Senate Education Committee
The committee accepted a substitute version of House Bill (HB) 154 during its second hearing. The revised bill would create a five-member panel, called the School Transformation Board, charged with overseeing improvement efforts in school districts with persistently low report card grades, among other responsibilities.
The bill also would designate school districts with “improvement” status if they received two consecutive overall F grades on the report card. Such a district would be required to create an improvement plan for its low-rated buildings, and it would be eligible for state funding to contract with a school improvement organization. Accepting this funding and executing a contract would delay the establishment of an academic distress commission until the sixth consecutive overall F grade.
Regarding the academic distress commissions, the bill largely keeps them intact with some changes, like requiring an annual performance evaluation for the chief executive officer (CEO) and renaming the commissions to “school improvement committees” and renaming the CEO to “director.” The bill also delays, from three years to four years, the number of consecutive overall F grades that trigger the establishment of an ADC, or school improvement committee. This four-year trigger would apply only to districts that did not accept state funding and execute an improvement contract.
OSBA, the Buckeye Association of School Administrators and Ohio Association of School Business Officials offered testimony on the revised bill, which can be accessed here. Click here to read the substitute bill.
The committee will meet at least twice during the week of Sept. 16 to accept amendments and hear additional testimony on bill. It is expected to vote on the legislation this month.
House Health Committee
The committee conducted a first hearing on HB 184, sponsored by Rep. Michele Lepore-Hagan (D-Youngstown). The bill would require schools to provide instruction in sexually transmitted infection prevention education and permit schools to offer comprehensive sexual health education. It also would require instruction in HIV/AIDS prevention education for students in grades seven through 12 and in-service training for individuals providing that instruction.