To: LWVO
From: Joan Platz
Education Update for June 26, 2006
1) 126th General Assembly:
Governor Taft signed into law on June 23, 2006 HB115 (Setzer) - Educational Regional
Service System (ERSS) and Appropriations for Teacher Preparation Programs.
The bill will go into effect in 90 days.
This bill was approved by the Ohio House on October 5, 2005, but had not moved
forward in the Ohio Senate until May 2006, when an agreement was reached among
stakeholders on several issues. It was then amended in the Senate Education
Committee to include an appropriation to support Governor Taft's Ohio Core, a
proposed plan included in two bills, SB 311 (Gardner) and HB 565 (Setzer), to
increase the rigor of Ohio's high school graduation requirements and admission
standards for some colleges and universities in Ohio.
HB115 establishes the Educational Regional Service System and the EMIS Advisory
Board, which will make recommendations to improve the Education Management Information
System. Educational services will be provided through 16 regions based on
existing Special Education Regional Resource Centers (SERRC), and a State Regional
Alliance Advisory Board will be appointed to oversee the operations of the ERSS.
Advisory councils will also be established in each ERSS region, and a fiscal agent
will be chosen by the ODE for each ERSS region. These fiscal agents will
contract with the ODE to implement state and regional education initiatives.
The State Board of Education is required to adopt by July 1, 2007 rules establishing
a process for school districts to switch to a different ERSS districts by June
30, 2009.
The bill was amended in the Senate Education committee, to include a total of
$13.2 million to support teacher preparation programs in math, science, and foreign
languages, in anticipation of the passage by the General Assembly of legislation
that includes Governor Taft's increased graduation requirements called the Ohio
Core --SB 311 (Gardner) or HB 565 (Setzer). The Board of Regents and the Ohio
Department of Education are jointly directed to award and expend these funds,
which are referred to in the bill as the Ohio Core Support. The Ohio Core
Support includes the following:
-$2. 6 million in fiscal year 2007 to support a twelve-month intensive training
program that leads to teacher licensure in a laboratory-based science, advanced
mathematics, or foreign language field at the secondary education level and employment
with an Ohio school district.
-$1.5 million in fiscal year 2007 to support alternative teacher licensure programs
developed by educational service centers, in partnership with institutions of
higher education.
-$3.6 million in fiscal year 2007 will be distributed to school districts to be
used to obtain contracted instruction with institutions of higher education in
mathematics, science, or foreign language for high school students that results
in dual high school and college credit.
-$2 million in fiscal year 2007 will be disbursed to the eTech Ohio Commission
to implement and support the Ohio Students Choosing On-line Resources for Educational
Success Initiative.
-$3.5 million in fiscal year 2007 will be disbursed to the Board of Regents to
support up to ten regional summer academies that focus on foreign language, science,
mathematics, engineering, and technology, and prepare eleventh and twelfth grade
students to pursue college-level foreign language, mathematics, science, technology,
and engineering, with a focus on secondary teaching in these disciplines. Successful
completion of these programs shall result in dual high school and college credits.
The following amendments were also added to the bill:
-Amends the amount of a scholarship provided through the Educational Choice Scholarship
for students attending Kindergarten to $2,700 and $5,200 for students enrolled
in grades one to 12.
-Allows local boards of education to adopt residency restrictions for local superintendents.
-Allows a community school to open above the statewide cap, if the governing authority
of the school is rated as excellent or efficient; the school made adequate yearly
progress; the school has been in operation for at least four years; and the school
is not operated by a management company.
*The Attorney General has released the "2006 Ohio Sunshine Laws Update," called
the "yellow book". This 156 page document provides information about recent
changes in the Public Records Act and Open Meetings Act. The update is available
online at www.ag.state.oh.us/legal/pubs/2006_sunshine_law_book.pdf,
or can be obtained by contacting 614.466.2872.
2) Study on Ohio Taxes Released:
The Ohio Public Expenditure Council (OPEC), Rick Yocum president, recently released
a comprehensive report on Ohio's state and local taxes and how Ohio ranks regarding
taxes per capita and per $1000 in personal income. The report recognizes that
there are several ways to evaluate and rank states based on the amount and type
of taxes that they raise. This report compares these methods for ranking states,
and identifies the differences among reports and rankings provided by the Ohio
Office of Budget and Management, the Ohio Department of Taxation, the Federation
of Tax Administrators, the Tax Foundation, the Education Tax Policy Institute,
and the U.S. Census Bureau.
The According to the OPEC report, "Ohio is not a high tax state, at least not
by examining the various ranking reports." OPEC ranks Ohio 21st among states
in per capita state and local taxes, and 13th in taxes per $1000 of personal income.
Information about how to receive a copy of the report is available on the OPEC
website at http://www.ohiopolicy.org/
3) News from the ODE:
*Program Models: The Ohio Department of Education has developed High School
Program Models aligned to Ohio's Academic Content Standards in English language
arts, mathematics, science, and social studies to provide alternative instructional
frameworks for delivering the curriculum in these areas. The program models
were developed by a cross-section of Ohio educators, including representatives
from high schools, career-technical centers, community colleges, and universities.
The ODE also held focus groups in April and May to provide a critical review of
the draft High School Program Models, and has asked for input from five national
editors and other reviewers.
The Quality High Schools Task Force included in its recommendations that program
models be developed to help teachers provide instruction to meet the individual
learning needs of all students. Three different models have been developed
for each content area. For example, a System-Based Model, Disciplined-Based
Model, and Process-Based Model have been developed for science.
The ODE will pilot these models in selected high schools this year, and Project
Coordination Teams will be matched with the implementation sites to provide technical
assistance and oversight.
