Ohio Alliance for Arts Education

The Ohio Alliance for Arts Education (OAAE) is a member of the Kennedy Center Alliance for Arts Education Network.

OAAE was founded in 1974 and has established and maintains a network for communication, cooperation, and advocacy. OAAE has more than 8,000 members including students, parents, educators, administrators, citizens, artists, and arts advocates. Organizational members include the Ohio Music Education Association, Ohio Art Education Association, OhioDance, Ohio Educational Theatre Association, Ohio Citizens for the Arts, VSA arts of Ohio, WCET , Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra, Wittenberg University, and many more arts, education, and cultural institutions. Individual members unite with the organization members to serve as liaisons for arts education in Ohio.

OAAE exists to ensure the arts are an integral part of the education of every Ohioan. We develop and support innovative collaborations between schools and cultural institutions to promote the arts as equal partners in the educational enterprise. OAAE speaks on behalf of arts education before policy-makers and provides strategic input to the Ohio Department of Education, Ohio Arts Council, local arts organizations, school boards, parents, and educators. OAAE is a leader in professional development of teachers through in-services, conferences, symposiums, and the development and dissemination of information resources.

Our advocacy work, which includes weekly e-mail updates to our members has helped increase public awareness on such issues as operating and academic standards, the education budget, and work undertaken by the State Board of Education, Ohio Coalition for Equity and Adequacy of School Funding, and the legislature.

OAAE also participates in the national and state Arts Day activities, Creative Ticket-Schools of Excellence Campaign, and the OAAE Arts Education Awards. These events are held annually and help to acknowledge teachers, principals, schools, community arts organizations, artists, and citizens that demonstrate commitment to quality arts education programs.

The Ohio Alliance for Arts Education is funded in part for its day-to-day operation by the Ohio Arts Council. This support makes it possible for the OAAE to operate its office in Columbus and to work statewide to ensure the arts are an integral part of the education of every Ohioan. Support for arts education projects comes from the Ohio Arts Council, The John F. Kennedy Center, Martha Holden Jennings Foundation, Ohio Music Education Association, Ohio Art Education Association, Ohio Educational Theatre Association, OhioDance, and the Greater Columbus Arts Council. We acknowledge and appreciate the financial support received from each of these outstanding agencies and organizations.

We welcome your participation and membership. Please contact us for additional information and discover how you can be involved in our efforts to support arts education for all Ohioans.

Donna S. Collins

Executive Director

614.224.1060

1) 127th General Assembly: The Ohio House and Senate will hold hearings and committee meetings this week. Last week the Ohio House and Senate announced that the dates of May 28 & 29, 2008 were being added to the legislative calendar. The calendar also includes "as needed days" in June.

*The Ohio Senate approved the special education scholarship bill, SB 57 (Coughlin) by a vote of 17-15. All Democrats and three Republican Senators, Senators Schuring, Stivers, and Grendell, voted against the bill. The bill now moves to the Ohio House Education Committee where hearings have been scheduled this week.

*Last week Governor Strickland signed into law HB 544 (Hottinger), which ended the Ohio Tobacco Prevention Foundation, but not the controversy around the Foundation's $270 million in tobacco funds. Lawmakers intend to divert $40 million of the remaining fund to the Ohio Department of Health to support anti-smoking programs, and $230 million for a jobs package. Legislation that includes the details of the jobs package is expected to be introduced this week. However, the funds are now tied up in a legal struggle in the Franklin County court. A hearing has been set for June 2 & 3, 2008.

*The House Finance and Appropriations Committee, chaired by Representative Hottinger, will meet on May 13, 2008 at 1:30 PM and May 14, 2008 at 9:30 AM in hearing room 313. The Committee will hear, pending introduction and referral, testimony on an economic stimulus package and a joint resolution for the Clean Ohio Fund.

