Legislative Update 5/12/14

From: Ann Brennan 

FYI: Important update - the next few weeks will be active ones, as many major education bills will be considered and approved before the General Assembly recesses for summer.

Ohio News

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

The Senate Finance Committee, chaired by Senator Oelslager, will meet on May 13, 2014 at 10:00 AM and May 14, 2014 at 9:30 AM in the Senate Finance Hearing Room. The committee will receive testimony on seven bills, including three Mid Biennial Review (MBR) bills that affect education policies. Those bills are:  

  • HB486 (Baker/Stebelton) MBR-Workforce and Economic Development Programs  
  • HB483 (Amstutz) MBR-Operation of State Programs  
  • HB484 (Rosenberger/Brown) MBR-Higher Education 

The committee is also receiving testimony on HB492 (Scherer) MBR-Taxation and HB85 (Terhar/Gonzales) Homestead Exemption. 

The Senate Education Committee, chaired by Senator Lehner, will meet on May 13, 2014 at 1:30 PM in the South Hearing Room and on May 14, 2014 at 2:30 PM in room 110. The committee will receive testimony on HB487 (Brenner) MBR K-12 Education Programs.

The House Education Committee, chaired by Representative Stebelton, will meet on May 14, 2014 at 9:00 AM in hearing Room 313. The committee will receive testimony on the following bills: 

  • HB437 (Hagen/Ramos) Child Sexual Abuse Prevention Instruction  
  • HB449 (Gonzales) Higher Education-Residency Status  
  • HB460 (Brenner/Driehaus) School Restructuring 
  • SB229 (Gardner) Teacher Performance Evaluations 

May 6, 2014 Primary Election Results: Last week Ohio voters selected candidates for the November 2014 Election, approved State Issue 1, the State Capital Improvement Program, and voted on hundreds of local issues, including tax issues for schools. 

The Ohio School Boards Association reported last week that 69 percent of school tax issues were approved by voters on May 6, 2014, which is an increase of nine percent compared to May 2013. There were a total of 148 school tax issues on the ballot this year, including emergency levies, operating levies, permanent improvement levies, bond issues, income tax levies, etc.

See OSBA Levy Results Data Base.

More Ohio News

Ohio Presidential Scholars Named: U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan announced on May 5, 2014 the members of the 50th class of U.S. Presidential Scholars. Simon S. Horn, Bexley High School, and Lindsay, J. Myers, Princeton High School, were selected as Presidential Scholars from Ohio. They are among 141 students from across the country who have been recognized for their accomplishments in academics and the arts. Candidates are nominated by the chief state school officer of a state, or, in the case of the arts, the National YoungArts Foundation's nationwide YoungArts competition. The 2014 Presidential Scholars awards ceremony will be held June 22, 2014 when each honoree will receive a Presidential Scholar Medallion.


More information is available.  

OEA Votes to Delay High-Stakes Decisions: Catherine Candisky reports for the Columbus Dispatch that the Ohio Education Association's Spring Representative Assembly voted on May 9, 2014 to urge Ohio lawmakers to delay for three years making high-stakes decisions tied to the new state standardized assessments aligned to the Common Core State Standards. This would include decisions about students (third grade reading), teacher evaluations, and district/school ratings.

See "Teachers Union Wants Testing Delay" by Catherine Candisky, Columbus Dispatch, May 10, 2014.

More on "Thorough and Efficient": In a May 10, 2014 letter to the Columbus Dispatch, Nick Pittner, lead attorney for the plaintiffs in the DeRolph school funding lawsuits, challenges the proposal to remove from the Ohio Constitution the "thorough and efficient" standard for Ohio's education system and the assertion that the courts have no role to play in determining the constitutionality of laws. The proposal was offered by Chad Readler, the chair of the Education, Public Institutions & Miscellaneous and Local Government, at the April meeting of the Ohio Constitutional Modernization Commission. Mr. Pittner's letter responds to an editorial by the Columbus Dispatch (April 20, 2014) that agrees with Mr. Readler's view that the Ohio Supreme Court stepped "outside its constitutional bounds" when issuing the DeRolph decisions.

Mr. Pittner writes that the very role of the courts is to "... declare laws unconstitutional when necessary and appropriate." He goes on to say, "It has been the province of the courts to rule on the constitutionality of legislation since the 1803 U.S. Supreme Court decision in Marbury vs. Madison."

He explains, however, that after the Ohio Supreme Court directed the legislature to fix the school funding system, there was a constitutional crisis: "The court directed change, the legislature refused. Ultimately, the Supreme Court blinked and Ohio's public-school pupils have yet to realize their constitutional promise of a "thorough and efficient" system of public education."

The failure of the legislature to follow the directive of the court is not a reason to remove the "thorough and efficient" standard in the constitution. He writes, "The problem is not solved by changing the constitution to delete the "thorough and efficient" language. With no measure of accountability, the right to any level of public education for children in Ohio would disappear. Public education would exist, if at all, at the whim of the legislature."

States recognize the obligation to provide educational opportunities for children to ensure the social, economic, and political well-being of the state. Mr. Pittner concludes by writing, "For Ohio to abandon its constitutional standard and immunize the legislature from judicial scrutiny would certainly jeopardize the future, not only for Ohio's schoolchildren, but for all of us."

See "Thorough and Efficient is Necessary for Accountability" by Nick Pittner, Columbus Dispatch, "Letters to the Editor", May 10, 2014.

See "Revisiting DeRolph", Columbus Dispatch Editorial, May 20, 2014.

Second Look at the Common Core: Ohio House Speaker William G. Batchelder recently told Darrel Rowland from the Columbus Dispatch that he was surprised by the controversy over the Common Core State Standards and its impact on the May primary election in Ohio. Mr. Rowland writes on May 11, 2014 that Ohio Republicans are going to take a second look at the CCSS, and have "...commissioned a poll to see how many Ohioans have a problem with the Common Core."

See "Capitol Insider: GOP to Give Common Core a Second Look", by Darrel Rowland, Columbus Dispatch, May 11, 2014.

National News

U.S. House Approves Charter School Act: The U.S. House of Representatives approved the Success and Opportunity through Quality Charter Schools Act (H.R. 10) on May 9, 2014 with bipartisan support (360 to 45). The bill reauthorizes provisions in the Elementary and Secondary Education Act regarding charter schools, and was introduced by House Education and Workforce Committee Chairman John Kline and Senior Democratic Member George Miller. The bill supports expanding successful charter schools by combining two charter school programs to allow federal funds to be used to start new charter schools, or expand existing charter schools. The bill also addresses facilities for charter schools, increases federal funds for charter schools from $250 million to $300 million, encourages charter schools to enroll and retain students with special needs and English Language Learners, allows charter schools to give special preference to certain types of students in the admissions process, and more.

The House charter school bill was opposed for various reasons by the American Association of School Administrators, the National School Boards Association, and Parents Across America, but these organizations all agree that the bill lacks tighter reporting and accountability requirements for charter schools. The American Federation of Teachers and the National Education Association supported amendments to add more accountability requirements for charter schools, but the amendments were not included in the bill as passed by the House.

The bill now moves to the U.S. Senate, where a bipartisan group of Senators, including Senators Mary Landrieu (D), Mark Kirk (R), and Lamar Alexander, introduced their own charter school bill, The Expanding Opportunity Through Quality Charter Schools Act. The U.S. House approved a similar charter school bill in 2011, but the Senate failed to take action on it.

More information is available. 
Visit TheHill.com for additional information. 

House Approves the Strengthening Research Act: The U.S. House passed the Strengthening Education Through Research (H.R. 4366) Act on May 8, 2014. The legislation reauthorizes the Education Sciences Reform Act "to improve the federal research structure" and was approved with bipartisan support. The bill streamlines the federal education research system, requires regular evaluations of research and education programs, strengthens privacy provisions to ensure that personally identifiable information is secure and protected, and maintains the autonomy of the Institutes for Education Sciences, the National Assessment Governing board, and the National Assessment of Educational Progress.

More information is available. 

Florida Court Issues Decision on VAM: U.S. District Court Judge Mark Walker dismissed a lawsuit on May 6, 2014 entitled Cook v. Stewart, filed by the Florida Education Association in February 2013. The lawsuit challenged the constitutionality of teacher evaluation systems adopted by the school boards of Alachua, Escambia, and Hernando counties, and approved by the Florida State Board of Education and Florida Department of Education. The lawsuit was filed in the U.S. District Court Northern District of Florida Gainesville Division.

Judge Mark Walker found that although the Florida teacher evaluation policies might seem "unfair", there is a rational basis for the State to establish a teacher evaluation system.

He writes in the Court's Order, "The unfairness of the evaluation system as implemented is not lost on this Court."

"To make matters worse, the legislature has mandated that teacher ratings be used to make important employment decisions such as pay, promotion, assignment, and retention.9 Ratings affect a teacher's professional reputation as well because they are made public-they have even been printed in the newspaper. Needless to say, this Court would be hard-pressed to find anyone who would find this evaluation system fair to non-FCAT teachers, let alone be willing to submit to a similar evaluation system."

"This case, however, is not about the fairness of the evaluation system. The standard of review is not whether the evaluation policies are good or bad, wise or unwise; but whether the evaluation policies are rational within the meaning of the law. The legal standard for invalidating legislative acts on substantive due process and equal protection grounds looks only to whether there is a conceivable rational basis to support them. For reasons that have been explained, the State Defendants could rationally conclude that the evaluation policies further the state's legitimate interest in increasing student learning growth."

More information is available. 

CTU Opposes Common Core: The Chicago Teachers Union's House of Delegates adopted a resolution on May 7, 2014 opposing the Common Core State Standards (CCSS) and the "...aligned tests as a framework for teaching and learning."

According to a CTU press release, the CTU believes that the Common Core "represents an overreach of federal power into personal privacy as well as into state educational autonomy."

The resolution states that the Common Core State Standards "...reflect the interests and priorities of corporate education reformers than the best interests and priorities of teachers and students"; have been implemented too quickly, and as a result have "produced numerous developmentally inappropriate expectations;" adversely affect students of color, impoverished students, English language learners, and students with disabilities; and emphasize inappropriate pedagogical techniques.

The resolution goes on to list complaints about the aligned assessments, which are described as not transparent, time consuming, and are politically used to justify closing schools.

The press release states that CTU will now "...lobby the Illinois Board of Education to eliminate the use of the Common Core for teaching and assessment" and work "to organize other members and affiliates to increase opposition to the law that increases the expansion of nationwide controls over educational issues."

See "Chicago Teachers Union joins growing national opposition to deeply flawed Common Core Standards", May 7, 2014. 

State Board of Education to Meet

The State Board of Education, Debe Terhar President, will meet on May 12 & 13, 2014 at the Ohio Department of Education Conference Center, 25 South Front Street, Columbus, OH.


This month the State Board will conduct a Chapter 119 Hearing for proposed Ohio Administrative Code Rules

  • 3301-21-05 to -07 Colleges and Universities Preparing Teachers-3301-24-07 Provisional License Renewal
  • 3301-37-01 to -12 Child Day Care Licensing
  • 3301-102-11 to 12 Academic Gains, Overall Designations

The Accountability Committee, chaired by Tom Gunlock, will receive an update about the work of the Gifted Indicator Work Group and discuss weighting report card components.

The Achievement Committee, chaired by C. Todd Jones, will consider a resolution to adopt the model curricula in the Fine Arts and World Languages, and receive an update about the K-3 Standards, plans for summer professional learning opportunities, and the Race to the Top Grant.

The Urban and Rural Renewal Committee, chaired by Dr. Smith, will receive a presentation from the Quaglia Institute for Student Aspirations and discuss the Anti-Virus Youth Program.

The Capacity Committee, chaired by Tom Gunlock, will discuss score-setting recommendations for the Ohio Assessments for Educators Licensure Exams in the areas of Agriscience and Health and OAC Chapter 3301-103, Autism Scholarship Program, and review candidate performance on the Ohio Assessments for Educators Licensure Exams

The Operating Standards Committee, chaired by Ron Rudduck, will consider for approval revised Ohio Administrative Code Rule 3301-35-05 Staff Focus and Rule 3301-35-06 Educational Program and Supports.

The Legislative and Budget Committee, chaired by Kathleen McGervey, will meet on May 13, 2014 and receive updates about the Mid Biennial Review bills regarding education, HB483 (Amstutz) General Operations, and HB487 (Brenner) K-12 education.

The voting agenda for this month includes personnel items and the following resolutions:

#14 Resolution to Rescind Rule 3301-24-10 of the Administrative Code entitled Alternative Educator License.
#15 Resolution to Amend Rule 3301-46-01 of the Administrative Code entitled Establishing Provisions for Granting Exceptions from Statutory Provisions and Rules as Necessary to Implement Innovative Education Pilot Programs.
#16 Resolution to Amend Rules 3301-51-01 to 3301-51-09 and Rule 3301-51-11 of the Administrative Code and to Rescind and Adopt Rule 3301-51-21 regarding the Operating Standards for Ohio Educational Agencies Serving Children with Disabilities.
#17 Resolution of Appointment to the Educator Standards Board
#18 Resolution to Approve the Recommendation of the Hearing Officer and to Dismiss the Parent's Appeal Pursuant to R.C. 3356.05 Regarding a Dispute with the West Liberty-Salem School District about Credits Granted for a Post-Secondary Options Course.
#19 Resolution Celebrating the 60th Anniversary of the Decision in Brown v. Board of Education.

More information is available. 

NAEP 12th Grade Assessment Released

The National Assessment of Educational Progress Governing Board (NAEP) released on May 2, 2014 the results of an analysis of twelfth-grade achievement in reading and math entitled, The Nation's Report Card: 2013 Mathematics and Reading, Grade 12. Twelfth grade students in 13 states participated in the assessment, which is voluntary, unlike the 4th and 8th grade assessments, which are mandated by the No Child Left Behind Act. The NAEP results of the 4th and 8th grades assessments were reported last November.

According to an NAEP press release, the achievement levels of 12th grade students in math and reading has not changed since 2009, but the math scores dropped for English language learners (ELL). Student achievement is reported as average scale scores and three achievement levels: Basic, Proficient and Advanced. Basic denotes partial mastery of the knowledge and skills needed for grade-appropriate work; Proficient denotes solid academic performance; and Advanced represents superior work. The following are some of the reported results: 

  • 26 percent of students overall scored at or above the proficient level in math in 2013. The following are the percents of students by selected groups that scored at or above proficient in math: 47 percent of Asian Pacific Islanders; 33 percent of White students; 12 percent of Hispanic students; and 7 percent of Black students.
  • 38 percent of students overall scored at or above the proficient level in reading. The following are the percents of students by selected groups that scored at or above proficient in reading: 47 percent of Asian Pacific Islanders; 47 percent of White students; 23 percent of Hispanic students; and 16 percent of Black students. 
  • Of the participating states, four states, Idaho, Arkansas, West Virginia, and Connecticut, had higher scores in math in 2013 compared to 2009, and two states, Arkansas and Connecticut, had higher scores in reading in 2013 compared to 2009. There was no change in scores between 2009-2013 in the other participating states, South Dakota, Iowa, Illinois, Florida, New Jersey, Massachusetts, and New Hampshire. Two participating states in 2013, Michigan and Tennessee, did not participate in the 12th grade NAEP assessment in 2009. 

The report also includes some additional information about the 12th grade students who participated in NAEP: 

  • Average mathematics scores were highest for students who had taken calculus, and lowest for students who had not taken a mathematics course higher than algebra I.
  • Mathematics scores were higher for students who reported that mathematics was their favorite subject, believed mathematics would help them in the future or thought that their mathematics course was often engaging and interesting.
  • Students who strongly agreed that they learn a lot from books and find reading enjoyable had average reading scores at or above the Proficient level.
  • When asked if they discussed what they read, students who reported discussing their reading every day or almost every day had higher reading scores.

Additional information is available. 

Three Reports About Charter Schools

Last week, May 4-10, 2014, was National Charter School Week. The National Alliance for Public Charter Schools reports that there are "nearly 6,500 schools and more than 2.5 million students" attending charter schools in the U.S. The U.S. House also approved last week the The Success and Opportunity through Quality Charter Schools Act, which will increase access to quality charter schools. U.S. Representative Luke Messer (R-IN), who advocated for the bill's passage, told the Huffington Post that the demand for charter schools has increased, and there are about 1 million students on charter school wait lists.

Additional information is available. 

See "Bill Expanding Access To Charter Schools Could Benefit Latinos" by Griselda Nevarez, Huffington Post Latino Voices, May 10, 2014.

The following are three reports about charter schools that have been published recently:

Charter School Wait Lists: The National Education Policy Center (NEPC) released on May 5, 2014 a policy memo entitled, "Wait, Wait. Don't Mislead Me! Nine Reasons to be Skeptical about Charter Waitlist Numbers" by Kevin G. Welner, University of Colorado Boulder, and Gary Miron, Western Michigan University.

The memo explains that in 2013 the National Alliance for Public Charter Schools (NAPCS) reported that there were 920,007 students on charter school wait lists, but, upon questioning from the public and the media, had to lower its wait list estimation to 520,000.

In this policy memo the authors investigate the "usefulness" of the wait list data, and offer the following reasons why policy-makers, the media, and the public should be skeptical about charter school wait list numbers:

  • Students apply to multiple charter schools and district schools, and maybe the charter school was not the first school of choice.
  • The wait list numbers cannot be confirmed. NAPCS uses a survey of charter schools to develop the wait list report. However, the survey numbers are based on the number of applications submitted, and are not audited.
  • Charter school record-keeping is not reliable. When researchers such as Gary Miron conducted evaluations of charter schools in Illinois and Pennsylvania, he was unable to collect wait list data, because charter schools did not keep these lists current and did not take into account that the applicant might have eventually enrolled in the school.
  • Many charter applications are for non-admissible grade levels, because the charter school does not offer the grade. The authors found in previous charter school studies that the students who applied for these unavailable grade were still added to a wait list for a school.
  • It's likely that most charters aren't very oversubscribed. The authors cite a Mathematica Policy Research study of oversubscribed middle grade charter schools, and found only 36 out of a possible 167 very popular charter schools actually had wait lists.
  • The methods and specific data that NAPCS's uses to develop the aggregated wait list has never been released to researchers. 
  • The NAPCS wait list is inexplicably precise at 920,007 students, and leads to questions about its reliability.
  • It is not clear what question the wait list number answers or policy it supports. The authors note that NAPCS believes that the wait list provides a reason for policy makers to expand access to charter schools. The authors explain, "But charter schools are part of a larger educational system that includes traditional public schools (TPSs). Shifting enrollment from TPSs to charters is seen as a good thing by the NAPCS, based on the apparent assumption that there's unmet demand in charters but not in TPSs. But what is the support for that assumption?" 
  • In addition, traditional public schools don't have wait lists, because everyone who applies must be accepted. So the "...waitlist data are not grounded by a meaningful comparison."
  • Charter wait lists can be trimmed by requiring backfilling. Student mobility creates openings in charter and traditional public schools throughout the school year. But the authors found that some charter schools do not replace students who leave with students from the wait list.

The authors conclude: "There's an interesting debate to be had about the policy import of such aggregated numbers, but we're not at that point: we simply do not have trustworthy, reliable waitlist data. Until we do, policymakers would be wise to set aside NAPCS's claims and wait for verifiable data."

Additional information is available. 

EPI Report About Privatizing Milwaukee Schools: The Economic Policy Institute (EPI) released on April 24, 2014 a report by Gordon Lafer entitled, "Do Poor Kids Deserve Lower-Quality Education Than Rich Kids? Evaluating School Privatization Proposals in Milwaukee, Wisconsin".

The report provides information regarding proposed education reforms being debated by Wisconsin lawmakers, focusing on those who are advocating to close lower performing public schools (especially in Milwaukee), and replace them with Rocketship, which is a national charter school chain.

Although the focus is on the Wisconsin Mr. Lafer draws information about the academic and financial status of charter schools from across the nation, and carries his investigation into the history of e-schools and the interests of hedge-fund investors in "blended learning", which has become a highly profitable charter school model.

Mr. Lafer reports that the advocates for expanding charter schools in Wisconsin include the Wisconsin Manufacturers and Commerce, Americans for Prosperity, and the Metropolitan Milwaukee Association of Commerce (MMAC). These organization seldom support adequate school funding for traditional public schools and effective anti-poverty policies to help families escape poverty, such as increasing the minimum wage.

The author writes that through an investigation of the performance of the Rocketship charter school chain, and its use of "blended learning" and inexperienced teachers to reduce cost, "...it appears that charter privatization proposals are driven more by financial and ideological grounds than by sound pedagogy..."

He goes on in the report to examine the success of Rocketship, the efficacy of the "blended learning" education model, and the involvement of corporate lobbies in education reform, including the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) and the Koch-brothers' Americans for Prosperity, and draws the following conclusions:

  • "National research shows that charter schools, on average, perform no better than public schools. There is thus no basis for believing that replacing traditional public schools in Milwaukee with privately run charters will result in improved education."
  • "The "blended learning" model of education exemplified by the Rocketship chain of charter schools-often promoted by charter boosters-is predicated on paying minimal attention to anything but math and literacy, and even those subjects are taught by inexperienced teachers carrying out data-driven lesson plans relentlessly focused on test preparation. But evidence from Wisconsin, the country, and the world shows that students receive a better education from experienced teachers offering a broad curriculum that emphasizes curiosity, creativity, and critical thinking, as well as getting the right answers on standardized tests."
  • "Blended-learning schools such as Rocketship are supported by investment banks, hedge funds, and venture capital firms that, in turn, aim to profit from both the construction and, especially, the digital software assigned to students. To fund the growth of such operations, money earmarked for Milwaukee students is diverted to national headquarters and other cities where the company seeks to expand. Furthermore, the very curricular model that Rocketship employs is shaped not simply by what is good for kids but also, in part, by what will generate profits for investors and fuel the company's ambitious growth plans."
  • "The proposed "school accountability" bill that Wisconsin State Senate Education Committee Chair Luther Olsen drafted in January 2014-which embodies the most ambitious version of corporate-backed school reform-measures school achievement in ways that are skewed against poor cities and that exempt charter schools from equal accountability. Such a bill would likely result in shutting a growing number of public schools and concentrating the city's neediest students in a shrinking public system that is denied the resources to serve them. Eventually, this would bankrupt the public school district.
  • "Some of the best options for school improvement are outlawed in Sen. Olsen's draft bill. For instance, Milwaukee's award-winning ALBA (Academia de Lenguajes y Bellas Artes) school is a publicly run charter school that outperformed every privately run charter in the city. Yet under the proposed legislation, this school would be banned from opening more campuses, while privately run schools with much worse performance would be encouraged to expand."
  • "To truly improve education in Milwaukee, we must start with the assumption that poor children are no less deserving of a quality education than rich children. As such, the schools that privileged suburban parents demand for their children should be the yardstick we use to measure the adequacy of education in the city. This means subjecting all schools-whether public, charter, or voucher-to the same standards of accountability, including measurements that account for the economic and disability challenges their students face, and that recognize the value of a broad curriculum and experienced teachers who are qualified to develop the full range of each child's capacities."

See "Do Poor Kids Deserve Lower-Quality Education Than Rick Kids? Evaluating School Privatization Proposals in Milwaukee, Wisconsin" by Gordon Lafer, Economic Policy Institute Briefing Paper, April 24, 2014.

Report Focuses on Charter School Fraud: The Center for Popular Democracy and Integrity in Education released on May 6, 2014 a report entitled Charter School Vulnerabilities to Waste, Fraud & Abuse, a compilation of news reports and criminal complaints from 15 of the 42 states that have authorized charter schools. The states examined in the report are Arizona, California, Colorado, Washington, D.C., Florida, Hawai'i, Illinois, Louisiana, Minnesota, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Texas, and Wisconsin.

The report identifies a loss to taxpayers of $136 million as a result of the charter school industry's violations of state and federal laws. The authors explain that the title of the report, Charter School Vulnerabilities to Waste, Fraud & Abuse, actually comes from a section of a semi-annual report issued by the U.S. Department of Education Office of Inspector General (OIG) in March 2010 called Semiannual Report to Congress, No. 60, October 1, 2009 to March 31, 2010. In that report the OIG identified inadequate oversight of charter schools by state agencies, local education agencies, and the federal government, as leading to an increase in criminal activity among some charter school operators. The number one offense found was embezzlement, but charter school operators were also found tampering with student enrollment to increase revenue; tampering with student grades to avoid being closed; diverting Federal funds to vendors created by the charter school operators; and misusing school credit cards for personal expenditures. The most recent OIG report was issued in September 2013, and reported a total of 62 charter school investigations from January 2005 through September 30, 2013, with 40 indictments and 26 convictions of charter school officials.

