1) 127th General Assembly:  The Ohio House and Senate will meet this
week and hold committee hearings and sessions.  On Wednesday,
February 6, 2008 Governor Strickland will present the annual State of
the State Address at noon to a joint session of the Ohio House and
Senate in the Ohio House Chambers.

*On January 30, 2008 state leaders joined with Battelle, Carl Kohrt
CEO, and its partners to launch the Ohio STEM Learning Network to
promote student learning in science, technology, engineering, and
mathematics in Ohio.  The Ohio General Assembly included in the
biennial budget (HB119) funds to support STEM schools and  STEM
programs of excellence in Ohio.  The STEM Subcommittee of the
Partnership for Continued Learning will be selecting schools and
programs in mid February 2008 to receive funding.  Battelle has been
selected to provide support for these STEM schools and programs, and
recently received $12 million from the Bill and Melinda Gates
Foundation to support STEM initiatives.  The Ohio STEM Learning
Network is available at
http://stemohio.org/doc/ohio-stem-learning-network.

2)  Governor Announces Budget Cuts: Governor Strickland issued on
January 31, 2008 an Executive Order to implement expenditure
reductions and spending controls to balance the state's budget in
FY08 and FY09.  The state budget approved by the Ohio General
Assembly in June 2007 (HB119-Dolan) was based on an assumption that
the economy would show slight growth in mid 2008 and stronger growth
in 2009.  However, recent reports project a weaker economy and lower
than estimated revenue for the remainder of the fiscal year.
According to the National Governor's Association, 18 states are
projecting budget deficits for FY08.

As a result of the low revenue projections the Governor ordered
agencies and departments to reduce spending by $733.4 million and
take other steps to control spending, and proposed a new game for the
Ohio Lottery to raise approximately $73 million.  Protected from the
budget cuts are debt service payments, pension payments, tax relief
programs such as the homestead exemption, the higher education
tuition freeze, state school funding foundation program, and Medicaid
entitlement programs.

The Ohio Department of Education will reduce spending by $51.8
million in FY08 and $49.6 million in FY09, and the Ohio Board of
Regents will reduce spending by $90 million in FY08.

Some of the proposed cost savings strategies will require legislative
changes, which will be included in a future budget corrections or
capital appropriations bill.  There is also approximately $1 billion
available in the budget stabilization fund (rainy day fund), that
could also be used to reduce a budget deficit.

3)  Federal Update:  Members of Congress returned to Washington in
January to resume work on an economic stimulus package, new budget
and appropriations recommendations, and a variety of education
initiatives, including the reauthorization of the Higher Education
Act and NCLB.

*The U.S. House of Representatives was unable to override on January
23, 2008 President Bush's veto of the reauthorization of the
Children's Health Insurance Program Act (H.R. 3963). This bill would
have expanded the State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP)
to more children.  Lawmakers are expected to continue efforts to
approve a bill satisfactory to all parties.

*President Bush presented the "State of the Union Address" on January
28, 2008.  In his remarks pertaining to education, the President
asked Congress to reauthorize the No Child Left Behind Act, and
approve a $300 million voucher program called "Pell Grants for Kids".
This program would provide public funds to low-income students in
underperforming schools to pay tuition to attend other public schools
or private and religious schools.  A similar federally funded
program, the D.C. Opportunity Scholarship Program, has been operating
since 2004, but a U.S. DOE report in June 2007 found no differences
in test scores between students participating in the voucher program
and students who did not.  (http://ies.ed.gov/ncee/pubs/20074009/)
To read the State of the Union Address please visit
http://www.whitehouse.gov/stateoftheunion/2008/index.html

*President Bush will submit his last budget request to Congress on
February 4, 2008.  The FY09 Budget is expected to exceed $3 trillion
dollars and focus on reforms for the Medicaid and Medicare programs.
The budget will be available for downloading from the Office of
Management and Budget's web site at http://www.whitehouse.gov/omb/

4) Legislative Hearings Scheduled for the week of February 4-8, 2008:

*The Ohio House Finance and Appropriations Committee, Representative
Hottinger chair, will meet on February 5, 2008 at 1:00 PM in room
313, and hear testimony on HB381 (Webster) - Ohio Research Scholars
Program (Webster), which increases funds available for Ohio Research
Scholars Program, and permits a nonpublic four-year Ohio university
to submit a proposal for the Ohio Research Scholars Program.

