M/T News - March 2008

March 2008 - Last updated 3/2/2008

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President's Message
Gary Ganje, MEMO President
Gary.Ganje@isd742.org

It was great to see so many MEMO members at Legislative Day in St. Paul. Even though it is a bonding year, there are a number of items moving through the legislature pertaining to MEMO. Many of the MEMO/MLA planks are being addressed in proposed bills.

One bill to watch pertains to the work of the technology task force that was convened over the summer. The task force was comprised of school technology staff, school administrators, legislators, and staff from the Minnesota Department of Education. The task force focused on the types of standards that could be put into place in instructional technology, technology tools, shared services, data practices, data management, and physical facilities. Elements of each type of standard are as follows:

1. Instructional technology – 21st skills for students and staff
2. Technology tools – support for teaching and learning, accessibility, support for online assessment, equipment quality/refresh cycle, digital content/software licensing
3. Shared services – network administration, data/system administration, work station administration, data collection/submission
4. Data practices – technical security, data privacy, internet safety
5. Enterprise data management – horizontal/vertical interoperability, operational/analytical processing, data exchange
6. Physical facilities – wiring, bandwidth

Since the inception of the MEMO Technology SID, members of the SID have worked towards cooperative ventures and sharing of ideas. There have been standing committees within the SID that mirror the six items listed above. The work of this task force, builds upon the practices of the Tech SID. Often standards are viewed in a negative light. However, the standards that are being proposed from this task force will bring all our schools into a system that will enable efficient and effective delivery of services.

CALL FOR PRESENTATION PROPOSALS - 2008 MINNESOTA E-LEARNING SUMMIT
***Due: Wednesday, March 5, 2007***

May 21-22, 2008 Normandale Community College, Bloomington, MN

SUBMITTING YOUR PRESENTATION IS EASY -- At the MN GTS website (http://www.mngts.org/), you will find: Request for Presentation Proposals Brochure (pdf --designed to print & fold) Provides an overview of the event and details related to submitting your proposal. Proposal Application Form (Word document) This easy-to-use form enables you to submit your proposal quickly and conveniently. Simply open it up, fill it out, save it to your computer, and return as an attachment. FOR MORE INFORMATION please contact Rich Spencer, Project Leader, Government Training Services (GTS) Phone: 651/222-7409, ext 201 E-mail: rspencer@mngts.org

TIES 2008 Coordinators Conference

More than 90 technology coordinators, network administrat ors, technology specialists and others responsible for school district technology from across the state came together in St. Cloud on February 6 and 7 at the TIES 2008 Coordinators Conference to share ideas and strategies. Sen. Terri Bonhoff, vice chair of the Minnesota Senate Finance - E-12 Education Budget Division, was among the speakers at the conference. Presentation materials and photos are available at the conference wiki, which can be linked to from http://www.ties.k12.mn.us/Conferences.html.

TIES 2007 Conference resources

Presentation handouts and more from the TIES 2007 Education Technology Conference are available at http://www.ties.k12.mn.us/Conferences.html. At this web site, you can also hear retired Bloomington Supt. Gary Prest’s inspiring speech about teachers and Gov. Tim Pawlenty’s video message, and check out the TIES Exceptional Teachers and the contest winners.

Legislative Update - 2/28/08
Elaine Keefe, Capitol Hill Associates
elaine@capitolhillassoc.com

Here is an update on the latest legislative action:

LMS Bill: SF 3157, our bill to require every school to have a licensed library media specialist, was heard yesterday in the Senate Education Committee. After a spirited debate, the bill was defeated on a divided voice vote. We knew that this bill was controversial. Legislators are loathe to impose an unfunded mandate on schools at a time when school budgets are extremely tight. However, this was a first step in educating legislators about the positive impact that library media specialists have on student achievement and about the cuts that school media programs have suffered in recent years. Our testifiers included Doug Johnson, Linda Wise, four students from St. Paul Humboldt High School (a big thank you to Leslie Yoder for arranging for the students to testify), Jill Hietala, a parent and a student from Tower-Soudan School (thank you to Jill for recruiting them), and Lisa Finsness. They all did an excellent job. I also want to commend our chief author, Senator Kathy Saltzman (DFL - Woodbury), who showed courage in advocating for an unpopular bill because she believes in our cause. She spoke eloquently about the value of library media specialists, and refused to back down in the face of pointed criticism from committee members.

Please take the time to write to Senator Saltzman and thank her for her efforts on our behalf. She can be contacted at sen.kathy.saltzman@senate.mn or 306 State Capitol, St. Paul, MN 55155.

Bonding Bill: On Tuesday evening the Senate Capital Investment Committee unveiled the Senate's bonding bill. The bill includes $1 million for Library Accessibility and Improvement Grants. We had made a big push for a higher amount, but it is a very difficult year and the competition for funding in the bonding bill has been extremely fierce. More than $4 billion in requests were submitted for a bill that spends $1 billion. I am hopeful that the House bonding bill, which will be released Monday, will include a higher amount for libraries.

Three of the four academic library projects that are supported on the MLA/MEMO platform received funding, but the amounts provided were less than had been requested. Here is a breakdown:

• Northland Community and Technical College: Amount requested: $7.8 million Amount included in the Senate bonding bill: $5.2 million
• Minnesota State Community and Technical College, Moorhead: Amount requested: $2.8 million Amount included in the Senate bonding bill: $1,6667,000
• Hennepin Technical College: Amount requested: $2.4 million Amount included in the Senate bonding bill: not funded
• Minnesota State University Moorhead: Amount requested: $700,000 Amount included in the Senate bonding bill: $267,000

State Economic Forecast: The forecast was released this morning, and it projects a state budget deficit of $935 million. This is grim news. The longer term outlook is also a concern. The forecast projects a deficit of $1.1 billion in the next biennium (state fiscal years 2010-2011). If inflation were included, that deficit would rise to $2.1 billion. The Governor will be releasing his budget proposal in the near future, and it is sure to contain painful budget cuts. Legislative leaders have also indicated that they intend to solve the deficit with spending cuts rather than tax increases.

K-12 Technology Standards: This morning the House E-12 Education Committee heard HF 3470, a bill authored by Rep. Ryan Winkler (DFL - Golden Valley) to establish a Minnesota Educational Technology Task Force (METT) to continue the work of the K-12 Technology Task Force that was convened last year by the Minnesota Department of Education. MEMO members Patrick Plant and Gary Ganje served on this task force, and the MLA/MEMO platform endorses its recommendations. The charge of the METT is to develop technology standards for K-12 schools. (Our hope is that this will provide the impetus for legislators to then provide funding for schools to meet the technology standards after they have been established). Patrick Plant testified in favor of the bill. It passed and was referred to the House Governmental Operations Committee.