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TheOhio Senate approved Senate Bill 3 onMarch 25, 2015 and sent the bill to theOhioHouse of Representatives.
The legislation addressed a number of education issues with a major focus on reducing some requirements for
all districts and on exempting other mandates for what were termed “qualified districts.”
SB 3 received a fourth hearing in the House Education Committee on January 27, 2016, and there has been no
formal action on the bill since them. However, at the first ever Speaker’s Education Summit held on October 21,
Speaker Cliff Rosenberger indicated that his goal was to move SB 3 from the committee to the floor during the
“lame duck” session.
Qualified districts are defined in SB 3 as those who received all of the following on the district’s most recent
report card: (1) at least 85% of the total possible points for the performance index score; (2) a grade of an "A" for
performance indicators met; (3) a four-year adjusted cohort graduation rate of at least 93%; and (4) a five-year
adjusted cohort graduation rate of at least 95%.
What is not clear at this point is whether this definition of a “qualified district” will change. The definition as drafted
was probably based on report card results from the 2013-2014 school year. Since then, Ohio’s assessment
system has changed twice. At the time of the bill’s passage in the Senate, Ohio Department of Education staff
estimated that over 120 districts would be “qualified” under the definition at the time of the approval in the Senate.
Some of the provisions in the bill have already been addressed. For example, changes in the alternative
evaluation systems for both principals and teachers were made in the current budget bill (Amended Substitute
House Bill 64), which took effect in September 2015.
One of the proposed relaxed requirements would apply to all districts. It would increase the competitive bidding
threshold for boards of education from $25,000 to $50,000. This higher limit would then be consistent with the
threshold for municipalities.
Another reduction in requirements currently in the bill involves the Ohio Teacher Residency Program (OTRP).
The proposal in SB 3 would provide an option for districts if the State Board of Education requires an assessment
for participants to take in the third or fourth year of OTRP. A district could then either: (1) require each participant
to pass the assessment to successfully complete the program; or (2) assess each participant's progress during
the third and fourth years of the program by using the participant's annual teacher evaluation.
Among the exemptions which would be made available for “qualified districts” would be the current requirement
to provide an experienced teacher with specific qualifications (e.g. reading endorsement, master’s degree with
major in reading, passing score on reading test of principles of scientifically research-based reading instruction,
etc.) for those students retained under the third grade reading guarantee.
Another exemption for “qualifying districts” would remove the mentoring requirement entirely under the OTRP.
Instead, districts could develop their own approaches in training and supporting new teachers.
“Qualified districts” would also be exempt from minimum or maximum class size limits existing either in state law
or in State Board rules and could secure an alternative resident educator license under certain conditions for an
individual who has not completed coursework in the subject area for which the individual is applying to teach.
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Senate Bill 3 To Emerge from House Education Committee?