July 07, 2011
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Contact Us
Ohio Alliance for Public Charter Schools
33 N. Third Street,
Suite 600
Office: (614) 744-2266
Fax: (614) 744-2255
www.oapcs.org
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Notes from the CEO Bill Sims
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*Because of summer schedules we will skip our next publication of Insight Online, with our next edition coming out August 16th.
HB153 Final Provisions — 2011
The budget process finally drew to a close on Thursday, June 30th, when Governor Kasich signed Sub H.B. 153 into law. With any new budget comes changes in policy. This year, as has often been the case, charter school issues generated much debate. OAPCS worked with many other aligned interests to push for provisions that would enhance charter quality through greater accountability and transparency. We are very pleased with the outcome.
OAPCS has compiled the budget bill’s charter school provisions as well as other education provisions affecting charter schools into one place to help you know where the law currently stands. Included in these bullet points are the budget reference numbers (all begin with EDUCD) to make looking up specific provisions in the budget comparison document easier (available at http://www.lsc.state.oh.us/fiscal/comparedoc129/asreportedbycc/comparedoc-hb153-cc.pdf).
Please note that these items do not appear chronologically. Instead, we have grouped them according to subject (e.g., funding, facilities, and sponsors). We hope these summations prove helpful. Thanks to our government relations department and the work of our legal interns from the Ohio State University Moritz School of Law for their substantial contributions to this effort. The Alliance stands ready and able to assist any OAPCS members who may have questions.
Quick Overview
Automatic Closure of Community Schools (EDUCD91)
• Requires the closure of community schools that do not offer a grade higher than third, or offer any of grades ten through twelve, if the school is in academic emergency for two of the three most recent school years.
Facilities
• Requires districts to sell/lease unused buildings at Fair Market Value. (EDUCD5)
• For more on facilities, please see separate section on facilities below.
Funding
• Schools who achieve excellent or excellent with distinction will receive $17 per student bonus. (EDUCD 161)
• Charters can enter into agreements with districts or schools to jointly operate a program. (EDUCD 18)
• Sets the formula amount at $5,653 for transfer payments for students attending community schools, STEM schools, and other districts through open enrollment, and colleges and universities through the Post-Secondary Enrollment Options Program. (EDUCD 51)
• Special education funding for community school and STEM school students will be computed using FY 2009 disability categories and FY 2009 weights. (EDUCD 51)
• For more, please see separate section on funding below.
Direct Authorization of Community Schools by ODE (EDUCD92)
• Allows a person, group of individuals, an entity, or an existing community school whose contract with its sponsor has been terminated or expired to apply to be sponsored directly by the Ohio Department of Education.
o ODE is required to establish the Office of Ohio School Sponsorship to deal with such applications. The office will have 30 days to determine whether an application meets the official requirements and must approve the application if such requirements are met.
• Requires that applicants for sponsorship by the Office of Ohio School Sponsorship will have to file statements regarding financial conditions, school operation and management, and whether the school will be a start-up or conversion community school.
• Limits the Office to sponsoring 20 schools during its first 5 years, only five of which can be new schools.
• Requires that length of the sponsor contract is limited to a 5 year initial term and it may include up to a 3% oversight and monitoring fee.
• Requires ODE must create an annual report assessing the schools in the program.
• Holds ODE-sponsored schools to state performance and enrollment standards
Expanded Location of Start-up Community Schools (EDUCD151)
• Expands the definition of challenged school district to include districts whose performance index score places them in the bottom five percent of all districts.
Governing Authorities (EDUCD108)
• A governing board member, or immediate relative, may not be an owner, employee, or consultant of a community school sponsor for one year after the conclusion of the member's term.
Topical Review
I. Teachers and School Administrators
II. Community School Funding
III. E-Schools
IV. Student Instruction
V. Community School Facilities
VI. Sponsors
VII. Dropout Recovery
I. Teachers and School Administrators
Exemptions for Highly Performing School Districts (EDUCD131)
• Ensures that all districts, even those that are excellent and effective, must adhere to new requirements regarding teacher evaluations, compensation, reductions in force, and teacher employment contracts.