*The Ohio Senate Finance and Financial Institutions Committee,
chaired by Senator Carey, will meet on Tuesday, February 5, 2008 at
2:30 PM in the Senate Finance Hearing Room.  The Committee will hear
testimony on the following:
-SB139 (Mumper) Prevailing Wage Law:  Permits state institutions of
higher education to use single/multiple prime bidding for public
improvement projects.
-SB273 (Niehaus) Classroom Facilities Assistance:  Calculates an
alternate equity list for fiscal year 2008 to determine school
district eligibility for assistance under the Classroom Facilities
Assistance Program, and their local shares in fiscal year 2009.
-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.  A substitute bill may be
introduced.

*The Ohio House Education Committee, chaired by Representative
Setzer, will meet on Tuesday, February 5, 2008 at 4:00 PM in hearing
room 116.  The committee will hear testimony on the following bills:
-HB421 (Miller E) Nuisance Properties:  Permits nuisance properties
around schools to be eradicated.
-HB347 (Setzer) Professional Educator's License:  Replaces Praxis III
assessment as a condition for a professional license.
-HB428 (Setzer) School Employee Misconduct:  Addresses school
employee misconduct, reporting, and discipline.
SCR 18 (Padgett) Academic Accountability:  Approves the ODE's
proposed changes to the state's academic accountability system for
public schools.

*The Ohio Senate Education Committee, chaired by Senator Padgett,
will meet on January 29, 2008 at 4:00 PM in the North Hearing Room,
and hear testimony on the following bills:
-SB264 (Carey) Teacher Strikes:  Prohibits classroom teachers from
striking, and requires binding arbitration to settle unresolved
collective bargaining disputes.
-SB270 (Cates) School Employee Misconduct:  Regarding the reporting
of and discipline for school employee misconduct.
-SB141 (Padgett) Community School Accountability: Clarifies the
responsibilities and oversight of sponsors of community schools.

*The Ohio House Ways and Means Committee, chaired by Representative
Gibbs, will meet on Wednesday, February 6, 2008 at 2:30 PM in room
121, and hear testimony on HB396 (Hottinger) Tax -Exempt
Organizations, which authorizes a board of county commissioners to
appropriate funds to tax-exempt 501(c) (3) organizations that serve a
community purpose.

*The Ohio House State Government and Elections Committee, chaired by
Representative Daniels, will meet on Thursday, February 7, 2008 at
9:30 AM in room 122 and hear testimony on HB420 (Brinkman) State
Spending, which promotes transparency with respect to state spending
by requiring that certain information on state awards and earmarks,
state real property management, state agency management, and state
program effectiveness be made available online; and HB350 (Wolpert)
Precinct Election Officers, which permits higher education students
to serve as precinct election officials in county where they attend
school, and permits up to two high school seniors to serve as
precinct officers at polling places with six or more precinct
officers.

5)  Senate Education Hears Testimony:  Members of the Senate
Education Committee heard testimony on three bills on January 29,
2008.  Chairman Padgett was unable to attend the hearings due to an
accident, but is expected to recover quickly.  Senator Cates, as vice
chairman, led the hearing on SB 264 (Carey), SB 270 (Cates), and SB
141 (Padgett).

*SB 264 (Carey):  Several individuals testified on SB 264 (Carey),
which prohibits classroom teachers employed by boards of education
from striking, and instead requires binding arbitration to settle
their unresolved collective bargaining disputes.

Mark Castro, Aaron Michael, and Brad Bapst testified in favor of the
bill.   They explained how a teachers' strike negatively affected
their communities and students, and how binding arbitration would
better balance the needs of the students, teachers, and communities.
There are long term consequences to strikes, such as failed attempts
to approve levies and loss of students.  A 107 day strike in the
Eastern Local School District in Pike County in 2003 cost the
district $600,000 for security protection.

Matt Dotson from the Ohio Education Association and Darold Johnson
from the Ohio Federation of Teachers testified against the bill.
They believe that this bill will take away a right from both unions
and school boards to resolve contract issues, and give authority to
an outside party to make local decisions, which may lead to increases
in taxes.  Just the threat of a possible strike encourages resolution
of difficult contract issues, that affect the quality of the learning
environment and student learning.

