To:     LWVO
From:   Joan Platz
Education Update for February 27, 2006

1)  126th General Assembly: 
The Ohio House and Senate will hold sessions and hearings this week. 
The House Education Committee will not be meeting this week.  Statehouse
observers expect a budget corrections bill to be introduced the first week in March.

The Ohio House accepted the resignation of Representative Dale Miller
(14th House District) on February 22, 2006.   Representative Miller
has been chosen to replace Senator Dan Brady (23rd Senate District),
who announced his resignation from the Ohio Senate several weeks ago.
As of yet, no one has been named to replace Representative Miller in
the House.

2) Representative Boehner Replaced as Chair: 
Last week it was announced that Representative Howard P. "Buck" McKeon (R-CA)
will serve as Chairman of the US. House Committee on Education and the
Workforce, succeeding Representative John Boehner (R-OH), who
resigned to become House Majority Leader.

3)  This Week at the Statehouse:

MONDAY, FEBRUARY 27, 2006

The Ohio Educator Standards Board will meet at 6:00 PM at the
Columbus Radisson Worthington, 7007 N. High St., Columbus.
Committees will meet at 8:00 PM.

TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 28, 2006

The Senate Finance and Financial Institutions Committee, chaired by
Senator Carey (466-8156), will meet on February 28, 2006 at 2:30 PM
or after session in the Senate Finance hearing room. The committee
will hear testimony on HB 478 (Wagoner), which combines the
University of Toledo and the Medical University of Ohio at Toledo.

The Senate Education Committee, chaired by Senator Padgett, will meet
on February 28, 2006 at 4:00 PM in the North Hearing room.  The
committee will hear testimony on HB 254 (Collier), regarding school
instructional hours.

THURSDAY, MARCH 2, 2006

The House Finance and Financial Institutions, Real Estate, and
Securities Committee, chaired by Representative Widener, will meet on
March 2, 2006 at 8:30 AM in room 017.  The committee will hear
testimony on HB 272 (Schneider) regarding the Public Employees
Retirement System and HB 320 SERS (Schneider) regarding governing of
SERS.

The Higher Education Funding Council, chaired by Representative
Webster, will meet on March 2, 2006 at 9:00 AM in the Riffe Center,
12th floor conference room.

4)  Coalition for Ohio's Future Challenges TEL Petitions: 
The Coalition for Ohio's Future filed on February 23, 2006 a legal
challenge with the county Boards of Election of Clark, Clermont,
Cuyahoga, Franklin, and Lorain counties regarding the initiative
petitions supporting the Tax Expenditure Limitations (TEL) amendment
This amendment is expected to be on the November 2006 ballot.  The
challenges cite certain errors and inconsistencies on the
part-petitions that have been filed, such as inaccurate and false
employer information by paid circulators; errors in the number of
signatures per sheet, which could rule the part-petitions invalid;
and missing or incorrect compensation statements for paid circulators.

The TEL/ TABOR constitutional amendment would limit growth in state
and local budgets through a formula based on the Consumer Price Index
(inflation) and population growth, or 3.5 percent, whichever is
greater.

Opponents of the TEL amendment note that the formula used to
determine growth is unrealistic, because the Consumer Price Index is
not a valid measure of growth in the public service sector, which
includes fast growing cost areas such as health care and education.
Elected officials would lose flexibility regarding budgeting
decisions, and the method that is proposed to override the TEL cap is
unrealistic.  For example, if officials in a political subdivision,
such as a school district, wanted to go beyond the TEL limit, a
majority of registered voters in that political subdivision, not just
a majority of those voting, would be needed to approve the measure.
The TEL amendment could also affect the state's bond rating.  After
Colorado voters approved tax limitation legislation, their credit
rating dropped.  Last year Colorado voters approved Referendum C,
which placed a five-year moratorium on the tax limitation provision.

Ohio Attorney General Jim Petro has also proposed a measure, called
the Citizens' Amendment for Prosperity (CAP), to limit the
expenditures of state and local political subdivisions.  Some
lawmakers are urging the General Assembly to place this second
amendment on the November ballot.  This initiative would limit the
amount of general fund revenues the state could collect to 5.5
percent of the total business and personal income earned in the state.

