From the Statehouse 2006 No. 24
by Jennifer Garrison
Dec. 17, 2006
For the past month the House Education Committee heard testimony on the Ohio CORE Bill, House Bill 565 and the companion Senate Bill 311. The CORE changes the educational requirements for a high school student who wants to enroll in a 4 year state university.
Ohio CORE requires all students who do not have an IEP (Individual Education Plan) to take 4 years of math, including Algebra II, which means Algebra I and Geometry, three years of science with lab experience, 4 years of language arts, 3 years of social studies, ½ year of health, ½ year of physical education, and 5 electives. Otherwise you will not be admitted into a 4 year state university, and must attend a 2 year community college.
Originally, the bill did not have enough hours to pursue both a CORE curriculum and a Career and Technical Education. The bill was made better through the committee process to now allow a Career and Technical student to also complete the Ohio CORE.
During the Committee process approximately 50 witnesses testified or offered testimony.
CORE allows students in 11th grade to opt out and receive a degree that does not allow the student to attend a 4 year Ohio university. However, an amendment was offered to allow students the opportunity to opt back into CORE and it was rejected.
I have worked hard to make this legislation better. I believe we need to challenge our students to take harder courses. That is why I asked East Guernsey School District to analyze CORE and determine if there will be additional costs associated with implementation. East Guernsey School District is rated an effective school district and their high school, Buckeye Trail, is rated an excellent high school.
The Superintendent, with the assistance of the Treasurer, Guidance Counselor, Assistant Superintendent and Principal put together a cost analysis presentation for this rural district to implement CORE. This school district has an approximate $12 million budget and their cost estimate to implement CORE in their school district was approximately $440,000.
The House Education Committee has 7 Democrats and 14 Republicans. All of the endless hours of testimony left the Leadership in a dilemma. The majority of Republican and Democratic Committee members agreed CORE as written without funding, would not pass out of Committee.
On Wednesday, December 13th after 5 hours of voting on bills on the House floor, the Speaker of the House removed 5 of his own Republican Members from the Education Committee and replaced them with 5 new Republican Members, 3 of which are on his leadership team. It was announced the new Education Committee would convene immediately.
In Committee amendments were offered to make the bill better and they were tabled. I offered an amendment to reduce class size to 15 in 9th and 10th grade CORE classes for students with a 75% average or lower in CORE subjects because they could not opt out. This amendment gave extra state dollars to reduce class size.
My reasoning for this amendment was the endless hours of testimony from the Ohio School Board Association, Buckeye Association of School Administrators, Ohio Association of School Business Officials, and teachers association explaining that this was another unfunded mandate.
This CORE curriculum is currently taken by the upper end students. I want the average students who are not taking Algebra I, Geometry, and Algebra II to succeed. Today integrated math and pre-algebra meet the current requirements. Reducing class size and offering earlier intervention will allow these students an opportunity to succeed in the tougher courses and become more educated. I support the tougher curriculum, but it needs to be funded to allow our students to succeed.
I want to thank the East Guernsey School District administrators and Paige Fleming, math teacher at Marietta Middle School for their testimony. I voted “no” in committee and the bill passed 12-8 out of committee. 5 of the 12 “yes” votes, heard none of the testimony.
You can reach Jennifer Garrison at her Columbus office at 614-644-8728 or in the district at 740-373-2414 or by e-mail at jennifer@jennifergarrison.com. Her website is Riffe Center | 77 South High Street | Columbus Ohio 43215-6111 | (800) 282-0253 | District93@ohr.state.oh.us
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