The House finance committee moved their substitute budget bill out of committee yesterday along a party line vote. Few changes were made to the education funding and policy piece, leaving the House budget bill underfunding Ohio's public schools by about $200 million less than the Governor's widely panned funding plan.

The House budget bill continues to hand gifts to the private school and for-profit charter school movement. There is a massive expansion of vouchers, only limited by household income needing ot be below 200% of the federal poverty line (currently ~$46,000). This means that for the first time, high performing districts could lose students and dollars to private schools that likely underperform their public school counterparts.

Steve Dyer has a good run down of the giveaways to charter schools, and especially the catastrophically bad eschools.

Permits an e-school that serves at least grades one through eight to divide into two schools as long as the sponsor agrees and the division is accomplished in either the 2013 – 2014 or 2014 – 2015 school year.

My hunch is this will allow one or both of two things to happen: 1) e-Schools to separate out their higher and lower performing schools and 2) e-Schools to collect more money. I'm becoming more and more impressed with William Lager -- the head of the Electronic Classroom of Tomorrow. He is fast becoming the state's new David Brennan, giving big checks to politicians accompanied by nice budget carve outs.
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Provides that an e-school is eligible to receive career technical education funding in addition to the core opportunity grant and special education funding.

Once again, kudos to William Lager for getting e-School hands into another pot of public money! While Career-Tech money only constitutes about $120 million over the budget cycle, it will only add to e-School profits. I mean, what better way to learn woodworking than over a computer! I know watching those YouTube demonstrations of how to cut outside mitres have really helped my carpentry. Ask my wife!
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Permits a community school to charge tuition to a student who is not an Ohio resident.

The addition to the Houses's budget bill that caught the most attention however was a move to criminalize the teacher of sex education

The sex education amendment would ban instructors from endorsing anything other than abstinence as acceptable behavior.

The measure also would prohibit handing out contraception on school property.

A parent could sue an instructor who violates the provision and receive damages and attorney fees. And a court could issue a civil fine against the instructor of up to $5,000.
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Moments before taking a vote on the amended bill, committee Chairman Ron Amstutz assured the budget was not about ideology.

When asked what motivated GOP lawmakers to propose the sex education changes, Amstutz said he didn't "have much to offer," adding that he would have to take another look at the bill's language.

"There's been a lot of questions about that," Amstutz said.

The amendment's language prohibits instruction by those who endorse "non-abstinence" or "gateway sexual activity." It defines "gateway sexual activity" by citing the Ohio Revised Code's definition of "sexual contact" listed under the section on sexual offenses. It describes such activity as any touching of an erogenous zone for the purpose of sexual satisfaction.

Innovation Ohio has a good rundown of this ridiculous piece of legislation.

The language also states that class instruction in Ohio may not provide materials that condone sexual activity among unmarried students. It even allows a parent to sue if an educator violates the restrictive provisions in the law.

In short, the state budget now mandates that Ohio adopt an abstinence-only approach to sex education program.

But abstinence education doesn’t work. Research shows this. Teen pregnancies are highest in states with abstinence-only sex education. By contrast, teens who have had comprehensive sex education are 60 percent less likely to become pregnant.

In a state budget that already defunds Planned Parenthood and directs tax dollars to Crisis Pregnancy Centers that lie to women, Ohio lawmakers are moving the state in the wrong direction for Ohio’s women and young people.

Here's the Ohio Legislative Service Commissions document that compares the House version of the budget bill to that of the Governor's , in somewhat plain English

HB59 Comparison Document House

Written by a PA teacher, but it equally might apply to Ohio too.

It’s not about the children.

The education reform movement may be about a lot of things, at least here in Pennsylvania, but it certainly isn’t about our children.

If it were, efforts to bridge the achievement gap and advance opportunities for all children would look a hell of a lot different.

If it were about children, each and every public school would be awash in resources and technology. A licensed school nurse would be in each and every building so that the health and safety of kids were not compromised. All schools would have these necessities, not just “experimental” and privately-managed schools who are flooded these and then labeled a success.

If it were about children, students in the poorest neighborhoods—those most at-risk—would step into vibrant learning environments each morning—schools that met their intellectual, artistic, and athletic needs and inclinations. Schools would not be turned into grim test-prep facilities, with a curriculum narrowed to core, state-tested subjects. Children would be given a reason to be excited about coming to school, aside from making AYP.

It’s not about the children.

If it were about children, we wouldn’t value differentiated instruction, then test children all the same way.

If it were about children, schools would be as safe as the offices of those politicians in Harrisburg who cut funding to public schools, and then hand out EMO contracts to campaign contributors and others once a school has been labeled a “failure.”

If it were about children, those who cut funding for vital family services would realize the inextricable link between childhood poverty and educational outcomes. These same politicians would be as incensed by children in their state having inadequate nourishment, dental, vision, and medical care as they are about whether same-sex partners have a right to be married.

If it were about children, in Philadelphia, a state takeover charged with both improving financial management and educational outcomes would be put to rest as a failed experiment. A district’s management team wouldn’t be able to run a district into insolvency, say they are sorry, and then move on to lucrative consultant positions. Reformists like Michelle Rhee and Arlene Ackerman—who help to cultivate a culture of testing “irregularities”—wouldn’t be allowed to exit with a golden parachute before being held accountable for the results under their leadership.

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