March 14, 2002

Present:

Chairman DiPrete, J. Gaines, M. Mancieri, G. Grove, Senator Gallo, S. Duff, and V. Perez.

Public Remarks:

Mr. Steven Fishback, a member of the Children's First Coalition told Board members that the Coalition will be requesting to meet with the Commissioner to talk about the use of approximately $21.5 million of state funds in the Providence school district.  Mr. Fishback also spoke about the length of the instructional day in Providence and the reduction of class size.

Ms. Blosson S. Kirschenbaum, a member of the Providence ALP Advisory Task Force, addressed the Board on the superintendent's attempt to end the alternative learning project.

Chairman’s Remarks:

• Chairman DiPrete reported that the second High School Summit was held last Friday.  He congratulated RIDE staff on the success of the summit and said he thought that the Regents would be able to make informed decisions about high school restructuring based on the feedback from attendees.  Mr. DiPrete also commented on the fact that summit attendees appeared to “be on the same page” in their support of the Regents being more aggressive in telling districts how they want schools to restructure.
• The Chairman also reported that on Wednesday, March 13, he had spoken at the House Finance Committee meeting and thought that overall, the hearing had gone quite well.  He commented that it is unfortunate, however, that there isn't more money in the "pot" to support current initiatives.

Approval of Minutes:

MOVED AND SECONDED: That the Board of Regents approve the minutes of the meeting of February 28, 2002.

VOTE:  Approved unanimously.

Approval of Audit Findings for FY 2001:

RIDE staff member, Loretto Gandara, briefly reviewed the audit findings for FY 2001. She explained that the Auditor General has cited the following areas:

• Child Nutrition Program/User Access Controls – RIDE implemented a new computer system during fiscal 2001 to administer the Child Nutrition Programs, however the Auditor General found that user access to the computer system was not adequately restricted and controlled.
• Reporting - Additionally, the computer system lacked the capability to fully meet the required federal reporting control procedures.
• Class Size Reduction Program/Maintenance of Effort – RIDE is entitled to receive its full allocation of Class Size Reduction Program funds if the aggregate expenditures in the state for free public education in the preceding fiscal year is not less than 90% of such aggregate expenditures for the second preceding fiscal year.  RIDE does not have procedures in place to determine if this requirement was fulfilled and consequently controls were not adequate to ensure compliance with this requirement. Additionally, the system was found to not correctly calculate meal reimbursements for the severe need component of the School Breakfast Program.
• Sub-recipient Cash Management – RIDE does not have adequate procedures in place to ensure sub-recipients do not have federal cash on hand in excess of their immediate needs.  Cash requests by sub-recipients are generally processed once a month and funds are generally advanced based on forecasts prepared by the sub-recipient for the month.  

Ms. Gandara told Board members that the findings were fair and reasonable and that the Department was working to correct all problems.  She recommended that the Board accept them.

MOVED AND SECONDED: THAT, The Board of Regents Accept the Responses to the Reports of the Auditor General for the Child Nutrition Program, Class Size Reduction Program, and Special Education, Title I, and Class Size Reduction Program: Cash Management.

VOTE:  Approved unanimously.

Budget Update:

There was a lengthy discussion about the affect of the Governor’s budget recommendation to cut $405,000 from the state COZ programs. The group discussed alternate ways that some of the money could be restored and how other organizations/programs could take on some of the work. The group also discussed what appeared to be a $200,000 cut to the state Vision Services budget.  Director of Finance, Lita Orefice explained that the $200,000 wasn’t actually a cut to current program services because initially the $200,000 had been earmarked for a student to attend an out of state program that had cost the state $200,000. The student is now 21 years old, and no longer entitled to receive the funding.  However, Vision Services wants to keep the money in their budget to be used to expand current programs. The Department is advocating that the $200,000 be kept in their budget to expand vision programs.

ESEA/IDEA Re-Authorization Update:

RIDE Interim Assistant Commissioner, David Abbott, reviewed the highlights of the ESEA/IDEA Re-Authorization as follows:

• Scientifically-Based Research – Feds uncertain about what or how the standard will be measured or how to reach it but are looking at model programs that work.
• Annual Yearly Progress: States are going to be required to reach 100% proficiency in 12 years because that is the amount of time that one student is in school (the “one kid” measure) so it shouldn't take longer than that to fix the system. Additionally, the intent is to leave a lot of “elbow room” for the states to work and make decisions.  Reporting will be in four categories of accountability: race/ethnic, disability, SES, and LEP; plus two additional areas, migratory students and gender, for the purpose of reporting only. 
• Consequences – There is a lot of discussion about what will happen if you don’t reach proficiency; however, there is no final decision.
• Public School Choice – All discussion is focused on the cost of transportation.
• Supplemental Services – This is the “meat” of the law. The states are going to be required to detail exactly what is being done to improve the system. The feds feel this is the most important piece of the system. Twenty percent of the Title I administrative money must be used to support supplemental services.  
  
• LEP Accountability – States required to establish “New English Acquisition” programs and to report how quickly LEP students (up to three years) are able to assimilate into the system.

• Teacher Quality – The emphasis is on bringing principals into the teacher quality discussion.
  

• Paraprofessionals – Within four years all teaching assistants will be required to have an associate degree and states will be required to have set up a system to certify them.

• Testing – Annual testing required in all grades by 2005; however, we can wait an additional three years to fully implement and report out yearly testing results (instead of three-year rolling averages).
• Annual Report Cards – Must be organized by poverty rate. 
• Reauthorization of IDEA - The President appointed a commission on special education that has just begun meeting.  It is not expected that much will happen on reauthorization until the commission finishes its work. An updated funding chart for FY 2003 was distributed.

School Performance Categories:

Deputy Commissioner, Dr. Todd Flaherty, gave the Board a brief update on the reporting of the school performance categories.  All of the meetings with the low performing schools have been scheduled and Assistant Commissioner David Abbott and Dr. Flaherty have been meeting with superintendents in “pre-meetings.”

High School Summit Report and Discussion of “Next Steps” :

Because Chairman DiPrete had reported out on the summit during his remarks, Todd Flaherty talked to the Regents about “next steps.” The Regents High School Restructuring Committee will do the first review of the recommendations and begin to develop recommendations for regulations about what and how high schools will need to change.

Regent Gaines spoke to the Board about the NASBE Conference she attended at the beginning of the month. She reported that they discussed alternative certification (especially in the areas of math and science); confusion around ESEA - NASBE said that there is a PowerPoint presentation that can be loaded from the Web; IDEA - very unlikely to come up with only 54 legislative days left this year and because of elections, congress is not even in session; many of the provisions in HR 1 have yet to be decided so we have no way of knowing the impact. Mrs. Gaines also visited the offices of Senator Reed and Congressmen Kennedy and Langevin. Since the congressmen were attending hearings, she talked to their education aids. They talked about several issues including a policy statement regarding E-Learning and diversity in schools.

Commissioner's Reports:

The Commissioner traveled to San Antonio to talk with Harcourt about ESEA and what it will mean to go to a K-8 testing system and about re-bidding testing services.

Student Identifier - Commissioner reported that he has been asked to meet with Congressman Kennedy on developing a Student Identification System.

Executive Session:

There was no executive session.

Adjourn:

With unanimous consent, the meeting adjourned at 7:15 p.m.