OEA Legislative Watch

October 22, 2009

House Bill 318 - House Passes Budget Solution, Heads to Senate

Do you know that
the political
process affects On Wednesday, October 21, 2009, House Bill 318 passed the Ohio House by a
virtually everything vote of 55-44. The bill, sponsored by Representative Vernon Sykes (R-Akron),
in your school day? would freeze income tax rates at 2008 levels for tax years 2009 and 2010 in order
to restore support for primary and secondary education and to avoid making
Take action— deeper reductions to other important programs and services. The OEA supports
Become an OEA the budget solution contained in HB 318 and urges you to contact your
Member Lobbyist State Senator to support the bill.

This bill is necessary because $851 million in state support for primary and
secondary education is in jeopardy. This is a result of a recent Ohio Supreme
Questions?
Court Decision which ruled that the installation of Video Lottery Terminals (VLTs)
Contact your at Ohio's seven racetracks, as contained in House Bill 1, will have to go to the
Governmental ballot for voter approval in November 2010. The proceeds from VLTs are
Services Team earmarked for primary and secondary education. Moreover, state reductions of
this magnitude jeopardize an additional $1.5 billion in federal stimulus funds for
Ron Rapp Ohio's public schools. This would create a $2.3 billion budget reduction to
Director primary and secondary education over the biennium.
rappr@ohea.org

Melissa Clark House Bill 318 is expected to receive hearings in the Senate Finance and Financial
Lobbyist Institutions Committee beginning the week of October 26, 2009. OEA would
clarkm@ohea.org like to thank all members who have responded to the HB 318 Call to Action and
would urge those who have yet to make contact with their State Senator to
Robert Davis
please visit the OEA ACE action page at:
Lobbyist
davisr@ohea.org http://ga1.org/campaign/hb318_action_oct_19 to take action now!

Matthew Dotson Senate Bill 180 & House Bill 312 Require Use of Value-Added in
Lobbyist
dotsonm@ohea.org Licensure Eligibility and Model Evaluations; Give Fast-track
Licensure Program Participants Professional License
Bonnie Joseph
UniServ Senate Bill 180 (R- Jon Husted) & House Bill 312 (R- Seth Morgan) propose to lift
Political Advocacy
the moratorium on new internet- or computer-based community schools (e-
Consultant
josephb@ohea.org schools), require the use of value-added data in licensure eligibility, require the
use of value-added data in model teacher and principal evaluation instruments,
and qualify individuals who have completed two years in the Teach for America
(TFA) program for a professional educator license.
The OEA opposes Senate Bill 180 & House Bill 312, legislation that proposes
counterproductive education policies under the premise of making Ohio more
competitive for federal Race to the Top (RTTT) school improvement grants. While
the OEA supports the overall goals of the RTTT program, recent education reforms
passed by the General Assembly have put Ohio in a competitive position without
resorting to speculative policy changes that are not appropriate given our state’s
needs.

The provisions in these pieces of legislation will distract and undermine ongoing
efforts to implement systemic education reforms linked to the challenges and
opportunities faced by Ohio’s public schools. First, the General Assembly should
fulfill the process already in law to lift the charter e-school moratorium, which
requires that rules and regulations for the operation of these schools be
established. Second, value-added data is not designed to be a valid and reliable
measure for use in high-stakes decisions such as licensure eligibility or evaluations.
Third, the TFA program has not demonstrated that it equips beginning teachers for
effective practice; participants should complete the 4-year teacher residency
program before gaining professional licensure.

House Bill 260 Undermines School Funding by Eliminating Special

Elections in February and August

House Bill 260 (D- Dan Stewart) proposes a broad range of changes to Ohio’s
electoral process, including the elimination of special elections in February and
August. This proposal stems from election summits that were held by the
Secretary of State’s office and has been justified on the basis of cost savings and
low voter turnout. While efforts to make Ohio’s elections as effective as possible
should be encouraged, the OEA strongly opposes the recommendation to
eliminate special elections in February and August.

Eliminating special elections in February and August will undermine the ability of
school districts to raise critical local funding support needed to help implement
education reforms, strengthen curriculum offerings, provide extracurricular
activities, and build new school facilities. Making it more difficult for schools to
obtain alternative funding sources needed to deliver key education services is
counterproductive and imprudent, especially when put in context of Ohio’s
struggling economy and the challenges it presents to the state’s ability to fund
schools. Further, this provision will cost school districts far more than it saves. It
takes an average of three election attempts to build the awareness and support
needed to pass a school levy. HB 260 is likely to delay the passage of many levies
into the next calendar year, which means a delay in the collection of the new
revenue until the FOLLOWING calendar year.
 Senate Bill 129 Provides Collective Bargaining Rights to Higher
Education Part-time Faculty

SB 129 (D- Fred Strahorn) will allow over 13,000 part-time faculty, also known as
adjuncts and graduate assistants, at public institutions of higher education across
Ohio to have the same collective bargaining rights as full-time faculty. Currently,
part-time higher education faculty are exempted from “public employee” status
under Ohio’s collective bargaining law.

The OEA supports SB 129. Providing part-time faculty at Ohio’s public colleges and
universities with the same collective bargaining rights as full-time faculty will allow
them to negotiate fair wages and benefits that reflect their increasingly significant
role in delivering high quality education services. This will help Ohio compete for
the best part-time faculty by putting the state on par with many other regional
states that already provide these educators collective bargaining rights, such as
Michigan, Pennsylvania, Illinois and Wisconsin. Further, SB 129 will support
students by helping to ensure that part-time faculty members receive the financial
and professional support they need to do their best work.