From:  Joan Platz
Education Update for April 30, 2007

1)  127th Ohio General Assembly:  Members of the Ohio House will vote
this week on Am. Sub. HB 119 (Dolan), the House version of the $52.1
billion FY08-09 budget for the state.  The House Finance and
Appropriations Committee, chaired by Representative Dolan, accepted a
substitute bill on Friday, and heard testimony and accepted
additional amendments over the weekend.  The substitute bill was
reported favorably out of committee over the weekend with several
amendments.

The Senate will pick up action on the budget bill this week when
hearings start on Am. Sub. HB 119 on Tuesday, May 1, 2007.  The
deadline for the FY08-09 budget to be approved by the Ohio General
Assembly is June 30, 2007.

*Representative Ken Carano from the 59th Ohio House District resigned
from the Ohio General Assembly to accept the position of Regional
Director for the Office of the Governor for Mahoning Valley.  Last
week the House Democratic Caucus selected former State Representative
Ron Gerberry to complete Representative Carano's term.
Representative Gerberry served in the Ohio General Assembly from 1982
to 2000, and chaired the House Education Committee.

2)  More Details on Am. Sub. HB 119 (Dolan):  According to the
documents released by the Legislative Service Commission, Sub. HB 119
(Dolan) provides $52.1 billion for FY08-09, which is $785 million
less than the proposed Executive Budget request submitted by Governor
Strickland in March 2007.  (Amendments added to the bill on Saturday
have now changed the amount, but the full details are not yet
available.)

The proposed budget (Am. Sub. HB 119) makes many changes in Governor
Strickland's budget request in the areas of higher education, health
care, Department of Development, etc. The substitute bill eliminates
the moratorium on new charter schools, restores the Educational
Choice Scholarship Program, and creates a new voucher program for
students in special education programs.

Am. Sub. HB 119 also retains many provisions from the Executive
Budget request.  The substitute bill accepted by the House Finance
Committee retains the major components of the school funding formula
for primary and secondary education; funding for early childhood
education; changes in the property tax exemption for the elderly and
disabled persons; the provision to securitize $5 billion in future
tobacco settlement funds; the State Children's Health Insurance
Program (S-CHIP), and more.

The substitute bill proposes an education budget (all funds) of $10.9
billion in FY08 and $11.5 billion in FY09, which is slightly higher
than the Executive Budget request.  General Revenue Fund dollars will
provide $7.735 billion in FY08 and $8.07 billion in FY09.  (These
numbers are from LSC document - Budget in Detail dated April 27,
2007.)

Per pupil state funding will increase by three percent each year to
$5,565 in FY08 and $5,732 in FY09, which is the same as the Executive
Budget request.   In addition, each district will receive "building
block" funds per pupil for intervention, professional development,
data-based decision making, and professional development, etc.

The following are highlights of several education related items in
Am. Sub. HB 119 (Dolan) that are NEW or have CHANGED in the
substitute bill accepted by the House Finance Committee in comparison
to the Executive Budget request.  Items that were not changed between
the Executive Budget and the substitute version are not included at
this time, but will be summarized after the Ohio House approves Am.
Sub. HB 119 (Dolan).  The information to prepare this list was
obtained from the Legislative Service Commission's Budget Comparison
Document, which is available at http://www.lsc.state.oh.us/.  PLEASE
NOTE:  The Ohio House will be voting on this bill on Tuesday, and the
items listed below and the budget totals may change.

NEW AND CHANGED ITEMS IN AM. SUB. HB 119 (DOLAN) COMPARED TO THE
EXECUTIVE BUDGET REQUEST

BASIC AID/FOUNDATION FORMULA
*E-Schools
-CHANGE. Reinstates the 20:1 pupil teacher ration for e-schools
rather than the 100:1 in the Executive Budget.
-CHANGE. Restores the same per pupil amount in the school funding
formula for e-schools as school districts and community schools.

