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To:     LWVO
From:   Joan Platz
Education Update for May 28, 2007

1)  127th General Assembly: 
The Ohio House and Senate are scheduled to hold sessions this week.  The House announced last week the following dates in which it will hold sessions:  May 30, 31; June 5, 6; June 13, 14; June 19, 20, 21; June 26, 27, 28, 29, 30; and July 10 and 11, if needed.

*Several education organizations have joined together to sponsor a forum on public education to be held on May 31, 2007 from 6:30 -8:00 PM at the ProgressOhio offices, 265 S. 3rd Street, Columbus, OH 43215.  The speakers so far include Darold Johnson, Government Affairs Director of the Ohio Federation of Teachers, State Representative Tracy Maxwell Heard (HD 26), and Tom Beck, teacher at Worthington Public Schools.  The forum will provide an opportunity for the public to discuss issues regarding public education in Ohio. For information please contact Karen Gasper at 614.236.3410.  To attend please RSVP to http://www.progressohio.org/page/petition/EDForum

2)  Update on Federal Education: 
Ohio Senators Sherrod Brown and George Voinovich are sponsoring legislation (S. 1431) that would develop the Early Childhood Education Professional Development and Career System Grants.  These grants would help states attract, train, and retain high quality educators for early childhood education programs.  For information about the bill please visit http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/thomas.

3)  Hearings Held Last Week in the Ohio House:
*The House Finance and Appropriations Committee, chaired by Representative Dolan, had several education related bills on the agenda for May 22, 2007, but only two were heard.

HB14 (Hughes) -reimbursement to school districts for phase-out of taxes on business tangible and HB133 (Hughes) - grants tax credits to businesses that provide internships to students in Ohio, were not heard at request of the sponsor.

HB34 (Wolpert) - establishes the Third Frontier Pilot Forgivable Loan Program for graduate students, was withdrawn at request of sponsor.

HB162 (Luckie) - allows a refundable credit against the income tax for taxpayers who teach in and reside in a big eight school district, was not heard at the request of the sponsor.

Representative Wolpert did present sponsor testimony on HB36 (Wolpert), which creates the Rapid Enrollment Growth School Facilities Assistance Program.  This assistance program would help 16 school districts that are experiencing capacity problems, but would not be connected with the Ohio School Facilities Commission's school building programs.  Funding would be provided through the state's capital budget for districts that are enrolling at least 100 new students per year on average over five years.  The state would provide 25 percent of the cost of constructing a new facility.

Representative Raussen also presented sponsor testimony on HB136 (Raussen), which would permit certain high wealth school districts that receive state payments for school facilities to opt out of the regulations and oversight required by the Ohio School Facilities Commission programs.  The bill would provide school districts that are using most of their own dollars to rebuild schools, with more flexibility regarding the operation of their school building program.

*The House Education Committee, chaired by Representative Setzer, met on May 22, 2006, and heard testimony on the following bills:

HB94 (Koziura) - Representative Koziura presented sponsor testimony on the bill, and explained that the bill would require public colleges and universities to guarantee to undergraduate students that they will be able to complete their required courses for graduation in a specified time.  The bill addresses the situation in which students have to delay graduation because they can not get into a specific class that they need to complete their major or minor.

HB143 (Wagner) - Eliminates a number of requirements/prohibitions applying to school district boards of education.  Two witnesses testified on the bill.  Tom Ash, Director of Governmental Relations from the Buckeye Association of School Administrators, testified in support of the bill, which would reduced many mandates now required for school districts to follow.  However, some of the eliminated mandates may serve a public purpose, and so Mr. Ash recommended further discussion on the components of the bill.

Gary Allen, president of the Ohio Education Association, testified as an opponent of the bill.  According to his testimony, the bill would "eviscerate" the current structure of managing education employees by eliminating the requirement of school districts to bargain collectively with their employees.  Before collective bargaining there was no structure to resolve contract differences, and teachers were actually jailed during contract disputes.  The bill would make permissive certain mandates now in law and rule such as the transportation of students; identification of gifted students; notification of missing children; civil service and due process rights of teachers; collective bargaining; and more.  Committee members asked that a detailed list of provisions in law that would be affected by the bill be provided to committee members.

HB181 (Setzer) - A technical amendment was approved and added to the bill, which requires public and nonpublic schools to indicate on student records when a student has been identified as a missing child, and requires the school to notify law enforcement when a student's school record is requested.  Fred Fastenau, Associate Executive Director of the Ohio Association of Elementary School Administrators (OAESA), testified in support of the bill, which he believes will address a gap in current law regarding missing children.

HB190  (Hite) - Judy Feil, Director of the Office of Assessment at the Ohio Department of Education, testified in support of the bill, which adds an additional week for school districts to administer Ohio achievement tests, and changes the process for returning the tests to the scoring contractor.  The bill provides more time for districts to administer the tests, which will benefit special education students, who are often given the tests with accommodations that require more staff and time.  Also testifying in favor of the bill was Stephen Seagrave, an elementary principal, who also recommended that other changes be made in the state's testing program to provide districts with more flexibility to meet local school and population conditions.

