Latest news with #EducationCommittee
The National
an hour ago
- Politics
- The National
Douglas Ross accused of 'bullying witnesses' in Holyrood committee
Former SNP MSP John Mason, who now sits as an independent, raised a point of order with the Presiding Officer in Holyrood on Wednesday evening to highlight the issue as a fellow member of the Education Committee. He told the chamber that the former Scottish Tory leader "repeatedly bullies witnesses," adding, "especially female witnesses," speaking to the committee, just after Ross repeatedly grilled the principal of Edinburgh University over his six-figure salary. 'I seek your advice as to what the Education Committee should do because the convener of the education committee, Douglas Ross, repeatedly bullies witnesses who come to us – especially female witnesses – but this morning a male witness,' Mason said. READ MORE: 'New low': SNP slam Labour over MP lobbying trip to Israel amid Gaza genocide 'It is embarrassing for the committee. The committee has discussed it. Mr Ross refuses to listen to the committee, and I seek your advice as to what we should do.' In response to Mason's accusation, Presiding Officer Alison Johnstone, who is in the middle of her own spat with the former Tory leader after she expelled him from the Holyrood chamber last week for heckling, said it is a 'matter for the committee itself and for its convener'. The Scottish Tories have been approached for comment. Mathieson (above) told the committee that he does 'not know the precise numbers' of his salary, telling MSPs when challenged on this: 'I don't carry that figure around in my head.' The principal accepted he is 'very well paid', with Ross then pointing out the principal's reported salary of £418,000 is more than the combined wages of both First Minister John Swinney and Prime Minister Keir Starmer. He added: 'I was made an offer by the University of Edinburgh when I was appointed and I accepted it, and I am very satisfied with the package I was offered.' He said his 'basic salary' is 'about £350,000', adding there is a pension supplement on top of this. In a heated exchange, Ross then asked if given the 'massive cuts' the university is planning there could be a reduction in his salary, Mathieson said: 'You could pay the senior team of the University of Edinburgh nothing and that would make largely no difference to the size of the expenditure challenge we face.' Edinburgh University has already confirmed about 350 staff will leave under a voluntary severance scheme, which will save it about £18m a year.
The Independent
a day ago
- Business
- The Independent
MSPs challenge university principal on pay and perks amid £140m savings goal
The principal of Edinburgh University has defended his six-figure salary to MSPs at the same time as he refused to rule out making compulsory redundancies as the institution seeks to make £140 million of savings. Professor Sir Peter Mathieson insisted that paying the senior management team at the university 'nothing' would 'make largely no difference to the size of the expenditure challenge we face'. Pressed about the cuts the university is planning, including a £90 million reduction in the wage bill, Sir Peter said: 'I'm confident the action we're taking now is in the best interests of the university and I am proud of the leadership my team and I are providing in delivering.' He told Holyrood's Education Committee he does 'not know the precise numbers' of his salary, telling MSPs when challenged on this: 'I don't carry that figure around in my head.' Sir Peter however accepted he is 'very well paid', with committee convener Douglas Ross pointing out the principal's reported salary of £418,000 is more than the combined wages of both First Minister John Swinney and Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer. Sir Peter however said when he had checked the salaries of the heads of organisations with a similar turnover to the university, 'for one of them it was £5 million, for another it was £17 million'. He then added: 'I was made an offer by the University of Edinburgh when I was appointed and I accepted it, and I am very satisfied with the package I was offered.' He said his 'basic salary' is 'about £350,000', adding there is a pension supplement on top of this. Asked by Mr Ross if given the 'massive cuts' the university is planning there could be a reduction in his salary, Sir Peter said: 'You could pay the senior team of the University of Edinburgh nothing and that would make largely no difference to the size of the expenditure challenge we face.' Edinburgh University has already confirmed about 350 staff will leave under a voluntary severance scheme, which will save it about £18 million a year. Sir Peter said while he would 'very much hope' future job losses could be made on a voluntary basis, he could not rule out compulsory redundancies – something trade unions have urged the university to do. 