So, I would like to call the uh meeting of the ISD 191 uh school board legislative committee uh to order. Uh the date is January 20th uh 2026 and the time is 6:00. Uh thank you for anyone here uh in person and watching online. Um, we are going to be reviewing the legislative platforms uh from AMSD and MSBA to uh kind of help to inform our suggestions for uh our initial draft and outline for the ISD 191 uh 2026 legislative platform uh to be brought forth uh before the uh entire school board for a um working session uh on Thursday's meeting. Um so, um at this point, uh thank you Dr. Daniels for being here to help to inform our discussion. I appreciate it. Um and uh so uh since our meeting uh in November, uh we now have the uh MSBA uh legislative uh platform um that uh is similar uh enough to the MSD uh platform and uh has similar kinds of comments. I think uh we'll kind of jump into uh the 191 draft uh maybe um outline here for our legislative platform. Um and uh one of the things that definitely with the list of you know everything boy we we would love to be uh pushing for and and and uh kind of aiming for uh everything that's on every list because you know we can never get enough. Um, but uh we have about 14 uh bullet points in our current uh draft and I'm kind of thinking it would be nice if we can narrow that down closer to last year's 10 by perhaps kind of combining a few of these >> um a little bit. >> Um and uh so that's that's my kind of goal in a way. I think all of the items uh in the draft outline are uh excellent. Um and uh one uh to add about special education uh would be a suggestion. Um but I'd like to see if Anry had anything in particular that you wanted to um address or discuss anything before we just kind of start going through the bullet point. I think um my concerns were the sim similar to your concerns and um as we kind of talked about the um which page is it on um taking the AMSD um wording for the cross subsid cross subsidies would be no um okay so with um priority one uh school safety uh definitely I think um that's top of mind for uh just about everyone um these days. And uh the first bullet point in our uh initial draft is to increase the safe schools levy to $100 per pupil uh for school districts in the then $35 per pupil for intermediate and cooperative districts. Uh this is coming from uh this is a suggestion or coming from the AMSD final draft as far as some of the wording. Um and my thought was that um when looking at the 191 priorities from last year's platform >> uh to continue uh being a part of our current platform. Uh we do have a bullet point there about increasing safe schools funding specifically to expand mental health supports. >> Right. Um I'm just wondering if we can kind of combine that bullet uh with the first one under priority number one in terms of because then in the additional notes we also have some details about um the implications of the increase. uh you know what it would mean to our district to move from the current $36 per pupil up to the 100 and the kinds of things that this could be used for. Can we kind of combine those three into kind of one bullet where it could be, you know, increasing safe schools levy to $100 per pupil, >> blah blah blah, you know, to enable the district to >> fund mental health initiatives, >> um, SRO's, cyber security, you know, kind of list maybe three or four of those things and and kind combine those three bullet points. >> Yes, >> got it. >> Agree. Um A B and then um the uh second bullet point under priority number one is to permit limited removal time uh with non-exclusionary discipline to support effective re-entry planning and maintain safe classrooms. Um definitely think that's great to keep and no real changes uh to that. Mhm. >> Um then under uh priority number two uh with stabilizing funding. >> Mhm. >> Um this also I thought was one uh with the first bullet uh that we could take advantage of combining a couple of bullets um where we have the increasing the L uh to restore purchasing power loss to inflation and index it to the general ed formula. And down in the N 191 priorities um that are rolling forward from last year, that very first bullet is also uh talking about increasing the peral allocation for um LTFM, lease levy, operating capital to account for inflation. >> So my thought is the common theme here is we want to offset and mitigate the effects of inflation. Mhm. >> So let's say you know mitigate the effects of inflation by increasing local operating revenue to restore purchasing power and index that to the general education formula along with increasing the per pupil allocation. you know, for long-term facilities maintenance, lease levy, and operating capital programs. Um, and that way we're kind of moving inflation to the front because that's kind of the common theme for those two. >> And that way we can kind of combine those two bullets into one. >> Okay. Um then um I think also that second bullet under stabilized funding uh with holding districts harmless for the revenue losses resulting from the compensation formula changes. um that that also is again kind of a roll forward from last year's uh platform that that's number three in that list with continue the Medicaid eligibility >> as the means of qualifying for the benefits, you know, and and holding districts harmless for the loss of the compensatory aid >> that that again we can combine those two that um holding districts