"In the End, we will remember not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends."
Dr. Martin L. King, Jr.
Dr. Martin L. King, Jr.
2015 Legislative Agenda
A RECAP:
It is the nature of each biennial legislative session to move very rapidly, bill drafts modified often, and legislative committees determining which bills they will hear in the very limited 120 days they have to pass legislation that impacts all of us. Therefore, it is extremely difficult to stay on top of the bill drafts most important to our agenda, and regularly update the agenda to reflect these bill modifications, introduction of new bill drafts, and those killed in committee.
Although the Legislative Committee leads in our overall effort, we rely heavily on each CCBC Committee to champion bills relative to their cause. With several committee meetings each day, being available to testify before the committee, submit memorandums of support or opposition, documentation to support our position, it is important that timely communication is received by those legislators on committee making the decision whether a bill moves forward with support or dies. This requires us to communicate quickly via email, phone calls, texts, and yes even twitter. Whatever it takes.
We want to thank CCBC members, community partners, and the community for showing up during our testimonies, sending emails, letters, etc. when necessary to move our position forward. However, recognizing this is 100% volunteer work and a labor of love we should recognize the following individuals/organizations for making time to show up in support (especially on the education bills) as needed to help push them through committees and for support from the floor votes. As volunteers, the extremely long hours of strategy meetings, phone calls, and testimony from Yvette Williams, Marsha Irvin, and Adam Johnson was far and beyond anyone's expectation. Their leadership was exceptional in charting through a very difficult session, but one that came with big rewards.
State Superintendent, Dale Erquiaga and his team listened to our pleads and understood our needs leading up to the legislative session. It was a pleasure to work with the NDOE on content for the bill drafts addressing proficiency gaps, English language proficiency for native speaking students, statewide literacy mandate to read by three years of age, keeping high performing teachers in our high risk schools, a plan of action for chronically low performing schools, flexibility in programs that address the needs of the students, cultural competency, and last but not least wrap around services. Although we still support per pupil funding this is a good start to reforming our education system in Nevada and address needs of students in poverty. We were touched by the Superintendent's heartfelt testimony before the legislature and thank him for being our champion for change.
The cooperation and support from Superintendent Pat Skorkowsky and the entire CCSD team was appreciated and without their research, data, and reports our testimony would not be possible. We are forever grateful to have such a dynamic team of professionals to work with. Dr. Tiffany Tyler from Nevada Partners and My Brothers Keeper along with Dr. Lisa Morris-Hibbler from City of Las Vegas, Sheila Lee from Communities In Schools, Victor Wakefield from Teach For America wowed the legislative education committee with their heartfelt testimony and consistently stood with us in support of SB432 Victory Schools legislation
A huge thanks to the CCBC members that traveled to Carson City to lobby for education reform and other bills included in our legislative agenda. Having a presence in the State building always sends a powerful message. We heard rumors of gloom and doom with the shift in leadership in Carson City, so we were pleasantly surprised to find Senator Becky Harris and Assemblywoman Melissa Woodbury, both chairs of their respective Legislative Education Committees warm and welcoming to our concerns. Both joined other members (approximately 75%) in supporting the Victory Schools and other education reform legislation. It was a big win for students this session and it was done with bi-partisan support. If only the US Congress would take a lesson from Nevada, maybe they'd get some real work done. Governor Sandoval's SOS in January 2015 really set the tone and expectation he had for education reforms in Nevada. It was so exciting to hear that finally Nevada would reconsider how they fund education and address equity for all students. You can find his speech on our website.
Of course we began work on this particular education agenda in June 2013, and with all of the efforts and committment of the CCBC Education Committee to the plan, we can celebrate today. An important part of building support is informing the community on the issues and the needs, identifying allies, and working with stakeholders on mutual goals. Events such as the Education Forum, AfAm Student Summit, etc help build those relationships. Additional coalition partners we'd also like to recognize for their advocacy and support of SB432, AB107, AB234, SB474, and SB391 include The Ministers Alliance, Nevada Succeeds, Latino Leadership Council, CCEA, and many others
It is the nature of each biennial legislative session to move very rapidly, bill drafts modified often, and legislative committees determining which bills they will hear in the very limited 120 days they have to pass legislation that impacts all of us. Therefore, it is extremely difficult to stay on top of the bill drafts most important to our agenda, and regularly update the agenda to reflect these bill modifications, introduction of new bill drafts, and those killed in committee.
