1)  128th General Assembly:  The Ohio House and Senate will hold sessions and hearings this week.

*Richard Hollington Jr. was sworn in on February 3, 2010 as representative of the 98th House District to complete the term of Representative Matt Dolan who recently resigned.

*Representative Peter Ujvagi of the 47th House District announced this week that he will resign and accept an appointment as Lucas County administrator.

*The House and Senate approved on February 3, 2010 a conference committee report on HJR12 (Williams, S.).  HJR12 places on the May 4, 2010 ballot an initiative that would allow the state to issue additional general obligation bonds to fund high-tech research and development to support the Third Frontier Initiative, which was first approved in 2005. Voters will be asked to approve borrowing $700 million for four more years to support the Third Frontier, which has provided funds for venture capital, research, and job creation.

*Representative Tom Letson introduced this week HJR15, a proposed constitutional amendment to change the way state House and Senate districts are drawn.  The resolution has been assigned to the House Elections and Ethics Committee, which has also had hearings on a SJR5 (Husted), a resolution that includes changes in both reapportionment and redistricting. HJR15 establishes a formula that the Apportionment Board would use to select a reapportionment plan from among those submitted by the public.

*The Office for Women's Initiatives and Outreach is hosting "Momentum

2010: Ohio Women's Summit" on March 7 & 8, 2010 in Columbus. The summit is coordinated by the Governor's Office for Women's Initiatives and Outreach and First Lady Frances Strickland, with the support of The Women's Fund of Central Ohio and other organizations.

A "Young Women's Summit" will be held on Sunday, March 7, 2010 at the Columbus School for Girls for women between the ages of 12-18. The summit will feature speakers and activities on topics including financial literacy, leadership, careers in science and engineering, technology, health, mentors, and accessing higher education.

The Ohio Women's Summit on March 8, 2010 will be held at the Riffe Center in Columbus and feature speakers on entrepreneurship, leadership, women's health, and access to higher education.

To learn more about Momentum 2010, please visit http://www.ohiowomen2010.org/

2) This Week at the Statehouse

*The House Education Committee, chaired by Representative Williams, will meet on February 9, 2010 at 2:00 PM in hearing room 017.  The committee will consider the following bills:

-HB83 (Boyd) Public School Assaults: Provides for the reporting of assaults in public schools to school administrators and law enforcement authorities.

-HB407 (Zehringer) Calamity Days: Allows school districts and STEM schools to make up excess calamity days by requiring students to complete lessons posted online.

-HB353 (Huffman) School Bus Ads: Authorizes school districts to sell commercial advertising space on school buses.

-HB316 (Slesnick) Comprehensive Sex Education: Establishes statutory standards for comprehensive sexual health education and HIV/AIDS prevention education in public schools.

*The Senate Finance and Financial Institutions Committee, chaired by Senator Carey, will meet on February 9, 2010 at 2:30 PM in the Senate Finance Hearing Room.  Among the bills that the committee will consider is SJR9 (Coughlin) State Lottery, which authorizes the state lottery to be operated by a private entity and authorizes the net profit of the state lottery to be used for scholarships for Ohio residents who are students at institutions of higher education in Ohio.

*The Senate Government Oversight Committee, chaired by Senator Husted, will meet on February 10, 2010 at 9:00 AM in the South Hearing Room.  The committee will hear testimony on SB222 (Husted) Campaign Committees, which would require vendors to disclose to campaign committees all expenditures made on their behalf and require campaign committees to report all expenditures made by third parties on their behalf.

*The House Ways and Means Committee, chaired by Representative Letson, will meet on February 10, 2010 at 9:30 AM in hearing room 122. The committee will hear testimony on HB401 (Lundy) Property Tax exemptions for municipally owned facilities housing independent professional minor league baseball teams, and HB400 (Adams) phase-out of the personal income tax over ten years.

*The Senate Education Committee, chaired by Senator Cates, will meet on February 10, 2010 at 3:00 PM in the North Hearing Room.  The committee will consider the following bills:

-SB102 (Turner) School Dropout Programs: Requires the State Board of Education to recommend performance standards for dropout programs operated by school districts.

-SB192 (Cates) School Transportation: Permits non-civil service school district boards to terminate positions of district transportation employees for reasons of economy and efficiency and contract with independent agents to provide transportation services.

