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here to go back to the LWVO Education Update Main Page To: LWVO From: Joan Platz Education Update for January 9, 2007 1) 110th Congress Begins: The U.S. House of Representatives and the U.S. Senate convened as the 110th Congress on January 4, 2007, led by a Democratic majority in both chambers. Ohio's delegation includes U.S. Senators George Voinovich and Sherrod Brown, and Representatives Steve Chabot, Jean Schmidt, Mike Turner, Jim Jordan, Paul E. Gillmor, Charlie Wilson, David L. Hobson, John A. Boehner, Marcy Kaptur Dennis J. Kucinich, Stephanie T. Jones, Patrick J. Tiberi, Betty Sutton, Steve C. LaTourette, Deborah Pryce, Ralph Regula, Tim Ryan, and Zach T. Space. The leadership in the U.S. House includes Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (CA); Representative Steny H. Hoyer (MD), Majority Leader, and Representative James E. Clyburn (SC), Majority Whip. Representing the Republicans are Representatives John Boehner (OH), Minority Leader and Roy Blunt (MO), Minority Whip. In the Senate Senator Harry Reid (NV) will serve as Senate Majority Leader, Senator Robert Bryd (WV) President Pro Tempore, and Senator Dick Durbin (IL) Assistant Majority Leader. For the Republicans Senator Mitch McConnell (KY) will serve as Minority Leader and Senator Trent Lott (MS) Assistant Minority Leader. Chairing key committees in the House are Representatives David Obey (WI) Appropriations, John Spratt (SC) Budget, and George Miller (CA) Education and Labor. Chairing key committees in the Senate are Senator Robert Byrd (WV) Appropriations, Senator Kent Conrad (ND) Budget, Senator Max Baucus (MT) Finance, and Senator Ted Kennedy (MA) Health Education Labor & Pensions Committee (HELP). Appointments to subcommittees has not been finalized at this printing. 2) 110th Agenda for Education: The 109th Congress adjourned in December 2006 without approving all of the FY07 appropriations bills, including the one for education. A "continuing resolution" was approved in December to keep federal agencies and departments operating, but this resolution expires in February 2007. Senate and House leaders are expected to approve a joint resolution to continue federal spending at FY06 levels, with some exceptions, for the remainder of the fiscal year, which ends in October 2007. This temporary solution will enable Congress to proceed with the FY08 budget process. President Bush is already working on the FY08 federal budget proposal, which will be introduced in the House in February. The following education priorities for 2007 have been identified by House and Senate leadership: *Reauthorize Head Start and strengthen early learning opportunities. *Ensure that schools are equipped to meet the challenges of the global economy. *Fully fund IDEIA. *Expand support for teacher preparation programs. *Increase college affordability and increase Pell Grants from $4,050 to $5,100. *Support math and science education. *Create incentives for high quality teachers - especially in high demand subjects such as math and science - to teach in high poverty schools. *Reauthorize the Workforce Investment Act; and *Revisit the reforms contained in the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB), which faces reauthorization in 2007. Democrats are expected to make funding the No Child Left Behind Act a priority during the reauthorization process. Other provisions in the NCLB will also be reviewed, such as, ensure that tests are used to improve instruction, not just label schools; ensure that students struggling to meet high standards have the best teachers and expanded learning opportunities; and provide parents with accurate information to make informed choices about schools. 3) 127th Ohio General Assembly Convenes: Members of the 127th Ohio General Assembly convened in Columbus on January 2, 2007, and began the legislative session for the next two years by taking oaths of office, certifying the November 7, 2006 election results, and adopting rules and procedures. Seventeen out of 33 seats in the Ohio Senate were contested on November 7, 2006. The Democrats gained one seat, but the Republicans retained a 21 -12 majority. Senator Bill Harris will lead the Ohio Senate again as Senate President, and Senator Teresa Fedor will serve as Minority Leader in the Senate. The following members of the Ohio Senate are term-limited at the end of 2008: Senators Amstutz; Austria; Gardner; Harris; Jacobson; Mumper; and Spada. Ninety-nine members were elected to the Ohio House of Representatives on November 7, 2006 for two year terms. The Democrats gained eight seats and the Republicans gained one. The Republicans retained a 53-46 majority. Leading the Republicans in the Ohio House is House Speaker Jon Husted, and leading the Democrats is Minority Leader Joyce Beatty. The following Ohio House members are term-limited at the end of 2008: Representatives Aslanides, Beatty, Brinkman, Carano, Carmichael, Collier, Core, DeWine, Distel, Driehaus, Fessler, Flowers, John Hagan, Hughes, Husted, Latta, Otterman, Peterson, Redfern, Reinhard, Schneider, Seitz, Setzer, Strahorn, Webster, White, and Wolpert. Committee assignments for the House and Senate are expected to be announced over the next few weeks. 