1) 128th General
Assembly: The House and Senate are not scheduled to hold sessions this week.
*Governor Strickland signed the following bills into law last week:
-SB210 (Coughlin) Nutrition Standards for Schools and Physical Fitness Pilot Project.
-SB162 (Buehrer) Telecommunications Regulations.
This law revises state policies regarding telecommunications services; repeals current law governing alternative regulation
of telephone companies; and rescinds related rules of the Public Utility Commission of Ohio.
-SB232 (Widener) Renewable Energy. This law
exempts from taxation renewable energy facilities that are not financed through the Ohio Air Quality Development Authority
and requires a payment in lieu of taxes on the basis of each megawatt of production capacity in such facilities.
-SB181 (Stewart) Mine Reclamation Liability
and budget corrections.
Before
signing Governor Strickland vetoed a provision that requires a super majority of the Controlling Board to approve funding
for rural and suburban workforce development pilot project. According to a press release, the governor
vetoed this provision because, "....this provision needlessly infringes upon executive decision-making. It
is unnecessary to require a supermajority vote of the Controlling Board for this particular program as this legislative body
makes thousands of decisions each year with a simple majority vote. Therefore, this veto is in the public
interest."
For more information:
http://governor.ohio.gov/Default.aspx?tabid=1694.
*The Budget Planning and Management Commission,
created through the
FY10-11 budget,
(Am. Sub. HB1), will meet for the first time on June 29, 2010 at 1:30 PM in the Senate Finance Hearing Room. The
Commission is charged with studying the state's finances and economy and making recommendations for a balanced FY12-13
budget. At this first meeting the Commission will hear a report on the state of Ohio's finances from the Legislative Service
Commission. The Budget Commission is also scheduled to meet July 7, 2010 in Statehouse Room 313. The Office of Budget and
Management and the National Conference of State Legislatures are scheduled to make presentations then.
*The Ohio Supreme Court affirmed on June 17, 2010 (4-2 majority
opinion) a decision by the 10th District Court of Appeals in the
case Spitznagel v. State Board of Education regarding school district territory transfers. The decision
affirms that the State Board of Education may consider as a "financial or educational detriment" the loss of tax
revenue that results from the transfer of territory from one school district to another. In this case the State Board of Education
opposed the transfer of territory from the Bedford City School District to the Cuyahoga Heights Local School District based
on the amount of the financial loss that the Bedford School District would sustain.
For more information:
http://www.supremecourt.ohio.gov/PIO/summaries
/2010/0617/090015.asp.
2) Meetings this Week
*The subcommittees of the School Funding Advisory Council, chaired by
Superintendent of Public Instruction Deborah Delisle, will meet on June 22, 2010 at the Ohio School Boards Association offices,
8050 North High Street, Columbus, OH. The following subcommittees will
meet:
10:00-12:00 - Traditional
Public/Community School Collaboration Subcommittee
(11:00-12:00 Transportation discussion with Regional Variation
members) 12:00-1:00 - Education Reform Tracking Subcommittee 12:00-3:00 - Special Needs
Subcommittee 1:00-3:00 - Education Linkages Subcommittee 1:00-3:30 - Regional Variation and Learning Environments
Subcommittees
*The Governor's Institute for Creativity
and Innovation in Education will meet on June 24, 2010 in the Performance Hall at the Ohio Union on the campus of Ohio State
University from 9:00AM to 5:00PM. The purpose of the meeting is to provide an update on the proposed ODE Center for Creativity
and Innovation; review the purpose, vision, and core values of the center; address concerns and questions; design and launch
an action plan for advancing creativity, innovation, and global and digital competence in our public school system; and establish
a workable strategy that assures the continued engagement of stakeholders in the shaping of personalized education and lifelong
learning opportunities for all Ohioans.
*The Education Efficiency
Initiative, announced by Governor Strickland and State Superintendent Deborah Delisle on May 27, 2010, will meet with statewide
organizations on June 23, 2010. The initiative is being led by the KnowledgeWorks Foundation, Chad Wick CEO, and will include
a comprehensive review of the state's K-12 education system. The purpose of the review is to identify efficiencies, new
learning technologies, and new kinds of collaborations that will help schools and school districts become more cost-effective
during these difficult economic times.