3) FY11 Federal Budget Released: President Barack Obama released on February 1, 2010 a proposed $3.8 trillion budget for fiscal year 2011, which starts on October 1, 2010. The budget includes $1.14 trillion in discretionary spending, $2.2 trillion in mandatory spending, and a deficit of $1.27 trillion, which will add to the $12 trillion federal deficit.

(See the Washington Post for a breakdown:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/special/politics/budget-2010/index.html)

Now that the budget is released, lawmakers will begin the budget process for fiscal year 2011, which begins on October 1, 2010.  Based on the President's budget recommendations, the U.S. House and Senate will consider a non-binding budget resolution that sets targets for federal spending.  The actual appropriations for government departments and agencies are made through separate legislation passed by both the House and Senate and signed into law by the President. In recent years Congress has not approved a budget resolution, and has even missed the October 1st deadline to approve new fiscal year appropriations.  When this had happened, most recently last October, and to avoid shutting down the government, Congress has passed continuing resolutions until appropriations bills are approved and signed into law.

President Obama's FY11 budget includes targeted spending to promote job growth and economic stability as the nation recovers from the current recession, and builds on several current initiatives.

According to the President, "Already, we have made historic strides to reform and improve our schools, to pass health insurance reform, to build a new clean energy economy, to cut wasteful spending, and to limit the influence of lobbyists and special interests so that we are better serving the national interest." (Remarks made by President Obama during the introduction of the budget.)

The proposed budget eliminates or reduces 120 budget items totaling

$23 billion, and freezes discretionary spending in most areas except in education, which receives a $1.35 billion increase, energy, the National Science Foundation, and other selected programs.

The following highlights some of the funding levels and policy changes included in the proposed budget: from the budget documents on the U.S. Office of Management and Budget's (OMB) web site:

Small Business

-Includes initiatives to encourage small businesses -Eliminates capital gains taxes for investments in small firms and includes access to loans

Clean Energy

-Makes additional investments in infrastructure -Supports efforts to jump-start clean energy investments -Creates incentives such as "new loan guarantees that will encourage a range of renewable energy efforts and new nuclear power plants to spurring the development of clean energy on Federal lands."

Science and Technology and Industry

-Makes critical investments in new fields and industries -Doubles research and development funding in key physical sciences agencies -Expands broadband networks across our country -Works to promote American exports abroad

Education and Workforce Training

-Reforms elementary and secondary school funding by setting high standards, encouraging innovation, and rewarding success -Makes the Race to the Top fund permanent and opens it up to innovative school districts -Reforms job-training by streamlining it and focusing it on the high-growth sectors of the economy

Health Care and Research

-Includes funds to support health care reform initiatives, such investing in health information technology, patient-centered research, prevention, and wellness, and increases the number of primary care physicians -Invests in protecting the safety of our food and drugs, and in critical biomedical research

National Security

-Funds all the elements of our national power, including our military -Provides significant resources, including advanced appropriations, to care for our Nation's veterans

Addressing the Deficits

-Implements cost-saving measures using technology -Identifies more than 120 programs for termination, reduction, or other savings for a total of approximately $23 billion in 2011 -Reduces tens of billions of dollars in improper Government payments -Freezes non-security discretionary funding for three years -Eliminates tax cuts for those making more than $250,000 a year and dedicates the additional funds to reducing the deficit -Includes a fee on the largest and most indebted financial firms to ensure that taxpayers are fully compensated for the Troubled Asset Relief Program -Provides a deterrent to the risky practices that contributed to the economic crisis -Establishes a bipartisan fiscal commission charged with identifying additional policies to balance the federal Budget by 2015

4)  Impact of the Federal Budget on Ohio:  According to an OMB document , the proposed federal budget makes the following investments for Ohio:

-Reduces taxes for 4.5 million families

-$1.9 billion for schools, students, and teachers

-$1.9 billion to fix and expand the state's network of roads and highways, modernize airports, and expand water and sewer infrastructure

-$1.4 billion in new funding for Pell Grants to help families pay for college

-$954.9 million for housing assistance

-$11 billion for Ohio to provide health coverage to low-income children and families

-$150.8 million to modernize and expand clean, safe drinking water across Ohio

"For Ohio, the President's Budget means lower taxes, better teachers and classrooms, and important investments in our roads, highways, and airports.  It means more ways for our students to afford college.

The Budget means expanded support for the families of our service members.  The President's plan offers important support for states as they face very difficult choices, expanding resources for Medicaid and law enforcement.  Most importantly, the Budget lays a new foundation of economic growth and job creation for Ohio and the nation."

