Access, 7.22.07

Because ignorance is not a sound education policy.	Access
	Edition #140, July 22, 2007
"The real reason to resist political correctness is that it stifles communication. Too much political correctness makes it impossible to actually talk about anything." Steve Shives, American Chronicle, April 9, 2007           Next School Board Meeting is at 5:30 on August 14th.	Community Educators Credit Union (CECU) has agreed to reimburse new teachers or employees of any public or private school in Brevard for the initial cost of their fingerprinting. CECU is a great partner and thank you, David Brock.   Argosy University will be offering classes in Brevard County for the first time this fall and will offer scholarships to all faculty, staff and administrators who enroll. Argosy offers accredited degree programs leading to a M.A., Ed.S. or Ed.D. degree in the fields of Educational Leadership, Instructional Leadership, Higher Education, School or Guidance Counseling, and School Psychology. For more information, contact Dr. Janet Wynn at 242-8457 or attend an information session in the Media Center of Rockledge High School on August 14th at 7:30 p.m.   Brevard's BPS-TV is one of three winners in the Alliance for Community Media's annual Hometown Video Festival. The award recognizes the highest quality community programming and access channel operations in America. BPS-TV was selected as the best in the Overall Excellence in Educational Access category for channels with budgets between $200K and $499K per year. Congratulations to Scott Carrico and his team for again demonstrating that Brevard is among the nation's best.   Brevard School Board Member Dr. Barbara Murray has received the Jefferson Award for her CARE to Read program that utilizes therapy dogs to motivate at-risk children. Congratulations to Dr. Murray and her dogs for this outstanding achievement.   Brevard Public Schools' Summer Opportunities for Acceleration and Remediation (SOAR) concluded in June with an increased participation of 5 percent, or more than 800 students over last year's program. Statistics indicate that 8,248 elementary, 3,652 middle, and 4,588 high school students took advantage of the summer program. Total participation for 2007 was logged at 16,488 students.   Brevard's school cafeterias served more than 9 million meals in the last school year!   I am looking for a Brevard resident with audit experience to serve as a volunteer on our Audit Committee. The job is to take a macro look at the Brevard Schools finances and to make recommendations for detailed examinations to our audit contractors. The time commitment is an afternoon quarterly.   No fewer than 38 Brevard employees were involved in the orderly closure of the Explorer Charter School during the final weeks of the 2006-2007 school year. The failure of any charter school has a huge impact on students, parents and the school district. Expect Brevard to raise the bar for charter applicants and existing schools to maintain focus on job 1 – student academic achievement.   Brevard Public Schools has been notified by the Florida Department of Education to plan for a 4% shortfall in revenues or $12M for Brevard. The shortage is driven by a significant downturn in the construction industry. The legislature pledged to hold education harmless from cuts resulting from tax reform. If Gov. Crist calls a special revenue session, voters will be able to assess the legislature's commitment in action.   The tax reforms passed by the Legislature have forced county and municipal governments to review services as they seek ways to cut costs. One area to cut services is school crossing guards. Although the school districts have been asked to fund these public safety positions, it is a county/municipal responsibility including their training role. The county/municipality has statutory authority to raise funds (e.g. through traffic citations). The school Boards have no revenue source or ability to create a revenue source.   "Because of property tax reform, the county's aggregate operating tax rate tentatively drops 7.9 percent, while operating revenue from property taxes drops about 4 percent, to $222.4 million. How much would that save a typical homeowner in unincorporated Brevard on their county tax bill? About five bucks on average." (Florida Today, July 17) I got all excited and was going to treat myself to a burger, fries and shake, supersized. Then I received a hearing notice from the County Commission advising me of a $265 Fire Services Assessment. Which means that the "property tax reform" has cost me $260 per year so far. Not sure if I can stand much more savings.   "Sixty-nine percent of Florida public schools earned an A or B this year in statewide grades issued last month. Yet only one-third achieved AYP [Adequate Yearly Progress under NCLB]." (The Times Union) Approximately 51% of Brevard's schools achieved AYP despite our high percentage of A and B schools. Only the Florida Legislature can align Florida's A+ Program and the federal No Child Left Behind Act. Continued failure to address this problem will continue to adversely impact Florida's high skills, high wages jobs. Education is an economic issue.   Summer vacation was over and my son had returned to school. Only two days later Principal Cindi phoned to tell me that Steven was misbehaving. "Wait a minute," I said. "I had Steven for three months and I never called you when he misbehaved!"   Larry E. Hughes Parent, Citizen LarryHughes@ourflorida.info (321) 724-4203   No public resources were used in the creation or transmission of this email.   Please distribute to friends or neighbors who are interested in Public Schools. If they would like to subscribe, please send an email to LarryHughes@OurFlorida.info with the word "subscribe" in the Subject line. If you do not wish to receive this information, please reply with the word "unsubscribe" in the Subject line. I apologize for any inconvenience I may have caused you.