Teacher Compensation (Affected by Race to the Top) (EDUCD11)
• For schools—including charters—that receive Race to the Top funds, requires them to pay teachers by performance.
• For schools—including charters—that receive Race to the Top funds, requires that teachers’ salary schedule provide for annual adjustments based on evaluations.
• For schools—including charters—that receive Race to the Top funds, allows additional compensation for some teachers who perform additional duties that employer determines warrant additional compensation.
Teacher and Principal Evaluations (EDUCD129)
• Requires State Board of Education to develop standards and criteria for teacher and principal evaluations that distinguish between four levels of performance.
• Requires the State Board of Education to develop a list of student assessment criteria that measure mastery of course content not already covered by state assessments and value-added.
• Requires that the framework for teacher evaluation:
o provides for multiple evaluation factors, but has student academic growth count for 50 percent of the evaluation;
o aligns with the Educator Standards Board’s standards for teachers;
o includes at least two classroom walkthroughs and observations of the teacher for 30 minutes each;
o implements a classroom level, value-added program.
• Requires that teachers are provided with a written report of the evaluation results.
• Requires that the framework provides for professional development to support poorly –performing teachers.
• Requires that community schools and STEM schools that receive Race to the Top funds adopt a teacher evaluation policy that conforms to the framework by July 1, 2013, and specifies that the policy takes effect at the expiration of the collective bargaining agreement, if any, that is in effect on provision’s effective date.
Out-of-State Teachers (EDUCD3)
• Requires state board to adopt by July 1, 2013, a list of states with licensure standards that are inadequate to ensure that a person with 5 years of experience is qualified for a professional educator license in Ohio
• Once the list is approved, the state must automatically issue a professional educator license to any applicant who meets the above criteria and was most recently licensed in a state not on list.
Alternative Resident Educator License (EDUCD82)
• Prohibits State Board from requiring that teachers have a major in the teacher’s area
• Allows license holders to satisfy continuing education requirements with professional development provided as part of a teacher preparation program that is operated by a nonprofit organization and approved by the Chancellor of Board of Regents
• Requires Chancellor to approve any teacher preparation program that requires participants to have a bachelor’s degree, have a cumulative undergraduate GPA of 2.5 or higher, and complete a summer training institute.
Teach For America Licensure (EDUCD155)
• Prohibits State Board of Education from establishing additional licensure qualifications for participants in the Teach For America program beyond those enacted in Sub. H.B. 21 of the 129th General Assembly
• Specifies that Teach For America participants are ineligible for alternative resident educator licenses.
Criminal Records Check of Adult Education Instructors (EDUCD16)
• Prohibits schools, including community schools, districts, or ESCs, from requiring an applicant for the position of adult education instructor to undergo a criminal records check, if the applicant had a records check within the previous 2 years as a condition of being hired for short-term employment with that district, school, or ESC.
Gifted Education Coordinator (EDUCD98)
• Allows a school principal or any other employee assigned to a school to also serve as school’s gifted education coordinator, if qualified.
Retesting Teachers (EDUCD15)
• Requires ODE to annually rank, by building, all city, districts, STEM, and community schools into percentiles according to performance index score.
• Requires teachers (including those at community schools) to retake any written tests required by state board for their subject area and grade if the teacher is at a school that is in the lowest 10 percentiles.
o A teacher who can provide proof of having passed the exam is not required to retake the exam again for 3 years, even if the teacher is at a school ranked in bottom.
• Allows schools to use results of required testing to devise or revise professional development for teachers (including those at community schools).
• Specifies that teachers are not responsible for cost of exam.
II. Funding
Use of State Funding to Pay Taxes (EDUCD105)
• Repeals language that prohibits community schools from using state funds to pay taxes owed by the community school.
Subsidy for Higher Performing School Districts (EDUCD161)
• An additional $17 in per pupil funding for community schools that are rated “excellent with distinction” or “excellent” on their annual report card.