'We have not done so because we genuinely don't know if they are going to be necessary and it would be dishonest to pretend that we do know,' he said. He was pressed on how many jobs would have to go to make savings of £90 million, with the principal saying: 'We don't know the answer to that because it depends entirely which jobs. We have staff paid a wide range.' Challenged by Mr Ross to say roughly how many posts could be lost, he said: 'We haven't done that calculation.' He stressed however the need for action – saying income from international students had come in at about £20 million below the university's target for the past two years. 'We have intervened because we felt we needed to,' he told the committee. 'We're taking pre-emptive action to try and make sure the university remains in a sustainable position, we're not waiting to be in deficit before we do it.' Mr Ross however suggested the principal could 'lead from the front' by giving up some perks of his job, including free use of the university principal's house, where his utility bills are also paid for him, and a driver. The convener said: 'The driving service, the house, the utility bills, you could put that forward to say 'this is a saving we can make' to show you can lead from the front with your organisation.' Pressed further on whether the principal's house could be included in the review of properties the university is carrying out as it looks to make sayings, Sir Peter said: 'All of the buildings of the University of Edinburgh are under consideration as to whether we need them or not, that is for sure.' Asked directly by Mr Ross if he needs a principal's house – a five-bedroomed property in Edinburgh's Regent Terrace – Sir Peter said: 'That's not for me to comment. 'If I thought selling off the principal's house would solve the problems of the University of Edinburgh, then it is certainly something that could be considered, but it would be a tiny contribution to what is a massive challenge.'
Yahoo
2 days ago
- General
- Yahoo
CT legislators don't agree on much. This bill passed unanimously in both chambers
The Connecticut legislature's omnibus special education bill, which would reform how private providers charge for services and increase oversight of special education programs, is headed for Gov. Ned Lamont's desk to be signed into law after unanimously passing out of both chambers. House Bill 5001 passed the Senate 35-0 Monday evening. The Senate vote followed just days after the legislation also unanimously passed the House of Representatives late last week. The bill's final passage is the culmination of a legislative session in which leaders of the Education Committee pledged, from the outset, to bolster special education funding and services in the coming biennium. Earlier in the session, lawmakers also passed emergency legislation adding $40 million to the current year's budget for special education. 'It's not just oversight. It's not just accountability. We're investing in education because this is our priority in our state. Our children are the future we're investing in,' said Sen. Sujata Gadkar-Wilcox, D-Trumbull, who served as a co-chair on the legislature's Select Committee on Special Education. Gadkar-Wilcox added that while 'meeting the needs of the students, that's our primary goal, it [also] has to be sustainable.' The bipartisan bill called for changes to several aspects of the Connecticut special education system. Among the lawmakers' priorities was to augment state oversight of districts that outsource special education services to private providers. '[This bill] puts us on a path of reform in a way that provides better quality and helps us control costs,' said Senate Majority Leader Bob Duff, D-Norwalk. 'We are working to make sure every tax dollar is spent in the best way possible. But at the same time, we're getting the best results for our students.' 'What I enjoy about the bill that is before us here this evening is it's really focused, not so much on the funding mechanisms, … but more of the policy points that will, I think, help control costs,' Senate Minority Leader Stephen Harding, R-Brookfield, added Monday evening. Once signed into law, the bill will prohibit cost increases from private providers in the upcoming school year and require state agencies to define 'reasonable costs' for services, including speech, behavioral and occupational therapies. it will also establish a rate schedule for direct special education services, which would limit how much providers can charge, and create a billing standard for special education transportation costs. 'It's not to set a minimum. It's not to set a cap,' Gadkar-Wilcox said Monday. 'Step one is to understand what is, in fact, reasonable when you have a complex system of services that are required.' Rate setting was a controversial proposal earlier this year, with critics of the measure saying it would 'destroy' private programs and potentially harm the state's students with the most severe disabilities. Gadkar-Wilcox said Monday the rate setting process would not be rushed. She said 'the nuances' would be considered so rates wouldn't be set so low that private providers would be unable to serve high-need students. 