FROM: Ann Brennan

FYI: IMPORTANT Update on the final versions of HB 487 the education MBR bill and HB 362, where the teacher evaluation system changes were included. Please note that the HB 487 Senate/House Conference Committee added some new provisions not previously contained in either House or Senate passed versions of HB 487. they are noted below as NEW. The graduation requirement changes are all new, and they are substantive, calling for a modified version of the State Board of Education's plan for end of course exams replacing the OGT.

Among the other new elements listed below worth noting are:

-NEW Requires the ODE to annually publish not later than October 1, 2015 a report regarding the performance of students with disabilities, and attend school districts, community schools, STEM schools, and college-preparatory boarding schools. The report shall include the value added progress score disaggregated for each subgroup; the performance index score for each subgroup; the four and five year adjusted cohort graduation rates for each subgroup.

-NEW Requires school districts to review the Individual Service Plans of students attending nonpublic schools and are exempted from TGRG.

The Ohio General Assembly adjourned for the summer on June 4, 2014 after passing four major mid-biennium review bills.

After weeks of negotiation between the House and Senate leadership and education committee chairs the HB 487, Education MBR bill conference committee adopted a final version, which both the Senate and the House approved on June 4. The most contentious issue addressed in the conference committee was what percentage of the teacher evaluation process should be devoted to student growth measures. These teacher evaluation provisions were then included in HB 362, were changed from the Senate passed version of HB 487, and approved by the legislature. Additionally, changes in the law with regard to graduation requirements were added to HB 487 during the conference committee deliberations.

HB 487 – K-12 Education MBR: Summary of Major Provisions

One-Year Suspension of High-Stakes Decisions Based on Standardized
Tests

• Maintains the prohibition of using the report card ratings issued for the 2014-2015 school year in determining whether a school district is subject to sanctions.

• Maintains the provision that permits a school district, community school, or STEM school to enter into a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with its teachers' union that stipulates that the value-added rating issued for the 2014-2015 school year will not be used when making decisions regarding teacher dismissal, retention, tenure, or compensation.

• Gives discretion to the State Board of Education to not assign an individual grade to the following components of the report card for the 2014-2015 school year: Gap closing, Achievement, Progress, Graduation, Kindergarten through third-grader literacy and Prepared for Success.

High School Graduation Requirements

HB 487 includes new requirements for high school graduation. Changes in graduation requirements had not previously been a part of HB 487. In December of last year, the State Board of Education had made recommendations to change graduation requirements while the House passed separate legislation (HB 193), which contained different requirements. The language in HB 487 represents a “middle ground” of sorts between the two proposals:

• New graduation requirements go into effect for students entering ninth grade in the 2014-15 school year (class of 2018) and thereafter.

• Eliminates the Ohio Graduation Test (OGT) for these students. Instead, requires students to pass the necessary number of standard courses (unchanged in the bill) and satisfy one of three testing components.

Testing components/pathways

• Option 1: Achieve a cumulative passing score across seven end-of-course exams in English/language arts I, English/language arts II, physical science, Algebra I, geometry, American history and American government.

- AP exams or similar measures could be used in place of the end-of-course exams in physical science, American history and American government.

• Option 2: Achieve a “remediation free” score on a nationally-recognized college admission test (ACT or SAT) that is yet to be selected. The state will pay for statewide administration of the test in the students’ junior year.

• Option 3: Earn an industry-recognized credential or state license to work in a vocation and achieve a score on a job-skills assessment that shows workforce readiness and employability.

School District/Building Report Cards

• Removes Senate-passed language regarding changes to the calculation of the overall value-added progress score for the annual state report cards so that ODE uses either up to three years of value-added data or value-added data from the most recent school year, whichever results in a higher score.

• Retains current law requiring the value-added progress to be based on up to three years of value-added data unless a school district/building is a “high mobility” district/building.

• Creates a “high mobility” value-added progress score for school districts or buildings where at least twenty-five percent of its total enrollment is made up of students who have attended that school district or building for less than one year. The measure will use value-added data from the most recent school year available. Assessment scores would be from only students whom the district or building has administered assessments for each of the two most recent consecutive school years.

• For high schools currently participating in Battelle for Kids SOAR, adds value-added data for mathematics and English language arts to the school/district report card as a report only for the 2014-2015 school year. This will become a graded measure in the 2015-2016 school year.

• Prohibits reporting identified gifted students as served if they are charged for a course with an exception for fees associated with advanced Placement (AP) or International Baccalaureate (IB) assessments.

Opt-out Provisions Regarding Graduation and Coursework

• Revises law regarding students (entering ninth grade before or after July 1, 2010 and before July 1, 2016) who may qualify to graduate even though the student has not completed all the current requirements for graduation. Requires students to be enrolled in their third year of high school instead of having attended high school for two years. Current law is retained that requires the student’s parent/guardian to consent to graduating without completing the graduation requirements and acknowledges that the student would not be eligible to enroll in most state universities without completing additional coursework.

• Creates a new requirement for students who enter the ninth grade for the first time on or after July 1, 2014 to successfully complete the curriculum in order for graduation except the following: four units of mathematics, five elective units, three units of science and any other course approved by ODE using standards established by ODE no later than October 1, 2014.

• Requires ODE to analyze data provided from school districts on the opt-out provisions and make recommendations to extend the opt-out provisions beyond those students who enter the ninth grade before July 1, 2015.

Career Education and Advising

• Requires “input from” and not “consultation with” teachers regarding student success plans.

• Requires by July 1, 2015 for ODE to create an online database of information regarding “proven” practices for policies on career advising and student success plans that districts may utilize to comply with the requirement.

• Requires ODE by July 1, 2015 to create an online database of information regarding identification and intervention for at-risk students.

Third Grade Reading Guarantee

• Requires third grade students who meet the cut score or higher under the Third Grade Reading Guarantee during fall testing to take the new PARCC state reading assessment in the spring. Those students who fail to attain the cut score or higher would take the same assessment they completed in the fall.

• Requires review by either the student’s school district of residence or the school district in which the chartered nonpublic school is located regarding a nonpublic schools special education student’s exemption from retention under the Third Grade Reading Guarantee.

• Permits school districts in the 2014-2015 school year or the 2015-2016 school year to submit an alternative staffing plan to the Ohio Department of Education to comply with the provisions of the Third Grade Reading Guarantee.

College Credit Plus Program

• Requires that the chancellor approve an agreement that includes a payment below the per credit floor as long as there is compliance with all provisions regarding program quality.

• Shifts rulemaking authority for the College Credit Plus program from the State Board of Education to the Chancellor of the Board of Regents.

Other/Miscellaneous Provisions

• Requires private schools that charge tuition to students using an EdChoice voucher to report the number of students and the average amount charged.

• Restricts statewide sponsorship of charter schools by Educational Service Centers.

• Prohibits sharing of students names and address with any multi-state assessment consortium.

• Requires ODE to report which districts and schools administered assessments online and which did not during the 2014-2015 school year.

• Requires by December 31, 2014 the Superintendent of Public Instruction to submit to the Governor and General Assembly recommendations for legislative changes regarding intervention for poor performing school districts that are at risk of becoming subject to the establishment of an Academic Distress Commission.

• Requires ODE to publish an annual report regarding performance of students with disabilities. Requires, not later than October 1, 2015, the Department of Education to report for each school district, community school, STEM school, and college-preparatory boarding school, and make available on its website, the following performance measures for students with disabilities: (1) the value-added progress dimension score disaggregated for that subgroup, (2) the performance index score for that subgroup, (3) the four- and five-year adjusted cohort graduation rates for that subgroup. (R.C. 3302.035)

• Requires the Department of Education to establish, not later than July 1, 2015, a clearinghouse of information regarding the identification of and intervention for at-risk students. (R.C. 3301.28.) Requires this clearinghouse to include (1) indicators of at-risk status that have been proven accurate or effective by research, (2) identification and intervention programs used in this state, categorized by type of district using the Department's most recent district typology categories, that have been confirmed effective through research, and (3) national identification and intervention programs that have been confirmed effective through research.

• Requires ODE by October 30 of each year to report expenditures for gifted education from the previous school year.

• Removes the provision regarding mergers across county lines.

• Allows for Montessori-trained teachers to be eligible to obtain an alternative resident educator license.

• Establishes approval process for conversion charter schools in the Cleveland Municipal School District.

• Creates a School Based Health Care Advisory Workgroup to study and make recommendations to the General Assembly regarding the improvement of academic achievement through better student health. A representative from OSPA was included on this workgroup in an amendment added in the Senate Education Committee.

HB 362: Teacher Evaluation System Changes

The compromise reached this week between the House and Senate, using HB 362 as the vehicle, allows for districts to use the new “alternative framework” for teacher evaluations, which will take effect in the 2014-15 school year.

The framework provides for the following:

• Measuring student academic growth in evaluations is reduced from 50% to 42.5%.
• Teacher classroom performance measures are also reduced from 50% to 42.5%.
• Local school districts will have the flexibility to choose one additional measure for the remaining
15% of the evaluation from this list (there is no such provision in current law):
- Student surveys
- Teacher self-evaluations
- Peer review evaluations
- Student portfolios

HB 362 also includes the following:

• Teachers who are rated “Accomplished” may be evaluated once every three years, so long as the teacher’s student academic growth measure for the most recent school year for which data is available is average or higher. However, at least one observation and at least one conference with the teacher must be held each year.
• Teachers who are rated “Skilled” may be evaluated once every two years, so long as the teacher’s student academic growth measure for the most recent year for which data is available is average or higher. However, at least one observation and at least one conference with the teacher must be held each year.

• A school board may elect not to conduct an evaluation in cases where:
- A teacher was on leave from the school district for fifty percent or more of
the school year,
- A teacher has submitted notice of retirement and that notice has been
accepted by the board not later than the first day of December.
• There were no changes to the collective bargaining law.

The Ohio Department of Education is in the process of establishing a guidance document for school districts regarding the teacher evaluation changes.

The ODE posted on its website a summary of HB362 here.

HB 483 General MBR with Provisions Regarding Education, Developmental Disabilities, Appropriations and Taxation

Primary and Secondary Education

• Removes the bill’s provision that permits Auxiliary Services funds to be used for the purchase or lease of emergency communications systems and school entrance security systems in nonpublic schools.

• Changes eligibility requirements for the GED tests by allowing a person who is at least 18 years old (rather than 19 as under current law) to take the GED without additional administrative requirements if the individual is officially withdrawn from high school and has not received a diploma.

• Eliminates a requirement for a person, who is at least 16 and under the age of 18, who wishes to take the GED exam to obtain approval from a school superintendent or a principal where they were last enrolled.

Adult Learning Programs

• Establishes the Adult Career Opportunity Pilot Program to permit a community college or technical college/center to develop and offer programs of study that allows individuals who are at least 22 years old and who have not received a high school diploma or a certificate of equivalence upon receiving approval from the State Board of Education and Chancellor.

• The program must allow students to complete the requirements for obtaining a high school diploma while completing requirements for an approved industry credential and include career advising and outreach. The bill appropriates $2.5 million for this program and authorizes the state Superintendent to award up to $500,000 to not more than five eligible institutions.

• Reinstates provisions of HB 343 that would allow high school dropouts between the ages of 22-29 to earn a diploma from a dropout recovery city, local, or exempted village school district, community school, an adult career center or a community college. Caps the enrollment to 1,000 participants and appropriates $5 million in FY 2015 for this program.

Developmental Disabilities

• Retains current law prohibiting certain individuals from being employed by a County Board of Developmental Disabilities (ex. employees of agencies that contract with the board).

• Requires that if employees of a County Board of DD are covered by a collective
bargaining agreement, the County Board must negotiate with the employees’
representative before entering into an agreement to share employees with another County Board.

Taxation

• Increases the nonrefundable state earned income tax credit from 5% of the federal earned income tax credit to 10% of the federal credit beginning in 2014.

• Retains the $400 million income tax cut. Modifies the small business tax cut from 50 percent to 75 percent conditional based on the state’s ending fund balance after there is a transfer of up to $300 million to the Medicaid Reserve Fund and the personal income tax cut is accelerated from 8.5% to 10 percent for tax year 2014.

ODE link to download the LSC HB 487 Conference Committee Complete Synopsis: http://education.ohio.gov/Topics/Ohio-s-New-Learning-Standards/News/Mid-Biennium-Review-Conference-Committee-Synopsis

Submitted by: Ann Brennan, June 6, 2014 (With permission, OEA’s Legislative Update and summary was used as a resource)

FROM: Ann Brennan

Note that HB 487, the education MBR bill's conference committee is scheduled for tomorrow.

Interesting summary of Akron Beacon Journal's articles on dropout recovery schools. Also note the report that the Oklahoma legislature reversed their third grade reading guarantee retention policy.

Ohio Alliance for Arts Education

Arts on Line Education Update

Joan Platz

June 2, 2014

1)  Ohio News

•130th Ohio General Assembly:  The Ohio House and Senate will hold hearings and sessions this week as lawmakers wind down for the anticipated summer break.  Lawmakers are expected to complete work on two mid biennium review bills (MBR), HB483 (Amstutz) MBR Operations and HB487 (Brenner) MBR Education, which have been assigned to conference committees to work out difference between House and Senate versions.  

