PRIORITIES

Efforts to decrease chronic absenteeism and holding parents more accountable is welcomed and we seek to be a part of the conversation with the General Assembly on how to responsibly address this problem and plan to offer suggestions to address this issue.

It is the hope of the Coalition that the General Assembly will clarify what fees are currently permissible to be charged to parents in areas such as consumable materials, lab fees, gym uniforms, musical instruments and co-curricular fees, as examples.

The Coalition asks that the General Assembly consider the addition of a growth factor within the funding formula for schools that experience substantial community growth which would address their unique increased additional costs each year.

The Coalition recognizes that improving Third Grade reading scores and overall literacy must be a priority and intends to work in cooperation with the General Assembly, and the Department of Education, and provide suggestions and strategies of how to approach this problem.

The language in the referendum question needs to be revised to more accurately reflect the fiscal increase or decrease for the taxpayer or a business within the school district.

The Coalition is grateful for past bills that have reduced duplication of reporting requirements to multiple agencies, and we encourage more efforts to be included in bills to further reduce duplication and obsolete laws still active in Title 20. The Gateway system is recommended for posting of all reports.

A review of the TIF statute is necessary to determine that it is meeting original intents and not negatively affecting certain local governmental units, including schools.

The Coalition recommends that no new unfunded mandates be passed by the General Assembly.