Education Update 6-4-07

ORTA established 1947	<<<<home page <<<<education page
Education Update 6-4-07
1) 127th General Assembly: The Ohio House and Senate will hold sessions this week. The Senate Finance and Financial Institutions Committee, chaired by Senator Carey, is expected to consider on June 5, 2007 a substitute bill that includes the Senate Finance Committee's amendments for Am. Sub. HB 119 (Dolan), the FY08-09 state budget proposal. The Senate Finance and Financial Institutions Committee will continue hearings on Am. Sub. HB 119 this week, and accept additional amendments by June 8, 2007. The committee may vote on the proposed budget bill on June 12, 2007, which will be followed by a vote of the full Senate next week. The Senate and House versions of HB 119 will then need to be reconciled before the state's spending plan for FY08-09 goes to Governor Strickland for his signature. Three education organizations will hold a press conference on June 6, 2007 at 9:00 AM (location TBA) to outline their recommendations for education spending in Am. Sub. HB 119. The three organizations include the Ohio Association of School Business Officials, the Ohio School Boards Association, and the Buckeye Association of School Administrators. The public is welcome to attend. For more information please visit http://www.oasbo-ohio.org/ 2) Hearings this Week at the Statehouse: TUESDAY, JUNE 5, 2007 The Senate Finance and Financial Institutions Committee, chaired by Senator Carey (614-466-8156), will meet at 1:30 PM in the Senate Finance Hearing room. A substitute bill is expected to be introduced for Am. Sub. HB 119 (Dolan) FY08-09 Budget. The House Education Committee, chaired by Representative Setzer (614-644-8051) will meet at 4:00 PM in room 116. The committee will hear testimony on HB 155 (Setzer), which establishes a Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics School System. WEDNESDAY, JUNE 6, 2007 Press Conference (location TBA) 9:00 AM sponsored by education organizations. The Senate Finance and Financial Institutions Committee, chaired by Senator Carey (614-466-8156), will meet at 9:30 AM and after session in the afternoon. The committee will hear testimony on education topics on Am. Sub. HB 119 (Dolan) in the morning. THURSDAY, JUNE 7, 2007 The Senate Finance and Financial Institutions Committee, chaired by Senator Carey (614-466-8156), will meet at 9:30 AM and at 1:30 PM or after session in the Senate Finance Hearing Room. The committee will hear public testimony on Am. Sub. HB 119 (Dolan), the FY08-09 State Budget. FRIDAY, JUNE 8, 2007 The Senate Finance and Financial Institutions, chaired by Senator Carey (614-466-8156), will meet at 9:30 AM and 1:30 PM in the Senate Finance Hearing Room. The committee will hear public testimony in the morning on Am. Sub. HB 119 (Dolan), the FY08-09 State Budget. Amendments are due to the chairman's office. 3) Education Advocates Testify on the Biennial Budget Bill: The Senate Finance and Financial Institutions Committee, chaired by Senator Carey, held hearings last week on Am. Sub. HB 119 (Dolan), and accepted testimony on May 29th and 30th from several individuals representing education organizations, proponents of the proposed special education and educational choice voucher programs and charter schools, representatives from school districts, and representatives from gifted education, special education, career technical education, Educational Service Centers, school psychologists, and early childhood education programs. The following is a summary of some of the testimony presented: Statewide Education Organizations Barb Shaner from the Ohio Association of School Business Officials, presented testimony along with Melissa Clark (Ohio Education Association), Tom Ash (Buckeye Association of School Administrators), and Jennifer Economus (Ohio School Boards Association). The group testified in support of many of the school funding provisions included in Am. Sub. HB 119 for early childhood education, improvements in programs like Poverty Based Assistance, the removal of the second ADM count, and implementation language regarding the School Employees Health Care Board. However, education organizations also recognize the current constraints on the state revenue growth, and the fact that, "...the current school funding formula is not working" when so many school districts are receiving the same amount of state funds that they have received the previous year through a guarantee. The education organizations urged lawmakers to use this budget to "...begin the transition to a better system." The following recommendations were made: -Restore the current formula (126 -HB 66) to allocate parity aid. This will mean that 122 districts will continue to receive funding. -Implement a "cost adjustment" factor, recently proposed by the Education Tax Policy Institute, to replace the former Cost of Doing Business Factor. This new factor considers wages, housing costs, remoteness of the school district, and concentrations of poverty to account for differences is costs among school districts. -Restore the targeted