The Conference Committee on HB483 (Amstutz) will meet on Monday, June 2 at 4:00 PM in Hearing Room 313, and at 2:00 PM on Tuesday, June 3, 2014 “if needed.” The members of the conference committee are Representatives Ron Amstutz, Lynn Wachtmann, and Denise Driehaus, and Senators Scott Oelslager, Bill Coley, and Mike Skindell.

The Conference Committee on MBR HB487 (Brenner) will meet on Tuesday, June 3, 2014 at 1:30 PM in room 121. The members of the conference committee are Representatives Gerald Stebelton, Andrew Brenner, and Teresa Fedor, and Senators Peggy Lehner, Randy Gardner, and Tom Sawyer.

The Senate Education Committee, chaired by Senator Lehner, will meet on June 3, 2014 at 9:15 AM in the South Hearing Room.  The committee will consider the appointment of Brad Lamb to the State Board of Education and receive testimony on HB362 (Scherer/Derickson) Stem Schools, which would authorize the STEM Committee to grant a designation of STEM school equivalent to a community school or chartered nonpublic school and make other revisions to the law regarding STEM schools.  

•Legislative Update: The Ohio House and Senate approved HB484 (Rosenberger-Brown) MBR Higher Education on May 21, 2014 sending it on May 30, 2014 to Governor Kasich to sign. 

The Senate approved on May 28, 2014 HB492 (Scherer) MBR Taxation, which would make changes regarding tax policies, and HB85 (LaRose), which would increase the homestead exemption on property taxes for veterans who are 100 percent disabled due to service-related disabilities.

The Senate Education Committee approved on May 27, 2014 HB171 (McClain/Patmon) Religion School Credit, which would permit public school students to attend and receive credit for released time courses in religious instruction conducted off school property during regular school hours. 

The Senate Medicaid, Health and Human Services Committee, chaired by Senator Jones, approved on May 28, 2014 HB264 (Wachtmann/Barnes), regarding the care of students with diabetes in schools.  

The House Education Committee, chaired by Representative Stebelton, reported out on May 28, 2014 two bills:  HB470 (Barnes), the School Bullying Prevention Awareness Act, would designate September as School Bullying Prevention Awareness Month and declare an emergency, and HB454 (Gonzales), Concealed Carry-School Safety Zone, would expand and clarify the authority of a concealed handgun licensee to possess a handgun in a school safety zone. 

   

•Straight A Fund: The Straight A Fund Governing Board met on May 27, 2014 and approved 220 out of 339 projects to move to the next stage of the grant approval process.  This is the second round for the Straight A Fund grant program, which includes up to $150 million in available grants. The proposals were evaluated to determine if they would be sustainable in the future, and those approved will now undergo a programmatic review.  The Straight A Fund Governing Board will announce its decisions on grants on June 20, 2014.

•State Funds Decrease for All Counties:  Policy Matters Ohio and Innovation Ohio have updated the website http://www.cutshurtohio.com/, which provides information about the status of state funds for schools and local governments by county. The data was compiled from the Ohio Department of Education, the Ohio Department of Taxation, the Ohio Office of Budget and Management, the Ohio Legislative Service Commission, and the Ohio Casino Control Commission, and shows that every county in the state in 2014 received fewer state dollars than in 2010.

According to the website, “Education losses are based on fiscal years 2010-11 compared with fiscal years 2014-15, and include the following funding streams: direct state formula aid, tax reimbursements for TPP and PUPT, State Fiscal Stabilization Funds, and casino revenues. Casino revenues were based on the receipts received for the semiannual payments received by school districts for the 2013-2014 school year. Schools receive their casino revenue differently than local governments, getting one in August and one in January. The payments for the 2014-2015 school year were estimated to be the same, for purposes of the calculation.”

“Local Government loss in aid is based on calendar years 2010-11 compared with calendar years 2014-15 and includes Local Government Funds, Public Library Funds, tax reimbursements (for elimination of Tangible Personal Property (TPP) and Public Utility Property Taxes (PUPT)), estate tax and casino revenues.”

State funds for local governments have decreased statewide by a total of $1.5 billion and by $349 million for K-12 education.  The total decrease is $1.86 billion since 2010. 

2)  National News

•National Voucher Bills:  Voucher bills have been introduced in both the U.S. House and Senate.  

U.S. Senator Tim Scott (R-SC) introduced in January 2014 the CHOICE Act (S. 1909) in the Senate.  This bill would encourage states to create and expand voucher programs for students with disabilities, funded by the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act; expand the voucher program in D.C.; and create a pilot voucher program for children in military families.

See http://www.scott.senate.gov/press-release/senator-tim-scott-introduces-opportunity-agenda

U.S. Representative Todd Rokita (R-IN) introduced a similar bill on May 28, 2014 in the U.S. House, also called the CHOICE Act. The bill would encourage states to establish school choice programs for students with disabilities and expands educational options for children with special needs; expands choice options for the approximately 200,000 children who live on domestic military installations; and expands the voucher program in Washington, D.C.

According to a press release about the bill, 

“Rokita’s CHOICE Act, builds on the innovative rewrite of No Child Left Behind, the Student Success Act (H.R.5), which passed the House in 2013, and the education research reform, the Strengthening Education through Research Act (H.R. 4366).  H.R. 4366 reauthorizes the Education Science Reform Act, legislation which governs and promotes high-quality education research in early childhood, elementary and secondary education, and increases access to data that is important to families as they determine the best school for their children.” 

“Rokita’s Student Success Act reauthorizes the Elementary and Secondary Education Act and reforms its current authorization, No Child Left Behind.  The Student Success Act currently awaits consideration in the Senate.”

See http://rokita.house.gov/press-release/rokita-introduces-choice-act-addresses-aei-k-12-ed-reform.  

The National School Boards Association sent a letter on May 28, 2014 opposing the House and Senate voucher bills.  According to the letter the NSBA urges Congress to maximize resources for “our public schools, which serve all students regardless of gender, disability or economic status, and adhere to federal civil rights laws and public accountability standards.”

See http://schoolboardnews.nsba.org/2014/05/school-voucher-bill/

•Oklahoma Reverses Retention Policy:  Liana Heitin reports for Education Week that lawmakers in Oklahoma voted on May 21, 2014 to overturn Oklahoma’s Governor Mary Fallin’s veto of a bill that would allow students to move from 3rd to 4th grade despite having failed a state standardized reading test. 

According to the article, Oklahoma adopted the reading-retention policy two years ago, but parents, teachers, and lawmakers pushed back when 8000 students were identified for retention this year. Decisions about retention will now be made by a team of parents, teachers, administrators, and reading specialists within the schools.

The 3rd grade retention policy originated in Florida in 2002-03 and has served as a model for policies in other states, including Arizona, Indiana, and Ohio.

See “Oklahoma Ends Retention Policy for 3rd Graders Who Fail Reading Test” by Liana Heitin, Education Week Blog, May 22, 2014 at

http://blogs.edweek.org/edweek/curriculum/2014/05/oklahoma_ends_retention_policy.html?cmp=ENL-EU-NEWS3

3) The Akron Beacon Journal Publishes Series on Dropout Schools:  The Akron Beacon Journal published a series of articles last week about students who drop out of school and the schools that they attend.  Three of the articles were written by Doug Livingston, and one by Ashley Morris and Brittany Landsberger.  The articles describe the opening of the first dropout recovery charter schools (Life Skills) in Ohio by David Brennan (White Hat) in 1998, and the status of the 77 dropout recovery schools today. The report notes that as the student dropout rate decreased nationally to around 3.4 percent for 2013-14, the rate increased in Ohio to 4.6 percent, because of low graduation rates and high dropout rates for dropout recovery charter schools.  

Doug Livingston writes that there are a total of 13,828 students attending dropout charter schools in Ohio.  

“In the 2012-13 school year, more than 5,300 dropouts — a quarter of all Ohio dropouts that year — attended one of two online charter schools: the Electronic Classroom of Tomorrow or Ohio Virtual Academy. Collectively, these two charter schools have a dropout rate 45 times higher than traditional public schools, and 10 times higher than the state’s eight largest city school districts.”

“Another 6,829 students -— about a third of all Ohio dropouts — attended charter schools designed specifically for dropouts, among them Invictus and Life Skills. Last year, these dropout charter schools enrolled one percent of Ohio’s public school students but accounted for roughly the same number of dropout events as did public district schools, which enrolled 91 percent of Ohio’s students.” 

According to the articles,

-“A quarter of all dropouts are ninth-graders, and about 85 percent are at least teenagers.”

-“Of the dropouts, 58 percent left because of truancy; nearly a quarter turned 18 and were no longer obligated to attend school; about 13 percent moved and are believed not to be in school; and the rest failed graduation tests or sought employment.”

-“Traditional districts enrolled 91 percent of all public-school students and reported 33 percent of the state’s dropouts. Charter schools, including dropout programs, enrolled 7 percent of students and 66 percent of dropouts.”

-“13 Life Skills facilities in Ohio received $15.4 million in state aid for 1,807 students and reported 1,957 dropouts, reflecting a rate 2.6 times higher than all other charter school dropout programs.”

-”Dropout programs operated by traditional public schools and county educational service centers do better. Those operated by private groups and companies have a dropout rate that is twice as high.”

-See “Ohio’s charter school dropouts soar, push state in opposite direction of U.S.” by Doug Livingston, Beacon Journal education writer, May 25, 2014, Updated: May 27, 2014 at

http://www.ohio.com/news/local/ohio-s-charter-school-dropouts-soar-push-state-in-opposite-direction-of-u-s-1.490893

-See “Akron district compares well on dropouts” by Doug Livingston, May 26, 2014, Updated: May 27, 2014 at

http://www.ohio.com/news/local/akron-district-compares-well-on-dropouts-1.490973

-See “Charter school operators use key words to entice families away from public schools” by Ashley Morris and Brittany Landsberger, TheNewsOutlet.org, May 27, 2014 at

http://www.ohio.com/news/local/charter-school-operators-use-key-words-to-entice-families-away-from-public-schools-1.491420

-See “Successful dropout schools are turning from White Hat computer model” by Doug Livingston, Beacon Journal education writer, May 26, 2014, Updated: May 28, 2014 at

http://www.ohio.com/news/local/successful-dropout-schools-are-turning-from-white-hat-computer-model-1.491112

4) Condition of Education Released:  The U.S. Department of Education, Institute of Education Sciences, National Center for Education Statistics, released on May 28, 2014 The Condition of Education 2014, a report that presents 42 indicators that measure the condition and progress of education (elementary, secondary, and higher education) based on available data. 

This annual report is mandated by Congress to provide policymakers with information about the progress of education in the United States.  The data used in the report were obtained from many different sources, including students and teachers, state education agencies, local elementary and secondary schools, and colleges and universities, using surveys and compilations of administrative records.  The following are some of “examples” of the indicators, which are arranged in four chapters.

Chapter 1:  Population Characteristics

-Indicator 1:  “In 2013, some 34 percent of 25- to 29-year-olds had earned a bachelor’s or higher 

degree. Between 1990 and 2013, the size of the White-Black gap at this education level widened from 13 to 20 percentage points, and the White-Hispanic gap widened from 18 to 25 percentage points.”

-Indicator 5:  “In 2012, approximately 21 percent of school-age children in the United States were 

in families living in poverty. The percentage of school-age children living in poverty ranged across the United States from 11 percent in North Dakota to 32 percent in Mississippi.” 

Chapter 2:  Participation in Education

-Indicator 6: “In 2012, some 93 percent of 5- to 6-year-olds and 98 percent of 7- to 13-year-olds were enrolled in elementary or secondary school. In that same year, 47 percent of 18- to 19-year-olds and 40 percent of 20- to 24-year-olds were enrolled in postsecondary education.”

-Indicator 7:  “From 1990 to 2012, the percentage of 3- to 5-year-olds enrolled in preprimary programs increased from 59 to 64 percent. The percentage of these children who attended full-day programs increased from 39 to 60 percent during this period.”  

-Indicator 8:  “From school years 2011–12 through 2023–24, overall public elementary and secondary school enrollment is projected to increase by 5 percent (from 49.5 to 52.1 million students), with changes across states ranging from an increase of 22 percent in Nevada to a decrease of 11 percent in West Virginia.”

NOTE:  In Ohio the projected percentage change in public school enrollment in grades prekindergarten through 12 between 2011-12 and 2023-24 is a decrease of less than five percent.

-Indicator 9:  “From school year 1999–2000 to 2011–12, the number of students enrolled in public charter schools increased from 0.3 million to 2.1 million students. During this period, the percentage of public school students who attended charter schools increased from 0.7 to 4.2 percent.”

NOTE:  Charter school laws have not been approved in Alabama, Kentucky, Montana, Nebraska, North Dakota, South Dakota, Vermont, and West Virginia. The District of Columbia (39 percent) and Arizona (13 percent) have the highest percentage of enrollment in charter schools. The percent of students enrolled in charter schools in 2011-12 is highest for White students (36 percent) followed by Black students (29 percent) and Hispanic students (28 percent).

