November 19, 2014 at 8:30 AM - Regular Meeting

Discussion:  Call to order at 8:30 AM. Staff: David M Ludwig, Deb Hericks, Priscilla Quintana Attorney: Karen Haase Guests: Freida Lange, Lee Warne

Discussion:  Freida Lange was present to update the ESUCC on NDE. The application for a waiver process has started. The waiver areas need to address: common core (with each revision of standards making sure that they are College and Career Ready); Accountability System (AQUESTT - do they include in new Rule 16 or incorporate into Rule 10); adopt a Teacher/Principal model (consistent across the state - training); Data System (SLDS/dashboard). Timeline for waiver - discuss at December Board meeting, February 1 - first draft prepared, March 31 - waiver ready. Communication is key to success (all speaking same language.)

Discussion:  Lee Warne from AESA gave an overview of the AESA organization. There are 17 different names that ESAs (ESUs) go by across the states (45 states have an ESA.) AESA members reached over 80% public schools. Trends affecting ESAs: Federalization of Education (Common Core), testing/assessments under fire (dropping/reducing number of tests given), pension reforms reduction of benefits to help states get out of debt), States financial position improving (money not going into education), ESAs expected to improve learning (some states tying ESA CEO pay to improved learning), Teacher/Admin Evaluation systems being reviewed (states are adapting their own systems or are waiting to see what others do), time for growth for ESAs (ESA networks can provide valuable services, they know the schools better than state.) National trends: funding, shared services, statewide networks, legislative oversight, consolidation/cooperation of ESAs. Statewide networks moving towards "shared services" to benefit everyone. Federal Legislation: AESA keeps ESAs written into legislation, ESEA reauthorization, E-Rate Rulings and Anti-Deficiency Act, Principal's improvement/Development, recent Early Childhood advances.

Discussion:  Executive Director shared the article that he wrote for the NCSA magazine. Please share document with staff/boards.

Discussion:  Executive Director shared the beginning of what will be a info graphic for the NE statewide definition to be used as promotion of state-wide initiatives.

Discussion:  Executive Committee reviewed the fully signed agreement with NCSA. There will be a Board created, three from ESUCC and three from NCSA, with alternating years of who chairs committee (ESUCC will chair even years.) This agreement will include a $7500 for ESUCC to be used toward technology trainings. Agreement can be reviewed on a yearly basis. We will continue to work with NCSA as an important stake holder. Executive Director has had conversations with individuals of TAG that are on the committee. Equipment purchased will be tagged as an asset of the ESUCC but housed with the member ESUs that it originated. Need to educate all so that they understand the situation better. We need share Protocol with all affiliates.

Discussion:  Executive Director and President will continue to work on priority areas and bring to January meeting.

Discussion:  Executive Director discussed the importance of communication. We need to build a systemic approach to build our statewide communications. Create a committee that would meet quarterly to discuss all statewide initiatives/projects. Possibility to build a committee with our external partnerships to create the same form of systemic communication. Create a timeline for each of the initiatives.

Discussion:  Dennis Radford reviewed Project Summary for September and October with committee.

Discussion:  There was no public comment at this time.

Discussion:  Dennis Radford discussed the new budget reports that are available for review.

Discussion:  Committee Chair reviewed the budget reports with the committee. Committee liked the comparison of new reports. MSA invoices will be going out by the end of the month with the exception of the Safari.

Discussion:  Budget meeting to review monthly budget reports on November 11, 2014. Committee Chair reviewed these budget reports with committee. The over-all budget should be at about 17%.

Discussion:  Six auditors were on site at ESU 17 to conduct the ESU 17 and ESUCC onsite review. The audit has been very time consuming. Executive Director shared some of the details regarding the audit.

Discussion:  David Ludwig and Scott Isaacson are working on a contract with Safari Montage. They propose $1/student. They are working to negotiate contract for this current year. Legal will be involved of review of this contract.

Discussion:  Committee meeting of several people including NDE and ESU personnel to work on talking points for legislative hearings/lottery hearing. Brent Gaswick reviewed some of the NDE budget proposal they have requested.

Discussion:  We have budget goals, but we will work to create fiscal management goals for the areas of deficit. Executive Director to work on some goals that we can discuss at the next meetings.

Discussion:  Focus on vision and uses (no dollar amounts) of lottery funding. Limit to 2 or 3 (Linda Dickeson, LPS; BJ Peters, ESU 13; ESU 7, Humphrey teacher and keep it succinct and to the point of testimony.

