7/16/08

Columbus Dispatch

Catherine Candisky

Protecting voter-approved school levies from immediate repeal efforts and creating a single statewide cutoff date for kindergarten eligibility are some of the changes in state law being sought by the Ohio Board of Education.

At its monthly meeting in Columbus yesterday, the 19-member panel asked state lawmakers to approve more than two dozen proposals, including:

• Make Sept. 30 the date by which children must be 5 to enter kindergarten. Currently, Ohio school districts can have cutoff dates of either Aug. 30 or Sept. 30.
• Require private schools that accept tax-funded vouchers to test all their students using state assessments and report those results to the Ohio Department of Education. The proposal would apply to the dozens of schools participating in the Cleveland Scholarship and Tutoring and Ed Choice programs.
• Create a pilot project of at least five innovation schools in the state, giving them flexibility to implement new practices for improving student achievement by freeing them of many restrictions and requirements that public schools face. Unlike privately operated charter schools, these schools would remain under the jurisdiction of the local school district.
• Set a postelection period in which a levy just passed by voters cannot be subject to a repeal effort. The proposal does not say how long that period should be.

The board’s proposals will not be considered until later this fall because the General Assembly is not expected to be back in session until September or possibly after the Nov. 4 election.