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Vol. 13: State Budget Recommendations

Policy News Update

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State Budget Recommendations 

 
Governor Kasich introduced his biannual budget, HB 49, in February, and late last month we received Ohio's House of Representatives version. At this time, the Ohio Senate is reviewing and developing its own edition. Once both chambers have released their priorities, the concurrence of the budget begins with the ultimate goal of passing a budget by July 1st.
 
While the budget's main job is to fund the state for the next two years; other topics of interest sometimes become part of this bill. After reviewing the House and the Governor's budget, Cleveland Metropolitan School District has developed its positions for advocacy. Our recommendations encompass core issues arising from the intersection of ESSA roll out and this budget. Our objective is to sustain the momentum of the Cleveland Plan to ensure each neighborhood has a multitude of quality schools for families to choose. At this time our recommendations are as follows: Governor Kasich introduced his biannual budget, HB 49, in February, and late last month we received Ohio's House of Representatives version. At this time, the Ohio Senate is reviewing and developing its own edition. Once both chambers have released their priorities, the concurrence of the budget begins with the ultimate goal of passing a budget by July 1st.

 Budget 

We appreciate the work of both the Governor's office and the House to increase state education funding for Cleveland. The federal government is proposing a 13% cut to funding for education and the ODE is planning to take an additional 3% more from Title I in order to support the roll out of the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA). The increases to the state budget provided by the House version of this budget is deeply needed.  CMSD has increased enrollment, passed a renewal levy, is making gains and facing an uncertain future with regards to the federal budget.  Any decreases to our funding on the state level puts this momentum in jeopardy.    

Resident Educator Summative Assessment (RESA)

RESA is a mentoring program that began in 2013/2014 and supports new educators.  These teaching candidates (Resident Educators)  receive mentoring, training and feedback amid daunting classroom challenges prior to being granted a teaching license. Noting that a child's teacher is the most influential indicator in determining a student's success and the fact that CMSD is in the midst of transforming our schools, elimination of RESA would be a disservice to students.  Tools like RESA have already begun to make a difference in helping shape our workforce. In 2016-2017 alone, 526 Resident Educators from Cleveland public schools received regular coaching and feedback that is critical for beginning teachers.  Any elimination or modification of RESA could deprive beginning educators the support needed to be successful. 

Graduation Requirements

We support the recommendations from the State Board of Education which requires students to complete all required high school courses and take all required end-of-course exams; retake any ELA or Math test for which students scored a "1" - plus meet two of eight conditions including:
  • 93% attendance rate during senior year
  • 2.5 senior year GPA (min. 4 full yr. courses)
  • Capstone senior project defined by district
  • 120 hours senior year work experience/ community service
  • College Credit Plus course – 3 or more credits earned
  • IB/AP course and exam score earning college credit
  • 9 points on Work Keys exam (minimum 3 points on each of three components  
  • Earn State Board approved in-demand credential (3points or higher)

We also support using the 2017/2018 school year to investigate a new set or graduation requirements that permit students to pull together a portfolio of rigorous experiences as well as tests for the future graduates in Ohio.  For deeper information on this topic please refer to our previous newsletter: Ohio Graduation Requirements.  

Sponsor Evaluation for Charter Schools
CMSD supports charter accountability and as charter schools sponsors we applaud ODE for its work in implementing Sponsor Evaluations. We also applaud the House version of the budget for its fair evaluation process for charter schools.  

We will keep you updated on changes to the budget as well as our stances as they are made through the Senate session.  
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Photos are courtesy of the George Gund Foundation