KnowledgeWorks will work with the Ohio Department of Education, legislators, education stakeholders, community and
business leaders, and foundations to gather a variety of opinions and recommendations.
The project is funded by KnowledgeWorks and other funders. A report
of the findings and recommendations is due December 2010.
3)
National Update on Education Issues:
*U.S. Secretary of
Education, Arne Duncan, addressed the 114th Annual National PTA Convention on June 11, 2010 in Memphis, TN. The speech highlighted
several of President Obama's education initiatives that align with PTA objectives, including the following:
-The importance of fathers and male mentors in the lives of children -A
well-rounded education that includes the arts, civics, history, etc.
-Developing better assessments
-Effective "ambitious" parent engagement, including parents as "Partners in learning,
advocates, and advisors who push for better schools, and decision-makers who choose the best educational options for their
children."
-Setting limits
on children's use of electronic media -- and using it more creatively to support student learning -Support for the Common
Core Standards -Include working with families in the professional development of teachers and school leaders -Include family
engagement as a measure of success in the evaluations of teachers and school leaders -Increase funding for resources to support
parent engagement -Align Parent Information and Resource Centers and PTA family engagement work with federal initiatives
According to Secretary Duncan, "I want to suggest to you today that it is time for the PTA to take the lead
again in preparing students to compete in the 21st century. President Obama has set an ambitious goal for the nation. He wants
America to again have the highest proportion of college graduates in the world by 2020. That goal is the North Star for all
of our education efforts. To reach it, the college degree attainment rate must rise from 40 percent to 60 percent. President
Obama and I are convinced we have to educate our way to a better economy."
For
more information:
http://www.ed.gov/news/speeches/beyond-bubble-tests-and-bake-sales-secretary-arne-duncans-remarks-114th-annual-nationa
*The National PTA is urging Congress to support the Family Engagement
in Education Act, HR 5211, sponsored by U.S. Representatives Carolyn McCarthy (D-NY) and Todd Russell Platts (R-PA).
The bill would strengthen parent engagement in the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA); codify National PTA's
standards on Family-School Partnerships; provide guidance and incentives to schools, districts, and states on how to use research-based
strategies to engage families; and strengthen and safeguard the federal parent engagement program, the Parental Information
and Resource Centers (PIRCs).
For
more information:
http://www.pta.org/4135.asp.
*Childhood Nutrition Legislation Introduced:
The Improving Nutrition for American's Children Act was introduced on June 10, 2010 by U.S.
Representatives George Miller (D-CA), Healthy Carolyn McCarthy
(D-NY), Todd Russell Platts (R-PA), and other lawmakers. The proposed law would increase access to nutritious meals; establish
nutrition standards for all foods sold in schools based on standards set by the Institute of Medicine (IOM); enhance the quality
of meals in school and child-care programs by providing an increase to the reimbursable meals rate; implement new school food
safety guidelines; encourage public-private partnerships aimed at connecting schools and feeding programs to local farms and
produce providers; and encourage community efforts to improve overall child nutrition and wellness.
For more information:
http://edlabor.house.gov/blog/2010/06/improving-nutrition-for-americ.shtml
*The U.S. Department of Education (DOE), Arne Duncan Secretary of
Education, announced on June 17, 2010 the launch of a "pilot"
one-stop website that will increase access to information and understanding about U.S. DOE grant
programs, and include summaries of applications, applicants, and partners. The website is available at http://data.ed.gov/.
*The U.S. Department of Education announced
on June 16, 2010 the Institute of Education Sciences' new Reading for Understanding Research Network and a $100 million
investment in reading research.
The
project brings together six teams of researchers to do the
following: increase understanding about the basic processes that contribute to
reading comprehension; develop and evaluate instructional approaches, curricula, technology, and professional development
for enhancing reading comprehension; and develop assessments designed to measure the developmental trajectories of reading
comprehension skills. The six teams include researchers from Educational Testing Service, The Ohio State University, Florida
State University, Strategic Education Research Partnership, the Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois, and the University
of Texas at Austin. For more information:
http://ies.ed.gov/ncer/projects/program.asp?ProgID=62.
