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To: LWVO From: Joan Platz Education Update for November 26, 2007 1) 127th General Assembly: Members of the Ohio House Alternative Energy Committee, chaired by Representative McGregor, and the House Public Utilities Committee, chaired by Representative Hagan, will be debating this week energy policy, efficiency, supply, development, service, and regulation, outlined in two bills, SB 221 (Schuler) and HB 357 (McGregor). In the Ohio Senate, members of the Senate Judiciary-Criminal Justice Committee, chaired by Senator Grendell, will consider HB181 (Setzer), which requires public and nonpublic schools to mark the records of students identified as missing children, and notify law enforcement of requests for those records. The Ohio House and Senate are not scheduled to hold sessions until mid December. 2) New Provisions Included in Community School Bill: The Senate Education Committee, chaired by Senator Padgett, accepted on November 14, 2007 a substitute bill for SB 141 (Padgett). SB 141 includes provisions that increase accountability requirements for community schools. These provisions have been recommended by the State Board of Education for several years. According to a summary prepared by the ODE, the bill now includes the following provisions: -Removes language that requires the development and issuance of a model report card for community schools. Currently community schools and traditional schools use the same report card format, and so this language is no longer necessary. -Clarifies that the board of directors of a nonprofit or public benefit corporation under which the community school is established is the governing authority of that school. This provision will end confusion about what entity is the responsible governing authority for a community school. -Clarifies that no employee or board member of the community school's sponsor may serve on the governing authority of the community school. This provision clarifies that the members of a governing authority may not be employed by the sponsor of the school, even if the sponsor is a traditional public school. -Requires a community school to withdraw a student who fails to participate in 21 days or 105 consecutive hours of learning opportunities (whichever comes first) without excuse, and prohibits the student from enrolling in this or any other community school for the duration of the school year. Current law does not take into account variations in the length of the school day or online education. The law only requires community schools to adopt an attendance policy that includes a procedure for automatically withdrawing a student if the student fails to participate without excuse in 105 hours of learning opportunities offered to the student. -Requires community schools to provide 1001 hours of learning opportunities for students in grades 7-12, and 910 hours of learning opportunities in grades K-6. This provision will align the number of hours of instruction that community schools are required to provide with the number of hours of instruction that traditional schools are required to provide. Current law requires community schools to provide at a minimum 920 hours of instruction. -Provides for the ODE to directly fund sponsors out of the total amount of state funding calculated for the school for that fiscal year. Sponsors are funded through an agreement between the sponsor and the school, and can be paid up to three percent of the state funds that the school receives. This provision will lessen the financial incentive for sponsors to keep poor performing community schools open. -Prohibits a sponsor or its affiliate from selling services to any school it operates. This provision will lessen the financial involvement between community schools and their sponsors. -Clarifies that no person shall be employed by both the governing board and the school's sponsor. Some sponsors have allowed their employees to be employed by the schools that they sponsor, so that these employees can enroll in SERS or STRS to receive benefits. -Clarifies that sponsors have the authority in law to close a school that they are sponsoring. Sponsors can close a school or not renew its contract due to the school's performance, and/or if the school fails to meet certain academic criteria outlined in law (126-HB 79). - Clarifies that no right to appeal exists when a school is closed due to academic performance outlined in HB 79. However, the school can appeal if closed due to other performance reasons. -Requires that any corrective action plan submitted by the school be signed by the sponsor, and that progressive sanctions could be assessed against the sponsor if the plan is not followed or completed. -Authorizes sponsors to review student records. -Makes the mishandling of student records a misdemeanor of the third degree. -Prohibits a sponsor from sponsoring a new school for three years if a school that it sponsors closes and owes money to the state. -Requires a minimum number of students for a startup community school, and provides the ODE with the ability to waive this requirement in special circumstances. A startup community school would be required to have 50 students in its first year; 75 students in its second year; and 100 students in each subsequent year. An analysis of community schools has shown that 100 students generate the revenue necessary to sustain a school over time. -Removes from current law a provision that allowed a community school operator the right to appeal to a school's sponsor or the State Board of Education, a