-Indicator 10:  “Private school enrollment in prekindergarten through grade 12 increased from 5.9 million in 1995–96 to 6.3 million in 2001–02, then decreased to 5.3 million in 2011–12. The percentage of all students in private schools decreased from 12 percent in 1995–96 to 10 percent in 2011–12.

Chapter 3:  School Characteristics and Climate

-Indicator 19:  “Of the 6.1 million staff members in public elementary and secondary schools in fall 

2011, some 3.1 million, or 51 percent, were teachers. For public schools, the pupil/teacher ratio fell from 26.9 pupils per teacher in 1955 to 17.9 in 1985, and then further declined to 15.3 in 2008. In the most recent years, the pupil/teacher ratios in 2010 and 2011 (both at 16.0) were higher than the ratio in 2009 (15.4).”

NOTE:  In 2011 less than 45 percent of school staff were teachers in public elementary and secondary school systems in Ohio. This is below the national average of 50.6 percent.

-Indicator 20:  “From school years 2000–01 through 2010–11, total elementary and secondary public school revenues increased from $530 billion to $632 billion (in constant 2012–13 dollars). During the most recent period from 2009–10 through 2010–11, total revenues for public elementary and secondary schools decreased by about $4 billion, or less than 1 percent.”

NOTE:  In 2010-11 state revenues made-up 40-49.9 percent of total public school revenues used to fund elementary and secondary schools in Ohio.  The U.S. average is 44.1 percent. In 2010-11 property taxes made-up between 25-49.9 percent of total public school revenue used to fund elementary and secondary schools in Ohio.

-Indicator 21:  “From 2000–01 to 2010–11, current expenditures per student in public elementary and secondary schools increased by 14 percent, after adjusting for inflation. Current expenditures per student in 2010–11 ($11,153) decreased from the amount expended per student in 2009–10 ($11,353).”

Chapter 4:  Postsecondary Education

-Indicator 33: “From academic year 2001–02 to 2011–12, the number of associate’s degrees awarded increased by 71 percent, from 595,100 to over 1 million, and the number of bachelor’s degrees awarded increased by 39 percent, from 1.3 million to 1.8 million.”

See “The Condition of Education 2014” by Grace Kena, Susan Aud, and Frank Johnson: National Center for Education Statistics; Xiaolei Wang, Jijun Zhang, Amy Rathbun, Sidney Flicker-Wilkinson, and Paul Kristapovich: American Institutes for Research; Liz Notter and Virginia Rosario: Synergy Enterprises, Inc.; Thomas Nachazel Senior Editor and Allison Dziuba Editor: American Institutes for Research, May 28, 2014 at

http://nces.ed.gov/pubsearch/pubsinfo.asp?pubid=2014083

5) Catching-Up At Risk Students:  ACT Researcher Chrys Dougherty examines at-risk student catch-up rates in Arkansas and Kentucky in a new report from ACT about helping at-risk students become college and career ready. However, the report is not encouraging, because it finds that it is difficult for students that are far off track to achieve college and career readiness status by the end of high school.  According to the report, “The results of this study extend the findings of our previous research to show the additional difficulty of catching up Far Off Track students from at-risk demographic groups.” 

The data base used in the study included students in grades 4-8; 8-11 or 8-12 by student demographic subgroups in Arkansas and Kentucky.  The students took the ACT Explore in 8th grade and the ACT in high school, and were either rated as “on track”, “off track”, or “far off track” in meeting the ACT Readiness Benchmark in mathematics, reading, and science.  A score of 16 or better on the ACT Explore Reading assessment indicated that a student was “on track”; “off track” students scored from 13 to 15, while students scoring 12 or below were classified as “far off track”.

When examining the ACT scores of all students in grades 11 or 12 compared to the results of the ACT Explore assessment taken in grade 8, the researcher found that two percent of “far off track” students were able to become “on track” students in mathematics; six percent of “far off track” students were able to become “on track” students in reading; and four percent of “far off track” students were able to become “on track” students science.

The report includes the following recommendations:

For schools, classrooms, school districts:

•Teach a content-rich curriculum in the early grades, including English language arts, mathematics, science, history, geography, civics, foreign language, and the arts. “Such a curriculum—the basis for preparing students long term for college, careers, and informed citizenship—is valuable for all students but is likely to be especially beneficial for students from at-risk demographic groups, who are more likely to arrive from home with limited knowledge and vocabulary.”

•Evaluate school and classroom practices for improvement in the areas of curriculum and academic goals; staff selection, leadership, and capacity building; instructional tools and strategies; student achievement and progress; and interventions and adjustments.

•Monitor and intervene early using multiple indicators to track student progress. Monitor student engagement.

•Provide support for “far off track” students that matches their needs.

For state and local policymakers:

•Enact accountability systems that focus on long term gains in student learning rather than the short-term test results. Include in accountability systems whether or not the school/district is implementing research-based practices that will “pay off” later, such as a content-rich curriculum.

•Identify realistic goals for schools with high numbers of at-risk students.

For federal policymakers:

•Encourage statewide longitudinal data systems for research studies with appropriate privacy protections for students.

•Fund research on teaching a content-rich curriculum in the early grades.  

See “Catching Up to College and Career Readiness: The Challenge Is Greater for At-Risk Students” by Chrys Dougherty, Issue Brief: ACT Research & Policy,  May 2014 at

http://www.act.org/research/policymakers/pdf/CatchingUp-Part3.pdf

6) School Funding Matters!:  The National Bureau of Economic Research released on May 9, 2014 a report entitled The Effect of School Finance Reforms on the Distribution of Spending, Academic Achievement, and Adult Outcomes by C. Kirabo Jackson, Northwestern University; Rucker Johnson UC Berkely; and Claudia Persico, a doctoral student at Northwestern University. 

The report analyzes school finance reforms (SFRs) and data on per pupil spending in low and high-income school districts from 1967-2010 and their effect on students, such as graduation rate, length of time in school, and income level as an adult.  

Supreme Courts in about 28 states during the 1970s-2010 directed states to reform their school finance systems in response to spending gaps between richer and poorer school districts. The researchers found that as a result of these court decisions, “SFRs have been instrumental in equalizing school spending between low- and high-income districts and many reforms do so by increasing spending for poor districts.”

According to Part One of the report, all funding reforms enacted during this time frame reduced spending inequality, but “...adequacy-based court-ordered reforms increase overall school spending, while equity-based court-ordered reforms reduce the variance of spending with little effect on overall levels; reforms that entail high tax prices (the amount of taxes a district must raise to increase spending by one dollar) reduce long-run spending for all districts, and those that entail low tax prices lead to increased spending growth, particularly for low-income districts.”

Part Two of the report examines the reform-induced changes in school spending and resulting adult outcomes, based on nationally representative data on children born between 1955 and 1985 and followed through 2011. In this analysis the researchers found, “...that a 20 percent increase in per-pupil spending each year for all 12 years of public school for children from poor families leads to about 0.9 more completed years of education, 25 percent higher earnings, and a 20 percentage-point reduction in the annual incidence of adult poverty; we find no effects for children from non-poor families. The magnitudes of these effects are sufficiently large to eliminate between two-thirds and all of the gaps in these adult outcomes between those raised in poor families and those raised in non-poor families. We present several pieces of evidence to support a causal interpretation of the estimates.” 

See The Effect of School Finance Reforms on the Distribution of Spending, Academic Achievement, and Adult Outcomes by C. Kirabo Jackson, Rucker Johnson, Claudia Persico, NBER Working Paper No. 20118 at

http://www.nber.org/papers/w20118.

7)  Bills Introduced

•HB577 (Phillips) School Districts’ Health Care Curriculum: Requires the health curriculum of each 

school district to include instruction on the positive effects of organ and tissue donation. 

•HB578 (Letson/Winburn) School Bus Seat Belts: Requires all school buses purchased, leased, or rented after January 1, 2016, to transport students to and from school to be equipped with a seat belt 

assembly for all passengers. 

    

•HB579 (Grossman) Property Tax Valuation Dispute Hearing: Prohibits any party to a property tax valuation dispute, other than the original complainant, from appearing at a county board of revision hearing. 

FYI ARTS

1) AEP 2014 National Forum:  The Arts Education Partnership (AEP) will hold its 2014 National Forum on Arts and Education: Preparing Students for the Next America In and Through the Arts in Pittsburgh, on September 11-12, 2014, in partnership with the Arts Education Collaborative centered in Pittsburgh. 

According to the AEP web site, “AEP believes the arts can lead the way for change during this seminal moment in American education.” The forum will bring together leaders from across the nation to identify arts-centered solutions to ensure that students achieve higher learning expectations and are ready for college, careers, and citizenship upon graduation.  

The forum is supported by the National Endowment for the Arts, U.S. Department of Education, Heinz Endowments, and The Grable Foundation. 

Registration opens on June 2, 2014 at 

http://www.aep-arts.org/events/forum/

2) The Arts Turn Around Missouri District: MariAn Gail Brown writes for District Administration about the success of the Jennings School District outside of St. Louis Missouri, which has integrated music and the fine arts throughout the curriculum to engage students and improve overall student achievement. 

The district enrolls about 2,500 students: 95 percent of students receive free or reduced-price lunch; a number of students are homeless; and a number of students are from single-parent households, or live in extended family households. 

Superintendent Tiffany Anderson in 2012 initiated a new program to infuse the performing arts, fine art, and music in the curriculum; established a Saturday Academy to reinforce weekly lessons and provide both breakfast and lunch; and established the College Prep Academy at the middle school, which includes an extra hour of instruction for students.  The new middle school program also requires parents to volunteer at the school and provides parents with laundry facilities.

The aim of the new initiatives is to close the achievement gaps among groups of students, and the arts are part of the strategy:  The article quotes Superintendent Anderson as saying,  

“Music and art are a form of expression, and (they) can be used to simplify complex skills and to help students express themselves academically,” 

“And the arts are used to accelerate learning in math, science and social studies. The arts are helping to give students a voice and helping to build their confidence.”

See “Jennings School District hums a new tune for success” by MariAn Gail Brown, District Administration, June 2014 at http://www.districtadministration.com/article/jennings-school-district-hums-new-tune-success

 

 

FROM: Ann Brennan

FYI: Important update, note the update on the Senate passed HB 487 (MBE education), including all of the amendments added to it in the Senate Education Committee.

May 26, 2014

1) Ohio News

•130th Ohio General Assembly: The Ohio House and Senate will hold hearings and sessions this week.

Last week the Senate approved several Mid Biennial Review Bills (MBR), but the House refused to concur with the Senate changes for some, sending HB483 (Amstutz) MBR-Operations and HB487 (Brenner) MBR Education, into conference committees. Lawmakers still anticipate completing legislative activity and adjourning for the summer campaign trail once the conference committees have completed their work.

A more detailed look at HB483 and HB487 is included at the end of this report.

•Governor Appoints Another State Board Member: Governor Kasich announced on May 23, 2013 the appointment of Melanie Bolender of Mount Vernon to the State Board of Education to replace Stanley Jackson, who was not reappointed upon the end of his term. Ms. Bolender is the director of development for the Ohio Eastern Star Home. Her term expires on December 31, 2016.

The State Board of Education consists of 11 elected members and 8 members appointed by the governor. The governor also appoints members to fill empty seats, and with the resignation of Jeff Mims in December 2013, Governor Kasich has one more appointment to make to bring the board to full membership.

•This Week at the Statehouse:

-Senate Education Committee: The Senate Education Committee, chaired by Senator Lehner, will meet on May 27, 2014 at 1:30 PM, in the South Hearing Room, and on May 28, 2014 at 4:00 PM in the South Hearing Room. The committee will receive testimony on the following bills:

May 27, 2014
-HB171 (McClain/Patmon) Released time Courses-Religious Instruction
-HB193 (Brenner) High School Diploma Requirements
-HB393 (Baker/Landis) Career Decision Guide Publication
-HB362 (Scherer/Derickson) STEM School

May 28, 2014
-HB393 (Baker/Landis) Career Decision Guide Publication
-HB362 (Scherer/Derickson) STEM School

-House Education Committee: The House Education Committee, chaired by Representative Stebelton, will meet on May 28, 2014 at 9:00 AM in Hearing Room 313. The committee will receive testimony on the following bills:
-HB470 (Barnes) School Bullying Prevention Awareness Act
-HB454 (Gonzales) Concealed Carry-School Safety Zone

-Straight A Fund: The Straight A Fund Governing Board will meet on May 27, 2014 at 9:00 AM in the Ohio Department of Education, 25 South Front Street, Columbus.

2) Update on Legislation: Last week the Ohio House and Senate approved and exchanged several bills as lawmakers worked to complete their legislative agenda before the summer recess. The following is an update of Senate and House actions on legislation related to K-12 education.

•Senate Action

-HB483 (Amstutz) MBR Appropriations: To make operating and other appropriations and to provide authorization and conditions for the operation of state programs. Approved.

-HB487 (Brenner) MBR Education: With regard to education provisions for students in grades kindergarten through twelve. Failed to concur with Senate amendments. Approved.

