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 December 31, 2007

A Happy and Joyous New Year to You and Yours!!

1)  127th General Assembly: 
The Ohio House and Senate are not scheduled to meet until January 9, 2008 for sessions and committee hearings.  The next meeting of the State Board of Education will be on January 7 & 8, 2008.

2)  110th Congress:
*President George W. Bush signed into law on December 26, 2007 H.R. 2764, which includes appropriations for federal government departments and agencies for FY 2008, starting October 1, 2007. The law increases federal spending for education by 2.9 percent to $59.2 billion.  For information about specific funding levels for various federal programs please visit http://www.ed.gov/about/overview/budget/news.html.
*President Bush also signed into law on December 29, 2007 an extension of the State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP), which provides health insurance for children from eligible families. The extension will provide coverage for approximately 6.6 million children through March 31, 2009.  The President has vetoed two bills recently approved by Congress to reauthorize and expand this program, thus requiring this extension.

3)  Update on Proposed Legislation: 
Approximately seventy-six bills related to education were introduced in the first half of the 127th Ohio General Assembly.  Of those bills four became law, including HB 119 (Dolan), the FY08-09 budget bill, which includes major policy changes for education, and was signed into law in June 2007.  In some cases education provisions from certain stand alone bills have been combined with other education legislation, and have then become law. The education bills that have become law in 2007 are listed below:

- HB 2 (Webster) - Board of Regents:  Transfers the appointment of the Chancellor of the Ohio Board of Regents to the Governor with the advice and consent of the Senate; makes the Board of Regents an advisory board to the Chancellor; and transfers the Board's duties and powers to the Chancellor.  Signed into law May 2007.

-HB 142 (Batchelder) - School Threats:  Authorizes the state highway patrol to provide emergency assistance to a school district under a threat, and increases the penalty for inducing panic to a felony of the second degree when a school is involved.  Signed into law December 2007.

-HB 190 (Hite) Achievement Tests:  Specifies administration dates for the elementary achievement tests; allows public schools to charge tuition for all-day kindergarten; requires the Department of Education to conduct a survey of the fees charged by school districts; revises the requirements regarding criminal records checks of school employees; requires the Educator Standards Board to recommend a code of conduct for educators; requires the Department of Education to recommend penalties for failure to report educator misconduct; permits the State Board of Education to revoke an expired license; permits waivers from the minimum number of school days in the 2006-2007 school year for certain joint vocational school districts that experienced delays in a state-assisted construction project; extends the deadline for the commission studying student success with the Ohio Core curriculum to issue its recommendations; and alters the membership of the Ohio Community Service Council. Signed into law in November 2007.

The following is a summary of the status of education related bills introduced in the first half of the 127th General Assembly.  Bills that have ** have become law; bills with * include provisions that have been added to other bills that have become law; and bills that have *** are those that are expected to be considered by lawmakers in 2008.
Senate

***SB1 (Padgett) School Funding.  See also HB1 (Setzer). Reserves bill number for Governor's school funding reform plan, which has not been introduced as yet. February 20, 2007 Introduced; No Hearings

SB2 (Cates) Chancellor of the Board of Regents.  See HB 2 (Webster) - signed into law.  February 20, 2007 Introduced; March 27, 2007 Third Hearing

SB8 (Coughlin) College Tuition Tax Deduction.  Restores the income tax deduction for college tuition and fees.  This legislation restores a provision regarding income taxes that allows individuals to deduct higher education tuition costs based on certain eligibility requirements. February 20, 2007 Introduced; No Hearings

SB11 (Roberts) Educational Opportunities.  Directs the General Assembly to reform the state's public education systems in a manner that promotes educational opportunities and economic prosperity for all Ohioans.  Directs the General Assembly to deliberate on the following:
(A) Adopting stable, adequate, fair, and predictable funding mechanisms for all Ohio public education systems;
(B) Establishing a system of transparency and accountability for community schools;
(C) Examining methods by which to reduce the reliance upon and frequency of property tax levies to fund educational purposes;
(D) Other matters the General Assembly considers relevant to the enhancement of the State's public education system.
February 20, 2007 Introduced; No Hearings

