SUMMARY of Nine(9) Recommendations from the October 2005 Report
By the Office of Performance Evaluations (JLOC-ID Legislature)
(parentheses = agency/body recommendations was "assigned" to for action.)
2.1: (Legislature) To ensure ISDB is operating according to legislative intent, and to provide accountability for ISDB services and functions, the Legislature should clarify the following areas of ISDB's authorizing statutes:
2.2: (ISDB) To further clarify ISDB's responsibilities for providing education to sensory-impaired students, ISDB and cooperating agencies should revise their interagency agreements according to federal law and any changes in state statue.
2.3 (SBOE) To help ensure all students with sensory impairments in Idaho are provided a free and appropriate public education, the State Board of Education should ensure that school districts follow statutory requirements to annually report the number of sensory-impaired students in their districts to ISDB.
3.1: (ISDB) To assist policymakers in making decisions about the operation of the Gooding campus, ISDB should develop the following processes: Establish an ongoing process for tracking campus enrollment, Use enrollment trend data and other available information to regularly project future enrollment, Report enrollment trends and projections to the State Board of Education and the Legislature on an annual basis.
3.2: (Legislature-SBOE-ISDB, jointly) To improve economic efficiency, ISDB should work with the State Board of Education to develop a plan that identifies opportunities to address rising costs per student and share the results of these efforts with the Legislature. For example, a plan should address appropriate staffing levels for administration, instruction, maintenance, support, student-teacher ratios, number of cottages in operation, and use of the facilities for other purposes.
4.1: (ISDB - Outreach) To improve ISDB staff's ability to educate parents on communication options for their children, ISDB should take steps to ensure its staff understand the various options and can effectively communicate this information to parents.
4.2: (ISDB & Meridian SD) To avoid potential legal and financial disputes, ISDB should formalize its arrangement of providing instructors to teach classes within the Meridian School District in an interagency agreement pursuant to Idaho Code §67-2332.
4.3: (ISDB) To better understand resource demands, ISDB should separately measure caseload and workload and report this information to legislative committees.
5.1: (SBOE & ISDB, jointly) To clarify ISDB's intent to provide auditory-oral training to students with cochlear implants and to address parent dissatisfaction, the Idaho State Board of Education should develop policies and procedures for the school that address program vision and administration, teacher qualifications and training, and curriculum development. Input from parents and ISDB staff should be sought during policy development.
[Excerpt from OPE Report, dated Oct 2005, prepared by H.Lyter, ISDB, 2.15.06]