The report issued by the Center for Popular Democracy and Integrity in Education organizes charter school violations of law into the following six categories and provides examples of each category from the 15 states.

  • Charter operators using public funds illegally for personal gain
  • School revenue used to illegally support other charter operator businesses
  • Mismanagement that puts children in actual or potential danger
  • Charter operators illegally requesting public dollars for services not provided
  • Charter operators illegally inflating enrollment to boost revenues
  • Charter operators mismanaging public funds and the schools

The report includes several examples of fraud, waste, and mismanagement of public funds by charter schools in Ohio. For example, The Talented Tenth Leadership Academy for Boys and Girls Charter School was recently closed by Superintendent Richard Ross, because the school failed to ensure a safe environment; failed to feed its students; and failed to accurately track students.

The report recommends that states impose a moratorium on opening new charter schools and cap charter school enrollment until the following recommendations are implemented by state legislatures:

Oversight

  • Require states to establish an office dedicated to the oversight of the performance and effectiveness of charter schools and authorizers.
  • Give the charter office authority and resources to investigate fraud, waste, mismanagement, and misconduct. "This includes the authority to refer findings to the district attorney with jurisdiction or to the Office of the Attorney General or to any other appropriate law enforcement agency for prosecution if the Office discovers or receives information about possible violations of law by any person affiliated with or employed by a charter authorizing entity or charter school entity.
  • Provide the charter office with adequate resources, including staffing. 
  • Authorize the charter office the power to put a hold on the distribution of funds to the charter authorizing entity or charter school entity.
  • Authorize the office to affirm, reverse or otherwise adjust charter grants, and the authority to renew or amend decisions made by charter authorizing entities if charters entities are found to be in violation of state or federal law. The Office should also have the power to revoke the chartering authority of charter authorizers.
  • Require charter schools to be independently audited on an annual basis, with publication of such audits available online at the charter school's website.

Transparency

  • Amend state charter school laws to explicitly declare that charter schools are public schools, and are subject to the same non-discrimination and transparency requirements as are other publicly funded schools.
  • Require that each charter school's original application and charter agreement be available to the public online, through the websites of both the individual school and the charter authorizer.
  • Require charter schools to post a full list of each charter school's governing board members, officers, and administrators with affiliation and contact information on the school's website and the authorizer's website. 
  • Require members of charter school governing boards, charter school administrators, charter school employees, as well as public officials to file full financial disclosure reports, as well as to report on any potential conflicts of interest, relationships with management companies or other business dealings with the school, its management company or other charter schools. These reports should be similar to, or the same as, the reporting requirements of traditional school district Board members. Make these documents available to the public online through the charter's authorizer.
  • Require minutes from charter school governing board meetings, the school's policies, and information about staff to be made available on the charter school's website.
  • Require charter schools to be fully compliant with state open meetings/open records laws, with compliance monitored by authorizers. Failure of the schools to release documents pertaining to governing board meetings, school policy and data, or to allow members of the public to file formal freedom of information requests to obtain these documents must be swiftly addressed and corrected by the authorizer.
  • Require charter school authorizers to post on their web site school financial documents, including detailed information about the use of both public and private funds by the school and its management entities. These reports should include full disclosure of the sources of private funds, and the duration of commitments of private funds.
  • Require disclosure of all vendor or service contracts over $25,000, and prohibit any vendor or service contracts to any entity in which the charter school operator or a member of the governing board has any personal interest.

Governance

  • Require charter school governing boards to be elected, with representation of parents (elected by parents), teachers (elected by teachers), and in the case of high schools, students (elected by students). Non-parent/teacher/student members of the governing board should be required to be residents of the school district in which the school/s operate.
  • Require charter school governing board members to live in a geography that is close in proximity to the school's physical location.
  • Hold members of a charter school governing board legally liable for fraud or malfeasance occurring at the school or schools that they oversee.

See "Charter School Vulnerabilities to Waste, Fraud & Abuse," The Center for Popular Democracy and Integrity in Education on May 6, 2014.

FYI Arts

Culture Works Gathering Input About the Status of Arts and Culture: Culture Works, Martine Collier president and CEO, is sponsoring public meetings to gather information about the status of arts and culture in the Dayton community, and identify primary issues and concerns. 

The meetings will be held on June 4, 2014 at 5:30 PM at the Aullwood Audubon Center and Farm at the Charity A. Kruegar Farm Discovery Center, 9202 Frederick Pike, Dayton, OH, and on June 5, 2014 at 5:30 PM at the Springfield Museum of Art at the Center for the Arts at Wittenberg University, 107 Cliff Park Road, Springfield, OH.

Researchers from the University of Dayton and Wright State University and Marc Golding from the arts consulting firm WolfBrown will facilitate the discussion to identify the strengths and challenges facing the arts and culture sector of the community.

Culture Works is a nonprofit regional arts agency that provides a unified voice for all the cultural organizations and activities in the Dayton region, and promotes the good news about the amazing cultural vibrancy of our region to a national audience.

More information and to register for one of the meetings is available online.

CSC Announces New Education Initiative: The Cincinnati Shakespeare Company (CSC) announced on April 23, 2014 a new arts education initiative called PROJECT 38. CSC will be collaborating with 38 schools in the Cincinnati area over the next school year to produce a full production, monologue or scene, dance, musical piece, or other representation from one of Shakespeare's 38 plays. Teaching artists from CSC will work with students and faculty to develop the concept and the production. The schools will be brought together at the end of the school year to celebrate their creations with family, friends, and the community through a multi-day PROJECT 38 Festival.

According to CinStages.com, "Over the last 20 years, CSC has brought classical theatre and literature to life for over 200,000 students from 150 schools in more than 100 zip codes across three states. This close connection with students and educators has inspired them to take on this exciting new endeavor. This season, Cincinnati Shakespeare is also "completing the canon" by producing all 38 of Shakespeare's plays. The 38 plays have served as the inspiration for the title of PROJECT 38."

CSC plans to offer PROJECT 38 each school year and expand the list of participating schools. For information about how to support or get involved with PROJECT 38, please contact Jeanna Vella, Director of Education and Communications at jeanna.vella@cincyshakes.com or 513.381.2273 ext. 3202, or visit www.cincyshakes.com.

See "Cincinnati Shakespeare Company Announces their new Innovative Arts Education Initiative, PROJECT 38".

Support Music in the House Through Power2Give: Music in the House is a fun afterschool neighborhood choir program for young kids in urban neighborhoods of Columbus who want to sing, and do it with power! Music in the House kids will get to perform publicly, showing their families, friends, teachers, and lots of other people in their community what they've learned to do. Music in the House honors, respects, and celebrates all kids and their abilities, while focusing on families in higher-needs areas of Columbus that too often fall under the public radar. Donor funds will go directly to help pay for artists' fees, apprentice teaching artists/musicians' stipends, materials, sheet music, and other project costs.

There is currently a 1:1 cash match in place through the generous offer of PNC Bank, so every dollar you donate will be doubled! Please click on the power2give link below, and donate what you can to this project now, so kids who want to sing and learn music will have the chance to do it well! Thank you!  

Music in the House! Kids' Choir's Link

Music in the House is a partnership of the Ohio Alliance for Arts Education (OAAE), Columbus Children's Choir, and TRANSIT ARTS, a program of Central Community House. Students receive professional choir instruction after school, in settlement houses located right in the neighborhoods where they and their families live."

WHAT IS POWER2GIVE.ORG? 

  •  power2give.org is an online cultural marketplace designed to connect donors and projects. Hosted by the Greater Columbus Arts Council, serving Franklin County
  • power2give.org allows non-profit organizations to post and promote arts and culture projects in need of funding and invites donors to contribute directly to projects that are intriguing to them.  
  • Power2give.org is devoted to supporting non-profit organizations and encouraging people to help the organizations they love turn their needs into a reality.

Click here to learn more about Music in the House and to Donate online.

Ohio Presidential Scholars Named: U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan announced on May 5, 2014 the members of the 50th class of U.S. Presidential Scholars. Simon S. Horn, Bexley High School, and Lindsay, J. Myers, Princeton High School, were selected as Presidential Scholars from Ohio. They are among 141 students from across the country who have been recognized for their accomplishments in academics and the arts. Candidates are nominated by the chief state school officer of a state, or, in the case of the arts, the National YoungArts Foundation's nationwide YoungArts competition. The 2014 Presidential Scholars awards ceremony will be held June 22, 2014 when each honoree will receive a Presidential Scholar Medallion.


More information is available.  

OEA Votes to Delay High-Stakes Decisions: Catherine Candisky reports for the Columbus Dispatch that the Ohio Education Association's Spring Representative Assembly voted on May 9, 2014 to urge Ohio lawmakers to delay for three years making high-stakes decisions tied to the new state standardized assessments aligned to the Common Core State Standards. This would include decisions about students (third grade reading), teacher evaluations, and district/school ratings.

See "Teachers Union Wants Testing Delay" by Catherine Candisky, Columbus Dispatch, May 10, 2014.

More on "Thorough and Efficient": In a May 10, 2014 letter to the Columbus Dispatch, Nick Pittner, lead attorney for the plaintiffs in the DeRolph school funding lawsuits, challenges the proposal to remove from the Ohio Constitution the "thorough and efficient" standard for Ohio's education system and the assertion that the courts have no role to play in determining the constitutionality of laws. The proposal was offered by Chad Readler, the chair of the Education, Public Institutions & Miscellaneous and Local Government, at the April meeting of the Ohio Constitutional Modernization Commission. Mr. Pittner's letter responds to an editorial by the Columbus Dispatch (April 20, 2014) that agrees with Mr. Readler's view that the Ohio Supreme Court stepped "outside its constitutional bounds" when issuing the DeRolph decisions.

Mr. Pittner writes that the very role of the courts is to "... declare laws unconstitutional when necessary and appropriate." He goes on to say, "It has been the province of the courts to rule on the constitutionality of legislation since the 1803 U.S. Supreme Court decision in Marbury vs. Madison."

He explains, however, that after the Ohio Supreme Court directed the legislature to fix the school funding system, there was a constitutional crisis: "The court directed change, the legislature refused. Ultimately, the Supreme Court blinked and Ohio's public-school pupils have yet to realize their constitutional promise of a "thorough and efficient" system of public education."

The failure of the legislature to follow the directive of the court is not a reason to remove the "thorough and efficient" standard in the constitution. He writes, "The problem is not solved by changing the constitution to delete the "thorough and efficient" language. With no measure of accountability, the right to any level of public education for children in Ohio would disappear. Public education would exist, if at all, at the whim of the legislature."

States recognize the obligation to provide educational opportunities for children to ensure the social, economic, and political well-being of the state. Mr. Pittner concludes by writing, "For Ohio to abandon its constitutional standard and immunize the legislature from judicial scrutiny would certainly jeopardize the future, not only for Ohio's schoolchildren, but for all of us."

See "Thorough and Efficient is Necessary for Accountability" by Nick Pittner, Columbus Dispatch, "Letters to the Editor", May 10, 2014.

See "Revisiting DeRolph", Columbus Dispatch Editorial, May 20, 2014.

Second Look at the Common Core: Ohio House Speaker William G. Batchelder recently told Darrel Rowland from the Columbus Dispatch that he was surprised by the controversy over the Common Core State Standards and its impact on the May primary election in Ohio. Mr. Rowland writes on May 11, 2014 that Ohio Republicans are going to take a second look at the CCSS, and have "...commissioned a poll to see how many Ohioans have a problem with the Common Core."

See "Capitol Insider: GOP to Give Common Core a Second Look", by Darrel Rowland, Columbus Dispatch, May 11, 2014.

National News

U.S. House Approves Charter School Act: The U.S. House of Representatives approved the Success and Opportunity through Quality Charter Schools Act (H.R. 10) on May 9, 2014 with bipartisan support (360 to 45). The bill reauthorizes provisions in the Elementary and Secondary Education Act regarding charter schools, and was introduced by House Education and Workforce Committee Chairman John Kline and Senior Democratic Member George Miller. The bill supports expanding successful charter schools by combining two charter school programs to allow federal funds to be used to start new charter schools, or expand existing charter schools. The bill also addresses facilities for charter schools, increases federal funds for charter schools from $250 million to $300 million, encourages charter schools to enroll and retain students with special needs and English Language Learners, allows charter schools to give special preference to certain types of students in the admissions process, and more.

The House charter school bill was opposed for various reasons by the American Association of School Administrators, the National School Boards Association, and Parents Across America, but these organizations all agree that the bill lacks tighter reporting and accountability requirements for charter schools. The American Federation of Teachers and the National Education Association supported amendments to add more accountability requirements for charter schools, but the amendments were not included in the bill as passed by the House.

The bill now moves to the U.S. Senate, where a bipartisan group of Senators, including Senators Mary Landrieu (D), Mark Kirk (R), and Lamar Alexander, introduced their own charter school bill, The Expanding Opportunity Through Quality Charter Schools Act. The U.S. House approved a similar charter school bill in 2011, but the Senate failed to take action on it.

More information is available. 
Visit TheHill.com for additional information. 

House Approves the Strengthening Research Act: The U.S. House passed the Strengthening Education Through Research (H.R. 4366) Act on May 8, 2014. The legislation reauthorizes the Education Sciences Reform Act "to improve the federal research structure" and was approved with bipartisan support. The bill streamlines the federal education research system, requires regular evaluations of research and education programs, strengthens privacy provisions to ensure that personally identifiable information is secure and protected, and maintains the autonomy of the Institutes for Education Sciences, the National Assessment Governing board, and the National Assessment of Educational Progress.

More information is available. 

Florida Court Issues Decision on VAM: U.S. District Court Judge Mark Walker dismissed a lawsuit on May 6, 2014 entitled Cook v. Stewart, filed by the Florida Education Association in February 2013. The lawsuit challenged the constitutionality of teacher evaluation systems adopted by the school boards of Alachua, Escambia, and Hernando counties, and approved by the Florida State Board of Education and Florida Department of Education. The lawsuit was filed in the U.S. District Court Northern District of Florida Gainesville Division.

Judge Mark Walker found that although the Florida teacher evaluation policies might seem "unfair", there is a rational basis for the State to establish a teacher evaluation system.

He writes in the Court's Order, "The unfairness of the evaluation system as implemented is not lost on this Court."

"To make matters worse, the legislature has mandated that teacher ratings be used to make important employment decisions such as pay, promotion, assignment, and retention.9 Ratings affect a teacher's professional reputation as well because they are made public-they have even been printed in the newspaper. Needless to say, this Court would be hard-pressed to find anyone who would find this evaluation system fair to non-FCAT teachers, let alone be willing to submit to a similar evaluation system."

"This case, however, is not about the fairness of the evaluation system. The standard of review is not whether the evaluation policies are good or bad, wise or unwise; but whether the evaluation policies are rational within the meaning of the law. The legal standard for invalidating legislative acts on substantive due process and equal protection grounds looks only to whether there is a conceivable rational basis to support them. For reasons that have been explained, the State Defendants could rationally conclude that the evaluation policies further the state's legitimate interest in increasing student learning growth."

More information is available. 

CTU Opposes Common Core: The Chicago Teachers Union's House of Delegates adopted a resolution on May 7, 2014 opposing the Common Core State Standards (CCSS) and the "...aligned tests as a framework for teaching and learning."

According to a CTU press release, the CTU believes that the Common Core "represents an overreach of federal power into personal privacy as well as into state educational autonomy."

The resolution states that the Common Core State Standards "...reflect the interests and priorities of corporate education reformers than the best interests and priorities of teachers and students"; have been implemented too quickly, and as a result have "produced numerous developmentally inappropriate expectations;" adversely affect students of color, impoverished students, English language learners, and students with disabilities; and emphasize inappropriate pedagogical techniques.

The resolution goes on to list complaints about the aligned assessments, which are described as not transparent, time consuming, and are politically used to justify closing schools.

The press release states that CTU will now "...lobby the Illinois Board of Education to eliminate the use of the Common Core for teaching and assessment" and work "to organize other members and affiliates to increase opposition to the law that increases the expansion of nationwide controls over educational issues."

See "Chicago Teachers Union joins growing national opposition to deeply flawed Common Core Standards", May 7, 2014. 

State Board of Education to Meet

The State Board of Education, Debe Terhar President, will meet on May 12 & 13, 2014 at the Ohio Department of Education Conference Center, 25 South Front Street, Columbus, OH.


This month the State Board will conduct a Chapter 119 Hearing for proposed Ohio Administrative Code Rules

  • 3301-21-05 to -07 Colleges and Universities Preparing Teachers-3301-24-07 Provisional License Renewal
  • 3301-37-01 to -12 Child Day Care Licensing
  • 3301-102-11 to 12 Academic Gains, Overall Designations

The Accountability Committee, chaired by Tom Gunlock, will receive an update about the work of the Gifted Indicator Work Group and discuss weighting report card components.

The Achievement Committee, chaired by C. Todd Jones, will consider a resolution to adopt the model curricula in the Fine Arts and World Languages, and receive an update about the K-3 Standards, plans for summer professional learning opportunities, and the Race to the Top Grant.

The Urban and Rural Renewal Committee, chaired by Dr. Smith, will receive a presentation from the Quaglia Institute for Student Aspirations and discuss the Anti-Virus Youth Program.

The Capacity Committee, chaired by Tom Gunlock, will discuss score-setting recommendations for the Ohio Assessments for Educators Licensure Exams in the areas of Agriscience and Health and OAC Chapter 3301-103, Autism Scholarship Program, and review candidate performance on the Ohio Assessments for Educators Licensure Exams

The Operating Standards Committee, chaired by Ron Rudduck, will consider for approval revised Ohio Administrative Code Rule 3301-35-05 Staff Focus and Rule 3301-35-06 Educational Program and Supports.

The Legislative and Budget Committee, chaired by Kathleen McGervey, will meet on May 13, 2014 and receive updates about the Mid Biennial Review bills regarding education, HB483 (Amstutz) General Operations, and HB487 (Brenner) K-12 education.

The voting agenda for this month includes personnel items and the following resolutions:

#14 Resolution to Rescind Rule 3301-24-10 of the Administrative Code entitled Alternative Educator License.
#15 Resolution to Amend Rule 3301-46-01 of the Administrative Code entitled Establishing Provisions for Granting Exceptions from Statutory Provisions and Rules as Necessary to Implement Innovative Education Pilot Programs.
#16 Resolution to Amend Rules 3301-51-01 to 3301-51-09 and Rule 3301-51-11 of the Administrative Code and to Rescind and Adopt Rule 3301-51-21 regarding the Operating Standards for Ohio Educational Agencies Serving Children with Disabilities.
#17 Resolution of Appointment to the Educator Standards Board
#18 Resolution to Approve the Recommendation of the Hearing Officer and to Dismiss the Parent's Appeal Pursuant to R.C. 3356.05 Regarding a Dispute with the West Liberty-Salem School District about Credits Granted for a Post-Secondary Options Course.
#19 Resolution Celebrating the 60th Anniversary of the Decision in Brown v. Board of Education.

More information is available. 

NAEP 12th Grade Assessment Released

The National Assessment of Educational Progress Governing Board (NAEP) released on May 2, 2014 the results of an analysis of twelfth-grade achievement in reading and math entitled, The Nation's Report Card: 2013 Mathematics and Reading, Grade 12. Twelfth grade students in 13 states participated in the assessment, which is voluntary, unlike the 4th and 8th grade assessments, which are mandated by the No Child Left Behind Act. The NAEP results of the 4th and 8th grades assessments were reported last November.

According to an NAEP press release, the achievement levels of 12th grade students in math and reading has not changed since 2009, but the math scores dropped for English language learners (ELL). Student achievement is reported as average scale scores and three achievement levels: Basic, Proficient and Advanced. Basic denotes partial mastery of the knowledge and skills needed for grade-appropriate work; Proficient denotes solid academic performance; and Advanced represents superior work. The following are some of the reported results: 

  • 26 percent of students overall scored at or above the proficient level in math in 2013. The following are the percents of students by selected groups that scored at or above proficient in math: 47 percent of Asian Pacific Islanders; 33 percent of White students; 12 percent of Hispanic students; and 7 percent of Black students.
  • 38 percent of students overall scored at or above the proficient level in reading. The following are the percents of students by selected groups that scored at or above proficient in reading: 47 percent of Asian Pacific Islanders; 47 percent of White students; 23 percent of Hispanic students; and 16 percent of Black students. 
  • Of the participating states, four states, Idaho, Arkansas, West Virginia, and Connecticut, had higher scores in math in 2013 compared to 2009, and two states, Arkansas and Connecticut, had higher scores in reading in 2013 compared to 2009. There was no change in scores between 2009-2013 in the other participating states, South Dakota, Iowa, Illinois, Florida, New Jersey, Massachusetts, and New Hampshire. Two participating states in 2013, Michigan and Tennessee, did not participate in the 12th grade NAEP assessment in 2009. 

The report also includes some additional information about the 12th grade students who participated in NAEP: 

  • Average mathematics scores were highest for students who had taken calculus, and lowest for students who had not taken a mathematics course higher than algebra I.
  • Mathematics scores were higher for students who reported that mathematics was their favorite subject, believed mathematics would help them in the future or thought that their mathematics course was often engaging and interesting.
  • Students who strongly agreed that they learn a lot from books and find reading enjoyable had average reading scores at or above the Proficient level.
  • When asked if they discussed what they read, students who reported discussing their reading every day or almost every day had higher reading scores.

Additional information is available. 

Three Reports About Charter Schools

Last week, May 4-10, 2014, was National Charter School Week. The National Alliance for Public Charter Schools reports that there are "nearly 6,500 schools and more than 2.5 million students" attending charter schools in the U.S. The U.S. House also approved last week the The Success and Opportunity through Quality Charter Schools Act, which will increase access to quality charter schools. U.S. Representative Luke Messer (R-IN), who advocated for the bill's passage, told the Huffington Post that the demand for charter schools has increased, and there are about 1 million students on charter school wait lists.

Additional information is available. 

See "Bill Expanding Access To Charter Schools Could Benefit Latinos" by Griselda Nevarez, Huffington Post Latino Voices, May 10, 2014.

The following are three reports about charter schools that have been published recently:

Charter School Wait Lists: The National Education Policy Center (NEPC) released on May 5, 2014 a policy memo entitled, "Wait, Wait. Don't Mislead Me! Nine Reasons to be Skeptical about Charter Waitlist Numbers" by Kevin G. Welner, University of Colorado Boulder, and Gary Miron, Western Michigan University.

The memo explains that in 2013 the National Alliance for Public Charter Schools (NAPCS) reported that there were 920,007 students on charter school wait lists, but, upon questioning from the public and the media, had to lower its wait list estimation to 520,000.

In this policy memo the authors investigate the "usefulness" of the wait list data, and offer the following reasons why policy-makers, the media, and the public should be skeptical about charter school wait list numbers:

  • Students apply to multiple charter schools and district schools, and maybe the charter school was not the first school of choice.
  • The wait list numbers cannot be confirmed. NAPCS uses a survey of charter schools to develop the wait list report. However, the survey numbers are based on the number of applications submitted, and are not audited.
  • Charter school record-keeping is not reliable. When researchers such as Gary Miron conducted evaluations of charter schools in Illinois and Pennsylvania, he was unable to collect wait list data, because charter schools did not keep these lists current and did not take into account that the applicant might have eventually enrolled in the school.
  • Many charter applications are for non-admissible grade levels, because the charter school does not offer the grade. The authors found in previous charter school studies that the students who applied for these unavailable grade were still added to a wait list for a school.
  • It's likely that most charters aren't very oversubscribed. The authors cite a Mathematica Policy Research study of oversubscribed middle grade charter schools, and found only 36 out of a possible 167 very popular charter schools actually had wait lists.
  • The methods and specific data that NAPCS's uses to develop the aggregated wait list has never been released to researchers. 
  • The NAPCS wait list is inexplicably precise at 920,007 students, and leads to questions about its reliability.
  • It is not clear what question the wait list number answers or policy it supports. The authors note that NAPCS believes that the wait list provides a reason for policy makers to expand access to charter schools. The authors explain, "But charter schools are part of a larger educational system that includes traditional public schools (TPSs). Shifting enrollment from TPSs to charters is seen as a good thing by the NAPCS, based on the apparent assumption that there's unmet demand in charters but not in TPSs. But what is the support for that assumption?" 
  • In addition, traditional public schools don't have wait lists, because everyone who applies must be accepted. So the "...waitlist data are not grounded by a meaningful comparison."
  • Charter wait lists can be trimmed by requiring backfilling. Student mobility creates openings in charter and traditional public schools throughout the school year. But the authors found that some charter schools do not replace students who leave with students from the wait list.