ACADEMIC STANDARDS
*Physical Education Standards
-CHANGE.  Removes the provision in the Executive Budget that required
the State Board of Education to adopt the most recent standards for
physical education in grades K-12 developed by the National
Association for Sports and Physical Education.

COMMUNITY SCHOOLS/VOUCHERS
*Special Education Voucher Program
-NEW.  Creates the Special Education Scholarship Pilot Program to
provide scholarships for children with Individual Education Plans in
grades K-12 to attend alternative public or private special education
programs in fiscal years 2008 through 2013.

*Educational Choice Scholarship
-CHANGE.  Removes language that repealed the Educational Choice
Scholarship Pilot Program R.C. 3310.01, 3310.02 through 3310.14,
3310.17.  This program provides a voucher of up to $5,200 for
eligible students in grades 1-12 and up to $2,700 for students in
Kindergarten to attend eligible private schools.

*Community School Facilities
-CHANGE.  Removes the provision that repealed the process for
community schools to purchase school district property.   Revises
current law to require that a school district offer property suitable
for classroom space for sale to start-up community schools in the
district if the district (a) has not used at least 75 percent of a
building for "academic instruction" for at least 75 percent of a
school year, and (b) has not adopted a plan to use at least 75
percent of it for academic instruction for at least 75 percent of the
next year (rather than a plan to use the whole building within the
next three years as under current law).  This will eliminate an
option to use the building for other "educational purposes,"
including administration or storage.

*Community School Operators
-CHANGE.  Removes the provision in the Executive Budget that required
operators of community schools to be nonprofit entities, and a
provision that required community schools to select operators through
a competitive bidding process established by ODE. 151 community
schools currently have contracts with operators, and 68 community
schools contract with for-profit operators. There are a total of six
for-profit and seven nonprofit operators of community schools in Ohio.

*Community School Moratorium
-CHANGE.  Removes the moratorium to open new community schools in the
Executive Budget on "brick and mortar" community schools.  Permits
the opening of new schools after June 30, 2007, but only if they
contract with an operator that has schools in Ohio or other states
that perform at a level higher than academic watch.  The current
moratorium on e-school remains.

*Community School Minimum Enrollment
-CHANGE.  Eliminates the provision in the Executive Budget that
increased the minimum enrollment for community schools from 25
students to 100 students, and the requirement for the ODE to develop
criteria to grant waivers.  Currently there are 114 community schools
with a total average daily membership (ADM) of less than 100.  For
these schools formula ADM totals 6,608 and total state aid is $58.7
million.  The State Board of Education has recommended an increase in
the minimum enrollment of community schools.

*Community School Minimum School Year
-CHANGE.  Eliminates the provision that required community schools to
provide students with 180 days, instead of 920 hours, of learning
opportunities each school year.  Currently in statute and
administrative code school districts are required to provide 182 days
of instruction:  five days per week; five hours for grades 1-6 and
5.5 hours for grades 7-12.  Five hours are required in law for grades
7-12, but the State Board of Education has set 5.5 hours in rule for
grades 7-12 for school districts. Community schools are required to
operate 920 hours.

*Community School Attendance
-CHANGE. Eliminates the provision in the Executive Budget that
required a community school to withdraw a student who fails to
participate in 21 consecutive days of learning opportunities without
excuse, and, unless the school primarily serves dropouts, prohibits
the community school from re-enrolling the student for the duration
of the school year. Current law states that the student must miss 105
consecutive hours of instruction in order to be withdrawn.

*Compliance with State Education Laws and Rules
-CHANGE.  Eliminates the provision in the Executive Budget that
required community schools to comply with all state laws and rules
pertaining to other public schools, school districts, and boards of
education, such as providing a curriculum that includes the arts,
foreign languages, family and consumer science, etc.; assigning
qualified staff; minimum standards covering instructional materials,
equipment, and facilities (such as library facilities and school
grounds); requirements for admission and promotion of students;
instructional requirements (such as phonics and energy and resource
conservation); reporting requirements, and other laws and rules from
which community schools are currently exempt.  The cost of operation
for many community schools may have increased if they were held to
the same operating standards as public schools.

