By Brian Massie, A Watchman on the Wall
When we first read that the OEA was opposed to a piece of legislation that is meant to improve math scores, we were really curious as to why. As they say, the “devil is in the details”.
Here is a link to the bill as passed by the Senate. It is 88 pages of pure bureaucracy. It is a socialists’ dream of creating layers of bureaucracy and increasing the size of government. As we “pull back the curtain” on the Ohio State legislature, we see a definite problems with the Senate.
https://search-prod.lis.state.oh.us/api/v2/general_assembly_136/legislation/sb19/04_PS/pdf
Senator Andrew O. Brenner (District 19) sponsored the bill along with his fellow socialists – Senators
Brian M. Chavez Jerry C. Cirino Theresa Gavarone Stephen A. Huffman
Catherine D. Ingram Terry Johnson Kyle Koehler George F. Lang
Thomas F. Patton Bill Reineke Michele Reynolds Kristina D. Roegner
Mark Romanchuk Tim Schaffer Jane M. Timken Shane Wilkin
We agree with the OEA that this Senate Bill, as it is currently written, will add tremendous costs to our already bloated education system.
Senate Bill 19 is a bill aimed at improving student performance in math. While the bill is well-intentioned, OEA opposes it as currently written because it has a fatal flaw—creation of Math Improvement and Monitoring Plans (MIMPs). This is a requirement that would add to the workload of many educators by mandating more paperwork. SB 19 would place added demands on educators’ time which distracts from teaching and learning in the classroom.
Here is an excerpt of the 88 pages of Senate Bill 19:
(B) The guidelines adopted under this section shall
require the data maintained in the education management information system to include at least the following:
(1) Student participation and performance data, for each
grade in each school district as a whole and for each grade in each school building in each school district, that includes:
(a) The numbers of students receiving each category of
instructional service offered by the school district, such as regular education instruction, vocational education instruction, specialized instruction programs or enrichment instruction that is part of the educational curriculum, instruction for gifted students, instruction for students with disabilities, and remedial instruction. The guidelines shall require instructional services under this division to be divided into discrete categories if an instructional service is limited to a specific subject, a specific type of student, or both, such as regular
instructional services in mathematics, remedial reading
instructional services, instructional services specifically for students gifted in mathematics or some other subject area, or instructional services for students with a specific type of disability. The categories of instructional services required by the guidelines under this division shall be the same as the categories of instructional services used in determining cost units pursuant to division (C)(3) of this section.
(b) The numbers of students receiving support or
extracurricular services for each of the support services or extracurricular programs offered by the school district, such as counseling services, health services, and extracurricular sports and fine arts programs. The categories of services required by the guidelines under this division shall be the same as the categories of services used in determining cost units pursuant
to division (C)(4)(a) of this section.
(c) Average student grades in each subject in grades nine
through twelve;
The reporting requirements continues for several more pages in the bill.
The whole Ohio legislature needs an overhaul and it should start with the Senate. However, that will never happen because they are very satisfied with the status quo.
We would suggest contacting your legislators to express your concerns about them adding to the reporting requirements of our schools.
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Categories: Community Activism, Uncategorized