SB49 (Schaffer) School Facilities Expedited Local Partnership Program. Prohibits ranking a school district participating in the Expedited Local Partnership Program in a higher percentile on the eligibility list for state classroom facilities assistance after the district's electors have approved a bond issue for the district's portion of the basic project cost. February 20, 2007 Introduced; March 20, 2007 First hearing.

SB51 (Schaffer) Deduction for Teaching Instructional Materials. Allows a tax credit for amounts spent by teachers for instructional materials. February 20, 2007 Introduced; No Hearings

***Sub. SB 57 (Coughlin) Special Education Voucher.  Enacts sections 3310.51 to 3310.63 of the Revised Code to establish the Special Education Scholarship Program and requires the Department of Education every two years to prepare an analysis of the special education funding weights. February 20, 2007 Introduced; October 2, 2007 Substitute Bill Accepted Senate Education Committee, Second Hearing

SB64 (Ray Miller) Trio Programs.  Makes an appropriation ($4 million in FY08 and $4 million in FY09) for the provision of matching funds for federal TRIO programs at Ohio institutions of higher education for the FY 2008-2009 biennium. February 20, 2007 Introduced; No Hearings

SB71 (Ray Miller) Corporal Punishment.  Prohibits the use of corporal punishment on a child who is less than three or more than twelve years of age or by hitting a child about the face or head or with any object other than a bare hand and prohibits corporal punishment in schools. February 20, 2007 Introduced; No Hearings

SB98 Autism Diagnosis (Schuring) Creates the Autism Diagnosis Education Pilot Program. March 6, 2007 Introduced; No Hearings

SB110 Dyslexia Testing (Boccieri)  Requires schools to test students for dyslexia and related disorders. March 13, 2007 Introduced; No Hearings

*SB 118 - Physical Education (Gardner) Requires daily physical education instruction in grades kindergarten to six, requires completion of one unit of physical education in grades seven to twelve, requires physical education teachers to be licensed in their subject area, and makes other changes relative to physical education. March 20, 2007 Introduced; May 15, 2007 Fourth Hearing; Some of these provisions were included in the budget bill, HB 119.

*SB 131 Physical Education (Fedor) Requires the State Board of Education to adopt instructional standards in physical education, nutrition and dental care; specifies physical education requirements for grades kindergarten through eight; requires physical education teachers to be licensed in their subject area and makes other changes relative to physical education. March 27, 2007 Introduced; No Hearings; Some of these provisions were included in HB 119 - Biennial Budget

SB 139 Prevailing Wage (Mumper)  Permits state institutions of higher education to use either single or multiple prime bidding for public improvement projects; exempts from the Prevailing Wage Law projects constructed by state institutions of higher education and projects constructed by private, non-profit organizations that receive public moneys to construct those projects; and prohibits the Ohio School Facilities Commission from approving school district projects that specify the payment of prevailing wages. April 5, 2007 Introduced; No Hearings

***Sub. SB 141 Community Schools (Padgett) Makes changes in the law regarding the approval and monitoring by the Department of Education of community school sponsors. April 10, 2007 Introduced; November 14, 2007 Substitute Bill Accepted, Second Hearing.

***Sub. SB 148 SERS Eligibility (Faber) Revises retirement eligibility requirements for members of the School Employees Retirement System. April 19, 2007 Introduced; October 24, 2007 Passed in Senate; December 2007 Hearings in the House.