-HB492 (Scherer) MBR Taxation: Provides authorization and conditions for the levy and administration of taxes in this state. Informally Passed May 22, 2014. Approved.

•Senate Finance Committee

-HB486 (Baker/Stebelton) MBR Workforce and Economic Development Programs: To establish the adult career opportunity pilot program; to revise the coordination of workforce development and economic development programs; to synchronize the due dates of several reports due from the Development Services Agency, the Ohio Venture Capital Authority, and the Third Frontier Commission; to revise the law regarding innovation financial assistance and research and development financial assistance; and to permit the Director of Commerce, the State Fire Marshal, and the Ohio Construction Industry Licensing Board to establish compliance incentive programs. Reported on May 20, 2014.

•House Action

-HB484 (Rosenberger-Brown), MBR Higher Education: With respect to the coordination and administration of higher education programs. The Ohio House concurred with Senate Amendments by a vote of 88-0 on May 21, 2014.

-HB483 (Amstutz) MBR Appropriations: To make operating and other appropriations and to provide authorization and conditions for the operation of state programs. Failed to concur with Senate amendments.

-HB487 (Brenner) MBR Education: With regard to education provisions for students in grades kindergarten through twelve. Failed to concur with Senate amendments.

House Education Committee

-HB460 (Brenner/Driehaus) School Restructuring: Authorizes school districts and community schools to initiate a community learning process to assist and guide school restructuring. Reported on May 21, 2014.

3) National News

•GAO Probe Sought by Lawmakers: Three Congressmen have requested that the Government Accountability Office (GAO) investigate school district practices and how they impact racial and socioeconomic integration and student outcomes. The lawmakers include Representatives George Miller (D-CA), John Conyers (D-MI), and Robert Scott (D-VA). In a May 16, 2014 letter to Gene L. Dodaro, Comptroller General at the GAO, the lawmakers noted their concern that “inequity persists in public education and more must be done to fully realize the promise of Brown”, referring to the 60th anniversary of the Supreme Court decision in Brown v. Board of Education. The letter is available at
http://democrats.edworkforce.house.gov/sites/democrats.edworkforce.house.gov/files/documents/5.16.14-GAORequestreBrown.pdf

•Senators Draft Federal Student Privacy Law: Benjamin Herold reports on May 14, 2014 for Education Weeks’ Digital Education Blog that Senators Edward Markey and Orrin Hatch released a draft bill to amend the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) of 1974. The amendment would do the following:

-Mandate new data-security safeguards for private companies
-Prohibit the use of personally identifiable student information for advertising
-Provide parents with the right to access and amend their children’s information
-Require districts to maintain a record of all the outside companies that have access to student information
-Promote “data minimization,” by seeking to meet data requests with non-personally identifiable information wherever possible; and
-Require that all personally identifiable information held by outside parties eventually be destroyed in order to prevent private companies from maintaining permanent dossiers on students.

In December 2011 the U.S. Department of Education issued new FERPA regulations that allowed educational institutions and agencies to disclose student personally identifiable information to third parties without first obtaining the consent of students or parents. Senator Markey requested that the U.S. DOE issue guidelines about how schools should protect the privacy of students. Such guidelines were issued in February 2014, but include exceptions to FERPA for directory information, school officials, studies, and audits or evaluations.

See “Draft Overhaul of Federal Student Privacy Law Released by U.S. Senators Markey, Hatch” by Benjamin Herold, Education Week, Digital Blog, May 14, 2014
http://blogs.edweek.org/edweek/DigitalEducation/2014/05/draft_overhaul_of_federal_stud.html

See also “Protecting Student Privacy While Using Online Educational Services: Requirements and Best Practices”, U.S. DOE, April 1, 2014. http://ptac.ed.gov/sites/default/files/Student%20Privacy%20and%20Online%20Educational%20Services%20%28February%202014%29.pdf

See also “FERPA Exceptions—Summary” at
http://ptac.ed.gov/sites/default/files/FERPA%20Exceptions_HANDOUT_horizontal_0.pdf

4) Lorain School Superintendents Say “Unmake” Changes: Michael Sangiacomo reports for the Plain Dealer on May 22, 2014 that sixteen school superintendents in Lorain County are urging lawmakers to “unmake” changes in education policy that are threatening the public school system. The superintendents were gathered at meeting held at the Lorain County Community College on May 21, 2014, and identified as troublesome state and federal education policies that were developed without local input and do not align with what is best for local communities. These include excessive student testing, overly strict teacher evaluations, loss of state funding to charter and online schools, the Third Grade Reading Guarantee, and other cuts in funding for schools. The superintendents recommended an increase in state-funded pre-kindergarten, a fair system to fund charter schools, and a return to local control as strategies to improve local schools.

The superintendents targeted state policies for funding charter schools, e-schools, and nonpublic schools as a particular problem, because school districts often pay-out more to these schools than what they receive from the state. According to the article, “A school district gets an average of $3,540 per student from the state, the group said. By contrast, Ohio pays a charter school an average of $7,189 per student, supplies an “e-school” that provides teaching over the Internet an average of $6,658 per student, and gives a voucher with an average worth of $6,774 per student to a private school.”

See “School Superintendents in Lorain County Want State to Return Power to the Districts” by Michael Sangiacomo, The Plain Dealer, May 22, 2014 at
http://www.cleveland.com/avon-lake/index.ssf/2014/05/lorain_school_superintendents.html#incart_river

See also “What’s Best for Lorain County’s Schools? An Executive Summary of the Report from the Superintendents of Lorain County” March 2014 at
http://www.restorelocalcontrol.org/our-survey-results.html

The above report includes the results of a survey of registered voters sponsored by the Lorain County school superintendents and conducted in January 2014 by Burges and Burges. The survey was supported by a grant from Martha Holden Jennings, Nordson Corporation, Nord Family, and Stocker Foundations. The superintendents followed-up the survey with a series of public meetings, and summarized what they learned in an executive summary prepared in March 2014. The following are some of the findings of the survey and the public meetings:

A majority of residents in Lorain County believe that
-their school districts are doing an excellent or good job
-high quality teachers are the most important indicator of a high quality education
-earning high marks on the state report card isn’t that important
-increased state testing has not helped students
-decisions are best made at the local level
-preschool education-especially for those students from poverty--should be expanded (and they said they would increase their taxes to support it.)
-school finance is the biggest challenge facing our schools,
-their local tax dollars should not be going to support private schools and for-profit and online charter schools.

5) Another Study Questions VAM: Researchers Morgan Polikoff (USC) and Andrew Porter (University of Pennsylvania) published a study on May 12, 2014 that examines teachers’ instructional alignment with state standards and assessments and how it is associated with their contribution to student learning and their effectiveness, measured by value added models (VAMs).

The researchers evaluated data gathered from 327 forth and eighth grade math and English teachers in six school districts. The teachers were a sub-sample from the Bill and Melinda Gates foundation’s Measures of Effective Teaching (MET) study. The teachers were asked to complete the Surveys of Enacted Curriculum (SEC) content taxonomies, which was used in the study to measure instructional alignment for targeted classes. Teacher effectiveness was measured using the Tripod student survey. The teachers also video-recorded a classroom lesson, which was rated for quality of pedagogy using the Framework for Teaching (FFT) protocol. The MET projects value-added estimates were used to provide student achievement data.

According to the researchers the results of the study were disappointing: “Simply put, the correlations of value-added with observational measures of pedagogical quality, student survey measures, and instructional alignment were small.”

The researchers then identified some possible reasons for the results:

-“One interpretation of this conclusion is instructional alignment and pedagogical quality are not as important as standards-based reform theory suggests for affecting student learning.”

-“A second interpretation is that instructional alignment and pedagogical quality are as important as previously thought, but that the SEC and FFT do not capture the important elements of instruction.”

-“A third interpretation of our findings is that the tests used for calculating VAM are not particularly able to detect differences in the content or quality of classroom instruction.”

The researchers conducted further research to eliminate possible reasons, but in the end concluded, “Low correlations raise questions about the validity of high-stakes (e.g., performance evaluation) or low-stakes (e.g., instructional improvement) inferences made on the basis of value-added assessment data. Taken together with the modest stability of VAM measures (e.g., McCaffrey, Sass, Lockwood, & Mihaly, 2009), the results suggest challenges to the effective use of VAM data. At a minimum, these results suggest it may be fruitless for teachers to use state test VAMs to inform adjustments to their instruction. Furthermore, this interpretation raises the question—If VAMs are not meaningfully associated with either the content or quality of instruction, what are they measuring?”

See “Instructional Alignment as a Measure of Teaching Quality” by Morgan S. Polikoff (University of Southern California) and Andrew C. Porter (University of Pennsylvania), Educational Evaluation and Policy Analysis, American Educational Research Association, May 2014 at
Educational Evaluation and Policy Analysis 0162373714531851, first published on May 12, 2014
http://epa.sagepub.com/content/early/2014/04/11/0162373714531851.full.pdf+html?ijkey=Uwvo4Eg6.hQHI&keytype=ref&siteid=spepa

6) State Accountability Systems Must Change: Linda Darling Hammond, the Charles E. Ducommun Professor of Education, Stanford University, and Randi Weingarten, President, American Federation of Teachers, write for the Huff Post Education Blog that current state school accountability systems, which punish children, educators, and schools, must change.

They write that the use of a one-time high stakes tests “cannot capture the broader aspirations embedded in the new standards for problem solving, inquiry, team building, communication, collaboration, persistence, and other challenging skills.”

Greater investments in professional capacity will be needed to implement the new standards, especially for underfunded schools that serve highest-need students. And, the use of sanctions as an incentive to improve schools elicits the wrong responses, including teaching to the test and narrowing the curriculum.

Instead of the test and punish approach, they recommend the support and improvement model:

“1) curriculum, teaching, and assessment focused on meaningful learning, 2) adequate resources that are spent wisely, and 3) professional capacity, so that teachers and school leaders develop the knowledge and skills they need to teach much more challenging content in much more effective ways.”

According to the authors, California is currently using this model, and has invested an additional $1.25 billion to address student needs. As a result California reported its highest graduation rate of 80 percent this year, and the greatest growth on the National Assessment of Educational Progress between 2011-2013.

The authors write, “At the end of the day, the path on which California has embarked is more likely to produce a truly accountable educational system -- one that ensures all students experience engaging learning in supportive schools that help them pave a path to a productive future, not just another test.”

See “It’s Time for a New Accountability in American Education” by Linda Darling Hammond and Randi Weingarten, Huff Post Education Blog, May 19, 2014 at http://www.huffingtonpost.com/linda-darlinghammond/its-time-for-a-new-accoun_b_5351475.html

7) Bills Introduced

•HB556 (Rogers) Property Tax Rollbacks Restoration: To restore the application of the 10 percent and 2.5 percent property tax rollbacks to tax levies approved on or after the effective date of Am. Sub. H.B. 59 of the 130th General Assembly.

•HB546 (Dovilla/Antonio) Licensure-Music Therapists: To require the licensing of music therapists and to require the regulation of the licensing and practice of music therapists.

•HB547 (Fedor/Patterson) Community School Teacher Evaluation: To apply the state teacher evaluation system to teachers in community schools.

•HB548 (Fedor) Community School Study Committee: To establish a committee to study the effectiveness of community schools and community school regulations.

•HB549 (Fedor) Third Grade Reading Guarantee Delay: To delay until the 2015-2016 school year retention of third grade students and requirements for teachers who provide instruction to third grade students under the Third Grade Reading Guarantee, to provide for a subsidy for reading intervention services, and to make an appropriation

FYI ARTS

1) Update on the National Core Arts Standards: The National Coalition for Core Arts Standards (NCCAS) will host a “virtual launch” of The National Core Arts Standards on June 4th, 2014 at 1:00 – 3:00 PM EDT. Registration to participate in this live streamed event is at http://tinyurl.com/lrsajg9.

Over the past months writing teams have been reviewing comments about the standards, which were made available for review in February 2014, and include standards for dance, drama/theatre, media arts, music, and visual art. The writing teams represent teachers, artists, representatives from state and national organizations and agencies, including the following:

Americans for the Arts
American Alliance for Theatre and Education (AATE)
Educational Theatre Association (EdTA)
The College Board
National Association for Music Education (formerly MENC)
National Art Education Association (NAEA)
National Dance Education Organization (NDEO)
State Education Agency for Directors of Arts Education (SEADAE)
Media Arts Committee of the National Coalition for Core Arts Standards
Young Audiences

2) Turnaround Arts to Expand: George Stevens Jr. and Margo Lion co-chairs of the President’s Committee on the Arts and Humanities (PCAH), announced on May 20, 2014 that the Turnaround Arts pilot school initiative will expand from its original eight schools to 35 schools in 10 states — Iowa, Massachusetts, Connecticut, Louisiana, Oregon, Montana, Colorado, California, Illinois, Minnesota — and the District of Columbia, with plans to expand to 60 schools across the country in the future. The announcement was made at the first Turnaround Arts Talent Show, held at the White House and hosted by First Lady Michelle Obama, Honorary Chair of the President’s Committee on the Arts and Humanities.