The authors conclude: "There's an interesting debate to be had about the policy import of such aggregated numbers, but we're not at that point: we simply do not have trustworthy, reliable waitlist data. Until we do, policymakers would be wise to set aside NAPCS's claims and wait for verifiable data."

Additional information is available. 

EPI Report About Privatizing Milwaukee Schools: The Economic Policy Institute (EPI) released on April 24, 2014 a report by Gordon Lafer entitled, "Do Poor Kids Deserve Lower-Quality Education Than Rich Kids? Evaluating School Privatization Proposals in Milwaukee, Wisconsin".

The report provides information regarding proposed education reforms being debated by Wisconsin lawmakers, focusing on those who are advocating to close lower performing public schools (especially in Milwaukee), and replace them with Rocketship, which is a national charter school chain.

Although the focus is on the Wisconsin Mr. Lafer draws information about the academic and financial status of charter schools from across the nation, and carries his investigation into the history of e-schools and the interests of hedge-fund investors in "blended learning", which has become a highly profitable charter school model.

Mr. Lafer reports that the advocates for expanding charter schools in Wisconsin include the Wisconsin Manufacturers and Commerce, Americans for Prosperity, and the Metropolitan Milwaukee Association of Commerce (MMAC). These organization seldom support adequate school funding for traditional public schools and effective anti-poverty policies to help families escape poverty, such as increasing the minimum wage.

The author writes that through an investigation of the performance of the Rocketship charter school chain, and its use of "blended learning" and inexperienced teachers to reduce cost, "...it appears that charter privatization proposals are driven more by financial and ideological grounds than by sound pedagogy..."

He goes on in the report to examine the success of Rocketship, the efficacy of the "blended learning" education model, and the involvement of corporate lobbies in education reform, including the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) and the Koch-brothers' Americans for Prosperity, and draws the following conclusions:

  • "National research shows that charter schools, on average, perform no better than public schools. There is thus no basis for believing that replacing traditional public schools in Milwaukee with privately run charters will result in improved education."
  • "The "blended learning" model of education exemplified by the Rocketship chain of charter schools-often promoted by charter boosters-is predicated on paying minimal attention to anything but math and literacy, and even those subjects are taught by inexperienced teachers carrying out data-driven lesson plans relentlessly focused on test preparation. But evidence from Wisconsin, the country, and the world shows that students receive a better education from experienced teachers offering a broad curriculum that emphasizes curiosity, creativity, and critical thinking, as well as getting the right answers on standardized tests."
  • "Blended-learning schools such as Rocketship are supported by investment banks, hedge funds, and venture capital firms that, in turn, aim to profit from both the construction and, especially, the digital software assigned to students. To fund the growth of such operations, money earmarked for Milwaukee students is diverted to national headquarters and other cities where the company seeks to expand. Furthermore, the very curricular model that Rocketship employs is shaped not simply by what is good for kids but also, in part, by what will generate profits for investors and fuel the company's ambitious growth plans."
  • "The proposed "school accountability" bill that Wisconsin State Senate Education Committee Chair Luther Olsen drafted in January 2014-which embodies the most ambitious version of corporate-backed school reform-measures school achievement in ways that are skewed against poor cities and that exempt charter schools from equal accountability. Such a bill would likely result in shutting a growing number of public schools and concentrating the city's neediest students in a shrinking public system that is denied the resources to serve them. Eventually, this would bankrupt the public school district.
  • "Some of the best options for school improvement are outlawed in Sen. Olsen's draft bill. For instance, Milwaukee's award-winning ALBA (Academia de Lenguajes y Bellas Artes) school is a publicly run charter school that outperformed every privately run charter in the city. Yet under the proposed legislation, this school would be banned from opening more campuses, while privately run schools with much worse performance would be encouraged to expand."
  • "To truly improve education in Milwaukee, we must start with the assumption that poor children are no less deserving of a quality education than rich children. As such, the schools that privileged suburban parents demand for their children should be the yardstick we use to measure the adequacy of education in the city. This means subjecting all schools-whether public, charter, or voucher-to the same standards of accountability, including measurements that account for the economic and disability challenges their students face, and that recognize the value of a broad curriculum and experienced teachers who are qualified to develop the full range of each child's capacities."

See "Do Poor Kids Deserve Lower-Quality Education Than Rick Kids? Evaluating School Privatization Proposals in Milwaukee, Wisconsin" by Gordon Lafer, Economic Policy Institute Briefing Paper, April 24, 2014.

Report Focuses on Charter School Fraud: The Center for Popular Democracy and Integrity in Education released on May 6, 2014 a report entitled Charter School Vulnerabilities to Waste, Fraud & Abuse, a compilation of news reports and criminal complaints from 15 of the 42 states that have authorized charter schools. The states examined in the report are Arizona, California, Colorado, Washington, D.C., Florida, Hawai'i, Illinois, Louisiana, Minnesota, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Texas, and Wisconsin.

The report identifies a loss to taxpayers of $136 million as a result of the charter school industry's violations of state and federal laws. The authors explain that the title of the report, Charter School Vulnerabilities to Waste, Fraud & Abuse, actually comes from a section of a semi-annual report issued by the U.S. Department of Education Office of Inspector General (OIG) in March 2010 called Semiannual Report to Congress, No. 60, October 1, 2009 to March 31, 2010. In that report the OIG identified inadequate oversight of charter schools by state agencies, local education agencies, and the federal government, as leading to an increase in criminal activity among some charter school operators. The number one offense found was embezzlement, but charter school operators were also found tampering with student enrollment to increase revenue; tampering with student grades to avoid being closed; diverting Federal funds to vendors created by the charter school operators; and misusing school credit cards for personal expenditures. The most recent OIG report was issued in September 2013, and reported a total of 62 charter school investigations from January 2005 through September 30, 2013, with 40 indictments and 26 convictions of charter school officials.

The report issued by the Center for Popular Democracy and Integrity in Education organizes charter school violations of law into the following six categories and provides examples of each category from the 15 states.

  • Charter operators using public funds illegally for personal gain
  • School revenue used to illegally support other charter operator businesses
  • Mismanagement that puts children in actual or potential danger
  • Charter operators illegally requesting public dollars for services not provided
  • Charter operators illegally inflating enrollment to boost revenues
  • Charter operators mismanaging public funds and the schools

The report includes several examples of fraud, waste, and mismanagement of public funds by charter schools in Ohio. For example, The Talented Tenth Leadership Academy for Boys and Girls Charter School was recently closed by Superintendent Richard Ross, because the school failed to ensure a safe environment; failed to feed its students; and failed to accurately track students.

The report recommends that states impose a moratorium on opening new charter schools and cap charter school enrollment until the following recommendations are implemented by state legislatures:

Oversight

  • Require states to establish an office dedicated to the oversight of the performance and effectiveness of charter schools and authorizers.
  • Give the charter office authority and resources to investigate fraud, waste, mismanagement, and misconduct. "This includes the authority to refer findings to the district attorney with jurisdiction or to the Office of the Attorney General or to any other appropriate law enforcement agency for prosecution if the Office discovers or receives information about possible violations of law by any person affiliated with or employed by a charter authorizing entity or charter school entity.
  • Provide the charter office with adequate resources, including staffing. 
  • Authorize the charter office the power to put a hold on the distribution of funds to the charter authorizing entity or charter school entity.
  • Authorize the office to affirm, reverse or otherwise adjust charter grants, and the authority to renew or amend decisions made by charter authorizing entities if charters entities are found to be in violation of state or federal law. The Office should also have the power to revoke the chartering authority of charter authorizers.
  • Require charter schools to be independently audited on an annual basis, with publication of such audits available online at the charter school's website.

Transparency

  • Amend state charter school laws to explicitly declare that charter schools are public schools, and are subject to the same non-discrimination and transparency requirements as are other publicly funded schools.
  • Require that each charter school's original application and charter agreement be available to the public online, through the websites of both the individual school and the charter authorizer.
  • Require charter schools to post a full list of each charter school's governing board members, officers, and administrators with affiliation and contact information on the school's website and the authorizer's website. 
  • Require members of charter school governing boards, charter school administrators, charter school employees, as well as public officials to file full financial disclosure reports, as well as to report on any potential conflicts of interest, relationships with management companies or other business dealings with the school, its management company or other charter schools. These reports should be similar to, or the same as, the reporting requirements of traditional school district Board members. Make these documents available to the public online through the charter's authorizer.
  • Require minutes from charter school governing board meetings, the school's policies, and information about staff to be made available on the charter school's website.
  • Require charter schools to be fully compliant with state open meetings/open records laws, with compliance monitored by authorizers. Failure of the schools to release documents pertaining to governing board meetings, school policy and data, or to allow members of the public to file formal freedom of information requests to obtain these documents must be swiftly addressed and corrected by the authorizer.
  • Require charter school authorizers to post on their web site school financial documents, including detailed information about the use of both public and private funds by the school and its management entities. These reports should include full disclosure of the sources of private funds, and the duration of commitments of private funds.
  • Require disclosure of all vendor or service contracts over $25,000, and prohibit any vendor or service contracts to any entity in which the charter school operator or a member of the governing board has any personal interest.

Governance

  • Require charter school governing boards to be elected, with representation of parents (elected by parents), teachers (elected by teachers), and in the case of high schools, students (elected by students). Non-parent/teacher/student members of the governing board should be required to be residents of the school district in which the school/s operate.
  • Require charter school governing board members to live in a geography that is close in proximity to the school's physical location.
  • Hold members of a charter school governing board legally liable for fraud or malfeasance occurring at the school or schools that they oversee.

See "Charter School Vulnerabilities to Waste, Fraud & Abuse," The Center for Popular Democracy and Integrity in Education on May 6, 2014.

FYI Arts

Culture Works Gathering Input About the Status of Arts and Culture: Culture Works, Martine Collier president and CEO, is sponsoring public meetings to gather information about the status of arts and culture in the Dayton community, and identify primary issues and concerns. 

The meetings will be held on June 4, 2014 at 5:30 PM at the Aullwood Audubon Center and Farm at the Charity A. Kruegar Farm Discovery Center, 9202 Frederick Pike, Dayton, OH, and on June 5, 2014 at 5:30 PM at the Springfield Museum of Art at the Center for the Arts at Wittenberg University, 107 Cliff Park Road, Springfield, OH.

Researchers from the University of Dayton and Wright State University and Marc Golding from the arts consulting firm WolfBrown will facilitate the discussion to identify the strengths and challenges facing the arts and culture sector of the community.

Culture Works is a nonprofit regional arts agency that provides a unified voice for all the cultural organizations and activities in the Dayton region, and promotes the good news about the amazing cultural vibrancy of our region to a national audience.

More information and to register for one of the meetings is available online.

CSC Announces New Education Initiative: The Cincinnati Shakespeare Company (CSC) announced on April 23, 2014 a new arts education initiative called PROJECT 38. CSC will be collaborating with 38 schools in the Cincinnati area over the next school year to produce a full production, monologue or scene, dance, musical piece, or other representation from one of Shakespeare's 38 plays. Teaching artists from CSC will work with students and faculty to develop the concept and the production. The schools will be brought together at the end of the school year to celebrate their creations with family, friends, and the community through a multi-day PROJECT 38 Festival.

According to CinStages.com, "Over the last 20 years, CSC has brought classical theatre and literature to life for over 200,000 students from 150 schools in more than 100 zip codes across three states. This close connection with students and educators has inspired them to take on this exciting new endeavor. This season, Cincinnati Shakespeare is also "completing the canon" by producing all 38 of Shakespeare's plays. The 38 plays have served as the inspiration for the title of PROJECT 38."

CSC plans to offer PROJECT 38 each school year and expand the list of participating schools. For information about how to support or get involved with PROJECT 38, please contact Jeanna Vella, Director of Education and Communications at jeanna.vella@cincyshakes.com or 513.381.2273 ext. 3202, or visit www.cincyshakes.com.

See "Cincinnati Shakespeare Company Announces their new Innovative Arts Education Initiative, PROJECT 38".

Support Music in the House Through Power2Give: Music in the House is a fun afterschool neighborhood choir program for young kids in urban neighborhoods of Columbus who want to sing, and do it with power! Music in the House kids will get to perform publicly, showing their families, friends, teachers, and lots of other people in their community what they've learned to do. Music in the House honors, respects, and celebrates all kids and their abilities, while focusing on families in higher-needs areas of Columbus that too often fall under the public radar. Donor funds will go directly to help pay for artists' fees, apprentice teaching artists/musicians' stipends, materials, sheet music, and other project costs.

There is currently a 1:1 cash match in place through the generous offer of PNC Bank, so every dollar you donate will be doubled! Please click on the power2give link below, and donate what you can to this project now, so kids who want to sing and learn music will have the chance to do it well! Thank you!  

Music in the House! Kids' Choir's Link

Music in the House is a partnership of the Ohio Alliance for Arts Education (OAAE), Columbus Children's Choir, and TRANSIT ARTS, a program of Central Community House. Students receive professional choir instruction after school, in settlement houses located right in the neighborhoods where they and their families live."

WHAT IS POWER2GIVE.ORG? 

  •  power2give.org is an online cultural marketplace designed to connect donors and projects. Hosted by the Greater Columbus Arts Council, serving Franklin County
  • power2give.org allows non-profit organizations to post and promote arts and culture projects in need of funding and invites donors to contribute directly to projects that are intriguing to them.  
  • Power2give.org is devoted to supporting non-profit organizations and encouraging people to help the organizations they love turn their needs into a reality.

Click here to learn more about Music in the House and to Donate online.

Connect With US on Facebook!

Join The Ohio Alliance for Arts Education on Facebook. Click to "like" us but don't stop there - post your support for the OAAE and arts education on your profile, and ask your friends and colleagues to 'like' us too.

As a follower of the OAAE, you can find out what's happening around the state with school arts programs and arts education decisions made by local school boards and the State Legislature, and share other relevant arts education related news. It's a quick and easy way to stay connected to us and to share what's happening with arts education in your community and throughout Ohio.

This update is written weekly by Joan Platz, Research and Knowledge Director for the Ohio Alliance for Arts Education.  The purpose of the update is to keep arts education advocates informed about issues dealing with the arts, education, policy, research, and opportunities.  The distribution of this information is made possible through the generous support of the Ohio Music Education Association (www.omea-ohio.org), Ohio Art Education Association (www.oaea.org), Ohio Educational Theatre Association (www.Ohioedta.org); OhioDance (www.ohiodance.org), and the Ohio Alliance for Arts Education (www.OAAE.net).

Donna S. Collins

Executive Director

77 South High Street, 2nd floor

Columbus, Ohio 43215-6108

614.224.1060

 

 

 

Legislative Update 4/14/14

FROM: Ann Brennan

FYI: Important update on the education MBR bill (HB 483) and a report from the Columbus Dispatch about the Constitution Modernization Commission deliberations. The education subcommittee's draft removes some provisions regarding Ohioʻs system of public schools from the Ohio Constitution, but adds language to prohibit discrimination. OSPA's legislative platform would oppose this change, the removal from the constitution of the "thorough and efficient" clause. 

Ohio Alliance for Arts Education

Arts on Line Education Update

April 14, 2014

Joan Platz

1)  Ohio News

•130th Ohio General Assembly:  The Ohio House and Senate have recessed for spring break, which extends until April 25, 2014.  Before leaving Columbus lawmakers cleared their calendars last week by passing a number of bills, which now will be sent to the governor to sign. 

•State Board Down to Two Vacancies:  Governor Kasich recently announced the appointment of Brad Lamb of Westlake to the State Board of Education, representing the 5th State Board District.  Mr. Lamb replaces Bryan Williams, who resigned from the board in December 2013 when conflict of interest charges were raised, because of his work as a lobbyist for the Associated Builders and Contractors of Ohio, which does work for school districts.  Mr. Lamb is a bailiff for the Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Court and former president of the Fairview Park Board of Education. Mr. Lamb must run in the November 2014 election to serve the remainder of the term, which expires at the end of 2016.

•State Board to Meet:  The State Board of Education, Debe Terhar President, will meet on April 14 and 15, 2014 at the Ohio Department of Education Conference Center, 25 South Front Street, Columbus, OH.

This month the board will conduct a Chapter 119 Hearing for proposed Ohio Administrative Code Rules 

-3301-24-10, Alternative Educator License

-3301-46-01, Innovative Education Pilot Program

-3301-51-01 to -11, Operating Standards for Children with Disabilities 

The Accountability Committee, chaired by Tom Gunlock, will receive an update about the work of the Gifted Indicator Work Group; the district narrative on the 2013-14 Report Card; weights and simulations for component grades; and the Prepared for Success measure.

The Achievement Committee, chaired by C. Todd Jones, will discuss the model curricula for the Fine Arts and World Languages and career connections.

The Operating Standards Committee, chaired by Ron Rudduck, will discuss Ohio Administrative Code Rule 3301-35-05 Staff Focus and Rule 3301-35-06 Educational Program and Supports.

The Legislative and Budget Committee, chaired by Kathleen McGervey, will receive updates about the Mid Biennial Review bills regarding education, HB483 (Amstutz) General Operations and HB487 (Brenner) K-12 education.

The Capacity and Urban Education Committees will also meet.

The voting agenda for this month includes personnel items and a resolution of intent to consider the proposed transfer of school district territory from the Cincinnati Public School District, Hamilton County, to the Madeira City School District, Hamilton County, pursuant to Section 3311.24 of the Ohio Revised Code.

See http://education.ohio.gov/State-Board/State-Board-Meetings/State-Board-Meetings-for-2013-1

•Community School Conference Held in Cincinnati:  The Coalition for Community Schools held its 2014 Community Schools National Forum in Cincinnati on April 9-11, 2014 in partnership with the Cincinnati Public Schools and the Cincinnati Community Learning Centers Institute. 

In Ohio the term “community school” means a publicly funded, but privately operated charter school, but the definition of “community school” is different at the national level. “Community school” can also mean neighborhood public schools that are the centers of the community; are open to the public all day, evenings, and weekends; and work with partners in the community to integrate resources to support the whole child and families.  The resources include academics; health and mental health services; social services; career and job development; and community engagement.

The theme of this yearʻs community school conference was “Community Schools: The Engine of Opportunity”. The speakers included Chris Edley, Co-chair of the Commission on Equity and Education; Mary Ronan, Superintendent, Cincinnati Public Schools; Randi Weingarten, President, American Federation of Teachers; David Johns, Executive Director, White House Initiative on Educational Excellence for African Americans; Kent McGuire, President and CEO, Southern Education Foundation; and more. 

According to an article in Cincinnati.com, the community school concept was implemented in Cincinnati starting in 1999. Cincinnatiʻs Community Learning Center Institute partners with non profits and the Cincinnati Public Schools to make schools the hubs of communities, and the centers for integrating resources and services in communities. The Cincinnati program has become a model that other cities, states, and nations are using to integrate community resources through schools.

See “CPS Success May Become National Model” by Jessica Brown, Cincinnati.com, April 12, 2014 at

http://www.cincinnati.com/story/news/education/2014/04/11/us-experts-see-cps-success/7627417/

See http://www.communityschools.org/save_the_date__2014_national_forum_.aspx

•Campaign to Support Public Education:  The Ohio School Boards Association (OSBA) announced last week a statewide campaign called “Stand up for Public Schools” to raise awareness about the achievements of public schools in Ohio and raise support for public education and locally elected boards of education.

According to the campaign “Public schools are a critical component of an informed, democratic society and the American way of life. They provide the educational foundation that each and every child needs to go on to college and careers — and succeed in life.”

The campaignʻs web site includes information about the outstanding programs in Ohioʻs public schools; student achievement; and information about how parents and the public can become more involved in the support of public education. 

The campaign is aligned with the National School Boards Associationʻs nationwide campaign to support public schools. 

See Stand Up for Public Schools at

http://www.standupforohiopublicschools.org/

2)  National News

•House Approves Federal Budget:  The U.S. House of Representatives approved a federal budget for FY15 entitled the Pathway to Prosperity Act along party lines on April 10, 2014.  The budget was introduced by Congressman Paul Ryan (R-Wisconsin), chairman of the House Budget Committee, and includes tax reforms, repeals the Affordable Care Act, changes Medicaid funding, and cuts federal spending by $5.1 trillion over the next ten years. The budget is basically symbolic, because Congress and the President agreed in December 2013 on federal spending levels for FY14 and FY15 through the Bipartisan Budget Act. The U.S. Senate is not expected to take any action on the bill.

•Two Education Bills Pass the House Committee:  The U.S. House, Education, and the Workforce Committee, chaired by Representative John Kline (R-MN), approved on April 8, 2014 two bills that have bipartisan support, the Success and Opportunity through Quality Charter Schools Act (H.R. 10) and the Strengthening Education through Research Act (H.R. 4366). 

The Success and Opportunity through Quality Charter Schools Act was introduced by Chairman Kline and Ranking Member George Miller (D-CA).  It will consolidate the Charter School Program and the Charter School Credit Enhancement Program, and will allow states to use federal grants to replicate and expand successful charter schools. According to a summary, the bill authorizes the Charter School Program at $300 million for fiscal years 2015 through 2020; clarifies that charter schools may conduct state-determined weighted lotteries; and allows students to continue in the school program of their choice by clarifying students in affiliated charter schools can attend the next immediate grade in that network’s school. 

See the “Bill Summary” prepared by the U.S. House, Education, and Workforce Committee at http://edworkforce.house.gov/uploadedfiles/bill_summary_-_the_success_and_opportunity_through_quality_charter_schools_act.pdf 

H.R. 4366, the Strengthening Education through Research Act, was introduced by Representatives Todd Rokita (R-IN) and Carolyn McCarthy (D-NY). It will reauthorize the Education Sciences Reform Act (ESRA), which governs the U.S. Department of Education’s research division called the Institute of Education Sciences. The bill reinforces current law prohibiting the involvement of the federal government in local decisions about curriculum by stating that federal funds cannot be used to “mandate, direct, control, or coerce the curriculum or academic standards or assessments of a state or local educational agency.”

See the “Bill Summary” prepared by the U.S. House, Education and Workforce Committee at 

http://edworkforce.house.gov/uploadedfiles/bill_summary_-_the_strengthening_education_through_research_act.pdf

•Secretary Duncan Testifies Before the House Appropriations Subcommittee:  U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan testified on April 8, 2014 before the House Committee on Appropriations, Subcommmittee on Labor-HHS-Education regarding President Obamaʻs proposed education budget for FY15. He told the panel, chaired by Representative Jack Kingston, that discretionary funding for education remains below 2010 levels and, as a result, students in the U.S. are falling further behind other countries. The proposed budget invests in preschool, in equity of opportunity, in teachers and school leaders, and in strategies to keep college costs down. 

In response to a question from Representative Kingston regarding the Common Core State Standards, Secretary Duncan said, “And just to be very clear with this group, I am just a big proponent of high standards, and whether they are common or not is sort of secondary.  We just want students to be college and career ready once they graduate from high school.”  He added later, “We advocate for high standards, but never said that they have to be common.”

See “Testimony of U.S. Education Secretary Arne Duncan: The U.S. Department of Education Fiscal Year 2015 Budget Request, House Appropriations Committee at

http://www.ed.gov/news/speeches/testimony-us-education-secretary-arne-duncan-us-department-education-fiscal-year-2015-

Secretary Duncanʻs statements about the Common Core State Standards are made at 1:09:58 on the video of the U.S. House Appropriations Hearing on April 8, 2014 at http://appropriations.house.gov/calendar/eventsingle.aspx?EventID=374542

3)  Ohio Legislative Update

The Ohio House approved last week 11 bills, including the following Mid Biennial Review bills:

-HB369 (Sprague) Medicaid Opioid Addictions 

-HB483 (Amstutz) General Operations for the Biennium 

-HB484 (Rosenberger/Brown) Higher Education 

-HB485 (Smith/Johnson) Office of Human Services Innovation 

-HB486 (Baker/Stebelton) Workforce and Economic Development Programs 

-HB487 (Brenner) Education Programs 

-HB488 (Dovilla/Landis) Higher Education-Military Veterans 

-HB492 (Scherer) Taxation

-HB493 (Sears/Henne) Ohio Workersʻ Compensation Law 

The House also concurred with Senate amendments to HB296 (Johnson/Duffey) Schools-Epinephrine Auto-injectors, which would permit public schools to purchase epinephrine auto-injectors in accordance with prescribed procedures, and exempts schools from licensing requirements related to the possession of epinephrine auto-injectors. 