SB 187 Transportation (Cates) Requires school districts to provide transportation to the school of attendance for each resident student under sixteen years of age whose parent requests transportation. June 19, 2007 Introduced; No Hearings

SB223 Property Tax Rollback (Miller D.) Requires county auditors to make reasonable efforts to identify property owners wrongfully receiving the 2.5% property tax rollback. September 27, 2007 Introduced; No Hearings

***SB232 Child Care (Stivers)  Revises the law governing child care. October 4, 2007 Introduced; October 24, 2007 First Hearing; December 2007 Hearings in the Senate.

***SB264 (Carey) Teacher Strikes - Prohibits classroom teachers employed by boards of education from striking and instead requires binding arbitration to settle their unresolved collective bargaining disputes, and makes an appropriation. December 11, 2007 Introduced. No Hearings.

SJR2 (Coughlin) Real Property Taxes - Proposal to amend Section 2a of Article XII and to enact Section 2b of Article XII of the Constitution of the State of Ohio to limit increases in the taxable value of real property to two per cent per year. February 20, 2007 Introduced; No Hearings

SJR4 (Schuring) Lottery Profits - Requires all lottery profits and a percentage of revenue from certain taxes to be devoted to funding primary, secondary, and higher education. December 2007 Introduced. No Hearings

***SCR18 Academic Accountability (Padgett) Approves the Department of Education's proposed changes to the state academic accountability system for public schools. October 4, 2007 Introduced; November 14, 2007 Passed by Senate

SCR19 State Children's Health Insurance Program (Niehaus) - Urges Congress to reauthorize the State Children's Health Insurance Program in a manner that enables Ohio to implement an expansion. October 10, 2007 Introduced; October 10, 2007 Passed by Senate

SCR20 SCHIP. (Boccieri) - Urges Congress to override President Bush's veto of the Children's Health Insurance Reauthorization Act of 2007. October 10, 2007 Introduced; No Hearings

SCR21 (Kearney) Life Skills Curriculum - Encourages the State Board of Education to adopt a comprehensive life skills curriculum.

House
***HB1 (Setzer) School Funding Placeholder.  See also SB 1 (Padgett). Placeholder legislation reserved for Governor Strickland's school funding proposal. (Finance and Appropriations.) February 20, 2007 Introduced; No Hearings

**HB2 (Webster) Higher Education.  See also SB2 (Cates).  Transfers appointment of the Chancellor of the Ohio Board of Regents to the Governor with the advice and consent of the Senate, makes the Board of Regents an advisory board to the Chancellor, and transfers the Board's duties and powers to the Chancellor.  This legislation changes the Board of Regents to an advisory committee, removing all of its policy making authority, unless that authority is granted to the board in law. February 20, 2007 Introduced; March 3, 2007 Passed the House; May 2, 2007 Passed the Senate; May 15, 2007 Signed by the Governor

HB6 (Stewart) State CHIP.  Increases coverage under the State Children's Health Insurance Program. (Finance and Appropriations) February 20, 2007 Introduced; No Hearings

*HB14 (Hughes)  Reimbursement for TPP.  Extends full reimbursement to school districts for the phase-out of taxes on  business tangible personal property.  (Finance and Appropriations) February 20, 2007 Introduced; May 22, 2007 First Hearing.  A provision was added to HB 119 to address some of these concerns.

HB26 (Wolpert) Urban Homestead Zones. Permits the creation of urban homestead zones in cities to encourage the re-population of certain city cores, creates a state urban homestead scholarship program, and requires tax increment financing in urban homestead zones that participate in the scholarship program to help fund the program. This bill includes a voucher program which would provide public funds for eligible students to attend eligible private schools. February 20, 2007 Introduced; May 10, 2007 Third Hearing

***HB27 (Wolpert) Academic performance ratings.  Revises the law regarding school district and school building academic performance ratings. (Education Committee) The current accountability rating system for schools and school districts is changed.  Some schools that would receive lower ratings due to failure to meet adequate yearly progress measures would not receive those ratings until three years have passed. February 20, 2007 Introduced; April 17, 2007 Third Hearing