The PCAH launched the Turnaround Arts project in May 2012 in partnership with the U.S. Department of Education and the White House Domestic Policy Council to test the hypothesis “...that high-quality and integrated arts education can be an effective tool to strengthen school reform efforts-boosting academic achievement and increasing student motivation in schools facing some of the toughest educational challenges in the country.”

Other partners include the Herb Alpert Foundation, the Rosenthal Family Foundation, the Keith Haring Foundation, Crayola LLC, the National Association of Music Merchants (NAMM) Foundation and Music Theater International. The program is administered in partnership with Americans for the Arts. Local program partners include: Academy of Urban School Leadership, Chicago, IL; Boston Public Schools, Boston, MA; CREATE CA, Los Angeles, CA; Des Moines Public Schools, Des Moines, IA; George Rodrigue Foundation of the Arts, Baton Rouge, LA; and Perpich Center for Arts Education, Minneapolis, MN.

Turnaround Arts is funded through a public-private partnership with the U.S. Department of Education, the National Endowment of the Arts, the Ford Foundation, and other private foundations and companies. The expanded program will provide over $5 million over the next three years to infuse the arts into low performing schools. Local partners will provide an additional $12 million to support additional visual art teachers, music teachers, and artists; to purchase art supplies, musical instructions; and provide additional resources to integrate all subjects areas with the arts.

To support the expansion of the program the PCAH announced a number of new “Turnaround Artists,” who will work with the individual schools: Chad Smith, Clarence Greenwood (aka Citizen Cope), Doc Shaw, Elizabeth Banks, Elton John, Frank Gehry, Jason Mraz, Jesse Tyler Ferguson, Josh Groban, Marc Anthony, Rashida Jones, Russell Simmons, the Silk Road Ensemble, Tim Robbins and Troy Andrews (aka Trombone Shorty). These artists join PCAH members who are currently working with the program, including Alfre Woodard, Chuck Close, Damian Woetzel, Forest Whitaker, John Lloyd Young, Kal Penn, Kerry James Marshall, Kerry Washington, Sarah Jessica Parker, and Yo-Yo Ma.

An interim evaluation of the program conducted by Booz Allen Hamilton and the Urban Education Institute at the University of Chicago shows that participating schools are demonstrating “improved academic performance, increased student and parent engagement, and improved culture and climate.”

All schools participating in Turnaround Arts will receive training and resources to address their individual needs. Resources will include a summer leadership program, in-school professional development, partnerships with community arts education and cultural organizations, art supplies and musical instruments. Participating artists will “adopt” Turnaround Arts schools for the length of the program, working with students, schools and communities to highlight their success.

See “Committee On The Arts And Humanities Announces Expansion Of Turnaround Arts Program”, May 20, 2014 at
http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2014/05/20/committee-arts-and-humanities-announces-expansion-turnaround-arts-progra

See “Turnaround Arts Initiative Progress Report 2013” by Sara Ray Stoelinga, Urban Education Institute Katie Joyce, Booz Allen Hamilton, and Yael Silk, Silk Strategic Arts, President’s Committee on Arts and Humanities, at
http://turnaroundarts.pcah.gov/news/

3) New Director of the Cleveland Museum of Art Named: The Cleveland Museum of Art’s Board of Trustees, Steven Kestner, chairman, announced on May 19, 2014 the selection of William M. Griswold as its 10th director. Dr. Griswold is currently the director of the Morgan Library & Museum in New York City, but has also worked at the J. Paul Getty Museum, the Minneapolis Institute of Arts, and the Metropolitan Museum of Art. He earned his bachelor’s degree at Trinity College, Hartford, Connecticut, and his Ph.D. at the Courtauld Institute of Art, London. The museum has recently completed a $350 million expansion project, and is preparing to celebrate its 100th anniversary in 2016.

See http://www.clevelandart.org/blog/2014/05/19/introducing-william-m.-griswold.

4) South Arts Releases Two Reports: South Arts, a nonprofit regional arts organization located in Atlanta, GA, released on May 15, 2014 two reports entitled Arts Education in the South Phase I: Public School Data and Principals’ Perspectives by Allen Bell and Arts Education in the South Phase II: Profiles of Quality by Joel Baxley, Susanne Burgess, Laurie Melnik, and Marissa Nesbit.

The reports examine access to and the quality of arts education programs in K-12 public schools in Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Tennessee through a “set of quantitative and qualitative research.”

The reports were commissioned by South Arts with funding from the National Endowment for the Arts and nine participating state arts agencies.

In the first phase of the research, data was collected from 4,400 principals representing about 29.3 percent in the region. The second phase of the research includes nine case studies conducted by the Southeast Center for Education in the Arts at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga.

According to the press release about the reports, “The data for responding schools is broken down to show results as an overview of the entire region, as well as by state and by school level. Among the report’s key findings are that, in general, the South as a region offers less access to visual arts and music than the national average: 71% of responding schools offer visual arts and 80% offer music, compared with national averages exceeding 83% and 91% respectively. Access to theatre at 22% is close to the national average, and dance exceeds the national average with 22% in the South compared to less than 10%. Results for individual states within the region, however, are highly variable.”

“The qualitative research, conducted by the Southeast Center for Education in the Arts at University of Tennessee Chattanooga, examined the traits of quality arts education in nine strong school programs. The study revealed four primary themes prevalent throughout these schools.

•The importance of relationships: All of the stakeholders in arts education (students, parents, teachers, and administrators) repeatedly identified a sense of community, feelings of acceptance and accomplishment, and pride in their programs.
•A shared vision of the arts: Successful programs also shared a sense of a unified mission throughout the district supported by strong leadership. The specific visions varied from district to district, but permeated the schools.
•The arts are core curriculum: In these districts, arts are planned according to state and national standards and not isolated from the rest of a school’s curriculum. In programs that considered the arts as core, arts instruction did not serve as an extracurricular option, and was perceived as an important part of the whole curriculum.
•Students are inducted into the working world of artists: These model districts also went beyond allowing students to make art: they allowed them opportunities to be artists through advanced social content and context.”

See “South Arts Releases Reports Analyzing Access to and Quality of Arts Education in the South”, May 15, 2014 at http://www.southarts.org/resources/research-and-publications/research/arts-education/

****More Details on HB487 (Brenner) MBR Education and HB483 (Amstutz) MBR Operations

1) Senate Passes HB487 (Brenner) MBR Education: The Senate Education Committee, chaired by Senator Lehner, approved on May 20, 2014 two omnibus amendments before reporting HB487 (Brenner) MBR Education. The Senate approved the bill on May 21, 2014 by a vote of 27 to 5.

Some of the 50 or so Senate amendments respond to the concerns raised by parents, students, teachers, and administrators, who are questioning the implementation of so many education policy changes at one time, including the Common Core State Standards, aligned state testing, teacher evaluation, new accountability consequences, and the Third Grade Reading Guarantee. The Senate version delays consequences for schools and teachers for a year, and includes language to bolster local control over curriculum decisions, and to ensure that student data is secure.

The Senate version also includes SB229 (Gardner) Teacher Evaluations as approved by the Senate. Currently the House Education Committee is hearing a Substitute SB229 that is quite different than the version approved by the Senate in December 2013. The Senate version relaxes some of the requirements for annual teacher evaluations and the percent of the evaluation based on student value added scores.

The following is a summary of HB487 that includes the Senate amendments and other provisions of the bill that were not changed by the Senate. The summary is based on a Research Memorandum prepared by the Ohio Legislative Service Commission and the bill.

Academic Content Standards

•Section 3301.078 Adopting Content Standards: The Senate amendment prohibits any official of the state or state board from entering into any agreement or memorandum of understanding with any federal or private entity that would require the state to cede any measure of control over the development, adoption, or revision of academic content standards.

Requires the State Board of Education (SBE) to establish standards to provide strict safeguards to protect the confidentiality of personally identifiable student data, in addition to the guidelines already required for the establishment and maintenance of the statewide Education Management Information System (EMIS).

•Section 3301.079 Requirements for Standards: The Senate amendment requires the SBE, when adopting academic content standards, to ensure that the standards emphasize “essential knowledge” instead of “rigor,” as in current law; include essential academic content and skills students are expected to know and do at grade level (as opposed to “core” content and skills as in current law); instill life-long learning by providing essential knowledge and skills based in the liberal arts tradition, as well as science, technology, engineering, mathematics, and career-technical education; and are clearly written, transparent, and understandable by parents, educators, and the general public.

Requires the SBE, in adopting or revising its academic content standards, to develop the standards in social studies, American history, American government, or science independently, and not as part of a multi-state consortium.

Requires the Ohio Department of Education (ODE) to post academic content standards on its website.

Creates the English language arts academic standards review committee, the mathematics academic standards review committee, the science academic standards review committee, and the social studies academic standards review committee.

Specifies the makeup of each committee, which must include prescribed experts, parents, and educators appointed by the President of the Senate, the Speaker of the House of Representatives, and the Governor. The state Superintendent and the Chancellor (or their designees) also are members of each committee.

Requires each committee to review the academic content standards for its respective subject area to ensure that such standards are clear, concise, and appropriate, and determine whether the assessments submitted to that committee are appropriate for the committee’s respective subject area and meet the academic content standards and community expectations.

Specifies that the assessments (and corresponding answers) received by the committees pursuant to this provision are not public records of the committees and are not subject to release by the committees to any other person or entity.

•NEW Section 3313.21 School District Local Control: The Senate amendment states that a school district board is the sole authority in determining and selecting textbooks, instructional materials, and academic curriculum for its schools.

Allows a school district board of education to permit educators to create instructional materials consistent with the board-adopted curriculum.

Specifies that nothing in the provision is intended to promote or encourage the use of any particular text or source material statewide.

•NEW Section 3313.72 and 3313.212 Parent Advisory Committees: The Senate amendment requires each school district board of education to establish a parental advisory committee, or another method for review, to provide an opportunity for parents to review the selection of textbooks and reading lists, instructional materials, and the academic curriculum used by schools in the district.

Academic Distress Commission

•Section 3302.10 Academic Distress Commission: The Senate amendment specifies that a school district is subject to the establishment of an academic distress commission if, for three or more consecutive years, a district has been declared to be in a state of academic emergency and has failed to make adequate yearly progress; the district has received a grade of “F” for the performance index score and a grade of “D” or “F” for the value-added progress dimension for the 2012-2013 or 2013-2014 school years; or the district has received an overall grade of “F.”

Accountability/Report Cards

•Section 3302.03 Value Added: The Senate amendment changes the calculation of the overall value-added progress dimension score for the annual state report cards so that the ODE uses either up to three years of value-added data or value-added data from the most recent school year, whichever results in a higher score.

Removes the House requirement for the ODE to use only assessment scores from students who have taken assessments at the school for at least two of the most recent school years in determining the value-added progress dimension grade for a school district or school on the report cards.

In adopting benchmarks for assigning letter grades the state board shall determine progress made based on the reduction in the total percentage of students scoring below grade level, or below proficient, compared from year to year on the reading and writing diagnostic assessments.

The amendment also requires the ODE to include on a school or district’s report card the percentage (rather than number) of students who have earned credit in advanced standing programs (formerly dual enrollment), such as college credit plus program (CCP) (formerly post-secondary enrollment options) and career technical courses.

•Section 3302.036 Report Card Letter Grade: This section delays the assignment of an overall report card letter grade for school districts or buildings for the 2014-2015 schools year, and as a result exempts schools/districts, STEM schools, and community schools from the consequences associated with the report card results. The bill states that report card ratings for the 2014-2015 school year shall have no effect in determining sanctions or penalties, but shall not create a new starting point for determinations that are based on ratings over multiple years.

•Section 9 Temporary Law: The Senate amendment permits a school district, community school, or STEM school to enter into a memorandum of understanding with its teachers’ union that stipulates that the value added progress dimension rating issued for the 2014-2015 school year will not be used when making decisions regarding teacher dismissal, retention, tenure, or compensation.

Age and Schooling Certificate

•Sections 3321.07, 3321.08, Section 3331.04 Age and Schooling Certificate: The Senate amendment makes changes regarding the age and schooling certificate and restores provisions of the “as introduced” version of the bill regarding the diploma, credential, or certification that a career-technical, commercial, or other special type of school must provide in order for a child to attend that school instead of high school.

Assessments

•Section 3301.0715 Diagnostic Assessments: Requires school districts to administer diagnostic assessments, but states that this section does not apply to students with significant cognitive disabilities.

Any district that received a grade of “A” or “B” for the performance index score or for the value-added progress dimension for the immediately preceding school year, may use different diagnostic assessments from those adopted under division (D) of section 3301.079 of the Revised Code in order to satisfy the requirements of division (A)(3) of this section regarding reading.

The ODE may report school and district level kindergarten diagnostic assessment data and use diagnostic assessment data to calculate the progress in literacy and report card ratings.

•Section 3301.163 Third Grade Reading, Scholarship Students: The bill requires students who receive vouchers to attend nonpublic schools beginning July 1, 2015 to be subject to the third-grade reading guarantee retention provisions. The bill requires that nonpublic schools participating in the voucher programs adopt policies and procedures regarding students who do not read at grade level, provide services, and report the number of students reading at grade level, and the number of students not reading at grade level to the ODE.

