|
|||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Click here to go back to the LWVO Education Update Main Page To: LWVO From: Joan Platz Education Update for June 25, 2007 1) 127th General Assembly: The House and Senate will hold sessions and committee hearings this week. Ohio lawmakers will focus this week on the biennial budget bill, Am. Sub. HB 119 (Dolan), as the July 1, 2007 deadline for the enactment of a new budget draws closer. On June 19, 2007 the Ohio House failed to concur with the Senate changes to Am. Sub. HB 119 (Dolan). A six member conference committee has been appointed to review the latest Senate version of Am. Sub. HB 119 and negotiate a budget that is acceptable to both the House and Senate. The conference committee began meeting last week and has come to agreement on most of the budget's 300 plus provisions. It is scheduled to meet each day this week, but may be able to conclude its work by Tuesday. The following is a schedule of conference committee meeting dates and times: Monday, June 25, 2007 at 1:30 PM, room 313; Tuesday, June 26, 2007 at 9:00 AM, room 313; Wednesday, June 27, 2007 at 9:00 AM, room 313; and if necessary on Thursday and Friday at 12:00 PM in room 313. *On June 19, 2007 the House Education Committee, chaired by Representative Setzer, heard testimony on HB192 (Brady) Campus Safety and HB254 (Peterson) Student Nutrition. HB254 is a bi-partisan bill that creates the Ohio Child Wellness Advisory Council to establish nutritional standards for certain foods and beverages sold in public and chartered nonpublic schools. The committee also reported out favorably three bills: SB143 (Padgett) Speech Pathology Interns; HB190 (Hite) Dates for the Elementary Achievement Tests; and Am. HB181(Setzer) School Records. 2) Federal Education News: The U.S. House and Senate have been making progress toward the reauthorization of the Head Start Act and the Higher Education Act, and continue to work in their respective committees on the reauthorization of the No Child Left Behind Act. Head Start: The House approved H.R. 1429 (Kildee), the Improving Head Start Act of 2007, on May 2, 2007, and the Senate approved an amended version on June 19, 2007. The Senate has insisted upon its amendments to the bill, and has appointed a conference committee. The Head Start Act was first approved as part of President Johnson's War on Poverty Initiative in 1965, and since that time has served over 20 million children. The Senate version of the bill increases the authorization of the program to $7.3 billion in FY08; $7.6 billion in FY09; and $7.9 billion in FY10-12; expands access to Head Start to additional low-income children; focuses on school readiness; supports a National Academy of Sciences review of child outcomes and assessments; establishes new education goals for Head Start teachers; expands the role of the state by creating advisory councils on early care and education in every state; dedicates $100 million from Head Start appropriations for a new competitive incentive grant program to implement state early care and education plans; expands the role of the State Head Start Collaboration Office in every state; and improves monitoring and accountability of programs. For more information on this legislation please visit http://help.senate.gov/Maj_press/2007_06_20_d.pdf Higher Education: Congress first passed the Higher Education Act more than 40 years ago. This Act provided qualified students with funds to attend college through the Pell Grant program. However, in recent years the cost of a college education has risen dramatically, and states have now identified several problems with student loan programs. Both the U.S. House and Senate are working on legislation that would increase access and affordability for students to attend institutions of higher education, and address the high cost of repayment of student loans. The House Education and Labor Committee approved on June 13, 2007 the College Cost Reduction Act of 2007 (H.R. 2669), which will now be considered by the full House. This bill would increase college financial aid by $18 billion over the next five years, and pays for itself by reducing federal subsidies paid to lenders in the college loan industry. It also increases Pell Grant scholarships by $500 so that by 2008 the maximum scholarship would be $4,900 in FY08 and $5,200 in FY11; cuts interest rates from 6.8 to 3.4 percent; limits loan payments to not more than 15 percent of the student's discretionary income; and includes provisions for loan forgiveness. The House Education and Labor Committee also plans to consider a comprehensive Higher Education Act reauthorization bill later this year. On June 20, 2007 the U.S. Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, chaired by Senator Ted Kennedy, approved two major higher education proposals, the Higher Education Access Act of 2007 and the Higher Education Amendments of 2007 (S. 1642 - Kennedy). This legislation will increase student aid, reform the student loan industry, and encourage public service by providing loan forgiveness for eligible students. It will provide more than $17 billion to help students and families pay for college; increase the Pell Grant; and cap student loan payments at 15 percent of their monthly income. 