Good Afternoon. The regularly scheduled meeting of the
State Board of Education next week will be for one day only,
Next week, I will also be testifying before committees
in both the House and Senate. The schedule for the hearings is included in this
message, along with these other topics:
Schedule
of House and Senate Committee Appearances
I will testify at three committee hearings next
week:
February 18,
February 19,
February 20:
Homeland
Security Information
We have received
several calls asking for advice on disaster preparations since the President
raised the Homeland Security Advisory System threat level to high (orange
level). We are advised that every county has an emergency management person who
is responsible for coordinating the county’s disaster preparedness plans. The
best preparation for any potential disaster is to review your school and
district disaster plans regularly, to coordinate your plans with the county’s
emergency management plan, and to have a designated person to keep in contact
with the county emergency management staff and with local law enforcement and
fire department officials.
You can also find a
large amount of additional information on Governor Blagojevich’s Homeland
Security Web pages at http://www100.state.il.us/security/.
Included are American Red Cross guidelines for recommended action at each of the
threat level classifications, which were adopted by the Illinois Terrorism Task
Force, as well as “County
and Municipal Government Guidelines for Implementation of the State of Illinois
Homeland Security Advisory System,” developed by the Illinois Terrorism Task
Force.
The Illinois
Emergency Management Agency also has a good Web site for further information
about emergency planning: http://www.state.il.us/iema/.
Small
Area Income and Poverty Estimates (SAIPE) and Title 1
Funding
The U.S. Census Bureau recently released the 1999 Small
Area Income Poverty Estimates for school districts. We understand that the U.S. Department
of Education will use these numbers as the basis for Title I funding. In addition to SAIPE, the Department of
Education will include other poverty measures, such as children in (1)
institutions for the neglected and delinquent; (2) foster homes; and (3)
families above poverty receiving assistance under the TANF program. However, children from these three other
poverty measures will add little to the Title I–eligible count for districts –
only 0% to about 5%.
SAIPE data for your district is at http://www.census.gov/housing/saipe/sd99/sd99_IL.dat. For the poverty estimate, look at the
third column of data after the district name. It comes just before “sd99_IL.dat” in
the fourth column.
The Census Bureau has provided an appeal process for
those who believe a SAIPE estimate
is incorrect. Appeals should be
sent directly to the U. S. Census Bureau to Dr. Daniel Weinberg, Chief,
Housing and Household Economic Statistics Division, U.S. Census Bureau,
e-mail to hhes.saipe@census.gov.
For details on appeals, please refer to Question #24,
and if you have other related questions, refer to Question #25 of the
Frequently-Asked-Questions section of the SAIPE Web site at http://www.census.gov/hhes/www/saipe/faq.html.
Please note that while SAIPE will be used for Title I
funding, the poverty impaction part of the Illinois General State Aid formula
will be based on a separate set of poverty data derived from decennial
census. Information was provided in
the Weekly Message from the
State Superintendent on
Public
Comment Period on Administrative Rules for Induction and
Mentoring
The public comment period on the administrative rules
for induction and mentoring concluded on
In regards to funding for induction and mentoring in
FY03, ISBE believes the money appropriated is effectively frozen. If there is a
change in this situation, the State Board will promptly notify school districts,
regional offices of education, and other stakeholders. Additionally, directions
for submitting proposals for State Board review will be
shared.
Robert Schiller
State Superintendent
of Education
statesup@isbe.net