*The Senate Education Committee, chaired by Senator Padgett, will meet on May 13, 2008 at 4:00 PM in the North Hearing Room. The Committee will hear testimony on SB331 (Roberts) School Evaluations, which requires regular on-site evaluations of community schools, requires certain community school teachers to be "highly qualified," and makes other changes regarding public schools; and SB332 (Roberts) Community Schools, regarding application of Public Records Law and Public Audit Law to community school sponsors and operators and sanctions for community schools in arrears on workers' compensation payments.

*The House Education Committee, chaired by Representative Setzer, will meet on Tuesday, May 13, 2008 at 4:00 PM in hearing room 116. The Committee will hear testimony on SB 57 (Coughlin), which establishes the Special Education Scholarship Program, and HB421 (Miller E.), which is a proposed law to eradicate nuisance properties from around schools.

*The Partnership for Continued Learning will meet on Wednesday, May 14, 2008 at noon at the Ohio Board of Regents, 30 E. Broad St., Columbus, OH, Rhodes State Office in the 36th floor main

*The Senate Finance and Financial Institutions Committee, chaired by Senator Carey, will meet on May 15, 2008 at 10:00 AM in the Senate Finance Hearing Room. The Committee will hear, pending introduction and referral, testimony on an economic stimulus bill and a joint resolution for the Clean Ohio Fund.

3) Charter School Bills Introduced: Four bills affecting charter schools, SB331 (Roberts), SB332 (Roberts), SB333 (Roberts), and HB552 (Luckie), were introduced in the Ohio House and Senate last week. These bills focus on charter school accountability, charter school access to public school facilities, and compliance with public records. Sponsor testimony on SB331 (Roberts) and SB332 (Roberts) is scheduled for the Senate Education Committee this week. SB333 (Roberts) - School Property, is assigned to the Senate Finance and Financial Institutions Committee. HB552 has not been assigned to a committee as yet. Highlights of the four bills are provided below:

*SB331 (Roberts) Community School Evaluations. This bill requires traditional public schools to gather and report information from parents of students returning to traditional public schools from a charter school, about why they left the charter school; removes dropout recovery schools from certain exemptions granted to them related to students not taking state assessments; prohibits a charter school to receive a performance rating if it does not have grades in which students take state assessments; requires the ODE to issue a report card for a school building, regardless of the length of time that it has been open; requires the ODE to report the performance of sponsors of charter schools; requires charter school teachers to comply with current teacher licensure laws; requires charter schools to maintain and promptly provide student education records when requested; and adds new Sec. 3314.39 (A) - (G), which requires the ODE to conduct on site evaluations of charter schools and post the results, and allows the ODE to revoke a sponsor's right to sponsor community schools.

*SB332 (Roberts) Public Records Law and Public Audit Law. This bill requires the auditor of the state to annually conduct an audit of the accounts, reports, records, and files of operators and sponsors of charter schools and their receipt or expenditure of public funds related to the operation or sponsorship of a community school; requires the Bureau of Worker's Compensation to confirm that a community school does not owe workers' compensation premiums as a condition to renew its contract with a sponsor; requires a sponsor to immediately suspend operations of a community school that does not comply with certain rules and laws; requires each nonpublic operator of a community school and each nonpublic entity that sponsors a community school to comply with section 149.43 of the Revised Code as if it were a public office with respect to all records pertaining to the management or sponsorship of the school.

*SB333 (Roberts) Sale School Property. This bill rescinds provisions in law regarding the sale of school district property to community schools, and makes other changes.

*HB552 (Luckie) Start-Up Community School. This bill revises the exceptions to the cap on new start-up community schools by prohibiting contracts with community operators that manage other Ohio community schools that have report card ratings of academic watch or academic emergency.

4) State Board of Education to Meet: The State Board of Education (SBE), Jennifer Sheets president, will meet on May 12 & 13, 2008 in Columbus, Ohio. The State Board of Education's School Funding subcommittee met on May 11, 2008 at the Embassy Suites Hotel in Columbus.

The State Board of Education will hold its meetings on May 12 & 13, 2008 at the Ohio School for the Deaf, 500 Morse Road, Columbus, OH. On May 12, 2008 the Capacity Committee, Rob Hovis and Jane Sonenshein co-chairs, will meet at 8:00 AM, and the Achievement Committee, Michael Cochran and Ann Womer Benjamin co-chairs, will meet at 8:30 AM.

