Fiscal Note & Local Impact Statement
125 th General Assembly of Ohio
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BILL: |
DATE: |
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STATUS: |
SPONSOR: |
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LOCAL IMPACT
STATEMENT REQUIRED: |
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STATE FUND |
FY 2004 |
FY 2005 |
FUTURE YEARS |
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General Revenue Fund |
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Revenues |
- 0 - |
- 0 - |
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Expenditures |
Approximately $375,000
increase |
Approximately $175,000
increase |
Approximately $175,000
increase |
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Note: The state
fiscal year is July 1 through June 30.
For example, FY 2004 is July 1, 2003 – June 30, 2004.
·
The
bill creates the State Office of Educator Standards within the Ohio Department
of Education (ODE) to provide administrative support to the Educator Standards
Board, also created by the bill. The
ODE estimates a cost of $175,000 per year for this new office.
·
The
bill requires the creation of professional development standards to be used by
Local Professional Development Committees with the assistance of the ODE. The ODE estimates a one-time cost of
$100,000 for developing the standards, producing and disseminating the standards,
and providing training.
·
The
bill requires that the State Board of Education develop guidelines for the
evaluation of teachers and principals.
Although school districts are not required to use these guidelines, the
ODE must include a review of a district’s evaluation system when it conducts a
site evaluation of a district. The ODE anticipates that developing the
guidelines, providing materials, and conducting informational meetings and
training sessions will cost approximately $100,000.
·
Am.
Sub. H.B. 95 of the 125th General Assembly appropriates $1,650,000 in FY 2004
and in FY 2005 to implement recommendations of the Teaching Success
Commission. These funds are presumably
available to meet the requirements of this bill.
·
No
direct fiscal effect on political subdivisions.
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Am. Sub. H.B. 95 of the
125th General Assembly appropriates $1,650,000 in FY 2004 and in FY 2005 GRF
appropriates item 200-452, Teaching Success Commission Initiatives. It requires that these funds be spent to support
initiatives recommended by the Governor’s Commission on Teaching Success. It is therefore assumed that these funds are
available to be used by the ODE to meet the requirements of the bill.
The
bill creates an Educator Standards Board comprised of 17 individuals. These individuals are to receive no
compensation other than actual and necessary expenses. The cost of these expenses is difficult to
predict. It will depend on the
frequency and length of meetings, as well as the distance each member must
travel to the meeting. Eventually, the
Educator Standards Board is to take over the duties of the Ohio Teacher
Education and Licensure Advisory Commission, which has an appropriation of
$24,374 per year in the current biennium.
A more significant cost arises from the creation of the Office of
Educator Standards in the ODE. This
office is to provide administrative assistance to the Board. The ODE is authorized to employ a director
for the office and any other staff. The
ODE estimates approximately $175,000 per year in administrative costs for this
new office.
Professional Development Standards
One of the duties of the Educator Standards Board is to recommend professional development standards to the State Board of Education. After the State Board adopts standards, school districts are required to use them for a variety of purposes. If a district is in continuous improvement, academic watch, or academic emergency, its three-year continuous improvement plan must include an analysis of how the district is using the professional development standards and what the district is doing to improve the cultural competency of its educators. Districts will likely need to spend time and effort in learning the new standards and adapting their own professional development programs to meet the standards. These activities may replace other activities the district would have chosen, but will not likely cause any direct costs. Assuming that providers of professional development will work to meet the standards in order to remain competitive, districts and teachers will have appropriate professional development options.
Local
professional development committees (LPDCs) will need to be well versed in the
new professional development standards in order to incorporate them into their
determination of whether or not coursework satisfies the criteria for license
renewal. The bill requires the ODE to
provide technical assistance to the committees in incorporating the standards
in their work. The ODE will likely
incorporate training on the new standards into the annual regional training
sessions it currently provides to LPDCs.
The ODE estimates a one-time cost of $100,000 for developing the
standards, producing and disseminating the standards, and providing training.
Guidelines for the evaluation of teachers and
principals
The
bill requires the State Board of Education, in consultation with the Joint
Council of the ODE and the Ohio Board of Regents, to develop guidelines for the
evaluation of teachers and principals, and to inform districts of the
guidelines. Districts may use these
guidelines to create or modify their own evaluation systems. Although the bill does not contain a
specific mandate requiring districts to use these guidelines, districts in
academic watch or academic emergency that receive a site evaluation from the
ODE will be examined as to whether the teacher and principal evaluation systems
in place reflect the State Board’s guidelines.
The ODE does not currently include a review of the district’s evaluation
system in the site evaluation.
According to an ODE spokesperson, however, this review could probably be
done with existing resources. An
additional cost could be incurred if the review indicates more training on the
guidelines is needed.
In addition to requiring
that the ODE include this examination in its site evaluations, the bill also
requires the ODE to serve as a clearinghouse of promising evaluation procedures
and models and to provide technical assistance to districts that request
it. The ODE anticipates that developing
the guidelines, providing materials, and conducting informational meetings and
training sessions will cost approximately $100,000.
Reporting of the number of master teachers
The Educator Standards Board
is responsible for defining who qualifies as a master teacher. Once this definition is in place, school
districts are required to report the number of master teachers in their
districts through the Education Management Information System (EMIS). This information is then to be included on
the district’s local report card.
Reporting and verifying information through the EMIS can be very costly
for districts. However, the addition of
one more variable represents a negligible cost.
