Illinois Committee for Agricultural Education (ICAE) Meeting
Illinois Department of Agriculture
801 East Sangamon Avenue, Springfield, IL 62702
FFA Room
Friday, June 5th, 2015 – 10:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m.
9:30 a.m. to 10:30 a.m. – Committee Meetings
Nomination and Appointment Committee (B. Ropp, B. Harmon, M. Anderson, K. Fraase)
o Adult Education Nominee
10:30 – ICAE Meeting
1. Welcome and Introductions
Attendance: Members - Vern McGinnis, Becky Ropp, Al Dietz, Kay Shipman, Parker Bane, Katie Pratt.
ICAE Nominees: Bill Harmon, Doug Hanson, Rylan Rusk, Karen Fraase.
Ex-officio / Guests: Harley Hepner, Dean Dittmar, Jess Smithers, and Dora Welker.
2. Approve Agenda – Becky Ropp moved to approve the agenda as printed, Al Dietz 2nd; motion passed.
3. Approve Minutes of March 19th, 2015 Meeting – Katie Pratt moved to approved the minutes, Kay Shipman 2nd; motion passed.
4. Discussion Items
a. Advocacy – Agriculture Education Line Item Funding
Jess Smithers provided an update on current FY16 budget process. On May 29th the House and Senate passed HB3763 which includes the Agricultural Education Line Item at $1.8 Million. However, the budget process is not complete as budget negotiations are on-going between the Illinois General Assembly and Governor Rauner in order to develop a final FY16 state budget.
Parker Bane inquired about the process for developing the ISBE budget recommendation for FY16. He indicated that he has received concerns from an Agriculture commodity groups regarding the request for an increase to $3 Million in light of the financial state of Illinois. The $3 Million dollar request reportedly had a role in the Governor’s decision to zero out the line item in his proposed budget. ILCAE recommended an increase in the Agriculture Education Line Item to $2 Million. It was a decision by ISBE leadership to increase it to $3 Million. Members expressed the need for more input at ISBE regarding the final budget allocation recommendation.
Harley Hepner updated the group regarding recent changes in leadership at ISBE with the appointment of five new Board Members and the hiring of Tony Smith as the new Superintendent. As a result of the changes, ICAE will send a letter to Tony Smith, ISBE Superintendent, and Dr. Beth Purvis, Illinois Secretary of Education, to request a meeting.
In addition, the Marketing committee will develop a plan for communicating with ISBE Board Members. For example, will consider “pairing” ISBE Board Members with ICAE members and/or will host a reception an evening prior to an ISBE Board Meeting.
b. Teacher Recruitment and Retention
i. Agricultural Education recognized as a “Teacher Shortage Area” – Jess followed up with Dr. Helfer multiple times regarding this topic. It was suggested to discuss the Teacher Shortage Area designation with Superintendent Tony Smith as part of the proposed meeting with him.
ii. K-12 Licensure
Due to changes to middle school licensure requirements which go into effect in 2018, the CTE Division at ISBE is working towards the development of a K-12 License for CTE Teachers. Agriculture teachers should be encouraged to get a middle school endorsement prior to 2018 so that they can be grandfathered to teach middle school courses.
iii. Strategies for improving Teacher Recruitment and Retention
c. ICAE Bylaws – Each article of the bylaws were reviewed by the meeting participants. Suggested revisions will be sent to members for additional review and consideration and changes will be voted upon at the September meeting.
d. IAVAT Conference – FCAE / ICAE Town Hall Meetings will be held from 1:30 to 3:00 in five rotations on Tuesday, June 16th. Parker Bane and Katie Pratt will represent ICAE to provide teachers with an ICAE membership list, an ICAE history document, and will report on the 2015 ICAE Priorities and the Middle School licensure endorsement issue.
e. ICAE Committee Reports – The Nominations and Appointments committee met prior to this meeting and discussed potential nominees to replace Mike Gray who submitted his resignation. The committee identified Don Norton, Illinois Agriculture Leadership Foundation, as a first option. In addition, they would like to identify someone in Training and Development from Caterpillar or John Deere. The committee will meet via conference call in late July or early August to finalize the Adult education nominee prior to the September ICAE meeting.
f. Review / Discussion of 2015 ICAE Priorities
o Agriculture Teacher Recruitment and Retention
o Advocate for agricultural education funding
o Work closely with ISBE (meet with Superintendent and staff minimum once/year; hold at least one meeting per year at ISBE; invite key ISBE staff to ICAE meeting)
o Develop and engage ICAE members (including an active committee structure)
o Review and update ICAE bylaws
5. Business Items
a. Office Elections and Appointment of Executive Secretary
i. Mike Gray Resignation – Adult Education Nominee
ii. Nominees from March 19th Nominations Committee Report:
· Chair: Vern McGinnis
· Vice-Chair: Katie Pratt, Becky Ropp
· Executive Secretary: Jess Smithers
Quorum was not meet in the afternoon of this meeting, thus voting for Officers and Executive Secretary will completed via mail in June.
6. Reports
o ISBE – Harley Hepner did not give a report as his list of topics to report were already addressed in previous agenda items.
o FCAE – Jess Smithers reported that 7-12 enrollment is steady, five schools are adding an agriculture program next school-year, and the number of student teachers is expected to increase from 17 this year to 23 next year. He also reported on the status of hiring of a District 4 Program Advisor to replace Ryan Wildman who has accepted a position at Lake Land Community College.
7. Future Meetings:
o August 28th, 2015 - Illinois FFA Center, Board Room 9:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. (NEW DATE)
o November 13th, 2015 – ISBE, 9:30 a.m to 2:30 p.m.
o January, 2016 – Set Date, Time, and Location
o March – Set Date, Time, and Location
o June – Set Date, Time, and Location
8. Adjourn
Adjourned at 3:20