Pending legislation, state testing standards discussed

Hunter Cunningham produced this Random Act of Art as part of a voluntary art project headed by Deb Goodenberger. More examples of student art are featured on Page 5 in today's McCook Daily Gazette. (Courtesy image)

McCOOK, Nebraska -- A bill pending in the Nebraska Legislature could affect matching retirement contributions at the McCook School system.

McCook School Superintendent Grand Norgaard updated the school board Monday night at its regular meeting on LB 553, that creates reduced benefits for employees who are employed on or after July 1, 2013. The bill would reduce the cost-of-living adjustment (COLA) from 2.5 to 1 percent and increase from 3 to 5 the number of years used to determine final average salary for purposes of calculating a member's retirement benefit.

Employees already members of the retirement plan are grandfathered in, Norgaard said, but if approved, the change would affect retirement contributions made by the McCook School District. The bill was created to address a $100 million shortfall in the retirement system, he added, but that scenario could change if the economy bounces back.

Norgaard also briefly discussed the alignment study of Common Core and Nebraska State Accountability (NeSa) tests.

The Common Core state standard of testing has been adopted by every state except Nebraska, Alaska, Texas, Minnesota and Virginia.

The state believes that NeSa is more rigorous, Norgaard said, but the advantage of Common Core is that online material or applications for iPads are accessible to Common Core users.

Deb Goodenberger, art teacher at McCook Elementary and Central, passed out "Random Acts of Art" cards that her students created. March is Youth Art Month and Goodenberger said 50 students participated in the voluntary project that was not graded.

She also cited Emily Loker, fifth grade and Kailynn Rodewald, third grade, for their artwork that was selected for the 2013 Youth Art Month Celebration at the state capitol.