Educational Service Centers Funding (EDUCD67)
• State funding for ESCs will be reduced over the next 2 years.
o 2012 funding will be at 90% of funds provided in 2011
o 2013 funding will be at 85% of funds provided in 2012
• Funds that are allocated for an ESC that no longer exists are reallocated to remaining ESCs based on average daily membership
• Funding for ESCs that merge is calculated by adding the funds each would have received before the merger.
Foundation and Transitional Aid Funding Reimbursement (EDUCD75)
• Schools districts have no legal right to reimbursement for a reduction in funding that resulted from the school district’s students enrolling in community schools for Fiscal Year 2005 and the subsequent transitional aid funding years up to Fiscal Year 2007, unless the reimbursement was the result of a final court judgment executed on or before June 1, 2009.
Family and Children First Flexible Funding Pool (EDUCD77)
• Permits community schools to transfer portions of their funding to a flexible funding pool created by a county family and children first council to support the provision of services to families and children.
School Property Tax Exemption (EDUCD99)
• Real property that is used by a community school for a primary or secondary educational purpose is exempt from taxation. Any portion of the real property not used for a primary or secondary educational purpose is still subject to taxation.
Fees for Career-Technical Education Materials (EDUCD164)
• Students that are eligible for free lunch can be charged by a community school for tools, equipment, and materials necessary for work-force readiness training as long as those materials are retained by the student after course completion.
III. E-School Issues
Lifting of the E-School Moratorium (EDUCD10)
• Removes, after January 1, 2013, the moratorium on opening new e-schools and allows up to five new e-schools to be opened each year once the moratorium has been lifted.
• Requires the Superintendent of Public Instruction and Director of the Governor’s Office of 21st Century Education to develop and submit standards for e-school operation to the General Assembly by July 1, 2012.
• E-Schools must comply with either the GA enacted standards (if passed) or the International Association for K-12 Online Learning standards after January 1, 2013 (or July 1, 2013 if already in operation as an e-school).
Automatic Community School Enrollment (EDUCD126)
• Establishes that any student that was enrolled at an internet- or computer-based community school during the previous school year is automatically re-enrolled for the purposes of calculating the following year’s state funding.
• Without a legitimate excuse, an automatically reenrolled student is disenrolled and payments are recalculated if the student fails to begin internet- or computer-based learning opportunities during the first 105 consecutive hours of learning opportunities offered.
E-School Per Pupil Spending Requirement (EDUCD89)
• Internet- or Computer-based schools are no longer required to spend as much per pupil as the per pupil statewide classroom teacher amount outlined in the Building Blocks school funding model.
Exemption from State Laws (EDUCD112)
• Specifies that e-schools are exempt from body mass index (BMI) screening requirements.
Interesting Provisions Removed
Hybrid Schools (EDUCD148)
• The Senate included language in its version of the budget that would have allowed for the creation of several hybrid schools, schools that would have combined traditional classroom instruction with online instruction. The provision did not make the cut in the final version of the budget, but generated a large amount of interest and is something to keep an eye on for the future.
Student Computer Requirement (EDUCD133)
• The House included language in its version of the budget that would have eliminated the requirement that each student in an e-school have their own computer. Instead it would only require the e-school to provide one computer for every other student enrolled living in the same household.
IV. Student Instruction
Students with Disabilities Testing (EDUCD132)
• Requires that an IEP for a disabled student specify the manner in which the student will participate in state achievement testing.
Statewide Academic Standards (EDUCD121)
• Repeals a number a of the less concrete assessment areas added by the Evidence Based Model school reforms, including: the senior project, “other skills necessary in the 21st century”, critical thinking and innovation, communication and collaboration, and others.
• Changes what must be measured by a nationally standardized test for it to be part of the graduation regimen.
• Requires the state to offer multiple assessments options for graduation regimen.
V. Facilities
Current Facilities (EDUCD97)
• Allows more than one community school to occupy the same facility.
• Allows community schools to be located in multiple facilities so long as the facilities are in the same county and the different locations have the same operator.
• Requires ODE, in case of school with many facilities, to assign each facility with a unique identification number and prohibits ODE from calculating funding or report card data separately for a school that has multiple facilities
Disposal of School District Property (EDUCD5)
• Requires districts to lease/sell unused buildings to community schools located in the same district at Fair Market Value.