•Section 10 Temporary Law Online Assessments: Prohibits the ODE, for the 2014-2015 school year, from requiring a district or school to administer state achievement assessments in an online format, but permits a district or school to administer any of those assessments in an online format or in a combination of online and paper formats, at the discretion of the district board or school governing authority.

Requires the ODE to furnish, free of charge, all required assessments regardless of format selected by the district or school.

•Section 9 in Temporary Law Reasonable Testing: Requires the state Superintendent to submit a report, not later than January 15, 2015, to the Governor and the General Assembly that includes a review of the number of elementary and secondary assessments required to be administered under the state assessment system, and the state Superintendent’s recommendations for decreasing the number of assessments, and the number of designated dates for, and the duration of, the administration of such assessments, to ensure that the extent of testing is reasonable.

•Section 9 in Temporary Law Regarding the Third Grade Reading Assessment: The Senate amendment specifies which English language arts assessments will be administered to third grade students in the 2014-2015 school year.

Requires the Department of Education to develop a method to determine the equivalence between the scores from each assessment for purposes of calculating a district’s or school’s grades on the state report card.

•Section 3301.0711 and Section 10 in Temporary Law Assessments as Public Records: These sections state that the administration of the elementary assessments in the 2011-2012, 2012-2013, and 2013-2014 school years shall not be a public record. A certain percent of questions included in state assessments under Section 3301.0710 (B) each year will be released to the public, and requires that the ODE make the questions that become a public record under this division readily accessible to the public on the department’s web site. Questions on the spring administration of each assessment shall be released on an annual basis, in accordance with this division.

Career Advising

•Section 3313.6020 Career Advising and Dropout Prevention: The bill states that beginning in the school year 2015-16 (rather than 2016-17) each city, local, exempted village, and joint vocational school district, charter school, and STEM school shall adopt a policy on career advising, and update it every two years. The policy on career advising will include the following:

-Provide students with grade-level examples that link their schoolwork to one or more career fields. A district may use career connections for this purpose.
-Create a plan to provide career advising to students in grades six through twelve
-Beginning in the 2015-2016 school year, provide additional interventions and career advising for students who are identified as at risk of dropping out of school
-Train its employees on how to advise students on career pathways, including training on advising students using online tools
-Develop multiple, clear academic pathways through high school that students may choose in order to earn a high school diploma
-Identify and publicize courses that can award students both traditional academic and career-technical credit
-Document the career advising provided to each student for review by the student, the student’s parent, guardian, or custodian, and future schools that the student may attend. A district shall not otherwise release this information without the written consent of the student’s parent, guardian, or custodian, if the student is less than eighteen years old, or the written consent of the student, if the student is at least eighteen years old.
-Prepare students for their transition from high school to their post-secondary destinations, including any special interventions that are necessary for students in need of remediation in mathematics or English language arts.

The bill also requires each school district beginning in the 2015-2016 school year, to identify students who are at risk of dropping out of school using a method that is both research-based and locally-based and that is developed in consultation with the district’s classroom teachers and guidance counselors. If a student is identified as at risk of dropping out of school, the district shall develop a student success plan that addresses the student’s academic pathway to a successful graduation and the role of career-technical education, competency-based education, and experiential learning, as appropriate, in that pathway. The plan will be developed with student’s parent, guardian, or custodian to assist in developing the plan. If the student’s parent, guardian, or custodian does not participate in the development of the plan, the district shall provide to the parent, guardian, or custodian a copy of the student’s success plan and a statement of the importance of a high school diploma and the academic pathways available to the student in order to successfully graduate. Following the development of a student success plan for a student, the district shall provide career advising that is aligned with the student’s plan beginning in the 2015-2016 school year.

The ODE will post on its website not later than December 1, 2014, model policies on career advising and model student success plans.

•Sections 3326.11, NEW 3326.29, 3326.36 STEM Schools: The Senate amendment requires STEM schools to comply with the career advisory efforts in Section 3313.6020.

Career Technical Education

•Section 3313.90 Career-Technical Education: The bill requires by 2015-2016 the expansion of career technical services to students enrolled in grades seven and eight (based on school district enrollment) and advising for career-technical education. The board of education of a city, local, or exempted village school district can adopt a resolution that specifies the district’s intent not to provide career-technical education to students enrolled in grades seven and eight for a particular school year. The resolution must be submitted to the ODE by the thirtieth day of September of that school year. The ODE will grant a waiver of the requirement for that district to provide career-technical education to students enrolled in grades seven and eight for that particular school year.

Charter Schools

•Section 3313.537 Extra-Curricular Activities/Community Schools: The bill permits students enrolled in charter schools and STEM schools to have access to extracurricular activities in the district of residence, or in another school district if approved by the district’s superintendent, if the activity is not offered at the school the student is enrolled in, and if the activity is not interscholastic athletics or contests or competitions in music, drama, or forensics.

•Section 3314.191 Requirements of Sponsors: The Senate amendment states that community school sponsors must document certain operations are in place before the ODE will distribute funds to community schools.

•Section 3314.352 Reopening a Permanently Closed Community School: Prohibits a community schools to reopen under another name if the new school has the same sponsor as the closed school; if the new school has the same chief administrator as the closed school; if the governing authority of the new school consists of the same members as the closed school; if 50 percent of the teaching staff and administrators is the same as the closed school; and if the performance standards and accountability plan prescribed by the sponsor are the same as the closed school.

REMOVES a provision that exempted Internet- and computer-based community schools from the bill’s prohibition against a community school that is permanently closed for academic failure reopening under another name with the same sponsor, chief administrator, governing authority members, majority teaching staff, majority administrative staff, or performance standards and accountability plan as the closed school.

•REMOVED Changes in Section 3314.016 Community School Sponsor Rating System: This House amendment stated that the ODE will develop and implement an evaluation system for sponsors of charter schools in “conjunction with a statewide nonprofit organization whose membership is comprised solely of entities that sponsor community schools and whose members sponsor the majority of start-up community schools in the state.”

•Section 3314.03 Career Advising: The Senate amendment requires charter schools to comply with Section 3313.6020 regarding career advising.

Cleveland Metropolitan School District (CMSD)/Transformation Alliance

•Sections 3311.86, 3314.02, and 3314.029 Transformation Alliance: Replaces changes made to the Cleveland Metropolitan School District’s Transformation Alliance Plan in the House-passed version with the following:

Requires Transformation Alliance recommendations for “extending” a sponsor’s approval. Under current law, sponsors must request a recommendation from a Transformation Alliance when the ODE’s approval for a sponsor is granted or renewed (but not “extended”).

Permits the ODE to request from the Transformation Alliance, or the Transformation Alliance to independently offer, comment on the granting, renewal, or extension of an agreement with a sponsor of community schools when the sponsor has existing agreements with a community school located in CMSD.

Requires the Department to consider any Alliance comment in making decisions in granting, renewing, or extending agreements with sponsors.

Permits a school district board of education or governing board of an educational service center (ESC) to request from a Transformation Alliance, or a Transformation Alliance to independently offer, comment on the conversion of a school district school into a community school.

Requires a school district board or ESC governing board to consider any Alliance comment before entering into a preliminary agreement to create a conversion community school.

Removes the provisions of the House-passed version regarding ESC sponsorship of community schools.

Requires school district boards and ESC governing boards to request recommendations from the Transformation Alliance before entering into a preliminary agreement to convert a CMSD school to a community school.

Prohibits the Office of Ohio School Sponsorship from approving a community school for direct authorization in an alliance municipal school district unless that school has requested a recommendation from the Transformation Alliance.

•REMOVES Sections 3310.05 and 3313.975 EdChoice Scholarship: The House-passed bill qualified for an Educational Choice scholarship a student in the Cleveland Metropolitan School District if the number of applicants for the Cleveland Scholarship Program exceeded the number of available scholarships under that program. Instead, additional funding for the Cleveland Scholarship Program was added to HB483 (Amstutz).

College and Career Readiness

•REMOVED Section 3313.6015 Career Advising/Financial Literacy: This section requires that boards of education of each city, local, exempted village, joint vocational school district adopt a policy on college career readiness and financial literacy in the curriculum for grades seven or eight by July 1, 2015.

College Credit Plus Program (CCP)

•Sections 3365.01-3365.15 College Credit Plus Program: The Senate amendment includes changes in the proposed College Credit Plus Program, and removes a House provision that permitted school districts to negotiate agreements below the $40/credit hour floor with institutions of higher education (Section 3365.07 ORC).

The Senate amendment also modifies the CCP payment structure for public high school students enrolled in private colleges and allows that payment for costs for the participant that exceeds the default floor amount paid by the ODE be negotiated by the school and the college. The agreement may include a stipulation permitting the charging of a participant.

The bill also states, a participant that is identified as economically disadvantaged according to rules adopted by the department will be charged under for any tuition, textbooks, or other fees related to participation in the program.

The bill also does the following:

Restores a provision from the “as introduced” version of the bill that permits high schools and colleges, including those operating an Early College High School (ECHS) program, to obtain a waiver from the Chancellor of the Board of Regents and the Superintendent of Public Instruction from the requirements of the CCP program.

Permits the Chancellor and the state Superintendent to grant a waiver for an agreement governing an early college high school program or for a proposed agreement between a high school and a college, only if the agreement includes innovative programming to address the needs of underrepresented student subgroups.

Restores a provision from the “as introduced” version of the bill specifying that a waiver granted by the Chancellor and the state Superintendent applies only to the specific agreement for which the waiver is granted.

Modifies a provision that requires public and participating nonpublic high schools to implement a policy for the awarding of grades and the calculation of class standing for CCP courses by requiring that the adopted policy be equivalent to the school’s policy (rather than its “current” policy under the bill) for courses taken under other advanced standing programs (in the bill) and for courses designated as honors courses by the school.

Modifies the definition of “nonpublic secondary school” to include only chartered nonpublic schools, rather than both chartered and nonchartered nonpublic schools, and makes various other changes to align with the new definition.

Subjects a “nonchartered” nonpublic high school student who chooses to participate in the CCP program to the same requirements as a home-instructed student, rather than a chartered nonpublic school student, who chooses to participate in the CCP program.

Specifies that payments made by the ODE for a nonchartered nonpublic school participant under the CCP program must be made for the same amount and in the same manner as payments made for a home-instructed participant under the program, rather for a chartered nonpublic school participant.

•Section 3313.6013 Advanced Standing Programs: The bill replaces “dual enrollment” with “advanced standing programs”, which can be the college credit plus program, advanced placement courses, International Baccalaureate diploma courses, and early college high school programs. School districts are required to participate in the college credit plus program (Chapter 3365 ORC), and may offer more than one advanced standing programs. Each school district and each chartered nonpublic high school shall provide information about the dual enrollment advanced standing programs offered by the district or school to all students enrolled in grades eight through eleven.

This section also defines early college high school as “a program operated by a school district or school and an associated college that provides a personalized learning plan, which is based on accelerated curriculum and includes both high school and college-level coursework, and enables the following students to earn a high school diploma and an associate degree, or the equivalent number of transcripted credits, upon successful completion of the program:
-Students who are underrepresented in regard to completing post-secondary education
-Students who are economically disadvantaged, as defined by the department of education
-Students whose parents did not earn a college degree

Data Use/Confidentiality

•Section 3301.0714 Management Information System: Requires the SBE to adopt rules that include standards to provide “strict safeguards to protect the confidentiality of personally identifiable student data.”

Section (B)(1)(n) makes an exception for parents who do not want diagnostic information about their kindergarten student reported, but still requires data to be collected about the results of the language and reading assessments, and removes a provision that prohibited this information to be reported on the state report cards.

•NEW Section 3301.947 Confidentiality of Data Use: The Senate amendment specifies that data collected in the course of administering elementary and secondary achievement assessments must be used for the sole purpose of measuring and improving the academic progress and needs of students, educators, school districts, and schools.

States that, in the course of such testing, no personally identifiable information of a student’s or a student’s family’s social security numbers, religion, political party affiliation, voting history, or biometric information may be collected, tracked, housed with, reported to, or shared with any entity, including the federal or state government.

Dropout Prevention and Recovery

•Section 3313.603 Waiver from High School Curriculum Requirements: Specifies that, starting on July 1, 2015, (rather than July 1, 2016, as in the House passed version of the bill), dropout prevention and recovery programs must satisfy the bill’s new requirements related to career advising and student services (in addition to all other conditions specified in current law) in order to receive a waiver from the standard high school curriculum requirements.

The program must also submit to the ODE a written agreement outlining the future cooperation between the program and any combination of local job training, postsecondary education, nonprofit, and health and social service organizations to provide services for students in the program and their families.

Requires that a district, community school, or STEM school consult with the district’s or school’s classroom teachers and guidance counselors in developing a method to identify students who are at risk of dropping out of school under the bill’s provisions.

Educational Service Centers

Section 3313.843 Educational Service Centers Payment: Clarifies the payment of the operating subsidy paid to educational service centers.

