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.
To:      LWVO
From:     Joan Platz
Education Update for November 5, 2007

***November 6, 2007 Election Day:  According to the web site of Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner, voters will decide on November 6, 2007 38 bond issues, 154 tax issues, and 36 income tax issues for schools, including repeals of current income taxes for schools.  To view the school issues on the November ballot please visit http://www.sos.state.oh.us:80/SOS/ElectionsVoter/Results2007.aspx?Section=2952

1) 127th General Assembly: 
The Ohio House will hold session on November 7, 2007.  The other "as needed" House sessions in November have been canceled.  The Ohio Senate has canceled its November 6 & 7, 2007 "as needed" sessions.  The House and Senate Education Committees are not meeting this week.

*Governor Ted Strickland announced on October 29, 2007 that the State of Ohio had received net proceeds of $5.05 billion from the sale of tobacco bonds.  The bond sale allows the state to provide approximately 566,000 additional homeowners tax cuts through the Homestead Tax Exemption program, and allows Ohio to build 250 more schools by October 2010.  According to the Governor's press release, "This investment will also move Ohio from the 40th percentile to the 60th percentile on the school equity list, allowing 438,359 students to attend school in new, state-of-the-art facilities." The sale will also lower the state's debt burden and create a more stable financial future for Ohio.

*The Ohio Senate approved the following bills last week:

-SB 221 (Schuler) Revises energy policy in Ohio to address electric service price regulation and provides for new bonding authority for advanced energy projects, advanced (including sustainable resource) energy portfolio standards, energy efficiency standards, and greenhouse gas emission reporting and carbon control planning requirements.

-HB 166 (Schindel) Creates an Office of Internal Auditing within the Office of Budget and Management, establishes the State Audit Committee, and prescribes their respective and interrelated functions.

-Am. Sub. 190 (Hite) was amended to address several issues, and was approved as emergency legislation by the Senate.  As introduced the bill revises the scheduling of the spring administration of the elementary achievement tests from no earlier than the week containing May 1, as under current law, to no earlier than the week containing April 24; provides for the elementary achievement tests to be administered over a two-week period, instead of five consecutive days; and clarifies that the elementary achievement tests must be submitted to the scoring company after all of the tests have been administered for the designated testing period.

The Senate Education Committee, chaired by Senator Joy Padgett, amended the bill on October 30, 2007 to address other issues that have recently been brought to the attention of lawmakers.  According to the analysis prepared by the Legislative Service Commission (LSC), HB 190 was amended to permit school districts that are not eligible for state payments for all-day kindergarten to charge tuition on a sliding scale for all-day kindergarten classes; requires the Department of Education (ODE) to issue an annual report on tuition charged by school districts for all-day kindergarten; requires the ODE by April 30, 2008 to issue a report on fees charged by school districts for (1) classes or programs that are offered during the regular school day or after school and for which students earn credit or are assigned grades, (2) instructional materials, and (3) summer school.

Several amendments were also added by the Senate Education Committee to address teacher misconduct, in response to recent reports in the Columbus Dispatch.  These include the following, also from the LSC analysis:
-requires school districts, educational service centers, community schools, STEM schools, and chartered nonpublic schools to request criminal records checks for all job applicants and employees, not merely those whose duties entail the care of children;
-requires private contractors hired by those employers to request criminal records checks for job applicants and employees who will work in schools;
-requires subsequent criminal records checks every five years for all school employees who are not subject to periodic post-employment records checks under other laws;
-requires that the initial and periodic criminal records checks of school employees, including State Board of Education licensees, include checks of FBI records as well as state records;
-permits the State Board of Education to revoke an expired educator license for misconduct;
-requires the Educator Standards Board to make recommendations for a code of conduct for educators; and
-directs the ODE by December 31, 2007 to recommend penalties for failure to report to the Department or the State Board of Education information about educators who have committed an act unbecoming to the teaching profession or that makes them a threat to students' safety;

The bill also permits the Superintendent of Public Instruction to waive the minimum number of school days in the 2006-2007 school year for a certain joint vocational school district that experienced delays in a state-assisted construction project; extends to July 1, 2008, the deadline for issuance of recommendations by the public-private collaborative commission studying the promotion of student success in conjunction with the Ohio Core curriculum; and removes the Directors of Natural Resources and Job and Family Services from the Ohio Community Service Council, and adds two members appointed by the Governor.