4) Update from the ODE: The
June issue of the IDES of ODE, published by the Ohio Department of Education's Center for Curriculum and Assessment, includes
the following information:
*The ODE Javits Program provides free, online
professional development opportunities in gifted and talented education administered through eTech Ohio. The website features
audience-specific modules for classroom teachers, school counselors, school psychologists, administrators, and parents. Users
also will find strategies for differentiated instruction and information to help districts meet local, state, and federal
requirements for high-quality professional development.
For more information, please contact ODE's Office for Exceptional Children at gifted@ode.state.oh.us or (614) 466-2650.
*The Educational Service
Center of Central Ohio is partnering with Hilliard City Schools to present the Innovative Learning Environments
Conference: Learning and Leading 21st Century
Practices on August 2-5, 2010 from 8:00 AM to 4:00 PM at Hilliard Bradley High School in Hilliard Ohio. The
conference will highlight best practices and feature keynote presentations by nationally known speakers, and includes spotlight
sessions presented by local Ohio educators. The sessions will be organized on three tracks: Teaching/Learning, Leadership,
or Technology Integration. Participants may choose to attend all four days of the conference or select a two-day option.
For more information:
http://www.escofcentralohio.org/Pages/Default.aspx
*The Local Report Card is scheduled for public release the last full
week of August, pending Superintendent Deb Delisle's approval.
*Superintendent
of Public Instruction Deborah Delisle announced on June 18, 2010 that forty-two Ohio schools have been awarded a total of
$95 million over the next three years in federal School Improvement Grant (SIG) funds. The funds will be used to improve practices
and support systems to improve student achievement based on student data.
In
March 2010 the U.S. DOE awarded Ohio $132 million as part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act to be used to improve
the lowest achieving five percent of schools in Ohio. The ODE identified
737 Ohio schools that could be eligible for the funds, and awarded
grants based on applications submitted by the eligible schools.
For more information:
https://webapp1.ode.state.oh.us/cncs/view.asp?id=296852283286139673
5) Report on Children and Poverty in American
Released: The Foundation for Child Development (FCD), Ruby Takanishi president, and the Child and Youth
Well-Being Index Project at Duke University, released on June 8, 2010 a report entitled "The 2010 Child and Youth Well-Being
Index" (CWI), Kenneth C. Land, Project Coordinator - Duke University.
The
FCD publishes the index each year to assess the well-being of children from birth to age 18. The report provides information
about children's well-being based on a composite of 28 Key Indicators of well-being, grouped into seven Quality of Life/Well-Being
Domains:
economic well-being;
safe/risky behavior; social relationships; emotional/spiritual well-being; community engagement; educational attainment; and
health. This report includes data from 1975 to the first year of the recession (2008), and projects CWI likely trends through
2012.
According to the report, "The Great Recession has been
particularly hard on children and youths, as state and local government budgets continue to be cut, resulting in significant
reductions in educational, health, and other programs that support children and youths -- particularly those at risk."
The following are some of the findings from the report:
-Progress in American children's quality of life has
fluctuated since 2002, and began a decline in 2009.
-The percentage of children living below the poverty line is expected to peak at 21 percent in 2010, the highest
rate of child poverty in 20 years -- meaning that approximately 15.6 million children will be living in poverty in 2010.
-The percentage of children living in families
in which not one parent is employed full-time, year round will increase from 22 percent in 2006 to 26 percent in 2010.
-For all families median annual family income
(in constant 2008
dollars) is
expected to decline from $61,460 in 2007 to $57,770 in 2010.
-The percent of children living in food-insecure households will increase from 16.9 percent in 2007
to 17.7 percent in 2010.
As a result of the findings the FCD is urging
local and federal government to expand health, education, and other programs for children, and is funding a bipartisan advocacy
organization, First Focus, to develop policy briefs on child health, child poverty, and children of immigrant families, and
hold meetings with members of Congress.
For more information:
http://www.fcd-us.org/usr_doc/FINAL_2010_CWI_Annual_Release.pdf
6) Homeless Assessment Report Released: The U.S.
Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), Shaun Donovan Secretary, released on June 18, 2010 the "2009 Annual
Homeless Assessment Report to Congress". The report is "designed to measure" the scope of
homelessness in the U.S., and is based on "point-in-time snapshot counts" of sheltered and non-sheltered homeless
persons on a single night, and the number of persons accessing a shelter over the course of a year. The report includes data
compiled from 2,988 counties and
1,056
cities.
The report also provides information about who is homeless;
the types of locations where people use emergency shelters and transitional housing; information about residential programs;
and how much time people spend in shelters.
According to the report
"...the economic downturn is impacting the housing stability of low-income and vulnerable Americans -- as we see a rise
in family homelessness for the second consecutive year."
The
total number of homeless people in the U.S. dropped slightly between 2008 - 2009. On a given night in January
2009, 643,000 persons were counted as homeless, and 1.56 million people spent at least one night in a shelter during 2009.
However, the number of homeless families in 2009 increased by 11,000 families over 2008 levels to approximately 170,000 families.
The number of persons under the age of 18 in a homeless shelter at some time in 2009 was 22.2 percent of the homeless population.
According to the report Ohio had a homeless population of 1.97 percent,
compared to New York with 9.5 percent; California with 20.7 percent; Florida with 8.65 percent; etc. Ohio
had 12,700 homeless residents in 2009 based on the point-in-time count, or about 0.11 percent of the total population.
This represents a decline of 1.64 percent from 2008 levels.
For
more information:
http://www.hudhre.info/documents/5thHomeless
AssessmentReport.pdf
7) Charter School "Watch List" Released: The Forum for
Education and Democracy, George Wood Executive Director, and Education Voters of Ohio, Julian Rogers executive director, released
on June 16, 2010 a "Watch List on Community Schools" prepared by Leigh Dingerson, The "Watch List" includes
information and data about twenty-six charter schools that could close in the future as a result of legislation approved by
the Ohio General Assembly, HB79 (2006) and HB1 (2009).
The "Watch List" also includes an explanation of the legislative criteria used to close
charter schools for academic reasons; exemptions from the closure provision; and implications of the "Watch List".
According to the report there were 332 charter schools operating in Ohio
serving approximately 89,000 students during the 2008-09 school year, and 168 (51 percent) are exempt from the closure provisions
in the law based on the type of charter school and years of operation.
Twelve charter schools have closed since the new criteria for closing charter schools became law,
and twenty-six more charter schools in Ohio could be closed after the 2010-11 school year, depending on last year's Local
Report Card ratings, which will be released at the end of August 2010. Approximately 7,000 students could be affected by these
closures.
Charter school closure criteria is based on the rating that
the school receives on the Local Report Card; the grade levels offered at the schools; the length of time the school is in
operation; and the type of charter school.
A charter school can
be closed at the end of the school year if it meets the following:
-Does not offer a grade higher than three and has been in Academic Emergency for three of the four
most recent school years.
-Offers
any of grades four to eight, but no grade higher than nine, and has been in Academic Emergency for two of the three most recent
school years, and has showed less than one standard year of academic growth in reading or math for at least two of the three
most recent school years.
-Offers
any of grades 10 to 12 and has been in Academic Emergency for three of the four most recent school years.
A school's academic rating during its first two years of operation is not counted, which means
that a charter school that offers no grades higher than grade 3 or a high school would remain open for up to seven years with
a rating of Academic Emergency before meeting the closure criteria.
The
law also provides exemptions from the closure provision for certain types of charter schools: those that serve a majority
of students with special needs (32 schools) and those that obtain a waiver from the ODE because they qualify as dropout recovery
schools.
There are currently
58 charter schools that have received a waiver from the ODE to qualify as a dropout recovery school. The report notes that
seventeen of the dropout recovery schools were previously identified as "general" program schools, and 11 of the
17 would have been on the "watch list" if they had not obtained a waiver from the ODE to qualify as a dropout recovery
school.
Leigh Dingerson is also the author of another report on charter
schools entitled, "Reclaiming the Education Charter: Ohio's Experiment with Charter Schools", which was released
in February 2009 by the Forum for Education and Democracy and Education Voters of Ohio, and provides a history of the charter
schools in Ohio.
For more information:
http://edvotersofohio.org/