Emergency Management Plans for Schools

•Sections 149.433, NEW 3313.536, and 3319.31 Emergency Management Plans: Changes the name of “school safety plans” to “emergency management plans” and requires the “administrator” of specified schools, preschools, and educational centers and facilities to develop, adopt, and submit to the ODE and local law enforcement agencies a comprehensive emergency management plan that incorporates a floor plan, site plan, and emergency contact information sheet, in addition to protocols for threats and emergency events.

Requires each administrator annually to review the plan and certify its accuracy to the ODE, as well as to update the plan every three years (current law), whenever major modifications require changes (current law), or whenever information on the emergency contact information sheet is not accurate (added by the amendment).

Requires each administrator to conduct at least one annual emergency management test, which is defined as “a regularly scheduled drill, exercise, or activity designed to assess and evaluate an emergency management plan.”

Subjects any administrator who is an applicant for a license or who holds a license from the SBE to disciplinary action on the administrator’s license, if the administrator fails to comply with the requirements related to such plans.

Specifies that copies of the emergency management plans and information incorporated into the plans, including related information that is required to be posted on the Contact and Information Management System by the Director of Public Safety, are not public records.

Gifted Education

Section 3324.07 Gifted Education: The bill changes the term “post-secondary enrollment options” to “college credit plus” program.

REMOVED: Section 3324.09 Expenditures for Gifted Students: This House amendment requires school districts to report to the ODE by July 31st of each year the spending of funds for the identification and services provided to the district’s gifted students.

REMOVED: Section 3324.11 Gifted Education: This House amendment prohibits a school district from reporting that it has provided services to a student identified as gifted unless those services are paid for by the district.

Graduation Requirements

•Section 3313.603 Graduation Requirements: The Senate amendment replaces throughout this section the phrase “Ohio core curriculum” with “requirements for graduation”.

The bill allows students who enter ninth grade on or before July 1, 2016 to qualify for graduation even if they have not completed the “requirements for graduation” in 3313.603 (C). The student, parents, and school will develop a “student success plan”, rather than an “individual career plan,” that specifies the student matriculating to a two-year degree program, acquiring a business and industry credential, or entering an apprenticeship.

Higher Education

•Section 3345.06 Admission’s Requirements: Requires state institutions of higher education to accept a sworn affidavit verifying completion of a student’s high school curriculum from students enrolled in “nonchartered” non public schools, rather than chartered nonpublic schools as under the House-passed version of the bill.

Prohibits state institutions of higher education from discriminating against students enrolled in “nonchartered” nonpublic schools, rather than chartered nonpublic schools as under the House-passed version of the bill, solely on the manner in which students received instruction.

Specifies that, “for the purposes of consideration for admission,” rather than “for the purposes of admission,” state institutions of higher education must accept a sworn affidavit verifying completion of a student’s high school curriculum from chartered nonpublic students and home-instructed students, and must not discriminate solely on the manner in which such students received instruction.

Requires that any affidavit submitted to a state institution of higher education in order to verify completion of the high school curriculum for a chartered nonpublic student (changed to a nonchartered nonpublic student) or a home-instructed student must also include a record of the student’s completed coursework and the grade received in each course.

•Section 3333.041 Chancellor of the Board of Regents: Requires the Chancellor to report to the governor and the general assembly about the advanced standing programs and post the information on the chancellor’s web site.

•REPEALS Section 3345.062 which requires institutions of higher education to offer distance learning courses to high school students.

Ohio Innovative Lab Network

•NEW Section 3302.15 Ohio Innovative Lab Network: This new provision creates the Ohio Innovative Lab Network, limited to STEM schools and up to 10 school districts. These schools will be able to request and receive waivers from the current state assessment system, and adopt an alternative assessment system. The school districts will be selected by the Superintendent of Public Instruction.

Prescribes the contents that must be included in the request for a waiver, and requires the state Superintendent to approve or deny a request for a waiver or request additional information within 30 days after receiving a request.

Requires the ODE to seek a waiver from the testing requirements prescribed under the federal “No Child Left Behind Act of 2001,” and to create a mechanism for the comparison of the proposed alternative assessments and the state assessments as it relates to the evaluation of teachers and student achievement data for the purpose of state report card ratings.

NEW Section 3326.29 STEM School: Permits a STEM school to request to the superintendent of public administration a waiver from administering the state achievement assessments required under sections 3301.0710 and 3301.0712 of the Revised Code and related requirements specified under division (C)(2) of section 3302.15 of the Revised Code. A STEM school that obtains a waiver under section 3302.15 of the Revised Code shall comply with all provisions of that section as if it were a school district. A STEM school is presumptively eligible to request such a waiver.

Nonpublic Schools

•Section 3301.0711 State Assessments: The Senate amendment exempts a chartered nonpublic school from the requirement to administer the elementary achievement assessments if the school solely serves students with disabilities, and at least 95 percent of the school's students are children with disabilities, or have received a diagnosis by a school district or from certain physicians as having a condition that impairs academic performance, such as dyslexia, dyscalculia, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, or Asperger's syndrome. (This section seems to pertain to the Marburn Academy in Columbus.)

The school must also be accredited through the Independent School Association of the Central States; has been issued a charter by the State Board of Education; and the school provides to the Department of Education at least five years of records of internal testing conducted by the school that affords the ODE data required for accountability purposes, including diagnostic assessments and nationally standardized norm-referenced achievement assessments that measure reading and math skills.

Defines a child with a disability for purposes of determining if such a student is exempt from retention under the bill’s third-grade reading guarantee for students enrolled in a chartered nonpublic school on a state scholarship. The student’s individual service plan developed for reading will be considered in the same manner as the individual education program (IEP).

•Section 3310.03 (6) EdChoice Eligibility: Permits students in a 9-12 grade school that received a grade of “D” or “F” for the four-year adjusted cohort graduation rate for two out of three years to be eligible for an EdChoice scholarship.

•Section 3310.031 (B)(2) EdChoice Eligibility: Permits students attending nonpublic schools to be eligible for an EdChoice Scholarship if they attended a public school the previous school year, and would be assigned to a school that would qualify them for a voucher.

•REMOVED: Sections 3310.05 and 3313.975 EdChoice and Cleveland Scholarship Eligibility: Permits students who are in the Cleveland Metropolitan School District (CMSD) and are eligible for the Cleveland Scholarship Program to participate in the EdChoice Scholarship if the number of applicants to the Cleveland Scholarship Program exceeds the number of available scholarships.

•Section 3310.13 EdChoice Scholarship: Permits a chartered nonpublic school to charge a student receiving an Educational Choice (EdChoice) scholarship if the student’s family income is above 200 percent of the federal poverty guidelines “up to the difference” between the scholarship amount and the school’s tuition, instead of charging “the difference” between the scholarship amount and the school’s tuition under current law.

Permits, instead of requires as under current law, a chartered nonpublic school to permit an eligible student’s family, at the family’s option, to provide volunteer services in lieu of cash payment to pay all or part of the amount of the school’s tuition not covered by an Ed Choice scholarship.

•Sections 3310.14 and 3310.522 Nonpublic Schools State Assessments: Exempts certain nonpublic schools from administering the elementary state assessment to students who receive EdChoice scholarships. See Section 3301.0711.

•REMOVED PART D Section 3313.612 Non public Schools Graduation Requirements: The Senate amendment removes a new part (D), which was added by the Ohio House, and states that a nonpublic school chartered by the state board may forgo end-of-course exams if the school publishes the results of a standardized assessment prescribed for each graduating class to measure college and career readiness. The published results shall include the overall composite scores, mean scores, 25th percentile scores, and 75th percentile scores for each subject area of the assessment.

The amendment restores Section 3313.615, which provides an exemption to the state graduation requirements that had been available to private schools accredited through the Independent School Association of the Central States.

•Section 10 in Temporary Law: Reinstates the current law exemption from the end-of-course examination for students attending a chartered nonpublic school accredited through the Independent School Association of the Central States. This provision was eliminated in the House-passed version.

•Section 3301.0712 College and Work-Ready Assessments: Removes a provision of the House-passed version that provides for an exemption for a student attending a chartered nonpublic school from passing the end-of-course examinations as a prerequisite for high school graduation, if the student’s school publishes for each graduating class the results of the required nationally standardized assessment that measures college and career readiness.

•Section 14 in Temporary Law Graduation Requirements: Creates an 11-member committee that must submit a report of recommendations regarding graduation requirements and testing requirements for students enrolled in chartered nonpublic schools to the chairpersons of the education committees of the House of Representatives and Senate by January 15, 2015.

Participation in Sports

•Sections 3313.539, 3707.511, 3707.521 Guideline for Concussions: Requires the Director of Health, in consultation with a representative of the State Medical Board, a representative of the State Chiropractic Board, and any additional representatives of licensed health care professions the Director considers appropriate, to develop and publish guidelines for the diagnosis, treatment, and clearance of concussions and head injuries sustained by athletes participating in interscholastic athletics or athletic activities organized by youth sports organizations and adopt rules governing minimum education and continuing education requirements for physicians and other licensed health care professionals who conduct assessments of those athletes and grant clearances to return to practice or competition.

Authorizes licensed health care professionals who meet the education and continuing education requirements established in rules adopted by the Director to assess and clear interscholastic and youth sports organizations athletes for return to play following suspected concussions (in addition to the physicians and licensed health care providers authorized to do so by current law).

Beginning 180 days after the bill’s effective date, requires the physicians and health care providers authorized by current law to conduct concussion assessments and clearances to meet the education and continuing education requirements established in rules adopted by the Director.

Proceeds of the Sale of Real Property

•Sections 5705.10 and Section 9 in Temporary Law Proceeds Real Property Sales: Permits a district board of education to use the proceeds received from the sale of school district real property for the construction or acquisition of permanent improvements.

Specifies that, if a board of education disposed of real property on or before September 29, 2013, that district may use the proceeds received from the sale for the retirement of any debt that was incurred by the district with respect to the real property or for the construction or acquisition of permanent improvements.

School District Mergers/Indebtedness

•Sections 3311.24, NEW Section 3311.241 District Mergers/Debt Consolidation, 3311.25: Some of these sections were included in HB216 (Patterson), which was reported by the House Education Committee on October 30, 2013.

The bill permits two or more contiguous school districts, at least one of which has a population of less than 100,000, to merge if certain conditions are met. The amendment also provides that, under specified conditions, the merged districts' indebtedness owed to the Solvency Assistance Fund is not assumed by the new district created by the merger.

•Section 8 in Temporary Law Solvency Assistance Fund: Cancels the amount owed to the Solvency Assistance Fund by any school district that has fewer than 500 students when either the entire territory of the district is transferred to a contiguous school district not later than June 30, 2015, or the district receives the entire territory of a contiguous school district not later than June 30, 2015.

School Facilities Commission

•Section 3318.70 and Section 10 in Temporary Law STEM Schools: Requires the Ohio School Facilities Commission to establish guidelines for assisting STEM schools in the acquisition of classroom facilities.

Requires (rather than permits as under current law) the Commission, subject to Controlling Board approval, to provide funding to any STEM school that is not governed by a single school district board.

School for the Blind

•Section 3325.02, 3325.06, Section 3325.07, 3325.09, 3325.10, 3325.17, and 3325.071 Parent Training: Requires the SBE to institute and establish a program at the State School for the Blind to train and assist parents of children of preschool age whose disabilities are visual impairments.

NEW Section 3325.09 requires the SBE to institute and establish at the State School for the Blind career-technical education and work training programs for secondary and postsecondary students whose disabilities are visual impairments.

NEW Section 3325.17 creates the State School for the Blind Educational Program Expense Fund, and requires the State School for the Blind to use monies in the fund for educational programs, after-school activities, and expenses associated with student activities.

Specifies that, for purposes of provisions of law related to the State School for the Blind, visual impairment means "blindness, partial-blindness, deaf-blindness, or multiple disabilities if one of the disabilities is vision related."

Teacher Evaluations and License Renewal

•Sections 3319.111, 3319.112, and Sections 9 and 10 in Temporary Law Teacher Evaluations: Adopts the Senate-passed version of SB229 and requires that student academic growth account for 35 percent of certain teacher's performance evaluation, rather than 50 percent as required by current law, but permits a school district or school to attribute an additional percentage, up to 15 percent, of each evaluation to student academic growth.

Permits a school district or school to evaluate any teacher who received a rating of "accomplished" on the teacher's most recent evaluation once every three years and any teacher who received a rating of "skilled" on the teacher's most recent evaluation once every two years.

Permits a school board to elect not to evaluate a teacher who either was on leave from the school district for 50 percent or more of the school year, or has submitted notice of retirement and that notice has been accepted by the board not later than December 1 of the school year in which the evaluation is otherwise scheduled.

•Section 3319.22 License Renewal: The bill allows a resident educator license to be valid and renewable for reasons specified by rules adopted by the SBE.

•Section 3319.26 Alternative Resident Educator License: The bill requires the SBE to develop rules about the reasons for which an alternative resident educator license may be renewed.

•Section 3319.31 Denying a License: The bill adds to the reasons for which the state board of education can deny a license failure to comply with submitting an emergency management plan to the ODE, Attorney General’s Office, and local agencies.

