Week in Review – 12/20/2019

Week in Review > Week in Review – 12/20/2019

Posted by BASA on December 20th, 2019

EDUCATION

The panel of lawmakers and superintendents assigned to study reforms to Ohio’s report card system for local school performance issued a summary Monday of recommendations provided to it by stakeholders but did not endorse any specific changes. Legislative co-chairs of the study group said it would be helpful as a reference as the General Assembly wrestles with whether and how to change the report card. But Democratic lawmakers on the panel said failure to make any firm recommendations was a major disappointment.

Industry-recognized credentials in a new workforce program focused on high school students will include advanced manufacturing, information technology (IT), engineering and construction, health care and apprentice and journeyman programs, the DeWine administration announced Monday. The Ohio Department of Education (ODE) and Governor’s Office of Workforce Transformation (OWT) issued the announcement jointly regarding the Innovative Workforce Incentive Program, created under the operating budget, HB166 (Oelslager).

Auditor of State Keith Faber’s office is asking a Franklin County judge to order completion of the final financial statement for Electronic Classroom of Tomorrow (ECOT), saying delay in its production is preventing completion of a closeout audit for the defunct online charter school.

Public safety officials outlined hopes to grow the staffing and capabilities of the new Ohio School Safety Center at Tuesday’s inaugural meeting of the workgroup Gov. Mike DeWine created to assist the center with its mission. DeWine signed an executive order creating the center and the workgroup in August. He announced the roster of workgroup members Monday.

Voters have the right to seek transfer of their homes to a new school district under a new law included in the state budget, but the village in which they live can’t press that right on its own, the Ohio Supreme Court ruled. Some of those voters quickly took up the case on their own, however, putting the underlying issue back before justices. In an unsigned, 6-1 opinion, justices dismissed the lawsuit brought by the village of Hills and Dales against Plain Local School District.

Ahead of further study by a legislative study panel, the State Board of Education’s workgroup on dropout prevention and recovery (DOPR) schools completed its work with a report outlining a dozen recommendations to improve the sector and better measure its performance. John Hagan, the board member who led the workgroup, said at the recent board meeting that the importance of bolstering dropout recovery work in Ohio is illustrated in the report’s cover image — a graph showing the steadily increasing number of students who don’t graduate and the slowly dropping numbers enrolled in and graduating from DOPR schools.