HB34 (Wolpert) Graduate School Student Loans.  Establishes the Third Frontier Pilot Forgivable Loan Program for graduate students. (Finance and Appropriations)  This legislation would forgive loans granted to certain graduate level students who meet very complicated requirements that are based on future employment in Ohio. February 20, 2007 Introduced; No Hearings

HB36 (Wolpert) School Enrollment.  Creates the Rapid Enrollment Growth School Facilities Assistance Program. (Finance and Appropriations)  This legislation allows districts with growth of 100 pupils or more per year over the past five years to participate in the state school facilities commission school building program earlier than they would be able to through their state ranking in the program.  The state would provide 25 percent of the building costs for projects in this programs. February 20, 2007 Introduced; May 22, 2007 First Hearing

HB42 (Stewart) School Funding.  Establishes a bipartisan committee to recommend to the G.A. a system that provides state funds to pay one hundred per cent of the cost of education, and requires the Department of Education to report certain school funding information to the parents and taxpayers of each school district.  (Finance and Appropriations)  This legislation outlines a process to develop a new system in which the state would pay for the actual cost of educating students.  A local contribution is not defined, but districts are allowed to levy additional taxes.   February 20, 2007 Introduced; No Hearings

HB43 (Garrison) Funding for Kindergarten.  Provides formula funding for all-day kindergarten for all school districts and community schools that offer it. February 20, 2007 Introduced; No Hearings

HB44 (Garrison) State parity aid.  Changes the formula for calculating state parity aid payments to primary and secondary schools. (Finance and Appropriations) Uses 9.7 mills rather than 7.5 mills to calculate parity aid. February 20, 2007 Introduced; No Hearings

*HB59 (Combs) Property taxes.  Defers increases in taxes on residences owned and occupied by individuals age 65 or older. February 20, 2007 Introduced; No Hearings.   An expansion of the Homestead Exemption to all senior citizens, regardless of income, was included in HB 119 - the biennial budget law.

HB60 (Evans) Homestead Exemption Military Service.  Authorizes boards of county commissioners to exempt from taxation the homesteads of qualifying members of the National Guard and reserve components of the Armed Forces who have been deployed outside the state, and exempts estates of members of the United States Armed Services who died while serving in a combat zone from various probate filing fees. This legislation is permissive, and also allows school districts to be exempt. February 21, 2007 Introduced; April 26, 2007 Fourth Hearing.  An expansion of the Homestead Exemption to all senior citizens, regardless of income, was included in HB 119 - the biennial budget law.

HB66 (Collier) Minimum School Year. Base minimum school year on hours, rather than days, of instruction. February 22, 2007 Introduced; March 21, 2007 Substitute Bill Reported out of Education Committee.

HB81 HPV Vaccination (Brown) Requires that girls entering the sixth grade be vaccinated against HPV. February 20, 2007 Introduced; March 21, 2007 First Hearing

HB 82 School Buses (Chandler) Requires all school buses purchased, leased, or rented after January 1, 2010, to transport students to and from school to be equipped with a seat belt assembly for all passengers. February 28, 2007 Introduced; March 21, 2007 First Hearing

HB 93 Education Budget (Koziura)  Requires that an appropriations bill for education agencies be enacted separately from and prior to any other operating appropriations bills. March 6, 2007 Introduced; No Hearings

HB 114 Prevailing Wage (Wachtmann)  Requires the Ohio School Facilities Commission to reduce the state funds for a school district's classroom facilities project by twenty per cent if the district requires contractors to pay the prevailing rate of wages. March 20, 2007 Introduced; No Hearings

HB 117 School Taxes (Raussen) Authorize school districts to enter into agreements with the Department of Taxation or other entities for the collection and administration of school district income taxes. March 20, 2007 Introduced; May 9, 2007 Third Hearing

**HB119 Biennial Budget (Dolan) Make operating appropriations for the biennium. March 3, 2007 Introduced; May 1, 2007 Passed by House; June 13, 2007 Passed by Senate; June 30, 2007 Signed by Governor.