Voluntary Patrol of School Premises

•REMOVED: Section 3313.94 School Patrol Services/Tax Credits: This provision in the House version was originally included in HB215 (DeVitis) Law Enforcement Volunteers in School. It allows public schools and nonpublic schools to engage a current or retired law enforcement officer on a volunteer basis to patrol the premises of a school, and makes the volunteer eligible for a nonrefundable tax credit. Sections in law regarding nonrefundable tax credits are also amended in accordance with this provision.

Provisions in Temporary Law

•Section 3 Charter Schools: Exempts charter schools (Section 3314.03) and STEM schools (3326.11) from the requirement to adopt a resolution about college and career readiness and financial literacy in grades 7-8.

•REMOVES Section 3314.016. This House provision relates to sponsors of community schools. It requires the ODE to develop and implement an evaluation system for sponsors “in conjunction with a statewide nonprofit organization whose membership is comprised solely of entities that sponsor community schools and whose members sponsor the majority of start-up community schools in the state”.

•Section 6 School Based Health Care Advisory Workgroup: The House version of the bill adds a representative of the Ohio Association of County Behavioral Health Authorities, and the Senate version adds a representative from the Ohio School Psychologists Association to the School Based Health Care Advisory Workgroup.

•Section 7 College Credit Plus: This section states that the College Credit Plus Program will begin operations for the 2015-16 school year. The Post-Secondary Enrollment Options Program will continue to operate for the 2014-15 school year. Beginning on the effective date of this section, the Department of Education, State Board of Education, and Chancellor of the Ohio Board of Regents shall take the necessary steps to adopt rules, guidelines, and procedures and to create any necessary forms and documents so that the College Credit Plus Program is fully operational for the 2015-2016 school year.

•Section 8 Solvency Assistance: The Senate amendment cancels the amount owed to the solvency assistance fund for eligible school districts (under 500 students) that transfer their entire territory to a contiguous school district. The amendment also allows the eligible school district to receive assistance from the Ohio School Facilities Commission.

•Section 9 Proceeds Real Property: This sections allows a board of education that disposed of real property on or after September 29, 2013 to use the proceeds of the sale for permanent improvements or to retire a debt.

•Section 10 Student Surveys: The Senate amendment directs the ODE to approve at least two empirically tested and validated student survey instructions for use by school districts that elect to conduct student surveys in accordance with teacher evaluations.

•Section 11 Elementary Assessments: This section requires the superintendent of public instruction to review the number of elementary and secondary assessments and make recommendations by January 15, 2015 for decreasing the number of assessments; decreasing the number of designated dates for administering the assessments; and the duration of the assessments.

•Section 12 Third Grade Reading Guarantee: This section describes the testing requirements for the Third Grade Reading Guarantee Program for the 2014-15 school year. All types of schools, except non-public schools, are required to administer the fall and spring the assessment previously used in English language arts, but can also administer in the spring the Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers (PARCC), or a different assessment.

•Section 13 Online Assessments: The Senate amendment states that, “...for the 2014-2015 school year, no school district, community school, STEM school, college-preparatory boarding school, or chartered nonpublic school shall be required to administer an online format any assessments prescribed by sections 3301.0710 and 3301.0712 of the Revised Code. However, a district or school may administer any of those assessments in an online format at the discretion of the district board or school governing authority, or in any combination of online and paper formats. The department of education shall furnish, free of charge, all such assessments for that school year regardless of the format selected by the district or school.”

•Section 14 Nonpublic School Graduation Requirements: This section requires the formation of a committee to make recommendations by January 15, 2015 regarding graduation requirements and other state-mandated testing requirements for students who attend chartered nonpublic schools. The committee shall consist of the following members:

-The Superintendent of Public Instruction or the Superintendent’s designee, who shall act as the chairperson
-The President of the state Board of Education or the President’s designee
-Three individuals, appointed by the Speaker of the House of Representatives, one of which shall be recommended by the Minority Leader of the House of Representatives
-Three individuals, appointed by the President of the Senate, one of which shall be recommended by the Minority Leader of the Senate;
-Three individuals, appointed by the Superintendent of Public Instruction, representing the Catholic Conference of Ohio; a nonpublic school accredited through the Independent School Association of the Central States; and a nonpublic school that is not a member of the Catholic Conference of Ohio or accredited through the Independent School Association of the Central States.

•Section 15 Release of Test Questions: The Senate amendment requires that “the entirety of the questions and corresponding preferred answers of the assessments” administered in the spring of the 2014-2015 school year “shall be released within three years of its administration.”

•Section 16 Decisions Based on Value Added: The Senate amendment states that the value-added progress dimension rating issued for the 2014-2015 school year to assess student academic growth for purposes of teacher evaluations will not be used when making decisions regarding the dismissal, retention, tenure, or compensation of the district’s or school’s teachers.

2) Senate Passes HB483 (Amstutz) MBR-Operations

The Ohio Senate approved on May 21, 2014 HB483 (Amstutz) by a vote of 24 to 8. The bill includes appropriations for a variety of programs including those for education and community-based programs for the arts, and several changes in state tax policies, which will reduce state tax revenue by more than $400 million, according to reports.

Among the amendments added by the Senate is an acceleration of the 10 percent income tax cut included in HB59 (Amstutz) Biennial Budget, and an increase in the small business income tax credit from 50 to 75 percent for tax year 2014 on up to $250,000 of Ohio income.

The Earned Income Tax Credit was also increased from five percent to the federal credit of 10 percent to help middle and low-income residents.

The Senate also added an amendment that requires municipal corporations with income taxes to annually report to the tax commission the amount of tax revenue collected from residents and nonresidents.

The bill now includes SB52 (Coley), which limits who can file claims to challenge property values. The county recorder is allowed, but not required, to make challenges on behalf of school districts and local governments. The bill allows school districts to respond to claims by taxpayers who challenge their property values as being set too high, but school districts can no longer initiate a challenge of property values.

(See “Small Solutions to Ohio’s Big Problems in Senate Budget Bill”, Policy Matters Ohio, May 22, 2014 at
http://www.policymattersohio.org/senate-may2014)

Regarding education policies, the Senate removed the dropout prevention and recovery provisions and the $5 million in appropriations to support the provision; eliminated a $200,000 earmark for STEM schools; creates a line item for school security grants and allows nonpublic schools to participate; adjusts the appropriations for the Cleveland Scholarship program to fully fund it, rather than expand the EdChoice Scholarship Program; and provides $10 million for the Career Advising and Mentoring program.

The following is a summary of some provisions included in the Senate version of HB483:

•NEW Section 3302.15 Ohio Innovative Lab Network: Creates the Ohio Innovative Lab Network for up to 10 school districts. A school district that is a member can request from the Superintendent of Public Instruction a waiver for up to five school years from administering the state achievement assessments and related requirements. A district that obtains a waiver under this section shall use the alternative assessment system, as proposed by the district or school and as approved by the state superintendent, in place of the current required assessments. (This provision is also included in HB487.)

•Section 3303.41 Council on People with Disabilities: Changes the membership requirements and succession requirements for the chairman, and makes other changes for the Council on People with Disabilities.

•NEW Section 3313.351 Attorney General/websites: States that the attorney general may educate school districts about contracting with any entity that provides students with account-based access to a web site or an online service, including electronic mail.

•Section 3313.372 Energy Conservation: Requires an energy services company to provide a surety bond upon the request of a board of education, and describes the requirements of the bond.

•NEW Section 3313.902 Adult Career Opportunity Pilot Program: Creates the Adult Career Opportunity Pilot Program, which will enable an eligible student to obtain a high school diploma from an eligible institution. Institutions must obtain approval to institute the program from the state board of education and the chancellor.

A program shall be eligible for this approval if it satisfies all of the following requirements:
-The program allows an eligible student to complete the requirements for obtaining a high school diploma while completing requirements for an approved industry credential or certificate.
-The program includes career advising and outreach.
-The program includes opportunities for students to receive a competency-based education.

The superintendent of public instruction, in consultation with the chancellor, shall adopt rules for the implementation of the adult career opportunity pilot program, including the requirements for applying for program approval.

•Sections 3314.08, 3313.64, or 3313.65 and 3317.02 State Funding for Career Tech: The bill makes changes in how payments are calculated for students in career technical education programs.

•REMOVED NEW Section 3314.38 Dropout Prevention and Recovery Programs/Charter School; Removes NEW Sections 3317.23 Dropout Prevention and Recovery Programs/School Districts; NEW Section 3317.24 Dropout Prevention and Recovery/Joint Vocational School Districts; and NEW Section 3345.86 Dropout Prevention and Recovery/Community Colleges.

•Section 3317.217 Computation of Targeted Assistance: Includes students attending STEM schools in the ADM of school districts regarding the Targeted Assistance calculation.

•Section 3317.06 Nonpublic School Allowable Purchases: Allows public funds to be used to purchase or lease equipment for emergency communications systems, school entrance security systems, or both for placement in nonpublic schools within the district.

•Section 3318.36 School Facilities: Defines “tangible personal property phase-out impacted district” as a school district for which the taxable value of its tangible personal property for tax year 2005, excluding the taxable value of public utility personal property, made up eighteen per cent or more of its total taxable value for tax year 2005. Makes changes regarding the participation and ranking of tangible personal property phase-out impacted districts in the Ohio School Facilities Program.

•Section 3326.29 Ohio Innovative Lab Network: A STEM school established under this chapter may submit to the superintendent of public administration a request for a waiver from administering the state achievement assessments and related requirements in the manner prescribed by that section as if it were a school district. A STEM school that obtains a waiver under section 3302.15 of the Revised Code shall comply with all provisions of that section as if it were a school district. A STEM school is presumptively eligible to request such a waiver.

•Section 3345.56 Student Unions: States that a student attending a state university as defined in section 3345.011 of the Revised Code is not an employee of the state university based upon the student’s participation in an athletic program offered by the state university.

•Section 3358.03 State Community College District: Makes changes in the membership of the board of trustees of state community college districts.

Temporary Law and Funding

•Section 263.230 Career Technical Planning Districts: Any remaining funds in each fiscal year from a $2 million set aside for career-technical planning districts will be reimbursed to the Department of Youth Services and the Department of Rehabilitation and Correction for individuals in these facilities who have taken the GED for the first time. The amounts reimbursed shall not exceed the per-individual amounts reimbursed to other individuals under this section for each section of the GED.

-Of the foregoing appropriation item 200550, Foundation Funding, up to $18,713,327 in fiscal year 2014 and up to $26,213,327 in fiscal year 2015 will be used to support school choice programs. This is an increase of $7.5 million from the current level of support.

•Section 263.240 and 263.250 Joint Vocational School Districts: Makes changes regarding funding for joint vocational school districts.

•263.270 Adult Career Opportunity Pilot Program: The foregoing appropriation item 200654, Adult Career Opportunity Pilot Program, shall be used by the Superintendent of Public Instruction to award and administer planning grants for the Adult Career Opportunity Pilot Program established in section 3313.902 of the Revised Code.

The Superintendent may award grants of up to $500,000 to not more than five eligible institutions. The grants shall be used by selected eligible institutions to build capacity to implement the program beginning in the 2015-2016 academic year.

The Superintendent of Public Instruction and the Chancellor, or their designees, shall develop an application process to award these grants to eligible institutions geographically dispersed across the state. Any remaining appropriation after providing grants to eligible institutions may be used to provide technical assistance to eligible institutions receiving the grant.

The Superintendent, in consultation with the Chancellor, the Governor’s Office of Workforce Transformation, the Ohio Association of Community Colleges, Ohio Technical Centers, Adult Basic and Literacy Education programs, and other interested parties as deemed necessary, or their designees, shall develop recommendations for the method of funding and other associated requirements for the Adult Career Opportunity Pilot Program.

The Superintendent shall provide a report of the recommendations to the Governor, the President of the Senate, and the Speaker of the House of Representatives by December 31, 2014.

•Section 263.320 Career Advising and Mentoring Program: The foregoing appropriation item 200629, Career Advising and Mentoring ($10 million), shall be used by the State Superintendent of Public Instruction to create the Career Advising and Mentoring Grant Program.

The Superintendent shall develop guidelines for the grants. The program shall award competitive matching grants to provide funding for local networks of volunteers and organizations to sponsor career advising and mentoring for students in eligible school districts.

Each grant award shall match up to three times the funds allocated to the project by the local network. Eligible school districts are those with a high percentage of students in poverty, a high number of students not graduating on time, and other criteria as determined by the State Superintendent.

Eligible school districts shall partner with members of the business community, civic organizations, or the faith-based community to provide sustainable career advising and mentoring services.

Section 263.325 Straight A Grant Program: Grants awarded under this section may be used by grant recipients for grant-related expenses incurred for a period not to exceed two years from the date of the award according to guidelines established by the Straight A Fund governing board.

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Joan Platz
Director of Research

Ohio Alliance for Arts Education
77 South High Street Second Floor
Columbus, OH 43215
614-446-9669 - cell
joan.platz@gmail.com

Please note that my account at
jplatz@chemistry.ohio-state.edu
will soon be deactivated. Please transition to my gmail account. Thank you.