5)  Impact of the Proposed Federal Budget on Education:  The proposed

$49.5 billion budget for education programs included in President Obama's budget request includes a $3 billion increase in funding for

K-12 education programs authorized in the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA).  It also includes $900 million for School Turnaround Grants, and $1 billion more for schools if Congress reauthorizes ESEA this year. Legislation to reauthorize ESEA is separate from the proposed budget.

The Obama administration is using the assurances in the Race to the Top grant to restructure several federal funding programs, construct a new accountability system for the nation's schools and educators, and increase competition for federal funds. Federal funding will be more targeted to support improving teacher quality and state data systems, revamp standards and assessment, and assist low-performing schools.

The President is proposing to replaces the current "adequate yearly progress" rating system for schools and school districts with an index that would recognize schools in which students are prepared for college and careers. 48 states are currently participating in an effort led by the National Governor's Association and Achieve to define the knowledge and skills that students need to be "college and career ready".  For example, Title 1 for disadvantaged students will be "re-branded" as College and Career Ready.

The proposed budget also eliminates or consolidates 38 programs and creates several new programs. Targeted for elimination are the LEAP program, B.J. Stupak Olympic Scholarship, Byrd Honors Scholarship, Historic Whaling and Trading Partners, Legal Assistance Loan Repayment, Underground Railroad Educational and Cultural, Tech Prep, etc.

The following are some examples of the consolidated programs:

-NEW - Excellent Instructional Teams:  Includes Ready to Teach, Teach for America, Teacher Incentive Fund, Advanced Credentialing, etc.

-NEW - Effective Teaching and Learning for a Complete Education:

Includes Striving Readers, Even Start, Literacy through School Libraries, Reading is Fundamental, Mathematics and Science Partnerships, Teaching American History, Arts in Education, Foreign Language Assistance, Close-up Fellowships, Civic Education, etc.

-NEW- Expanding Educational Options:  Includes Charter School Grants, Parental Assistance Information Centers, Smaller Learning Communities, etc.

-NEW - College Pathways and Accelerated Learning:  Includes Advance Placement, Javits Gifted and Talented, High School Graduation Initiative, etc.

-NEW - Supporting Student Success:  Includes Physical Education, Elementary and Secondary School Counseling, Foundations for Learning, Alcohol Abuse Reduction, etc.

The following are highlights of the budget for education:

-$49.7 billion in discretionary funds for education. This is an increase of $3.5 billion or 7.5 percent.

-$28 billion for the Elementary and Secondary Education Act.

-$11.8 billion for Special Education, which includes a $250 million increase (2.2 percent).

-$14.5 billion for Title 1, which is renamed College-and-Career Ready Students, remains non-competitive with no increase.

-$1.35 billion to continue and expand the $4 billion Race to the Top grant program.

-$900 million for the School Turnaround Grants program.

-$950 million for the Teacher Leader Innovation Fund, a new competitive fund for states and districts that support approaches to recruiting, developing, retaining, and rewarding more effective teachers, particularly in the lowest-performing schools.

-$405 million for innovative pathways to teaching and school leadership.

-$490 million to support charter schools, magnet schools, and transfers to high-performing public schools.

-$1.8 billion for the Supporting Student Success initiative, which includes comprehensive supports for mental and physical health, and reforms the 21st Century Community Learning Centers program to focus funding on models that redesign and extend the school day, week or year to provide additional time for students to engage in academic activities, additional time for enrichment activities, and time for educators to collaborate and improve instruction.

-Expands the Investing in Innovation Fund (I3) to $500 million.

-Dedicates funds for the rigorous evaluation of education programs.

-$8.9 billion for competitive grants to states over the next ten years to improve early learning programs. The budget supports pending legislation that will establish a new Early Learning Challenge Fund administered by the Department of Education and the Department of Health and Human Services to help States improve the quality of early childhood programs to help children enter school ready to succeed.

-$300 million in new grants to States to develop and implement instructional practices and improve teaching and learning in science and math aligned to new high standards.

-$150 million within the Investing in Innovation Fund for competitive grants for school districts, nonprofits, and other organizations to test, validate, and scale promising strategies to improve teaching and accelerate student learning in STEM subjects.

-Supports NASA programs that are designed to meet the goals of the President's "Educate to Innovate" campaign in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics education.

-$173 billion in loans, grants, tax credits, and work study programs to help students go to college.

-Ends student lending subsidies to banks and shifts billions in savings into higher education.