guarantees. -Address the issue regarding the phase-out of the replacement of lost revenue due to the elimination of the Tangible Personal Property Tax (TPP). -Implement weighted funding for students with Limited English Proficiency. -Provide 100 percent funding for special education weights. -Increase funding for Educational Service Centers, which have not received an increase for over 10 years. -Provide adequate funding for the Regional School Improvement Teams. -Improve accountability for charter schools by restoring the provisions included in the executive budget, including the moratorium on charter schools and those measures to increase accountability of charter schools. In 2005-2006 school year, for example, twenty of the thirty charter schools rated excellent received their rating based on one report card standard.... attendance. -Eliminate the EdChoice Voucher Program. -Remove the House provision for the Special Education Voucher Program. -Eliminate language requiring the resident school district to develop and enforce provisions of an Individualized Education Plan without any requirement that the private provider keep, retain, or provide districts with appropriate records so that the districts can review the IEP. -Use the current system of tradition public schools to implement STEM proposal rather than create another separate and unequal education system. -Support investments in professional development such as the National Board Certification Program, the Entry Year Program, and other training programs. -Support the principles of the School Employees Health Care Board with changes that are currently being discussed with Representative Widener. Education Tax Policy Institute (ETPI) Dr. Howard Fleeter from the Education Tax Policy Institute provided an overview of the proposed cost adjustment factor (CAF) developed by the ETPI to replace the cost of doing business factor (CODB), which had been included in previous school funding formulas to account for the differences in costs among school districts to provide educational programs and services. According to testimony, the CODB factor was highly criticized for its one-dimensional reliance solely on regional wage rates. The proposed CAF relies upon four components to adjust state aid to reflect cost differences among school districts. These include Labor Market - regional wage data used in current CODB factor; concentration of poverty - percentage of students whose families are enrolled in the Ohio Works First program; housing costs - residential property value per capita; and remoteness - county population factor. Each of the components is weighted equally to determine the Cost Adjustment Factor for each school district. Ohio Eight Coalition Dr. Eugene Sanders, CEO and superintendent of the Cleveland Municipal School District and co-chair of the Ohio 8 Coalition, testified on behalf of the 240,000 students who attend public schools in Akron, Canton, Cincinnati, Cleveland, Columbus, Dayton, Toledo, and Youngstown. Representatives of these school districts were also in the audience, and answered questions from committee members following the testimony. Dr. Sanders thanked lawmakers for their investments in urban education, especially support for improving school facilities, academic interventions, and professional development, which have led to increased student achievement. For example, since 2000-2001 the Ohio 8 districts have posted an average gain of 19.6 percentage points compared to 14.2 statewide on Ohio's Performance Index. Dr. Sanders requested that the Senate reinstate the provisions in the executive budget that eliminated the Ed Choice voucher program and retained the moratorium on charter schools, and eliminate the proposed Special Education Scholarship Program, which was included in the House version of HB119. These programs divert limited public resources away from public schools. According to the testimony, the cost of special education programs already exceeds state and federal support, and so local dollars must be used to provide needed services. "Siphoning off additional financial resources from the public schools will only make it more difficult for districts to support the learning needs of the great majority of special education students who will continue in the traditional public schools." The Ohio 8 Coalition requests that "All school systems that are supported by the Ohio taxpayer should be held to uniformly high standards of accountability and transparency that protect the rights of all children." High Growth School Districts Presenters: Superintendent Kevin Bright from the Mason City School District; Becky Jenkins, Treasurer Olentangy Local School District; Superintendent Mike Taylor from the Lakota Local School District; Erin Green, graduate from Lakota Local School District; and Cheryl Conaway-Nelson, a parent from Lakota Local School District. Representatives from several school districts reported that funding per pupil in their districts would be less than the previous year per pupil amount as a result of the loss of the per pupil guarantee in the proposed budget HB 