3) Conference Committee Begins Work on Budget Bill: The Conference Committee on Am. Sub. HB 119 (Dolan), the FY08-09 state budget, met this week to begin deliberations on a compromise budget bill for the Ohio Senate and House to approve. The state's current budget ends June 30, 2007, and the new budget must be signed into law by July 1, 2007. The managers of the conference committee include Representative Dolan, chair, and Representatives Flowers and Skindell, and Senators Carey, Niehaus, and Dale Miller. The conference committee has broad powers to review Am. Sub. HB 119 and revise it, eliminate provisions, and even add new provisions. Once the conference committee has made its recommendations, both the Ohio House and Senate must concur with any changes in the bill before Governor Strickland can sign the bill into law. Governor Strickland can also veto provisions, which can be overturned by a three-fifths vote in both houses of the General Assembly. The conference committee has scheduled meetings through next week, but is expected to complete work by Monday or Tuesday. Director of the Office of Budget and Management (OBM), Pari Sabety, provided the conference committee on June 21, 2007 with an update on the economic, revenue, and caseload forecasts. She told the committee that OBM has revised revenue estimates down for FY07 through FY09. The revised projections show that the state will have $230 million less in resources than estimated in March 2007 when the executive budget was introduced. $167 million can not be covered by leveraging currently available resources. According to written testimony, projections in three areas are affecting the downward forecasts for Ohio's economy: a flat level of growth in employment through 2008 and a .6 percent increase in employment in FY09; downward estimates (.5 percent) for growth in Ohio wages and salaries; and a much deeper slump in Ohio's housing market. The General Revenue Fund for FY07 is now projected to be $19.417 billion, or $15.3 million less than the March estimates. This adjustment is due to downward revisions in the non-auto sales tax and cigarette tax, even though the corporate franchise tax and personal income tax have exceeded estimates. The FY07 state budget will still have a positive balance of $165 million at the end of the FY on June 30, 2007, due to underspending in healthcare, primary and secondary education, and tax relief through 2007. State General Revenue Fund revenues are now estimated to be $19.657 in FY08, which is $188.3 million below OBM's March projections, and $19.653 billion in FY09, which is 1.2 percent below OBM's March estimate. In her testimony Director Sabety noted that the lower estimates in revenue reflect changes in the baseline forecasts as noted above, but also certain policy changes made by the House and Senate in Am. Sub. HB 119 that differ from those included in Governor Strickland's budget as introduced. These policy changes account for $81.8 million in FY08 and $90.6 million in FY09. The full testimony is available at http://www.obm.ohio.gov/budget/operating/executive/0809/bb0809_test062107.pdf 4) More on ...... Am. Sub. HB 119 (Dolan): Several provisions that were included in the executive and House versions of the budget bill, Am. Sub. HB 119 (Dolan), are no longer in the bill. The following are just some of the education provisions that have been eliminated from the current Senate version of the bill. This list was prepared from the Legislative Service Commissions Comparative Document on Am. Sub. HB 119: -Removed. Earmarks in GRF appropriation item 200-427, Academic Standards up to $747,912 in each fiscal year to provide funds to school districts that have teachers participating in the teacher-on-loan program. -Removed. Removes the phrase "for financial reasons" from the list of statutory reasons a school district or educational service center (ESC) may make reductions in force in its teaching staff. -Removed. Eliminates a statutory procedure for a school district not covered by the state Civil Service Law (exempted village and local school districts and some city school districts) to terminate some or all of its pupil transportation staff, and to instead engage an independent contractor to provide pupil transportation. -Removed. Eliminates, beginning with the 2008-2009 school year, the authority of school districts to adopt August 1, rather than the September 30 state standard, as the date by which a child must be five years old to be admitted to kindergarten and six years old for first grade. -Removed executive and House provisions. Makes it permissive instead of mandatory for the Superintendent of Public Instruction to establish an academic distress commission for a qualifying school district. -Removed. Earmarks $247,000 in each fiscal year to contract with the Center for Learning Excellence at the Ohio State University to provide technical assistance and evaluation of the grant program. -Removed. Earmarks $100,000 in each fiscal year to be used for Youth Opportunities United, Inc. -Removed House Provision. Earmarks $6 million in FY09 for a new subsidy for school districts rated excellent on the local report card. Establishes the amount of the subsidy for each eligible district as $10 multiplied by the average daily enrollment of the district as reported on the district's local report card. -Removed House Provision. Requires ODE to provide $900,000 in each fiscal year in federal funds from the State Grants for Improving Teacher Quality Program to the Columbiana County Educational Service Center for the Ohio Wyami Appalachian Teacher Cohorts Program. -Removed. Repeals the Educational Choice Scholarship Pilot Program, which provides up to 14,000 scholarships each year to students in specified lower performing public schools to use to pay tuition at chartered nonpublic schools. -Removed. Earmarks up to $2 million in FY08 for National Aeronautics and Space Administration resource centers. Community Schools and E-Schools -Removed. Eliminates parity aid and poverty-based assistance for dropout prevention and community outreach from state payments to "brick and mortar" community schools. Under continuing law, e-schools do not receive parity aid or any