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here to go back to the LWVO Education Update Main Page To: LWVO From: Joan Platz Education Update for December 11, 2006 1) 126th Ohio General Assembly: The Ohio House and Senate are scheduled to hold sessions this week on December 12-14, 2006. *Votes are scheduled in the Ohio House this week on the following education related bills: Sub. HB 403 (Fessler) Changes to the occupational therapy, physical therapy, and athletic trainers licensing laws HB187 (Buehrer) Civil Service Review Commission recommendations HB671 (Webster) Employment of school district treasurers Sub. HB 71 (Stewart) Military service retirement credit Sub. HB 250 (Trakas) School taxing districts Sub. HB 431 (Peterson) Special Education Scholarship Pilot Program Sub. HB 438 (Wolpert) Cost-of-doing-business study council Sub. HB 506 (Blessing) Health savings accounts available to public employees Am. HB 583 (Peterson) Addresses mercury in schools The House is also expected to vote on the capital budget, HB 699 (Calvert), which was introduced last week and is pending in the House Finance Committee. *The agenda for the Ohio Senate Rules Committee includes the following education related bills: Sub. SB 159 (Mumper) Conduct and ethics rules for volunteer coaches Am. SB 323 (Spada); Addresses mercury in schools SCR 29 (Schuler) Designates the week of May 14, 2006, as "Co-op Education Week" in Ohio *The Senate Republican Caucus has selected State Representative Keith Faber (77th House District) to replace State Senator Jim Jordan (12th Senate District). Senator Jordan was elected to Congress in November 2006. The House Republican Caucus must now select a replacement for Representative Faber. 2) State Board of Education Appointments Announced: The Board of Education is composed of eleven elected members and eight members appointed by the governor. On December 31, 2006 four seats on the Board will become vacant. Governor Taft announced on December 6, 2006 that he is re-appointing three members of the State Board of Education to terms of four years. Returning to the State Board of Education are Stephen Millett from Columbus, Carl Wick from Centerville, and Jennifer Sheets from Pomeroy. Governor Taft has one more member to appoint for a four year term beginning January 1, 2007. 3) Committee Hearings Scheduled the Week of December 11-15, 2006: *The House Finance and Appropriations Committee chaired by Representative Calvert will meet on December 11, 2006 at 1:00 PM and on December 12, 2006 at 1:30 PM (if needed). Committee members will hear testimony on HB695 (Calvert) -establish a Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics School System, and HB 699 (Calvert) - Capital Budget for FY07-08. A vote is possible on both bills. *The Senate Finance and Financial Institutions Committee chaired by Senator Carey will meet on December 12, 2006 and December 13, 2006 at 2:30 PM or after session, and on December 14, 2006 at 9:30 AM (if needed) in the Senate Finance Hearing Room. The committee will hear testimony on HB 699 (Calvert) - the Capital Budget for FY07-08, pending referral from the Ohio House. *The House Education Committee, chaired by Representative Setzer, will meet on Tuesday, December 12, 2006 and Wednesday, December 13, 2006 (if needed) at 3:30 PM in room 116. The committee will hear proponent and opponent testimony on Sub. SB 311 (Gardner) Ohio Core Curriculum. A vote is possible. *The Senate Education Committee, chaired by Senator Padgett, will meet on Tuesday, December 12, 2006 at 4:00 PM in the North Hearing Room. The Committee will hear testimony on HB276 (Stewart) - School bullying policies. 4) State Board of Education to Meet: The State Board of Education, Sue Westendorf president, will meet on December 11 & 12, 2006 at the Ohio School for the Deaf, 500 Morse Road, Columbus, OH. The Territory Transfer subcommittee met on December 10, 2006 at the Embassy Suites in Columbus. On Monday, December 11, 2006 the Quality Middle and High Schools Subcommittee, chaired by Carl Wick and Deborah Owens-Fink, will meet at 8:30 AM in the Conference Center. The Executive Committee, chaired by Sue Westendorf, will meet at 10:00 AM to hear updates from subcommittees, review the revisions to the Board policies and procedures manual, and discuss legislative recommendations regarding data accuracy and recommendations regarding Average Daily Membership. The Achievement Committee, chaired by Jim Craig and Mike Cochran, and the Capacity Committee, chaired by Carl Wick and Jennifer Sheets, will meet at 10:30 AM. The Achievement Committee will discuss resolutions regarding the value added rules, an Algebra II Request for Proposals, and the rules for the Honors Diploma. The Capacity Committee will discuss recommendations regarding speech-language pathology assistants, the deadline for Educational Service Center contracts, the Educational Service Center funding proposal, performance based licensure rules, teacher education programs, preschool education, and special education payments. The full Board will convene in the Conference Center at 11:30 AM to recognize the following Blue Ribbon Schools: Barrington Elementary School; Dorothy E. Lewis Elementary School; Emerson World Languages and Cultures Elementary Magnet School; Evening Street Elementary School; Ft. Recovery High School; Hilltop Elementary School; Leipsic Elementary School, Longfellow Magnet School Program, Old