1)  128th General Assembly:  The Ohio House and Senate will hold hearings and sessions this week.

*The Ohio House approved amended HB462 (Sykes), Capital Re-appropriations, on March 16, 2010 by a vote of 77 to 18.  The $3.2 billion plan re-authorizes $2.528 billion for continuing capital projects; authorizes $670.5 million in new appropriations for the Public Works Commission and the Ohio School Facilities Commission; and "redirects" $4 million.

The bill includes re-appropriations for state agency and department capital projects; the School Facilities Commission, the Ohio School for the Blind, the Ohio School for the Deaf, and historical societies, museums, theatres, opera houses, sports stadiums, state and local parks, zoos, performing arts centers, etc. throughout Ohio.

The bill is now being considered by the Senate Finance and Financial Institutions Committee, chaired by Senator Carey.

For more information about the bill please read the testimony of J.

Pari Sabety, executive director of the Office of Management and Budget available at http://obm.ohio.gov/.

*In conjunction with Sunshine Week (March 15-19, 2010), Ohio Attorney General Richard Cordray and Auditor of State Mary Taylor released on March 17, 2010 the revised "Sunshine Laws Manual", which is a guide to the state's laws regarding open meetings and public records.

Additional information about open government laws is available through the attorney general's office, which provides free training sessions throughout the state, and publishes a newsletter with additional information about public records and the "right to privacy", public records exemptions, FAQs, and more.

For more information about these topics please visit

http://www.ohioattorneygeneral.gov/Briefing-Room/News-Releases/
March-201

0/Updated-Open-Government-Guide-Now-Available.

2)  National News:

*U.S. Senator Blanche Lincoln, chairman of the U.S. Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry, introduced the Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act of 2010 on March 17, 2010.

According to a press release, the bill provides $4.5 billion over ten years for child nutrition programs; increases the reimbursement rate for school food programs; increases the number of children eligible to receive food; improves the quality of the meals through stricter nutrition standards for all foods sold in schools; and encourages schools to start gardens and use locally grown food. Child nutrition programs include the National School Lunch Program; School Breakfast Program; Special Supplemental Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC); and the Child and Adult Care Food Program.

Senator Lincoln also announced on March 18, 2010 that an agreement had been reached between the food and beverage industry and education organizations regarding national school nutrition standards, which are also required as part of the Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act.

*Public Hearings/ESEA Re-authorization:  The U.S. House Appropriations Committee, Subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, and Related Services, chaired by Representative Dave Obey, heard testimony from several witnesses on March 17, 2010 regarding the Obama Administration's budget recommendations for education, and proposals to amend the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA). The following are brief summaries of the testimony presented:

-Gene Wilhoit, Executive Director, Council of Chief State School Officers (CCSSO), thanked Congress and the Obama Administration for stabilizing state and local education budgets through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA), and urged lawmakers to "provide additional funding for the coming school year to help maintain teaching and other key positions in the nation's public schools."

According to the testimony, state education agencies (SEAs) are providing a variety of services, guidance, and support to "turnaround" under-performing school districts. However, more federal support is needed for assessments, school improvement, Title 1, IDEA, state longitudinal data systems , technology, teacher incentives, Head Start, etc.

CCSSO supports the Administration's proposal to consolidate several ESEA programs, which will provide states with greater flexibility, but certain safeguards must also be considered.  For example, efforts must be made to ensure that small and rural states are not under-funded, and that sufficient federal funds are available to "build state capacity for promoting and sustaining reform."

-Daniel Domenech, Executive Director, American Association of School Administrators (AASA), also thanked Congress and the Obama administration for ARRA funding and for proposing additional funding for K-12 education in the FY11 federal budget. He requested additional ARRA funding and stricter provisions in law to ensure that federal funds are not used to supplant current state funds for educational programs.

The AASA identified several concerns with the proposed ESEA re-authorization and budget proposal, such as the shift to competitive grants; level funding for Title 1; inadequate support for IDEA; and making the Rural Education Achievement Programs competitive.

-Randi Weingarten, President, American Federation of Teachers (AFT), commended Congress and the Obama Administration for ARRA funds and the recommendations included in the President's FY11 budget to increase funding for child care assistance, Head Start, Pell Grants, and funds for wraparound supports for students.

