This week’s message
comes one day early in anticipation of anyone who may be taking time off for the
holiday weekend.
Well it’s July
1st and the news here is that we have started Fiscal Year 2005
without a budget. I realize how this affects your ability to plan your own
spending for the next school year accordingly and am hopeful that there will
soon be a final resolution.
In the meantime I do
have good news for what will happen this month. This afternoon both chambers of
the General Assembly approved a 30-day interim budget that provides sufficient
operations to continue for critical state agencies.
The measure now
awaits the Governor’s signature.
In terms of elementary
and secondary education, the measure provides sufficient appropriation authority
to the Illinois State Board of Education to pay its July programs to school
districts and Regional Offices of Education (ROEs) as well as fund agency
operations. Please note that the Regional Safe Schools and the ROE services
line was not included in the interim budget; however, ROE salaries will be
paid. This will also ensure our ability to pay districts who receive funds
under the Extended Learning Opportunities (Bridges) program (see page 9 of
the following document: http://www.isbe.net/budget/house_approp.pdf).
Despite the interim
budget it is obvious that the process is fluid when it comes to what will happen
for elementary and secondary education funding for next
year.
I also wanted to let
you know the advanced 23rd and the 24th General State Aid
payments and reimbursements for the Mandated Categorical Grants have been paid
over the past ten days by the Comptroller’s office. For those districts that
receive funds through an intermediary authority, please check with them if you
have not yet received those payments.
With these last GSA
payments, some of you may have noticed that the Hold Harmless portion was
prorated. We spent the last six months requesting a supplemental appropriation
to cover the $7.6 million shortfall. It failed to gain approval last month. We
are hopeful that the General Assembly may reconsider and approve the measure,
which would allow us to reimburse those affected
districts.
As always as soon as
there is a final FY05 budget to share with you, I will pass it on. I hope each
of you has an enjoyable Independence Day weekend.
Robert
Schiller
State
Superintendent
of
Education
Today’s message
includes:
·
Student Assessment Data
Verification
·
Assessment Frameworks
Update
·
2004 Report Card 986-43 Data
Collection Now Available
·
NCLB Title Programs Performance
Reports
·
Prekindergarten At-Risk Program
Evaluation Report for FY03
·
Nonpublic Facility Placement Contract
– Form 19-83
·
NCLB newsclips from other
states
·
Newsclips
Student Assessment Data
Verification
The first window for
verifying 2004 state assessment data on Pearson’s Schoolhouse system closed on
Monday, June 28. By this date,
district superintendents were to have reviewed and approved demographic data
that were collected on answer documents of tested students and
first-day-of-testing enrollment data that were previously entered by districts
on SchoolHouse (March 22-May 21).
During the second
correction window (July 27-August 21), district superintendents will be able to
review preliminary school and district score reports—for ISAT, PSAE, IMAGE, and
IAA—and, if desired, print reports for local use. Any requests from schools or districts
to rescore tests for individual students should be made during this period. District superintendents will also be
able to review and make any additional needed corrections to enrollment and
student demographic data. However,
to make these changes during this second window, district superintendents will
need to request special access by calling Pearson at 800-627-7990, state code
814.
AYP participation
will be recalculated for every school after the first correction window closes,
and a recalculated Preliminary AYP Participation Report will be available for
review on SchoolHouse during the second correction window (July 27- August
21st). All districts will need to
look at their data during this window and approve the
recalculation.
When the second window closes on
August 21, only data that have been approved by the district superintendent in
SchoolHouse—and that did not subsequently change, which requires reapproval—will
be used to produce final score reports and to calculate final AYP
participation.
There will be NO additional
opportunities after August 21 for district superintendents to review and approve
their 2004 state assessment data. If you
have questions, feel free to contact the Student Assessment Division at
217/782-4823.
Assessment Frameworks
Update
The Assessment
Frameworks are the blueprints for the state tests that will be designed and
administered beginning in 2006.
These frameworks are not intended to be the curriculum guide but instead
provide districts with guidelines to what and when areas of the Illinois State
Standards will be assessed.
The Frameworks were
posted last spring in order to move the process along in our test design
process. Through this process,
however, practitioners have had input and guidance on items and focus in these
documents. Therefore, the
Student Assessment Division is in the process of including this input for the
Frameworks in writing, math and science.
We will put these revised documents on the website in the near future for
districts use.
We appreciate
greatly the input and work that we have received from practitioners around the
state in order to provide frameworks that reflect the standards. Again, if you have questions, please
contact the Student Assessment division.
2004 School Report Card 986-43 Data
Collection Now Available
The School Report
Card data collection form 86-43, is now available
through IWAS. The due date for submitting the data to ISBE is August
16, 2004. If you have questions, please call the
NCLB Title Programs Performance
Reports
Attention
superintendents: As of June 30, approximately 400 districts have not completed
and submitted the required NCLB Title Programs Performance Report for school
year 2002-2003. If your district received any funds from Title I, Title II,
Title IV, or Title V in school year 2002-2003, the report must be completed
by July 16. Failure to do so may
cause funds for 2004-2005 to be frozen. If you have any questions, please call
the System of Support at 217-524-4832
Prekindergarten At-Risk Program
Evaluation Report for FY03
The PreKindergarten
At-Risk Program Evaluation report for fiscal year 2003 is now available on line
at http://www.isbe.net/research/pdfs/prek_evaluation.pdf
Nonpublic Facility Placement Contract
– Form 19-83
Attention Directors
of Special Education: The ISBE Form
19-83 (Nonpublic Facility Placement Contract) is now available in a PDF format
on the ISBE Web site. This form can
be completed online and then printed.
This improvement to our online system was a direct result of input from
the field for a more “user-friendly” system. If you have any problems or questions,
please contact Chuck Seybold, Private Residential Placement Coordinator, at
217/782-5589. The form can be
accessed at: http://www.isbe.net/funding/pdf/19-83_nonpublic_facility.pdf
NCLB newsclips from other
states
http://www.isbe.net/news/2004/newsclips/040701_nclb.htm
Newsclips