Agenda. Looks like a real good bill. Here’s the synopsis:
Stand By Me is an innovative financial empowerment program that has been operating within DHSS for the past two years. Stand By Me is designed as a partnership model, integrated into the culture and operations of businesses, educational institutions, state agencies, and non-profit organizations, funded almost exclusively by the private sector and is a robust program based on collaboration and best practices. In just two years since start up, the program has made great strides and has helped many individuals and organizations. Codifying a State Office of Financial Empowerment, housed within DHSS, will ensure the sustainability of the Stand By Me program and other financial empowerment programs.
Death penalty repeal will be considered in the Senate Judiciary Committee this week. Wednesday at 2 p. m. in the Senate Chamber. Looks like the votes are there in the Senate for passage, and we could possibly see a floor vote as early as Thursday. Here are the bill’s sponsors:
Sen. Peterson & Sen. Simpson & Rep. Lynn & Rep. Keeley; Sens. Bushweller, Cloutier, Henry, McDowell, Sokola, Townsend; Reps. Barbieri, Baumbach, Bolden, Brady, Heffernan, J. Johnson, Kowalko, Matthews, Miro, Potter, Ramone, B. Short, M. Smith, K. Williams.
If your Senator is not among the sponsors, please contact their office and politely encourage them to support the bill. You can bet that every bleeping state cop in Delaware will be doing the same in opposition, so exercise your rights and help ensure SB 40’s passage. I’m happy to say that both of my legislators, Cathy Cloutier and Bryon Short, are co-sponsors of the bill.
Otherwise, a slow week for Senate committees. The Senate Health & Social Services Committee considers SB 37(Peterson), which ‘requires a mammography service provider to provide specific notice to a patient if that patient presents with dense breast tissue’.
The House Corrections Committee will consider HB 36 (J. J. Johnson), which would ‘place limits on the use of solitary confinement’. I highly recommend you check out this bill. I think it’s an outstanding and long-overdue piece of legislation.
The House Education Committee considers HB 30(Rep. K. Williams), which provides ‘State funding to kindergarten through third grade for basic special education…(t)his bill is an effort to promote earlier identification and assistance for basic special education needs which should then mitigate costs over the long term’.
The House Health & Human Development Committee considers legislation to add e-cigarettes to the list of prohibited items in the Clean Indoor Air Act. HB 5 also ‘prohibits the use of electronic smoking devices in all public places where smoking is prohibited under current law.’ Wonder what end runs the tobacco companies are working on now. Virtual cigs, anyone?
The House Judiciary Committee and the House Public Safety & Homeland Security Committee, both chaired by Rep. Mitchell, are scheduled to meet but have no posted agendas. That shouldn’t be.
I know this is a pretty paltry preview. Hey, I can only work with what I’ve got to work with. This week, it’s not much.
Tags: Delaware death penalty repeal, El Somnambulo, Featured, Jack Markell's War on State Employees, solitary confinement, Steve Tanzer Delaware
While I appreciate the work that the Special Education Task Force did, the report (kind of like the Vesey report on campaign finance) leaves out the most critical component for special education reform: mandating that all parents in IEP/504 meetings have access to representation by a trained parent advocate.
It is not and cannot be a level playing field in IEP meetings. Parents do not know the law, or what is reasonable to expect, and they are generally outnumbered at least 8-1 by a staff that has all coordinated everything they are going to say and recommend. Parents are carefully maneuvered into not using any key terms or asking key questions that would invoke automatic rights under IDEA.
Nor does the Parent Information Center consistently provide such representation. They only recommend advocates for more complex cases (which is a disservice to the parents and children) and at least half (if not more) of the advocates they send to meetings are not really qualified to understand the law or the education process for children with disabilities. Yet they receive all the Federal dollars available to subsidize representation.
There are, in Delaware, only about six advocates currently working, who possess the knowledge and skills necessary to handle even medium complexity cases. Most of them are only available to parents who can (A) find them through word of mouth and (B) afford them. A good advocate can easily charge $1,000/meeting because demand is high, although many of these advocates do not charge parents who really can’t afford to pay).
I’d far prefer to see the PIC restructured if not dissolved, and see real training for advocates provided, or at least the financial support to parents to hire effective advocates. Otherwise, in many Delaware districts, special education will remain a joke. A bad joke on our most vulnerable children.
Couldn’t agree more with Steve. My own experience with my son’s IEP meetings were horrible, and I knew what I was doing and what my son’s rights were. I’ve often said the deck is stacked against special needs students well beyond their disabilities when it comes to our schools.
The IEP bill has been delayed:
http://www.delawareonline.com/story/firststatepolitics/2015/03/24/debate-delayed-disabilities-legislation/70401932/
Operative quote:
“”I don’t think we should be placing this obligation on a charter school if we’re not placing it on regular public schools,” said Sen. Brian Bushweller, a Dover Democrat. “Are we not wanting to ensure that traditional public schools are attentive to their responsibilities?”
The “obligation” placed on charter schools is that they have somebody trained in the administration of special services (504/IEP). Yep, that’s pretty damn onerous, all right.
Here’s the thing: even if a charter school does not currently serve any special needs students (something to be considered as an issue in and of itself), any school is exactly one car accident or one sports injury away from having that situation. At CSW during my twins’ junior year, all of a sudden in one six-week period, three students suffered either concussions of traumatic brain injuries. The school has to be prepared to respond.
Kinda figured that. Guess Bushweller is a knee-jerk supporter of all things Charter.
I’d be fine with them changing it to all schools must have someone trained.
@AQC traditional schools already have that requirement.