119. Approximately 40 school districts in Ohio are considered "fast growing" with more than 50 pupils added to enrollment in a year. According to testimony these school districts are actually spending $364 less than the state average per pupil each year, but are not able to keep up with the increased cost for educating new students, and must pass additional levies. Representatives from these districts asked the Senate committee to restore the per pupil guarantee in the proposed budget bill, HB 119 (Dolan). For example, approximately 797 out of 18,000 students in the Lokota School District are without state funding, because of the loss of the per pupil guarantee. The total impact of this request would increase state spending by $8.7 million in FY08 and $13.4 million in FY09. Special Education Scholarship Program Several parents whose children attend Catholic and other private schools testified in support of the proposed Special Education Scholarship Program included in the House version of HB 119. These parents said that they would use these vouchers to provide their children with special education services through Catholic schools or other private schools. The proposed Special Education Scholarship Program would provide parents of children who have an established Individual Education Plan (IEP) developed by a school district with public funds to pay for special education services through public or private entities approved by the Ohio Department of Education. Proponents believe that the Special Education Scholarship Program will reduce litigation between parents and school districts over the services outlined in the IEP, even though the proposed Special Education Scholarship program requires that to be eligible for the program, the special education student must have an IEP that is not being contested. Ohio Educational Service Centers Association (OESCA) Craig Burford, executive director of the Ohio Educational Service Centers Association, testified on behalf of the 60 Educational Service Centers in Ohio, which support professional, operational, health, and social and behavioral services to more that 95 percent of schools districts in Ohio. Mr. Burford provided detailed testimony focused on the following areas: -Funding Stability. Current funding levels of $37 (single county) and $40.52 (multi county) per pupil will maintain a base foundation for ESC operations, but ESCs have been flat funded for years. It is recommended that the Senate tie ESC funding to a percentage of basic aid and allow ESC funding to grow in future years. -School Improvement. OESCA supports restoration of $12.9 million for school improvement, which was eliminated in the executive and House version of HB 119. (These funds were diverted to the new Achievement Gap funding supplement through Poverty Based Assistance.) -Area Instructional Media Centers. OESCA supports restoration of $601,165 to support 23 Area Instructional Media Centers which are located in ESCs. -Special Education. OESCA supports the provision in the House and executive versions of HB 119 that require the Ohio Department of Education to update each biennium the cost-based methodology that is used to determine the special education weights. -Ohio Core. OESCA supports Core funding levels in the House version of HB 119, and encourages delivery of these programs through regional advisory councils of the Educational Regional Service Delivery System. Ohio Federation of Teachers Sue Taylor, president of the Ohio Federation of Teachers, asked the members of the Senate Finance committee to consider the following as they developed the Senate version of HB 119: Community Schools - Create a timeline for conducting audits of community schools; Make all community school records related to public funds available for public inspection; Allow only sponsors with excellent community schools to replicate; Restore the moratorium for community schools; Require community schools to meet all standards applicable to traditional public schools, including teacher licensure standards. Vouchers - Eliminate all voucher programs and end the gaming of the Ed Choice voucher program by requiring students to attend public schools for at least a year before they are allowed to receive a voucher. Excellent School District Stipend - Remove the $6 million earmark for excellent schools and return funds to support Core professional development programs. School District Reduction in Force - Allow RIF to only apply to ESCs. Most school districts already have language in their contracts addressing this issue. STEM - Remove the $20 million earmark by the House that creates a separate education system and instead support STEM schools within the public school system. Ohio Fair Schools Campaign Debbie Phillips, executive director for the Ohio Fair Schools Campaign, thanked lawmakers for investing in Ohio's education system through support of school facilities, parity aid, and poverty based assistance, and acknowledged that with a tight fiscal climate, this budget serves as a "good first step toward resolving some of the problems in Ohio school funding." "However, the