The House approved most of the MBR bills with bipartisan support.  However, controversial amendments added last week to HB483 (Amstutz) MBR General Operations, led to a heated debate on the floor of the House between Republicans and Democrats.  And, provisions expanding the voucher program in the Cleveland Metropolitan School District led to a 61-28 vote for HB487 (Brenner) MBR-K-12 Education, with all Democrats voting against the bill. Democrats were also frustrated that amendments to make charter schools more transparent and accountable were not included in the HB487.  

The controversy over amendments added to HB483 (Amstutz) MBR General Operations led to a House vote of 57 to 33, even though one of the most troublesome amendments about unsolicited ballot applications was removed before the bill was reported out of committee. 

Here is some background:  The Finance and Appropriations Committee, chaired by Representative Amstutz, added an amendment to HB483 on April 7, 2014, that would have cut 10 percent of Local Government Fund distributions if a county mailed unsolicited absentee ballot applications to voters in violation of SB205 (Coley).  The amendment was included in HB483 in response to the anticipated vote of the Cuyahoga County Commission on April 8, 2014 to assert the countyʻs right, based on home-rule and federal law, to mail unsolicited absentee ballot applications to voters in the county.  SB205 was signed into law in February 2014, and requires the Secretary of State, rather than the county boards of election, to make the decision about whether or not to mail absentee ballot applications to voters, and only if the General Assembly allocates funding. 

The ballot amendment was removed on April 8, 2014 by the Finance and Appropriations Committee, but only after Governor Kasich weighed-in on the bill, and requested that the amendment be removed.

However, two other controversial amendments were retained, which led to Democratic opposition of the bill. One amendment would repeal a rule implemented by former Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner that requires the disclosure of campaign spending of unions and businesses, and the other states that college athletes are not employees of their universities. This last amendment attempts to prevent action by college athletes to unionize as a result of a recent ruling by the National Labor Relations Board.

HB484 (Rosenberger/Brown) MBR Higher Education was approved by a vote of 90-0.  The bill would implement the performance-based funding formula developed by community colleges; bases the funding formula for Ohio technical education centers on student outcomes; requires the Board of Regents to evaluate the performance-based funding practices for all public sectors of higher education; requires public universities to report to the Board of Regents by the end of the year on their faculty workload policy and procedures rather than create plans to increase workload by 10 percent by 2017, which was included in the bill as introduced; creates a Higher Education Student Financial Aid Workgroup that would make recommendations on the Ohio College Opportunity Grant and other programs; and allows two-year colleges to create tuition guarantee programs subject to approval by the BOR chancellor.

4)  More on HB483 (Amstutz) MBR-General Operations:  When HB483 (Amstutz) was first introduced it included some changes regarding appropriations in budget line items and some policy changes for K-12 education.  However, the House Finance and Appropriations Committee later amended the bill and increased the number of provisions that affect the Ohio Department of Education and the Ohio Board of Regents. The following is a summary of some of the changes included in the bill:  

•Adds art museums to the list of entities allowed to receive payments from school districts, educational service centers, and the city and/or county in which the museum is located.

•Adds $200,000 to STEM Initiatives in FY15 to build and equip a building to house the Lake County Incubator Project located on or near Lakeland Community College.  The project works with high school students in STEM fields and provides dual enrollment opportunities.

•Permits foundation funds to be used to reimburse 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. 

•Makes adjustments in foundation funding for school districts participating in the establishment of a joint vocational school district.

•Adds $10 million in FY15 for Career Advising and Mentoring.  The State Superintendent of Public Instruction is directed to create the Career Advising and Mentoring Grant Program, which will 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 will 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 are required to partner with members of the business community, civic organizations, or the faith-based community to provide sustainable career advising and mentoring services.

•Allows Straight A grant funds to be used for grant-related expenses incurred outside of the fiscal year in which the grant is awarded, and remain open for twelve months after the close of the fiscal year.

•Amends Section 3313.617 General Educational Development:  The bill makes changes in this section to remove the requirement that the superintendent of a studentʻs district of residence give permission for the student, who is more than 16 but less than 18 years of age, to take the GED exam. 

•Enacts NEW Section 3313.902 Adult Career Opportunity Pilot Program:  The bill creates the Adult Career Opportunity Pilot Program to permit an eligible institution to obtain approval from the state board of education and the chancellor to develop and offer a program of study that allows an eligible student to obtain a high school diploma. A proposed program must include the following:

-allows an eligible student to complete the requirements for obtaining a high school diploma while completing requirements for an approved industry credential or certificate 

-includes career advising and outreach 

-includes opportunities for students to receive a competency-based education. 

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

The bill includes $2.5 million in FY15 for the Adult Career Opportunity Pilot Program, and requires the superintendent of public instruction to award and administer planning grants for the program.  The superintendent may award grants of up to $500,000 to not more than five eligible institutions. The grants can be used by selected eligible institutions to build the capacity to implement the program beginning in the 2015-2016 academic year.

The superintendent of public instruction and the chancellor, or their designees, will 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 can 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, will develop recommendations for the method of funding and other associated requirements for the Adult Career Opportunity Pilot Program. The superintendent will 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.

•Amends Section 3314.08 State Funding for Charter Schools and Section 3317.02 School Funding:  The bill makes changes in how payments are calculated for charter school students in career technical education programs. 

•Enacts NEW Section 3314.38 Dropout Prevention and Recovery Programs/Charter School; 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. 

The bill creates a new program for individuals who are at least 22 but younger than 30 to earn a diploma from a dropout prevention and recovery program operated by a charter school, school district, vocational school district, or community college. The diploma can be earned by successfully completing a competency-based instructional program that complies with standards adopted by the chancellor of the Ohio board of regents. 

The bill includes $5 million for Alternative Education Programs in FY15 to make payments under sections 3314.38, 3317.23, 3317.24, and 3345.86 of the Revised Code for dropout prevention programs.

•Amends Sections 3317.01, and 3317.217 School Funding:  Amends these sections to align with new sections in law, and to adjust for payments of students attending STEM schools.

•Enacts New Section 3317.036 Enrollment of Students between 22-30 Years of Age.  This provision requires the superintendent of each city, local, and exempted village school district to report to the state board of education the enrollment of individuals who are at least twenty-two but less than thirty years of age. It also requires the superintendent of each joint vocational school district to report and certify to the superintendent of public instruction the enrollment of individuals receiving services from the district on a full-time equivalency basis.

•Amends Section 3318.36 School Facilities:  This provision addresses the impact of the phase-out of the tangible personal property on ranking for school facilities projects.

•Amends Section 3333.04 Chancellorʻs Duties:  This provision requires the chancellor of the board of regents in consultation with the state board of education to adopt rules for individuals between the ages of 22-30 to earn high school diplomas.

•Enacts New Section 3345.56 Student Athletes Not Employees:  This section states that a student attending a state university is not an employee of the state university based upon the student’s participation in an athletic program offered by the state university.

5) OCMC Committee Debates “Thorough and Efficient” Clause:  Darrel Rowland of the Columbus Dispatch reports that the Ohio Constitutional Modernization Commissionʻs (OCMC) Education, Public Institutions and Miscellaneous and Local Government Committee, met last week and discussed a draft rewrite of Article VI Sections 1 to 3 of the Ohio Constitution. The draft was prepared by committee chair Chad Readler, but no action was taken on the draft.  

The committee is one of several committees examining the Ohio Constitution and making recommendations for revisions. The commission was created in 2011 (129th-HB188) to update the state constitution, and is required to file reports every two years and present its recommendations to the Ohio General Assembly.  Any changes in the constitution, however, would also need to be approved by the voters. The commission is co-chaired by House Speaker William Batchelder and Senator Charleta Tavares.  

The members of the Education, Public Institutions and Miscellaneous and Local Government Committee include Chad Readler, Chair; Edward L. Gilbert, Vice Chair; former Governor Bob Taft; Senator William Coley; Representatives Kathleen Clyde, Vern Sykes, and Matt Huffman; Franklin County Commissioner Paula Brooks, Roger Beckett, Larry Macon, and Pierrette Talley. 

Article VI of the Ohio Constitution includes provisions about public education; using taxes to fund schools; boards of education; the state board of education; higher education loans; and the stateʻs tuition credits program.  The first three sections in Article VI of the constitution currently state the following:

Article VI

•§6.01 Funds for religious and educational purposes.  The principal of all funds, arising from the sale, or other disposition of lands, or other property, granted or entrusted to this state for educational and religious purposes, shall be used or disposed of in such manner as the General Assembly shall prescribe by law. (1851, am. 1968) 

•§6,02 School Funds: The General Assembly shall make such provisions, by taxation, or otherwise, as, with the income arising from the school trust fund, will secure a thorough and efficient system of common schools throughout the state; but no religious or other sect, or sects, shall ever have any exclusive right to, or control of, any part of the school funds of this state. (1851) 

•§6.03 Public school system, boards of education: Provision shall be made by law for the organization, administration and control of the public school system of the state supported by public funds: provided, that each school district embraced wholly or in part within any city shall have the power by referendum vote to determine for itself the number of members and the organization of the district board of education, and provision shall be made by law for the exercise of this power by such school districts. 

The following proposed draft creates two new sections by combining language; eliminates some language; and adds language.

Proposed Revision by Chad Readler:

•§6.01 Public School System:  “The General Assembly shall provide for the organization, administration and control of the public school system of the state supported by public funds, without discrimination as to race, color, national origin, sex or religion.  No religious or other sect, or sects, shall ever have any exclusive right to, or control or, any part of the school funds of this state.”

•§6.02 Boards of education:  “Where established by the General Assembly, each school district embraced wholly or in part within any city shall have the power by referendum vote to determine for itself the number of members and the organization of the district board of education, and provision shall be made by law for the exercise of this power by such school districts.”

The draft removes some provisions regarding Ohioʻs system of public schools from the Ohio Constitution, but adds language to prohibit discrimination. 

The proposed draft removes language removes references to the “school trust fund”; removes the requirement that the General Assembly “secure a thorough and efficient” system; and that there be a “common system” of schools throughout the state. 

The requirement that the General Assembly “secure a thorough and efficient system of common schools” is at the core of the Ohio Supreme Court decisions in the DeRolph school funding lawsuit, which found Ohioʻs system of funding schools unconstitutional starting with the first DeRolph decision in 1997 and in three subsequent rulings.

According to Columbus Dispatch reporter Darrel Rowland, the author of the proposed amendment, Chad A. Readler, was the defense attorney in a lawsuit filed in the Ohio Supreme Court regarding the constitutionality of Ohioʻs charter schools.  The Dispatch writer quotes him as saying during the OCMC committee meeting, “In terms of the particulars of how we’re going to operate, control and fund schools — in my view, those are decisions that should be left to the governor and General Assembly, rather than the courts.”

Darrel Rowland then writes, “A proposal from Readler would require the General Assembly only to ʻprovide for the organization, administration and control of the public-school system of the state supported by public funds.ʻ If Ohioans don’t like the school-funding setup, they can always elect new lawmakers and a different governor, he said.”

According to State Constitution Education Clause Language by Molly A. Hunter, Education Law Center, Newark, New Jersey, many state constitutions have adopted similar language to support a system of public schools in their states.

Eleven states include the “thorough and efficient” clause in their state constitutions to describe the standard of quality for public education. The states are Colorado, Idaho, Illinois, Kentucky, Maryland, Minnesota, New Jersey, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Texas, and West Virginia. 

The term “general and uniform” is used in Arizona, Idaho, Indiana, Minnesota, North Carolina, Oregon, South Dakota, and Washington to describe the quality of the required education program. 

The clause to “secure the people the advantages and opportunities of education” is used in Arizona, Massachusetts, Montana, New Hampshire, North Carolina, Rhode Island, South Dakota, and Wyoming to describe the purpose of the public education system. 

-See State Constitution Education Clause Language by Molly A. Hunter, Education Law Center, Newark, New Jersey, Updated 2011 at

http://pabarcrc.org/pdf/Molly%20Hunter%20Article.pdf

-See http://ocmc.ohio.gov/ocmc/committees/educ_pubinst_misc_localgovt

-See “Committee pushes to remove educational standard from Constitution” by Darrel Rowland, Columbus Dispatch, April 12, 2014 at

http://www.dispatch.com/content/stories/local/2014/04/10/committee-wants-to-remove-ohio-constitution-phrase.html

6)  ASA Releases Recommendations on Using VAMs: The American Statistical Association (ASA) released on April 8, 2014 a Position Statement that included a set of recommendations about using value-added models (VAMs), which are “....increasingly promoted or mandated as a component in high-stakes decisions such as determining compensation, evaluating and ranking teachers, hiring or dismissing teachers, awarding tenure, and closing schools.” 

VAMs are sophisticated statistical methods that create performance measures from student achievement data. According to the ASA, “VAMs attempt to predict the “value” a teacher would add to student achievement growth, as measured by standardized test scores, if each teacher taught comparable students under the same conditions. VAM results are often regarded as more objective or authoritative than other types of information because they are based on student outcomes, use quantitative complex models, and rely on standardized test scores and common procedures for all teachers or schools.” 

The Position Statement includes the following recommendations that apply to traditional value-added models and growth models:

•“The ASA endorses wise use of data, statistical models, and designed experiments for improving the quality of education.”

•“VAMs are complex statistical models, and high-level statistical expertise is needed to develop the models and interpret their results.”

•“Estimates from VAMs should always be accompanied by measures of precision and a discussion of the assumptions and possible limitations of the model. These limitations are particularly relevant if VAMs are used for high-stakes purposes.

-VAMs are generally based on standardized test scores, and do not directly measure potential teacher contributions toward other student outcomes.

-VAMs typically measure correlation, not causation: Effects – positive or negative – attributed to a teacher may actually be caused by other factors that are not captured in the model.

-Under some conditions, VAM scores and rankings can change substantially when a different model or test is used, and a thorough analysis should be undertaken to evaluate the sensitivity of estimates to different models.”

•“VAMs should be viewed within the context of quality improvement, which distinguishes aspects of quality that can be attributed to the system from those that can be attributed to individual teachers, teacher preparation programs, or schools. Most VAM studies find that teachers account for about 1% to 14% of the variability in test scores, and that the majority of opportunities for quality improvement are found in the system-level conditions. Ranking teachers by their VAM scores can have unintended consequences that reduce quality.”

The ASA Position Statement also provides more details regarding the recommendations.  For example, the Position Statement says that VAMs are only “...as good as the data that is used to fed into them. Ideally, tests should fully measure student achievement with respect to the curriculum objectives and content standards adopted by the state, in both breadth and depth. In practice, no test meets this stringent standard, and it needs to be recognized that, at best, most VAMs predict only performance on the test and not necessarily long-range learning outcomes. Other student outcomes are predicted only to the extent that they are correlated with test scores. A teacher’s efforts to encourage students’ creativity or help colleagues improve their instruction, for example, are not explicitly recognized in VAMs.”

According to the Position Statement, classroom-level differences in VAM scores might be due to factors that are not included in the VAM model, such as class size, extracurricular tutoring, educational needs of the students, etc. “The validity of the VAM scores as a measure of teacher contributions depends on how well the particular regression model adopted adjusts for other factors that might systematically affect, or bias, a teacher’s VAM score.”

The ASA Position Statement also says that it is not clear how test-based indicators, such as those derived from VAMs, will affect “the actions and dispositions of teachers, principals and other educators” especially since, “The majority of the variation in test scores is attributable to factors outside of the teacher’s control such as student and family background, poverty, curriculum, and unmeasured influences.”

One of the conclusions of the Position Statement notes that “A VAM score may provide teachers and administrators with information on their students’ performance and identify areas where improvement is needed, but it does not provide information on how to improve the teaching.”  

  

The ASA is the largest organization in the United States representing statisticians and related professionals, and issued the Position Statement to raise awareness about the strengths and limitations of results generated by VAMs,

See “ASA Statement on Using Value-Added Models for Educational Assessment” ASA, April 8, 2014 at

http://www.amstat.org/policy/pdfs/ASA_VAM_Statement.pdf

FYI ARTS

1)  NEH Chair Announced:  President Barack Obama announced on April 10, 2014 his intent to nominate William “Bro” Adams as chairman of the National Endowment for the Humanities. Dr. Adams is currently the president of Colby College and formerly the President of Bucknell University. If confirmed by the Senate, he will replace Chairman Jim Leach, who announced his resignation last April.

During his career Dr. Adams has served as Vice President and Secretary of Wesleyan University; was Program Coordinator of the Great Works in Western Culture program at Stanford University; and held various teaching positions at Stanford University, Santa Clara University, and the University of North Carolina. As a Fulbright Scholar he conducted research at the Ecole des Hautes Etudes and the Ecole Normale Superieure in Paris, France. He also was a First Lieutenant in the U.S. Army, and served in the Vietnam War.

See “President Obama Announces his Intent to Nominate Dr. William “Bro” Adams as Chairman of the National Endowment for the Humanities” at

http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2014/04/10/president-obama-announces-his-intent-nominate-dr-william-bro-adams-chair

2) Sky High Exhibit at the Riffe Gallery:  The Ohio Arts Councilʻs Riffe Gallery in the Vern Riffe Center for Government and the Arts in Columbus will celebrate its 25th anniversary on May 1, 2014.  The gallery, which opened in 1989, showcases the historic and contemporary works of Ohio artists and curators and diverse collections made available through state, national, and international partnerships. A reception in celebration of the 25th anniversary will be held from 5:00-7:00 PM in the gallery on May 1, 2014, and will feature the centerʻs latest exhibition, Impressive Impressions: Selections from Ohio University’s Kennedy Museum of Art Print Collection.

The Council also announced last week an upcoming exhibition entitled “Sky High”, which will be presented from July 31-October 19, 2014 at the Riffe Gallery. This exhibition will feature the works of artists as they explore the vastness of the Earthʻs atmosphere through a variety of techniques.

Artists in the show include: Rosemarie Bloch (Okeana), Rod Bouc (Columbus), Judith Maureen Brandon (Cleveland), Edward M. Charney (New Carlisle), Robert Coates (Fairborn), Tess Corts (Dayton), Susan Danko (Parma), Julie Friedman (Medina), Diana Duncan Holmes (Cincinnati), David LaPalombara (Athens), Jessica Larva (Columbus), Danielle Rante (Columbus), Kate Shannon (Mansfield), Wendy Collin Sorin (Durham, NC), Diane Stemper (Oxford), Joel Whitaker (Dayton) and Sean Wilkinson (Dayton).

The Vern Riffe Center for Government and the Arts is located at 77 S. High St. across from the Ohio Statehouse.

See “The Ohio Arts Council’s Riffe Gallery Celebrates its 25th Anniversary by Malika Bryant, Ohio Arts Council, April 10, 2014 at 

http://www.oac.state.oh.us/News/NewsArticle.asp?intArticleId=730

3)  Schools Shift from STEM to STEAM:  Melissa Delaney writes for EdTech Focus on K-12 that technology is leading the way for integrating the arts in the STEM curriculum. The article describes the STEAM program at the DeSoto West Middle Schoolʻs ISTEAM3D Magnet Academy (DeSoto, Texas), which integrates all content areas in its project-based curriculum. The expanded use of 3D printers has enabled students to construct entire miniature communities, complete with water and working lights, but has also led students to consider the design and aesthetics of their projects. The students have also learned to code and create video games using MIT Media Labʻs Scratch programming language. Incorporating the arts has raised the level of expectations about the final product, including measures for creativity and design. 

See “Schools Shift from STEM to STEAM” by Melissa Delaney, EdTech, April 2, 2014 at http://www.edtechmagazine.com/k12/article/2014/04/schools-shift-stem-steam

###

Joan Platz

Director of Research

 

Legislative Update 4/7/14

Ohio Alliance for Arts Education
Arts on Line Education Update
April 7, 2014
Joan Platz

1) Ohio News

•130th Ohio General Assembly: The Ohio House and Senate will hold hearings and sessions this week. Lawmakers will be working on several MBRs bills (Mid Biennium Review), including two that include provisions regarding K-12 education, HB487 (Brenner) and HB483 (Amstutz). The House and Senate education committees are not meeting this week.

•Straight A Fund Accepting Applications: The Ohio Department of Education announced last week that it would be accepting applications for the second round of funding through the Straight A Fund on April 4, 2014 through April 18, 2014. $144 million in grants is available for schools and consortia to support projects that meet certain goals. The awards will be announced on June 20, 2014.
See Straight A Fund at http://education.ohio.gov/Topics/Straight-A-Fund.

•Ohio Supreme Court Accepts Charter School Case: The Ohio Supreme Court agreed on March 26, 2014 to hear an appeal of the decision in the case Hope Academy Broadway Campus v. White Hat Mgt., L.L.C from the Tenth District Court of Appeals of Franklin County.

The plaintiffs in the case are ten governing boards of charter schools that had hired White Hat L.L.C. as their management company in 2005. In 2010 the governing boards of the schools filed a lawsuit against White Hat, which had refused to provide the boards with information about how it had spent over $90 million in state funds to operate the schools over the past five years.

The Franklin County Court of Common Pleas granted in part, and denied in part, the plaintiffs’ motion for summary judgment concerning the property rights of the schools in a decision on August 4, 2011. The trial court found that White Hat is a “public official” and that the fees paid to White Hat are “public money” and ordered White Hat to turn over financial information.

The trial court also found, however, that White Hat was not acting as the “purchasing agent” for the schools in all instances based on the contractual agreements, and that some of the property and assets procured with public funds belonged to White Hat.

This part of the decision was appealed and affirmed by the Tenth District Court of Appeals of Franklin County on November 14, 2013. Furthermore, the Appeals Court held that the state funds White Hat received from the governing boards to operate the schools, lost their "public nature" immediately upon payment to White Hat.

According to the plaintiffs’ memorandum seeking Supreme Court jurisdiction in the case, “This appeal gives this Court the opportunity to address three important issues concerning public education and the use of taxpayer money. Through the Schools’ first proposition of law, the Court can determine the point at which public funds become a private entity’s earned profit, particularly in the context of a private entity exercising a government function. The second proposition of law will allow the Court to examine the nature of funds allocated for public education and to decide whether property purchased with such funds must be titled in the name of a public school. The third proposition of law, which addresses the existence of a fiduciary relationship, will allow the Court to determine the degree to which a private management company is accountable to a community school. Each of these questions is vitally important to Ohio’s system of public education.”

See http://www.supremecourt.ohio.gov/Clerk/ecms/resultsbycasenumber.asp?type=3&year=2013&number=2050&myPage=searchbycasenumber.asp

•Forum on Charter Schools and Testing: The public is invited to a forum entitled “Accountability: Charter Schools and High Stakes Testing in Ohio” on Monday, April 28, 2014 from 6:30 - 8:30 PM at the Union Baptist Church, 528 Lincoln Avenue, in Youngstown, Ohio. The speakers include:
-Doug Oplinger, Akron Beacon Journal, “What Journalists Can-- and Cannot-- Tell You about Charter Schools”
-Sherry Tyson, Assist. Treasurer Youngstown City Schools, “What Choice Costs Youngstown Taxpayers”
-Dr. Ronald J. Iarussi, Superintendent of Mahoning County Educational Service Center, “Testing and Mandates in the New Age of Accountability”
-Dr. Randy Hoover, Professor Emeritus Youngstown State University, “The Reality of Student and School Academic Performance”

The forum will be moderated by the League of Women Voters of Greater Youngstown. The sponsors of the forum include ACTION; the City of Youngstown: the Mayor and City Council; the Youngstown City Schools Board of Education; the Youngstown Junior Civic League; Youngstown State University College of Education; the YWCA of Youngstown; and the Core Team of Union Baptist Church, Michael H. Harrison Sr., Pastor.