Trail School, Roosevelt Elementary School, St. Mary's School, St. Rita's School, Struthers High School, and Trenton Avenue Elementary School. Following lunch at 1:00 PM the Board will review the State Board of Education procedures manual; discuss a legislative recommendation regarding ADM, discuss how financial literacy is expressed in Ohio's academic content standards; and hear an update on federal and state legislation. The Board will hear updates from members and committee reports, and review the consent agenda for the business meeting on December 12, 2006 staring at 2:45 PM. At 4:00 PM the Board will hold a Chapter 119 hearing on a resolution to rescind Rule 3301-02-04, notice of personal information systems. The Board will then adjourn for the evening. The State Board will also meet on Tuesday, December 12, 2006 at 8:30 AM to hear an update from the School Funding Subcommittee and the Achieve Policy Study Group. The Board's business meeting will be called to order at 1:00 PM and the Board will immediately convene into executive session. After reconvening its public meeting, the Board will hear a report from the Superintendent of Public Instruction, Dr. Susan Tave Zelman; hear public participation on agenda Items; and consider action on 18 resolutions, including 13 personnel items, 1 territory transfer, and the following resolutions: #3. Approve a resolution to adopt the Local Report Card Indicators for the 2007-20008 school year and beyond. #4. Approve a motion to adopt the revised State Board's policy manual. #5. Approve a motion regarding a legislative proposal on data accuracy, to be submitted to the House and Senate Education committee, president and minority leader of the Senate, and the Speaker of the House and the minority leader of the Ohio House of Representatives. Several resolutions honoring State Board members who will be leaving the Board will also be presented. The Board will then consider old business, new business, miscellaneous business, and hear public participation on non-agenda items. The Board will then adjourn. For more information about the meetings of the State Board of Education, please visit www.ode.state.oh.us and follow the links to the State Board of Education. 5) Ohio House and Senate Approve Education Related Bills: The Ohio House approved last week SB5 (Hottinger) - employer health care plans and SB164 (Schuring) - permit students to carry epinephrine to school. The Senate Education Committee, chaired by Senator Padgett, accepted several amendments to Sub. SB 311 (Gardner) Ohio Core Curriculum, before reporting the bill favorably out of committee on December 5, 2006. The Ohio Senate on December 6, 2006 approved, by a vote of 20-11, Sub. SB311 (Gardner), with Senator Carey voting with minority members against the bill. The following are the highlights of Sub. SB 311, as passed by the Ohio Senate: *NEW - Adds two teachers (one public and one chartered non-public), appointed by the governor, to the Partnership for Continued Learning. *NEW - Adds the chairs and ranking minority members of the House and Senate Education Committees to officials who receive certain reports. *CHANGE IN DATE - Changes from March 31, 2007 to May 31, 2007 the date for which the Partnership for Continued Learning is required to make legislative recommendations regarding the Post Secondary Enrollment Options Program. *CHANGE - Sec. 3301.42 (M) Specifies that the Partnership of Continued Learning consider in the development of criteria for universities to use to waive the Ohio Core in their admission standards, students who have served in the military service or have moved to Ohio from another state, and have not completed the Ohio Core. *CHANGE IN DATE - Requires the ODE and OBR to propose by April 30, 2009 a standard method and form for documenting on high school transcripts each student's knowledge, learning, and high school credits earned. *CHANGE - Requires that the ODE consult with the Partnership for Continued Learning and the Ohio Board of Regents to develop measures of student preparedness for higher education and the workforce to include on district and building report cards, and report those measures by June 30, 2012. *NEW - Specifies that the three units of science required for graduation are "inquiry-based laboratory experience that engages students in asking valid scientific questions and gathering and analyzing information", and include the following: Physical sciences, one unit; Biology, one unit; Advanced study in one or more of the following sciences, one unit: Chemistry, physics, or other physical science; advanced biology or other life science; astronomy, physical geology, or other earth or space science. *CHANGE - Clarifies that the required study of economics and financial literacy could be acquired in a social studies class or another class. *CHANGE - Adds to the list of five elective units (foreign language, fine arts, business, or technology, and career-technical education) family and consumer science, or any other English, science, math, social studies course. *NEW - Sec. 3313.603 (K) Requires two semesters or the equivalent of fine arts for graduation for students (in public or nonpublic chartered school) who enter ninth grade for the first time on or after July 1, 2008, and are not graduating under the opt-out provision or a dropout recovery program. "The coursework may be completed in any of grades seven to twelve. Each student who