harmless um by continuing Medicaid eligibility as a means of direct certification um and make the funding permanent uh to hold districts harmless from the revenue losses resulting from the recent compensatory changes. Mhm. >> Um kind of thinking that, you know, we can, >> you know, continue to cut some cut some bullet points >> with that. Um and then there's the uh third bullet, uh the funding tied to students open enrolling into other districts to remain in the resident district. Great. Think that's a fabulous idea. No, no changes or combinations with that that that I saw. Um and then uh the uh adding um the suggestion that uh director Anderson mentioned about uh re from the AMSD item under their stabilized education funding to repeal the contingent $250 million cut to special education cross subsidy reduction aid scheduled for the 2028 2028 9 uh bianium um to be able to restore that funding and um spec specifically for special ed so we're not having to rob it from the general fund >> from other sources sources since it is you know they're mandated services please allow us to fund those uh through special education uh allocations Um then with um priority three uh to reduce the mandates and restore local control. Um we have uh fully funding or repealing the summer employment insurance for non-licensed staff uh along with um provide funding for the employer premiums. uh and substitute staff costs associated with the new uh paid leave program or exempt school districts uh from the program. Um and finally uh addressing the testing requirements uh for students who opt out. Um, and I think that maybe changing the wording a little bit that addressing the testing like scores or measurement uh for students who opt out since it's it's really the the testing >> um >> you know measurement um where if a student opts out it's a score of zero. >> Um yes. And so it's really I think instead of the requirements, it's really the the measurement >> um to no longer uh include them as a zero uh for the score. Um as well as replacing the high school MCA exams with a nationally recognized college entrance exam. Um which I think definitely agree. Hey, if we can just use something that's like the ACTs, so it decreases uh the amount of testing and and uh so so many students take both the MCAs and the ACT. Hey, let's >> um use the ACTs and they can uh get it done all at once. >> Um although I'd kind of be interested to know, Dr. Daniels, your um kind of feedback since usually the ACT is taken in junior year >> and things like the MCA reading is taken in 10th grade. >> Mhm. >> Um and science is, you know, just sometime in high school. >> Yes. >> Um whether or not you feel the ACT at in 11th grade is too late. I'm just kind of curious. >> I don't think the ACT in 11th grade is is too late. >> Yeah. Um I think students >> to really get that feedback for for their reading skills. >> Well, I think that the more we implement um fast >> um and see um director um Amarie is nodding her head. [laughter] >> Director Anderson is nodding her head. >> I'll go back. Um but um the more we implement fast um at the high school level to really track how our students are growing um and making sure that we are um assessing in real time um certain times of the the school year to see how well our students are are doing. That's what's going to give us the real data to help us understand where our students are. Um that again the ACT is a snapshot in time. I don't think it's too late at the 11th grade level. However, I do think that there are things that we should be um transferring from elementary into secondary to continue to monitor how well our students are progressing around um certain standards that we know are rigorous and will be um very helpful for them to succeed in college and life. >> Yeah. Sure. >> Yeah. that we're through the that implementation we're definitely getting some other excellent ways of measuring progress and and skills and and everything that we won't have to rely on the MCA act or whatever kind of thing. That's great. Yeah, I was just you know >> not legislative platform necessarily related but it was [laughter] just a question curious since that timing what your thoughts were. Okay, great. Thank you. Thank you, director Amarie. >> Um, [laughter] nodding like >> um Okay. And so then, uh, what that would leave is also including, um, the, uh, perhaps under like for the enhanced support for programs that address staff shortages and help increase diversity, including grow your own grants and so forth. if we would want to uh put that up and um stabilize funding or where >> I guess maybe restore local control like where if we kept >> you know and and I think it's a great one to hear as far as enhancing support for programs that address the staff shortages which one of our other three priorities or to create a new And where that pellet would go, >> we could reword some of the priorities to be more inclusive if you wanted. >> Um, I have to go back. I'm sorry. I can we go back to something that was in priority number two? >> Oh, yes. No, I'm sorry. >> Funding tied to students open enrolling >> into other districts should remain in the resident district. Mhm. >> Um h how big of a priority is that for our district? We need to figure out what the entire platform is. When we think about the number of students um that we lose, we net lose students instead of net gain students. And so if we did have a priority around