Between the Ohio School Boards Association and Its Legislative
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between the Ohio School Boards Association and its legislative liaisons Volume 30 issue 3 March 2020 EdChoice voucher debate continues in the House and Senate The House on Feb. 5 took action on the EdChoice voucher issue by amending and voting out Senate Bill (SB) 89 by a vote of 88-7. It phases out performance-based vouchers and increases income-based voucher eligibility from 200% to 250% of the federal poverty level. In addition, SB 89 dissolves the three academic distress commissions (ADCs) and sunsets the school district territory transfer law on Sept. 1. The Senate did not agree with the amended bill and, in response, Rep. Don Jones (R-Freeport) scheduled nine conference committee hearings on House Bill (HB) 9 focused exclusively on the voucher issue. For information on HB 9 click here. For information on SB 89 click here. The hearings began on Feb. 11 and board members, superintendents and treasurers from across the state testified before the conference committee. Members of the committee consist of Jones, who served as chairman, Reps. Jay Edwards (R-Nelsonville) and Phillip M. Robinson Jr. (D-Solon) and Sens. Matt Huffman (R-Lima), Bob Peterson (R-Washington Court House) and Teresa Fedor (D-Toledo). Sen. Kristina D. Roegner (R-Hudson) served as a temporary replacement for Huffman and Sen. Tina Maharath (D-Columbus) served as a temporary replacement for Fedor. Click here to see a list of board members, superintendents and treasures who testified. As the House and Senate move into recess, House Speaker Larry Householder (R-Glenford) recently told reporters, "You can only reach the olive branch out so far. Without a partner, I can't do anything about it.” Senate President Larry Obhof (R-Medina) responded to Householder’s comment, "I am unaware of any 'olive branch' on the core issues under discussion.” The House will be in recess starting on Feb. 27, and the Senate will be in recess starting on March 5 to campaign for the March 17 primary election. Both chambers are scheduled to resume session the week of March 23. Gov. Mike DeWine told reporters, "It's clear this has to be settled. It's also clear the House and Senate are far apart. So, we are starting to weigh in and we're going to try to collectively come up with a bill. We have to do that." He further commented that, "We have an obligation to make sure every child has the opportunity to live up to their God-given potential, and they can't do that if they're in a school that's not functioning very well or if they're not getting a good education. So, we've got to preserve our public schools, but we also have to at the same time give families choices when they're poor and their kids are going to a school that's not performing very well." Householder and Obhof met with DeWine the week of Feb. 24. Legislative action must be concluded prior to the start of the April 1 application window. President Gives State of the Union Address President Donald Trump’s State of the Union address on Feb. 4 had considerable focus on “choice” issues and “privatization” of public education through his call for passage of the Education Freedom Scholarships and Opportunity Act (H.R. 1434) and (S. 634). The proposed legislation is a $5 billion federal tax credit program to fund scholarships for one million students to attend a school of their choice. By giving an individual a tax credit for donating to a scholarship program, this reduces federal revenues resulting in $5 billion less to fund public education and other important programs. In Ohio, Sen. Matt Huffman introduced SB 199 to formally state the General Assembly's intention to create a process for certifying eligible scholarship-granting organizations. Click here to read the press release from the U.S. Department of Education detailing the program. Recently introduced legislation • HB 466 introduced by Rep. Bride Rose Sweeney (D-Cleveland), to create an automated voter registration system and to require each public or private secondary school to provide, unless prohibited by federal law, electronic records to the Ohio secretary of state concerning each person who reaches age 16, 17, or 18 and who appears to be eligible to register or preregister to vote or to update the person’s registration or preregistration. • HB 493 introduced by Rep. Scott Wiggam (R-Wooster), to permit a child whose parents live in different school districts to continue to attend school in the school district in which the child attended school at the beginning of the school year even if the child moves to a different school district. • HB 494 introduced by Rep. Mary Lightbody (D-Westerville), to establish a loan repayment program for eligible teachers. • HB 504 introduced by Sweeney, to prescribe a per-pupil funding guarantee for school districts whose median