2) Legislative Update

•Governor Signs Capital Budget
Governor Kasich signed into law on April 1, 2014 HB497 the State’s Capital Budget for the Biennium beginning July 1, 2014. This is the first capital budget that provides state funds for local capital projects since the 2009 recession. The budget totals $2.39 billion and includes $1.64 billion in re-appropriations; $160 million for community projects; $675 million for primary and secondary schools; $459 million for the Board of Regents and the state’s higher education institutions; $369 million for the Public Works Commission; $574.3 million for state facilities and infrastructure; $100 million for the Clean Ohio Program; and $263.4 million for the Department of Natural Resources.
See http://www.media.obm.ohio.gov/obm/budget/documents/capital/fy-15-16/CapitalBudget_FactSheet.pdf.

•Ohio House
The Ohio House approved on April 2, 2014 HB362 (Scherer/Derickson) STEM Schools. The bill authorizes the STEM Committee to grant a designation of STEM school equivalent to a community school or chartered nonpublic school, and makes other revisions to the law regarding STEM schools.

The Ohio House also approved on April 2, 2014 HB393 (Baker/Landis) Career Decision Guide Publication. The bill requires public high schools to publish annually a career decision guide in its newsletter or on its web site.

•House Education Committee
The House Education Committee, chaired by Representative Stebelton, reported HB447 (Lynch) Consolidated School Districts Loans on April 2, 2014. The bill permits a consolidated school district to receive a loan from the Ohio School Facilities Commission to construct a new facility to support the consolidation. The committee accepted a substitute bill before reporting the bill.

The committee also reported HB487 (Brenner) K-12 MBR. Please see below for details.

•House Ways and Means Committee
The House Ways and Means Committee reported HB492 (Sherer) MBR-Taxation on April 2, 2014. The bill would make a variety of changes to increase efficiencies and clarify tax laws.

3) Education Committee Reports K-12 MBR Bill HB487: The House Education Committee reported out on April 3, 2014 HB487 (Brenner) K-12 Mid-Biennium Review (MBR). The committee accepted an omnibus amendment that makes several changes in the bill as introduced, and incorporates the provisions of two other House bills, HB216 (Patterson) school debt forgiveness and HB215 (DeVitis) law enforcement officers/volunteers in schools. The following are some of the changes included in the omnibus amendment:

State Assessments

•Section 3301.0712 College and Work-Ready Assessments: This amendment permits home-instructed students and students in non-chartered nonpublic school to participate in Ohio’s system of assessments.

Third Grade Reading Guarantee

•NEW Section 3301.163 Third-Grade Reading Guarantee/Scholarship Students: The amendment requires students who receive vouchers to attend nonpublic schools beginning July 1, 2015 to be subject to the third-grade reading guarantee retention provisions. It 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.

Report Cards

•Section 3302.03 State Report Card: The amendment revises the calculation for the value-added progress measure on the school and district report cards. Only the most recent school year data will be used instead of up to three years of data. It also specifies that only data from students who have been enrolled and assessed by the school for two years or more shall be used.

The amendment also requires the ODE to include on a school or district’s report card the percent (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.

Academic Distress Commission

•Section 3302.10 Academic Distress Commission: The amendment changes the criteria for the establishment of an academic distress commission. The new conditions are: The district has been declared for three or more consecutive years to be in academic emergency; or the district has received for three or more consecutive years a grade of “F” for the performance index score and a grade of “D” or “F” for the value added measure; or the district has received for three or more consecutive years an overall grade of “F”; or the district has received for three or more consecutive years a grade of “F” for value added; or at least fifty percent of the schools operated by the district have received for three or more consecutive years, an overall grade of “D” or “F” for the number of performance indicators met.

Vouchers

•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.

•NEW Section 3310.05 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.

Territory Transfers/District Consolidation

•Sections 3311.24 and NEW Section 3311.241 Debt Consolidation: These sections are included in HB216 (Patterson), which was reported by the House Education Committee on October 30, 2013. They allow under specified conditions the cancelation of net indebtedness owed by a school district to the solvency assistance fund, when school districts consolidate.

CMSD Transformation Alliance

•Section 3311.86 CMSD Transformation Alliance/Community Schools: The amendment revises a provision in law that permitted the Transformation Alliance to recommend sponsors of new community schools in the Cleveland Metropolitan School District (CMSD). The proposed change allows the Transformation Alliance to recommend to the ODE the “capacity and ability” of entities to sponsor community schools in the CMSD. The ODE would then approve or not approve the sponsor.

Graduation Requirements

•Section 3313.537 Extra-Curricular Activities/Community Schools: The bill is amended to permit 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 3313.603 Graduation Requirements: The amendment allows students who enter ninth grade before July 1, 2014 (rather than July 1, 2016 as stated in the bill as introduced) to qualify for graduation even if they have not completed the Ohio Core 3313.603 (C).

•Section 3313.6013 Advanced Standing Programs: The amendment requires school districts to provide students with certain information about advanced placement courses and international baccalaureate courses.

•Retains 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.

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

•Section 3313.612 Non public Schools Graduation Requirements: The amendment adds a new part (D), which 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 prohibits the state board of education from imposing additional requirements or assessments for the granting of a high school diploma for students in nonpublic schools, and requires the Ohio Department of Education (ODE) to furnish the standardized assessment to measure college and career readiness.

The amendment eliminates 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 3313.843 Educational Service Centers Payment: The amendment clarifies the payment of the operating subsidy paid to educational service centers.

•Section 3313.90 Career-Technical Education: The amendment delays until 2015-2016 the expansion of career technical services to students enrolled in grades seven and eight and advising for career-technical education. The original bill required the expansion of career tech programs in the 2014-15 school year.

•NEW Section 3313.94 School Patrol Services/Tax Credits: This provision 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.

•Section 3313.975 Cleveland Scholarship Program: The amendment allows students in the Cleveland Metropolitan School District and are eligible for the Cleveland Scholarship Program to access the EdChoice Scholarship under certain conditions.

Charter Schools

•Section 3314.016 Community School Sponsors: The amendment states that the Office of Ohio School Sponsorship, which is also a sponsor of community schools, shall be rated by a panel starting in July 2016, but the Office will not be prevented from sponsoring schools based on the rating. The evaluation panel will be formed no later than December 31, 2014 and include representatives from the following organizations:
-A statewide nonprofit organization whose membership is composed solely of entities that sponsor community schools and whose members sponsor the majority of start up community schools in the state
-An educational service center approved to sponsor community schools statewide
-A school district that sponsors one or more community schools that is not a municipal school district
-A qualified tax-exempt entity under section 501(cl (3) of the Internal Revenue Code approved to sponsor community schools
-The Cleveland Metropolitan School District

•Section 3314.02 Conversion Community Schools: The amendment makes changes regarding educational service centers sponsoring conversion community schools in counties outside of the territory of the service center or a contiguous county. It states that in these cases the conversion is subject to approval from the ODE, and that this section does not apply to the Educational Service Center of Lake Erie West, formerly the Lucas County ESC, which operated the first pilot charter school program.

•NEW Section 3314.191 Payments to Opening Community Schools: Requires newly opened charter schools to confirm to the ODE the following before receiving payments from the State:
-Compliance with all provisions regarding the employment of a licensed treasurers
-Sponsor approval of financial controls
-Sponsor approval of facilities
-The chief administrator is managing daily operations at the school
-The projected enrollment reported to the ODE is accurate.

•NEW Section 3314.352 Reopening a Permanently Closed Community School: Prohibits 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. This provision does not apply to internet or computer-based community schools.

•Section 3314.016 Community School Sponsor Rating System: This amendment states 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.” The evaluation of sponsors shall include academic performance, rates of student improvement, adherence to quality practices, and compliance with applicable laws and administrative codes. The ODE is required to establish a schedule to review sponsors for adherence and compliance.

Gifted Education

•Section 3324.09 Expenditures for Gifted Students: The 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.

•Section 3324.11 Gifted Education: This 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.

Advanced Standing Program

•Section 3345.06 (D) Admission Higher Education: The bill includes a new section (D) that requires institutions of higher education to accept a sworn affidavit from the chief administrator of a chartered nonpublic school or a student’s parents, verifying the successful completion of the high school curriculum by the student.

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

College Credit Plus Program

•Sections 3365.01 - 3365.15 College Credit Plus Program: The omnibus amendment includes several changes in the proposed College Credit Plus Program. The bill now permits school districts to negotiate agreements below the $40/credit hour floor with institutions of higher education (Section 3365.07 ORC); permits seventh and eighth graders to participate (Section 3365.033 ORC); permits out-of-state colleges whose programs are approved by the Board of Regents to participate; and specifies the type of data to be collected and reported about the program.

The amendment adds a high school counselor to the College Credit Plus Advisory Committee, and changes the application requirements for nonpublic school and home-instructed students participating in the College Credit Plus program. It requires the State Board of Education to provide the application, and for the student’s parents or guardians to provide certain information.

Provisions in Temporary Law

Section 3: Amends Section 3314.016. This 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”. The system would rate each entity that sponsors charter schools based on certain components, including a measure for academic performance of students enrolled in the schools overseen by the sponsor, adherence to quality practices, compliance with applicable laws and administrative rules. The ODE is required to determine a schedule for completing these reviews and calculating the measures.

The amendment further states that an effective rating for a sponsor will be valid for three years and an exemplary rating for a sponsor will be valid for five years.

This provision also requires the ODE to implement peer review of sponsor adherence to quality practices and enter “into an agreement 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 for that training.”

Also included in the amendment is a new section (D) that outlines how the ODE’s Office of School Sponsorship will be rated using the evaluation system developed for sponsors, and creates a panel to conduct the evaluation.

These provisions will go into effect on January 1, 2015.

Section 6: Adds a representative of the Ohio Association of County Behavioral Health Authorities to the School Based Health Care Advisory Workgroup.

Section 8: Requires the Chancellor of the Ohio Board of Regents by March 31, 2015 to identify one or more nationally normed assessments that may be used to demonstrate remediation-free status, and establish score levels in the areas of mathematics, reading, and writing for each assessment. This section also allows state institution to use the assessments and adopt the remediation-free score levels to determine if a student meets the standards for remediation-free status.

4) This Week at the Statehouse

April 7, 2014

•House Finance and Appropriations
The House Finance and Appropriations Committee, chaired by Representative Amstutz, will meet on April 7, 2014 at 10:00 AM in hearing room 313. The committee will receive testimony regarding HB483 (Amstutz) MBR - Changes in State Programs and HB484 (Rosenberger) MBR Higher Education Reforms.

April 8, 2014

•House Finance and Appropriations
The House Finance and Appropriations Committee, chaired by Representative Amstutz, will meet on April 8, 2014 at 10:00 AM in hearing room 313. The committee will receive testimony regarding HB483 (Amstutz) MBR - Changes in State Programs and HB484 (Rosenberger) MBR Higher Education Reforms.

•Senate Finance Committee
The Senate Finance Committee, chaired by Senator Oelslager will meet on April 8, 2014 at 2:30 PM in the Senate Finance Hearing Room. The committee will receive testimony regarding HB85 (Terhar/Gonzales) Homestead Exemption, which would enhance the homestead exemption for military veterans who are 100 percent disabled from a service-connected disability.

5) National News

•Congressman Ryan Releases FY15 Budget: Congressman Paul Ryan (R-Wisconsin), chairman of the House Budget Committee, introduced on April 1, 2014 a proposed FY15 federal budget entitled “The Pathway to Prosperity Act”. The plan sets broad spending parameters; includes tax reforms; repeals the Affordable Care Act; changes Medicaid funding; and cuts federal spending by $5.1 trillion over the next ten years.

The bill was quickly approved by the House Budget Committee on April 3, 2014, even though Congress approved and President Obama signed into law on December 26, 2013 the Bipartisan Budget Act, which funds the federal government through FY15.

The Pathway to Prosperity Act combines the budgets for the U.S. Departments of Education, Labor, and Health and Human Services, and sets the total at $73.9 billion in budget authority and $91.8 billion in outlays in FY15. The proposed budget doesn’t go into any detail about program funding, leaving decisions about specific funding levels to the committee of jurisdiction for the departments.

Regarding funding for K-12 education, the budget plan states that “The current structure for K---12 programs at the Department of Education is fragmented and ineffective. Moreover, many programs are duplicative or are highly restricted, serving only a small number of students. Given the budget constraints, Congress must focus resources on programs that truly help students. The budget calls for reorganization and streamlining of K---12 programs and anticipates major reforms to the Elementary and Secondary Education Act, which was last reauthorized by the No Child Left Behind Act. The budget also recommends that the committees of jurisdiction terminate and reduce programs that are failing to improve student achievement and address the duplication among the 82 programs that are designed to improve teacher quality.”

The Pell Grant Program is described in the budget plan as unsustainable. The budget recommends several reforms in the program, such as adopting a maximum award level and setting an income cap for students.

According to the proposed budget plan, “Federal subsidies for the National Endowment for the Arts, the National Endowment for the Humanities, and the Corporation for Public Broadcasting can no longer be justified. The activities and content funded by these agencies go beyond the core mission of the federal government. These agencies can raise funds from private-sector patrons, which will also free them from any risk of political interference.”

The budget plan would also promote state, local, and private funding for museums and libraries, and would end grants provided by the Federal government for the Institute of Museum and Library Services.

The Pathway to Prosperity Act is expected to be approved by the Republican-dominated House, but is not expected to clear the U.S. Senate.

See http://budget.house.gov/uploadedfiles/fy15_blueprint.pdf

•Two Education Bills to be Considered by the U.S. House. The U.S. House Education, and the Workforce Committee, chaired by Representative John Kline (R-MN), will mark up on April 8, 2014 two bills that have bipartisan support, the Success and Opportunity through Quality Charter Schools Act (H.R. 10) and the Strengthening Education through Research Act (H.R. 4366).

The Success and Opportunity through Quality Charter Schools Act was introduced by Chairman Kline and Ranking Member George Miller (D-CA). It will consolidate the Charter School Program and the Charter School Credit Enhancement Program, and will allow states to use federal grants to replicate and expand successful charter schools. According to a summary, the bill authorizes the Charter School Program at $300 million for fiscal years 2015 through 2020; clarifies that charter schools may conduct state-determined weighted lotteries; and allows students to continue in the school program of their choice by clarifying students in affiliated charter schools can attend the next immediate grade in that network’s school.

See the “Bill Summary” prepared by the U.S. House, Education, and Workforce Committee at
http://edworkforce.house.gov/uploadedfiles/bill_summary_-_the_success_and_opportunity_through_quality_charter_schools_act.pdf

H.R. 4366, the Strengthening Education through Research Act (H.R. 4366), was introduced by Representatives Todd Rokita (R-IN) and Carolyn McCarthy (D-NY). It will reauthorize the Education Sciences Reform Act (ESRA), which governs the U.S. Department of Education’s research division called the Institute of Education Sciences. The bill reinforces current law prohibiting the involvement of the federal government in local decisions about curriculum by stating that federal funds cannot be used to “mandate, direct, control, or coerce the curriculum or academic standards or assessments of a state or local educational agency.”

See the “Bill Summary” prepared by the U.S. House, Education and Workforce Committee at
http://edworkforce.house.gov/uploadedfiles/bill_summary_-_the_strengthening_education_through_research_act.pdf

•PISA Results for Creative Problem-Solving Released: The Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) released on April 1, 2014 the results of a new creative problem-solving test administered by the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA). The test was administered to 85,000 students age 15 in 44 countries and regions.

According to a summary of the report, students in Singapore, Korea, and Japan had the highest scores, and Shanghai, Canada, Australia, and Finland finished in the top 10.

US students were ranked number 18, and rated above average when compared to all students. This is positive news, because U.S. students have ranked below-average on recent reading and math PISA exams.

See PISA 2012 Results: Creative Problem Solving. Students’ Skills in Tackling Real-Life Problems Volume V, April 1, 2014, OECD, at
http://www.oecd.org/pisa/keyfindings/PISA-2012-results-volume-V.pdf

•Students in New York Opt Out of Common Core Tests: Denise Jewell Gee of The Buffalo News reported on April 1, 2014 that more parents in New York State are opting their children out of state standardized assessments than in the past. According to the article, in one district, West Seneca, 27 percent of students in grades 3-8 had opted-out of the state exams in English-language arts.

The article includes interviews of several parents who say that the tests are too high stakes, take up too much instructional time, can’t be used to improve instruction, and that using the test results to evaluate teachers is an inappropriate burden on children. One parent said that she didn’t want her children to be used as “pawns” in state education reform efforts.

See Parent Protest Expands in WNY as Large Numbers of Students Opt Out of State Exams, by Denise Jewell Gee, The Buffalo News, April 1, 2014 at
http://www.buffalonews.com/city-region/schools/parent-protest-expands-in-wny-as-large-numbers-of-students-opt-out-of-state-exams-20140401

6) Validate New Teacher Evaluations: Experts in psychometrics called upon testing professionals to “...lead the way in providing a framework for evaluating proposed systems that purport to measure teacher quality” in an April 1, 2014 Commentary published in Education Week.

Testing experts Tia Sukin, W. Alan Nicewander, Phoebe Winter, Howard Mitzel, Lisa Keller, and Matt Schulz write that validity studies of teacher evaluation systems should be conducted before teacher-evaluation systems are used “...for high-stakes purposes, such as identifying teachers for sanctions or rewards.”

According to the Commentary the widespread use of student test scores for evaluating teachers will constitute a serious violation of the Standards for Educational and Psychological Testing without validation studies. These standards were developed by the American Educational Research Association, the American Psychological Association, and the National Council on Measurement in Education, and provide a criteria for evaluating test quality and appropriate uses for the test.

The authors identify the following assumptions that underlie the use of student test scores to evaluate teachers, and ask that the assumptions be examined for accuracy:

-”The instruments that make-up the teacher evaluation system (e.g., accountability assessments, teacher-observation protocols, student-satisfaction surveys) are sensitive to classroom instruction and changes in classroom instruction across a diverse population of students.”

-”The administration and implementation of the instruments are consistent with their protocols.”

-”The scoring rules and rubrics used for instruments are appropriate. Scores assigned by raters (e.g., peers, principals, students) are accurate, consistent with scoring protocols, and free of bias.”

-”Observations used in the evaluation are fair, using multiple observers and representing the variety of conditions that could affect teacher performance (e.g., time of year, time of day, subject area covered), so that results are generalizable to teacher performance as a whole.”

-”The measurement instruments are sufficiently reliable.”

-”Teacher-evaluation scores do not significantly correlate with variables associated with the students they teach (e.g., English-language proficiency, prior performance on content, free or reduced-price lunch status). That is, the instruments address factors that can be changed by the teacher.”

-”The instrument outcomes are related to the desired traits (e.g., those exhibited in classrooms that differentiate between higher- and lower-quality teachers).”

-”Teachers with higher scores are more effective than teachers with lower scores.”

-”Raters are able to appropriately assess teacher performance.”

The authors also state that the unintended consequences of the teacher evaluation system should be examined. For example, do the teacher evaluation systems discourage teachers from accepting teaching assignments for specific student populations?

About the authors:
-Tia Sukin is a senior psychometrician for Pacific Metrics, in Monterey, California
-W. Alan Nicewander is the chief psychometrician at Pacific Metrics and an associate editor of Psychometrika, the Journal of the Psychometric Society.
-Phoebe Winter was the executive vice president for education policy at Pacific Metrics when this Commentary was written. She has since retired.
-Howard Mitzel, who died in January, had been the president and principal founder of Pacific Metrics and retained a seat on its board at the time this Commentary was written.
-Lisa Keller is an associate professor of psychometric methods at the University of Massachusetts Amherst.
-Matthew Schulz is the vice president of research at Pacific Metrics.

See “Take the Time to Evaluate Teacher Evaluation, Education Week COMMENTARY by Tia Sukin, W. Alan Nicewander, Phoebe Winter, Howard Mitzel, Lisa Keller, Matt Schulz, April 1, 2014 at
http://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2014/04/02/27sukin.h33.html?utm_source=fb&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=mrss&cmp=RSS-FEED

7) Bills Introduced

•SB322 (Tavares) Property Tax Exemption-Church Day Care Centers: Exempts church day-care centers from property taxation, provided the day-care center does not produce over $30,000 in income for the church per year.

•SB312 (Jones/LaRose) School Security Grant Program: Require the Facilities Construction Commission to establish a school security grant program for nonpublic schools and certain local law enforcement agencies and to make an appropriation.

FYI ARTS

1) Early Bird Registration, American for the Arts Convention: The early bird registration deadline for the 2014 Americans for the Arts Annual (AFTA) Convention is approaching fast. Register now and save big! Early bird registration discount ends April 04, 2014. The convention will be held Friday, June 13, 2014 to Sunday, June 15, 2014 at the Omni Nashville Hotel, Nashville, TN.

The Power of Art to Transform People by Ben Folds will kick off the convention. There will also be three pre conferences on Public Art & Placemaking, Arts Education & Advocacy, and Arts Leadership; three keynote speakers; break-out sessions; and a reception at the expanded County Music Hall of Fame and Museum.

See http://convention.artsusa.org/

2) What Can Students Learn from Theatre? How to be an Engaged Citizen!: An article posted by Casey McDermott on the web site of the Student Press Law Center describes how a high school student coordinated efforts to reinstate a production of “Rent” and in the process supported the First Amendment, demonstrated the value of the arts as a way to communicate controversial ideas, and showed how decisions in a democracy should be made.

The article explains how senior Larissa Mark, president of the Trumbull High School Thespian Club (Trumbull, CT), worked with fellow students to convince the school’s principal, Marc Guarino, to permit the school's theater group to perform the musical “Rent-Student Edition”, after the principal barred the production in November 2013. The principal was concerned about the adult content in “RENT”, which is a Tony Award-winning musical by Jonathan Larson, and focuses on drug use, HIV/AIDS, and sexuality.

According to the article, the production debuted in March 2014, but not until Ms. Mark and the Trumbull High School Thespian Society mounted a campaign that included survey data, a petition drive, a Facebook campaign, and national attention. Throughout the campaign students kept the school administrators informed about their activities, and shared with them the results of a community survey that showed that parents and the public were supportive of the production. The students also testified at board of education meetings, and shared their concerns about the need for students in the community to have opportunities to discuss the serious topics covered in the production, and explained how the musical could be a learning experience for everyone.

Ms. Mark said in the article that the campaign to reinstate the production was a call to civic action to protect First Amendments Rights and showed how the arts could be used to communicate ideas and create change.

For her efforts in support of free speech, Ms. Mark was awarded the Dramatists Legal Defense Fund Award.

See “Q&A: Student who coordinated efforts to reinstate high school production of ‘Rent’”, by Casey McDermott, Student Press Law Center, March 28, 2014 at http://www.splc.org/wordpress/?p=6179.

The Student Press Law Center was founded in 1974 and provides legal assistance to high school and college students, teachers, and journalists regarding First Amendment issues.

###

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

Legislative Update 3/31/14

FROM: Ann Brennan

FYI:  IMPORTANT UPDATE : note Sub. SB 299 changes ( teacher evaluation system changes) the House Education committee has made major changes to the Senate bill.

Also note the deliberations on the education MBR bill ( HB 487) continue in the House Education Committee. The General Assembly will recess on April 9 - April 29.

-----Original Message-----
From: Joan Platz
To: Joan Platz 
Sent: Mon, Mar 31, 2014 2:17 am
Subject: Education Update March 31, 2014

Ohio Alliance for Arts Education

Arts on Line Education Update

March 31, 2014

Joan Platz

1) Ohio News

•130th Ohio General Assembly:  The Ohio House and Senate will hold hearings and sessions this week.  The Senate is scheduled to vote on HB497 (Amstutz) Capital Appropriations for the biennium ending June 30, 2016, and the House will continue hearings on the Mid Biennial Review bills (MBR).  

Senate President Keith Faber announced last week that two “if needed” weeks will be added to the Senate’s session schedule. The Senate was to recess on May 21, 2014, but the additional weeks mean that the Senate could be meeting in June to complete work on the MBRs, which are making their way through House committees. 

•May Primary Election:  The May 6th Primary Election is just weeks away. Voters will be selecting candidates to run in November 2014 for statewide executive offices, including Governor/Lieutenant Governor, Attorney General, Auditor, Secretary of State, Treasurer; members of the Ohio General Assembly; representatives to the U.S. Congress; members of the State Board of Education; county offices; judicial offices; and members of political parties.  Voters will also vote on 614 local issues, including 150 school issues, and vote on State Issue 1, a proposed constitutional amendment to fund public infrastructure capital improvements by permitting the issuance of general obligation bonds. 