*Community School Payments
-CHANGE. Restores parity aid and poverty-based assistance for dropout
prevention and community outreach to "brick and mortar" community
schools. Under continuing law, e-schools do not receive parity aid or
any poverty-based assistance.

*Community School Enrollment Disputes
-NEW.  Prohibits the ODE from withholding payment to a community
school when a district presents a challenge concerning a student's
enrollment until after the district proves that the student should
not be included in the community school's enrollment.

*Community School Student Enrollment in Career-Technical Program
-NEW.  Permits a community school student to enroll in the
career-technical program of the student's resident district. Permits
both the district and the community school to receive state funds for
the student for the proportion of the time the student attends each
school.

*E-school Teachers
-CHANGE.  Eliminates the requirement in the Executive Budget that
each e-school employ (rather than retain an affiliation with, as
under current law) at least one full-time teacher of record for up to
125 students.  Currently e-school teachers may be affiliated with
more than one school, and so they could be responsible for up to 125
students in each of those schools.

*Unauditable Community Schools
-NEW. Requires the Auditor of State to provide written notification
of a finding that a community school is unauditable to the school,
its sponsor, and ODE, and to post the notification on the Auditor's
web site.
-NEW:  Prohibits the sponsor of an unauditable community school from
entering into contracts with additional community schools until the
Auditor completes a financial audit of the school.
-NEW:  Requires the sponsor of an unauditable community school to
respond to the Auditor with a description of the actions it will take
as a result of the finding that the school is unauditable.
-NEW:  Requires ODE to cease all state payments to a community school
that fails to make progress in bringing its records into auditable
condition within 90 days after being declared unauditable.
-NEW:  Requires ODE to release the withheld funds when the Auditor is
able to complete an audit of the school.

EARLY CHILDHOOD EDUCATION
The Executive Budget allocates approximately $29.0 million in FY08
and $31.5 million in FY09 for the Early Childhood Education Program
(Section 269.10.20 of HB119).  Of this amount $10.4 million in FY08
and $12.9 million in FY09 are for new providers.  The House version
adds another $2.4 million in FY08 and $2.7 million in FY09 through an
earmark of GRF appropriation item 200-550, Foundation Funding.

*Staff Qualifications for Early Childhood Education Programs
-CHANGE:  Eliminates the provision in the Executive Budget that
postponed from FY08 until FY10 and set new dates to implement the
requirement that staff for state-funded early childhood education
programs established prior to July 1, 2006, have at least an
associate degree and teachers have bachelor's degrees.

ACCOUNTABILITY
*School District and Building Performance Ratings
-CHANGE:  Limits the highest performance rating a school district or
building may receive based on the percentage of its students who do
not take all required achievement tests according to the following:
(1) to continuous improvement if 10 percent to 15 percent of the
students are not tested, (2) to academic watch if more than 15
percent but not more than 20 percent of the students are not tested,
and (3) to academic emergency if more than 20 percent of the students
are not tested.
-NEW:  Exempts from R.C. 3302.03 (the provision above) community
schools in which a majority of the students are enrolled in a dropout
prevention and recovery program.

SCHOOL IMPROVEMENT
-CHANGE:  Removes the earmark of $601,165 in each fiscal year to
support educational media centers to provide Ohio public schools with
instructional resources and services.
-CHANGE:  Reduces to $236,250 in each year the earmark Project GRAD.
-CHANGE:  Increases the earmark to $75,000 in FY08 and FY09 to
Southern State Community College for the Pilot Post-Secondary
Enrollment Options Program with Miami Trace High School.

*Literacy Improvement-Professional Development
-CHANGE:  Reduces earmark to $9,690,000 in each fiscal year for
educator training in literacy for classroom teachers, administrators,
and literacy specialists.

STATE BOARD OF EDUCATION
-CHANGE:  Removes an earmark of up to $25,000 in each fiscal year of
GRF appropriation item 200-320, Maintenance and Equipment, for State
Board of Education out-of-state travel.

