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Pensions, Health Care, SEBB, PEBB, Other… The legislative session has concluded, the Governor has acted, and now as the show goes on, districts have to adjust.

With the closure of our brick and mortar school buildings due to the coronavirus, access to the internet is becoming a necessity for all students. However, statistics at the Federal Communications Commission suggest that one in three households has no broadband access. As this article from The Verge states, “living with the coronavirus is going to reveal hard truths about the digital divide.” State and federal efforts are underway to change this.

We are quickly approaching the release of the State Board of Education (SBE) draft rules around the waiver process and potential graduation credit adjustments. According to the SBE timeline the draft is to be released on Wednesday, April 1st with the comment period ending Friday, April 3rd. This is a very quick turnaround and we want to make sure our collective voice is heard around the draft rules.

A change is coming in August 2020 that you don’t want to miss. The way schools collect immunization records and comply with immunization rules will be different beginning with the 2020-21 school year. Effective August 1, 2020, a state rule change will affect three areas of immunization compliance: The definition of “conditional status” has been clarified. Students must turn in their immunization paperwork on or before the first day of attendance. All new immunization records from students need to be medically verified. The Tdap vaccine requirement for 6th through 12th graders has been changed to a 7th through 12th-grade requirement.

Hearings and any resulting actions moving bills out of committees have begun as both houses move toward the first cut-off date. This is only a summary of bills that have had some degree of action to date or have been recently introduced. Last week’s report covered all the bills that been introduced to date.