Ohio Senate passes sweeping bill deregulating aspects of K-12 education
COLUMBUS, Ohio (WCMH) – A sweeping piece of legislation deregulating some aspects of K-12 education has passed one chamber of the Ohio General Assembly.
The Senate on Wednesday voted 24-7 to pass Senate Bill 168, a K-12 education bill that lowers existing requirements for advanced educator licenses, nixes mandatory state-prescribed evaluation systems and expands schools’ ability to employ unlicensed people as teachers. On the Senate floor, the bill’s sponsor, Sen. Michele Reynolds (R-Canal Winchester), said SB 168 will reduce unnecessary barriers and regulations while helping schools battle teacher shortages.
“It is imperative that we prioritize getting the best and brightest in the classroom to teach our kids,” Reynolds said.
The bill’s passage comes as the state is caught in a lawsuit about its newly-established Department of Education and Workforce, whose development ushered in the transfer of most of the state school board’s powers to a governor-appointed position.
Unlicensed teachers, educator licenses, working outside school hours
Seeking to address a widespread shortage of licensed teachers, the bill allows districts and private schools to hire unlicensed individuals to teach, so long as they hold a master’s degree and pass a standardized subject area exam. Under current law, qualified people can teach without an educator’s license so long as they are working toward licensure.
The bill also reduces the qualification that those seeking advanced educator licenses have a master’s degree, instead requiring they have a bachelor’s degree. The degree requirement for administrator licensure is also reduced to a bachelor’s degree.
Teachers with out-of-state licenses are eligible under the bill to receive one-year licenses to teach in Ohio while they work toward in-state licensure.
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Reynolds said in committee hearings on SB 168 that she sought recommendations from school administrators when crafting legislation to increase the number of teachers in Ohio classrooms. A group of education administrator organizations, including the Ohio School Boards Association, the Buckeye Association of School Administrators and the Ohio Association of School Business Officials, support statutory changes that increase schools’ flexibility in addressing open teaching positions.
But the Ohio Education Association, the union representing more than 120,000 school teachers and employees, is opposed to any licensing changes that reduce or eliminate quality controls – particularly in employing unlicensed teachers.
SB 168 is “side-stepping” controls that ensure students get high-quality education while educators are on track to become fully licensed, OEA lobbyist Matt Dotson testified in November.
“The unlicensed teacher option could end up being a disservice to aspiring educators by encouraging them to use a pathway that gets them quickly hired but never on track to becoming fully licensed,” Dotson’s testimony reads.
The bill also removes a requirement that districts offering high school classes outside of normal school hours enter into supplemental contracts with teachers, something school administrators testified they support to increase districts’ flexibility. Dotson said the OEA worries that ending the requirement means teachers will be forced to work additional hours without extra pay.
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Changes to increase local flexibility
Several of the bill’s provisions are purported to increase districts’ ability to respond to their unique positions and challenges.
One change to Ohio law would allow districts and schools to develop alternative frameworks for evaluating teachers and administrators. Currently, districts are required to evaluate employees using state-provided rubrics.
Reynolds said allowing local district administrators to develop their own evaluation systems enables them to respond to the academic needs of their own communities. The OEA supports increased flexibility and discretion at the local level, but Dotson said in testimony that such freedom should come with state-level guardrails to ensure fairness and some standardization across the state.
Sen. Catherine Ingram (D-Cincinnati) echoed concerns about maintaining some form of standardization for teacher evaluations, especially considering that the state will continue to evaluate districts using annual report cards.
“How will there be a framework in making sure that we are comparing apples to apples?” Ingram said.
The bill also allows districts to decide how many hours their teachers need in dyslexia intervention training, so long as it falls between six and 18 hours.
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SB 168 would additionally give districts the power to decide which non-teaching employees and contractors must be enrolled in the background check system the state uses for school employees. Only workers the district determines have “routine interaction” with or “regular responsibility” for caring for children would be required to enroll in the system.
Elimination of ‘obsolete’ laws
SB 168 repeals more than a dozen sections of Ohio Revised Code that Reynolds categorized as “obsolete,” including:
Annual reporting requirements for private schools
An annual state education department report on victims of student violence
The establishment and reporting of various goals, including that schools aim to:
Reduce retention rates
Reduce the need for remedial courses
Reduce student dropout rates
Improve standardized test scores
Increase college test scores
Increase college entry rates
Standards that trigger the closing of poorly performing schools
Several grants and programs, including a grant for “exemplary parental involvement”
A requirement that the department develop a report card system to evaluate charter schools
The legislation also amends the law to allow high-performing districts to apply for consecutive three-year exemptions from certain state standards, a change from the one-time three-year exemption currently available.
The bill will be introduced in the House for consideration.
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