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The State Board of Education today forwarded the fall
Waiver Report to the General Assembly with 33 requests, including two
that the Board recommend be denied and one that would be limited to only
two years instead of five.
The 30 waiver requests forwarded to the General Assembly
without comment include:
- 9
physical education requests,
- 6
parent-teacher conference requests,
- 4
school improvement/inservice training requests,
- 3
driver education fees requests,
- 2
administrative cost cap requests,
- 2
non-resident tuition requests,
- 2
tax levy requests,
- 1
teacher evaluation request, and
- 1
substitute teacher request.
The two requests recommended for denial were:
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the Boone/Winnebago Regional Learning Academy request to count as full
days of attendance any sessions of not less than three-and-a-half clock-hours
for some students who attend this regional safe school and still be
able to receive general state aid for a full school day. In its application,
the Boone/Winnebago Regional Office of Education states that not all
of its students were able to attend a five clock-hour day on a regular
basis.
At issue in the
State Board’s decision was whether students receive an appropriate
amount of instructional time and whether that could be balanced with
service learning or other community-based educational opportunities.
- the
Sauk Village Consolidated School District 168 requests to renew a five-year
waiver that allowed physical education every other day for students
in kindergarten through grade 5. In its renewal, the district also requested
that students in grades 6, 7, and 8 be allowed to substitute computer
instruction for daily physical education for a 9-week period.
Figuring
into the Board’s decision were the district’s 2002 physical
development and health ISAT results submitted with the waiver request.
The results showed that only 56 percent of students in grade 4 met or
exceeded standards for physical development and health during 2002.
For students in grade 7, the percentage dropped to 46.
The
Board also voted to send the physical education waiver request from Fisher
Community Unit School District 1 to the General Assembly with a recommendation
that the request be approved for only two years instead of five. The district
requested the five-year waiver in order to excuse its high school band
students from physical education classes.
In
a presentation to the Board, Fisher Superintendent Terry Milt outlined
relatively short-term staffing and program problems that also precipitated
the district’s need for waiver to avoid being out of compliance
with state law. With the additional information, the Board amended its
motion to deny the waiver and instead recommended that the General Assembly
limit the length of the waiver to two years instead of the five requested.
Waivers
of School Code Mandates: Fall 2002 Summary Report
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