completes a fine arts course in grade seven or eight may elect to count that course toward the five units of electives required for graduation under division (C) (7) of this section, if the course satisfies the requirements of division (G) of this section and is a high school course. In that case, the high school shall award the student high school credit for the course and count the course toward the five units required under division (C) (7) of this section. If the course in grade seven or eight did not satisfy the requirements of division (G) of this section, the high school shall not award the student high school credit for the course, but shall count the course toward the two semesters or the equivalent of fine arts required by this division." *NEW - Requires the General Assembly to "...appropriate funds for strategic initiatives designed to strengthen schools' capacities to hire and retain highly qualified teachers in the subject areas required by the curriculum." *CHANGE - Requires the State Board of Education, the OBR, and the Partnership for Continued Learning to develop policies to "...ensure that only in rare instances will students who complete the Ohio Core curriculum require academic remediation after high school." *Change - Requires school districts, community schools, and chartered nonpublic schools to integrate technology into learning experiences, and allows the use of distance and web-based course delivery of instruction. *Change - Requires the Partnership for Continued Learning in collaboration with the ODE and OBR, to analyze student performance data to determine whether or not the Ohio Core opt out provision should be extended. *CHANGE OF DATE - Requires the State Board of Education, in consultation with the Board of Regents and the Partnership for Continued Learning, to adopt a statewide plan for students to earn units of high school credit based on a demonstration of subject area competency. The plan must be developed by March 31, 2009, and phase-in of the plan shall begin in the 2009-2010 school year. *Change - Requires the Teacher Quality Partnership to submit an annual data report starting September 1, 2008 on teacher effectiveness to the Educator Standards Board. *CHANGE - Requires by April 2008 the articulation and transfer advisory council of the OBR to recommend standards for awarding course credit toward degree requirements at state institutions of higher education based on scores obtained on advance placement exams. *CHANGE - Clarifies the difference between "admitted" and "accepted" to a university. *CHANGE IN DATE - Section 3 - Implements the Foreign Language Advisory Council's plan no later than the 2014-15 school year. *CHANGE - Section 6 - Clarifies that chartered nonpublic schools and teachers are eligible for Ohio Core funding, and nonpublic school students can participate in programs to encourage students to become science, math, or foreign language teachers. The following amendments were offered by Democrats in the Senate Education Committee, but were tabled: *Create an exception for college admission for students who have had military service. *Add the foreign language graduation requirement to the Ohio Core more quickly. (Withdrawn) *Require an independent cost analysis of implementing the Core. *Grant individual student "drop-out recovery" exemptions rather than create exceptions to the Ohio Core for entire programs. *Delete the study on educator licensure assessment results to assess teacher quality. *Delay implementation of Core from 2001-2012 to 2015-2016. *Include the teaching of the diversity and the history of the African slave trade in the curriculum. *Appropriate $10 million for remediation. *Provide a tax credit for attracting qualified faculty. 6) Capital Budget Introduced: The House Finance Committee chaired by Representative Calvert heard sponsor testimony this past week on HB689 (Trakas) - high quality higher education in North East Ohio; HB695 (Calvert) - Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM) school system; and Am. HB 699 (Calvert) - Capital Budget. *HB689 (Trakas) - high quality higher education in North East Ohio, establishes a study commission to support collaboration among the University of Akron; Cleveland State University; Northeastern Ohio Universities College of Medicine; Youngstown State University; and Kent State University. *Am. HB695 (Calvert) establishes the Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics (STEM) education authority, which is made up of nine members appointed by the governor and ex-officio members including the superintendent of public instruction, the chancellor of the Ohio board of regents, and the director of development, or their designees. The STEM education authority will oversee a new system of public schools called the STEM school system, the purpose of which is to encourage students to pursue studies and careers in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics, and improve instruction in those areas. The bill was amended to include an appropriation of $600,000 for start-up costs. HB 695 also sets up a college of education for STEM teachers outside the Ohio Board of Regents. The STEM education authority is directed to establish 4 or 5 world class STEM secondary schools in 2007-2008, including one residential academy, and create a 501(c)(3) foundation to receive corporate and foundation funds for operation. The Department of Education would