4)  Hearings this Week:
TUESDAY, MAY 29, 2007
*The Senate Finance and Financial Institutions Committee, chaired by Senator Carey (614-466-8156), will meet at 10:00 AM and 1:30 PM in the Senate Finance Hearing room to hear public testimony on HB119 Biennial Budget (Dolan) from education groups including the OEA, OASBO, BASA, OFT, Educational Service Centers, and others.  In the afternoon the committee will hear testimony on charter schools.

*The House Education Committee, chaired by Representative Setzer (614-644-8051) will meet at 3:00 PM in room 116.  The committee will hear testimony on the following bills:
-HB 180 Speech Language Pathology Interns (Setzer)  Establishes a limited student permit category for speech language pathology interns and declares an emergency.
-HB190 Elementary Achievement Tests (Hite) Specifies administration dates for the elementary achievement tests.
-HB181 School records - missing children (Setzer) Requires public and nonpublic schools to mark the records of students identified as missing children and notify law enforcement of requests for those records.
-HB192 Plan for Threats (Brady) Requires each state institution of higher education to develop a plan for responding to threats or acts of violence on campus.

WEDNESDAY, MAY 30, 2007
*The Senate Finance and Financial Institutions Committee, chaired by Senator Carey (614-466-8156), will meet at 9:30 AM and 2:30 PM in the Senate Finance Hearing room.   The committee will hear public testimony on Am. Sub. HB 119 (Dolan) in the morning on the following topics:  special education, gifted education, career technical education, and early childhood education, and on higher education in the afternoon.

THURSDAY, MAY 31, 2007
*The Senate Financial and Financial Institutions, chaired by Senator Carey (614-466-8156), will meet at 9:30 AM and 1:30 PM in the Senate Finance Hearing Room.  The committee will hear public testimony in the morning on Am. Sub. HB 119 (Dolan), the FY08-09 State Budget, regarding Medicaid, and other health related and human services issues in the afternoon.

FRIDAY, JUNE 1, 2007

*The Senate Financial and Financial Institutions, chaired by Senator Carey (614-466-8156), will meet at 9:30 AM and 1:30 PM in the Senate Finance Hearing Room.  The committee will hear public testimony in the morning on Am. Sub. HB 119 (Dolan), the FY08-09 State Budget, regarding local government, and public testimony in the afternoon.

5)  More on NCLB: 
The Center on Education Policy (CEP) has released a new report called "Educational Architects:  Do State Education Agencies Have the Tools Necessary to Implement the NCLB Act."   The report includes an analysis of data from 50 states, and the results of a survey of 15 high-ranking state education officials from 11 states.  The report finds NCLB has challenged the capacity of state education agencies in the areas of staffing and infrastructure; inadequate federal and state funding; a lack of sufficient guidance and technical support from the U.S. Department of Education; and barriers in NCLB and within state education agencies.  This report is the second in a series of reports that the CEP is preparing to release on NCLB as Congress prepares for the reauthorization of the Act.  The report is available at http://www.cep-dc.org/index.cfm?fuseaction=document.showDocumentByID&nodeID=1&DocumentID=193

6)  Civic Engagement and Schools: 
An Opinion article published in the West Virginia Gazette on May 8, 2007 called "Schools Can't Do It By Themselves" by Becky Ceperley, president and CEO of the Greater Kanawha Valley Foundation, highlights the work on civic engagement in schools conducted by the Education Alliance, the Public Education Network, and the Greater Kanawha Valley Foundation.  These organizations came together in October 2006 to create a Civic Index on quality public education to identify the social capital and civic capacity that is needed to support quality public education in a community or state.  Four states, including West Virginia, participated in this effort.  The index is based on ten categories, developed by the public, and include education leadership of elected officials; tolerance and inclusiveness; active parents; strong civic organizations; performance data about the school/district; partnerships with higher education; knowledge of and voting for school board; active business community; youth involvement; and media coverage.  According to the article, where civic engagement in community affairs is high, teachers report higher levels of parental support and lower levels of student misbehavior. To read the article please visit http://wvgazette.com/section/Opinion/2007050710.

7)  Tool Kit for Media About Charter Schools: 
The University of Washington's Center on Reininventing Public Education's National Charter School Research Project has prepared a guide for the media covering charter schools nationally called "Making Sense of Charter School Studies:  A Reporter's Guide".  The guide provides information about charter school achievement studies and research on other education issues.  A database of national charter school statistics is also available http://www.ncsrp.org/cs/csr/view/csr_pubs/12.

8)  Public School Speaks Released: 
The American Association of School Administrators (AASA) has released a DVD that promotes the value and importance of public education called "The Public School Speaks".  The new DVD is part of the Stand Up for Public Education Campaign, which is an effort to educate the public about the history, mission, accomplishments, and challenges of providing a free universal public education for all Americans.  For more information please visit http://www.aasa.org/content.cfm?ItemNumber=8376&CFID=1243384&CFTOKEN=70782634

9)  New Studies on Education Policies, Issues, etc. Released: 
The Education Policy Research Unit (EPRU) at Arizona State University and the Education and Public Interest Center (EPIC) at Colorado University in Boulder have released the following three analyses of recent studies on education topics.  The Education Policy Research Unit (EPRU) conducts original research, provides independent analyses of research and policy documents, and facilitates educational innovation. EPRU facilitates the work of leading academic experts in a variety of disciplines to help inform the public debate about education policy issues.