TEACHER  PREPARATION AND TRAINING
*Teacher on Loan Programs
-CHANGE.  Removes the earmark of $747,912 in each fiscal year to
provide funds to school districts that have teachers participating in
the teacher-on-loan program.
*Entry Year
-CHANGE:  Increases from $8,715,817 in each fiscal year to $9,515,817
for entry year programs for beginning teachers in school districts
and chartered nonpublic schools, and permits the earmark to be used
for entry year programs for principals as well as teachers.
*Alternative Education Programs
-CHANGE:  Removes the earmark of $100,000 in each fiscal year to be
used for Youth Opportunities United, Inc.
-CHANGE.  Removes the earmark of $250,000 in each fiscal year to
support Amer-I-Can.
-NEW.  Earmarks $100,000 in each fiscal year for the Cincinnati Arts
and Technology Center to increase program support for high-risk teens
and unemployed urban adults.
-NEW.  Earmarks $2,000,000 in FY08 to support Improved Solutions for
Urban Students (ISUS) in Dayton/Sinclair Youth Initiative.
*Educator Preparation
-CHANGE.  Removes the earmark $100,000 in each fiscal year for the
Teacher Quality Partnership project.
*Improving Teacher Quality
-NEW.  Requires ODE to provide $600,000 in each fiscal year from FED
Fund 3Y6 appropriation item 200-635, Improving Teach Quality, to the
Columbiana County Educational Service Center for the Ohio Wyami
Appalachian Teacher Cohorts Program.

OHIO CORE
-CHANGE.  Makes chartered nonpublic schools eligible for funding as
well as school districts for earmarks up to $3,600,000 in each fiscal
year to be distributed to school districts to be used to obtain
contracted instruction with institutions of higher education in
advance mathematics, laboratory-based science, or foreign language
for public high school students that results in dual high school and
college credit.
-CHANGE.  Eliminates an earmark of up to $2,000,000 in FY08 for
National Aeronautics and Space Administration resource centers.
-CHANGE.  Reduces earmark of $6,425,000 in FY09 to be distributed to
public school districts for supplemental postsecondary enrollment
options participation.

SPECIAL EDUCATION ENHANCEMENTS
-CHANGE.  Earmarks up to $400,000 in each fiscal year to be used for
the Collaborative Language and Literacy Instruction Project.
-NEW. Earmarks $325,000 in each fiscal year for OCALI to contract
with the Delaware-Union ESC to provide autism transition services.
-NEW.  Earmarks $75,000 in each fiscal year for Leaf Lake/Geauga
Educational Assistance Funding.

MISCELLANEOUS
*School District Reductions in Force
-CHANGE.  Eliminates the provision in the Executive Budget that
removed the phrase "for financial reasons" from the list of statutory
reasons a school district or education service center (ESC) may make
reductions in force in its teaching staff.

*Transportation of Nonpublic School Students
-NEW.  Permits a school district, upon request, to transport a
student in grades K through 12 who does not reside in the district to
a nonpublic school the student attends, if (1) the student's resident
district is not required to transport the student because the travel
time is more than 30 minutes, and (2) the parent agrees to reimburse
the nonresident district for the costs that exceed the amount the
district receives from the state for transporting the student. If the
nonresident district declines the request, requires the district to
state in writing its reasons.

HIGHER EDUCATION
*Higher Education Compact
-CHANGE.  Removes language in the Executive Budget referring to the
Higher Education Compact.

*Choose Ohio First Scholarship
-NEW.  Specifies that it is the intent of the House of
Representatives to work with the Senate and the Governor to design
the criteria for the Choose Ohio First Scholarship funded under GRF
appropriation item, 235-569, Choose Ohio First Scholarship.

*Eligibility for Student Choice Grants.
-CHANGE.  Removes the provision in the Executive Budget that narrows
the eligibility for student choice grants specified in section
3333.27 of the Revised Code by adding a requirement that a student
must also qualify for a needs-based Ohio College Opportunity Grant.
-CHANGE.  Requires that GRF appropriation item 235-531, Student
Choice Grants, be awarded only to students who have family incomes of
$95,000 or less.
-CHANGE.   Increases the student choice grant appropriations to $38.5
million in each year.

