The mission of the Ohio Fair Schools Campaign is to organize and advocate for high quality public education opportunities for all Ohio children wherever they live, whatever their race and whatever their family background.
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To:     LWVO
From:   Joan Platz
Education Update for January 2, 2007

1) 127th General Assembly Begins:
The 126th Ohio General Assembly ended last week when the Senate officially adjourned.  The Ohio House had adjourned already on December 21, 2006.  The 127th Ohio General Assembly convenes on January 2, 2007, and a joint session of the Ohio House and Senate is scheduled for January 3, 2007 at 1:30 PM. Governor-elect Strickland and Lieutenant Governor Lee Fisher will be sworn into office  on January 8, 2007, but their formal oath of office ceremonies will be held on January 13, 2007 at the Statehouse
lawn in Columbus.

Completing his term as governor, Governor Taft signed into law last week
HB 699 - capital budget;
HB 79 - teacher conduct/vouchers;
HB 71- PERS military service credit;
HB 276 - school harassment/bullying policies; and
HB 671 - school treasurer contracts. 
SB 311 - Ohio Core Curriculum

2) Recap of the 126th General Assembly:
House and Senate lawmakers introduced over fourteen hundred bills during the 126th General Assembly (2005-2006), and approximately one hundred were related to education.  These included bills that addressed topics such as Educational Service Centers; graduation requirements; aligning the PK-16 education system; teacher preparation and conduct; health and
safety issues; school funding and tax policies; charter schools and vouchers; accountability for schools; student achievement; public records; energy efficiency; retirement and health care; school facilities; the length of the school year and day; and more.

Of those education related bills that were introduced, fifteen were enacted into law.  Significant changes in law related to education were also included in three budget bills, Am. Sub. HB 66 (Calvert) - the FY06-07 state budget; Am. Sub. HB 530 (Calvert) - budget corrections and capital renewal; and Am. Sub. HB 699 (Calvert) - the capital budget for FY07-08.  It is interesting to note that overall debate about education issues was conducted to a greater extent by the House and Senate committees hearing bills on finance and ways and
means than by the education committees.

Some of the education bills not approved by lawmakers still became law because they were incorporated into other legislation that was passed.  For example, some of the provisions related to charter school accountability, which were originally introduced as separate legislation, were eventually included in HB 79 (Raga) - teacher conduct and HB 276 (Stewart) - harassment and bullying policies.  HB 128 (Allen), a bill creating the Education Choice Scholarship Program, was added to the biennial budget bill, Sub. HB. 66 (Calvert).  This provision provides public funds for students to attend certain private schools.  And, HB 254 (Collier) - minimum hours of instruction - was eventually approved when it was added to SB 311 (Gardner), the Ohio Core Curriculum.

Reviewing the legislation that was not approved by the 126th General Assembly may provide some insight about the legislative agenda for 127th General Assembly.  For example, eight bills were introduced in the House and Senate that addressed charter school law.  Although the 126th General Assembly did make some changes in charter school law, a number of accountability issues remain, and will no doubt be raised during the 127th General Assembly.

There were also a number of bills that were introduced regarding school funding.  These included bills that addressed the reimbursement for the loss of the tangible personal property taxes; full funding for all day Kindergarten; parity aid; cost of doing business factor;  bipartisan commission to study the cost of funding schools; health care costs, and more.

Some of the school funding and charter school issues are expected to be addressed in the FY08-09 budget bill, which will be submitted by Governor-elect Strickland to the 127th General Assembly early this year.  Also expected to be re-introduced in this session are legislative changes regarding the state's rating system for schools; state support for STEM Schools (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics); expansion of a voucher program to all students in special education; and health care for school employees.

3) Education Bills Enacted into Law:
The following is a summary of the education related bills that were enacted, or are soon to be signed into law, by the 126th General Assembly.  This summary does not include the extensive education provisions that were included in the FY06-07 budget bill, Am. Sub. HB 66 (Calvert); Sub. HB 530 (Calvert); or the recently approved capital budget, Sub. HB 699:

*HB 671 (Webster) Revises the laws regarding the employment of school district and educational service center treasurers.

*HB 422 (Hughes) Requires community schools and chartered nonpublic schools to adopt school safety plans in the same manner as school districts; exempts school safety plans and school building blueprints from the Public Records Law; requires all public and nonpublic schools to conduct at least one school safety drill annually; and increases the fine for failure to conduct any required drill to one thousand dollars.

*HB 276 (Stewart) Regarding school policies prohibiting harassment, intimidation, or bullying; expands in-service training in child abuse prevention that school districts and community schools must provide; eliminates the summer administration of the third grade reading achievement test; allows specified students to substitute passage of the Ohio Graduation Test for passage of the ninth grade proficiency test in the same subject to satisfy diploma requirements; requires school districts and community schools to administer the kindergarten
readiness assessment between four weeks prior to the start of school and October 1; permits the Department of Education to have access to personally identifiable student information under specified conditions; provides for the assignment of EMIS student data verification codes for children receiving early intervention services under the Help Me Grow program; allows community schools established outside of the statewide caps to be managed by operators not currently managing schools in Ohio; expands the circumstances in
which community school performance data is included on school district report cards; specifies a procedure for a parent to waive entitlement to a computer from an Internet or computer-based community school; repeals the authorization for teachers to temporarily teach an area or grade level outside of their license or certificate; permits a school district board of education to renew the contract of a director, supervisor, or coach of a pupil-activity program who is not a licensed educator without first offering that
position to a licensed educator; permits temporary deficits in school district special funds under certain conditions; requires textbook publishers to comply with the National Instructional Materials Accessibility Standard; permits waivers from the minimum number of school days in the 2006-2007 school year for certain joint vocational school districts that experience delays in a state-assisted construction project; and permits the boards of trustees of Rio Grande Community College and the University of Rio Grande to cooperate in employing a president and operating the community college.