Boards of elections will be mailing absentee ballots for those who requested them this week, and in-person absentee voting begins on Tuesday, April 1, 2014.  April 7, 2014 is the deadline to register to vote in the primary election.

See The Secretary of State’s web site at http://www.sos.state.oh.us/sos/elections/Voters/whatsontheballot/whatsOnBallot.aspx

•Students Field Testing New Assessments:  The Ohio Department of Education announced last week that students in several Ohio schools began field-testing assessments aligned to the Common Core State Standards (CCSS).  Ohio is among several states participating in the Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers (PARCC), a consortium that is working with Pearson Inc. to develop assessments in English language arts and math aligned to the new standards.  Ohio is also working with American Institutes for Research (AIR) to field-test assessments for science and social studies. 

The computer-based assessments include performance-based sections, in which students must demonstrate how they would solve a problem, and multiple choice sections, which will be administered later this school year. Paper and pencil assessments are also available in some schools. 

   

See http://education.ohio.gov/Topics/Testing/Next-Generation-Assessments/2013-2014-Field-Tests  

2)  Legislative Update

•Governor Signs Bills:  Governor Kasich signed into law on March 26, 2014 HB107 (Baker) Career Exploration Internships-Tax Credits.  The law authorizes a tax credit for businesses that employ high school students in career exploration internships. 

He also signed into law HB416 (Burkley/Hill) Calamity Days.  This law permits payment in fiscal year 2015 to school districts and STEM schools that exceed, by up to four days, the number of permitted “calamity” days in fiscal year 2014.

•House Approves the Capital Bill:  The Ohio House approved last week HB497 (Amstutz) Capital Appropriations for the biennium ending June 30, 2016.  The $2.4 billion bill sailed through the House with only minor adjustments to some of the agencies administering the funds.  The Senate is expected to pass the bill quickly this week, so that projects currently underway are not delayed.

•House Education Committee Reports Bills: The House Education Committee, chaired by Representative Stebelton, met on March 29, 2014 and reported the following bills: 

-HB241 (Hagen) School Employees-Sexual Conduct, which would prohibit an employee of a public or nonpublic school or institution of higher education from engaging in sexual conduct with a minor who is enrolled in or attends that public or nonpublic school. 

-SB69 (Beagle) Course and Program Sharing Network, which would establish the Course and Program Sharing Network. 

   

-HB393 (Baker/Landis) Career Decision Guide Publication, which would require public high schools to publish annually a career decision guide in its newsletter or on its web site. 

•Substitute Bill Changes SB299:  The House Education Committee also accepted a substitute bill for SB229 (Gardner) Teacher Performance Evaluations.  SB299 was unanimously approved by the Ohio Senate on December 4, 2013, but has languished in the House Education Committee since then.  As passed by the Senate the bill would have reduced the number of complete evaluations for accomplished teachers under Ohio’s Teacher Evaluation System (OTES), and decreased the student growth measure component used in the teacher evaluation metric from 50 to 35 percent, which is in line with other state teacher evaluation systems. 

The substitute bill completely changes the focus of SB229 in the following ways:

-Reverts to current law which requires student academic growth to account for 50 percent of a teacher’s evaluation, but permits boards of education to use an alternate teacher evaluation framework, which would include 40 percent for student academic growth measure; 40 percent for teacher performance measure; and 20 percent for student surveys. Allows boards of education to use the new framework that includes the student survey results, or a Teacher Evaluation Rating Table.  The table includes five ranges for scoring the student academic growth measure and four scores ranging from one to four for the teacher performance levels, which are based on formal observations. Teachers could be rated accomplished, skilled, effective, developing, or ineffective, according to the table.

-Permits student surveys to be part of teacher evaluations and requires the State Board to approve two surveys by March 31, 2015. The surveys must be empirically tested and validated.

   

-Adds another performance level rating of “effective” between “skilled” and “developing,” “thus creating five educator performance levels.” 

-Requires at least one formal unannounced observation of a teacher by an evaluator.

-Reverts to current law allowing a district or school to evaluate a teacher rated “accomplished” once every two years, but adds this condition: reduces the number of annual evaluations for a teacher who is rated “accomplished” or “skilled” if the teacher’s student academic growth measure is rated average or higher. The bill also requires that teachers who are not formally evaluated every year be observed and participate in a conference regarding the observation.

-Allows a district or school to choose not to evaluate a teacher, if the teacher has been on leave from the school district for 70 percent or more of the school year, or has submitted a notice to retire.

-Requires teachers rated effective, developing, or ineffective to prepare and implement an improvement plan.

-Beginning July 1, 2015 prohibits a school district from assigning students to a teacher who has been rated ineffective for two consecutive school years. Also prohibits the assignment of a student teacher to a teacher who was rated developing or ineffective for the previous school year.

-Requires that teachers who have at least 10 years experience, but receive a designation of either “least effective” or “below average growth” on the student academic growth portion of an educator evaluation, receive the “developing” rating only once.

-Requires the ODE not later than July 1, 2015 to develop a standardized framework for assessing student academic growth for grade levels and subjects for which the value-added progress dimension does not apply. 

-Requires that boards of education administer an assessment to students in each of grades K-12 to determine a teacher’s student academic growth in English language arts, mathematics, social studies, and science beginning on July 1, 2016. The ODE must select the assessments, which may include diagnostic assessments and achievement assessments already required under law. 

  

-Requires teacher “evaluators” to meet certain criteria, and requires school administrators to complete an evaluator training program as part of their administrator certification/licensing requirements. 

-Requires the State Board to develop a framework to evaluate principals and assistant principals.

-Requires all diagnostic assessments adopted by the State Board of Education to be based either on the value-added progress dimension or assessments of student growth measures developed by a vendor.

-Specifies that the reading diagnostic assessments used to determine a student’s reading level for the third-grade reading guarantee be based either on the value-added progress dimension or assessments of student growth measures developed by a vendor, and be approved by the ODE.

-Exempts all provisions regarding educator evaluations from collective bargaining.

-States that the “value-added progress dimension rating for the 2014-2015 school year will not be used when making decisions regarding teacher dismissal, retention, tenure or compensation.”

3) This Week at the Statehouse

March 31, 2013

•House Higher Education Subcommittee

The House Higher Education Subcommittee, chaired by Representative Rosenberger, will meet on March 31, 2014 at 9:00 AM in hearing room 311.  The committee will receive testimony regarding HB484 (Rosenberger) MBR Higher Education Reforms.

    

•Senate Finance Committee

The Senate Finance Committee, chaired by Senator Oelslager, will meet on March 31, 2014 at 1:30 PM in the Senate Finance Hearing Room.  The committee will receive testimony regarding HB497 (Amstutz) Capital Appropriations for the biennium ending June 30, 2016.

Tuesday, April 1, 2014

•House Higher Education Subcommittee

The House Higher Education Subcommittee, chaired by Representative Rosenberger, will meet on April 1, 2014 at 9:00 AM in hearing room 311.  The committee will receive testimony regarding HB484 (Rosenberger) MBR Higher Education Reforms.

    

•Senate Finance Committee

The Senate Finance Committee, chaired by Senator Oelslager, will meet on April 1, 2014 at 9:30 AM in the Senate Finance Hearing Room.  The committee will receive testimony regarding HB497 (Amstutz) Capital Appropriations for the biennium ending June 30, 2016.

•House Finance and Appropriations

The House Finance and Appropriations Committee, chaired by Representative Amstutz, will meet on April 1, 2014 at 1:30 PM in hearing room 313. The committee will receive testimony regarding HB483 (Amstutz) MBR - Changes in State Programs.

Wednesday, April 2, 2014

•House Education Committee

The House Education Committee, chaired by Representative Stebelton, will meet on April 2, 2014 at 9:00 AM in hearing room 017. The committee will receive testimony on HB447 (Lynch) Consolidated School District Loans and HB487 (Brenner) MBR-K-12 Education Programs.

•House Finance and Appropriations

The House Finance and Appropriations Committee, chaired by Representative Amstutz, will meet on April 2, 2014 at 9:00 AM in hearing room 313. The committee will receive testimony regarding HB483 (Amstutz) MBR-Changes in State Programs.

•Senate Education Committee

The Senate Education Committee, chaired by Senator Lehner, will meet on April 2, 2014 at 3:30 PM in the Senate Finance Hearing Room.  The committee will receive a presentation from the Ohio College Access Network, and receive testimony on SB241 (Sawyer) Straight A Program Governing Board, and HB171 (McClain/Patmon) Released Time Courses-Religious Instruction.

Thursday, April 3, 2014

•House Education Committee

The House Education Committee, chaired by Representative Stebelton, will meet on April 3, 2014 at 9:00 AM in hearing room 313. The committee will receive testimony on HB460 (Brenner/Driehaus) School Restructuring and HB487 (Brenner) MBR-K-12 Education Programs.

4) National News

•Leveraging Federal Funds for Technology:  In a letter to colleagues dated February 4, 2014, Richard Culatta, the U.S. Department of Education’s director of the Office of Educational Technology, identified several ways for educators to leverage federal funds to support digital teaching and learning. For example, Dr. Culatta recommended that states, districts, and partnerships understand and better use their federal grant programs to support innovative technology-based strategies to personalize learning. These include ESEA Title I, II, III funds and IDEA funds. These funds can be used to improve personalized professional development for educators, increase access to high-quality content and resources for students, facilitate educator collaboration and communication, and provide devices for students to access digital learning resources.

See http://www.ed.gov/edblogs/technology/files/2013/06/Federal-Funds-Tech-DC-.pdf.

•Indiana Opts Out of the Common Core, or Does It??  The Indianapolis Star reported on March 24, 2014 that Indiana Governor Mike Pence signed into law last week SB91, a bill that removes references to the Common Core State Standards (CCSS) in Indiana law, and requires the Indiana state board of education to adopt new standards aligned with national and international college and career readiness standards.  

Indiana was one of 45 states and the District of Columbia to adopt the Common Core State Standards in 2010. The framework for the CCSS standards was developed by David Coleman, formerly of Achieve and now president of the College Board, with the assistance of Student Achievement Partners and through the leadership of the National Governor’s Association, the Council of Chief State School Officers, and Achieve.  (See http://achievethecore.org/about-us)

Anticipating this legislative action the Indiana Department of Education developed a process to involve educators, parents, and citizens in a review of the Common Core State Standards, and developed new academic content standards in English language arts and math. The Indiana State Board is scheduled to vote on the proposed Indiana academic standards in April 2014.  The standards would go into effect on July 1, 2014.  

According to the article, some experts believe that the new standards do not differ very much from the original Common Core State Standards, but officials in the Indiana department of education say that drafts of the proposed standards are being changed daily, and the final version of the standards will represent the knowledge and skills that the people of Indiana want students in grades K-12 to know and learn.

Here in Ohio State Representative Andy Thompson (R-Marietta) introduced HB237, which would prohibit the State Board of Education from adopting the Common Core State Standards and participating in the assessments developed by the Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers (PARCC), the Smarter Balanced Assessments, or any other assessments related to the Common Core State Standards.  The bill also outlines a process that the State Board would use to develop Ohio-based academic content standards.  The bill had two hearings in the House Education Committee last fall, but no recent action has been taken on the bill.

See “Gov. Mike Pence ends Common Core, but not its influence” by Eric Weddle, Indy Star at http://www.indystar.com/story/news/education/2014/03/24/gov-mike-pence-ends-common-core-influence/6842999/

•More Students Reported with Autism:  The Centers of Disease Control and Prevention released on March 28, 2014 a report with information about the prevalence of the autism spectrum disorder (ASD) among 8 year old children for 2010.  The report was prepared by the Autism and Developmental Disabilities Monitoring (ADDM) Network and included ASD data collected from eleven ADDM sites. 

According to an abstract of the report “...the overall prevalence of ASD among the ADDM sites was 14.7 per 1,000 (one in 68) children aged 8 years. Overall ASD prevalence estimates varied among sites from 5.7 to 21.9 per 1,000 children aged 8 years. ASD prevalence estimates also varied by sex and racial/ethnic group. Approximately one in 42 boys and one in 189 girls living in the ADDM Network communities were identified as having ASD. Non-Hispanic white children were approximately 30% more likely to be identified with ASD than non-Hispanic black children and were almost 50% more likely to be identified with ASD than Hispanic children.”

The report also notes that the median age of earliest known ASD diagnosis was 53 months and did not differ significantly by sex or race/ethnicity. 

The authors of the report warn that the prevalence estimates presented in the report cannot be generalized to all children aged 8, because the ADDM Network sites do not provide a representative sample of the entire United States.

Also, the authors note the “significant variations in ASD prevalence by geographic area, sex, race/ethnicity, and level of intellectual ability”, and offer that these variation might be “...attributable to diagnostic practices, under recognition of ASD symptoms in some racial/ethnic groups, socioeconomic disparities in access to services, and regional differences in clinical or school-based practices”.

The authors recommend that standardized measures to document ASD severity and functional limitations associated with ASD diagnosis be developed and used; those who diagnose ASD improve recognition and documentation of symptoms, particularly among both boys and girls, children without intellectual disability, and children in all racial/ethnic groups; and that the children be assessed for ASD at an earlier age.  The earliest age for a diagnosis is two years.

See “Prevalence of Autism Spectrum Disorder Among Children Aged 8 Years — Autism and Developmental Disabilities Monitoring Network, 11 Sites, United States, 2010 Surveillance Summaries” by Jon Baio, corresponding author, The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, March 28, 2014 at

http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/ss6302a1.htm?s_cid=ss6302a1_w 

5) AEP Releases Summary of State Arts Policies: The Arts Education Partnership (AEP) recently released a policy brief entitled “A Snapshot of State Policies for Arts Education”.  The brief summarizes the “...results of a 2014 analysis of current state policies for arts education. The brief provides the background for the study and reports the findings in several policy areas, including requirements for standards, instruction, assessment, accountability, and teacher certification.”

The Arts Education Partnership (AEP) is a national coalition of more than 100 education, arts, business, cultural, government, and philanthropic organizations established in 1995 by the National Endowment for the Arts, the U.S. Department of Education, the Council of Chief State School Officers (CCSSO), and the National Assembly of State Arts Agencies (NASAA). The AEP is a noted source for objective and nonpartisan information about current and emerging arts education research, policies, issues, and activities.

According to the policy brief, there is “...a strong public policy consensus across states that the arts are an important curricular area that contribute to a quality K-12 education, but also that there’s considerable variation in how states address specific arts education policy areas.” 

The brief identifies a “policy paradox” in which millions of students are denied instruction in the arts as part of their regular education (based on federal surveys), even though there is overall support for arts education programs in state laws and in state administrative codes. 

The authors conclude, “The promise of an equitable and high quality education that includes the arts for every student depends upon the combination of strong policies at the state level, adequate resources and support to implement them at the local level, and mechanisms in place to hold all parties accountable for compliance.” 

The following is a summary of some of the findings of the brief organized into several policy areas, and comments offered by this author about the status of arts education in Ohio's traditional public schools.

•The Arts as a Core Academic Subject: According to the brief 27 states define the arts as a core academic subject, but a majority of the 27 states do not define the term “arts”.  Only Georgia lists the four arts disciplines of dance, drama/theatre, music, and visual art in its statutes. Currently federal law defines the arts as a core academic subject in The Elementary and Secondary Education Act (No Child Left Behind of 2001), but the law does not define the term “arts”.  

Comment:  Ohio law requires boards of education to provide for the study of the “fine arts including music”, and requires STEM schools to include the arts in their curriculum.  Charter schools are not required to provide instruction in the arts.  

“The arts” are not defined in Ohio law, and there is no specific requirement that the arts be taught at any grade level for any length of time.  Required minutes of instruction in the arts at the elementary and middle school levels were in the 1983 Operating Standards for Ohio’s Schools, but were removed in the 2001 revision of the standards. Ohio law does include the arts in the list of "elective courses" that students can take to earn credits for graduation.

The July 2011 revision of operating standards, which are part of the Ohio Administrative Code, requires that boards of education adopt courses of study for each subject taught, and include in the courses of study learning objectives; sequential learning; sufficient opportunity for students to learn the course of study objectives; and assessment of student learning.  Arts education advocates have used this language to promote sequential learning in the arts in grades K-12.

•State Standards for Arts Education:  According to the brief all but one state, Iowa, have adopted elementary and secondary standards for arts education. Most states have developed separate standards for each of the arts disciplines, but only three states, Minnesota, Nebraska, and South Carolina, have developed standards for media arts. 

Most states (45) have also included the arts in their early learning standards for children birth to school age. 

Comment:  The Ohio State Board of Education adopted revised academic standards for the fine arts in 2012, but the standards do not include media arts as a separate discipline.  Ohio’s early learning standards do not include the arts. Currently the State Board of Education is reviewing a new model curriculum for the arts aligned to the 2012 standards, and is scheduled to adopt the curriculum in June 2014.

•Instructional Requirements for the Arts:  According to the brief, forty-five states have instructional requirements for the arts at the elementary and middle school levels, and 42 states have them at the high school level.  The instructional requirements are often part of a school’s state accreditation process. 

Instructional requirements vary greatly among the states.  Some states, for example Missouri, require that “Each elementary student will receive regular instruction in art, music, and physical education for a minimum of 50 minutes in each area each week.”  

Arkansas law provides the strongest support for arts instruction at the elementary level.  It states, “... every public elementary school in the state shall provide [weekly] instruction for no less than forty (40) minutes in visual art and no less than forty [40] minutes in music based on the state visual art and music frameworks.” Other states, including Ohio, are less specific.

Comment:  As stated before, required minutes of instruction in the arts were removed from Operating Standards in 2001.  Ohio’s public schools are chartered by the State Department of Education, but schools are no longer audited or inspected regularly to ensure that they comply with all laws and rules.  However, Ohio Administrative Code Rule 3301-35-11 (C) states that, “Failure to comply with applicable rules in this chapter and rule 3301-56-01 of the Administrative Code shall be cause for initiating efforts to revoke the school district’s charter in accordance with section 3301.16 of the Revised Code and Chapter 119. of the Revised Code. The department of education may investigate allegations of noncompliance with the rules in this chapter, as it deems necessary.” 

•High School Graduation Requirements Pertaining to the Arts: The brief finds that twenty-six states mandate that high school students earn at least one credit in the arts as a requirement for graduation. Utah requires high school students to take “1.5 units of credit from any of the following areas:  visual arts, music, dance [and] theater.” Another 18 states require students to earn “elective” credits, and include the arts among the elective subjects.

The brief also notes that some statewide institutions of higher education require arts credits for admission, including higher education systems in California, Arizona, Minnesota, South Carolina, and Connecticut.  

Comment:  With some exceptions, students in traditional public schools in Ohio are required to successfully complete two semesters or the equivalent in the arts in any grades 7-12 starting with the class of 2014.  Students in charter schools, dropout prevention and recovery programs, and students in career technology programs are exempted from this requirement. 

The arts are listed among a variety of electives that students can take to meet graduation requirements, and many Ohio colleges and universities require the arts as part of their admission standards.

•Assessment and Accountability in the Arts: According to the brief 17 states have policies in statute or code that pertain to assessment of student learning in the arts. Most states have general requirements that local boards of education adopt policies to assess student progress in all subjects taught. Only Oklahoma and New Jersey specify in their arts assessment policies either reporting requirements or details of assessment.  Oklahoma requires an assessment of student achievement in the arts in grades 3-8, and requires each school district to prepare an annual report outlining the fine arts assessment strategies used; when assessments were administered; and the results of the assessments.

New Jersey requires that boards of education report the “progress of all students” in developing the knowledge and skills in the visual and performing arts. New Jersey’s 2014 School Performance Reports included for the first time the percent of New Jersey students who were enrolled in courses in the arts. 

The brief also notes that Connecticut, Maine, North Carolina, and Kentucky provide resources for the assessment of student learning in the arts.

Comment:  Ohio law requires the assessment of student achievement in all courses taught, but Ohio does not have a statewide assessment in the arts.  The Ohio Department of Education is required to report on the 2014 local report card the availability of fine arts courses for students. The ODE is currently working on how this will look.

•Teacher Certification or Licensing Requirements:  According to the brief 42 states have arts-specific language pertaining to certification or licensing requirements for arts teachers.  Most of the 42 states refer to requirements for music and visual art educators.  Certification/licensing requirements for theater teachers are identified in 32 states, and in 26 states for dance teachers.  Several states also certify English teachers to teach theater, and physical education teachers to teach dance. 

In addition, 34 states require non-arts teachers to take courses in the arts in teacher preparation programs, especially teachers at the elementary level.  North Carolina includes references to arts integration in its teacher preparation requirements for general elementary level educators. Six states, Alaska, Arkansas, Hawaii, Mississippi, West Virginia, and Wyoming, do not mention the certification of educators in the arts in statute or code.

Comment:  Ohio requires that courses in the arts be taught by teachers with the appropriate license, which includes a multi-age license in a specific arts discipline; a preK-3 license (which requires course work to teach the arts); a 4-9 license with an endorsement in an arts discipline; and an early childhood generalist license (for grades 4 & 5), which is a license that is added to the preK-3 license. 

Overall the brief identifies Minnesota, New Hampshire, and New Jersey as states that define the arts as a core subject and have aligned arts education policies with other core curricular areas. According to the brief, “These three states include in statute or administrative code requirements for (1) elementary and secondary content standards; (2) instruction at elementary, middle, and high school levels; (3) course credits for high school graduation; and (4) assessment of student learning in the arts.” 

State policies regarding K-12 arts education are available through ArtScan, a searchable database that provides information in 14 policy areas, and is available on the Arts Education Partnership website. ArtScan allows users to explore data in multiple ways by providing a state level profile for all policy areas, a comparison of selected state and policy areas, and state-level reports. A new feature of ArtScan is the descriptive indicators for each state compiled annually by the U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics.

See “A Snapshot of State Policies for Arts Education” at

http://www.aep-arts.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/A-Snapshot-of-State-Policies-for-Arts-Education.pdf

6)  Bills Introduced

•HB502 (Foley/Hagen) Minimum Wage Increase:  Increases the state minimum wage to ten dollars and ten cents an hour beginning January 1, 2015. 

    

•HB503 (Budish) Business Plan Development-Higher Education Students: Requires the Chancellor of the Board of Regents to establish a competition for the development of successful business plans for students enrolled at state institutions of higher education and makes an appropriation.

•HB507 (Butler) Ohio Local Government Expenditure Database:  Establishes the Ohio Local Government Expenditure Database.

        

FYI ARTS

1) Ohio Senator Earns Arts Leadership Award:  Americans for the Arts in conjunction with The United States Conference of Mayors presented the 2014 National Award for Congressional Arts Leadership to Senator Sherrod Brown (D-OH) and Representative James P. Moran (D-VA). The award, which recognizes distinguished public service on behalf of the arts, was presented on March 25, 2014 at the Congressional Arts Kick Off during National Arts Advocacy Day on Capitol Hill.

Senator Brown was recognized for his support of local arts organizations in Ohio; his interest in how the arts impact economic and workforce development; his support for arts education as part of a well-rounded education; and his interest in the role of the arts in revitalizing communities and individual lives.

Representative Moran was recognized for his steadfast support for the National Endowment for the Arts in the U.S. House; his support for cultural and performing arts in and around the District; and for his support for research about the healing properties of arts therapy for wounded veterans.

The National Award for Congressional Arts Leadership is part of a series of Public Leadership in the Arts Awards which have been given annually since 1997 by Americans for the Arts and The United States Conference of Mayors.

See http://www.americansforthearts.org/news-room/press-releases/us-senator-sherrod-brown-and-us-congressman-james-p-moran-honored-with-2014-national-awards-for

2) All-Ohio State Fair Director Named:  Ohio State Fair officials announced last week the selection of Dr. Jon C. Peterson of Canton in Stark County as director of the All-Ohio State Fair Youth Choir.

Dr. Peterson earned a Doctor of Musical Arts Degree in Choral Conducting, with a minor in historical musicology from the University of Arizona. He currently serves as Director of Choral Activities and Assistant Professor of Music at Malone University in Canton, Ohio, where he conducts the Malone University Chorale, Chamber Choir and Chapel Choir. At Malone he also teaches courses in music education, conducting, and music ministry. Prior to coming to Malone last fall, Dr. Peterson served on the choral faculty at Bluffton University in Bluffton, Ohio, and as Artistic Director of The Magpie Consort, a Columbus-based chamber choir.