-$8.8 billion to improve and modernized community colleges and $3.6 billion to raise college completion rates.

The Office of Management and Budget documents are available at http://www.whitehouse.gov/omb/ Please note, some of the most useful documents are included in the Appendix.

6) State Board of Education to Meet:  The State Board of Education, Debbie Cain president, will meet on February 8-9, 2010 at the Ohio School for the Deaf, 500 Morse Road, Columbus, Ohio.

MEETING ON FEBRUARY 8, 2010

The Achievement Committee, chaired by Mike Collins, and the Capacity Committee, chaired by Rob Hovis, will meet at 9:00 AM.

The Achievement Committee will discuss Operating Standards and revised standards for ELA, Math, Science, and Social Studies.

The Capacity Committee will discuss Rule 3301-3-07, Information Technology Centers Performance Requirements; Rules 3301-102-01 to -07, Community School Sponsors; Rules 3301-19-01 to -03, Financial Reporting; and Rules 3301-51-09, Service Provider Ratios.

At 10:30 AM the Board will hear a presentation on the budget and will discuss special education funding and gifted programs and services.

The Board will receive reports from Board member liaisons from the following committees:

-Early Childhood Advisory Board, Tracey

-Smith Parent Advisory Council, Dannie Greene and Martha Harris State Advisory -Panel for Exceptional Children, Mary Rose Oakar and Sam Schloemer -NASBE, Mike Collins, Susan Haverkos, Rob Hovis, and Kristen McKinley

The Board will recognize Lura B. Kean Elementary School, Wooster City School District, a National Blue Ribbon School at 12:00, and adjourn for lunch.

The Board will reassemble at 1:15 PM and welcome Ohio Teacher of the Year Natalie Wester, who will be recognized by the Board and First Lady Frances Strickland, State Board President Deborah Cain, and Superintendent of Public Instruction Deborah Delisle.

The 21st Century Learning Subcommittee, chaired by Steve Millett, and the Advocacy and Outreach Subcommittee, chaired by John Bender, will meet at 1:45 PM.

The 21st Century Learning Subcommittee will review and discuss emerging common themes about 21st century learning in Ohio; begin development of recommendations related to 21st century learning in Ohio; and receive a presentation from Marcy Raymond, Principal of Metro Early College High School.

The Advocacy and Outreach Subcommittee will receive an update on legislation.

At 3:15 PM the Board will review reports from the various committees and review written reports.

At 4:00 PM the Board will conduct a 119 Hearing on Rules

3301-83-10,-14 & 3301-51-10, Pupil Transportation.

At 4:30 PM the Board will hold an informational session to discuss early learning and pupil transportation.

MEETING ON FEBRUARY 9, 2010

The Executive Committee, chaired by Debbie Cain, will meet at 8:30 AM to discuss the 2010 State Board of Education Retreat, and receive an update from legal counsel regarding the upcoming community school appeals hearings.

The full Board will meet at 9:00 AM.  The Ohio Association of Business Officials and the Ohio School Boards Association will present to the Board information about the issues facing these education stakeholder organizations, and their budget priorities for FY12-13.

The State Board of Education's business meeting will begin at 11:30 AM, and immediately convene into executive session.

Following the executive session the Board will receive the report of the Superintendent of Public Instruction, Deb Delisle; accept public participation on agenda items; vote on the report and recommendations of the Superintendent (please see resolutions below); consider old business and new business; accept public participation on non-agenda items; and adjourn.

Resolutions to be considered by the State Board of Education at their business meeting on February 9, 2010:

*Five personnel resolutions and the following:

#5 Resolution of Intent to Amend Rule 3301-3-01,02, and 04-07 of the Ohio Administrative Code, and to rescind ad adopt Rule 3301-3-03 regarding information technology centers.

7) ODE Identifies Turnaround Schools:  The Ohio Department of Education has on its web site a list of 68 schools that have been identified as Tier I and Tier II "persistently low achieving" based on student performance and progress in reading and math.  Under federal guidelines these schools are subject to closure, conversion into charter schools, or new leadership, and will be given priority for School Improvement Grants (SIG).  These grants are awarded to schools and districts through a competitive process in amounts ranging from $50,000 to $500,000 for implementing a school improvement plan,  such as the Turnaround Model; Restart Model; School Closure Model; and Transformation Model.

The list of Tier I and II schools in Ohio represents 15 school districts and 27 charter schools.