However, AFT is concerned about the details of several budget recommendations, such as requirements for the School Improvement grants and the research that was used to identify and promote the "school turnaround" strategies.

AFT also has concerns about an increase in the number of grants that will be awarded through a competitive process, flat-funding for Title 1, and the conditions attached to receiving Title 1 funding, such as adopting the common standards and implementing certain teacher evaluation systems.

-Dennis Van Roekel, President, National Education Association (NEA), requested that Congress support several of the Obama Administration's budget recommendations, such as the overall increase in spending for the education; making colleges more affordable; and the investments in early childhood education.

He expressed a concern in his testimony about "...the proposed shift away from formula grants and toward competitive grants - a shift that will cause great instability among states already struggling with budget crises."

He also expressed a disappointment that the "funding levels proposed for core, foundational programs, such as Title I and IDEA, are "considerably less than what is necessary."

He called upon Congress to require states to develop "adequacy and equity" plans that would "...measure and address disparities in educational resources, opportunities, programs, and quality among communities and districts"; increase funding for IDEA; and create an "Education Jobs Fund", to "jumpstart economic recovery".

For more information about this hearing please visit http://appropriations.house.gov/Subcommittees/sub_lhhse.shtml.

3)  This Week at the Statehouse

*The Senate State and Local Government and Veterans Affairs Committee, chaired by Senator Hughes, will meet on March 23, 2010 at 10:00 AM in the South Hearing Room.  The committee will hear testimony on SB191 (Schuring) Campaign Finance and SB240 (Husted) Campaign Finance Statements.

*The Senate Finance and Financial Institutions Committee, chaired by Senator Carey, will meet on March 23, 2010 at 2:30 PM or after session in the Senate Finance Hearing Room. The committee will hear testimony on HB462 (Sykes) Capital Re-appropriations.

*The House Education Committee, chaired by Representative Williams, will meet on March 23, 2010 at 3:00 PM. The committee will hear sponsor testimony on a bill about the "WinWin Academy" and HB 407 (Zehringer), school calamity days.

*The Senate Education Committee, chaired by Senator Cates, will meet on March 23, 2010 at 4:00 PM in the North Hearing Room. The committee will hear testimony on SB192 (Cates) School Transportation.

*The Senate Energy and Public Utilities Committee, chaired by Senator Widener, will meet on March 24, 2010, time and location to be announced.  The committee will hear testimony on SB232 (Widener) Renewable Energy Facilities.  This bill would exempt from taxation renewable energy facilities that are not financed through the Ohio Air Quality Development Authority, and require a payment in lieu of taxes (PILOT) on the basis of each megawatt of production capacity in such facilities.

*The House Ways and Means Committee, chaired by Representative Letson, will meet on March 24, 2010 at 3:00 PM in hearing room 122.

The committee will hear testimony on HB419 (Derickson) Federal Pell Grant, which would authorize an income tax deduction for the otherwise taxable portion of a federal Pell grant used to pay room and board for a post-secondary student.

The committee will also hear testimony on HB464 (Winburn) Wind/Solar Energy Facilities, which would exempt qualifying wind and solar energy facilities from property taxation for up to twenty years, and require payments in lieu of taxes (PILOT) on the basis of each megawatt of production capacity of such facilities.

4)  School Funding Advisory Council to Meet:  The School Funding Advisory Council, Superintendent Delisle chair, will meet on March 25, 2010 from 12:00 noon to 4:00 PM at Northgate Center in Columbus,

6655 Sharon Woods Blvd. in Columbus.

The following subcommittees will meet from noon to 1:00 PM:

-Special Needs, chaired by Robin Essman:  Dan Fleck, ODE consultant on students with limited English proficiency, will present information about English-language learners.

-Education Linkages, chaired by Dr. Adrienne O'Neill: Christina Siracusa, ODE Assistant Director of Budget and Planning, will present information about funding for Career-Technical Education.

-Regional Variation, chaired by Dr. Richard Murray:  Craig Burford, Executive Director OESCA, will present information about the historical and statutory context of Ohio's Educational Service Centers.

-Learning Environments, chaired by Rick Petrick: Nancy Pistone, ODE consultant for visual arts and dance, will present information about arts educational programming in Ohio's schools.

