The National School Boards Association, the American Association of School Administrators, and the National Education Association recently announced that they worked together to develop 11 Guiding Principles to be used by local leaders who participate in the U.S. Department of Education’s Teacher Incentive Fund (TIF) Grant Program. The principles are designed to offer guidance to members of all three organizations.
The principles encourage collaboration between school boards, administrators, and teacher organizations in the development of incentive plans, adequate and sustainable funding for such plans, and research-based plans that include multiple measures of performance and improve student achievement.
Since 2006, the TIF program has provided grants to states, school districts, and partnerships to allow them to experiment with incentive compensation models in schools.
Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott recently issued an opinion prohibiting school districts from processing payroll deductions for contributions to political action committees, saying the Texas Legislature has never authorized school districts to use their resources, including personnel, to process such payments. The Texas Education Code does allow deductions for “membership fees or dues to a professional organization.”
“Because the Legislature has not expressly or impliedly authorized school districts to process payroll deductions for contributions to political action committees such as TSTA-PAC or NEA-Fund, Texas law prohibits school districts from processing such contributions,” Abbott said. “The Legislature’s decision not to authorize school districts to process payroll deductions or contributions to political action committees would likely withstand a constitutional challenge.”
Texas teacher organizations were critical of Abbott’s decision. “This practice, which promotes a school employee’s constitutional right to political participation, has been going on for 20 years without any problem,” said TSTA’s Public Affairs Director Richard Kouri. “We can only conclude that Attorney General Abbott is playing politics in an election year by impeding teachers’ First Amendment rights.”
The opinion was requested on behalf of Rep. Leo Berman of Tyler, who has vowed to file a lawsuit if school districts don’t stop processing payments to TSTA-PAC or NEA-Fund.
TASB’s Legal Division has developed a list of frequently asked questions 
to help districts respond to the opinion.
The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) recently announced it has opted to delay enforcement of the “red flags” rule on identity theft which applies to employer-provided benefit accounts that use debit cards at the request of some members of Congress. The intent of the delay is to allow Congress to consider legislation that would affect the scope of entities covered by the rule. As we reported in June’s HR Exchange, the rule was set to go into effect on June 1.
FTC Chairman Jon Leibowitz urged Congress to act quickly to pass legislation to resolve any questions as to which entities are covered by the rule.
In late May, the Central Falls, Rhode Island, school board agreed to allow teachers at the city’s struggling high school to keep their jobs. Earlier in the year, the board opted to fire the entire school staff in an effort to turn the school around. The high school is one of the lowest performing schools in the state and serves a large population of impoverished students.
Under a new deal approved by the teachers’ union, rehired teachers will teach for seven hours—30 minutes longer each day—and will be required to spend an hour tutoring students each week and to eat lunch with students once a week. They will also be subject to more rigorous evaluations. The school’s principal was not rehired.
The firings came after two months of failed negotiations in which teachers asked for additional pay for longer work hours and tutoring time. The district and the union could not agree on a pay rate. With the help of a mediator, the district has agreed to pay each teacher an additional $4,800 for the extra duties.
—“Central Falls education battle ended around dining-room table,” by Jennifer D. Jordan, The Providence Journal, May 18, 2010.
—“All teachers fired at Rhode Island school,” by Randi Kaye, CNN Web site, March 23, 2010.
The Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) recently reported that the volume of penalties for serious and technical violations related to completing I-9 forms in fiscal year (FY) 2010 is expected to far exceed the FY 2009 number.
The increase in violations began in April 2009, when U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) initiated new worksite compliance strategies that included inspection of Form I-9.
SHRM reports that ICE now uses forensic auditors trained in accounting to find paperwork errors. Oversights or mistakes in filling out the I-9 form may be viewed by auditors as substantive violations. As a result, employers are advised to do the following:
Many of the businesses ICE inspects are chosen based on employee reports of illegal aliens being hired.
—Federal Enforcers Wield Big Sticks, by Beth Mirza, Society for Human Resource Management Web site, May 14, 2010.
—“ICE Assistant Secretary John Morton announces 1,000 new workplace audits to hold employers accountable for their hiring practices,” Department of Homeland Security ICE press release, Nov. 19, 2009.
After six years of study, the National Research Council has concluded that there’s not enough evidence to suggest that teachers who go through alternative certification programs are less qualified than those who go through traditional college-based teacher preparation programs. “Now we can see that we’ve looked at the best available evidence, and the evidence suggests that there are not significant differences,” said Ellen Condliffe, chairwoman of the 24-member panel.
The number of alternative certification programs in operation nationwide has grown exponentially in the last 20 years, and Texas is no exception. More than half of the teaching certificates earned in Texas are for candidates prepared by alternative certification programs.
The panel noted that the lack of solid evidence to definitively end the teacher preparation debate reflects the generally thin field of research on how to best prepare the nation’s teachers. The report suggests a more fruitful line of research: comparing particular aspects of such programs, such as the timing of students’ field experiences, the level of teachers’ content knowledge, program selectivity, and how program graduates affect K-12 student learning.
—“Panel Finds No Favorite in Teacher-Prep Pathways,” by Debra Viadero, Education Week Web site, April 29, 2010.
The U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) now offers a new online tool to help employers ensure that their employment policies and practices do not discriminate against qualified individuals with disability. The Disability Nondiscrimination Law Advisor is an easy way for employers to determine which federal disability nondiscrimination laws apply to their business or organization and understand their responsibilities under them.
The advisor can also help employees, job applicants, and people applying for or participating in federally funded programs learn more about their rights under these laws. In addition, it includes an online guide on employing people with disabilities.The guide outlines resources available to help employers comply with disability nondiscrimination laws.
The Disability Nondiscrimination Law Advisor is the latest in a series of “e-laws advisors” developed by the DOL.
