HB+1238+Ensuring+K-3+Literacy+Education



TO: Board of Directors, Unit Chairpersons, Local Presidents, All Association Staff

The House Education Committee will hear House Bill 1238 (Ensuring K-3 Literacy Education) tomorrow, Monday, March 12, at approximately 1:30 p.m. in the Old Supreme Court Chambers in the Capitol. At least three CEA members will testify for our Association.

Our position on the bill is Monitor-Amend. This means that we are not supporting or opposing the bill, as we are monitoring (“tracking” it) and working to get the bill amended.

As this is a very important bill for our members and our Association, we are sending you materials about it separately from a regular E-Leader. There has been a fair amount of media coverage of this bill, usually reporting that the bill is a “mandatory retention” bill and including information about the pros and cons of retaining students. HB 1238 is not a mandatory retention bill. CEA lobbyists and leaders have worked extensively with the bill’s sponsors to remove mandatory retention from the legislation. The bill, in its current form, addresses the possibility of retention only for a K-3 student who is diagnosed with a Significant Reading Deficiency. The bill requires the teacher and the parent of this student to meet (other school staff may participate) and determine if the student will advance to the next grade. The decision is made by the teacher and the parent. The bill also provides that for third graders with Significant Reading Deficiencies, the superintendent has the ability to approve or disapprove of this teacher-parent decision. There is a provision in the bill to allow a school board to approve its own retention policy.

The bill is attached. While it is long, it is worth reading.

Attached is a CEA Fact Sheet on HB 1238 for you to use with our members. It explains the bill, as well as how it is different than current law. It explains that HB 1238 would replace, not add to the current Colorado Basic Literacy Act, if the Legislature approves it. The document is in Word so that you can excerpt sections if you choose.

Attached is a flyer from some of the major groups supporting the bill. This will give you an idea of how they see the bill and what information they are using to promote its passage.

We are also communicating with various partners, including elected officials and business people, and selected media to expand awareness of our Association’s commitment to early literacy as a primary component of student achievement. As we will have more communications with you about HB 1238, we’ll send this partner/media communication with a future email about the bill.

We encourage you to communicate with K-3 teachers about HB 1238 and invite them to communicate with CEA lobbyists via our web site contact form at @http://www.coloradoea.org/contactus/comments.aspx We hope that K-3 teachers will send us a message about how they view the bill, their experiences with CBLA and their work in teaching students to read. We will ensure that all our members’ comments are logged and submitted to our lobby team.

As the bill gets underway at the Capitol, we will cover it on the CEA Capitol Connection blog where members can comment on the legislation and offer their suggestions at http://ceacapconn.wordpress.com. We may also engage members in a discussion about the bill and literacy issues on our Pathways to Achievement blog and our Facebook page. If we do so, we’ll alert you so you can pass the word to our members. Our lobbyists will send you updates about HB 1238 via the Action Line email which you get a few times each week. We will do our best to limit our communications about this bill, but want to let you know that you may receive more emails about it than you would about most legislation.

Karen Wick is the CEA Lobby Team’s lead on HB 1238.