'It's also going to be up to the state department, in consultation with the [Office of Policy and Management], in consultation with those stakeholders to understand the nuance of it as well — the intensity of these services, the quality of these services, when you add on multiple of these services for multiple students with the same provider, how do you factor that in?' Gadkar-Wilcox said. The bill also allots an additional $60 million in the next two fiscal years for school districts to expand in-district special education services. The $30 million allocated for 2026 will be added to $221 million already in the budget for special education that year. The bill will also require the state Department of Education to establish licensure standards for private special education providers, with Education Commissioner Charlene Russell-Tucker assigned to supervise the programs. The state Education Department will also be responsible for conducting site visits of private special education providers, creating a 'workload analysis' for teachers and school service providers and providing public data on excess cost projections twice a year, which is expected to help boards of education predict estimated special education costs in their budget seasons. The data will give lawmakers a 'better sense of where we need to invest and what interventions are the most important,' Gadkar-Wilcox said. Sen. Eric Berthel, R-Watertown, ranking member on the Education Committee, said lawmakers haven't 'given enough coverage' in state reimbursement for special education costs and that 'this bill, in my humble opinion, begins to appropriately address these issues,' he said. The Office of Dyslexia and Reading Disabilities within the Education Department will also be required to report to the state legislature's Education Committee next year with best practices on evaluations, interventions, student outcomes and teacher preparation measures. Private special education providers will be responsible for submitting annual enrollment reports to the state, and local boards of education will likewise need to annually report information about their out-of-district placements. Senate President Pro Tem Martin M. Looney called the annual reports important for oversight and accountability. 'We know in many cases there's children, especially poor children whose parents may not be as skilled as advocates or may be working multiple jobs,' Looney said. 'We need to know that those children will have someone looking out for them with a system to make sure that their care is appropriate, their placement is appropriate, their evaluation is appropriate.' Looney said the bill provides 'greater accountability at all levels.' House Bill 5001 also raises the age by which a child can be diagnosed with a developmental delay from age 5 to age 8. 'In some cases, we don't know — when a child that comes to school — whether it is a developmental disability or whether it's perhaps just the product of prior years of neglect, in terms of not being part of a quality preschool or daycare program,' Looney, who favors the change, said. The bill also makes changes to due process hearings, which seek to resolve disagreements between school district officials and parents regarding a student's special education services. Currently, under state law, the district and parents must participate in a pre-hearing — to resolve the issues and narrow the scope — and disclose specified information at least five business days before the specified date. The two parties must disclose their evidence, witnesses and completed evaluations and recommendations prior to the hearing. The new proposal will now require all claims to be disclosed before the start of the hearing, require hearing officers to consider all the claims and limit hearings to four days. Looney said the changes would 'make sure that children's rights are protected.' 'A hearing can be a daunting place for a family that does not have legal representation or may not be adept in all of the kinds of legal infighting that goes on in these hearings,' Looney said. 