Discussion:  NE eLearning wants to expand on current learning object repository and also create a vision for future use. Work with stake holders to continue building on resources.

Discussion:  Scott Isaacson reviewed the discussions from the LMS task force. Recommendation of group to form a matrix to evaluate and compare LMS that would meet a set of standards. The affiliate groups (especially TAG) to talk about the framework and create list of vendors who meet standards. Recommend to move toward the cloud hosting. Access to entire state need to sale itself to the schools. Constant pricing structure. Stability and competition to pricing structure. By April meeting, have finalized version of matrix.

Discussion:  Working with NDE to work on how we can fund/support this state-wide. Forty-six percent of state currently uses BrightBytes. 1) What access student have (70-80%), 2) the amount utilized in districts, 3) nine out of ten teachers see need for technology and need for staff development.

Discussion:  Committee chair discussed the list of inventory to be disposed.

Discussion:  Currently we have 50licenses, request to increase by 25, vendor recommends to go with next tier of Pro User licenses to increase our accounts.

Discussion:  Jim Peterson and Bernie A'cs were here to discuss the IlliniCloud project. Scott Isaacson, Mike Danahy, Jordan Clark, Dean Folkers have been working closely with this team. Infrastructure, Data recovery, Software (ie: Adobe Connect), self service portal, training and professional development are services provided by IlliniCloud project. Jim Peterson gave an overview of the IlliniCloud site. Three pillars of the system: data, identity, portal. Developed once, but used for many districts and customized to each. What would NE site look like. If we partner with IlliniCloud we can take what they have already developed and continue to build upon our needs. Collaborating with another state we create a huge paradigm shift. Identity management is the biggest part, create now to prevent it from becoming a legislative issue and told how to create system. System is developed on a common standard. Collaboration creates sustainability. Create a course of action on how we can proceed.

Discussion:  Interview committee may include: Paul Tedesco, David Ludwig, Jon Fisher, Priscilla Quintana, and Brenda Konkoleski. Board recommends that interviews be held in Ainsworth.

Discussion:  Interm Director Peterson gave a brief review of the meeting with ESM and the goals that were defined at that meeting. Notes/Goals are attached. It was noted that Brown & Saenger, normally Coop's largest supplier, does plan on implementing cxml order processing this year. Mr. Peterson shared with the committee that Pyramid School Products, normally Coop's second largest supplier, may not submit a bid this year due to the number of POs they received in the previous year. Peterson will be in contact with ESM regarding the possibility of aggregating orders to help with this type of issue. It was also noted that Commercial Art, Benz Microscope and Misko Sports will/may not submit bids this year due to the same issue.

Discussion:  The committee discussed the aggregation of orders for the Annual Buy. ESUCC/Coop will be in contact with ESM to confirm the possibility/process of aggregating orders. The final process will be communicated to all schools and vendors, and Bid Terms may be updated.

Discussion:  The committee discussed the possibility of marketing to other public entities (city's, etc.), per the Inter-Local Agreement Act. It was suggested to get the opinion of legal council, and make sure that all issues with schools are resolved before we move forward with adding other entities.

Discussion:  1. Reduce the number of PO's - encourage an aggregate PO - submit all teacher orders per school at same time Craig will send an email to the School Google Group indicating submission of PO’s by building or district is preferred by vendors and if a school wants to continue PO’s by teacher to please submit them all by building on the same day to the vendor. 2. Billing responsive to district needs with delivery dates in mind Craig has visited with vendors and a few schools on this topic. Vendors have stated they are still waiting on some school payments and Schools are ignoring the terms and conditions of paying within 45 days of delivery to a.) be able to pay in next fiscal year and/or b.) waiting to receive everything on a particular PO or from that vendor. 3. Continue to enhance the Coop System through effective statewide communication Craig has added each Admin in ESM for each school and ESU to join a Google group. ESUCC COOP will now be able to communicate changes or other updates directly to all participants. We encourage each ESU administrator to check with their schools that they have at least one contact that has been added to the Group. 4. Provide effective training throughout the state We are still piecing together with ESM what changes have taken place in order to know the exact training needed by all participants. Hence, a schedule for training has not been set as of today. 5. Develop a "user friendly" ESM environment The meeting with ESM on October 22nd addressed some of our concerns in this area. As a result there may be some subtle changes within ESM but I don’t foresee a substantial change to the user interface. One change mentioned during the meeting with ESM would have helped the Coop staff to assign catalogs but ESM has since said they are unable to turn this on. They will be discussing some of the recommended changes in their development meetings but there is no timeline for any changes as of yet. 6. Ensure on-time delivery From Craig’s work with vendors, the delivery issue seems to fall in one of three categories: 1. Vendors need aggregated orders vs individual teacher orders (issues: number of drops, availability of freight carriers for the time period); 2. Vendors want a longer window for acceptable delivery times beyond the two months (We have added the possibility of a vendor to extend pricing for a catalog for year round ordering); and 3. Vendors are concerned about late payments from the schools.