Development of proposals, definitions, and
rules
The
bill requires the ODE to develop a number of definitions, proposals, and rules
related to other recommendations of the Governor’s Commission on Teaching
Success. The ODE has already addressed
some of these; others will require further work. For example, the bill requires that the ODE develop a definition
of “hard to staff schools.” According
to a spokesperson at the ODE, this definition is nearly complete and these
schools will soon be identified.
Likewise, the bill requires the ODE to develop a proposal to encourage
college faculty to spend time in school buildings. The ODE proposed the creation of professional development schools
and requested $500,000 per year for this purpose in its biennial budget
request. These schools would have been
partnerships between teacher colleges and school districts and would have been
one way of encouraging college faculty to spend time in school buildings. The ODE must also develop a proposal for a career
ladder pilot program. According to a
spokesperson at the ODE, developing these proposals can be accomplished with
existing resources, although implementation of these proposals could be very
costly. Based on experiences of other
states, a statewide career ladder program could result in costs in the hundreds
of millions of dollars. The bill does
not require that any proposal be implemented.
The bill also requires that the ODE catalogue promising practices for
using master teachers. This process will
involve surveying other states as well as Ohio schools for their current
practices. These will be made available
on the ODE or SchoolNet web sites. The
bill established a pupil-activity program permit and requires the ODE to adopt
rules establishing standards and requirements for obtaining the permits. These permits would allow non-licensed
personnel to direct, supervise, and coach pupil-activity programs.
Innovative grant program/pilot program
The
bill establishes a grant program for “hard to staff” schools that implement one
of several innovations. The amount and
number of grants is to be determined by the ODE based on any appropriations for
the program made in future acts. The
innovations may cost $50,000 to $100,000 per school. These costs would be shared by the state and district based on
the districts’ state share percentage.
The bill also directs the ODE to develop a pilot program in at least one
urban and one rural district in which one or more of the same innovations
included in the grant program are implemented.
Apparently, the pilot program does not require a local financial
contribution. As with the grant
program, however, the pilot program is contingent on the availability of
funds. The bill does not make an
appropriation.
Revisions to teacher and administrator
licensing statutes
The bill makes some
revisions to teacher licensing statutes.
These changes do not create any direct costs for either the state or
school districts. In the case of
intervention specialists, the bill removes the requirement that applicants pass
the assessment of professional knowledge required for a provisional educator
license before receiving an alternative educator license. This may make obtaining these licenses
easier, and, therefore, may increase the supply of intervention specialists in
Ohio. The bill also requires the ODE to
adopt rules establishing an alternative principal license and an alternative
administrator license.
Credential Review Board
The bill requires that the
State Board establish a Credential Review Board to assess individuals pursuing
alternative entries into the teaching profession as well as teachers from other
states wishing to teach in Ohio. The
ODE is currently performing these activities, so it is not expected that the
creation of the Board will result in significant costs. The bill also requires that the State Board
adopt rules to establish an alternative principal license. This would allow individuals with classroom
teaching experience to pursue an alternative pathway into school
administration.
Am.
Sub. H.B. 95 of the 125th General Assembly appropriates funds in fiscal years
2004 and 2005 for districts in academic emergency to provide intervention
services to students and professional development to teachers to assist the
students enrolled in these districts in passing the Ohio graduation tests (OGT)
in tenth grade. H.B. 95 also requires
these districts and districts in academic watch to assess students’ readiness
for the OGT by administering and scoring a practice OGT to ninth grade
students. The bill modifies these
provisions by clarifying that districts that are in academic emergency any time
in 2003 are eligible for the funding in FY 2004 and districts with a graduation
rate of not more that 75% are eligible for funding in FY 2005. On the 2003 local report card, 33 districts
had graduation rates of 75% or below, but only 18 districts were in academic
emergency. This change will, therefore,
likely have the effect of spreading the funding out among more districts. In
particular, Cleveland Municipal School District and Columbus City School
District are two large districts that moved from academic emergency to academic
watch in 2003. This change would ensure
that they remain eligible for this funding.
There is no additional cost to the state.
The bill makes various
changes to the administration of the achievement tests and diagnostic
assessments. None of these changes are
expected to have a significant fiscal impact on the state or school districts.
The Legislative Office of Education Oversight
The bill eliminates the
requirement that the Legislative Office of Education Oversight (LOEO) produce
annual composite reports on community schools.
It also makes some modifications to currently mandated LOEO studies and
mandates a new study. The new study
involves analyzing minimum teacher starting salaries in other states. These changes are not expected to have a
large impact on the work of the LOEO.
The Ohio SchoolNet Commission
The bill repeals the
requirement that the Ohio SchoolNet Commission maintain a clearinghouse for
classroom teachers to obtain lesson plans, materials, and other resources. The clearinghouse includes information on
the use of instructional time and research on academic intervention and
prevention practices provided by the ODE.
The Ohio School Facilities Commission
The bill requires that the
Ohio School Facilities Commission (OSFC) consider a number of new factors when
reviewing districts’ design plans for new facilities. The bill, however, does not require the OSFC to make any changes
in the plans, so will presumably not result in significant cost increases.
Regional Articulation Agreements
The
bill requires that the Ohio Board of Regents (BOR) adopt rules for the
development of regional articulation agreements for two-year colleges and state
universities for transfer students pursing a teaching degree. The BOR must also submit plans to the General
Assembly for implementation of a statewide articulation agreement system for
teacher education programs. Ohio has an
Articulation and Transfer Policy previously developed by the BOR. This requirement, therefore, will likely not
require additional resources.
LSC fiscal staff: Melaney A. Carter, Economist