*HB 234 (Wolpert) Permits a board of elections, in conjunction with a board of education, the governing authority of a community school, or the chief administrator of a nonpublic school, to establish a program permitting certain high school seniors to serve as precinct officers on the day of an election, and permits a board of elections to establish such a program for home-instructed students who are in the equivalent of the twelfth year of a one through twelve year instructional program.

*HB 203 (Raga) Requires the Director of Health to establish the School Health and Safety Network to coordinate and collect data from school inspections, and to include Network inspection rules within the practice of environmental health for registered sanitarians.

*HB 184 (Faber)  Requires school districts and community schools that receive donated copies of the mottoes of the United States of America or the State of Ohio to display the mottoes in school buildings.

*HB 115 (Setzer)  Establishes the Educational Regional Service System and the EMIS Advisory Board; revises the financing of Educational Choice Scholarships for kindergartners; permits the governing authority of a start-up community school that meets certain conditions to establish another community school above the cap on the number of community schools; permits school districts to establish residency requirements for superintendents, and makes an appropriation.

*HB107 (Setzer) Requires the State Board of Education to adopt standards that require the curricula of teacher preparation programs to be aligned with the state academic content standards and with the value-added progress dimension developed by the Department of Education, and extends the deadline for the Department and the Educator Standards Board to propose a career ladder program for teachers.

*HB 79  (Raga) Requires that information about professional misconduct or child abuse or neglect committed by a person licensed by the State Board of Education be submitted to the Superintendent of Public Instruction; requires the State Board to request a criminal records check prior to renewing an educator license; requires the State Board to request a criminal records check every five years for a person teaching under a professional or permanent teaching certificate issued under former law; clarifies the information provided by a public children services agency to the Department of Job and Family Services about a person applying for licensure or certification to operate a family day-care home; adds representatives of community school sponsors and staffs to the membership of the Partnership for Continued Learning; revises terms for renewing Educational Choice Scholarships; revises eligibility for the
Educational Choice Scholarship Pilot Program; establishes the maximum number of Educational Choice Scholarships that may be awarded in each year; renames data acquisition sites as information technology centers; revises regional designations for educational service centers or school districts located in multiple regions; revises the Educational Regional Service System advisory councils membership; clarifies the duties of regional advisory councils under the Educational Regional Service System; revises the Educational Regional Service System Information Technology Center Subcommittee membership; requires additional content in fiscal agent performance contracts under the Educational Regional Service System; revises meeting requirements for the State Regional Alliance Advisory Board; requires the State Board of Education to adopt recommendations for the development of school parental involvement policies; changes the law regarding the filing of school building blueprints with the Attorney General; prohibits persons from serving on more than two start-up
community school governing authorities; prohibits certain conflicts of interest between community school governing authorities and operators; specifies that members of the governing authority of a start-up community school may be compensated for attending meetings of the governing authority; provides an appeal process for community school operators whose management contracts are terminated or not renewed; requires school districts to sell certain property that is suitable for classroom space and has not been used for educational
purposes; revises the criteria for closing poorly performing community schools; provides for the inclusion of certain Educational Choice Scholarship students in the formula ADM of their resident school districts; requires school districts to submit student acceleration policies to the Department of Education for approval; and clarifies which schools are subject to inspection under the School Health and Safety Network.

*HB 11 (Schlichter) Grants high school diplomas to certain veterans of the Vietnam Conflict and permits school districts, educational service centers, and county MR/DD boards in fiscal year 2006 to apply to use funds appropriated for school bus purchases to pay the cost of purchasing fuel for buses. 

*SB 311 (Gardner) Establishes the Ohio Core curriculum; calculates the minimum school year based on hours, rather than days, of instruction; restructures admission requirements and remedial courses in state universities; implements other initiatives to enhance secondary and post-secondary education in Ohio, and makes an appropriation.

*SB 164 (Schuring)  Permits students of school districts, community schools, and chartered nonpublic schools to carry epinephrine medication approved by the students' physicians and parents, and grants immunity to school districts, community schools, and chartered nonpublic schools and their employees for good faith actions in connection with this permission.

*SB 71 (Wilson) Permits certain school districts and nonpublic schools located in areas flooded during the 2004-2005 school year to count time that schools are in session beyond the required minimum number of hours in order to make up calamity days missed in excess of the number of days permitted by law and the number of days specified in their contingency plans, and declares an emergency. 

*SB 56 (Mumper) Enacts as a separate act the provision of law exempting employees of the Ohio School Facilities Commission from the collective bargaining law.

*SB 6  (Padgett) Establishes the Partnership for Continued Learning to make recommendations for facilitating collaboration among providers of preschool through postsecondary education and for maintaining a high-quality workforce in Ohio.
 
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