The Capacity Committee will discuss a resolution to refile Rule 3301-8-01, Payment of Debt Services Charges; discuss Personalized Learning Plans; discuss Rule 3301-9-01, Block Parent Programs; discuss Community School Fiscal Officer Requirements; and discuss the Community School Sponsor Evaluation.

The Achievement Committee will discuss a resolution to refile Rule 331-51-13, Operating Standards for Children with Disabilities; an intent to amend Rule 3301-61-18, Career based Intervention Programs; hear a presentation on international benchmarking; and hear a presentation on personalized learning plans.

Both the Achievement Committee and Capacity Committee will discuss legislative recommendations for FY10-11 starting at 10:15 AM.

The State Board will recognize Ohio Middle Schools to Watch at 11:15 AM. Sixteen Middle Schools have been selected this year based on their academic excellence, developmental responsiveness, social equity, and organizational structures. The Board will then break for lunch.

After lunch at 1:15 PM the Achievement Committee and the Capacity Committee will present reports on their work to the full Board. The Board will also hear an update on legislative activities and bills before the Ohio General Assembly; hear a presentation from the School Readiness Solutions Group Implementation Subcommittee, chaired by Eric Okerson; and hear reports from State Board members on liaison activities. At 4:00 PM the Board will hold a Chapter 119 Hearing on the following rules and then adjourn.

Chapter 119 Hearing -Amend OAC Rules 3301-26-01 Educator Examinations -Amend OAC Rules 3301-71-01 Poverty Based Assistance

The State Board of Education's Subcommittee for Education in the New Global Economy (EDGE), chaired by Colleen Grady and Steve Millett, will meet from 4:30 - 5:45 PM. The SBE's High School and Middle Schools Subcommittee, chaired by Sue Westendorf and Carl Wick, will meet at 7:30 PM at the Embassy Suites, 2700 Corporate Exchange Drive.

On May 13, 2008 the State Board of Education's Coordination Committee will meet with the full Board starting at 8:30 AM, and discuss legislative and budget recommendations and "Transforming Education in Ohio" documents, and preview the goals of the June 2008 retreat. The Board will convene its business meeting at 11:15 AM and immediately proceed into executive session.

Following lunch at 1:30 PM the Board will continue its business meeting starting with the report of the Superintendent of Public Instruction and public participation on agenda items. The Board will then take action on ten personnel items and the resolutions included below. The Board will then accept public participation on non-agenda items and adjourn.

The next meeting of the State Board of Education will be its annual retreat, which will be held on June 8 -10, 2008 in Columbus.

*Approve a Resolution regarding public participation at the June 2008 State Board business meeting.

*Approve a Resolution of Intent to consider the proposed transfer of school district territory from the Madison Local schools District, Richland County, to the Lexington Local school District, Richland, County, pursuant to Section 3311.24 of the Ohio Revised Code.

*Approve a Resolution to refile proposed amended OAC Rule 3301-8-01 Payment of Debt Service Charges under the State Credit Enhancement Program

*Approve a Resolution of Intent to rescind and adopt OAC Rule 3301-61-18 Criteria for Career Based Intervention and Work and Family Studies Programs

*Approve a Resolution to amend OAC Rule 3301-61-17 Emergency Service Telecommunicator Training

*Approve a Resolution to amend OAC Rule 3301-83-04, 06, -09, -10, and 16 Pupil Transportation Operation and Safety *Approve a Resolution of appointment to the Educator Standards Board.

5) eSchoolNews Article on "Ready to Innovate": eSchoolNews assistant editor Meris Stansbury writes that there is a disconnect between what employers and educators say and do when it comes to promoting creativity and innovation. According to an eSchoolNews article published on May 2, 2008, "Study: Creativity is Important but Neglected", both educators and employers agree that creativity is important in the workplace and classroom, but are not doing enough to help students or employees become better at it. That was one of the findings in the report, "Ready to Innovate: Are Educators and Executives Aligned on the Creative Readiness of the U.S. Workforce?," which was released on March 31, 2008 by the Conference Board and Americans for the Arts, in partnership with the American Association of School Administrators (AASA).

