CBS 6 – WRGB
Albany
http://www.cbs6albany.com/news/extra-1279459-help-education.html
State Education Leaders decided to put it to a vote on Tuesday that would allow individual schools to decide if a student needs extra help or not in an effort to make the grade.
Currently local school districts are required to provide necessary support known as Academic Intervention Services or A.I.S. Due to budget cuts many schools are finding it more difficult to provide this mandate with the limited resources that they have.
Parents and Education advocates took to the State Education Building steps on Monday to voice their anger over the proposal to temporarily waive the A.I.S. requirement.
“You’re raising the standards on testing which will cause more students unable to reach those standards by cutting the funding to provide the services that would make them reach those standards” says Doug Williams who is a parent in the Schenectady School District.
Currently students are graded on four levels. Level 1 are students who are well below the standards, level 2 are those below the standards, level 3 are those children meeting the standards while level 4 are the students who are exceeding the standards.
Billy Easton who is an education advocate with the Alliance for Quality Education says taking away A.I.S. will have a negative impact on a lot of kids. “300,000 students who are currently meeting the standards will fall below the standards and there will be no help for them. They say it’s a temporary waiver but it’s a permanent impact for students. If you get a year without the support services you need you may never catch up” says Easton.
The Board of Regents will officially vote on the waiver Tuesday at noon.