The Coalition for Ohio's Future is a nonpartisan, nonprofit coalition
of more than 140 Ohio organizations that oppose the TEL/TABOR
amendment.  For more information please visit the coalition's site at
www.ohiosfuture.org.

5) Equity after Katrina: 
The Winter 2006 issue of the Annenberg Institute for School Reform's,
Voices in Urban Education, "Educational Equity, after Katrina", calls attention
to factors that still divide America, such as race, class, and the lack of
opportunities for poor people and people of color.  Several authors
contribute to this issue, which also suggests new strategies for
promoting equity and excellence in education.  The following articles
are included in the issue, and are available at
http://www.annenberginstitute.org/VUE/winter06/Rothman.html:

"Now They're Wet: Hurricane Katrina as Metaphor for Social and
Educational Neglect" by Gloria Ladson-Billings;
"The Real Crisis in Education: Failing to Link Excellence and Equity"
by Charles V. Willie;
"Segregation and Its Calamitous Effects: America's "Apartheid" Schools"
by Jonathan Kozol; and
"Transformation, Not Tinkering: School Reform after Hurricane Katrina"
by Dennie Palmer Wolf and Hal Smith

6)  News from the ODE: 
The 7th annual Ohio School Improvement Institute will be held June 8-9, 2006
at the Hyatt Regency in Columbus.  The theme for this year's event is
"Transformation & Transition: Dynamic Classrooms for Middle School, High School,
and Beyond."  The conference will highlight research and strategies to
improve student achievement.  Presenters include Nancy Doda, Ph.D.
Associate Professor, National-Louis University, Burke, Virginia;
Sandy Shugart, Ph.D., President, Valencia Community College, Orlando,
Florida; and Jeff Livingston, Vice President, Urban Market,
McGraw-Hill SRA Division, Columbus, Ohio.

Information about the conference is available online at
http://www.techprepohio.org/xtempdocuments/OSIIFlyerSingle010906.pdf.
Ohio schools are urged to apply to present their best practices at a
breakout session or during roundtable sessions.  Applications to
present are available at www.hstwohioregions.org

7)  Bills Introduced:

SB276 (Cates) - Property Taxes:  Authorizes local taxing authorities
to exempt from new property tax levies the homes of elderly persons.

HB521 (Coley) - Prevailing Wage:  Specifies that, for certain public
improvements, the Prevailing Wage Law only applies if the public
improvements are funded not less than fifty per cent by public money;
increases the threshold level to one million dollars in order for any
project to be subject to the Prevailing Wage Law and establishes a
new method of determining the threshold level; permits all
contractors and subcontractors for all public and private improvement
projects to submit to the Director of Commerce specified information
contained in a contract that is entered into for the purpose of
repaying a contractor or subcontractor and requires the Director to
consider this information when calculating the prevailing wage;
removes from the Prevailing Wage Law the procedure for interested
parties to file complaints with the Director and take other specified
actions; permits any person to file a complaint; removes a complaint
with the Director alleging a violation of the Prevailing Wage Law and
permits, but not require, the Director to investigate the complaint;
removes from the Prevailing Wage Law the requirement that contractors
and subcontractors performing work on a public improvement submit
payroll reports to the contracting public authority; makes collective
bargaining agreements that are voluntarily submitted to the director
of commerce public records; allows apprenticeship program sponsors
who are not governed by collective bargaining agreements to select
the ratio of apprentices to journey persons established by certain
state or federal agencies; and neither requires nor prohibits any
person who submits a bid on a public improvement project to enter
into or adhere to agreements with one or more labor organizations.

SJR7 (Cates) Establishes limitations on the state regarding taxes and
expenditures, and requires full state funding of local government
mandates.

8)  Grants for Arts, Education, and Health Projects: 
The Milagro Foundation seeks applications for grants from community-based,
grass-roots organizations that work with underprivileged children and
youth in the areas of arts, education, and health. The maximum award
is $5000.  Applicants must be a 501(c)3 organizations in the United
States. For more information visit
http://www.milagrofoundation.org/apply.asp