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Superintendent outlines funding squeeze, reading retention timeline and policy priorities for next year
Summary
State Superintendent Dr. Mackey told the board districts face a federal funding drop and outlined a plan to revisit third‑grade cut scores after summer learning data are available.
State Superintendent Dr. Mackey briefed the board on several statewide issues the department will focus on in the coming months, including ESSER funding expiration, third‑grade retention cut‑score review, summer learning, budget priorities and new educator‑support programs.
"We are losing a couple of billion dollars in ESSER funds in September," Dr. Mackey told the board, explaining that the forthcoming federal funding cliff will force districts to reduce some programs and positions. He said the department will provide limited state assistance and small grants, but stressed the scale of local cuts could be large and uneven: "There are programs that go away. There are positions that are gonna go away."
On third‑grade reading and retention, Dr. Mackey reviewed last year's technical advisory committee recommendation to use confidence intervals when setting cut scores and described three bands used by statisticians (no adjustment, minus‑1 SEM, minus‑2 SEM). He said the department will wait until August to revisit the cut score decision so it can include summer‑learning outcomes, summer‑camp attendance and portfolio promotion results: "By August, we're gonna have it all. We're gonna know how many kids were truly retained."
Dr. Mackey emphasized reading and math as top instructional priorities and pointed to ongoing measures including math coaches (initially deployed to roughly 200 low‑performing schools, with expansion planned), summer reading camps and support for retained students. He said school‑level improvements have been widespread but uneven and noted that student growth was "remarkable" on recent tests regardless of which cut‑score metric is used.
On diplomas and career pathways, Dr. Mackey said the department will propose code changes to implement a new pathways diploma option—allowing certain career‑tech courses to substitute for some math or science electives—with a plan to make the pathway operational for 2025–26. He said anticipated implementation will require administrative code changes and preparation with districts.
Dr. Mackey also described initiatives to strengthen school leadership. He summarized the Principal Leadership and Mentoring Act: new professional‑development requirements, a mentoring program for new principals and a principals' academy tied to bonus payments (up to $15,000 for principals, up to $7,500 for assistant principals) for those who complete the program. The department will identify mentors and training through contracted providers.
He closed by urging attention to discipline, cell phones and social media as classroom management and student‑wellness issues. "All the systems that get cell phones out of their schools have been able to improve their discipline scores 35, 45%." He said the department will raise the issues with the legislature and the public as part of broader budget and policy discussions.
The transcript records Mr. Mackey's presentation and Q&A; no formal board action on these policy items is recorded in the provided excerpt.