The bill now goes to the Ohio House for concurrence.

*The Senate Judiciary - Criminal Justice Committee, chaired by Senator Grendell, met on October 31, 2007 and reported out favorably HB142 (Batchelder), which authorizes the state highway patrol to provide emergency assistance to a school district confronted with a bomb threat or a similar threat of imminent and catastrophic harm, and increases the penalty for inducing panic to a felony of the second degree when a school is involved.

*The House Education Committee, chaired by Representative Setzer, met on October 30, 2007 and heard testimony on teacher misconduct (no bill); HB 347 (Setzer) eliminate Praxis III; and HB 348 (Peterson) Special Education Scholarship Program.

-HB 347 (Setzer) replaces the Praxis III assessment as a condition for a professional educator license with assessment systems developed by school districts, community schools, STEM schools, and chartered nonpublic schools.  Interim Dean Ann Converse Shelly from Ashland University spoke on behalf of the Ohio Association of Private Colleges for Teacher Education as an opponent of the bill.  She said that the Praxis III was closely aligned to the Ohio Standards for Teachers, and eliminating the Praxis III would place a burden on school districts. The Praxis III is currently administered by an experienced teacher engaged and trained by the Ohio Department of Education.

Colleen Grady, a member of the State Board of Education, presented to the committee her personal views of HB 347 and not the position of the State Board of Education, which has not taken a position on the bill.  Mrs. Grady presented testimony in support of the bill, which she said aligns teacher assessment with the seven standards outlined in the Ohio Standards for the Teaching Profession, which were adopted by the State Board of Education.

-HB348 (Peterson) Special Education Scholarship Pilot Program: Several parents and a student testified in favor of the bill, saying that HB348 would allow parents to have choices regarding the education of their children with special needs.   These parents shared their frustrations about working with some school districts that refuse to implement IEPs, and explained how they were able to find private schools that could better serve their children.

Providing joint testimony in opposition to HB 348 were Michelle Francis of the Ohio School Boards Association, Barbara Shaner of the Ohio Association of School Business Officials, Robert Davis of the Ohio Education Association, Ann Brennan of the Ohio School Psychologists Association, Sandy Nekoloff of the Ohio Parent Teacher Association, Darold Johnson of the Ohio Federation of Teachers, Joan Platz of the League of Women Voters of Ohio, and Randy Weston of the Ohio Association of Public School Employees.

According to their testimony, approving HB 348 would have negative consequences for students, parents, and schools.  HB 348 would eliminate certain rights of special education students and parents (least restrictive environment and due process); provide less accountability for services delivered to students with special needs and tax payers; eliminate the accountability requirements of NCLB for students using vouchers (highly qualified teachers and adequate yearly progress); and, undermine current contracts that school districts have negotiated to provide services to students with special needs in their school district.

A memo submitted by Ann Brennan accompanied the testimony.  This memo outlined the procedures available to parents to resolve disputes regarding special education services and education.  It also included statistics on special education services from 2005-2006 and complaints filed by parents.  The total number of students with IEPs in Ohio was 220,051 in traditional public schools; 7,917 in community schools, and 22,000 in preschools. "Of that total number of students served, in the 2005-2006 school year ODE received only 300 complaints, which represents .0012% of the total students served." Of those complaints, 85 percent were resolved amicably through a variety of ways, and very few of the remaining 15 percent were resolved through litigation.

Also testifying against the bill were Greg Goodlander, Ann Gibson, and Rebecca Meske, teachers from the Columbus City Schools.

