To:     LWVO
From:   Joan Platz
Education Update for May 1, 2006

1)  VOTE ON MAY 2, 2006: 
Approximately 7,683,843 registered voters in Ohio have an opportunity on May 2, 2006 to vote in the primary election and choose candidates for the November 7, 2006 ballot. There will also be over 800 local issues on the ballot, including 187 school funding issues.  For more information about the May 2, 2006 Primary Election, please visit the web site of the Ohio Secretary of State at http://www.sos.state.oh.us.

2)  126th General Assembly: 
Some legislative committees are scheduled to meet this week as members of the Ohio House and Senate return to Columbus following spring recess.   The Senate Finance and Financial Institutions Committee, chaired by Senator Carey, will meet on Wednesday, May 3, 2006 at 1:30 PM in the Finance hearing room to hear a presentation from the Office of Budget and Management on the proposed Tobacco Budget.  The committee will also meet on Thursday, May 4, 2006 at 10:30 AM to continue work on the Tobacco Budget.  The Tobacco Budget provides funds for the Ohio School Facilities Commission and its programs to rebuild or renovate school buildings in Ohio.

The Higher Education Funding Study Council, chaired by Representative Shawn Webster, will meet on Thursday, May 4, 2006 at 9:00 AM at the Riffe Center 12th Floor.  The committee will continue its discussions regarding efficiencies, student access, retention, and workforce development.

3)  109th Congress Comes Back to Work: 
Members of the U.S. House and Senate were back in Washington, D.C. last week after a brief recess. The House was not able to agree on the FY07 budget resolution (H. Con. Res. 376) before it recessed, and at this time it is not known when the House will continue work on a budget resolution.  The House is expected to proceed with the approval of the FY07 appropriations bills without the budget guidelines.  Several appropriations subcommittees in the House are currently moving forward with their
FY07 recommendations, which can be brought before the U.S. House without a budget resolution after May 15th.

The Senate Appropriations Committee amended this week H.R. 4939 -- The FY 2006 Emergency Supplemental Appropriations Act for Defense, the Global War on Terror, and Hurricane Recovery -- to include $350 million for displaced students as a result of Hurricane Katrina and Rita.  This program was created last year as an emergency measure, and provides students with education funds, which can be used at public or private schools, including religious schools.  Opponents of the measure believe that it violates the Establishment Clause of the U.S. Constitution, because it allows the use  of federal funds to support religion, and are urging lawmakers not to renew this component of the program for the next school year.  The full Senate is expected to take up action on this bill this week.  H.R. 4939, as passed by the House, did not include the religious school provision.

4)  Voucher Program Challenged in Maine: 
The Maine Supreme Judicial Court on April 26, 2006 upheld a state law banning the use of state vouchers at religious schools.  The 6-1 decision was the second issued by the Court relating to a 1983 state statute that restricts how state tuition vouchers can be used.  The first decision was also upheld by the 1st Circuit Court of Appeals in Boston.

Students in Maine, who do not have access to a local high school, are provided a state tuition voucher to attend either another public high school or a private, non religious high school.  Parents who wanted to send their students to parochial schools filed a lawsuit alleging that the restriction on the use of the state tuition voucher was unconstitutional.

Some legal analysts thought the Maine Court would change its decision this time as a result of the U.S. Supreme Court's ruling on vouchers in 2002.   That decision upheld the constitutionality of the Cleveland Scholarship Program, a voucher program in Ohio for students attending the Cleveland Municipal School District.  A majority of the vouchers in Cleveland were being used at parochial schools.

5)  Aligning PK-16 Education: 
A WestEd Policy Perspectives Paper called "What We Must Do to Create a System That Prepares Students for College Success", by David T. Conley, suggests that the current high
school and college education systems are not aligned and are inefficient.  Students who graduate from high school are often surprised when they are required to take remedial work when they enter college.  The extra remedial courses often delay graduation for these students.  To remedy this situation, Mr. Conley suggests the following:

*Expand high school standards and exams that are aligned with college success standards.
*Change admissions tests and processes to reflect more student content knowledge rather than student aptitude.
*Integrate the data systems to track students through the entire PK-16 system.
*Work to create PK-16 system.

This policy perspective was originally published in May 2005, but is now on the WestEd web site at http://www.wested.org/cs/we/view/rs/810

6)  Indiana's School Funding System Challenged: 
Indiana has joined 45 other states that are currently undergoing legal challenges to their systems of funding schools.  Nine students and the Indiana State Teachers Association filed a lawsuit on April 20, 2006 alleging that the state's school funding formula does not provide adequate resources to provide a "general and uniform system of Common Schools" (Article 8 Section 1 of the Indiana Constitution), which is required by the Indiana Constitution.  Higher graduation standards and accountability requirements were approved by the Indiana legislature in 1999.  The lawsuit alleges that the funds to support those requirements have not been adequately provided.  For information about the lawsuit please visit http://www.ista-in.org/sam.cfm?xnode=3688.  For general information about school funding litigation in the United States please visit ACCESS at  http://www.schoolfunding.info/litigation/litigation.php3.

7)  The Effects of Federal Economic Policies on Education: 
A new book by Jean Anyon, professor of Graduate Urban Education at the City University of New York, identifies the effects of federal and local economic policies and practices on poverty and its impact on education.  The book, Public Policy, Urban Education, and a New Social Movement, looks at how segregation, the minimum wage, job availability, affordable housing, mass transportation, etc. all create conditions in urban areas that complicate urban education reform initiatives. The book describes the need for a new social movement to bring pressure on policy/lawmakers to enact equitable policies to promote social justice for the millions of poor families and their students.

8) National Teacher Appreciation Week May 7-13, 2006: 
The National PTA established National Teacher Appreciation Week in 1984 to recognize dedicated educators in our nation's public schools.  The national PTA web site has information and ideas to develop programs to celebrate the week.  For more information please visit http://www.pta.org and select "Leadership Resources," or call toll-free (800) 307-4782.

9)  ECS Issues New Policy Brief on Arts Education: 
The Education Commission of the States has issued a new report on state policy makers' views on the arts in education.  This issue brief is called "State Policymakers' Views on the Arts in Education" April 2006, written by Jeffrey J. Miller.  The brief is based on a recent survey of policy makers regarding the importance of arts education, the role of arts education in education reform, and how schools can improve their arts education programs. Policy makers suggested several avenues for advocates of the arts in education. These include:

*Professional development designed to prepare teachers to integrate the arts across the curriculum
*Public education about the role of arts in keeping students engaged in school, and the links between the arts and achievement in math and reading and the development of well-rounded citizens
*Continued engagement of the public through student performances and displays of student work
*Collection of state-specific data on the availability of arts education to students; to include information such as student-teacher ratios, arts instructional time and the availability of highly qualified arts teachers."

To read the entire policy brief, please visit http://www.ecs.org/clearinghouse/68/58/6858.pdf

10) Bills introduced the week of April 21-28, 2006:
HB572 (Healy) - Community Schools:  Requires annual report cards for all community schools; prohibits payment of state funds to any community school that has been in a state of academic emergency or under academic watch for two consecutive years and fails to improve to continuous improvement or above by the next annual report card; and repeals certain academic performance requirements for community schools.

HB573 (Healy) - Community School Employees:  Prohibits a member of a school district board of education from being an employee or governing board member or an operator or nonpublic sponsor of a community school, or an employee or governing authority member of a community school that has a nonpublic sponsor.