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The State's admirable
efforts to improve the quality of education for all students cannot succeed if
school districts cannot succeed. The plethora of unfunded, expensive, and
in some cases non-productive mandates from the State Education Department are,
in many cases, counter-productive to success in meeting
the new standards.
EDUCATION REFORM
Eliminate specific seat time requirements for middle school subjects such as
technology, art, music, and home and career.
Eliminate time requirements for special subjects in grades K-6.
Consider other, less intrusive, more constructive ways to measure progress of
student learning. Then eliminate Grade 8 tests in social studies and science
as
well as Grades 4 and 5 tests in social studies and science. Fewer of such tests
would decrease the time and resources needed to train teachers to correct
tests
and to pay for substitute teachers needed to cover during the training and
correcting periods.
Revise physical education requirements K-12 to focus on physical health rather
then time spent in class.
Ease
curriculum mandates at the middle school level on subjects such as the Irish
potato famine and bicycle safety.
Provide high-performing districts with charter-school-type mandate relief.
SAFETY
Modify the fingerprinting regulations to align them with time requirements for
SED processing.
ATTENDANCE
Exempt districts with no attendance problems from the new attendance reporting
law.
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