*Co-located Technical Colleges
-NEW. Allows technical colleges that are co-located with other state
institutions of higher education to offer baccalaureate oriented
programs intended to enable students to receive associate degrees or
transfer to colleges and universities for the pursuit of
baccalaureate degrees.

*Distribution of Challenge Funds
-NEW.  Requires Board of Regents (BOR) to study the effectiveness and
appropriateness the Jobs Challenge, Access Challenge, Success
Challenge, and Economic Growth Challenge programs. The study is to
focus on the student-based funding, the current workforce development
needs, and incentives for student success in the context of a
knowledge-based economy. Requires the BOR to recommend a distribution
of the funds provided for FY09 and seek Controlling Board's approval
for the recommended distribution by May 1, 2008.

*STEM Initiatives
-NEW.  Requires that GRF appropriation item 235-437, STEM
Initiatives, be used for STEM academies.

*State Share of Instruction (SSI) for FY08 and 09 increases two
percent in FY08 and ten percent in FY09.
-NEW.   Limits the increase in instate undergraduate fees (including
instructional, general and all other fees) to no more than 3 percent
in FY08 and prohibits any increase in instate undergraduate fees in
FY09.
-NEW.  Guarantees each institution in FY08 and FY09 to receive the
same amount of SSI funding as received in the prior year,
notwithstanding the SSI distribution formulas outlined in Section
275.30.20.
-NEW.  Specifies that in each fiscal year, each institution also
receive its proportional share of total SSI appropriation increase
for that year (2.0 percent for FY 08 and 10.0 percent for FY09) if
the institution meets savings requirements of 1 percent for FY08 and
3 percent for FY09.
-NEW.  Requires BOR, in consultation with the Department of
Development, to commission a study on the needs of the business
community relative to higher education in Ohio, including necessary
skills and talents required by the business community. The study is
to be completed by December 31, 2007.
-NEW.  Requires BOR, in consultation with state-supported
institutions of higher education, to develop a plan that addresses
five specific areas of higher education: access, success,
affordability, research and development support, and higher education
awareness. The plan, which is to be completed by December 31, 2007,
is to include outcome measures and progress indicators for each area.
-NEW.  Institutions are required to commit to increasing
interinstitutional collaborations and partnerships with the goal of
increasing savings.
-NEW.  Requires BOR, in consultation with state-supported
institutions of higher education, to study the feasibility of
establishing and implementing a tuition flexibility plan. The study
is to be completed by December 31, 2007.

*Community Project Transfer
-CHANGE.   Removes language from the Executive Budget that would have
transferred two community project appropriation items from Cleveland
State University to Cuyahoga Community College: CAP-166, Playhouse
Square Center-Hanna Theatre, in the amount of $750,000, and CAP-169,
Cleveland Museum of Art, in the amount of $3,000,000.

3)  This Week at the Statehouse

TUESDAY, MAY 1, 2007
*The Senate Finance and Financial Institutions Committee, chaired by
Senator Carey (614-466-8156), will meet at 2:30 PM or after session
in the Senate Finance Hearing Rm.  OBM Director Pari Sabety and LSC
Director Jim Burley will present an overview of HB119 (Dolan) the
FY08-09 operating budget.

*The Senate Education Committee, chaired by Senator Padgett
(614-466-8076) will meet on Tuesday, May 1, 2007 at 4:00 PM in the
North Hearing Room.  The Committee will continue to hear testimony on
HB2 (Webster) --Higher Education Restructuring and SB143 -- (Padgett)
Speech Language Pathology Interns.  The committee will also hear
sponsor testimony on two other bills, SB151 Textbook Prices
(Roberts), regarding textbook pricing at state institutions of higher
education, and SB141 Community School Sponsors (Padgett), which makes
changes in the law regarding the approval of community school
sponsors.