'So these are procedural protections.' The bill also will require local boards of education to provide behavior assessments, and make or update a behavioral intervention plan for students with 'challenging behavior' before they're placed with an out-of-district provider. Earlier this session, other proposals regarding special education passed out of the Education Committee, but were not taken up in the House or Senate. Among those proposals were bills that sought to codify 504 plans into state law and another that would have shortened the amount of time a student with a disability could stay in the public school system beyond their senior year of high school. Lawmakers also considered codifying protections under what's known as Section 504 for certain students with disabilities. House Bill 7219 came at a time where the federal Rehabilitation Act of 1973, which lays out protections for this group of students, has come under attack. In September, a group of 17 states sued the federal government, challenging the constitutionality of the federal law. The lawsuit came shortly after then-President Joe Biden finalized a rule to include gender dysphoria under Section 504 of the law in early 2024. Nearly 48,000 students in Connecticut have 504 plans, according to the state Department of Education. Unlike an Individualized Education Plan, which provides specialized instruction, children with 504 plans do not require special education services. In schools, a 504 plan instead outlines accommodations for a student with disability, including things like preferential seating, assistive technology or extended time on tests. Despite receiving broad support, the proposal ultimately fizzled. Education Committee Co-chair Jennifer Leeper, D-Fairfield, said lawmakers are 'waiting to see what happens with the federal case.' House Bill 7076, a bill that would shorten the time students spend in transitional special education programs, also passed out of the Education Committee 42-3 earlier this year. Currently services for students with severe disabilities can last through the end of the school year during which they turn 22. Instead of finishing out that school year, H.B. 7076 proposed ending transition services as of a student's 22nd birthday. The bill gained support among superintendents who say these services are costly, but it also had strong opposition at its public hearing from over 100 parents and special education advocates who say the services are crucial for some the states highest need children. While some provisions in House Bill 7076 were included in omnibus education bill House Bill 7009, the language that proposed the age change was removed. Jessika Harkay is a reporter at the Connecticut Mirror. Copyright 2025 @ CT Mirror (
Daily Record
3 days ago
- Politics
- Daily Record
Douglas Ross snubs Holyrood summit to attend 'seminar' near the Bahamas
EXCLUSIVE: The former Scottish Tory leader, who is convener of the Education Committee, will take part in the Holyrood session virtually from the the Turks and Caicos Islands. Douglas Ross is snubbing a top education summit after agreeing to fly out to a sun-kissed island near the Bahamas. The former Scottish Tory leader will not be at the Holyrood session in person as he will be in the Turks and Caicos Islands for a seminar. Ross criticised Education Secretary Jenny Gilruth last month after she missed Holyrood business to campaign in a council by-election. The Conservative MSP, who is now the convener of Holyrood's Education Committee, said at the time: 'Will Jenny Gilruth, not in her usual condescending way, give an apology to this parliament for missing this session, but more importantly, an apology to our pupils, our parents and our teachers for the disrespect she showed?' Gilruth and other SNP Ministers are set to appear in front of the Committee on June 11th, but Ross will not be in the room. He will be 4,000 miles away in the North Atlantic on Commonwealth Parliamentary Association business and will log in to the meeting from abroad. His Turks and Caicos Islands trip involves an 'election observation mission' and 'post election seminar'. Weather forecasts show the temperature on the Islands will hit 30 degrees when he is there, while a tourism website makes clear the location's key attraction: 'Our spectacular beaches and pristine marine environment are the defining feature of the country, and are the primary attraction for tourists. There are hundreds of beautiful beaches and coasts across our many islands to discover.' An SNP source said Ross, who had to leave the Holyrood chamber last week over claims he heckled First Minister John Swinney, had made a gaffe: "Throughout his time at Holyrood, Douglas Ross has treated his role as an MSP as a part-time gig to fit around his other jobs - including his various jaunts across Europe as an assistant referee. "This has been a bit of an embarrassing week for Mr Ross after he was removed from the Chamber for his poor behaviour on Thursday. After his tirade of unjustified claims about other members' parliamentary attendance it is now somewhat ironic that Mr Ross will be logging in from near the Caribbean." A Scottish Conservative spokesperson said: 'Douglas will be attending this meeting and holding the SNP 's education secretary and her colleagues to account.' Ross' time as Scottish Tory leader was dogged by claims he was not fully committed to the job. As well as being an MSP, he remained as an MP and was paid to be a linesman at football matches. He quit as leader during the general election campaign after he enraged colleagues by announcing he wanted to stay on as an MP. He will stand down as an MSP next year.
