Latest news with #HouseBill888
Yahoo
6 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
New state law streamlines teacher licensing for Mount St. Mary's, other Md. institutions
A new Maryland law will make teacher licensing more streamlined, education officials say. Before House Bill 888 was signed into law last month by Gov. Wes Moore, colleges and universities in Maryland were required to administer one of two performance-based assessments to students seeking a teaching license. One assessment is the Praxis Performance Assessment for Teachers (PPAT), which is created by Pearson, an education company, and will be retired in December. The other is the Educative Teacher Performance Assessment (edTPA), which is created by the Educational Testing Service and currently being redeveloped. Completing one of those assessments became mandatory after an omnibus state bill intending to make teacher certification more efficient was signed last year. Faculty members at the Mount St. Mary's University School of Education said the bill instead created a financial and time-consuming barrier for their students to receive certification, since the university's program already has a nationally accredited performance-based assessment. House Bill 888, sponsored by Delegates Kris Fair (D-3A), Ken Kerr (D-3) and Eric Ebersole (D-44A) from Baltimore County, makes administering the assessment optional for colleges and universities that have a nationally accredited educator program. The Mount's teacher preparation program, which includes a portfolio assessment, was accredited through 2029 by the Association for Advancing Quality in Educator Preparation. Stacey Brown-Hobbs, who was recently promoted from the chair and director of teacher education to the dean of the School of Education at the Mount, said in an interview that the university's assessments 'go through a very rigorous process during the accreditation process.' 'We were like, why are we making our students do this other assessment when we already are doing something, and we're accredited?' she said. Brown-Hobbs added that states such as New York, Georgia and New Jersey were moving away from the PPAT and edTPA assessments because 'research is showing us that this is not an effective tool. This is not a good predictor.' 'This is a licensure test that's very time consuming for our students at a time when they are trying to begin to learn about the practice of teaching in their internship setting,' she said. 'It's distracting them from really concentrating on the feedback that they're getting from their mentors and supervisors.' Barbara Marinak, the former dean of the Mount's education school who was recently appointed as interim provost, said in an interview that Maryland is in a 'dramatic' teacher shortage. She said the intention of legislation mandating the assessments was never to make the process 'more onerous. The intent was to fully support and recognize rigorous paths to licensure.' Marinak added that schools in Maryland can still choose to administer edTPA for their students to receive teaching licenses, and that this bill gives colleges and universities options. Marinak said she and Brown-Hobbs spoke with Darren Hornbeck, a longtime Frederick County Public Schools educator and the chair of the Professional Standards and Teacher Education Board under the Maryland State Department of Education. Hornbeck helped drive the change. Hornbeck also discussed with Fair how local legislation could remove that barrier for aspiring educators. In the 2001-02 school year, Fair was Hornbeck's teaching assistant at Linganore High School, which Hornbeck said in an interview was 'just such a gratifying thing.' 'Who would have known, like 20 years later, that student who I had sitting three rows back would be producing very meaningful legislation that would help future teachers,' he said. Hornbeck said some schools see the performance assessment as useful because it requires technical writing skill. 'But not all schools were in that boat,' he said. 'Other schools thought they were achieving it in other ways, so we wanted to remove it as a barrier to teachers coming into the profession because of its cost and potential redundancy.' Hornbeck added that the legislation is not meant to decrease standards to receive a teaching license, but to reduce costs and redundancy to students in teacher programs that are nationally accredited. Fair in an interview said working with Hornbeck, who he considers a mentor, felt like a 'full circle moment.' 'It was just really cool to be able to take a challenge that he brought to me and be able to help him fix it,' he said. Fair said while Maryland works hard to certify teachers and encourage them to work in the state, 'we really need to be looking holistically at any barrier to employment for teachers here.'
Yahoo
27-03-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Pennsylvania lawmaker pushes to abolish death penalty
(WHTM)– A Midstate lawmaker is pushing to abolish Pennsylvania's death penalty with a newly proposed bill. State Representative Russ Diamond (R-Lebanon), one of the more conservative Republicans in the legislature, introduced House Bill 888, which would take the death penalty off the table in Pennsylvania. Close Thanks for signing up! Watch for us in your inbox. Subscribe Now Capital punishment has been paused in Pennsylvania after both Governors Wolf and Shapiro put a moratorium on it. While no one is being executed right now, hundreds of inmates in Pennsylvania have been sentenced to death or are on death row. Diamond's bill would change that, replacing the death penalty with life without parole. 'I'm very pro-life, and I believe in the sanctity of life from conception to natural death. Second, because I'm a Christian, and I believe of the promise of the cross, and I believe that redemption is available to everybody, no matter how horrible the sins were. And I don't think we as human beings have any authority to determine when that redemption can no longer be God. That that's up to God,' Diamond said. Diamond added that death penalty appeals are expensive and that there are cases of the wrong person being sentenced to death. The bill has garnered bipartisan support. Democrats who want justice reform and think the death penalty is cruel will likely sign on to a Russ Diamond bill, which doesn't happen often. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
28-02-2025
- Automotive
- Yahoo
Mississippi has second highest car tax in US: report
JACKSON, Miss. (WJTV) – Car tag taxes have long been a point of frustration for residents and politicians, but a recent report reveals that merely talking about them will not keep the costs down. Annual car tag fees closely mirror car payments for many motorists. However, a WalletHub report reveals that the fees are disproportionally high compared to the rest of the country. While roughly half of all states have no property taxes on vehicles at all, Mississippi's 3.45% tax rate adds roughly $992 of fees on a new car worth $29,000. Compared to last year, the annual taxes are over eight percent higher. What are the most popular car tags in Mississippi? Taxes and fees will vary based on the age and value of the car, as well as where it is registered. Mississippians who own vehicles with a gross vehicle weight under 10,000 pounds must pay these taxes annually. Known as ad valorem taxes, they are based on the assessed value of the car multiplied by the millage rate set by local governments. The assessed value is set at 30% of the vehicle's MSRP minus depreciation over 10 years. A minimum assessed value is set at $100 for passenger vehicles in the Magnolia State. The millage rate will vary drastically across the state and even within the same county. Local governments utilize ad valorem tax revenue. Among Mississippi's bordering neighbors, only Tennessee excluded ad valorem taxes in its car tag fees. Other taxes on property are more moderate in Mississippi. For instance, the state has the 19th-lowest property tax rate. Its average 0.74% property tax on residential property is a fraction of the rate observed for the vehicles in the driveway. Prices may be slated to go up for car tags. House Bill 888 now awaits Senate approval to raise the cost of tags for the Mississippi Burn Care Fund. A bill seeking to lower tag fees died in committee this session. For specialty tags in Mississippi, standard car tag fees and ad valorem taxes still apply. However additional fees can range from none to $53 annually. For a breakdown of how the money is distributed for all specialty tags, click here. Close Thanks for signing up! Watch for us in your inbox. Subscribe Now Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