overall system is still not working." The following recommendations were made to address lingering concerns: -Restore the proposals in the executive budget to increase accountability for charter schools, including a moratorium on new charter schools and the elimination of the Ed Choice Voucher Program, and remove the proposed Special Education Scholarship program from the House version of HB 119. -Eliminate for-profit management companies of charter schools. -Eliminate parity aid for charter schools. -Prevent expansion of the Ed Choice voucher program in public schools that have shown improvement. -Eliminate eligibility for the Ed Choice voucher program in school districts in Continuous Improvement Status. -Require the ODE to make at least one on-site visit every year to schools accepting vouchers. -Require the ODE to conduct a two year evaluation of the impact of the voucher program on student achievement and administrative costs to public schools. Charter Schools and Vouchers Susan Zanner, executive director of School Choice Ohio, spoke in support of the Ed Choice program, and urged the Senate committee to continue this program, which provides students with an opportunity to leave failing schools and seize a chance for a better life. William Sims, executive director of the Ohio Alliance for Public Charter Schools, outlined many of the changes to improve accountability of charter schools that have been approved through recent legislation, HBs 66, 79, and 530, and requested that lawmakers give these new accountability requirements time to be implemented and take effect. Autism Scholarship Program Parents also testified in support of the Autism Scholarship Program. Doug Krinsky, of the Autism Society of Ohio, reported that parents need more options than provided by school districts, where children with disabilities are often bullied and at risk of failure. Ohio School Psychologists Association Ann Brennan, director of legislative services and professional relations for the Ohio School Psychologists Association (OSPA), said that OSPA supports the investments in early childhood, professional development, and special education included in the Executive and House versions of Am. Sub. HB 119, and appreciates the continued support for the school psychology intern program also included in the budget bill. In addition OSPA recommends that the state pay 100 percent of its share of special education weights and increase funds for Educational Service Centers, which deliver many special educational services to school districts. OSPA also has the following "....serious concerns regarding the inclusion of the special education voucher program" in HB 119: 1) Compliance with the federal Individuals with Disabilities Education Improvement Act (IDEIA) and Ohio Operating Standards for Students with Disabilities by all providers of special education services; 2) Assurance that the rights of all students with disabilities are protected through procedural safeguards for due process and other rights under state and federal law. Current language in HB 119 forces parents to give up due process rights if they accept the special education voucher. 3) Assurance that all special education programs comply with state and federal assessment requirements in the No Child Left Behind Act. "In an era of increased accountability for student performance and when our legislators are endorsing a more rigorous high school curriculum we cannot afford to risk leaving our students with disabilities behind."; 4) Assurance that school districts have sufficient and meaningful data in order to continue to be responsible for updating the IEPs of voucher students; 5) Assurance that public school funds are not diverted to support voucher type programs at the expense of those students with disabilities who remain in the public schools. Some school districts in Florida, for example, were forced to reduce services to students in special education programs after the state instituted a special education voucher program. There is also currently a statewide shortage in Ohio of intervention and other specialists who provide services for students with special needs. This situation will be exacerbated if the special education voucher program goes into effect, because it will diminish the capacity of school districts to serve students with disabilities. Gifted Education Ann Sheldon, executive director of the Ohio Association for Gifted Children (OAGC), asked the Senate committee to improve services for gifted children in Ohio. According to written testimony, state funding for gifted education has increased very little since 2002, and was actually reduced in 2005 and 2006. Because gifted services are not mandated by the state, some school districts have reduced or eliminated programs for gifted students as budgets have tightened. In 2003 37 percent of students identified as gifted were receiving support, and now in 2007 28 percent are receiving support. Over fifty school districts have recently returned gifted units to the state. Ohio will not be able to turn its economy around if it does not