HB128 Autism Diagnosis (Bacon) Create the Autism Diagnosis Education Pilot Program. March 27, 2007 Introduced; No Hearings

HB 136 School Buildings (Raussen)  Permits high-wealth school districts to receive payments for district-directed classroom facilities projects in lieu of participating in other state programs. March 28, 2007 Introduced; May 22, 2007 First Hearing

**HB142 School Threats (Batchelder) 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. April 3, 2007 Introduced; June 26, 2007 Passed in House; November 14, 2007 Passed in Senate; December 4, 2007 House Concurred with Senate Amendments; Governor Signed into law December 2007.

HB 143 School Health Care (Wagner) Eliminates certain requirements and prohibitions applying to school district boards of education, including the centralized procurement of employee health benefits contingently mandated by Am. Sub. H.B. 66 of the 126th General Assembly. April 5, 2007 Introduced; May 22, 2007 Second Hearing

HB 152 Retirement Plans (Widener) Requires school boards to establish alternative retirement plans for teachers and school employees. April 17, 2007 Introduced; June 28, 2007 Fourth Hearing

*HB 155 STEM Schools (Setzer) Directs the General Assembly's deliberations to establish a Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics School System. April 17, 2007 Introduced; June 5, 2007 Fourth Hearing. Several of these provisions were included in HB 119 (Dolan) - the Biennial budget bill.

HB 162- Teacher Tax Credits (Luckie) Allows a refundable credit against the personal income tax for taxpayers who teach in and reside in a big eight school district and allows an additional credit for such teachers who teach math, science, or technology. April 18, 2007 Introduced; May 22, 2007 First Hearing

HB170 Insurance Coverage for Autism (Celeste) Prohibit health insurers from excluding coverage for autism. April 24, 2007 Introduced; October 30, 2007 Second Hearing

HB 175 Calamity Days (Fessler) Permanently permits school districts to make up excess calamity days by adding hours to remaining days in the school year and to declare an emergency. April 24, 2007 Introduced; May 8, 2007 First Hearing

***HB 181 Missing Children (Setzer) Requires public and nonpublic schools to mark the records of students identified as missing children and to notify law enforcement of requests for those records. April 24, 2007 Introduced; September 11, 2007 Passed by House. Passed by the Senate December 11, 2007.  This bill is expected to be signed by Governor Strickland.

**HB 190 Achievement Tests (Hite) Specifies administration dates for the elementary achievement tests. April 26, 2007 Introduced; June 19, 2007 Reported out of committee; June 26, 2007 Passed in House; October 31, 2007 Passed in Senate; November 7, 2007 House concurs; November 14, 2007 Signed by Governor.

HB 197 School Assaults (Boyd) Provides for the reporting of assaults in public schools to school administrators and law enforcement authorities. May 3, 2007 Introduced; No Hearings

HB 204 School Security (Boyd) Permits the board of a school district or educational service center to employ school security personnel officers and authorizes training programs that qualify persons as school security personnel officers. May 3, 2007 Introduced; No Hearings

HB 216 School Construction (Collier) Grants priority for state classroom facilities assistance to school districts that consolidate or make joint use of their facilities. May 9, 2007 Introduced; No Hearings

HB 226 School Funding (Batchelder) Earmarks 88% of the personal income tax for primary and secondary education expenditures, in addition to all lottery profits, and creates a new method for distributing state aid among school districts. May 22, 2007 Introduced; No Hearings

HB 234 School Funding (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. May 23, 2007 Introduced; No Hearings

HB 240 Re-Employed Retirees (Goodwin) Regarding employment of retired members of the Public Employees Retirement System, School Employees Retirement System, State Teachers Retirement System, and Ohio Police and Fire Pension Fund. May 29, 2007 Introduced; October 30, 2007 Third Hearing