distribute funding to STEM schools based on the greater of (A) the 2005 formula amount times the 2005 cost of doing business factor of the student's resident district or (B) the sum of the current formula amount times the current cost of doing business factor plus the per pupil amount of the base funding supplements. STEM schools would also receive additional funding for students who qualify for special needs, limited English speakers, vocational programs, poverty based assistance, etc. *HB699 (Calvert) - The Capital Budget contains $1,780,904,216 in appropriations for capital projects and improvements for FY07-08, and technical, corrective, and other adjustments in law. The total appropriation is 16.6 percent greater than FY05-06 appropriations. The budget includes $1.6 billion in appropriations backed by debt issued by the state for the capital projects of state agencies, departments, and 117 local projects, and $211.3 million in appropriations from current cash revenue. Approximately $1 billion in re-appropriations for capital projects was already approved by the Ohio General Assembly in March 2006 through HB530. The following are appropriations included in HB 699 that are related to education: -$698.6 million for Governor Taft's Rebuild Ohio Plan, which provides state funds to support the construction and renovation of Ohio's primary and secondary schools. According to testimony by Tim Keen, Director of the Office of Budget and Management, $5.6 billion in state funds have been committed to Ohio's schools during the Taft administration. More than 700 facilities in more than 300 districts have benefited from this plan. -$526.6 million for Ohio's higher education institutions building projects. This is an increase of $88.2 million over FY05-06 . -$50 million for the Third Frontier initiative. This amount is in addition to the $50 million included in HB 530, and will support research and commercialization collaborations. These funds are not part of the Third Frontier Research and Development bonds approved in State Issue One in November 2005. -$4 million under the Ohio School Facilities Commission to support planning and design costs for a new joint use school facility for the Ohio State School for the Blind and the Ohio School for the Deaf. The bill also includes the following corrections and changes in current law: -Codifies and makes permanent the Autism Scholarship Program and increases the number of students eligible for the scholarship by including preschool children. There were in 2005 approximately 3.1 percent of special education students in grades K-12 identified as autistic, and potentially 700 preschool children could be identified as autistic, based on a statistical analysis. Approximately 6 percent of eligible children with autism accepted a scholarship in FY06, and an estimated 42 scholarships may be awarded to preschool children if this law is approved. -Clarifies the formula used to determine eligibility for certain districts to continue to receive reimbursements for losses in tax revenue due to the reduced assessment rates on tangible personal property of electric and gas utilities, as a result of utility deregulation, and not made up by the state education aid offset. -Prohibits the School Facilities Commission from approving agreements or labor contracts for state-assisted school facilities projects that require the payment of the prevailing wage. School facilities projects have been exempted from the prevailing wage requirements since 1997. However, there is no prohibition if the lowest responsive and responsible bidder of a contract chooses to pay the prevailing wage. -Expands the definition of "caucus" for purposes of the Open Meetings Law to include meetings of committee members of the Ohio House of Representatives of the same party. Currently caucus meetings of members of the same political party are not subject to Open Meetings Law, and this extends that provision to meetings of committee members of the same party. 7) Charter School Bills will Honor Tom Mooney: The Coalition for Public Education (CPE) held a news conference on Tuesday, December 5, 2006 at the Statehouse announcing that it was terminating its legal challenge of Ohio's charter schools, and would pursue legislative and regulatory solutions through SB 129 (Schuring) and HB 213 (Oelslager) to make charter schools more accountable to the public. The press conference was held two days after the tragic death of Tom Mooney, President of the Ohio Federation of Teachers and Chairman of the Coalition for Public Education. Mark Hatch from the Ohio Association of Public School Employees spoke at the new conference on behalf of all CPE members, who were stunned and saddened by the loss. Mark expressed the CPE's admiration for Tom Mooney, who dedicated his life to public education and the students in Ohio's public schools. Both Senator Schuring and Representative Oelslager agreed to honor the memory of Tom Mooney and his tireless efforts to improve education in Ohio by working to pass these substitute bills in this General Assembly or the next. Substitute versions of SB 129 and HB 213 have been prepared, but have not been accepted in the House or Senate education committees. The CPE supports the substitute bills, which include the following provisions: -Limit the number of new operator-run community schools -Prohibit for-profit companies from operating additional schools -Extend the current