or it it was part of our legislative platform, a priority that we the money stays with the district instead of follows the child the child, which is a long shot, you know, it would just allow us to have more resources to support students. And so I think that contextually we would need to see all of their priorities. And this conversation we're having right now, that's the conversation we would have Thursday night to see if you know what >> does this rise to the top as a top priority to include in our legislative platform. >> But it would be of course financially prudent and um wise for us to advocate for something like that, especially since we lose more students than we gain. But after consulting with the board, we will find we will find out if it rises to the top as a top priority that we want to actually talk to legislators about. >> Okay. Thanks. >> Mhm. >> Yep. Yeah. I I think excellent point. Thank you. Um yeah, and then uh the only other bullet that we have left from last year's priorities that won't be combined or kind of moved around um is removing the 15-day state residency requirement for students enrolled in online school. Um so >> um so like last year we had a >> this is our last year >> um supporting all learners and addressing um inequity in education >> and there are lots of things on here that we could put under that. Mhm. >> You know what I mean? That kind of like where you could include the 15-day residency thing. You can include the um Oh, even the open enrolling thing that like this special ed thing. I don't know like if it was if it made sense to reorganize the wording of the priorities than to make it flow better on a paper. But is that something that we need to figure out or is that something um Aaron would figure out in his design? >> I think it's something that Aaron and I could work on figuring out and we just um also proposed that to the board Thursday night in the work session and >> figure out what you all would like. >> Yeah. And I think kind of absolutely to your point like the, you know, fully fund mandates and essential services instead of just reducing mandates and restoring local control, >> right? >> You know, cutting out the local control, >> that's not even I wouldn't I wouldn't even call that a priority, that phrase, >> right? That that >> we're just taking it from >> Yep. >> Um that fully fund the mandates and that could, you know, be the special ed cross subsidy. It could be um some of these other um items um or or fully fund um you know school initiatives and that way it could fit in like school safety or something and yeah >> um and what is the teacher licensing suggestion on there >> only because I think I was not hearing >> oh that that was a a possible suggestion >> but for what what is the suggestion about it? >> Let me go back to our notes from November. >> Sorry. >> Oh, let me see. >> Yeah, I remember what that was with tier one and tier two. >> Um the notes come up in the notes that are general for me to see are the same exact thing that's printed. >> So I don't know what exactly you talked about >> in that meeting. I'm not sure. >> Okay. Yeah. Let's see. >> I think it's something that came up when we were discussing the top concerns when we were walking through the 2026 MSBA legislative platform development >> according to my notes. Um but I don't have details about what we discussed. Okay. >> Mhm. >> That is not important enough. We got to we got to narrow it down. Okay. So, basically, yeah. What kind of background um and prep do you need to be able to teach? >> Well, as far as Yep. needs less prep, more progress in a teacher prep program. Being able to get teachers into the classroom faster when they have like a background in that subject kind of thing. It sounds like I already can get a tier one license just by saying I want one. [laughter] So >> get in the back. >> I'm just saying. >> Yeah. >> Got to get you in there pretty quick. That's just your substitute license routine. Anyway, his teeth. [sighs] Okay. Um >> Yeah. I don't know what that was. >> All right. So, I'm thinking hopefully that can get us down to, you know, a dozen or fewer. I think I think that'll keep us at about 10 to 12 >> um bullets at least. not quite as many. Um because especially if we included the additional notes, boy, that would have had us at 16. Um [laughter] we want everything in the basket. Um and um anything else as far as you know, again, the conversation around combining bullets or any other >> I don't need anything else. anything that I maybe was confusing or went too fast. >> Sarah will watch the video and >> yeah, >> track everything that was said. >> Trying [laughter] to follow anything that >> Right. Right. >> All right. Okay. Sounds good. >> Yeah. I think Yep. just uh we we leave it up to you to you know help to um categorize things in in a way that that makes sense because definitely the most important thing is um to have our various kind of bullets and we can organize them in any way that that makes sense. So we leave that up to your excellent judgment for for you and Aaron. >> I think we can handle that. >> Yes. [laughter] All right. All right. Well, uh, thank you very much for your time and it is now 6:23 just turned to 6:23 from 6:22 and I call this uh meeting of the legislative committee for ISD 191 a journal. >> Thank you, Director Mkelson and Director Amory. [laughter] >> That's like the new teachers coming in. They um they like