Discussion:  PD Planning Committee but together the attached draft agenda. Marcia Kish will be presenting on January 21, 2015 to give an overview on Blended learning environment. January 22, 2015 will consist of break out sessions for different affiliates. We encourage Administrators to support and join these meetings. Planning Committee to include a person from Higher Ed. What is the role of Higher Ed in the three statewide initiative? Important to be included in discussions.

Discussion:  We have invited Higher Ed to participate in the PDO activities. Sharon Katt sent out the invitation to them.

Discussion:  Executive Director is also inviting other stake holders (NET, PFI, Independent High School, etc.) to partake in PDO event.

Discussion:  The final reimbursement for 2014-2015 was sent to NDE for the amount of $38,325.72. This will close out the year with the following: Beginning Balance - $400,000 Ending Balance -$145,487.64. This amount will carry over and added to next years grant. There is also a possibility of receiving up to a 5% increase to the original $400,000 for next year. Once Gan is received, we will rework the budget to include additional funds. The AFR for 2013-2014 has been submitted by Helen Banzhaf.

Discussion:  Most ESUs have started entering their information for the Math Champions. ESU 10, 13, and 15 have not begun adding their information.

Discussion:  Mr. Millikan discussed Medicaid expansion, facilitation of collaborative grants, and ILCD. Collaborative grants are discretionary funds. Medicaid: LB276 passed. DHHS is defined by legislation as the lead agency. The State plan was amended by Oct. 1, 2014. Nebraska is toward the bottom of the list regarding funds received, at about 3 million. The challenge is that the plan is just the beginning, now the details must be defined. For example, Medical Transportation needs to be defined, what qualifies as Medical Transportation. Another item is Personal Care Services, can reimbursement be made to Para's working with eligible kids. Mental Health Services is yet another item that needs to be defined. A goal has been set to be ready by the Fall of 2015. The plan submitted by DHHS has not been approved by Federal as of yet. Also reviewing options for documenting and implementing funds, such as a Statewide Automated System. The new law caps, at 3 million, as to what can be used for administration, etc. ESUCC is ready to help define and work with NDE to help improve processes.

Discussion:  Delayed due to Scott Isaacson and David Ludwig schedule not having time together to proceed with timeline. They have three or four they will do a pre-screening interview with them. The interview committee be doing this soon and then will determine the next steps.

Discussion:  Executive Director gave an update from the legislative hearings. David Ludwig, Linda Dickeson, Beth Kabes and Craig Hicks have also had individual conversations with several senators.

Discussion:  The Lottery Hearing is scheduled for 1:30 PM tomorrow at the State Capitol. Again several meetings have been held in support of testimonies to be given. Three people slotted to give testimonies: BJ Peters, ESU 13; Linda Dickeson, LPS: ESU 7, Humphrey school teacher. Keep testimonies short and succinct. ESU 13 has a Chadron superintendent who will also testify in support of BlendEd.

Discussion:  Executive Director to schedule a meeting with Senator Davis.

Discussion:  ESU #1 and ESU #8 invited senators to a joint meeting, the ESUCC Executive Director was the moderator of this meeting. Facilities questions: bond issue is available to ESUs in the same way that is available to school districts. This has not been tried by an ESU in NE.

Discussion:  Create a master list of needs across the state: capital improvement, growth, new facilities. Public Facility and Construction Finance Act was used by ESU 13. Five percent of restricted funds can be used for facilities and for technology.

Discussion:  Commissioner has included in his draft budget: core funding, data collection, NE elearning project. NDE and ESUCC are working on creating a Master Service Agreement between the two entities.

Discussion:  Insurance pooling between two entities (ESUs and Schools) - Legislative proposal out of Grand Island for a change in statute to include pooling amongst two entities. This will be a topic of discussion at the NASBO round table tomorrow. It would be hard for some entities to go on their own. Size can change variability quickly. Huge population that does not fit under the seven areas that can have continue care with doctors. Majority of people who have responded are neutral in their position.

Discussion:  There was no public comment at this time.