adequately educate its most talented and gifted students, and provide those students with opportunities and incentives to stay in Ohio to complete their education. The following recommendations were also made: -Base state funding for gifted units on the same minimum teacher salary schedule that districts are required to use, or increase gifted unit funding by three percent each year, as has been proposed for basic aid. -Add gifted children (in the categories of superior cognitive, math, and language arts) as a sub-group to the state's accountability system for schools so that school districts would have an incentive to provide needed services to gifted children. Currently there are school districts that are rated excellent, but do not provide adequate services to students who are gifted. -Modify the $6 million earmark for excellent school districts in the House version of HB 119 to ensure that districts rewarded also demonstrate excellent value added growth, or use the earmark to support Advanced Placement, International Baccalaureate and Post Secondary Enrollment Options programs. -Increase flexibility in awarding Carnegie unit credits by using alternative exams such as ACT, PSAT, or SAT to measure mastering of course material by students. -Develop a state residential accelerated math and science academy in conjunction with one of Ohio's postsecondary institutions. -Create a state wide online gifted school where courses developed at the state level could be delivered to any student. -Restore funds to support gifted research and demonstration projects to increase new types of learning opportunities for students in Ohio. Consider using some of the STEM funds for this purpose. Early Childhood Education Lori McClung, representing the groundWork Ohio Campaign, told Senate committee members that advocates for early learning appreciate the support for young children included in the executive and House versions of HB 119. She recommended, however, that the Senate committee appropriate $5 million for a pilot program that would develop a fiscal model to support sustainable early child care and education programs in rural, urban, and suburban settings, and add $5.82 million to fund treatment programs for young children identified with behavior problems. For information about the groundWork campaign please visit http://www.groundworkohio.org/ 4) KnowledgeWorks Survey Released: The KnowledgeWorks Foundation released on May 31, 2007 "Policy Report, Public Attitudes on K-12 School Funding in Ohio: The System is Broken and Needs to be Fixed." This report was prepared by Andrew Benson with research support from Julie Brinker, and examines the attitudes of registered voters on issues related to school funding and Governor Strickland's proposals for school funding included in the biennial budget proposal, HB 119 (Dolan) now before the Ohio Senate. The survey of 804 registered voters was conducted May 6-9, 2007 by Fallon Research & Communications, Inc., and has a margin of error of plus or minus 3.45 percent. The report and the survey results are available at http://www.kwfdn.org/resource_library/_resources/may2007_policy_report.asp The report includes the results of 31 survey questions and detailed background information pertaining to the questions. The results are organized under four statements that summarize the results of several questions. The four statements and some of the survey results are included below: The public believes the state system to fund K-12 public education is broken and needs to be fixed, and has handed this problem to state leaders as their highest priority as elected officials. -80 percent of respondents agreed that the school funding system has not been fixed. (48 percent of respondents agreed that "the school funding system has not been fixed" and an additional 32 percent agreed that the school funding system has not been fixed and more money is needed.) -31 percent indicated that the top priority of the governor and state legislature should be changing the school funding system. Public is not confident things are going in the right direction. -57 percent of respondents said that Ohio spends too little on public education; 22 percent said Ohio spends the right amount; and 11 percent said Ohio spends too much. -12 percent rated school districts excellent on spending tax money effectively and responsibly; 33 percent rated districts good with spending tax money; 31 percent rated districts fair; and 21 percent rated districts poor. -27 percent of respondents rated their school district's quality of education as excellent; 39 percent good; 18 percent fair; and 11 percent poor. -59 percent approved the work of Governor Strickland and 14 percent disapproved. Most school funding proposals by the Strickland administration get public support. -84.8 percent favored an expansion of the homestead exemption and an elimination of the income requirement for all senior taxpayers. -73.6 percent supported paying for school construction and improvements by using existing money from the state's tobacco settlement fund in order to save the interest costs that