poverty-based assistance. -Removed. Prescribes a ratio of 100:1 for e-schools and sets a separate per pupil formula amount for e-schools at $3,295 for FY08 and $3,387 for FY09. -Removed House Provision. Prohibits ODE from withholding payment to a community school when a district presents a challenge concerning a student's enrollment until after the district proves that the student should not be included in the community school's enrollment. Prohibits ODE from withholding payment pending the determination. If the community school subsequently presents documentation correcting the school district's report, requires ODE to resume payments. -Removed. Repeals the following provisions: (1) a requirement that a school district first offer property suitable for classroom space for sale to start-up community schools in the district before otherwise disposing of it; (2) a requirement that a school district offer property suitable for classroom space for sale to start-up community schools in the district when the district has not used the property for educational purposes for one year and has not adopted a plan to so use that property within the next three years; and (3) a provision granting a school district that sells unused property to a community school under (2) the right of first refusal if the community school later disposes of the property. -Removed. Requires community schools to comply with all state laws and rules pertaining to other public schools, school districts, and boards of education, including requirements for assigning staff, minimum standards covering instructional materials, equipment, and facilities (such as library facilities and school grounds), requirements for admission and promotion of students, instructional requirements (such as phonics and energy and resource conservation), reporting requirements, and other laws and rules from which community schools are currently exempt. -Removed. Requires each e-school to employ (rather than retain an affiliation with, as under current law) at least one full-time teacher of record, and limits the number of students for which a teacher of record may be responsible to 125 total instead of 125 in each school the teacher is affiliated with. -Removed. Requires community schools to provide students with 180 days, instead of 920 hours, of learning opportunities each school year. -Removed. Specifies that any day in which a student enrolled in an eschool participates in less than five or more than ten hours of learning opportunities does not count toward the 180 days. -Removed. Requires a community school to withdraw a student who fails to participate in 21 consecutive days, rather than 105 consecutive hours as under current law, of learning opportunities without excuse, and, unless the school primarily serves dropouts, prohibits it from re-enrolling the student for the duration of the school year. -Removed. Requires each community school to submit its end-of-year report to its sponsor and students' parents within three months, rather than four months as under current law, after the end of the school year. -Removed. Increases the minimum enrollment for community schools from 25 students to 100 students and requires that the ODE establish criteria for granting waivers from the minimum enrollment. -Removed. Requires that contracts between a community school and an operator for the management of the school be selected through a competitive bidding process established by ODE. -Removed. Requires operators of community schools to be nonprofit entities. Exempts community schools that currently contract with for-profit operators from this requirement until the contracts expire. 5) ETS Releases 2007 Survey Results: The Educational Testing Service, Kurt Landgraf, President and CEO, released the results of its annual survey on June 19, 2007 called "Standards, Accountability and Flexibility: Americans Speak on No Child Left Behind Reauthorization". The bi-partisan poll shows that parents, teachers and school administrators strongly support reauthorization of NCLB, but also favor greater flexibility in assisting students and schools struggling to meet high standards, and increased funding for schools failing to make adequate progress. The survey also found the following: -45 percent of the public believes they know a great deal or fair amount about NCLB; -25 percent of teachers and 22 percent of public school administrators say Congress should not reauthorize the law; -59 percent of adults and K-12 parents and 60 percent of Hispanics think NCLB should be more uniform by replacing 50 sets of state standards and tests in 8th grade with one set of national standards and tests; -a majority of public school teachers and administrators believe we should keep the system as it is because it lets each state define its own academic goals; -77 percent of teachers think English language learners should be given more time to learn the language before pushing them to learn the core curriculum at grade level. -57 percent believe that funds should be increased to hire more teachers, reduce class size and improve conditions. The lack of parental involvement is viewed as the biggest problem facing our nation's schools by teachers, administrators, the public, and parents of school-age children. Lack of discipline in the classroom is the second biggest problem, according to parents and the public. Teachers and administrators say lack of funding is the second biggest problem. For more information please visit www.ets.org/americansspeak.html 6) Evaluation of Voucher Program Released: The Institute of Education Sciences, National Center for Education Evaluation and Regional Assistance, U.S. Department of Education, released on June 21, 2007 "Evaluation of the DC Opportunity