*Data Driven Decisions for Academic Achievement (D3A2): The first phase
of Data Driven Decisions for Academic Achievement (D3A2) will be released in December
2006. This project is a collaboration between education groups in Ohio, and focuses
on helping educators use data to improve instruction. The initial phase will provide
teachers with resources aligned to Ohio's Academic Content Standards to help them
respond to their students' needs. The system will be available to all districts
and schools in the state.
4) Access to Quality Educational Opportunities:
The Century Foundation has issued a policy brief called "Helping Children Move
From Bad Schools to Good Ones" by Richard D. Kahlenberg, a senior fellow at The
Century Foundation. The brief proposes that the No Child Left Behind Act
be revised "..to enable more low income students to attend good middle-class,
public schools -- a strategy that has been successful in raising achievement in
a number of local school districts."
The paper describes the challenges schools face when educating students from areas
of concentrated poverty, and research on how these students from low socioeconomic
backgrounds perform better in middle-class schools.
According to the article, "Scores from the 2005 National Assessment of Educational
Progress (NAEP) among fourth-grade students in math indicate that low-income students
in more affluent schools score eight points higher (more than half a grade level)
than middle -class students in high-poverty schools.)"
The paper also includes examples of school districts that are integrating their
schools based on socioeconomic issues to improve student performance. The
districts cited include Wake County (Raleigh), North Carolina; San Francisco,
CA; Cambridge, MA; and La Crosse, WI.
The paper is available at www.tcf.org.
An article by Richard Kahlenberg adapted from this paper is also in the June 21,
2006 issue of Education Week.
5) New Report on the High School Drop Out Rate:
The Research Center of the Editorial Projects in Education (EPE), which is the
publisher of Education Week and Teacher Magazine, issued on June 20, 2006 the
first report of the Graduation Project Series called "Diplomas Count: An Essential
Guide to Graduation Policy and Rates." The Graduation Project Series is
supported by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.
This analysis of high school dropout rates provides detailed data on high school
graduation rates at the national, state, and district levels; examines how states
calculate graduation rates; tracks state policies and graduation requirements;
and describes best practices to improve graduation rates.
The most detailed data is available for the 2002-2003 school year. According to
this analysis, which calculates the number of ninth grade students who graduate
from high school in four years using a method called the cumulative promotion
index, Ohio ranked 12th nationally with a graduation rate of 76.5 percent, which
is higher than the national average of 69.6 percent.
For more information about the report, please visit: http://www.edweek.org/rc/index.html?levelId=1000
6) What Does the Public Think About Standards and Testing?:
Public Agenda, Jean Johnson executive director, released on June 21, 2006 "Reality
Check 2006: Is Support for Standards and Testing Fading?" This is the third
"Reality Check" survey produced by Public Agenda and designed to find out what
the public thinks about important issues in education. Overall this research
concludes that key stakeholders of the public believe that "....high standards
and testing are necessary but not enough by themselves to lead to further progress."
The following are some of the key findings of the survey:
*The majority of parents and students support raising academic standards; updating
classes to match the skills employers want; and requiring students to meet higher
standards for graduation and promotion.
*Most parents see other issues as more urgent than standards and testing.
Among parents, the standards and testing is a distant second to support for smaller
classes and more funding for schools.
*Although teachers are concerned about current levels of testing there is very
little evidence of a broad backlash from parents and students, and most students
support the idea of a high school exit exam. However, many parents still
do not know enough about the No Child Left Behind Act to have an opinion about
it.
*Few parents or students say low academic standards are a "very serious" problem
in their area. Parents are twice as likely to choose lack of money (39%)
and lack of respect for teachers and profanity (34%) as "very serious" problems
over low standards (15%).
*Most teachers do not question the value of standards and testing, and 8 in 10
teachers support a high school exit exam covering either basics (62%) or more
advanced skills (24%). However, 7 in 10 teachers say their students have
to take too many tests. Most teachers also say that No Child Left Behind
is causing problems in local schools (70%), not improving them (15%).
*Over half of teachers (54%) say that schools "not getting enough money to do
a good job" is a "very serious" problem in their community. Many also see lack
of respect and crowded classrooms as "very serious" issues.
*The vast majority of administrators (52% of principals and 60% of superintendents)
point to lack of adequate funding as a "very serious" problem in their district.
*Few principals (22%) and superintendents (9%) name No Child Left Behind as the
major challenge facing them, but fewer than half think the law will actually raise
student achievement.
For more information about the Public Agenda report, please visit http://www.publicagenda.org/specials/realitycheck06/realitycheck06_main.htm
7) Florida Increases Graduation Requirements:
Governor Jeb Bush of Florida recently signed into law the A++ Plan for
Education. This plan makes changes in the middle and high school education programs
in Florida to better prepare students for postsecondary education and the workforce.
At the middle school level, students will be required to complete 12 core academic
courses (three each in English, math, science and social studies), one course
in career and education planning, and every middle school must offer a high school
level math class for high school credit.
At the high school level, students will now be required to earn 16 core academic
credits and eight elective credits in order to graduate with a high school diploma.
The core requirements consist of four credits of English and math; three credits
of social studies and science; one credit of fine arts; and one credit in physical
education and health.
Students will also select a major of interest, which may be in the arts, advanced
academic studies or career preparation.
For more information about Florida's A++ Plan for Education please visit www.myflorida.com.
8) Resolutions Introduced the Week of June 19, 2006:
SJR9 (Coughlin) - Limits on Real Property Taxes: Limits increases in the
taxable value of real property to two percent per year.
****Please Note: Education Update will resume publication in September 2006.
Have a safe and happy summer.