1)  127th General Assembly:  The Ohio House and Senate will hold
sessions and committee meetings this week.  The Ohio House is
expected to vote this week on the energy bill, SB 221 (Schuler).
This bill revises state energy policy to address electric service
price regulation; establishes alternative energy benchmarks for
electric distribution utilities and electric services companies;
provides for the use of renewable energy credits; establishes energy
efficiency standards for electric distribution utilities; requires
greenhouse gas emission reporting and carbon dioxide control planning
for utility-owned generating facilities; authorizes energy price risk
management contracts; and authorizes for natural gas utilities
revenue decoupling related to energy conservation and efficiency.

Negotiations continue between the Strickland administration and House
leadership to resolve key differences in the bill regarding
regulatory provisions and free market options.  Advocates for public
schools would also like to see added to the bill a bypassability
provision, which would ensure that consumers do not have to pay for
services that they do not use.  Advocates also support aggregation
programs that allow school districts to come together to negotiate
electric rates with electric companies to reduce electric costs.

*On April 15, 2008 the House Education Committee accepted a
substitute bill for HB347 (Setzer), Professional Educator License.
This bill was introduced several weeks ago, and several individuals
have testified on it.  The substitute bill makes the following
changes in the bill as introduced:
-States that after July 1, 2010 eligibility to convert a provisional
educator license to a professional educator license will be based on
a teacher's rating on a "summative assessment" approved by the State
Board and included in the teacher's inductive program, rather than
passage of the Praxis III test, which is stipulated in current law.
The summative assessment must require demonstrated application of
Ohio Standards for the Teaching Profession.
-Defines terms such as "beginning teacher", "induction program",
"formative and summative assessments", etc.
-Requires the State Board of Education to adopt a summative
assessment to assess teacher performance.
-Requires the ODE to convene stakeholders to develop standards for an
induction program for use in schools and school districts throughout
the state.  These standards must include mentoring, multiple
formative assessments by more than one individual, and use both the
Ohio Standards for the Teaching Profession and the application of the
state academic content standards as performance measures, and a
summative assessment.
-Requires the ODE in the 2008-2009 school year to "test" the
components of the induction program in selected school districts, and
make modifications.
-Requires the ODE in the 2009-2010 school year to select a sample of
schools or school districts to implement on a trial basis all
components of the standardized induction program.
-Requires full implementation of a two year induction program for
beginning teachers in the 2010-2011 school year.
-Requires the ODE, in collaboration with the Chancellor of the Board
of Regents, to convene a committee representing public and private
teacher preparation programs to develop a pre-service assessment
system with standardized protocols and training for pre-service
coursework and field experiences in teacher preparation programs.
This system must be aligned with the Praxis III test domains and the
Ohio Standards for the Teaching Profession.
-Requires the ODE by December 31, 2008 to select a sample of teacher
preparation programs to implement the standardized pre-service
assessment system on a trial basis.
-Requires by December 31, 2009 full implementation of the pre-service
assessment program.
-Removes a $4.2 million earmark included in the "as introduced"
version of the bill.

* On April 17, 2008 the House State Government and Elections
Committee accepted a substitute bill for HB26 (Wolpert) -  Urban
Homestead Zones.  This bill permits the creation of urban homestead
zones in cities to encourage the repopulation of certain city cores;
creates a state urban homestead scholarship program; and requires tax
increment financing in urban homestead zones that participate in the
scholarship program to help fund the -program.

2)  Hearings on SB 57 (Coughlin) Continue:  The Senate Education
Committee, chaired by Senator Padgett continued on April 15, 2008 to
hear proponent and opponent testimony on SB 57 (Coughlin) -- Special
Education Scholarship Program.  The bill establishes a program for
students who have Individualized Education Plans (IEPs) to receive
public funds to pay for services from entities, public and private,
approved by the Ohio Department of Education.  Testifying in favor of
the bill were Tera Myers and Patricia Bartlett.  Testifying in
opposition to the bill were several representatives from the
Cincinnati City Schools and the Worthington City Schools, and Greg
Goodlander, a teacher in Columbus City Schools and a parent of a
student with special needs.

Speaking as an "interested party" was Dr. Jane Wiechel, associate
superintendent of the Ohio Department of Education's, Center for
Students, Families and Communities.  Dr. Wiechel noted some
"unintended" consequences that this legislation may have on the
academic progress that students with disabilities have been making in
Ohio.  SB 1 of the 124th General Assembly and the federal No Child
Left Behind Act promote the participation of students with
disabilities in the full curriculum and state's accountability
system.  These requirements are in line with national and state
efforts to help students with disabilities become independent and
economically self-sufficient.  However, SB57 could set the progress
of students with disabilities back, because it does not require
"providers" participating in the program to also participate in the
state's accountability system for schools; meet federal No Child Left
Behind performance standards; and provide a free and appropriate
public education in the least restrictive environment for students
with disabilities.  Dr. Wiechel also proposed the following
amendments:
-Clarify that a community school maintains responsibility for the IEP
when a student chooses to use a special education scholarship, and
that the scholarship amount is deducted from the payments made to the
community school;
-Allow for the ODE to request the Statewide Student Identifier for
the administration of the special education scholarship program,
permitting department staff to ensure students are not being
double-counted for funding purposes;
-Don't penalize districts with kindergarten students participating in
the scholarship program. (Kindergarten students are currently counted
as .5 under the funding formula, while in its present version, the
scholarship would be deducted at the full formula amount.)