HB 245 School Funding (Strahorn) Modifies the method of adjusting the per-pupil formula amount for school districts from year to year. May 30, 2007 Introduced; No Hearings

***HB 254 Child Obesity (Peterson) Establishes the Ohio Child Wellness Advisory Council, establishes nutritional standards for certain foods and beverages sold in public and chartered nonpublic schools, requires public and chartered nonpublic schools to implement local wellness policies and makes other changes regarding student nutrition and physical activity. May 30, 2007 Introduced; No Hearings

HB 270 Pensioner Reemployment (Schneider) 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. June 19, 2007 Introduced; October 30, 2007 First Hearing; December 2007 Hearings in the House.

HB 271 Remedial Education (Patton) 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. June 21, 2007 Introduced; October 9, 2007 First Hearing

HB 315 STRS Laws (Oelslager) Creates the Health Care Fund in the State Teachers Retirement System and make other changes in STRS law. September 18, 2007 Introduced; No Hearings

HB 341 Health Grants (Dodd) Establishes the healthy farms and healthy schools grant program for the purpose of providing grants to schools to establish nutrition education and agricultural education programs for kindergartners. October 3, 2007 Introduced; No Hearings

***HB 347 Educator Licensing (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. October 9, 2007; October 30, 2007 Second Hearing.  The Ohio Department of Education is working with Representative Setzer on the provisions of this bill.

***HB 348 Special Education Vouchers (Peterson) Creates the Special Education Scholarship Pilot Program and amends the version of section 109.57 of the Revised Code that is scheduled to take effect January 1, 2008 to continue the provisions of this act on and after that effective date. October 9, 2007 Introduced; October 30, 2007 Second Hearing

HB 379 School Curriculum (Fessler) Requires the study of specified historical documents be included in the high school American history and government curriculum.  November 7, 2007 - Introduced; No Hearings

***HB406 (Peterson and Williams B.) Corporal Punishment - Prohibits corporal punishment in all public schools. December 2007 Introduced. No Hearings

HCR9 No Child Left Behind (Skindell) Amends the No Child Left Behind Act to fully fund the appropriations. February 27, 2007 Introduced; May 8, 2007 First Hearing

HCR29 Children's Health Insurance Program (Beatty) Urges Congress to override the President's veto of the Children's Health Insurance Program Reauthorization Act of 2007. October 11, 2007 Introduced; No Hearings

***HCR32 Academic Accountability (Setzer)  Approve the Department of Education's proposed changes to the state academic accountability system for public schools. October 30, 2007 Introduced; No Hearings

4)  What is the Children's Plan? 
According to a December 9, 2007 article in The Observer called "Schools are told to make artistic experience 'a key part of childhood'" by Vanessa Thorpe and Nicholas Watt, Great Britain's Parliament will launch a new ten year program called the Children's Plan, which will elevate the status of arts education and the importance of the arts in the holistic development of children.  The Children's Plan calls for every child in Britain to experience five hours of cultural learning every week as part of their school curriculum.  This will include participation in organized music, dance, theatre, and visual arts.  The Children's Plan reflects the importance of the creative industries in the economy of the UK.  For more information please visit http://politics.guardian.co.uk/publicservices/story/0,,2224780,00.html.

5)  Book Links Art and Literacy: 
The National Art Education Association (NAEA) has available a new book called "The Impact of Early Art Experiences on Literacy Development" by Kathy Danko-McGhee and Ruslan Slutsky.  This book examines the components of literacy development in children ages birth to grade three and alternative ways to teach young children early literacy and critical thinking skills through art experiences.  According to a summary of the book, "....Danko-McGhee and Slutsky paint a vivid picture of the role that the visual arts play in early childhood development. The two examine the need for new thinking and a departure from traditional literacy exercises..."  For more information please visit http://www.naea-reston.org/literacy.html.
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