*"Teacher Attrition Rate Higher at Charter Schools" by Gary Miron and Alex Molnar is based on an analysis of data collected from national surveys of charter school employees from 1997 to 2006.  The analysis shows that 20-25 percent of charter school teachers leave after the first year compared to an eleven percent attrition rate for traditional public schools.  40 percent of newer teachers in charter schools leave after the first year.  High teacher turnover has a impact on overall costs for recruiting and professional development of teachers, and an impact on creating stable school environments and community involvement.  The study also found that the teachers who did leave were more likely to be uncertified.  Teachers who left reported being unsatisfied with the mission of the charter school, the ability of the charter school to achieve its mission, and the administration and governance of the charter school, frustration with working conditions and dissatisfaction with salaries and benefits. This report is available at http://epsl.asu.edu/epru/documents/EPSL-0705-234-EPRU.pdf.

*"Evidence Doesn't Support Purported Voucher Savings" by Bruce Baker and Kevin Welner (May 24, 2007) examines a report "Education by the Numbers:  The Fiscal Effect of School Choice Programs, 1990-2006" by Susan Aud and published by the Milton and Rose Friedman Foundation. In this analysis, Bruce Baker and Kevin Weiner from the Think Tank Review Project, dispute the report's conclusion that choice programs have saved nearly $444 million dollars over 15 years.  According to Baker and Weiner, the study by Aud confuses a reduction in government expenditures with the term "cost savings", and neglects to include school quality and private support as factors in the analysis of spending on students.  The study by Aud examines the voucher programs in Milwaukee, Cleveland, Washington D.C. and tax credit programs in Pennsylvania, Florida, and Arizona.  The report is available at http://epsl.asu.edu/epru/ttreviews/EPSL-0705-235-EPRU.pdf

*"Supplemental Education Services (SES) Under NCLB, Emerging Evidence and Policy Issues", a policy brief by Patricia Burch, shows that the supplemental education services program of the NCLB, which requires school districts to pay the cost of after-school tutoring services, was included in NCLB without any supporting research or scrutiny. The supplemental education services provision of NCLB requires school districts to pay the cost of after-school tutoring services for eligible students attending schools that have failed to meet mandated Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) benchmarks three years in a row. Schools must set aside 20 percent of their Title I funds to pay for tutoring services provided by state-approved operators, including for-profit or nonprofit, public or private service providers. According to the brief, researchers found that SES are limited for students with English as a second language and for students with disabilities, and states do not have the capacity to monitor the service providers, and so there is little accountability. The brief recommends that when NCLB is reauthorized it include a provision to conduct a federal study of the SES provision and its effects on student achievement and student access to services.   To see the policy brief please visit http://epsl.asu.edu/epru/documents/EPSL-0705-232-EPRU.pdf

10)  Bills Introduced the Week of May 21, 2007:
HB 226 (Batchelder) Earmarks 88 percent of the personal income tax for primary/secondary education expenditures, in addition to all lottery profits, and creates a new method for distribution.

HB 234 (Fessler)  Includes revenue from all operating levies, including school district emergency levies, in the calculation determining whether a school district's effective tax rate is below the 20-mill floor, or, for joint vocational school districts, the 2-mill floor.

11)  FYI
*The National Endowment for the Humanities Summer Stipends Program provides up to $6000 to support advanced research that contributes to scholarly knowledge or the public's understanding of the humanities. Recipients of the stipend are required to produce scholarly articles, monographs on specialized subjects, books on broad topics, archaeological site reports, translations, editions, or other scholarly tools. Faculty or staff of colleges and universities, primary and secondary schools, or independent scholars and writers are eligible to submit an application for the stipend program.  The application deadline is October 2, 2007 http://www.grants.gov/search/synopsis.do.

*The National PTA is sponsoring a "competition" to find the best response for the question:  How do you encourage an appreciation for the arts in your child?"  The responses selected will be published in Our Children magazine and those selected will receive a $25 gift card from Barnes and Noble.  Many parents understand the importance of arts education, but do not understand that appreciation for the arts and artistic abilities need to be cultivated and nourished through quality arts education programs in schools.  Responses should be submitted to forum@pta.org by June 4, 2007.

*Ezra Jack Keats Minigrant Program for Public Schools and Public Libraries supports educators, parents, and children in their efforts to spread literacy and love of learning.  The maximum award is $500. Public schools and libraries are eligible to submit a proposal.  The deadline is September 15, 2007.  For information please visit http://www.ezra-jack-keats.org/programs/minigrant.html

*Internationally renown expert in creativity and innovation, Sir Kenneth Robinson, proposes a new education system that nurtures creativity in students.  According to Sir Kenneth, all students have a tremendous amount of talent that is sometimes lost or ignored in our current education system.  Sir Kenneth's ideas are presented in a video of a speech that he made in Monterray, California in February 2006.  To see this video please visit http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/view/id/66
 
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