*The Senate Education Committee, chaired by Senator Padgett, reported out favorably on October 30, 2007 SCR18 (Padgett), which approves the Department of Education's proposed changes to the state academic accountability system for public schools; reported out favorably an amended substitute bill for HB 190 (Hite), Elementary Achievement Test; and heard testimony on SB151 (Roberts), textbook pricing at state institutions of higher education.

2)  110th Congress:

*New SCHIP Approved by the U.S. Senate:  The U.S. House of Representatives failed on October 18, 2007 to override President Bush's veto of H.R. 976 - the reauthorization of the State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP).  A "compromise" version of SCHIP legislation, H.R. 3963, was approved by the U.S. House on October 25, 2007, but was not approved by a veto-proof majority.  The U. S. Senate approved H.R. 3963 last week.  President Bush has announced that this new version still does not meet the requirements that he supports, and has threatened a veto.

*Appropriations:  The U.S. House Rules Committee will review a conference report on H.R. 3043 this week.  H.R. 3043 includes FY08 appropriations for the departments of Labor, Health, Human Services, and Education (LHHSE).  The U.S. Senate approved its FY08 appropriations for LHHSE S. 1710 in October 2007.  Both bills exceed President Bush's budget recommendations, and face a veto if passed. Congress passed a continuing resolution after failing to approve FY08 appropriations by an October 1, 2007 deadline.  That resolution expires November 16, 2007.  Lawmakers are expected to work on the conference report this week.

*Higher Education Reauthorization:  The U.S. House approved H.R. 3927 on October 23, 2007, another extension of the Higher Ed Act.  This Act first came up for reauthorization in 2003, and has been extended several times.  The U.S. Senate has already approved its reauthorization of the Higher Education Act (S. 1642).  This House action will temporarily extend the program, which expires on October 31, 2007, until April 30, 2008.  The Senate is expected to approve an extension also.

3)  SBE School Funding Subcommittee: 
The State Board of Education's School Funding Subcommittee, Virgil Brown chair, met on October 30, 2007 in Medina, OH.  The subcommittee has identified six components of a state school funding system, and has been reviewing data and information based on the components.  The six components are 1)  How much is needed? For what? By Whom? 2)  How should the fiscal responsibility be divided? 3)  What tools should local districts have available to them to raise the local share of funding and what rules apply? 4)  What are the tools and rules to generate the state contribution? 5)  What incentives (rewards and consequences) should there be? 6)  How do we ensure that all money is being used to achieve the best results?

Components five and six were the topics for the October 30th meeting. Paolo A. DeMaria, Associate Superintendent - Ohio Department of Education's Center for School Options and Finance, led the discussion on incentives (rewards or consequences) that could be built into a comprehensive school funding system to promote best practices and results, and the collection and use of financial data to promote more effective and efficient practices in schools to improve student achievement.

The subcommittee discussed the following options as they apply to incentives (rewards or consequences):

A. No changes: Leave the current system alone and not develop more explicit financial incentives or consequences.
B. Identify district-level financial rewards/penalties: Provide either financial rewards or penalties based on some district-level measures, such as value-added measures, effective/efficient use of resources measures, or other measures. This could also be targeted at certain groups of districts for which there was a greater need to motivate change.
C. Identify building-level financial rewards/penalties.
D. Identify individual level financial rewards/penalties:  Compensate individual teachers, principals, superintendents, school staff, etc. for performance.
E. Flow any funding increases based on performance improvements: Structure a system that allows districts to earn increased funding in some set of increments tied to performance benchmarks.
F. Determine criteria for which the state would stop funding for certain failing or non-improving buildings.
G. Restrict funding uses as a financial lever to focus resources on solving certain problems.
H. Explore more non-financial incentives, such as competition, accountability (individual, building, district), etc.

The subcommittee also reviewed a paper entitled "Project Proposal: Improving the Collection and Use of Financial Data by School Districts" (August 20, 2007).  The Ohio Department of Education was directed in HB 119 (Dolan), the FY08-09 budget, to "....develop and deploy analytical tools that allow districts and other stakeholders to analyze more thoroughly district spending patterns to promote more effective and efficient use of resources."