3)  This Week at the Statehouse:

*The Senate State and Local Government and Veterans Affairs
Committee, chaired by Senator Cates, will meet on Tuesday, April 22,
2008 at 10:00 AM in the South Hearing Room.  The Committee will hear
testimony on HB350 (Wolpert), which permits a higher education
student to serve as a precinct election official in a county where
he/she attends school; and permits up to two high school seniors to
serve as precinct officers at polling places with six or more
precinct officers.

*The Senate Finance and Financial Institutions Committee, chaired by
Senator Carey, will meet on Tuesday, April 22, 2008 at 2:30 PM in the
Senate Finance Hearing Room, or immediately after session.  The
Committee will consider the appointment by Governor Strickland of
Susan Saxbe to the Ohio Arts Council, and hear testimony on a number
of bills, including SB313 (Amstutz), which prohibits the State
Lottery Commission from establishing a lottery game that has more
than two announcements of prize winners per day or is played on a
slot machine, including keno; and SB314 (Carey), Personal Financial
Literacy, which allows the Treasurer of State to administer a linked
deposit program designed to encourage personal savings and promote
personal financial education.

*The Senate Education Committee, chaired by Senator Padgett, will
meet on April 22, 2008 at 3:30 PM in the North Hearing Room.  The
Committee will continue to hear testimony on SB57 (Coughlin), which
establishes the Special Education Scholarship Program, and SB270
(Cates) school employee misconduct.  A substitute bill for SB 270 is
expected to be introduced.

*The House Education Committee, chaired by Representative Setzer,
will meet on Tuesday, April 22, 2008 at 4:00 PM in hearing room 116.
The Committee will hear testimony on HB428 (Setzer) -- school
employee misconduct;  HB510 (Brady) -- Higher Education Law
Enforcement; and HB421 (Miller E.) -- eradicate nuisance properties
from around schools.

*The Senate Ways and Means and Economic Development Committee,
chaired by Senator Amstutz, will meet on Wednesday, April 23, 2008 at
9:00 AM in the South Hearing Room.  The Committee will hear sponsor
testimony on SB51 (Schaffer), which allows a tax credit for amounts
spent by teachers for instructional materials.

4)  New Report Available:  Rethinking Schools and the Center for
Community Change released a new book in March 2008 called "Keeping
the Promises.  The Debate Over Charter Schools," edited by Leigh
Dingerson, Barbara Miner, Bob Peterson, and Stephanie Walters.
"Keeping the Promises" includes the following essays from nationally
known educators on a variety of topics related to the charter school
movement and its impact on public education.  Additional information
about the book is available at http://www.rethinkingschools.org/
-Charter Schools and the Values of Public Education by Ted Sizer and
George Wood
-Unlovely: How the Market Is Failing the Children of New Orleans by
Leigh Dingerson
-Profits and Privatization: The Ohio Experience by Amy Hanauer
-"Evolution" or Destruction? A Look at Washington, D.C. by Zein
El-Amine and Lee Glazer
-Boston's Pilot Schools: An Alternative to Charter Schools by Dan French
-Lessons from the Ground: Interviews with Charter School Educators by
Barbara Miner
-Keeping the Promise: The Role of Policy in Reform by Linda
Darling-Hammond and Kenneth Montgomery

5)  New Vision for the Future:  The Center for Community Change and
several community groups are launching this fall a two-year "Campaign
for Community Values" to respond to increasing poverty, inequality,
and injustice brought about by decades of divisive public policies.
According to the Center, individualistic solutions are being
recommended more and more to solve collective challenges.  For
example, policies that advocate using public money to allow certain
students to attend private schools reinforce beliefs that the public
school system is broken and only certain students who leave the
public system will achieve success.  This solution, however, provides
options for a limited number of students, and worsens conditions for
students who are left behind.  A more efficient and equitable
solution acknowledges the problems facing public schools, and works
with communities to solve them for the benefit of all children and
all families.  To learn more about the Campaign please visit
http://www.movementvisionlab.org/blog/education-is-a-community-value#_edn1>

6) Researchers Set the Record Straight with Review Project:  The
Think Tank Review Project, Kevin Welner and Alex Molnar co-directors,
is a collaborative project with the Arizona State University's
Education Policy Research Unit (EPRU) and Colorado
University-Boulder's Education and the Public Interest Center (EPIC).
The Think Tank provides the public, policy makers, and the press with
timely, academically sound reviews of selected "think tank"
publications to promote rigorous dialogue and debate.  The Think Tank
Review Project is made possible by funding from the Great Lakes
Center for Education Research and Practice.