As director of the All-Ohio State Fair Youth Choir Dr. Peterson will recruit, select, prepare, and lead more than 200 high school vocalists in the All-Ohio State Fair Youth Choir. Members of The All-Ohio State Fair Youth Choir will arrive at the Ohio Expo Center on July 17, 2014 and perform six to eight times each day during the 12-day Fair.

See http://www.ohiostatefair.com/index.php/news-a-media-48/item/616-dr-jon-c-peterson-named-all-ohio-state-fair-youth-choir-director

3) NY City Teams with Amp Up NYC:  Guest blogger Alyssa Morones writes for Education Week’s Curriculum Matters Blog that New York City Schools are expanding music education programs through the Amp Up NYC partnership.  Working with Amp Up NYC are the New York Department of Education, Berklee College of Music, and Little Kids Rock. The purpose of the program is to train music teachers to teach modern band, such as hip hop, hard rock, and punk. The program will provide the curriculum and lesson plans, and participating teachers will receive credits to purchase instruments (guitars, drums, keyboards, etc.) for free provided by Amp Up. Berklee will provide sheet music, history, and the recordings of modern songs, while Little Kids Rock will provide materials for younger students. The three year pilot program is expected to reach more than 600 schools and 60,000 students. 

See “New Partnership Brings Rock and Roll to N.Y.C. Schools” by Alyssa Morones Education Week’s Curriculum Matters Blog, March 27, 2014 at http://blogs.edweek.org/edweek/curriculum/2014/03/new_partnership_brings_modern_.html?cmp=ENL-EU-NEWS3. 

###

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.

Legislative Update 3/24/14

From: Ann Brennan 

FYI - IMPORTANT LEGISLATIVE UPDATE on MBR

-----Original Message-----
From: Joan Platz 
Sent: Mon, Mar 24, 2014 1:58 am
Subject: Arts on Line Education Update March 24, 2014
Ohio Alliance for Arts Education
Arts on Line Education Update
Joan Platz
March 24, 2014

1) Ohio News

•130th General Assembly: The Ohio House and Senate will hold committee hearings and sessions this week. Most of the committees in the House will be working on bills that include legislative changes comprising the Mid-biennium Review (MBR), introduced on March 11, 2014 as HB472 (McClain). The House Finance and Appropriations Committee, chaired by Representative Amstutz, will be reviewing HB497 (Amstutz) the Capital Budget, which is on a fast track and scheduled for hearings in the Senate Finance Committee by the end of the week. The Senate Education Committee will continue hearings on HB193 (Brenner) Requirements for a Diploma.

•MBR Separated into Fourteen Separate Bills: Last week Ohio House Speaker William Batchelder announced that HB472 (McClain) the Mid Biennium Review (MBR), would be divided into 14 separate bills and would be considered by 11 different committees in the Ohio House.

The MBR was introduced on March 11, 2014 by Representative McClain, and includes policy changes and appropriations proposed by Governor Kasich. The 1000 plus page bill was split into subject-specific bills to facilitate the hearing process, as lawmakers work to finalize actions on many bills before they break in May/June for the summer, and prepare for the November 2014 elections.

Not all of the bills introduced last week to address MBR provisions are new. A bill already being debated, HB369 (Sprague), will become the vehicle for MBR changes addressing mental health and drug addiction services, and HB375 (Huffman), which has received hearings in the House Ways and Means Committee, will become the vehicle for the severance tax changes on oil and gas drilling.

Also, multiple bills have been introduced to cover changes in the law related to K-12 education and higher education. Most of the proposed policy changes for K-12 education are included in HB487 (Brenner), while changes in some formulas to fund K-12 programs and a new adult education pilot program are included in HB483 (Amstutz). There is also some overlap between HB487 and three bills that include changes for higher education: HB484 (Rosenberger-Brown) higher education reform; HB486 (Baker-Stebelton) workforce development; and HB488 (Dovilla-Landis) veterans’ issues.

The following is a list of the bills that now make-up the mid biennium review - MBR:

-HB369 (Sprague) Mental health/drug addiction components: House Finance and Appropriations Committee

-HB375 (Huffman) Severance tax: House Ways and Means Committee

-HB472 (McClain) Tax reform: House Ways and Means Committee. This bill would make changes in the commercial activity tax; personal income tax; and cigarette tax.

-HB483 (Amstutz) Appropriation changes and policy changes. House Finance and Appropriations Committee. HB483 includes some adjustments to the school funding formula and policy changes for pre-apprenticeship programs, career-technical education programs, STEM programs, and community schools. It also permits the superintendent of public instruction to award up to $500,000 in planning grants for a proposed Adult Career Opportunity Pilot Program in FY2015.

-HB484 (Rosenberger-Brown) Higher education reform: House Finance and Appropriations Subcommittee on Higher Education. HB484 includes the following: requires a report about how faculty at institutions of higher education can increase their workload by 10 percent; authorizes the creation of a tuition guarantee program; requires the chancellor to create a course and program sharing network; revises the state formula for funding community colleges and technical colleges in FY15; establishes a formula for funding Ohio Technical Centers;
permits the chancellor to designate a post-secondary globalization liaison; and requires a complete inventory on workforce development programs.

-HB485 (Smith-Johnson) Creation of the Office of Human Services Innovation: House Health and Aging Committee.

-HB486 (Baker-Stebelton) Workforce development: House Economic Development and Regulatory Reform Committee. The bill includes provisions to align the three main federal workforce programs into a single plan. The three programs are Adult Basic Literacy Education (ABLE), the Carl D. Perkins Career and Technical Education Act (Perkins): and the Workforce Investment Act (WIA).

-HB487 (Brenner) Education reform: House Education Committee. See the highlights of this bill at #6 below.

-HB488 (Dovilla-Landis) Veterans issues: House Veterans Affairs Committee. The bill would make it easier for veterans to transfer their skills to receive academic and licensure credit by creating a Fast Track to State Licenses for veterans who work with a professional licensing board.

-HB489 (Blair) Lease-lease back provision: House State and Local Government Committee.

-HB490 (Hall-Thompson) ODNR/ODAg/EPA reforms: House Agriculture and Natural Resources Committee.

-HB491 (Buchy/Blessing) Lottery/casino changes: House Policy and Legislative Oversight Committee.

-HB492 (Scherer) Tax corrective changes: House Ways and Means Committee.

-HB493 (Sears/Henne) Bureau of Workers Compensation reforms: House Insurance Committee.

•Gifted Task Force to Meet: An ad hoc committee appointed by the State Board of Education’s Accountability Committee has scheduled meetings to develop an accountability rating for gifted education programs in schools/districts on the local report card. The ad hoc committee is chaired by the director of the ODE’s Office of Accountability Chris Woolard, and includes Tom Ash, BASA; Michael Tefs, Superintendent of Wooster City Schools; Jamie Meade, Battelle for Kids, Ann Sheldon (OAGC); Dr. Colleen Boyle (Columbus City Schools); Matt Cohen (ODE Chief Research Officer); and Wendy Stoica, assistant director, ODE Office of Exceptional Children.

The group is tasked with determining the components of a new measure to rate gifted education programs in schools/districts on the state’s report card, and make recommendations to the Accountability Committee by the May 2014 meeting of the State Board. Over the past months advocates for gifted education and the Ohio Department of Education have proposed different ways to rate gifted education programs, and the purpose of the ad hoc committee is to find consensus. The committee will meet March 26, April 2, May 1 (tentative), and May 7, 2014.

•Legislative Update: The Ohio House approved on March 19, 2014 HB334 (Hayes/Hottinger) Student Expulsion. The bill would allow the superintendent of a school district to extend the time a student is expelled if there is a reason to believe that the student poses an “imminent threat.” The current limit on expulsions is 80 days. A student could return to school earlier if he/she met certain conditions, such as undergoing a psychological evaluation. The bill was approved by a vote of 69 to 26.

The House unanimously passed HB178 (Phillips) School Safety Drills, which would require schools to conduct three safety drills in conjunction with safety plans and local fire and law enforcement.

The House also approved HB85 (Terhar-Gonzales), which would enhance the homestead exemption for disabled military veterans.

2) Capital Bill Introduced: Representative Ron Amstutz introduced last week HB497 (Amstutz) Capital Appropriations. The bill includes $2.39 billion for state capital projects; includes changes in the law governing capital projects; and re-appropriates funds to continue projects through the biennium ending June 30, 2016.

The bill will be considered by the House Finance and Appropriations Committee, chaired by Representative Amstutz. Hearings started last week, and the bill is expected to be on a fast track for approval, so that it can go into effect by July 1, 2014 and disruptions in current capital projects can be avoided.

This is the first genuine capital budget bill introduced since the onset of the recession six years ago. A capital budget was not recommended in 2010, and a trimmed-down budget was passed in 2012. The bill includes funds in the following areas:

-Administrative Building Fund: $108,155,819
-Adult Correctional Building Fund: $130,000,000
-Juvenile Correctional Building Fund: $36,104,321
-Transportation Building Fund: $100,000,000
-Cultural and Sports Facilities Building Fund: $82,900,704
-Ohio Parks & Natural Resources Fund: $57,248,465
-School Building Program Assistance Fund: $575,000,000
-Mental Health Facilities Improvement Fund: $39,744,140
-Higher Education Improvement Fund: $499,241,296
-Parks & Recreation Improvement Fund: $137,690,595
-State Capital Improvements Fund: $300,000,000
-Coal Research and Development Fund: $3,000,000
-Clean Ohio Conservation Fund: $75,000,000
-Clean Ohio Agricultural Easement Fund: $12,500,000
-Clean Ohio Trail Fund: $12,500,000

The Cultural Sports and Facilities Fund includes state support for a number of arts-related projects in each county. The projects range from a few thousand dollars to over a million dollars. The projects were selected regionally and vetted by the Ohio Arts Council before the Kasich administration included them in the bill. The following are some of arts-related projects that would receive the highest amounts of state support through HB497:

-Columbus Museum of Art Expansion and Renovation $1.1 million
-Cleveland Institute of Art Campus Unification Project $1 million
-Gordon Square Arts District $1 million
-Rock and Roll Hall of Fame $1.06 million
-Cleveland Museum of Art $2 million
-Playhouse Square Ohio Theatre $1.5 million
-Cleveland Museum of Natural History $2.5 million
-Columbus Theater-Based Community Development Project $1 million
-Cincinnati Music Hall Revitalization $5 million
-Preserving and Updating the Historic Dayton Art Institute $2.1 million

See more about proposed state funding for community-based arts programs at http://www.lsc.state.oh.us/fiscal/capitalbudget130/introduced/fcc.pdf

3) This Week at the Statehouse

•The House Education Committee
The House Education Committee, chaired by Representative Stebelton, will meet on March 26, 2014 at 9:00 AM in hearing room 017. The committee will receive testimony on the following bills:

-SB69 (Beagle) Course and Program Sharing Network: Establishes the Course and Program Sharing Network.
-HB393 (Baker/Landis) Career Decision Guide Publication: Requires public high schools to publish annually a career decision guide in its newsletter or on its web site.
-HB241 (Hagen) School Employees-Sexual Conduct: Prohibits an employee of a public or nonpublic school or institution of higher education from engaging in sexual conduct with a minor who is enrolled in or attends that public or nonpublic school.
-SB229 (Gardner) Teacher Performance Evaluations: Regarding teacher performance evaluations. -HB447 (Lynch) Consolidated School Districts: Permits a school district resulting from the consolidation of two or more school districts that meet specified conditions to receive a loan from the Ohio school facilities commission for the construction of a new facility to support the consolidated district.

The House Education Committee will also meet on March 27, 2014 at 9:00 AM in hearing room 313 to receive testimony on HB487 (Brenner) MBR-K-12 Education Programs.

•The House Higher Education Subcommittee
The House Higher Education Subcommittee, chaired by Representative Rosenberger, will meet on March 25, 2014 at 9:00 AM in hearing room 311. The committee will receive testimony regarding HB484 (Rosenberger/Brown) MBR-Higher Education.

•The House Ways and Means Committee
The House Ways and Means Committee, chaired by Representative McClain, will meet on March 25, 2014 at 9:30 AM in hearing room 313. The committee will receive testimony on HB472 (McClain) MBR-Mid Biennium Budget Review and HB492 (Scherer) MBR-TAXATION.

The House Ways and Means Committee will also meet on March 26, 2014 at 3:00 PM in hearing room 116 to receive testimony on HB472 (McClain) MBR-Mid Biennium Budget Review and HB492 (Scherer) MBR-TAXATION.

•The House Finance and Appropriations Committee
The House Finance and Appropriations Committee, chaired by Representative Amstutz, will meet on March 25, 2014 at 1:30 PM in hearing room 313. The committee will receive testimony regarding HB497 (Amstutz) Capital Appropriations for the biennium ending June 30, 2016.

The committee will also receive testimony on HB483 (Amstutz) MBR- State Appropriations, which makes operating and other appropriations and provides authorization and conditions for the operation of state programs.

The House Finance and Appropriations Committee will meet on March 26, 2014 at 9:00 AM in hearing room 313. The committee will receive testimony on HB483 (Amstutz) MBR State Appropriations.

•The Senate Finance Committee
The Senate Finance Committee, chaired by Senator Oelslager, will meet on March 26, 2014 at 3:00 PM in the Senate Finance Hearing Room. The committee will receive testimony on
HB497 (Amstutz) Capital Appropriations for the biennium ending June 30, 2016, pending referral.

•The Senate Education Committee
The Senate Education Committee, chaired by Senator Lehner, will meet on March 26, 2014 at 4:00 PM in the South Hearing Room. The committee will receive testimony on HB193 (Brenner) High School Diploma Requirements.

4) National News

•More Parents Opt Their Children Out of Testing: Karla Scoon Reid reports in an article for Education Week that opponents of high stakes testing are encouraged by the number of parents who are opting their children out of state mandated tests this spring, and see the opt-out movement as a way to make policy-makers take their cause more seriously. Parents nationwide are becoming more informed and organized about how to opt children out of statewide testing as a result of efforts in Chicago, where teachers refused to administer the Illinois Student Achievement Tests, and efforts in Seattle, California, New York, Colorado, Massachusetts, etc. A new website sponsored by Testing Resistance & Reform Spring is working to coordinate local opt-out efforts and create a movement to oppose high-stakes testing. There is also an organization called United Opt Out National, which provides parents with advice about state laws regarding testing.

See “Testing Skeptics Aim to Build Support for Opt-out Strategy” by Karla Scoon Reid, Education Week, March 11, 2014 at
http://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2014/03/12/24boycotts_ep.h33.html

5) Race to the Top Year 3 Report: The U.S. Department of Education released on March 19, the 2014 annual performance report for year 3 (school year 2012-13) of the federal Race to the Top grant program for the eleven participating states and the District of Columbia.

Ohio received a $400 million four year Race to the Top Grant in 2010 to engage 538 participating LEAs in achieving the following goals:

• Increase high school graduation rates by 0.5 percent per year to approximately 88 percent by the end of the grant period;
• Reduce the graduation rate gap by 50 percent between underrepresented and majority students in participating LEAs and community schools;
• Reduce academic performance gaps by 50 percent on national and statewide assessments for the same students;
• Reduce the gap between Ohio and the nation’s best-performing states by 50 percent on national reading and mathematics assessments; and,
• More than double the increase in college enrollment of students under the age of 19 to 14.5 percent by fall 2013, and more than double the increase in college persistence of enrolled students to 10.35 percent within the same time period.

According to the summary report for year three of the grant, the number of Ohio LEAs participating in the grant as of June 2013 has dropped from 538 to 445.

In year three the Ohio Department of Education (ODE) provided support for 71 persistently low-achieving schools (PLA) through transformation specialists and 56 innovative model grantees through innovation specialists, and expanded its STEM hubs, which were rebranded Innovation Zones.

-The ODE also expanded participation in Race to the Top reform efforts to all LEAs in the state and developed more effective and efficient channels for sharing information about reforms with LEAs.

-The State secured an Instruction Improvement System (IIS) vendor in Year 3, and expanded training and informational webinars for participating LEAs.

-Working with statewide educational organizations the ODE was able to build understanding for the Ohio Teacher Evaluation System and the Ohio Principal Evaluation System and student growth measures used to evaluate teachers.

The Ohio report identified transitions in leadership; key changes in staff at the ODE; and reduced ODE staff as challenges that resulted in delays in the implementation of several initiatives.

Legislative changes throughout Year 3 were also identified as a “significant challenge”, including the Third Grade Reading Guarantee and modifications to State requirements for the student growth component of educator evaluation ratings.

The delay in the State’s IIS contract resulted in a forced realignment of the timeline and there were also challenges related to the Great Teachers and Leaders initiatives.

An external evaluator was able to collect data on a subset of 23 participating LEAs that chose to fully implement all components of the Ohio Teacher Evaluation System (OTES) and analyze data submitted to the State’s electronic Teacher and Principal Evaluation System (eTPES). However, the State did not collect data about the other LEAs that were participating in eTPES in SY2012-13. It is therefore not clear how the ODE provided support for participating LEAs, or assessed the readiness of the field to fully implement the teacher and principal evaluations in SY2013-14.

The ODE was also not able to report on the Equitable Distribution of Effective and Highly Effective Educators.

The report also notes that there was little LEA interest in the Resident Educator Summative Assessment (RESA) and tenure model pilots; the State’s METWorks resources; the Teaching, Empowering, Leading, and Learning (TELL) Ohio survey, and the Teacher Exit Survey (TExS).

Student outcome data compared over three years in English language arts shows mixed results. According to the report student achievement increased in grades three, four, seven, eight, and ten, and decreased in grades five and six. Student achievement in math increased in grades five and ten, and decreased in the remaining grades. The State met only one target in SY2012-13 in grade eight English language arts, and almost met one of the grade level targets in math.

Achievement gaps on the English language arts assessment increased slightly in the SY2012-13 for children with disabilities and children without disabilities, and decreased slightly for not low income and low income subgroups. Achievement gaps on Ohio’s SY2012-2013 mathematics assessments slightly increased when compared to SY2011- 2012 levels for all reported sub-groups.

The report also includes information about Year 4 of the project. The ODE will focus on data analysis and how LEAs can use the data to inform implementation; implement a bridge assessment for SY2013-2014 that includes items aligned to both the existing Ohio standards and the new standards; and develop the Next Generation Assessments for fourth and sixth grade social studies and fifth and eighth grade science in SY2014-15.

The ODE expects to provide all LEAs with an opportunity to register for the State’s IIS, which should be operational in March 2014. LEAs will fully implement teacher and principal evaluation in Year 4. The ODE will conduct audits of LEAs using OTES and locally developed evaluation systems to ensure the data are reliable and valid, and the systems are being implemented in accordance with the frameworks. The ODE also plans to continue providing supports for PLAs implementing school intervention initiatives, and monitor the progress of innovative model grantees.

See “Race to the Top Annual Performance Report 2012-13 - Ohio” U.S Department of Education, March 19, 2014 at https://www.rtt-apr.us/

6) Highlights of HB487 (Brenner) Mid-Biennium Review - K12 Education: The following are highlights of HB487 as introduced.

An analysis of the bill is available at
http://www.lsc.state.oh.us/analyses130/h0487-i-130.pdf

The bill is available at
http://www.legislature.state.oh.us/bills.cfm?ID=130_HB_487

Kindergarten Diagnostic Assessment

•AMENDED Section 3301.0714 Kindergarten Diagnostic Assessment: The bill requires school districts to report to the ODE the results of diagnostics assessments for kindergarten in language arts and reading, even if parents request that the results not be reported, and removes a provision that prohibited the data collected about the kindergarten assessment to be reported on the report card 3302.03.

•AMENDED Section 3301.0715 Kindergarten Diagnostic Assessment: This provision allows a district or school to administer kindergarten diagnostics to transfer students during the regular administration of the test, if the student transfers before the assessment is normally administered. It removes outdated language about when the kindergarten assessment can be administered; states that the kindergarten assessment shall not apply to students with significant cognitive disabilities; aligns this section with the states letter grade accountability system; allows school districts rated A and B on the performance index or the value added measure to use different diagnostic assessments for Kindergarten; and allows the ODE to report school and district level kindergarten diagnostic assessment data, and use diagnostic data to calculate the K-3 literacy measure on the state report card.

College Credit Plus - Report Card

•AMENDED Section 3302.03 State Report Card: The bill requires the ODE to include on a school or district’s report card the 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.

Academic Distress Commission

•AMENDED Section 3302.10 Academic Distress Commission: This section changes the criteria for the superintendent of public instruction to create an academic distress commission for school districts. It states that an academic distress commission shall be created if a school district meets any combination of the following conditions for two of the three most recent years:

-The district has been declared to be in a state of academic emergency, prior to March 22, 2013, 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 2013-2014 school year
-The district has received an overall grade of “F”
-The district’s academic performance makes it subject to the most severe level of state intervention as specified by the most recent “Elementary and Secondary Education Act” waiver issued to Ohio

The bill removes a condition that required at least fifty per cent of the schools operated by the district to have received an overall grade of “D” or “F” before a commission was formed.

A new provision states that a school district is not subject to an academic distress commission if it meets any of the above conditions, but has received on the most recent report card a grade of “A” or “B” on at least two components prescribed under division (C)(3) of section 3302.03 of the Revised Code.

The bill also makes some changes in the conditions needed for an academic distress commission to be dissolved. The conditions align with the state’s letter grade accountability system. This section states that an academic distress commission can be dissolved if a district receives an overall grade of “C” or better, or if the district is no longer subject to the most severe level of state intervention under the federal Elementary and Secondary Education Act.

At-Risk Students - Graduation

•AMENDED Section 3313.603 Graduation requirements: The bill allows students who enter ninth grade before July 1, 2016, rather than July 1, 2014, to qualify for graduation even if they have not completed the Ohio Core 3313.603 (C).

The bill also changes “individual career plan” to “student success plan” under Section 3313.605(C)(1) ORC, and requires dropout prevention and recovery programs to develop a student success plan that specifies the student’s matriculating to a two-year degree program, acquiring a business industry credential, or entering an apprenticeship.

For students enrolled in dropout prevention and recovery programs a new section states that prior to a student receiving the waiver from completing the Ohio Core Curriculum, the program itself must submit to the ODE a policy on career advising, including how every student will receive career advising.

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

Advanced Standing Programs and Early College High School

•AMENDED Section 3313.6013 Advanced Standing Programs and Early College. The bill changes the term “dual enrollment” to “advanced standing program”. It defines an advanced standing program as a program that enables a student to earn credit toward a degree from an institution of higher education while enrolled in high school. Furthermore it states that an advanced standing program enables a student to complete coursework while enrolled in high school, and earn credit toward a degree from an institution of higher education upon the student’s attainment of a specified score on an examination covering the coursework. Advanced standing programs may include the “college credit plus program (CCP)” established under Chapter 3365 of the Revised Code (formerly post secondary enrollment options - PSEO); Advanced placement courses; International baccalaureate diploma courses; and early college high school programs.

The bill requires each city, local, exempted village, and joint vocational school district, and chartered nonpublic school to provide students enrolled in grades nine through twelve with the opportunity to participate in an advanced standing program, and offer at least one advanced standing program.

Agreements between a school district or school and an associated college regarding an early college high school program are subject to the requirements of the college credit plus program unless the agreement is not related to the conferral of transcripted credit; the early college high school program began operating prior to July 1, 2014; the district, school, or associated college obtained a waiver; or the district, school, or associated college operating the early college high school program was granted a Straight A award.

The bill clarifies that the college credit plus program does not govern any advanced placement course or international baccalaureate diploma course.

The bill defines “early college high school program” as a program operated by a school district or school and an associated college, as defined in section 3365.10 of the Revised Code. The program provides a personalized learning plan, which is based on accelerated curriculum and includes both high school and college-level coursework. It enables certain students to earn a high school diploma and an associate degree, or the equivalent number of transcripted credits, upon successful completion of the program.

According to the bill students who can participate in early college include students who are underrepresented in regard to completing post-secondary education; students who are economically disadvantaged, as defined by the department of education; and students whose parents did not earn a college degree.