Information about the turnaround models and the list of low performing schools can be found at http://education.ohio.gov/GD/Templates/Pages/ODE/ODEDetail.aspx?page=550.

8) NCSL Issues Report on Federal Role in Education:  The National Conference of State Legislatures released on February 1, 2010 a report entitled "Education at a Crossroads:  A New Path for Federal and State Education Policy."

According to a press release on the NCSL's web site, the report includes the recommendations of the NCSL's Education Task Force, co-chaired by Senator Steve Saland, New York, Senator Robert H. "Bob"

Plymale, West Virginia, and Robin Johnson, General Counsel, Speaker of the House, North Carolina. The Task Force notes that the federal government provides only a portion of total funds spent for K-12

education: $40 billion of the $550 billion that states spend. But, since President Clinton's administration, the federal government has insisted on more accountability and compliance measures attached to federal dollars.

After reviewing federal education policies, programs, and results, the Task Force concluded that "..student achievement has not significantly improved with federal intervention." The report recommends that the federal government re-define its role in education, and supplement state and local efforts, provide additional resources for disadvantaged learners, and conduct research into best practices and proven reforms.

The following are recommendations from the report for a more clearly defined role for the federal government:

"-Focus federal funding on those most at-risk. Use a research-based formula that emphasizes the neediest students instead of trying to make system-wide reforms with limited federal funds.

-Fully fund the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act for special education programs and other services for children with disabilities. That would free $16 billion annually for states to use to reform and innovate at the state and local levels.

-Change the tax-credit provisions of school construction bonding laws. This also would free tens of billions of dollars in state and local resources that would otherwise be spent on debt-service for school bonds.

-Redirect the federal focus to research and reporting on what works and why. At the same time, don't pick or mandate how and when "winning strategies" should be required by law or "encouraged" by withholding additional federal resources.

-Reward and encourage innovation-not conformity with others or compliance with a checklist of reforms, but progress toward goals."

For more information about the report please visit http://www.ncsl.
org/?tabid=19669.

9) Report on Segregation and Charter Schools: The Civil Rights Project/Proyecto Derechos Civiles at UCLA, Gary Orfield co-director, released on February 4, 2010 a report entitled, "Choice Without

Equity: Charter School Segregation and the Need for Civil Rights Standards" by E. Frankenberg, G. Siegel-Hawley, and J. Wang. The report is based on an analysis of federal government data and charter schools in 40 states, the District of Columbia, and several metropolitan areas.

According to the report, "Seven years after the Civil Rights Project first documented extensive patterns of charter school segregation, the charter sector continues to stratify students by race, class and possibly language.  This study is released at a time of mounting federal pressure to expand charter schools, despite on-going and accumulating evidence of charter school segregation."

The researchers found that some "...charter schools enroll a disproportionate share of black students and expose them to the highest level of segregation.  Almost a third end up in apartheid schools with zero to one percent white classmates, the very kind of schools that decades of civil rights struggles fought to abolish in the South."

On the other hand, researchers found a lack of participation of Latino students and students with limited English proficiency in charter schools, while in North Carolina there was an "over-representation of whites in charter schools". This finding led researchers to suggest that some charter schools might be contributing to "white flight" and the re-segregation of schools.

The report notes, "The fact that a number of these "white flight"

schools do not report any students on free lunch suggests that they may be segregated by both race and class."

The report also states that there is "a critical lack of basic civil rights policy in state charter legislation" compared to magnet schools that have a "clear policy favoring integration" and better academic outcomes than charter schools. And, many charter schools are not reporting data about student demographics, such as the number of students receiving free/reduced-price lunches or the number of students with limited English proficiency enrolled in charter schools.

As the Obama administration continues to promote charter schools as a school choice option in the budget and the Race to the Top program, the Civil Rights Project recommends that the federal government adopt policies that encourage integrated charter schools, and equally support other choice options such as magnet schools, that show greater levels of integration and academic achievement than charter schools. Some of the policy recommendations included developing minimum civil rights standards for charter schools in the reauthorization of ESEA; strengthening federal reporting requirements for charter schools; monitoring patterns of charter school enrollment and segregation; requiring school diversity as part of the approval process for charter schools, and providing more federal funds for magnet schools.

The report is available at

http://www.civilrightsproject.ucla.edu/news/pressreleases/
pressrelease20100204-report.html

10) Bills Introduced

-HJR15 (Letson) State General Assembly Districts:  Revises the process for apportioning the state for General Assembly districts.