WEDNESDAY, MAY 2, 2007
*The Senate Finance and Financial Institutions Committee, chaired by
Senator Carey (614-466-8156), will meet at 9:30 AM in the Senate
Finance Hearing Rm.   The committee will hear invited testimony from
several state agencies on Am. Sub. HB 119 (Dolan).


*The House Infrastructure, Homeland Security, and Veterans Affairs
Committee, chaired by Representative Reinhard (614-644-6265) will
meet at 2:30 PM in room 114.  The committee will hear testimony on
HB142 School Threats (Bacon), which requires the Highway Patrol to
provide emergency assistance to school confronted with a bomb threat.

*The Senate Finance and Financial Institutions Committee, chaired by
Senator Carey (614-466-8156), will meet at 2:30 AM in the Senate
Finance Hearing Rm.   The committee will hear invited testimony from
several state agencies on Am. Sub. HB 119 (Dolan).

THURSDAY, MAY 3, 2007
*The House Financial Institutions, Real Estate and Securities
Committee, chaired by Representative Widener (614-466-1470) will meet
at 11:00 AM in room 116.  The committee will hear sponsor testimony
on HB152 Alternative Retirement Plans (Widener), which would
establish alternative retirement plans for teachers and school
employees.

*The House State Government and Elections Committee, chaired by
Representative Daniels (614-466-3506) will meet at 11:00 AM in room
122.  The committee will hear testimony on HB26 Urban Homestead Zones
(Wolpert), which would permit the creation of urban homestead zones,
and provide vouchers to families living in these zones to attend
private schools.

4)  Update on Federal Initiatives:
*A coalition of more than thirty national education organizations
have joined together to urge Congress to fully fund IDEIA in FY08.
Senators Tom Harkin and Chuck Hagel have introduced legislation, the
IDEIA Full Funding Act S.1159, to make increased funding for IDEIA
mandatory, to reach 40 percent of the national average per pupil
expenditure for students in special education programs by 2015.  To
read more visit
http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/bdquery/z?d110:s.01159:>S. 1159.

A similar bill was introduced last month called Everyone Deserves
Unconditional Access to Education (EDUCATE) Act (H.R. 821), which was
introduced by Representatives Chris Van Hollen, Michael A. Ferguson,
and Darlene Hooley.

*The U.S. House Education and Labor Committee, has been holding
hearings on the effectiveness of supplemental education services
(SES) and the Reading First program.  Lawmakers are looking at the
effectiveness of programs, which are part of the No Child Left Behind
Act.

5)  Bills Introduced the Week of April 23, 2007

*HB175 School Calamity Days (Fessler) Permits school districts to
make up excess calamity days by adding hours to remaining days in the
school year and to declare an emergency.
*HB180 Speech Language Pathology Interns (Setzer)  Establishes a
limited student permit category for speech language pathology interns
and declares an emergency.
*HB181 School Records-Missing Children (Setzer) Requires public and
nonpublic schools to mark the records of students identified as
missing children and notify law enforcement of requests for those
records.
*HB 190 Achievement Tests (Hite) Specifies administration dates for
the elementary achievement tests.
*SB151 Textbook Pricing (Roberts) Regarding textbook pricing at state
institutions of higher education.


6)  Art Helps Students Take Control:  An article in the Columbus
Dispatch on April 27, 2007 by Simone Sebastian entitled "Students
learn to better channel anger with art, Coloring can help let 'my
feelings out'" describes how Principal Jan Fedorenko at Hanby
Elementary School in Westerville, Ohio helps students learn to
express themselves through making art.  Hanby Elementary School's
focus on the arts provides an opportunity to develop instructional
methods and behavioral strategies that capitalize on arts educations'
unique capacity to help students in many ways.  At Hanby children who
are sent to the office for discipline learn how to express their
feelings through art, and learn better strategies for self control
through art.  The process is working, because according to the
article, the number of students sent to the office and suspended has
decreased.  Art making is changing behavior.  For more about the
article, please visit
http://www.dispatch.com/dispatch/content/local_news/stories/2007/04/27/students27.html