HB 543 doesn’t sound bad at first blush:
“Parent Involvement” HB 543 by Rep. Stargel (R-Lakeland) passed the House K-20 Competitiveness Committee by a vote of 10 to 3. Three Democrats (Chestnut, Clark-Reed, Fullwood) voted NO. Voting YES were nine Republicans (Bileca, Burgin, Coley, Corcoran, Davis, Fresen, Grant, Perry, and Trujillo) and one Democrat (Reed).
This bill would require that school districts inform parents of its expectations regarding parental responsiveness to teacher requests for communication, such as accurate contact, emergency and medical information and oversight of their child’s school attendance, completion of homework and preparation for tests. They can use existing guides or checklists or new formats to communicate but would require parents to acknowledge, in writing, the receipt of that information.
Until you read this part:
Teachers of PreK through grade 5 students would be required to evaluate each parent’s involvement on a quarterly basis. The evaluation must be based upon the frequency of unexcused absences and tardiness, responsiveness to requests for conferences or communication, submission of accurate information such as emergency contact information and student immunization records.
The teacher must rate each parent as satisfactory, needs improvement or unsatisfactory and also provide the parent with a written report regarding the evaluation. The district would develop a process for parents to dispute an unfavorable evaluation.
School districts would then submit an annual report of parental involvement evaluation dates to DOE – the DOE would report to the Governor, Senate President and Speaker of the House
If it passes, the bill would go into effect in the 2013-14 school year.
The bill has been heard in one committee – and has two more committee hearings (House PreK- 12 Appropriations and House Education) before it can be heard by the entire House. The Senate version SB 944 by Wise (R-Jacksonville) has not yet been heard in committee.
That ought work wonders with parent/school relations.
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