August 2009: Education Updates—AM. SUB. HB 1 Quick Guide for Principals
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Political Landscape section is a collection of news items, updates, and essays on policy issues, state and federal legislation, academic standards, testing issues, the politics of funding, and other issues.
Update from the League of Women Voters’ Joan Platz:
The Ohio House and Senate approved the conference committee report on Am. Sub. HB 1 (Sykes), the biennial budget for FY10-11, on July 13, 2009, and Governor Strickland signed it into law on July 17, 2009, vetoing 61 provisions. The House vote was 54 to 44 (one Republican vote), and in the Senate 12 Democrats were joined by 5 Republicans to approve the measure by a vote of 17 to 15.
Quick guide for principals
There has been a lot of media coverage about Ohio’s new budget and the Education Reform plan, but here are some of the provisions that have not received as much publicity that could have an immediate effect on the daily operations and policies in your school: Budget, part 2 >. The special report by Joan Platz on this page provides more detail.
Miscellaneous Education Provisions
- Corporal Punishment
- Eighth-Grade American History
- Pledge of Allegiance
- High School Credit
- School Fees for Low-Income Students
- Administration of Prescription Drugs to Students
- Food Allergy Policy
- Student Absences for Extracurricular Activities
Other Highlights
- Ohio Evidence-Based Model: Replaces the current school funding method with a new method called the Ohio Evidence-Based Model which calculates an "adequacy amount" for each city, local, and exempted village school district.
- All-Day Kindergarten: Requires each school district to offer all-day kindergarten to all kindergarten students, beginning in FY11
- Extending the School Year: Permits up to 3 calamity days in 2010-2011 school year
- Report Card Indicators: Requires the State Board of Education to establish new performance indicators for the school district and building report cards
- Community Service: Requires the Superintendent to develop guidelines for a scoring rubric for school officials to use to evaluate community service projects
- Student Assessment: Requires the State Board of Education to develop achievement assessments that reflect the new academic standards
- School Safety and Violence Inservice Training: Extends to public middle and high schools a requirement that under existing law applies to public elementary schools, under which specified employees must complete 4 hours of inservice training in the prevention of child abuse, violence, and substance abuse, and the promotion of positive youth development
The $50.5 billion budget was 17 days late. Three interim budget extensions were needed to keep state government operating until the governor and lawmakers were able to reach a compromise on the controversial proposal to raise approximately $933 million in revenue from video lottery terminals (slot machines). On July 13, 2009 Governor Strickland issued an executive order directing the Ohio Lottery Commission to take action to install up to 17,500 slot machines at the state’s seven horse racing tracks. Language was also included in Am. Sub. HB1 that specifies that the Ohio Lottery Commission has the authority to develop the rules to operate the video lottery terminal games. Over $2 billion were removed from Am. Sub. HB 1 by the conference committee in order to balance the budget. The FY10-11 budget is actually $2 billion below GRF spending levels for the FY08-09 biennium. By comparison, Governor Strickland’s executive version of HB1, introduced in February 2009, included $54.4 billion.
The new law minimizes the impact of the massive budget cuts on school districts. State aid to school districts will drop by 0.25% each year over FY09 levels: $6.54 billion in FY09, $6.53 in billion FY10, and $6.51 billion in FY11. The losses for individual school districts will be limited to not more than 1% in FY10 and 2% in FY11. Increases in state aid for some school districts through the new evidence-based model are capped at 0.75% in both years.
School districts will also receive funds from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) through federal programs such as Title 1 and the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act. Approximately $788 million in federal funds will be distributed to schools, providing some increases in their budgets in FY10. The average increase in overall funding for school districts as a result of the federal funds will be 5.78% in FY10 and 5.54% in FY11 over FY09 levels. Five school districts will experience decreased funding in FY11, even with the ARRA funds, according to information released by the Governor’s office.
The approved state budget establishes a new school funding system, the evidence-based model, which will be phased in over 10 years due to the current economic crisis and lack of sufficient state resources. The evidence-based model provides a structure for distributing money to school districts based on educational components that researchers have identified as successful. When the model is fully phased in by 2018-2019, the state share of funding for school districts statewide will increase from around 50% to 60%. The new system also phases out “phantom revenue” by eventually lowering the state charge-off to 20 mills, and allowing school districts to reach the 20-mill floor through the new conversion levy and experience some growth in property tax revenue.
Some controversial budget items included in previous versions of the budget (executive, House, or Senate), or recently proposed items (Governor Strickland’s framework) are not included in the new law, for example, proposals to lease state lands for oil and gas drilling, reestablish the Legislative Office of Education Oversight, lower state payments for the Public Employee Retirement System, revoke the charters of low-performing public schools, change penalties for school districts not meeting adequate yearly progress for all subgroups, the Special Education Scholarship Program, and more. The proposal to cut the Library Fund by $227 million was reduced to $84 million, and $65 million was found to support mental health services.
Governor Strickland also vetoed 61 provisions, including those pertaining to School-Based Health Centers, Educational Service Centers, Business Education Standards, the Educational Choice Scholarship, the School Employees Health Care Board, the Early Learning Initiative (ELI), community school calamity days, School Facilities rankings, Federal Abstinence Education Program, payments for conducting school audits, the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, and Tangible Personal Property Tax reimbursements.
This biennial budget may be one of the most controversial and frustrating budgets enacted over the past 18 years. However, in spite of the economy and opposition to the Governor’s education reform plan, this budget also includes a structure for modernizing Ohio’s K-12 education system. The changes made to Ohio’s school funding system, educator preparation and licensure, academic content standards, and state assessment will have a profound impact on the future of the state’ education system, economy, and way of life. According to a document released by the Governor’s office, “Governor Strickland and the state legislature have made an unprecedented commitment to Ohio’s schools, ensuring they are funded through a constitutional system. Additionally, it [Am. Sub. HB1] reforms our classrooms and strengthens the teaching profession to prepare students with the skills and knowledge they need to succeed in the jobs of the future. At a time when other states are dramatically reducing education funding, the governor and legislature understand that a commitment to education is critical to Ohio’s future economic growth and revival.”
Detailed School Funding Provisions >