would have to be paid if the work was financed with bonds. -66 percent of respondents favored distributing public education dollars to school districts based on need. -40 percent of respondents supported the elimination of the Education Scholarship Program, while 56 percent oppose eliminating the program. The public may be willing to look at other alternatives to school funding problems, but voters will need to know more about them to make a decision. -46 percent of respondent reported that they have not heard anything and 39 percent reported hearing very little about the proposed constitutional amendment to fix school funding. -56 percent of respondents said that they opposed changing HB 920, which limits the amount of tax revenue that school districts can collect as a result of inflationary growth of property. Demographics: 75.5 percent of the respondents who completed the survey were 45 years old or older; 82.9 percent white; and 75.2 reported not having any children in public schools. 5) Thomas B. Fordham Institute Releases Survey Results: The Thomas B. Fordham Institute, Chester Finn president, released the results of a survey on May 24, 2007 called "Ohioan's Views of Education 2007." The survey of 1000 Ohio residents included questions on topics such as school quality, school funding, academic standards, school reforms, vouchers, and charter schools. Some of the questions were similar to those asked in a 2005 survey and the results are compared. The survey results are available at http://www.edexcellence.net/doc/052407_OhioSurveySummary.pdf The Thomas B. Fordham Institute is affiliated with the Thomas B. Fordham Foundation in Washington D.C. and believes that all children deserve a high quality K-12 education at a school of their choice. The Thomas B. Fordham Institute is a sponsor of several charter schools is Ohio, and receives state funds to sponsor charter schools. The survey results were summarized by the following statements included in the report: Lingering dissatisfaction with district public schools exists. * There is steady support for charter schools and school vouchers - and scant support for doing away with them. * There are stubbornly low levels of familiarity with charters, vouchers and even the No Child Left Behind law (NCLB). * Considerable openness exists for a host of reforms in school operations, staffing, management and accountability. * Few sizable differences are evident across demographic groups, with the exception of political party identification. * Attitudes from 2005 to 2007 are stable, with no dramatic shifts in trends. The following is a summary of some of the survey questions and results: -54 percent of respondents in 2007 and in 2005 agree with the statement that a high school diploma "Means that the typical student has at least learned the basics." -41 percent in 2007 and 37 percent in 2005 would prefer to send their children to public schools if money were not an issue. -46 percent of respondents agree that government funding for public schools should increase or increase greatly, while 41 percent agree the government funding should remain the same. -71 percent of respondents believe that more money for public schools will "get lost along the way." -82 percent of respondents in 2007 and 83 percent of respondents in 2005 support students passing the OGT in order to receive a diploma. -57 percent of respondents support a national test and standards while 38 percent support different tests and standards in different states. -37 percent of respondents in 2007 and 42 percent of respondents in 2005 report that they know much about the No Child Left Behind Act. -52 percent of respondents in 2007 strongly favor or somewhat favor charter schools; 38 percent of respondents strongly oppose or somewhat oppose charter schools. These results are similar to those in 2005. (51 percent vs. 34 percent respectively.) -68 percent of respondents would allow new charter schools to open if they were run by organizations with a proven track record; 15 percent would not allow new charter schools to open. -63 percent of respondents think that Ohio should close only the worst charter schools while eleven percent would close them all. -57 percent of respondents favor or strongly favor the Ed Choice voucher program in 2007; 37 percent oppose or strongly oppose the program. 55 percent favored the program and 37 percent opposed the program in 2005. -52 percent of respondents oppose Governor Strickland's proposal to remove the Education Choice Scholarship Program. -50 percent of respondents favor expansion of pre-school for Ohio's poorest children. 6) Bills Introduced the Week of May 28, 2007 HB 245 (Strahorn) Per pupil formula. Modifies the method of adjusting the per-pupil formula amount for school districts from year to year. HB 240 (Goodwin) Re-employment of retirees. Addresses the employment of retired members of the Public Employees Retirement System, School Employees Retirement System, State Teachers Retirement System, and Ohio Police and Fire Pension Fund.
Copyright © 2007 Ohio Retired Teachers Association. All rights reserved.