Career Advising - Identifying and Serving At-Risk Students

•NEW Section 3313.6015 Career Advising/At Risk Students: This section requires that beginning in the 2014-2015 school year, the board of education of each city, local, exempted village, joint vocational school district (and in current law each community school and STEM school) adopt a policy on career advising, and post the policy on its website.

The policy on career advising must 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 developed under division (B)(2) of section 3301.079 of the Revised Code for this purpose.
-Create a plan to provide career advising to students in grades six through twelve.
-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. The bill states that a district cannot 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 requires that each district (STEM and community school in current law) identify students who are at risk of dropping out of school using a method that is both research-based and locally-based. If a student is identified as at risk of dropping out of school, the district must develop a student success plan that specifies an academic pathway for successful graduation, and includes career-technical education, competency-based education, and experiential learning, as appropriate.

Prior to developing a student success plan for a student, the district must invite the student’s parent, guardian, or custodian to assist in developing the plan. If the student’s parent, guardian, or custodian do not participate in the development of the plan, the district will 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 must provide career advising to the student that is aligned with the student’s plan and the district’s plan to provide career advising.

This provision also requires the ODE to develop and post on its web site not later than September 30, 2014, model policies on career advising and model student success plans.

Career Technical Education

•AMENDED Section 3313.90 Career Technical Education. This section requires each city, local, and exempted village school district to provide to students enrolled in grades seven through twelve career-technical education to prepare a student for an occupation. It also increases to 2500 students in grades 7-12 the minimum enrollment required for high schools to provide comprehensive career-technical education programs to students, beginning with the 2014-15 school year.

Boards of education can receive a waiver from the ODE regarding this requirement by adopting a resolution requesting the waiver, and submitting the request to the ODE by September 30th in the school year for which career-technical education will not be provided.

Community Schools

•AMENDED Section 3314.08 Community Schools: This section addresses funding for community schools. It requires that state payments to community schools be reduced to reflect state payments to colleges for students participating in the Ohio College Credit Plus Program.

Educator Licenses

•AMENDED Section 3319.22 Educator Licenses: This section allows the state board of education to issue a resident educator license which is valid for four years and renewable.

The state board, on a case-by-case basis, may extend the license’s duration as necessary to enable the license holder to complete the Ohio teacher residency program established under section 3319.223 of the Revised Code.

The state board is required to adopt rules establishing the standards and requirements for obtaining each educator license, including the reasons for which a resident educator license may be renewed.

•AMENDED Section 3319.26 Alternative Educator License Standards and Rules: The bill states that the rules will also include the reasons why an alternative resident educator license may be renewed under Division (D) of this section.

Compulsory School Attendance

•AMENDED Sections 3321.03 to 3321.09 Compulsory School Attendance: These sections are amended to align them with changes proposed in the bill regarding an “alternative education program” that is specified in the child’s student success plan developed under division (C)(1) of section 3313.6015 of the Revised Code.

Changes are also made in the requirements for students with an Age and Schooling Certificate.

Gifted Education

•AMENDED Section 3324.07 Gifted Education Programs: This section for gifted education includes references to “post secondary enrollment options”. These references are changed to the “college credit plus program.”

STEM Payments

•AMENDED Section 3326.36 STEM Payments. This section reduces state payments to STEM schools to reflect payments made to colleges under the Ohio College Credit Plus Program, Chapter 3365.

College Preparatory High Schools

•AMENDED Section 3328.24 Ohio College Credit Plus: Adds the College Credit Plus program to the list of requirements that a college-preparatory boarding school must meet.

Age and School Certificate

•AMENDED Section 3331.04 Age and School Certificate: This section requires a student (over the age of 16) to be participating in a program that, upon successful completion of instruction, will result in the child receiving an industry-recognized credential, a journeyman certification as recognized by the United States department of labor, or full-time employment, before the superintendent of the school can issue the student an age and schooling certificate.

The bill also changes the requirements which permit a superintendent to issue a certificate to “a child over age 16 who is unable to pass a test for the completion of seventh grade and who is not so below the normal in mental development that the child cannot profit from further schooling.”

Switching from PSEO to CCP

•AMENDED Sections 3333.041, 3333.35, 3333.43, 3333.86 and 3345.06 College Enrollment: These sections include references to the “post-secondary enrollment options program”, which are changed to “college credit plus program”. References to “dual enrollment programs” are changed to “advanced standing programs.”

Ohio College Credit Plus Program

•NEW Section 3365.01 Ohio College Credit Plus Program: This section includes definitions of the terms and the components of the College Credit Plus Program, and the funding formulas for determining payments to colleges and universities participating in the program, including the default ceiling amount; the default floor amount; and maximum per participant charge amount.

The “default ceiling amount” payment to colleges is equal to 83 percent of the state aid formula amount divided by either 30 or 45, depending on whether the college operates on a semester or quarter schedule. This applies to a student enrolled in a college course delivered on the college campus, at another location operated by the college, or online.

The payment is 50 percent of the default ceiling amount, for a student enrolled in a college course delivered at the student’s high school, but taught by college faculty.

The “default floor amount” is defined as 25 percent of the default ceiling amount for a student enrolled in a college course delivered at the student’s high school and taught by a high school teacher.

•NEW Section 3365.02 Ohio College Credit Plus Program: The bill establishes the college credit plus program for the 2015-16 school year. The program allows a high school student to enroll at a college, on a full or part-time basis, and complete nonsectarian, non-remedial courses for high school and college credit.

The bill states that a secondary level student will receive transcripted credit from a college/university for successfully completing coursework taken under the program, except for students participating in the early college high school program; advanced placement courses or the international baccalaureate diploma program; or a career-technical education program.

Students enrolled in public and nonpublic secondary schools and students who are home-schooled are allowed to enroll in the program. The bill requires that all public secondary schools and all public colleges, except the Northeast Ohio Medical University, participate in the program, and subjects them to the requirements of this chapter.

Nonpublic secondary schools or private colleges that choose to participate in the program are subject to the requirements of the law.

The bill requires the state board of education in consultation with the chancellor of the Ohio board of regents, to adopt rules governing the program.

•NEW Section 3365.03 Ohio College Credit Plus Program: This section establishes the criteria for students to participate in the Ohio College Credit Plus Program. Students enrolled in public and nonpublic secondary schools, and students who are homeschooled, may apply to enroll in a college under the college credit plus program.

-Students in a public secondary school must meet the following: The student or the student’s parent must inform the principal, or equivalent, of the student’s school by the first day of April of the student’s intent to participate in the program during the following school year. Any student who fails to provide the notification by the required date may not participate in the program during the following school year without the written consent of the principal, or equivalent. The student must apply and meet the admissions requirements established by the public or participating college and elect at the time of enrollment to either participate under options A or B described in Section 3365.06. The student and the student’s parent must also sign a form, provided by the school, stating that they have received counseling and understand the responsibilities they must assume in the program.

-Students in nonpublic secondary school or homeschooled must meet the following: The student or the student’s parent shall inform the principal, or equivalent, of the student’s school by the first day of April of the student’s intent to participate in the program during the following school year, and the student must apply and meet the admissions requirements established by the public or participating college.

The bill also states that no public or nonpublic school shall prohibit a student from enrolling in the program, unless the student has been expelled.

The bill also states that participation in the college credit plus program will not affect the student’s eligibility at any public college for scholarships, or for other benefits or opportunities that are available to first-time college students, and are awarded by that college, regardless of the number of credit hours that the student completed under the program.

•RENUMBERED Section 3365.031 Ohio College Credit Plus Program: This section states that a student may not receive credit for college courses toward high school graduation for more than the equivalent of four academic school years, if a ninth grader; three years if a tenth grader; two years, if an eleventh grader; and one year if in the 12th grade.

•AMENDED Section 3365.032 Ohio College Credit Plus Program - Student Expulsions: This section describes what happens to a student, who is enrolled in the College Credit Plus Program and is expelled from school.

•NEW Section 3365.04 Ohio College Credit Plus Program - School Requirements: The bill states that each public and participating nonpublic secondary school shall do all of the following:

-Provide information about the program prior to the first day of March of each year to all students enrolled in grades eight through eleven.
-Provide counseling services to students in grades eight through eleven and to their parents before the students participate in the program to ensure that students and parents are fully aware of the possible consequences and benefits of participation.
-Communicate the possible consequences and benefits of participation,
-Promote the program on the school’s web site, including the details of the school’s current agreements with partnering colleges.
-Schedule at least one informational session per school year to allow each partnering college that is located within thirty miles of the school to meet with interested students and parents. The session will include the benefits and consequences of participation and outline any changes or additions to the requirements of the program. If there are no partnering colleges located within thirty miles of the school, the school must coordinate with the closest partnering college to offer an informational session.
-Implement a policy for awarding grades and calculating class standing for courses.
-Develop model course pathways, and publish the course pathways among the school’s official list of course offerings for the program.
-Annually collect, report, and track data related to the program according to data reporting guidelines adopted by the chancellor and the superintendent of public instruction.

•NEW Section 3365.05 Ohio College Credit Plus Program - Enrollment. The bill requires each public and participating private college to do the following:

-Apply established standards and procedures for admission to the college and for course placement for participants. When determining admission and course placement, the college shall consider all available student data that may be an indicator of college readiness, including grade point average and end-of-course examination scores; give priority to its current students regarding enrollment in courses. However, once a participant has been accepted into a course, the college shall not displace the participant for another student; adhere to any capacity limitations that the college has established for specified courses.

-Send written notice to a participant, the participant’s parent, the participant’s secondary school, and the superintendent of public instruction, not later than fourteen calendar days prior to the first day of classes for that term, of the participant’s admission to the college and courses under the program.

-Provide not later than twenty-one calendar days after the first day of classes for that term, to each participant, participant’s secondary school, and the superintendent of public instruction, the courses and hours of enrollment of the participant; the option elected by the participant to receive credit; a roster of participants from that school that are enrolled in the college; and a list of course assignments for each participant.

-Promote the program on the college’s web site, including the details of the college’s current agreements with partnering secondary schools.

-Coordinate with each partnering secondary school that is located within thirty miles of the college to present at least one informational session per school year for interested students and parents. The session will include the benefits and consequences of participation and outline any changes or additions to the requirements of the program. If there are no partnering schools located within thirty miles of the college, the college will coordinate with the closest partnering school to offer an informational session.

-Assign an academic advisor that is employed by the college to each participant enrolled in that college. Prior to the date on which a withdrawal from a course would negatively affect a participant’s transcripted grade, as prescribed by the college’s established withdrawal policy, the college will ensure that the academic advisor and the participant meet at least once to discuss the program and the courses in which the participant is enrolled.

-Provide high school teachers who are teaching courses for the college at least one professional development session per school year, and conduct at least one classroom observation per school year for each course that is authorized by the college and taught by a high school teacher to ensure that the course meets the quality of a college-level course.

-Annually collect, report, and track specified data related to the program according to data reporting guidelines adopted by the chancellor and the superintendent of public instruction.

•AMENDED Section 3365.06 Ohio College Credit Plus Program - Options for Enrollment: There are two enrollment options that participants in the Ohio College Credit Plus Program can select:

(A) The participant may elect at the time of enrollment to be responsible for payment of all tuition and the cost of all textbooks, materials, and fees associated with the course. The college will notify the participant about payment of tuition and fees in the customary manner followed by the college. A participant electing this option also can elect, at the time of enrollment, whether to receive only college credit or high school credit and college credit for the course.

(B) The participant may elect at the time of enrollment for each course to have the college reimbursed. If the student participant successfully completes the course, the college will award the participant full credit for the course, and governing entity of a public school, or the governing body of a participating nonpublic school will award the participant high school credit,

When determining a school district’s enrollment, the time a participant is attending courses under division (A) of this section shall be considered as time the participant is not attending or enrolled in school anywhere, and the time a participant is attending courses under division (B) of this section shall be considered as time the participant is attending or enrolled in the district’s schools.

•NEW Section 3365.07 Ohio College Credit Plus Program - Payments: This section establishes the definitions for reimbursing colleges and universities for participants in the college credit plus program.

It also specifies which entity is responsible for the costs of textbooks and fees under the CCP program.

The bill also permits the district board, or the equivalent, of a student’s high school and a college to enter into an agreement establishing an alternative payment structure for tuition, textbooks, and fees that differs from the default payment amounts included in this section. Public or nonpublic high school students enrolled in a public college cannot be charged for participation in CCP, including under an alternative payment structure.

Unless an agreement specifying an alternative payment structure is entered into by the high school and the college, the ODE must pay the college the following for a student who is enrolled in a public or nonpublic high school for courses taken under the CCP program per enrolled credit hour:

For a participant enrolled in a college course delivered on the college campus, at another location operated by the college, or online, the default ceiling amount will be paid.

For a participant enrolled in a college course delivered at the participant’s secondary school, but taught by college faculty, fifty per cent of the default ceiling amount will be paid.

For a participant enrolled in a college course delivered at the participant’s secondary school and taught by a high school teacher, who has met the credential requirements established for purposes of the program in rules adopted by the chancellor of the Ohio board of regents, the default floor amount will be paid.

For a home-instructed student who is enrolled in a college course at a public or private college that is delivered on the college campus, at another location operated by the college, or online, the ODE must pay the college the default ceiling amount. The bill does not specify any amount that the Department must pay for a college course that is delivered in a high school setting.

The bill also establishes payment levels for participants enrolled in private colleges; nonpublic participants enrolled in private colleges; and participants at nonpublic schools who are also receiving scholarships to attend nonpublic schools.

•NEW Section 3365.071 Ohio College Credit Plus Program - Nonpublic School Participants: This section requires the state board of education in consultation with the chancellor of the Ohio board of regents to adopt rules prescribing application procedures and standards for nonpublic secondary school and home-instructed students who wish to participate in the college credit plus program; a method to allocate and distribute payments for nonpublic secondary school and home-instructed participants; a method to calculate the amounts deducted from a joint vocational school district and from a participant’s city, local, or exempted village school district for payments.

•AMENDED Section 3365.08 Ohio College Credit Plus Program - Textbooks/Transportation: The bill removes a provision that states that if a college expects to receive reimbursement it must provide participants all textbooks and materials directly related to a course taken by the participant and cannot charge for tuition, textbooks, materials, or other fees directly related to any such course.

The bill states that no participants enrolled under this chapter in a course for which credit toward high school graduation is awarded will receive direct financial aid through any state or federal program.

The bill also allows parents to seek reimbursement for the cost of transporting a student to a participating college, if a school district provides transportation for resident school students in grades eleven and twelve, or a community school provides transportation for students in grades nine through twelve. The state board of education is required to establish guidelines, based on financial need, under which a district or community school may provide such reimbursement.

•AMENDED Section 3365.09 Ohio College Credit Plus Program - Reimbursement: This provision states that if a participant in the CCP fails to attain a passing grade the superintendent of a school district or the chief administrator of a nonpublic school may request that the participant, or the parents of the participant, reimburse the school district/nonpublic school for the cost of the program.

The governing entity of a public school/nonpublic school may also withhold grades and credits received by the participant for high school courses taken by the participant until the participant or the participant’s parent provides reimbursement.

Upon the collection of any funds from a participant or participant’s parent under this division, the chief administrator of a nonpublic school will send an amount equal to the funds collected to the superintendent of public instruction. The superintendent of public instruction will credit that amount to the general revenue fund.

This provision does not apply to a participant who is identified as economically disadvantaged, unless the participant was expelled by the school, the superintendent, or equivalent, or chief administrator of a nonpublic school.

•NEW Section 3365.10 Ohio College Credit Plus - Waiver: Any public or participating nonpublic secondary school or any public or participating private college, including a secondary school and an associated college operating an early college high school program, defined in Section 3313.6013, may apply to the chancellor of the Ohio board of regents and the superintendent of public instruction for a waiver from the requirements of the college credit plus program. The chancellor and the superintendent may grant a waiver if the school or college meets all criteria set forth in rules adopted by the chancellor and the superintendent.

Except as provided for in division (E) of section 3313.6013 of the Revised Code, any agreement between a public secondary school and an associated college governing the operation of an early college high school program will be subject to the requirements of the college credit plus program. The chancellor and the superintendent may grant a waiver if the agreement includes innovative programming proposed to exclusively address the needs of underrepresented student subgroups and meets all criteria set forth in rules adopted by the chancellor and the superintendent.

•NEW Section 3365.11 Ohio College Credit Plus Program - Instructor: Each instructor teaching a course under the college credit plus program must meet the credential requirements set forth in guidelines and procedures established by the chancellor of the Ohio board of regents. If the guidelines require high school teachers to take any additional graduate-level coursework in order to meet the credential requirements, that coursework must be applicable to continuing education and professional development requirements for the renewal of the teacher’s educator license.

•RENUMBERED Section 3365.12 Ohio College Credit Plus Program - Courses: All courses offered under the college credit plus program must be the same courses that are included in the partnering college’s course catalogue for college-level, nonremedial courses and will apply to at least one degree or professional certification at the partnering college.

High school credit awarded for courses successfully completed under this chapter will count toward the graduation requirements and subject area requirements of the public secondary school, or participating nonpublic secondary school.

If a course comparable to one a participant completed at a college is offered by school, the governing entity or governing body will award comparable credit for the course completed at the college. If no comparable course is offered by the school, the governing entity or governing body will grant an appropriate number of elective credits to the participant.

If there is a dispute between a participant’s school and a participant regarding high school credits granted for a course, the participant may appeal the decision to the state board of education. The state board’s decision regarding any high school credits granted under this section is final.

Evidence of successful completion of each course and the high school credits awarded by the district or school will be included in the student’s record. The record will indicate that the credits were earned as a participant under this chapter and will include the name of the college at which the credits were earned.

-NEW Section 3365.13 Ohio College Credit Plus Program: The bill states that each public secondary school will develop, in consultation with at least one public partnering college, two model pathways for courses offered under the college credit plus program.

One of the model pathways will be a fifteen-credit hour pathway and one will be a thirty-credit hour pathway.

Each pathway will include courses which, once completed, all apply to at least one degree or professional certification offered at the college.

The pathways may be organized by desired major or career path or may include various core courses required for a degree or professional certification by the college.

The school will publish the pathways among the school’s official list of course offerings from which a participant may select. These pathways will serve as samples of the courses that a participant may take, if desired, to earn multiple credits toward a specified degree or certification, but participants are not required to following them.

•NEW Section 3365.15 Ohio College Credit Plus Program: This section requires the chancellor of the Ohio board of regents and the superintendent of public instruction to do the following:

-Adopt data reporting guidelines specifying the types of data that public and participating nonpublic secondary schools and public and participating private colleges must collect, report, and track. The guidelines must also include policies and procedures for the collection, reporting, and tracking of such data.

-Submit a biennial report detailing the status of the college credit plus program to the governor, the president of the senate, the speaker of the house of representatives, and the chairpersons of the education committees of the senate and house of representatives. The first report must be submitted not later than December 31, 2017, and each subsequent report must be submitted not later than the thirty-first day of December every two years thereafter.

-Establish a college credit plus advisory committee to assist in the development of performance metrics and the monitoring of the program’s progress.

-Require the chancellor in consultation with the superintendent to create a standard packet of information for the college credit plus program directed toward students and parents that are interested in the program.

•Section 3 Temporary Law: The bill creates the School Based Health Care Advisory Workgroup, which consists of 31 members including representatives of statewide education organizations, health organizations, business interests, state agencies, and the Ohio House and Senate.

The Workgroup will do the following:
-Review evidence of the correlation between student health and academic achievement;
-Identify existing best practices to improve academic achievement through better student health;
-Based on existing best practices, recommend one or more models for communities that want to improve academic achievement through better student health;
-Recommend financial strategies to sustain the models over time, with an emphasis on health coverage through commercial insurance and Medicaid, not other governmental subsidies;
-Recommend health care service delivery strategies that are known to improve health outcomes, such as patient-centered medical homes;
-Ensure that all recommendations adhere to state and federal law.
-Prepare a report of its findings and recommendations and, not later than December 31, 2014, submit the report to the General Assembly. Upon submission of the report, the Workgroup will cease to exist.

7) Bills Introduced

•HB498 (Young) School District Mergers: Addresses the merger of city, local, or exempted village school districts.
•HB484 (Rosenberger) MBR - Higher Education
•HB486 (Baker/Stebelton) MBR- Workforce and Economic Development Programs
•HB487 (Brenner) MBR-K-12 Education
•HB488 (Dovilla) MBR - Higher Education Veterans
•HB496 (Pillich) Education Management Information System: Requires the assignment of an additional identifier in the statewide Education Management Information System to each student who has a parent or guardian Who is a member of the Aimed Services of the United States, a reserve unit, or the Ohio National Guard.
•HB497 (Amstutz) Capital Appropriations: Make capital appropriations and changes to the law governing capital projects and to make reappropriations for the biennium ending June 30, 2016.

FYI ARTS

•Philadelphia School Leader Champions Arts Education: Caralee J. Adams writes in Education Week’s Leaders to Learn From column about Dennis W. Creedon, the assistant superintendent for the School District of Philadelphia.

According to the article, Mr. Creedon, who is a musician, uses research studies to inform colleagues about the benefits of an education in the arts; how the arts affect brain development; and how the arts are an essential part of the curriculum. He advocates for arts education courses in schools with high numbers of disadvantaged students, because the arts help to reduce the stress that so many students from disadvantaged backgrounds experience, and provide a positive, safe, and creative way for students to express themselves.

Mr. Creedon started in the Philadelphia district as a theater education specialist in 1987 working in partnership with the Opera Company of Philadelphia. He aligned lessons about “Don Giovanni” and “Madame Butterfly” to the history curriculum, and worked in several schools to integrate the arts throughout the curriculum. He has made it possible for nearly 160,000 public school students to attend the opera for free.

In 2012 he became the assistant superintendent. At that time the School District of Philadelphia faced a $304 million budget deficit and the loss of 3000 teaching positions, including those in the arts. Through his leadership he encouraged arts leaders in Philadelphia to advocate and support the arts in the schools. Today funding for arts education is 70 percent lower than last year, but some of the arts teaching positions have been restored.

See “Philadelphia Leader Makes the Case for Arts Education” by Caralee J. Adams, Education Week, March 3, 2014.
http://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2014/03/05/23ltlf-creedon.h33.html

•2014 Ohio Statehouse T-shirt Contest: The Capitol Square Review and Advisory Board (CSRAB) announced recently that the Statehouse Museum Shop is sponsoring a T-shirt design contest. The Statehouse Museum Shop is looking for an unique T-shirt design that reflects the creativity and innovation of Ohioans, and must include the words “Ohio Statehouse” or “Ohio.”

Contestants must live in Ohio. Those under 18 years of age must have their entry signed by a parent or guardian. Entries must be received by April 30, 2014.

Semifinalists will be selected by the T-shirt design committee and will be announced on May 5, 2014. The semifinalists’ designs will be posted on the Ohio Statehouse Facebook page, the Statehouse Museum Shop Facebook page, and the Statehouse Museum Shop Pinterest page, where visitors can “like” their favorite design. The designs will also be on display in the Statehouse Museum Shop, where visitors can cast a vote for their favorite design.

All public voting ends May 23, 2014. The T-shirt design committee will consider the public voting results when selecting the winner. The winning design will be announced on June 2, 2014 and will be on display in the Statehouse Museum Shop. T-shirts with the winning design will be on sale this summer.

The winner will receive a T-shirt with the winning art; one $25 gift card from the Statehouse Museum Shop; and a private tour of the Ohio Statehouse including the Cupola for up to 10 people.

Contest rules and entry forms are available at
http://www.ohiostatehouse.org/news/2014-ohio-statehouse-t-shirt-design-contest

•State Fair Extends Application Deadline: The Ohio State Fair has extended the deadline for high school students to apply for the All-Ohio State Fair Youth Choir to April 15, 2014. This year the choir will begin rehearsals on Thursday, July 17, 2014 and perform July 23, 2014 through August 3, 2014. The Youth Choir sings six to eight concerts a day, marching up to ten miles each day to various performance sites around the 360-acre fairgrounds. Talented young musicians in grades 9 through 12 are encouraged to apply for membership online or through their choir director in school. Online applications are available at
http://www.aosfyc.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=392&catid=17&Itemid=84
###
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.

 

  1. Legislative Update 3/17/14
  2. Legislative Update 3/4/14
  3. Legislative Update 2/24/14
  4. Legislative Update 2/17/14

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