Although the Legislative Committee leads in our overall effort, we rely heavily on each CCBC Committee to champion bills relative to their cause. With several committee meetings each day, being available to testify before the committee, submit memorandums of support or opposition, documentation to support our position, it is important that timely communication is received by those legislators on committee making the decision whether a bill moves forward with support or dies. This requires us to communicate quickly via email, phone calls, texts, and yes even twitter. Whatever it takes.
We want to thank CCBC members, community partners, and the community for showing up during our testimonies, sending emails, letters, etc. when necessary to move our position forward. However, recognizing this is 100% volunteer work and a labor of love we should recognize the following individuals/organizations for making time to show up in support (especially on the education bills) as needed to help push them through committees and for support from the floor votes. As volunteers, the extremely long hours of strategy meetings, phone calls, and testimony from Yvette Williams, Marsha Irvin, and Adam Johnson was far and beyond anyone's expectation. Their leadership was exceptional in charting through a very difficult session, but one that came with big rewards.
State Superintendent, Dale Erquiaga and his team listened to our pleads and understood our needs leading up to the legislative session. It was a pleasure to work with the NDOE on content for the bill drafts addressing proficiency gaps, English language proficiency for native speaking students, statewide literacy mandate to read by three years of age, keeping high performing teachers in our high risk schools, a plan of action for chronically low performing schools, flexibility in programs that address the needs of the students, cultural competency, and last but not least wrap around services. Although we still support per pupil funding this is a good start to reforming our education system in Nevada and address needs of students in poverty. We were touched by the Superintendent's heartfelt testimony before the legislature and thank him for being our champion for change.
The cooperation and support from Superintendent Pat Skorkowsky and the entire CCSD team was appreciated and without their research, data, and reports our testimony would not be possible. We are forever grateful to have such a dynamic team of professionals to work with. Dr. Tiffany Tyler from Nevada Partners and My Brothers Keeper along with Dr. Lisa Morris-Hibbler from City of Las Vegas, Sheila Lee from Communities In Schools, Victor Wakefield from Teach For America wowed the legislative education committee with their heartfelt testimony and consistently stood with us in support of SB432 Victory Schools legislation
A huge thanks to the CCBC members that traveled to Carson City to lobby for education reform and other bills included in our legislative agenda. Having a presence in the State building always sends a powerful message. We heard rumors of gloom and doom with the shift in leadership in Carson City, so we were pleasantly surprised to find Senator Becky Harris and Assemblywoman Melissa Woodbury, both chairs of their respective Legislative Education Committees warm and welcoming to our concerns. Both joined other members (approximately 75%) in supporting the Victory Schools and other education reform legislation. It was a big win for students this session and it was done with bi-partisan support. If only the US Congress would take a lesson from Nevada, maybe they'd get some real work done. Governor Sandoval's SOS in January 2015 really set the tone and expectation he had for education reforms in Nevada. It was so exciting to hear that finally Nevada would reconsider how they fund education and address equity for all students. You can find his speech on our website.
Of course we began work on this particular education agenda in June 2013, and with all of the efforts and committment of the CCBC Education Committee to the plan, we can celebrate today. An important part of building support is informing the community on the issues and the needs, identifying allies, and working with stakeholders on mutual goals. Events such as the Education Forum, AfAm Student Summit, etc help build those relationships. Additional coalition partners we'd also like to recognize for their advocacy and support of SB432, AB107, AB234, SB474, and SB391 include The Ministers Alliance, Nevada Succeeds, Latino Leadership Council, CCEA, and many others