4) New Governor and Statewide Officials Take Over This Week: Governor-elect Strickland and Lieutenant Governor-elect Fisher will be sworn into office on January 8, 2007 at midnight, but their formal oath of office ceremonies will be held on January 13, 2007 at the Statehouse lawn in Columbus. Other statewide elected officials to be sworn in on January 8, 2007 are Ohio Auditor-elect Mary Taylor, Ohio Treasurer-elect Richard Cordray, and Attorney General-elect Marc Dann at the Trumbull County Courthouse. Secretary of State-elect Jennifer Brunner, will take the oath of office on January 12, 2007. 5) 126th General Assembly Comes to a Close... Really: Governor Taft signed into law last week several bills left over from the 126th General Assembly, including the Ohio Core Curriculum, Am. Sub. SB 311 (Gardner). The law requires most students graduating in 2014 to complete the Ohio Core Curriculum as a prerequisite for admission to Ohio's four-year state assisted institutions of higher education. Governor Taft vetoed a provision in SB 311 that was added on the floor of the House during debate on the bill in December 2006. That provision changed current law, which calculates the minimum amount of time traditional public schools are required to provide instruction based on a minimum number of days and hours per day, to a calculation based on a total number of hours of instruction, with some limitations. Governor Taft also signed into law last week HB272 (Schneider), which makes statutory changes regarding state retirement systems, and HB343 (Raga), which, among other provisions, increases the age at which a person is eligible to obtain a temporary driving instruction permit from 15 years 6 months to 16 years. 6) State Board of Education to Welcome New Members: The State Board of Education, Sue Westendorf president, will meet on January 8 & 9, 2007 at the Ohio School for the Deaf, 500 Morse Road, Columbus, OH. The School Funding Subcommittee met on January 7, 2006 at the Embassy Suites in Columbus to discuss a report on school funding that will be presented to the full Board. The Executive Committee, chaired by Sue Westendorf, will meet at 8:30 AM to hear updates from subcommittees; discuss legislative recommendations regarding ADM counting procedures; and discuss the motion to accept the report of the School Funding Subcommittee. An update on state and federal legislation will be presented to the full Board at 9:00 AM. The Achievement Committee, chaired by Mike Cochran, and the Capacity Committee, chaired by Carl Wick and Jennifer Sheets, will meet at 9:45 AM. The Achievement Committee will discuss resolutions regarding the value added rules, the rules for the Honors Diploma; and the draft of the alternative pathway to the OGT for earning a high school diploma. The Capacity Committee will discuss procedures for the regional delivery system; legislation regarding poverty-based assistance; the community school sponsor evaluation; and revisions to the Education Choice Scholarship rules. The full Board will convene in the Conference Center at 11:30 AM, when the oath of office will be administered to the new members of the State Board of Education by Justice Evelyn Lundberg Stratton of the Ohio Supreme Court. Following lunch at 1:00 PM the Board will discuss rules regarding funding for preschool and special education, the School Funding Subcommittee Report, the legislative recommendation regarding counting students (Average Daily Membership), and the recommendation for funding Education Service Centers. The Board will then hear updates from members and committee reports, review written reports, and review the consent agenda for the business meeting on January 9, 2007 starting at 3:00 PM. Included in the written reports is the 2005-2006 Annual Report on Ohio Community Schools, which is available on the ODE web site at http://www.ode.state.oh.us/GD/Templates/Pages/ODE/ODEDetail.aspx?Page=3&TopicRelationID=662&Content=23122 At 4:00 PM the Board will hold a Chapter 119 hearing on four rule changes: Rule 3301-24-05 of the OAC - Licensure; Rule 3301-41-01 - Certificate of High School Equivalency; Rules 3301-83-01, 06, 13, and 19 - Pupil Transportation Operation and Safety; and Rules 3301-89-01 and 02 - Transfer of School District Territory. The State Board will also meet on Tuesday, January 9, 2006 at 9:00 AM to discuss "Survive or Thrive: Education in a Flat World Facilitator's Guide," and hear an update on the Achieve Policy Study. The Board's business meeting will be called to order at 1:00 PM and the Board will immediately convene into executive session. After reconvening its public meeting, the Board will elect officers for 2007-2008; hear a report from the Superintendent of Public Instruction, Dr. Susan Tave Zelman; hear public participation on agenda Items; and consider action on 21 resolutions, including 13 personnel items and the following: #2. Approve a resolution of intent to rescind Rule 3301-54-01 - Contracted Special Education Units and amend Rule 3301-51-11 - Funding for Preschool Special Education. #3. Approve a resolution regarding the 2007 Ohio Teacher of the Year, George Edge, who teaches instrumental music and is the director of bands at Grove City High School. #4. Approve a motion that the State Board of Education accepts the report from the Board's School Funding Subcommittee. #5. Approve a motion that the State Board of Education adopt the document entitled "Average Daily Membership: Findings and Legislative Recommendations for Change." #21. Approve a resolution to rescind Rule 3301-2-04 of the Ohio Administrative Code - Notice of Personal Information Systems. The Board will then consider old business, new business, miscellaneous business, and hear public participation on non-agenda items. The Board will then adjourn. For more information about the meetings of the State Board of Education, please visit www.ode.state.oh.us and follow the links to the State Board of Education. 7) Quality Counts 2007 Released: Education Week, Virginia B. Edwards publisher, released last week its annual review of the state of education in the nation called "Quality Counts 2007: From Cradle to Career, Connecting American Education From Birth Through Adulthood." This year the Education Week analysts focused on how states serve the educational needs of children from birth to careers. They looked at ways in which states have created "seamless" preK-career educational systems and have defined student readiness to succeed at each stage of the educational process. Quality Counts 2007 is available online at http://www.edweek.org/ew/toc/2007/01/04/index.html. In order to track this information, the Editorial Projects in Education Research Center developed for Education Week the "Chance for Success Index" based on 13 indicators that highlight whether or not children "...get off to a good start, succeed in elementary and secondary school, and hit key educational and economic benchmarks as adults." The researchers then used this index to evaluate state education systems. This index will now be used by Education Week to track state efforts to create seamless education systems. The indicators for the Chance for Success Index are grouped under three headings: the early years, the school-age years, and the adult years. The researchers found that most states are working to define school readiness and provide interventions for children in the early years, but fewer states have defined college or workforce readiness. Virginia, Connecticut, Minnesota, New Jersey, Maryland, Massachusetts, and New Hampshire rated above the national average on this new index, while Alabama, Mississippi, Tennessee, Texas, Arizona, Louisiana, and New Mexico rated below the national average. Ohio ranked 27th on the Chance for Success Index with a -1 index score compared to top-rated Virginia, which received a +22 and low-rated New Mexico, which received a -23. Ohio rated below the national average in the categories of parent education; preschool enrollment; Kindergarten enrollment; adult attainment; and annual income. Ohio rated higher than the national average in the categories of family income 200 percent above the poverty level; linguistics integration; elementary reading; middle school mathematics; and high school graduation. Quality Counts 2007 also developed a new "State Achievement Index" to rate the performance of K-12 education systems in each state based on 15 indicators under the headings state standards, assessments, and accountability systems. Previous indicators for school climate, efforts to improve teacher quality, and school finance are not included this year in the rating system, and states did not receive a letter grade as in the past. State ratings will now be based on whether or not students are above or below the national average on the State Achievement Index, and how much progress states are making on the indicators. Massachusetts, New Jersey, Vermont, Connecticut, Minnesota, North Dakota, South Dakota, Virginia, and Washington State rated highly on the State Achievement Index, while the District of Columbia, Louisiana, Alabama, Hawaii, New Mexico, West Virginia, and Mississippi rated at the bottom. Ohio rated ten along with Montana, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin with a score of 13 points. Massachusetts was the highest rated state with 20 points, while Mississippi earned a -14 for the low. Ohio rated above the national average on the NAEP Mathematics scores at the 4th and 8th grades; NAEP Reading scores atthe 4th and 8th grades; NAEP scale score change at the 4th grade; graduation rates in 2003; and change in the highest test scores 2000-2005. Quality Counts 2007 also includes several articles that provide excellent background information about education policy in the nation. For example, included in this issue are also articles about "Breaking the Cycle of Poverty", "Moving Beyond Grade 12", and "Linking Learning to Earning." |
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Ohio Fair Schools
Campaign, 94 Columbus Road
Athens, Ohio 45701
Tel. (740)592-2866 Fax (740)593-5451
Athens, Ohio 45701
Tel. (740)592-2866 Fax (740)593-5451