Week in Review 10-09-2020

Week in Review > Week in Review 10-09-2020

Posted by Buckeye Association of School Administrators on October 09th, 2020

FY20-21 BUDGET

Ohio’s two largest tax revenue sources lagged projections in September, but others helped push overall collections over estimates by half a percent, according to the Office of Budget and Management (OBM). Collections remain above estimates for the fiscal year so far. The non-auto sales tax was $13.7 million or 1.8 percent off estimates, generating $738.4 million versus $752.1 million expected. Personal income taxes were down $12.1 million or 1.3 percent, bringing in $888 million versus $900.1 million expected. The auto sales tax beat estimates by 11 percent or $14.7 million, generating $148.3 million versus $133.6 million expected. That continues a trend from recent months, and OBM Director Kim Murnieks said she’s not been able to discern a “definitive answer” on what’s causing the increase.

EDUCATION

Stanford University’s Center for Research on Education Outcomes (CREDO) estimates a “COVID slide” as a result of school closures in wake of the pandemic. Margaret Raymond, director of CREDO, said the measures were informed in part by the Northwest Evaluation Association’s data on the “summer slide” — the erosion of learning that typically happens from the end of one school year to the beginning of the next. The learning loss estimates were translated into lost days of learning, based on a typical 180-day school year. Across the 19 states included in the study, the average estimates of how much students lost in the spring of 2020 ranged from 57 to 183 days of learning in reading and from 136 to 232 days of learning in math.

In an analysis of school quality and safety, financial website WalletHub ranked Ohio schools as performing moderately well in terms of school quality, but needing improvement in school safety and serving low-income students. In the study looking at test outcomes, student safety, class size and instructor credentials, Massachusetts, Connecticut and New Jersey achieved the highest marks, while New Mexico, Louisiana and Arizona rounded out the bottom three ranks.

The Office of Civil Rights (OCR) at the U.S. Department of Education (USDOE) released a question-and-answer document this week to help schools understand their obligations under civil rights laws while considering how to provide instruction amid the pandemic. The question-and-answer document is available at https://tinyurl.com/y6pgzusd.

An education data oversight panel voted Wednesday to recommend more training and support for school data coordinators but stopped short of supporting state licensure. The Education Management Information System (EMIS) Advisory Council makes recommendations to the state superintendent on improvements to EMIS, the technological hub for data reporting used for everything from state report cards to enrollment counts to state funding of schools. The council voted Wednesday to include in its next annual report recommendations presented by its EMIS Professional Qualifications and Development Workgroup, which was formed to explore the potential of licensure for EMIS coordinators.

The Ohio High School Athletic Association (OHSAA) has announced that its 2020-2021 budget includes a projected $1.3 million deficit due to the decreased number of spectators allowed to attend tournament games. “The OHSAA continues to explore cost saving measures and is working toward reducing that deficit as much as possible in order to continue providing services to member schools, its 26 sanctioned sports, and more than 15,000 contest officials,” OHSAA said in a news release.