statewide cap on charter schools for two years -Create a Joint Study Committee to examine charter schools issues and issue a report within two years; -Require that each student who is required to take a test but does not do so be considered as having failed the test for purposes of calculating the school's performance ratings -Require charter schools to be non-profit organizations -Limit the term of the charter contract to not more than five years -Require automatic withdrawal of a student who misses 30 consecutive hours (down from the current 105 consecutive hours) -Require charter school board members to be residents of the county in which the school is located -Require charter school teachers in core subject areas to be licensed for that subject and "highly qualified" as defined by the federal No Child Left Behind law, just as public school teachers much be The Coalition for Public Education includes the Ohio PTA, the League of Women Voters of Ohio, the Ohio Association of School Business Officials, the Ohio School Boards Association, the Ohio Coalition for Equity and Adequacy of School Funding, the Buckeye Association of School Administrators, the Ohio Association of Public School Employees, the Cleveland Teachers Union, the Akron Education Association, the Cincinnati Federation of Teachers, the Columbus Educations Association, the Ohio AFL-CIO, the Ohio Federation of Teachers, the Toledo Federation of Teachers, the Ohio Education Association, and the Ohio Retired Teachers Association. 8) Committee Approves Bills about Treasurer Contracts and Special Education Vouchers: The House Education Committee, chaired by Representative Setzer, reported out favorably two bills last week; Am. HB671 (Webster) - which revises laws regarding the employment of school district treasurers, and Sub. HB 431 (Peterson) - which grants special education scholarships to eligible students. The Committee accepted a substitute bill for HB431 - Special Education Scholarship. The substitute bill establishes the Special Education Scholarship Program as a pilot program limited to three percent of qualifying special education students in Ohio, and expands eligibility to participate in the program to preschool students. The substitute bill also directs the voucher payment to the school rather than the parent. Currently there are 270,000 students in Ohio identified with special needs, so approximately 8100 students could be eligible for the pilot program. Representative Peterson, who explained the substitute bill, responded to committee members' questions about the amount of the scholarships; the added costs to school districts to re-evaluate student IEPs; how parents will lose their "due process" rights by participating in this program; and how the program would be evaluated. According to Representative Peterson, due process is needed to protect the parent against the school district, and "...satisfaction with school choice is the evaluation." Both proponent and opponent testimony were presented to the committee. Speaking in support of the bill were several parents of students with special needs who support having more educational options supported by public funds for their students. Some of the parents who testified serve on Governor Taft's Autism Task Force, which has reported that school districts are not meeting the needs of students in special education. Opponent testimony was presented by Michelle Francis from the Ohio School Boards Association and Melissa Clark from the Ohio Education Association, representing a coalition of organizations, including Ohio School Boards Association, the Ohio Federation of Teachers, the Ohio Association of School Business Officials, the Ohio Parent Teacher Association, the Buckeye Association of School Administrators, the League of Women Voters of Ohio, the Ohio Education Association, and the Ohio School Psychologists Association. According to the testimony, the Ohio Department of Education, Office of Exceptional Children, keeps records of disputes regarding student Individual Education Plans (IEP) initiated by parents against school districts. In 2004-2005 the successful mediation rate for these disputes was 77 percent, and in 2005-2006 the ODE reported a successful mediation rate of 83.4 percent for these disputes. The overwhelming need for this program is not evident from the statistics provided by the Ohio Department of Education. Parents and students in Ohio are working together to resolve disputes to provide satisfactory educational experiences for students with special needs. Parents will also lose their rights under the Federal Individuals with Disabilities Education Improvement Act (IDEIA) if they choose to participate in this program. The bill does not require teachers in the private programs to meet the No Child Left Behind Act highly qualified teacher standards; does not require the pilot program to be evaluated; does not require the students to participate in the No Child Left Behind Act assessments; and undermines current services and programs to children with disabilities remaining in the district, because the program will divert funding that is already limited to private providers, that are not accountable to the public. 