Dear SCCASP members,

Spring is in the air and the end of the school year is almost in sight! CASP continues to work hard in the interests of school psychologists state-wide. In these uncertain economic times, CASP is increasing its advocacy efforts. Chris Kahn, CASP Lobbyist, continues to support and oppose legislation as needed while the Pupil Services Coalition is working on educational initiatives. In addition, CASP leadership will be making personal visits to local Assembly and State Senate district offices to discuss with legislators the valuable rote of school psychologists and pupil personnel service in our public schools.

CASP is also playing a key role in the reauthorization of IDEA. After hosting a summit of state-wide stake holders, CASP developed a policy paper which was presented in Washington D.C. CASP leaders testified before legislators, giving CASPKs perspective on the reauthorization, including some proposed language. HR 1350 (IDEA Reauthorization) has been approved by the U.S. House Education and the Workforce Committee, with a focus on improved results and paperwork reduction in special education. The Senate version has not yet been released. So far, HR 1350 has received favorable feedback from administrators. For more information, go to the CASP website (www.casponline.org).

Convention 2003 The annual convention was held in Los Angeles last month. It received very hard marks for the outstanding workshop offerings and keynote speakers. In addition, it was very well organized! Many of the presentations revolved around reauthorization of IDEA and our changing role in response to the reauthorization. Diane Smallwood, NASP President, gave a very uplifting presentation on this very topic. A common theme was that school psychologists are uniquely qualified to have a key role in developing research based interventions, monitoring outcomes, program evaluation, providing a wide range of assessments and providing direct student support. I came away from the convention feeling that school psychologists are valuable members of the team, not just because of our test kits, but because our training is so broad-based and extensive. It is time to show what else we can do, while helping make the transition smooth for students, staff and parents.

Election Results Bobbi Kohrt has been elected the new President-Elect of CASP, beginning July 2003. Bobbi is from San Diego, where she has served as Affiliate President, Membership Chair, Convention Co-Chair and Region Representative for a total of 10 years. She is also a frequent presenter at CASP conventions and seminars, usually on the topic of autism.

Congratulations, Bobbi!

Get Involved!! Do you ever wonder KWhat is CASP doing about X?K CASP, like your local affiliate, is made up of hard-working individuals, most giving freely of their time and expertise. Now, more than ever, it is vitally important that people step up to the plate. Volunteer to help, either at the local affiliate level or at the state level. Run for an elected office! Volunteer to help organize an event, visit a legislator, help out with printing/xeroxing, make phone calls. There are many jobs, large and small, that need doing. Letter writing is a very important task that does not take too much time. CASP, and itKs affiliates, is only as strong as its members. DonKt just sit back. Get Involved!

Please contact Chris Kahn if you would like additional information (cwkahn@shjlobby.com). You can also reach Chris by phone at 916-446-3007.

Last year, the energy crisis dominated debate in Sacramento. This year all attention shifted to the budget crisis and the huge deficit facing the State of California.

BUDGET

The Governor released his budget on January 10, 2002. At that time, his budget recognizes a $12.5 billion deficit. Last year at that time, Governor Davis' budget recognized a $10 billion surplus. Budget Deficit is now projected at $23.6 billion!

The Governor released his May Revision of his January budget two weeks ago. He now projects the budget deficit to be nearly $24 billion. This is nearly a 100% increase over the $12.5 billion projected in the Governor's January budget proposal. $19.2 billion (80%) of this number results from declining income tax revenue, largely among top income earners of the state (top 5% of income earners account for 70% of state income tax revenues). The Governor explained that this was largely a function of significantly lower stock market capital gains.

LOW PERFORMING SCHOOLS

The good news is that the Governor restored his original cut to the low performing school proposal, a top priority for the 2001 legislative session. The reason we treated this legislation as such a high priority was because of a concern that the Legislature and the Governor would commit millions of dollars to improving California's low performing schools, while leaving student support service organizations behind. We wanted to ensure that student support services at the school site are included in the solution. Improving our worst performing schools will take a team effort, and we need to maximize all existing resources available to our schools. The funding provided by the Governor is ongoing, and could be raised in future years when the budget improves.

As a reminder, the final legislation, AB 961, focuses on the lowest 2 deciles on the API and will give money to help these schools break their cycle of low performance. The language ensures that student support services are part of the effort to improve our low performing schools. AB 961 requires any school receiving funding to formulate a strategy to attract, retain, and fairly distribute the highest quality staff at the school, including student support service staff. The legislation also requires low performing school improvement plans to include a strategy to provide an environment that is conducive to teaching and earning. To achieve that goal, the plan is mandated to look at the addition of more student support service personnel, including but not limited to Psychologists, Social Workers, Counselors, Nurses and Speech Audiologists and Speech Pathologists.

PRIORITY LEGISLATION

Definition of Educator Passes Senate on a Unanimous Vote! We are very pleased to announce that Senator Jack O'Connell introduced Senate Bill 1944 on behalf of CASP and the Pupil Services Coalition. The bill passed the Senate on a 40-0 vote. SB 1944 will expand the definition of educator to include persons holding services credentials and providing a wide variety of education, health, mental health, and social services at a schoolsite. Expanding the definition of teacher is a long-standing goal for the California Association of School Psychologists. Thank you to those who wrote or called their State Legislator on this important bill. Due to your efforts, the bill has passed a major hurdle to becoming law in the State of California. This bill will be heard sometime in late June in the Assembly Education Committee. Please continueto be active in supporting SB 1944.

AB 2025 (Corbett) also passed the Assembly and is awaiting hearing in the Senate. This bill is strongly supported by CASP. AB 2025 will development a master plan for pupil support services.

AB 2093 (Dickerson) unfortunately did not pass the Assembly by the deadline and is therefore dead for this year. This bill would have ensured that federal special education augmentation funds were not allowed to supplant state funding, (as is being proposed in this years budget). This bill was strongly supported by CASP.

AB 2160 (Goldberg) also did not pass the Assembly by the deadline is dead for this year. This bill would have required collective bargaining to be expanded beyond wages, salary and working conditions. This bill was opposed by CASP.

AB 2600 (Pavley) passed the Assembly. This bill would require the development of an alternative assessment to the high school exit exam for those who cannot participate in the existing exam regardless of accommodation or modification.