The author writes, "'We believe it is time for employers to evaluate how well their corporate support of education and the arts, as well as their own employee training programs, stack up against the strategic value they themselves place on innovation and its creative underpinning,'" said Jonathan Spector, chief executive officer of the Conference Board. "It is also time for greater dialogue within and across all sectors to better understand and align efforts to foster creativity in current and future employees.'"

-SB331 (Roberts) School Evaluations: Requires regular on-site evaluations of community schools, requires certain community school teachers to be "highly qualified," and makes other changes regarding public schools.

Schools: Regarding application of Public Records Law and Public Audit Law to community school sponsors and operators and sanctions for community schools in arrears on workers' compensation payments.

-SB333 (Roberts) Access to School Property: Regarding the sale of school district property to community schools.

-HB552 (Luckie) Start-up Community Schools: Revises the exception to cap on new start-up community schools by prohibiting contracts with operators that manage other Ohio community schools that have ratings of academic watch/emergency.

*What is SNAPP?? The Indiana University Center for Postsecondary Research, School of Education launched on May 1, 2008 the Strategic National Arts Alumni Project (SNAPP), an annual online survey and data analysis system for graduates of arts high schools, arts colleges and conservatories, and arts schools and departments within universities. Indiana University professor George Kuh is the project director. SNAPP will be field tested in 2008-2009 and begin in 2010. The Surdna Foundation provided support to launch this project.

The purpose of SNAPP is to examine the impact of arts training on arts graduates to assess and strengthen the effectiveness of arts education programs. This will be accomplished through a survey of alumni at five, ten, fifteen, and twenty years. This survey will collect, track, and disseminate data on how graduates use training in the arts in their careers and lives; how they contribute to their communities; and their impact on the economy. The online survey will be administered by the Indiana University Center for Postsecondary Research in cooperation with the Curb Center for Art, Enterprise and Public Policy at Vanderbilt University. A national advisory board has been established to guide the work. The results of this work will help inform changes in curriculum and training for all careers, as employers seek more creative and innovative workers. For more information please visit http://www.snaap.iub.edu/pdf/SNAAP_Press_Release.pdf

*Theatre Tech Summer Camp: Put away your flip flops and beach towel we have a Summer Camp experience for you like no other! Join the Ohio Alliance for Arts Education, Chris Clapp, and Edie Wadkins for Acme Academy: Theatre Tech Summer Camp! This fabulous opportunity is designed for the curious beginner through the college professor seeking a better knowledge of technical theatre.

It includes two - two hour sessions each week for five weeks. No prior experience is necessary! Summer Camp is ideal for high school and college students, theatre educators, and, equally as important, the person who loves theatre and wants to have a hands on experience of what goes on before the curtain goes up! The Acme Academy: Theatre Tech Summer Camp is supported in part with a Greater Columbus Arts Council Franklin County Neighborhood Arts Grant. For more information please contact the Summer Camp Coordinators: Janelle Hallett and Donna Collins at 614.224.1060

*Grants Available for After-School Music Programs: The Mr. Holland's Opus Special Projects Program provides musical instruments and instrument repairs to existing K-12 school music programs that have no other source of financing to purchase additional musical instruments and materials. These grants are available for after-school music programs that are at least three years old or have a music-related umbrella organization that is at least three years. The maximum award is $8,000. The application deadline is August 1, 2008. For more information please visit http://www.mhopus.org/app_special_0.asp

This update is made possible through the generous support of the Ohio Music Education Association (www.omea-ohio.org), Ohio Art Education Association (www.oaea.org), Ohio Educational Theatre Association (www.Ohioedta.org); OhioDance (www.ohiodance.org), and the Ohio Alliance for Arts Education (www.OAAE.net).