*SB 270 (Cates):  Lori Kelly, ODE Associate Director, Office of
Professional Conduct, testified in support of this bill, which would
tighten reporting and discipline procedures for school employee
misconduct.  Ms. Kelly noted that this bill would require school
employees to comply with the same eligibility requirements as those
seeking an education license, and ensure certain due process
procedures to protect school employees.

SB141 (Padgett)  Andy Jewell from the Ohio Education Association and
Joan Platz from the League of Women Voters of Ohio presented
proponent testimony on SB 141, which makes changes in the law
regarding the approval of community school sponsors.  Andy Jewell
noted that the bill makes some positive changes to improve oversight
of community school sponsors, but more needs to be done.  He also
testified that two provisions of the bill could be barriers to the
success of charter schools sponsored by elected boards of education.
The first prohibits employees or board members of sponsoring public
schools from serving on the governing authority of the schools that
they sponsor.  The second provision requires the ODE to directly pay
sponsors.

6) House Education Testimony:  Chairman of the House Education
Committee, Representative Arleen Setzer, presented sponsor testimony
on HB 424 before the committee on January 29, 2008.  HB 424 makes
several changes in law regarding Post-Secondary Enrollment Options,
dual enrollment programs, and eliminates the performance index score
as a factor in school district and building performance ratings.
According to an analysis of the bill, SB424 does the following:

*States that the purpose of PSEO is "to provide post-secondary
education opportunities, including career-technical and skills
development courses, for secondary grade students who are ready to do
college-level work and to help secondary grade students transition to
college or the work force."

*Clarifies that a college course qualifies for state reimbursement
under PSEO based on the content of the course and the credentials of
the instructor.

*Adds an extra statement that the PSEO reimbursement paid to the
institution and the corresponding deduction from the student's school
district, community school, or STEM school, or from the state
set-aside for a nonpublic school student, "shall cover the cost of
tuition, textbooks, materials, and other fees directly related to
that course."

*Requires that high schools determine the amount of high school
credit to award for a college course by examining the course syllabus
or instructional materials or both. The amount of high school credit
must be "based on the level of difficulty and depth of and breadth of
the course content, rather than on the amount of hours of classroom
instruction included in the course."

*Provides that the student's high school must include in the
student's record the grade achieved in the college course and must
use that grade in computing not only the student's cumulative grade
point average but also any weighted grade point average or class rank
maintained for the student.

*Prohibits an institution from imposing on PSEO students entrance
requirements that are more stringent than those imposed on other
entering first-year undergraduate students.

*Specifies that an institution may not require a PSEO student to
complete the entire Ohio Core high school curriculum as a
prerequisite to enrolling in a college course. Nevertheless, the
institution may require completion of a particular high school course
as a prerequisite for a particular college course, if the institution
determines that completion of the high school course is necessary for
successful completion of the college course.

*Changes the date of application for student notification to their
school to participate in PSEO from March 30 to May 31 of the prior
school year beginning with the 2009-2010 school year.

*Requires each regional advisory council of the Educational Regional
Service System to design a strategy for participation in PSEO by
students enrolled in public and nonpublic high schools located in its
region.

*Requires the Department of Education and the Board of Regents by
September 1, 2008, to develop and implement a data system regarding
students participating in PSEO.

*Requires the Department of Education, by September 1, 2008, to
report to the General Assembly on access to PSEO by high school
students during college summer sessions. Each regional advisory
council of the Educational Regional Service System must assist the
Department by collecting data for its respective region and
submitting it to the Department.

*Changes the definition of a dual enrollment program. Under the bill,
a dual enrollment program is one that "enables a student to earn
college credit while enrolled in high school as a result of
participating in a college course offered at a college or university
or at a high school or offered via distance learning arrangements,
through which credit is recorded on the student's transcript upon
completing the course." Under this definition, PSEO participation
would still satisfy the requirement. But the bill removes the current
statement that Advanced Placement courses satisfy the requirement.

*Defines an accelerated learning program as one that "enables a
student to complete coursework while enrolled in high school for
which the student earns high school credit and also may earn credit
toward a degree from an institution of higher education upon the
student's matriculation at that institution."  Advanced Placement
courses and International Baccalaureate programs would qualify as
accelerated learning.

*Eliminates the performance index score as a factor in the school
district and building performance ratings, and replaces it with the
newly developed value-added progress dimension, which tracks the
amount of a student's academic growth attributable to a district or
building.