9) Update on the Ohio Core Curriculum, Sub. HB 565: As the Senate was approving Sub. SB 311 (Gardner) Ohio Core Curriculum, testimony on the House version of the bill, Sub. HB 565, was being presented in the Ohio House Education Committee, chaired by Representative Setzer. Testimony had been extended to Wednesday, December 6, 2006, to accommodate many witnesses who were unable to testify at the regular Tuesday evening House Education Committee. Among the supporters of Sub. HB 565 were John Boggess of the Ohio Association of Joint Vocational Schools and Superintendent of the Miami Valley Career Technology Center, President Charlotte Hatfield of Washington State Community College, President Thomas Chema of Hiram College, Trisha Renner of College Board; Michael Cline of Perrysburg Schools, and Canton Local School District Counselor Barbara Tscholl and four students. Proponents agreed that the rigorous curriculum required in the Ohio Core would help students prepare for higher education and a more globally competitive job market. Trisha Renner spoke on behalf of the College Board and advocated for advanced placement courses as a dual enrollment option that would "....create a college-going culture within schools." Some proponents of the bill, including Superintendent Michael Cline of Perrysburg Schools, noted that the Ohio Core would require additional costs to school districts, but asked the committee to approve HB 565, because it was the right thing to do for students. Among those opposing the bill were Darold Johnson, Ohio Federation of Teachers, Daniel Kaffenbarger from the Triad Local School District, Matt Dotson of the Ohio Education Association, Barbara Shaner of the Ohio Association of School Business Officials, Fred Pausch of the Ohio School Boards Association, Randy Smith from the Forest Hills Local Board of Education, and Paige Fleming, a math teacher from the Marietta City Schools. Representative Garrison also presented testimony that was provided by Superintendent Robert Greenwood from the East Guernsey Local School District. Opponents testified that Sub. HB 565 included unfunded mandates, including the cost for hiring additional teachers and the cost for providing adequate facilities for the additional science lab courses required in the Ohio Core. Some opponents questioned the timing of the bill also, and asked that the bill be delayed until the cost of the Ohio Core could be determined. The Ohio Core could be included in the next budget bill, which will be introduced in March 2007, and would not delay the implementation of the Ohio Core curriculum. Opponents also suggested that the rigorous standards may also hurt some students who are already struggling with their course work, and may drop out of school. Mary Campbell-Zopf, Deputy Director and Arts Learning Director of the Ohio Arts Council, and Tom Ash, Director of Governmental Relations for the Buckeye Association of School Administrators, presented testimony as "interested parties". Deputy Director Campbell-Zopf spoke about the importance of having a fine arts credit as part of Ohio's graduation requirements, and requested that Sub. HB 565 be amended to include a one credit graduation requirement in the arts. According to her testimony, "Arts education develops the precise set of skills that equips students to compete for the most sought-after and highest-paying jobs of the emerging global economy. These skills are a combination of problem-solving, individual responsibility, teamwork, confidence, and creative thinking." Tom Ash presented the results of a survey of school superintendents conducted by the Buckeye Association of School Administrators in June 2006 regarding the estimated costs to implement the Ohio Core. 3667 senior class schedules (2.83 percent of all seniors statewide) from 18 schools districts were examined. According to the survey, 45.56 percent of the senior schedules surveyed showed that students had not completed a fourth year of math, which is required in the Ohio Core. Approximately $29.6 million in additional funds may be needed to implement the fourth year math requirement statewide. 10) What is the Public's Role in a Democracy? The Kettering Foundation released a report on November 13, 2006 called "Public Thinking about Democracy's Challenge: Reclaiming the Public's Role", which focuses on the opportunities and challenges for citizens in a democracy today. These opportunities and challenges were raised by citizens participating in forums held throughout the nation. According to the report, many Americans feel like consumers in a democracy rather than participants, or feel connected to their community but not to the nation. The widespread feelings of alienation, mistrust, and cynicism may be overcome, however, by dialogue about the critical national issues facing our nation, and their effect on our democratic principles. The report is available at http://www.kettering.org/readingroom/focus_detail.aspx?catID=2&itemID=2469 11) Bills introduced the week of December 4 - 8, 2006: -HB700 (Blasdel) School Employment Retirement. Requires school boards to establish alternative retirement plans for teachers and school employees. -HB701 (Strahorn) School Funding. Modifies the method of adjusting the per-pupil formula amount for school districts from year to year. -SJR10 (Spada) Term Limits. Increases term limits for members of the General Assembly elected in 2008, and for certain members elected before 2008. |
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Ohio Fair Schools Campaign, 94 Columbus Road Athens, Ohio 45701 Tel. (740)592-2866 Fax (740)593-5451 |
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