This paper outlines a plan for improving the collection and use of financial data by school districts to promote "....effective and efficient use of resources in the pursuit of improving student achievement."  Ultimately, Ohio would become a national leader in the use of resources to drive education improvement.

Phase I of the project includes an analysis of the current state of fiscal data reporting and utilization, and will be completed by December 31, 2007.  This information will be shared with stakeholders through outreach forums.  Phase II of the project will identify gaps in the current system and propose recommendations by June 30, 2008. It is also possible that certain measures and evaluation tools will be developed.

The paper identifies five components that would be needed to make an effective and efficient school funding system:

*Improve financial reporting including better and more accurate data at the building level that attempts to, as much as possible, focus on those activities and functions that are important for achieving academic success;
*Develop measures for identifying varying levels of effectiveness and efficiency in the use of funds;
*Develop decision support and evaluation tools for understanding the impact of different resource choices to improve the effective and efficient use of funds;
*Develop strategies for assisting districts and schools with improving effective and efficient use of funds.
*Provide information for Ohio's policymakers and taxpayers to better understand what our education system is paying for, and whether it is working to achieve certain goals.

Currently several initiatives are underway at the ODE that relate to this project.  These include the following:

*The development of a measure to help districts improve the efficiency of their transportation system;
*The development of a School Improvement Diagnostic Tool to assess certain qualitative information about a district's capacity for school improvement and assess resource management capacity;
*Integrating finance and school improvement data, such as the superintendent's spending order rules, expenditure patterns for Poverty Based Assistance, the guide for learning supports, and future information from the Academic Distress Commissions;
*The development of standards for professional development and learning support and assessment tools to guide districts in evaluating their practices.
*A pilot project called District Resource Allocation Modeler (DREAM) Tool, which has been developed to help school districts find alternative ways to allocate resources based on research-based practices to improve schools.
*The development of Staffing and Financial Analyses Services for school districts.
*School District Performance Audits conducted by the Auditor of State, that focus on operational aspects of the school district and include cost-saving recommendations.
*School Employees Health Care Board, which is engaged in analyzing health care benefits costs for school employees and making recommendations to reduce costs.

The SBE's School Funding Subcommittee will meet next at the November 2007 meeting of the SBE in Columbus.  The project paper and other information related to the work of the SBE's School Funding Subcommittee are available on the ODE's website at http://www.ode.state.oh.us/GD/Templates/Pages/ODE/ODEDetail.aspx?Page=3&TopicRelationID=574&ContentID=39201&Content=39596

Information about the State Board of Education's Education in the Global Economy Subcommittee is also on the ODE available at
http://www.ode.state.oh.us/GD/Templates/Pages/ODE/ODEDetail.aspx?Page=3&TopicRelationID=574&ContentID=37927&Content=39576

4)  GAO Report on the D.C. Voucher Program: 
The Government Accounting Office (GAO) released on November 1, 2007 a report called "District of Columbia Opportunity Scholarship Program, Additional Policies and Procedures Would Improve Internal Controls and Program Operations."  The District of Columbia Opportunity Scholarship Program was approved by Congress in 2004, and is operated by the Washington Scholarship Fund (WSF).  The program provides low-income families the option of using $7,500 toward private school tuition.

According to the report the GAO was directed by Congress to review and make recommendations regarding the program.  After assessing financial, program, and evaluation data, the GAO found a general lack of accountability for the use of the funds, and concluded that the WSF:

-lacked accountability mechanisms to oversee the use of funds;
-lacked sufficient time to design and implement the needed accountability systems, procedures and internal controls to manage its operations;
-had a high rate of turnover in staff;
-lacked fiscal policies which weakened accountability;
-did not adhere to its own procedures for making scholarship payments;
-payed tuition to schools that did not charge tuition;
-did not document appropriately the use of before and after school care funds for academic support;
-faced challenges regarding the recruitment of students, ensuring private school quality, and providing parents with accurate information about private schools; and
-failed to ensure that participating schools met basic requirements outlined in law.