7)  Student Essay Contest:  The Governor's Office on Women's
Initiatives and Outreach and the Ohio Interagency Council for Women
and Girls are sponsoring the "2008 Women Making History Essay
Contest" for students in the eighth grade.  Participants in the
contest should submit an essay between 400 and 600 words focusing on
a particular woman's past or current achievements, and why the
selected woman is a historic figure.  Essays must be post marked by
March 7, 2008.   Winners will be recognized at the 2008 Women's Hall
of Fame induction ceremony. Kits containing contest details,
guidelines and related materials will be mailed to public school
principals and eighth-grade teachers.  For more information please
visit
http://www.ode.state.oh.us/GD/Templates/Pages/ODE/ODEDetail.aspx?Page=3&TopicRelationID=519&Content=43826

8)  Why Arts Education Matters:  A Commentary in the January 29, 2008
online version of Education Week called "Why Arts Education Matters"
by Stephanie Perrin urges policy makers to recognize how an education
in the arts helps students to become creative, innovative,
imaginative, and more competitive in the global economy.

According to Ms. Perrin, "As the country contemplates reauthorization
of the federal No Child Left Behind Act, political and policy leaders
must recognize that an education in and through the arts, as a
central part of a total school program, allows schools to better
address these challenges than a curriculum that defines success as
aptitude in literacy and math only." She goes on to describe five
challenges that demonstrate why learning in and through the arts will
better equip students to thrive in this new century.  The five
challenges are included below.  The full article is available at
http://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2008/01/30/21perrin.h27.html?print=1

Five Challenges

"America continues to face declining social engagement and a culture
of division. Arts education develops in students a capacity for
empathy and collaborative work. The culture of schools where the arts
are part of the core curriculum is engaging and positive. In such
schools, one finds self-motivated students, greater parental
involvement, intensified student and teacher engagement, strengthened
collegiate aspirations, and respect for cultural differences."

"One of the greatest public-health issues in America, it could be
argued, is the failure of the education system to provide direction
and purpose to young people, particularly adolescents. This results
in apathy at best and, at worst, youth violence. Intensive engagement
in the arts actively supports the psychological, physical, and social
development of preadolescent and adolescent students. Because
training in the arts often engages the whole child, it is also
effective in schools with student populations that have a wide
variety of learning styles, experiences, and backgrounds. It has been
shown, for example, to reduce the incidence of such problems as
apathy and aggression among students in urban settings.

"The impact of the "globalization" of culture and commerce in an
increasingly interdependent world is not yet being adequately
addressed by American educators. Because the arts share a global
language and a common culture of training and production, they can
provide a ready pathway for global communication. The arts are a
universal language, one that bridges cultures and articulates the
highest aspirations of humankind."

"America is in danger of losing its competitive advantage to emerging
nations that increasingly use arts education as a learning tool to
help nurture an innovative and flexible workforce. The study of the
arts promotes the development of such skills and capacities as
risk-taking and creative thinking, which are important to success in
a globally competitive marketplace. Most American high schools,
though, still employ an educational model designed for a 19th-century
industrial economy, limiting learning to discrete disciplines and
focusing on the coverage of content, rather than the development of
broader skills and understandings that apply to many contexts."

"The crisis of this American century is not material or intellectual,
but spiritual. Unlike traditional academic disciplines, arts
education can support an outcome greater than personal success,
cultural advancement, or economic influence. The study of the arts
asks young people to consider the meaning, both personal and
communal, of the work in which they are engaged. Students working in
the arts are by definition connected with their culture. The arts
traditionally express and test the highest values of any culture, and
are a response to people's longing for connection to a narrative
greater than their own personal stories."

9)  Bills Introduced:

HB457 (Evans) Nominating Petitions:  Requires a board of elections
that distributes an incorrect petition to a person seeking to become
a candidate to accept that petition as though it were the proper
petition and to verify the signatures.

HB452 (Book) Classroom Facilities Assistance:  Calculates an
alternate equity list for 2008 for purposes of determining school
districts' eligibility for assistance under the Classroom Facilities
Assistance Program and their local shares in 2009.

HB454 (Brady) Community Schools:  Establishes a moratorium on new
"brick and mortar" community schools, requires school operators to be
nonprofit entities, and to eliminate the requirement that districts
offer property suitable for classroom space.