• Requires public auction open to all community schools in district if more than one school wants to buy a facility.
• Requires lottery if more than one wants to lease.
• Permits district to dispose of property if no offer in 60 days.
• Strikes “suitable for use as classroom space” from current provision that does and still requires districts to offer community schools a right of first refusal to purchase real property that the district seeks to dispose of
VI. Sponsors
Sponsorship Limitations (EDUCD10)
• Sponsors can only sponsor additional schools if they are not ranked in the lowest 20% in an annual ranking of sponsors by their composite performance index (drop out recovery and special needs schools exempted).
o Specifies that if a school enters into a contract with a sponsor prior to the sponsor becoming subject to the prohibition and the school has not opened at that time, the contract is void and the school must secure a new sponsor in order to open.
• Sponsors may now sponsor up to 100 schools.
• Eliminates the law that automatically reduces by one the maximum number of schools an entity may sponsor for every one of the sponsor's schools that permanently closes.
Termination of Sponsor Contract with School (EDUCD96)
• A sponsor must now notify a school by February 1 of its intent to terminate/not renew their contract.
• After such notification, an informal hearing requested by the school must be held within 14 days of the request and the sponsor must then issue a written decision within 14 days of the hearing.
• Appealing the decision from the informal hearing to the State Board of Education is required to be done within 14 days of receiving the written decision and the State Board must conduct a hearing and issue its decision with 60 days of the appeal.
• Requires schools that have terminated their sponsor contract to close at the end of the current school year.
• Also provides civil immunity for Sponsor and its employees.
Community School Monitoring (EDUCD143)
• Current requirement that a community school sponsor must have a representative located within 50 miles of each sponsored school was repealed.
• Sponsors must now meet with the governing authority or the community school’s financial officer once every month to review financial and enrollment records.
Selling of Services by Community School Sponsors (EDUCD142)
• Final version did not include Senate language that would have prohibited a sponsor from selling any goods or services to a community school that it sponsors.
VII. Drop Out Recovery
Drop Out Recover Program Standards (EDUCD10)
• State Board to issue performance standards by July 1, 2012 for Drop Out prevention/recovery programs.
• ODE is required to develop and submit a plan to provide two additional years of instruction to persons age 22 or older.
• ODE must consult with the US Dept. of Education to ensure the program doesn’t expand beyond the requirements of the federal Individuals with Disabilities Education Act.
Bill Sims
President and CEO
Ohio Alliance for Public Charter Schools
(614) 744-2266
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Welcome Jesse Truett
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The Ohio Alliance is very pleased to announce the appointment of Jesse Truett to our senior staff. Jesse joins the OAPCS as Senior Director and Project Manager of the Alliance’s Performance Management Program. Jesse received his Bachelor of Arts Degree from Otterbein University and his Masters Degree in Education Policy and Leadership from Ohio State University.
As a former principal at Newark High School and Grandview Heights High School, Jesse is an experienced and proven academic and administrative leader who has demonstrated a significant commitment to both student performance and solid operational and financial management.
Jesse will lead in building the Alliance’s new performance management initiatives, made possible by a generous grant from the Walton Family Foundation.
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New Budget Law expands where Charter Schools can be located in Ohio
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The recently passed budget included an expansion of where charter schools can be located. Districts in the lowest 5% in a ranking by performance index will be added to the “Challenged Districts” listing. In 2010, there were 610 districts with performance index scores. The lowest 5% ranked by performance index include (in order): Youngstown, East Cleveland, Dayton, Warrensville Heights, Cleveland, Jefferson Township, Warren, Mansfield, Lorain, Springfield, Garfield Heights, Euclid, Maple Heights, Columbus, Lima, Mt Healthy, Marion, Middletown, Toledo, Akron, Canton, Cincinnati, Trotwood-Madison, Painesville, Ridgedale, East Liverpool, Whitehall, Federal Hocking, Portsmouth City, Fairport Harbor, and Windham. The inclusion of more rural districts will expand public school choice, with the intent of enabling more Ohio families to have access to high quality options.
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