The report makes the following recommendations:
-Directs the WSF to improve internal controls, continue to integrate its financial systems, improve monitoring, and provide accurate information to parents.
-Directs the Secretary of Education and the Mayor of the District of Columbia to ensure that participating schools are in compliance with District requirements.
-Directs the Secretary of Education to ensure that programs are implemented in accordance with any required evaluation.

The report is available at http://www.gao.gov/new.items/d089.pdf

5)  The Early Childhood Longitudinal Study: 
The National Center for Education Statistics, released on October 30, 2007 the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study Birth Cohort (ECLS-B), a national study of a representative sample of children born in 2001.  This report, which looks at the children when they were about four years old, provides a variety of information about the children who participated in the study.  Some of the information reported include language skills, literacy, mathematics literacy, fine motor skills, care, experiences, and socioeconomic status and family characteristics. For example, according to the report, 40 percent of children from low SES families were proficient in the recognition of certain numbers and shapes compared to 87 percent of children from high SES families. The study is available at http://nces.ed.gov/pubsearch/pubsinfo.asp?pubid=2008025

6)  ETS Study on Families: 
Education Testing Services released in September 2007 a report called "The Family: America's Smallest School" by Paul Barton and Richard Coley.  The report examines factors that influence child development and learning, such as parent-pupil ratio; family finance; literacy development; child care disparities; the home as an educational resource; and the parent-school relationship.

According to the highlights of the report, single-parent families, parents reading to children, hours spent watching television, and school absences account for about two-thirds of the large differences among states in the National Assessment of Educational Progress reading scores. Creating home and community environments that support education are critical to increasing student achievement.  The report is available at http://www.ets.org/Media/Education_Topics/pdf/5678_PERCReport_School.pdf

7)  Family-School Summit:  
The Ohio Parent Information and Resource Center (PIRC) in partnership with the Ohio Department of Education and the Ohio PTA, invite parents and educators to form a team and attend the Family-School Partnership Link and Learn Summit.  This summit will be held on December 8, 2007 from 8:30 AM to 4:30 PM at the Center of Science and Industry (COSI), 333 West Broad Street, Columbus, OH 43215.

The purpose of this FREE summit is to provide school teams with information and strategies to create and sustain effective family-school partnerships that support student learning. School Teams may consist of parents and a school principal or other administrative person, such as an assistant principal or resource coordinator, etc.  School teams will receive ongoing technical support as well as resources to help implement their school action plans throughout the year.
Karen Mapp, Ed.D, Lecturer on Education at the Harvard Graduate School of Education, and nationally known for her research and practice in educational partnerships among schools, families, and community members, will assist school teams in building effective family-school partnerships focused on increasing student achievement.

Participating agencies in this Summit include the United Way of Greater Cincinnati, United Way 211, the Columbus Urban League, Parents for Public Schools, and many other organizations. Participants will leave with tools to implement a year-long action plan to address a major need in their respective schools as well as an Ohio PIRC resource bag with a number of additional resources.
The deadline to submit an application for your School Team is November 16, 2007.  For more information, or to apply, please call 1-888-OHPIRC9 or email:  www.ohiopirc.org.  Contact Deby Davis at 513-762-7146 for more information.

8)  Bill Introduced:
HCR32 (Setzer)  Approves the Department of Education's proposed changes to the state academic accountability system for public schools.

9)  Americans for the Arts invites advocates for the arts and arts education to attend the National Arts Action Summit, which will be held March 31-April 1, 2008 at the Capital Hilton Hotel in Washington, D.C.  This annual event includes an Arts Advocacy Training, Congressional Arts Breakfast on Capitol Hill, and an opportunity to meet with members of Congress.  The annual Nancy Hanks Lecture on Arts and Public Policy will be held on March 31, 2008 at the Concert Hall, John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. Daniel Pink, author of "A Whole New Mind", is the guest lecturer. For more information please visit http://www.artsusa.org/events/2008/aad/default.asp


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