SAM Members...Making a Difference!

by Kirk Miller, SAM Executive Director

Late winter/early spring has brought the vengeance of weather impacting our schools and communities all across the state.  Balancing the safety of your students and continuing the education of those students has been an administrator challenge in nearly all corners of our state.  Thank you administrators for your ability to weigh all of the local issues and to make decisions that are in the best interest of your students, schools, and community.  You are making a positive difference.

In March, your SAM association begins the evaluation of what is yet to be accomplished in the current year and planning for the 2019-20 school year.  The SAM Executive Board will be meeting in  March to review and take action on these big concepts that drive the work our association to support the needs of our members.  These decisions will be made with the SAM Strategic Plan providing guidance.

SAM Strategic Plan Goals

Leadership Involved in Decisions that Impact Education:  SAM affiliate members modeling and promoting the highest levels of professionalism, integrity, and leadership actively engage in impactful discussions on education.

Advocacy:  SAM members will be equipped with accurate information and prepared to use it to advocate for public education.

Professional Learning and Services:  SAM will extend and expand the professional learning delivery system using the expertise of the SAM affiliate’s, as well as other service providers through professional development, mentorship, and other member services.

SAM members are at the table assisting in decision making on many, many topics that will impact the education of our students.  Those of you providing this expertise and effort - Thank You … You are Making a Difference!

In this Bulletin, you can read about SAM’s advocacy during the 2019 Legislative Session.  You will note that I have boldly stated that we have accomplished about 90% of the SAM advocacy priorities in the first half of this session.  That has only happened as a result of our members working on advocacy through the SAM Legislative Network 2019 – Thank You … You are Making a Difference!

February professional learning opportunities included the MCEC Conference 2019 for our MCASE members and administrators working with exceptional children, and the MACSS Mid-Winter Conference 2019 for our County Superintendents to discuss key education issues and learn together.  Both of these Conferences were well attended (even with the extreme weather).  Note that in March the MT-PEC Day of Advocacy (3/18), MASS Spring Conference 2019 (3/19) and METATechED Conference 2019 (3/18-19) are planned with outstanding agendas for learning together and building relationships for future success.  I hope you will register and attend these opportunities.  For all of our SAM members pursuing professional learning – Thank You … You are Making a Difference!

Our SAM office team wishes you great success in all you set off to accomplish in March and for the end of the 2018-19 school year.  Contact us if we can assist you in Making a Difference! 

SAM Legislative Mid-Session Update 

Saturday, March 2 will be Day 45 and mark the halfway point of the 66th Legislative Session. It's been extremely busy with the schedule changing almost daily leading up to the last day to transmit general bills for the session.  

SAM Followed Bills 3-1-19 are up to 110 with 257 bill drafts being monitored.  SAM Followed Bills Priority Status 3-1-19 describes the status of bills under the SAM advocacy priorities – Support Adequate and Equitable School Funding (21 bills), Support Recruitment and Retention of Quality Educators (5 bills), Oppose Privatization with Public Funds (0 bills), Support Facility and Technology Infrastructure (4 bills), Support School-Based Mental Health Services (5 bills), and a new category of Other SAM Followed Bills (29 bills).  Please review SAMLN19 Legislative Update 9 3-1-19 and listen to Podcast Week 9 for the most current legislative information. At the Transmittal Break, SAM has provided testimony 54 times in Committees on 39 different Bills. See the 2019 Legislative Session – SAM Testimony Log.

I would like to thank the SAM Legislative Network 2019 for quickly reacting to the Call to Action requests that have taken place so far and to the SAM Membership for contacting their legislators when necessary.  Your collective voice has made an impact on legislators and their decision making. HB 27 (Revise special education funding), HB 225 (Revise school laws related to inflation, preschool, and special education), SB 297 (Revise laws related to school elections involving property taxes), SB 298 (Referendum to revise laws related to school elections involving property taxes).  We have heard directly from legislators that they appreciate the emails they receive from constituents in their districts, especially those that include personal stories of what is happening in education across the state as told by Montana administrators.  I expect to continue to request your communication with your legislators throughout the last half of the session.

The following SAM supported bills have been signed by the Governor:  HB 61 (Bedey) Revise school data privacy laws, SB 10 (Salomon) Revise school funding related to major maintenance aid, SB 16 (Salomon) Revise school funding related to special education joint boards,  SB 11 (Salomon) Clarify age requirements related to the definition of pupil to include 5-Year Olds – all of these bills were supported by SAM.  HB 159 (Grubbs) Generally revise education funding laws was signed into law by the Governor on Wednesday, 2-27-19 leading to school districts being able to estimate their budgets for the 2019-20 school year.  OPI sent the FY 2020 Preliminary Budget Data Sheets to all school districts on Thursday, 2-28-19.  These early accomplishments can be characterized as accomplishing about 90% of our SAM priorities for advocacy in the 1st half of the 2019 legislative session!

SAM Advocacy Priorities Positions Resolutions were voted on by the SAM membership on October 19, 2018 and are the culmination of approximately two years of work and provide the five advocacy priorities.  The SAM Delegate Assembly process provides the opportunity for SAM to have one voice and powerfully get through the SAM advocacy package. Individual school districts may disagree with pieces of the advocacy package, but the SAM Advocacy Priorities, Positions, and Resolutions have been vetted by the SAM membership, which includes administrators from all areas of education, and provide advocacy that is best for education as a whole and help effect in a positive way the education of the students in Montana.  

To stay up to date on the legislative session and the status of SAM followed bills, I encourage you to visit the 2019 Legislative Session page on the SAM website.

Kirk

In our joint efforts of advocacy for our public schools and students, we ask trustees and administrators to travel to Helena to speak with legislators about the issues facing Montana's public schools. We invite you to register and bring your student trustee or student council leader. 

We will begin the day with a panel discussion with the leaders of MT-PEC, followed by a luncheon in the Montana State Capitol Rotunda with legislators. A reception with legislators will be held at MTSBA Headquarters to conclude this day of advocacy.

Nominations are open until March 15th for the 2018-19 SAM Youth Endowment.  The purpose of the School Administrators of Montana Youth Endowment is to make a positive impact on the youth of Montana by providing financial assistance to benefit children’s health, welfare, and/or education.

The Consortium for School Networking (CoSN) and its state affiliate chapter, Montana educational Technologists Association (META) are pleased to continue to support the work of current and aspiring superintendents and district leadership teams in leading all aspects of digital learning transformations.  Last month we addressed the issues involved with leading and successfully implementing online assessments. 

This month we focus on the topic of Accessibility. As learning environments continue the move toward digital learning settings, it is critical that everyone involved in student learning has ready access to all essential learning tools and materials. CoSN is pleased to provide school leaders (and all the stakeholders they serve) with five compelling steps to take now to ensure accessibility. You are welcome to access the CoSN One-Pager Document on Accessibility.

CoSN has partnered with edWeb to provide a monthly webinar series on topics essential for leading digital transformations. School superintendents serve as panelists on each webinar and share their stories and expertise. Every webinar is recorded for viewing by those who are not able to join the live broadcast. The title of the March 11, 2019 webinar (scheduled for 5:00 pm ET) is “Accessibility: Effective, Equitable Learning Environments for All Students”.  Learn more and register for this free webinar HERE.

If your school or district would like more information about joining CoSN or getting more involved with CoSN, please contact Brian Calvary, CAE, CoSN Director of Membership and Chapters, at  [email protected].