2024 Regular Session - Day 51 - HCR 81, Rep. Ken Fleming

thank you Mr Speaker and leader for the opportunity to present uh house and current resolution 81 which establishes a task force to look at the governance of the board and efficiency and effectiveness of our largest school district so that we can provide our children the best opportunity to enter the workforce or attend college Mr Speaker could you have the clerk report um house committee substitute one to house current resolution 81 cler please report house committee substitute one to house concurrent resolution 81 gentleman Jefferson move for the adoption motion is the adoption of house committee substitute one there any discussion the committee substitute seeing none those in favor signify by voting I those oppose nay house committee substitute one is adopted gentleman from Jefferson thank you Mr Speaker you know over the years our largest school district faces many challenges such as widening achievement gaps Transportation issues safety of our teachers and children teacher shortage and many many other things and after talking to constituents and business Community parents and teachers there is systemic theme that something needs to change however we do not want to take a knee-jerk reaction we want to go through a systematic uh process in order to uncover what we need to uncover to help lift up Jefferson County Public Schools like uh like many organizations profit and nonprofit the board drives the policy and and looking at a three-phase approach to help JCPS first you may recall the office of educational accountability will be looking at school districts across the country pertaining to their governance models take in consideration the district organization District config uh configuration urban and rural settings interventions and population characteristics second the state auditor will be updating a 2014 audit report with targeted question such as costs and expense allocation between Administration and classrooms as well as safety and third that's the third uh approach to this and that is Task Force review the boards the district board's functionality policies Effectiveness efficiencies and helping our children to better prepare as they enter college or the workforce by combining these three approaches this 13 member task force will be able to centralized information as well as pull from many resources including public input educational re research organizations individuals business community and many others as a task force sees fit I am hopeful I am hopeful that through this process that the other districts throughout this Commonwealth will benefit from the reports and help uh with their districts as well this task force sets uh out 17 areas to review and this task force will be appointed by the lrc and consists of legislators individuals state auditor the mayor appointee business Community teachers and taxpayers with children in the system Mr Speaker I want to point out that there has been discussion to the superintendent as a member of this task force and since the superintendent has a contract and reports to the board who will be reviewing and voting on recom recommendation and as much as I like to have the superintendent on this I believe it might not be advisable for a perceived conflict of interest therefore in the current regul the current language remains that he can nominate three people Mr Speaker could you uh ask the clerk to report Flor amendment five to uh house and current resolution number 81 as um it clarifies what I've been saying all along and and unlike what's what's being out put out in the media the task force is going to look at all options and all options will basically include uh expanding the board reviewing the seel uh selection process and then yes even the children even looking at smaller districts that serve the children better so it's going to look at a comprehensive approach and not narrow on one particular any preconceived notion in terms of in terms of addressing what we need to do to help out with our with our kids and the teachers Mr Speaker by the end of this year this task force will provide a list of recommendations for the uh 2025 General Assembly to consider this list could include short and longterm um sorry short and long-term recommendations and our mission is to help teachers and to serve our children for the better of their future Mr Mr Speaker I will end where I began with over $220,000 being spent per student per year the outcomes we realize the outcomes but we want to help and not hinder schools because we want to put our children in the best position possible for them to excel