The Education Policy Research Unit and the Education and the Public
Interest Center (EPIC) also publish policy briefs on a variety of
education related topics.  Recent policy briefs are included below:
-EPRU and the University of Vermont released on March 31, 2008 a
policy brief called, "A Guide to Contracting Out School Support
Services: Good for the School? Good for the Community?" by Drs.
William J. Mathis and Jimerson.  The brief provides a review of
research and commentary on the practice of contracting out support
services, such as transportation, food, and custodial services, and
provides recommendations.  The policy brief is available at
http://www.epicpolicy.org/newsletter/2008/03/outsourcing-sometimes-saves-money.

-EPRU, EPIC, and the Great Lakes Center for Education Research and
Practice released on March 20, 2008 "School Choice:  Evidence and
Recommendations", edited by Gary Miron, Kevin G. Welner, Patricia H.
Hinchey, and Alex Molnar.  This series of ten policy briefs by top
scholars provides ".....a comprehensive overview of the best current
knowledge of these important policies." The series is available at
http://epicpolicy.org.

The following reports have recently been reviewed by the Think Tank
Review Project, and are available at http://thinktankreview.org:

-Friedman Foundation, "The ABCs of School Choice" (2007) and updated
in January 2008.  The Think Tank Review Project published an analysis
of the updated version of "The ABC's of School Choice" on March 13,
2008 by Professor Christopher Lubienski.  The review noted that it
was difficult to verify the accuracy of the report's claims because
key research reports were not included, and the results of some
research was misstated. To read this review please visit
http://epicpolicy.org/thinktank/review-abcs-school-choice.

-Lexington Institute, "How Sound an Investment? An Analysis of
Federal Prekindergarten Proposals," by Robert Holland and Don Soifer,
released on March 5, 2008.  The Think Tank Review Project published
an analysis of the report "How Sound an Investment? An Analysis of
Federal Prekindergarten Proposals" on March 24, 2008.  The analysis,
by W. Steven Barnett, director of the National Institute for Early
Education Research at Rutgers University, notes that several
important studies were not included in the report.   The authors also
ignored other relevant information and the problems associated with
the methodologies that were used in some of the studies. The analysis
is available at
http://epicpolicy.org/thinktank/federal-prekindergarten-proposals.

-Friedman Foundation, "Lost Opportunity: An Empirical Analysis of How
Vouchers Affected Florida Public Schools", by Greg Forster.  The
Think Tank Review Project released an analysis of the report "Lost
Opportunity: An Empirical Analysis of How Vouchers Affected Florida
Public Schools" on April 2, 2008.  The analysis, by Kevin Welner,
compares the conclusions reached by the Friedman report with one
released by the Urban Institute's CALDER center in November 2007.
Although both reports include some inaccuracies, the Urban
Institute's report draws more appropriate conclusions.  The lack of
available data on the effects of the Florida voucher program on
student achievement make it impossible to draw definitive
conclusions.  The original Friedman report is available at
http://www.friedmanfoundation.org/friedman/downloadFile.do?id=284.
The Think Tank Review Project analysis of this report is available at
http://www.epicpolicy.org/newsletter/2008/04/friedman-foundation-report-overstates-impact-florida's-a-accountability-system.

-Thomas B. Fordham Institute, "Fund the Child: Bringing Equity,
Autonomy and Portability to Ohio School Finance" March 12, 2008.  The
Think Tank Review Project released on April 7, 2008 an analysis of
the report, "Fund the Child: Bringing Equity, Autonomy and
Portability to Ohio School Finance" by the Thomas B. Fordham
Institute, Public Impact (a North Carolina consulting firm), and the
University of Dayton's School of Education and Allied Professions.
The analysis was conducted by Bruce Baker at the University of
Kansas.  According to the analysis, the Fordham report recommends
that Ohio implement a "weighted student funding system" in which
funds would follow students to schools rather than to school
districts.  This idea is part of a national campaign to promote the
benefits of a decentralize school funding system, open enrollment,
and school choice.  The analysis praises the study for its careful
language and measured conclusions, but notes that the study neglects
empirical research on the inequities that are present in weighted
systems regrading cost variation across school buildings.  The
analysis is available at
http://www.epicpolicy.org/newsletter/2008/04/review-finds-both-strengths-and-weaknesses-weighted-student-funding-report.

7)  School Funding Statistics Released:  The National Center for
Education Statistics released a report on April 15, 2008 called
"Revenues and Expenditures for Public Elementary and Secondary
Education: School Year 2005-06 (Fiscal Year 2006)".  This publication
contains basic revenue and expenditure data, by state, for public
elementary and secondary education for school year 2005-06, and also
includes data on regular, special and vocational education; charter
schools; and state-run education programs.  The report is available
at http://nces.ed.gov/