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Business Standard
22-05-2025
- Politics
- Business Standard
Most US states now restrict cellphone use in schools, with more to follow
Florida was the first state to pass a law regulating the use of cellphones in schools in 2023. Just two years later, more than half of all states have laws in place, with more likely to act soon. Bills have sprinted through legislatures this year in states as varied as New York and Oklahoma, reflecting a broad consensus that phones are bad for kids. Connecticut state Rep Jennifer Leeper, a Democrat and co-chair of the General Assembly's Education Committee, on May 13 called phones a cancer on our kids that are driving isolation, loneliness, decreasing attention and having major impacts both on social-emotional well-being but also learning. Republicans express similar sentiments. This is a not just an academic bill, Republican Rep Scott Hilton said after Georgia's bill, which only bans phones in grades K-8, passed in March. This is a mental health bill. It's a public safety bill. So far, 26 states have passed laws, with eight other states and the District of Columbia implementing rules or making recommendations to local districts. Of the states, 17 have acted this year. Just Tuesday, Nebraska Republican Gov Jim Pillen signed a law banning phones throughout the school day. Earlier Tuesday, Alaska lawmakers required schools to regulate cellphones when they overrode an education package Republican Gov Mike Dunleavy had vetoed for unrelated reasons. More action is coming as bills await a governor's signature or veto in Florida, Missouri, Nebraska and New Hampshire. Increasing focus on banning phones throughout the school day When Florida first acted, lawmakers ordered schools to ban phones during instructional time while allowing them between classes or at lunch. But now there's another bill awaiting Gov Ron DeSantis' action that goes further. It would ban phones for the entire school day for elementary and middle schools. Ten states and the District of Columbia have enacted school day bans, most for students in grades K-12, and they now outnumber the seven states with instructional time bans. North Dakota Republican Gov Kelly Armstrong called the ban throughout the school day that he signed into law a huge win". Teachers wanted it. Parents wanted it. Principals wanted it. School boards wanted it," Armstrong said. Armstrong recently visited a grade school with such a ban in place. He said he saw kids engaging with each other and laughing at tables during lunch. The bell-to-bell bans have been promoted in part by ExcelinEd, the education think tank founded by former Florida Gov Jeb Bush. The group's political affiliate has been active in lobbying for bans. Nathan Hoffman, ExcelinEd's senior director of state policy and advocacy, said barring phones throughout the day heads off problems outside of class, like when students set up or record fights in halls. That's often when you get some of your biggest behavioural issues, whether they go viral or not, Hoffman said. Other states want school districts to set their own rules But other states, particularly where there are strong traditions of local school control, are mandating only that school districts adopt some kind of cellphone policy, believing districts will take the hint and sharply restrict phone access. In Maine, where some lawmakers originally proposed a school day ban, lawmakers are now considering a rewritten bill that would only require a policy. And there have been a few states where lawmakers failed to act at all. Maybe the most dramatic was in Wyoming, where senators voted down a bill in January, with some opponents saying teachers or parents should set the rules. Where policymakers have moved ahead, there's a growing consensus around exceptions. Most states are letting students use electronic devices to monitor medical needs and meet the terms of their special education plans. Some are allowing exceptions for translation devices if English isn't a student's first language or when a teacher wants students to use devices for classwork. There are some unusual exceptions, too. South Carolina's original policy allowed an exception for students who are volunteer firefighters. West Virginia's new law allows smartwatches as long as they are not being used for communication. Some parents and students oppose the rules But by far the most high-profile exception has been allowing cellphone use in case of emergencies. One of the most common parent objections to a ban is that they would not be able to contact their child in a crisis like a school shooting. It was only through text messages that parents knew what was happening," said Tinya Brown, whose daughter is a freshman at Apalachee High School, northeast of Atlanta, where a shooting killed two students and two teachers in September. She spoke against Georgia's law at a news conference in March. Some laws call for schools to find other ways for parents to communicate with their children at schools, but most lawmakers say they support giving students access to their cellphones, at least after the immediate danger has passed, during an emergency. In some states, students have testified in favour of regulations, but it's also clear that many students, especially in high schools, are chafing under the rules. Kaytlin Villescas, a sophomore at Prairieville High School, in the suburbs of Baton Rouge, Louisiana, is one student who took up the fight against bans, starting a petition and telling WBRZ-TV in August that Louisiana's law requiring a school day ban is misguided. She argued that schools should instead teach responsible use. It is our proposition that rather than banning cellphone use entirely, schools should impart guidelines on responsible use, thereby building a culture of respect and self-regulation, Villescas wrote in an online petition. Most states provide no funding to carry out laws A few states have provided money for districts to buy lockable phone storage pouches or other storage solutions. New York, for example, plans to spend $13.5 million. But states have typically provided no cash. New Hampshire lawmakers stripped a proposed $1 million from their bill. Providing some specific money for this would kind of ease some of those implementation challenges, Hoffman said. That said, most states have not.
