ODE’s draft waiver plan addresses each of the areas above, which include:

• Shifting from the current system of school and district ratings ranging from Excellent to Academic Emergency to one which assigns letter-grade ratings (A, B, C, D, and F) individually for four measures (Performance Indicators, Performance Index, Value-Added, and Closing the Proficiency Gap [which replaces AYP]) to allow for greater transparency in reporting.
• New ambitious, but achievable, Annual Measureable Objectives (AMOs) to replace the Adequate Yearly Progress system.  AMOs will measure achievement gaps and provide a strong incentive for educators to focus on improving results for all students.
• Modifying the current differentiated accountability system to identify and support the lowest-performing Title 1 schools in the state.
• More flexibility in the use of federal professional development funds in exchange for the required increase in higher standards and transparency in the accountability system.
• Fewer forms and reports schools and districts will need to complete to use federal funds.

State Superintendent Stan Heffner characterized Ohio’s plan as “a continuous improvement strategy,” one that seeks to give a clear picture of how well students are performing and what progress is being made year to year.  Heffner said Ohio’s goal is to have students ready for college or a career when they graduate from high school.

Click here for more information and a link to the full waiver request.

Click here for the Columbus Dispatch article on the waiver request.

Details of the program will be developed through budget negotiations with Congress and the competition process itself, but the proposal considers a broad range of reforms:

• Reforming teacher colleges and making them more selective.
• Creating new career ladders for teachers.
• Linking earnings more closely to performance rather than simply longevity or credentials.
• Compensating teachers for working in challenging learning environments.
• Making teacher salaries more competitive with other professions.
• Improving professional development and providing time for collaboration.
• Providing teachers with greater autonomy in exchange for greater accountability.
• Building evaluation systems based on multiple measures, not just test scores.
• Reforming tenure to raise the bar, protect good teachers, and promote accountability.

Education Secretary Arne Duncan said “our goal is to work with teachers and principals in rebuilding their profession and to elevate the teacher voice in federal, state and local education policy. Our larger goal is to make teaching not only America’s most important profession, but also America’s most respected profession.”

“This effort will require the entire educational sector—states, districts, unions, principals, schools of education—to change, and teachers have to lead the change,” Duncan said.

“We need to change society’s views of teaching—from the factory model of yesterday to the professional model of tomorrow—where teachers are revered as thinkers, leaders and nation-builders. No other profession carries a greater burden for securing our economic future. No other profession holds out more promise of opportunity to children and young people from disadvantaged backgrounds. And no other profession deserves more respect,” he said.

 Click Here for the official press release

Click Here for the Department of Education’s Blog on RESPECT 

Click Here for the RESPECT Program Proposal on PDF

1) Technology – a school district may design, develop, distribute, license, or sell technology to another school or non-profit entity, regardless of where the school or entity is located;

2) Training, consulting, and educational services – a school district may provide such services to anyone, regardless of where the school, person, or entity is located;

3) Merchandise – a school district may sell things resembling the school district’s identified brand; and

4) With certain exceptions, the rental of the school district’s facilities.

The bill would permit school boards to allocate school district funds and resources to an approved for-profit activity so long as the allocation does not substantially interfere with the school district’s students’ education.  School boards would also be permitted to acquire real or personal property for a for-profit activity. A school board would have the ability to determine the price and terms for any of the approved profit-making activities approved by the board.  Importantly, all profits earned by a school district through a profit-making activity would  either be placed in the school district’s general fund or reinvested into the operation of the activity.

A school board would be able to appoint any of its employees to serve the needs of an approved for-profit activity.  An employee so employed would serve at the pleasure of the board, subject to any contract entered into between the board and the employee.   Importantly, an employee employed for a for-profit activity would not be a “public employee” for purposes of RC Ch. 4117 and the bill’s provisions regarding such employment would prevail over any conflicting provisions of a collective bargaining agreement entered into after the effective date of the bill.

No revenue earned by for-profit activities would affect the district’s payments or adjustments, or the computation of the district’s “state education aid.” Under the bill, profits or benefits derived from a for-profit activity could not be used to reduce the district’s levying of any rate of taxation or its tax revenue as determined by the county budget commission, but the school board could reduce the rate of taxation of a levy approved by the electors due to revenue the district receives from that activity.

The bill would also ensure that records maintained by districts relating to research and development of technology or other trade secrets associated with a for-profit activity operated by the school district would not be “public records” subject to a public records request.

Should the bill become law, the superintendent of public instruction will consult with the school districts undertaking profit-making activities and evaluate the program after no more than three years of implementation. The superintendent of public instruction will then submit legislative recommendations to the governor and general assembly as to the benefits, burdens, and other issues of the pilot program and whether or to what extent the pilot program should be continued, expanded or reduced.

Click here to view HB 444.

Click here to view the bill.

For more information and a list of the new law’s requirements, see our January 25, 2012 blog entry on H.B. 116.

Click here for HB 191 Bill Analysis.

Columbus Dispatch Article 

Cleveland Plain Dealer Article