ODE updates budget reductions
The Ohio Department of Education (ODE) was directed by Gov. Ted Strickland and the Office of Budget and Management (OBM) to cut $51.8 million in Fiscal Year (FY) 2008 and $49.7 million in FY 2009 to cover a projected shortfall in the state budget.
Even though foundation funding was to be “exempted” from the reductions, ESCs are funded through the foundation funding line item and will be cut by $10 million over the remaining months of the biennium. This will ultimately have an impact on school districts through either increased costs for services or an actual loss of services.
ODE recently revised its budget reduction plan by identifying adjustments as “reductions that directly affect districts” and “reductions that do not directly affect districts.” For a detailed list of the FY 2008 and FY 2009 budget reductions and a listing of ODE staff members you can contact with any questions, please visit the OSBA Web site and click on “ODE FY 2008-2009 budget reduction information” under the “Information” heading.
Calamity day clarification
House Bill (HB) 142, sponsored by Rep. Bill Batchelder (R-Medina), was passed in November and will become effective on March 28. The primary intent of the legislation is to increase the penalties for inducing panic at schools. However, it also includes a provision that authorizes school districts to increase the length of school days in one-half hour increments to make up the number of hours or days that school is canceled. Considering the large number of recent school closings due to bad weather, it is important to clarify the calamity days provisions included in the bill.
The new calamity day provisions are applicable if school is canceled due to any of the following:
- disease epidemic;
- hazardous weather conditions;
- inoperability of school buses or other equipment necessary to the school’s operation;
- damage to a school building;
- other temporary circumstances due to utility failure rendering the school building unfit for school use.
Therefore, under the new provisions:
- The first five calamity days can be waived without being made up.
- The next five calamity days must be made up using all five of the contingency days required to be adopted by the district’s board of education.
For calamity days in excess of 10, the district may add time in half-hour increments to other days remaining on the district’s calendar in order to make up the days missed.
ODE will be sharing additional information on the new provisions with school districts. Questions can be directed to calamitydaywaiver@ode.state.oh.us. Please indicate “Questions about calamity day waivers” in the subject line of the e-mail.
New health care proposal
Rep. Jim Raussen (RSpringdale) recently introduced HB 456, legislation designed to increase access to and decrease costs of health care. HB 456 addresses a wide range of health care issues, including those that impact public schools. Currently, the bill:
- Requires each local board of education to adopt and enforce standards regarding food and beverage sales in accordance with rules the State Board of Education must adopt governing the types of, and prices for, food and beverages sold on any school premises, including food and beverages sold by food service programs and in vending machines.
- Requires a local board, when adopting standards, to consider food and beverage nutritional values.
- Prohibits a public or community school from, beginning one year after the bill’s effective date, selling a food or beverage containing, or prepared using, a food or substance containing artificial trans fat, or selling a type of food or beverage, or charging a price for food and beverages, that is inconsistent with the rules adopted by the State Board of Education.
- Creates the Office of Pharmaceutical Purchasing Coordination in the Department of Administrative Services. Specifies that the office’s purpose is to maximize the purchasing power and value of pharmacy benefit management programs to the participants in the office’s program, including school districts and each state retirement system.
HB 456 is currently being heard in the House Healthcare Access and Affordability Committee. The sponsor of the bill also serves as chairman of the committee. He has acknowledged that the legislation is a “work in progress.”
For the latest legislative updates, please contact the OSBA legislative division at (614) 540-4000; or (800) 589-OSBA.
Editor's Note: All information in this article was current as of February 29, 2008.