The full Council will meet at 1:10 PM.  School funding expert, Dr.

Lawrence Picus, will present information about the development of the evidence-based model.

For more information about the School Funding Advisory Council, please visit http://education.ohio.gov/GD/Templates/Pages/SFAC/
ODESFAC.aspx?page=673.

5) Update on Credit Flexibility:  The ODE announced last week that it is posting on its website a series of documents and case studies to help school districts implement credit flexibility.  Credit flexibility enables students to earn units of high school credit based on a demonstration of subject-area competency, instead of, or in combination with, completing hours of classroom instruction.

Local boards of education are required through SB311, approved in 2006, to adopt policies for credit flexibility by the start of the

2010-2011 school year. The Ohio School Boards Association has developed a model credit flexibility policy for school districts to use to develop their own policies.

Examples of different ways that school districts are implementing credit flexibility are also available on the ODE website through case studies of five early adopters of credit flexibility.

For more information please visit

http://education.ohio.gov/GD/Templates/Pages/ODE/ODEDetail.aspx?page=3&T

opicRelationID=1864&ContentID=61432&Content=83127.

6) Brookings Report on Education:  The Brown Center of the Brookings Institute released on March 17, 2010 "The 2009 Brown Center Report on American Education:  How Well Are American Students Learning?" by Tom Loveless, Senior Fellow, Governance Studies.  The report includes an analysis of three studies (Parts I-III) conducted by the Brown Center using data (math only) from the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) released in October 2009.

Part I of the study examines NAEP data from 1971 to the present and also compares NAEP results with scores from other U.S. math achievement tests.  When the NAEP results were released in October

2009 there was a concern about the lack of growth in student performance that might indicate an undesirable trend.  Scores in forth grade were unchanged from 2007 - 2009, and eighth-grade scores had increased slightly.

The report presents the results in the context of the 19-year history of NAEP administrations, and suggests that they do not represent a trend, but might be explained by other factors, such as a change in the content assessed by the NAEP exams.

The study also examines the distribution of academic achievement between the nation's highest and lowest achieving students.  This gap has been closing in reading and math since 1998/1999.

Part II of the study compares the 1989 NAEP scores (eighth grade) of

1156 California schools with the same schools in 2009.  According to the report, the scores remained stable. "Of schools in the bottom quartile in 1989-the state's lowest performers-nearly two-thirds

(63.4 percent) scored in the bottom quartile again in 2009."

The study suggests that this finding might have implications for the Obama Administration's efforts to "turnaround" persistently low performing schools using specific "turnaround" strategies.

According to the report, "California certainly cannot be accused of inactivity in education reform from 1989 to 2009. Few states tried as many diverse, ambitious reforms that targeted every aspect of the school system-finance, governance, curriculum, instruction, and assessment. Not only have these efforts failed to elevate California from its low national ranking on key performance measures, but they have also had little effect on the relative ranking of schools within the state."

Part III of the study compares the NAEP test scores of two cohorts of conversion charter schools in California going back to 1986, before the schools had been converted to charter schools. The analysis shows that the test scores are similar before and after conversion. The report also identifies similar characteristics between conversion charter schools and traditional schools.

According to the report, "Compared with start-ups, conversions are more concentrated in urban areas, have larger student enrollments, and serve greater numbers of Hispanic and black students. Teachers at conversions are more experienced and more likely to hold teaching certificates, particularly in bilingual education. It is clear that future evaluations of charter schools must differentiate between start-ups and conversions because of the significant institutional differences between the two types of charters."

The Brown Center/Brookings report is available at http://www.brookings.edu/reports/2010/0317_education_loveless.
aspx

7) Bills Introduced:

SB240 (Husted) Campaign Finance Statements: Permits domestic corporations and labor organizations to make independent expenditures and electioneering communications in support of or in opposition to candidates for nomination or election, and requires a domestic corporation or labor organization that makes such expenditures to file related campaign statements.

HB464 (Winburn) Wind/Solar Energy Facilities: Exempts qualifying wind and solar energy facilities from property taxation for up to 20 years, and requires payments in lieu of taxes on the basis of each megawatt if production capacity of such facilities.