decision by the governing board of the school to terminate or not renew an operator's contract. The following provisions were included in the bill as introduced: -Clarifies that the Department of Education's authority to oversee and monitor community school sponsors applies to all sponsors, regardless of whether they must initially be approved by the Department for sponsorship. -Permits the Department of Education to place a sponsor in probationary status or to suspend or restrict the sponsor's authority to sponsor community schools for failure to intervene to correct problems at a school. -Requires that for an entity that sponsors or operates out-of-state schools to be approved to sponsor community schools in Ohio, at least one of those out-of-state schools must perform as well as Ohio schools in continuous improvement (rather than academic watch, as under current law). -Requires the sponsor of each community school to provide annual assurances to the Department of Education regarding the school's compliance with certain laws and the preparedness of the school's staff and facilities for the upcoming school year. -Requires the Department of Education's annual report on community schools to include the performance of community school sponsors. 3) STEM Subcommittee Meets: The STEM Subcommittee (Chancellor Eric Fingerhut chair) of the Partnership for Continued Learning (Governor Strickland chair) met on November 21, 2007. The STEM Subcommittee (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math) discussed public responses to a draft Request for Qualifications (RFQ) to select an Ohio-based nonprofit enterprise to assist in supporting the strategic and operational coordination of the public and private STEM education initiatives and resources, and two draft Request for Proposals (RFPs) for establishing up to five STEM Schools and K-8 STEM Programs of Excellence. The discussion was led by Dr. Julie Schaid, Executive Director for the Partnership for Continued Learning. The subcommittee also reviewed a rubric for scoring the RFQ and RFPs presented by Dr. Schaid. Dr. Schaid reported that 89 parties have been included on the interested parties list regarding the STEM schools/K-8 Program of Excellence initiatives. The subcommittee agreed with the changes made to the drafts, and accepted the scoring rubrics, which will also be posted online. The subcommittee set November 30, 2007 as the release date for the RFQ and two RFPs. An RFQ and RFP bidder's conference will be held on December 12, 2007, and interested parties will be asked to submit a letter of intent by December 20, 2007. Proposals for the RFQ will be due January 11, 2008, and proposals for establishing STEM high schools and K-8 Programs of Excellence will be due January 18, 2008. The subcommittee will meet the week of January 21st, and selected proposals will be notified some time in mid February 2008. For more information please visit the STEM subcommittee web site at http://www.pcl.ohio.gov/jcore/pcl/HomeContent.jsp?node=D676EB47-8397-4427-B393-73645554EC80 4) ASCD Whole Child Initiative: The American Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development's Whole Child Campaign "...promotes a comprehensive approach to learning that recognizes that successful young people are knowledgeable, emotionally and physically healthy, civically inspired, engaged in the arts, prepared for work and economic self-sufficiency, and ready for the world beyond their own borders." The Campaign has been involved in several education and child welfare issues this fall, including the reauthorization of the No Child Left Behind Act; the reauthorization of the Head Start Act; and approval of the State Children's Health Insurance Program. The campaign has created a clearinghouse for information, and frequently updates its web site with new information and research. Twenty-one organizations have now joined the campaign. For information please visit http://www.wholechildeducation.org/ 5) Creativity Matters Campaign Launched: Over 160 state leaders, business leaders, and educators met on October 30, 2007 in Tacoma, Washington for a summit to address the importance of creativity and imagination in the education of Washington's students. The summit was chaired by Eric Liu, member of the Washington State Board of Education, and sponsored by Governor Chris Gregoire, business organizations including Boeing and Microsoft, education organizations, arts organizations and institutions, and state agencies. The summit, which was an outgrowth of Governor Gregoire's Washington Learns Commission, focused on how students need to develop creativity to be better prepared to meet the challenges of the future, and how creativity can be taught across the curriculum. As an outcome of the summit, organizers launched the Creativity Matters campaign to encourage leaders in all communities and in the corporate, education, government and philanthropic sectors to promote creativity and imagination in the education of children. One of the first initiatives of Creativity Matters is to establish an Imagination Award in partnership with the New York City Lincoln Center Institute, which annually presents an Imagination Award to a NYC public school that demonstrates the spirit of imagination and creativity. Other activities are listed on the Creativity Matters website at http://creativitymatters.net/index.php |
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Ohio Fair Schools Campaign, 94 Columbus Road Athens, Ohio 45701 Tel. (740)592-2866 Fax (740)593-5451 |
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