Scholarship Program: Impacts After One Year", Patrick Wolf, University of Arkansas, Principal Investigator. (NCEE 2007-4009) This report is available at http://ies.ed.gov/ncee. Congress approved a voucher program for Washington D.C. in January 2004 called the DC Opportunity Scholarship Program (OSP). The program for eligible low income students provides a voucher up to $7,500 for students to attend eligible private schools. As of fall 2006 1,800 students were participating in the program. According to this report, the program generated no statistically significant impact on student reading or math achievement in sample year 1; no statistically significant achievement for students from schools in school improvement status under the No Child Left Behind Act; and no statistical impact on other subgroups. The Program may have had an impact on math achievement for two subgroups of students with baseline characteristics associated with better academic preparation. However, the researchers advised that these findings should be interpreted with caution, as "....adjustments for multiple comparisons suggested they may be false discoveries." The Program had a substantial positive impact on parents' views of school safety, but not on students' actual school experiences with dangerous activities. According to the report, "Parents in the treatment group perceived their child's school to be less dangerous (an impact of -0.74 on a 10-point scale) than parents in the control group. Student reports of dangerous incidents in school did not differ systematically between the treatment and control groups." The Program also had an impact on parent satisfaction with their child's school. For example, an additional 19 percent of the parents of students in the treatment group graded their child's school "A" or "B" compared with the parents of control group students. "For the most part, student satisfaction with their school was unaffected by the Program." Researchers also questioned the high satisfaction rate noted by parents, when the Program also showed a high attrition rate. In cohort 1, 1,027 students entered the Program in the fall of 2004, however, there were 919 scholarship users in the fall of 2005, and 788 remained in the Program by the fall of 2006. Future reports will examine the impact on students in the Program over more years, consider additional outcome measures, assess the extent to which school characteristics are associated with impacts, and examine how the DC public school system is changing in response to the Program. Studies of similar voucher programs in Cleveland, Milwaukee, and Dayton have also been inconclusive about whether or not vouchers increase academic achievement of students who previously attended public schools. 7) Does Money Matter? The June 2007 issue of The School Administrator (American Association of School Administrators) includes an article by Kevin G. Welner called "Money Mutterers". The author describes the work of the policy centers at the University of Colorado at Boulder and Arizona State University, which formed the Think Tank Review Project in 2006 to examine education research and provide expert reviews of reports published by think tanks throughout the U.S. One recent analysis by the Think Tank Review Project examined a report issued by the American Legislative Exchange Council called the "Report Card on American Education". This report found that even though per pupil expenditures have increased 77.4 percent over 20 years in public schools, academic achievement of students had improved only slightly, thus concluding that money does not matter when it comes to improving student achievement. According to this article the Think Tank Review Project found that the measurements and data used in the "Report Card" were flawed and failed to track how the dollars were actually spent. There was an assumption in the "Report Card" study that schools were spending money on the same items as in the 1980s. However, a closer examination of spending on education shows that schools are spending more on special education, dropout prevention, transportation, health care, energy, etc than in the past. The author writes, "Why would resources be any less important for education than for medicine, national defense, road building or a think tank's own promotion activities? To the extent that money has been spent unwisely and inefficiently, this is an argument against flawed practices, not against increased school funding." To read the article please visit http://www.aasa.org/publications/saarticledetail.cfm?ItemNumber=9076. 8) Bills Introduced the Week of June 18, 2007: SB187 (Cates) School Transportation - Requires school districts to provide transportation to the school for students under sixteen years of age whose parents request transportation. HB 271 (Patton) Remedial Education - Permits a school district to establish a policy guaranteeing state institutions of higher education that its graduates will not require remedial coursework in specified subject areas or the district will cover the costs of remediation. HB 269 (Driehaus) Tax expenditures - Provides for an appraisal of the effectiveness of tax expenditures and for their expiration after appraisal if not renewed. HB 270 (Schneider) Limitations on Pensions - Provides that a member of the Public Employees Retirement System, Ohio Police and Fire Pension Fund, State Teachers Retirement System, or School Employees Retirement System who retires and then returns to public employment in the same position will not receive a pension while earning a salary for that employment. |
|||||||||||||||||||||||
Ohio Fair Schools Campaign, 94 Columbus Road Athens, Ohio 45701 Tel. (740)592-2866 Fax (740)593-5451 |
|||||||||||||||||||||||