income is below the statewide median. • HB 507 introduced by Rep. Don Manning (R-New Middletown), to prohibit enforcement of delinquent property tax liens against owner-occupied homesteads and to require that any delinquent tax be paid before the title to a homestead may be transferred. • HB 511 introduced by Reps. John Rogers (D-Mentor on the Lake) and Tracy M. Richardson (R-Marysville), to permit schools and camps to procure and use injectable or nasally administered glucagon in accordance with prescribed policies and to exempt them from licensing requirements related to the possession of glucagon. • HB 513 introduced by Reps. Ron Hood (R-Ashville) and Bill Dean (R-Xenia), to enact the "Vulnerable Child Protection Act" regarding sexuality and identity counseling and to prohibit certain procedures and activities intended to change, reinforce, or affirm a minor's perception of his or her own sexual attraction, sexual behaviors or identity. • HB 515 introduced by Reps. Brigid Kelly (D-Cincinnati) and Haraz Ghanbari (R- Perrysburg), to require the boards of the state retirement systems to disclose certain financial information regarding alternative investments. • HB 516 introduced by Kelly and Ghanbari, to prohibit the state retirement systems doing business with a former state retirement system employee, officer or board member. • HB 517 introduced by Sweeney, to explicitly exempt building and fire codes from certain rule review requirements. • HB 527 introduced by Reps. Jena Powell (R-Arcanum) and Reggie Stoltzfus (R-Minerva), to enact the "Save Women's Sports Act" to require schools and public and private colleges to designate separate single-sex teams and sports for each sex. • SB 264 introduced by Sen. Sandra R. Williams (D-Cleveland), to authorize a nonrefundable tax credit for a business that assists an employee with the repayment of education loans. • SB 273 introduced by Williams, to reduce property taxes on owner-occupied homes to the extent the taxes increase by more than 10% per year and to prohibit school districts, among others, from placing a lien on property for unpaid water charges. • SB 281 introduced by Sen. Terry Johnson (R-McDermott), to appropriate $1.5 million in each fiscal year to New Richmond EV to offset the effects of power plant devaluations. • SB 288 introduced by Sen. Theresa Gavarone (R-Bowling Green), regarding student religious expression in interscholastic athletics and extracurricular activities. KidsPAC Kids PAC is your political action committee (PAC). Kids PAC is a way to focus attention on OSBA’s legislative agenda and to support lawmakers who believe in our goals. Giving to Kids PAC helps you get more out of your own political contributions. It “pools” smaller, individual donations into a more sizable Kids PAC contribution that often garners more attention from the political candidate. Contributions can be made by personal check, payable to Kids PAC, or cash up to $100. By law, school district and corporate checks cannot be accepted. You can also go to www.kidspac.org and donate online with your credit card. For more information or to obtain a membership form, contact Renee Gibson at [email protected] or (614) 540- 4000. Note: Contributions or gifts to Kids PAC are not deductible as charitable contributions for federal income tax purposes. The Link is published monthly as a special newsletter for legislative liaisons by the Ohio School Boards Association Division of Legislative Services. Editor: Nicole Piscitani, lobbyist [email protected] Ohio School Boards Association 8050 N. High St., Columbus, OH 43235 (614) 540-4000 • (800) 589-OSBA between the Ohio School Boards Association and its legislative liaisons Volume 30 issue 4 April 2020 Education issues addressed in COVID-19 legislation The General Assembly on March 25 passed House Bill (HB) 197 in response to the COVID-19 public health crisis. Gov. Mike DeWine signed the bill into law on March 27 and said, "This bill does some things that we felt needed to be done in this crisis to help us get through this crisis that we are in." HB 197 eliminates state and federal testing for the 2019-20 school year and prohibits the issuance of report cards for the 2019-20 school year. Additionally, it provides a one-year safe harbor from sanctions related to the report card. House Speaker Larry Householder (R-Glenford) told reporters, “The decisions on the report card and testing were necessary with Ohio students and teachers at home indefinitely due to the pandemic. It's just an unfair situation to try to determine how well a school has done or not done with their students when you're under this situation.” The bill freezes EdChoice voucher eligibility at the 2019-20 list of 517 buildings. Additionally, students and their school-aged siblings who attended or would have attended a building that is on the 2019-20 list are also eligible to receive a voucher.