Substitute HB 153...read and weep!

From John Curry, April 30, 2011

The Ohio House has just released their Substitute House Bill 153. It's contains many of the provisions found in SB5, and in some cases, provisions that are even worse. Here are some of the items that now appear in the budget bill.

Teacher Pay

Budget:

Replaces the Executive provision with a provision that requires school districts, community schools, STEM schools, ESCs, and county DD boards, beginning in the 2013-2014 school year, to pay teachers according to a performance-based schedule,

Replaces the Executive provision with a provision that requires the schedule be based on a teacher's level of license, whether the teacher is "highly qualified" under federal law, and evaluation ratings.

Requires the schedule provide for annual adjustments based on evaluations.

SB5:

The bill eliminates the salary schedules and steps in place for teachers and nonteaching employees and instead requires teachers to receive performance based pay.

The bill requires a board to measure a teacher’s performance by considering all of the following:

(1) The level of license (a resident educator license, professional educator license, senior professional educator license, or lead professional educator license) that the teacher holds;

(2) Whether the teacher is a "highly qualified teacher" as defined in continuing law;

(3) The value-added measure the board uses to determine the performance of the students assigned to the teacher's classroom;

(4) The results of the teacher's performance evaluations or any peer review program created by an agreement entered into by a board of education and representatives of teachers employed by that board;

Budget:

Permits payment of additional compensation to teachers who agree to perform duties that the employer determines warrant additional compensation.

SB5:

Teacher pay can be decided by any other criteria established by the board.

Both Budget and SB5:

Specifies that provisions on teacher pay prevail over collective bargaining agreements entered into on or after the provisions' (immediate) effective date.

Continuing Contracts for Teachers (Tenure)

Budget:

Prohibits awarding a continuing contract (tenure) to a teacher who was initially licensed after January 1, 2011.Limits an employment contract with a classroom teacher entered into by a school district, community school, STEM school, or ESC on or after the provision's (90-day) effective date to a maximum of three years, and specifies that any subsequent contracts must be for terms of two to five years.

SB5:

The bill abolishes continuing contracts for teachers, except for those continuing contracts entered into prior to the effective date of the bill. The bill instead requires classroom teachers to receive limited contracts.

A limited contract for a classroom teacher has a term of five years if the contract was entered into prior to the effective date of the bill.

The term of an initial contract cannot exceed three years if the contract is entered into on or after the effective date of the bill and for subsequent contracts the term is not less than two years or more than five years.

Teacher Evaluation

Budget:
Repeals the requirement for the State Board, in consultation with the Chancellor of the Board of Regents, to establish guidelines for the evaluation of teachers and principals for optional use by school districts, and instead requires the state Superintendent, by December 31, 2011, to develop a framework for the evaluation of teachers.

Requires the Superintendent (1) to develop standards and criteria for teacher and principal evaluations that distinguish between four levels of performance: "highly effective," "effective," "needs improvement," and "unsatisfactory" and (2) to designate a standard of student academic growth that must be met to achieve each of the ratings.

Specifies that the framework require each evaluation to consider: (1) quality of instructional practice, (2) communication and professionalism, and (3) parent and student satisfaction.

Directs each school district, community school, STEM school, and ESC, by July 1, 2012, to adopt a teacher evaluation policy that utilizes the framework and that specifies the relative weight of each factor in (1) to (3) above and how each of those factors will be assessed.

Requires the policy be approved by the Superintendent.

Requires at least 50% of each teacher evaluation be based on student academic growth for students assigned to the teacher during the three most recent school years, except that if less than three years of data is available, permits the portion of the evaluation based on student performance to be reduced to 40%.

Requires student academic growth to be measured by value-added data derived from the state achievement assessments when applicable and by other assessments selected by the employer when not applicable

Requires the employer's teacher evaluation system to (1) use multiple measures of teacher's skills and students' progress, (2) be aligned with the Educator Standards Board's standards for teachers, (3) provide statements of expectation for professional performance, (4) require observation of the teacher on at least two occasions for at least 30 minutes each time, (5) assign ratings in accordance with the state Superintendent's standards and criteria, and (6) require the teacher to be given a written report of the evaluation results, including specific recommendations for improvements

Requires employers to evaluate each teacher annually.

Requires employers to use teacher evaluations to inform decisions about compensation, nonrenewal, termination, reductions in force, and professional development.

Specifies that if a teacher receives a rating of "unsatisfactory" for two consecutive years or two of three consecutive years, a rating of "needs improvement" for three consecutive years, or a combination of ratings of "needs improvement" and "unsatisfactory" for three consecutive years, the teacher loses a continuing contract if the teacher has one.

Requires employers to submit aggregate teacher and principal evaluation results to ODE. Grants civil immunity to the board of education (or other governing body), its members, and evaluators for conducting evaluations in accordance with the adopted policy

SB5:

The evaluation on which a teacher's pay must be based is a new evaluation under the bill. No later than April 30, 2012, the Superintendent of Public Instruction must develop and submit recommendations for a framework for teacher evaluations to the State Board of Education.

The recommended framework must require all of the following:(1) At least 50% of each evaluation must be based on measures of student academic growth specified by the Department of Education.

When applicable to a teacher, those measures must include student performance on the assessments prescribed under continuing law and the value-added progress dimension prescribed under continuing law.(2) Each evaluation must consider the following additional factors, but the recommendations cannot designate the weight of any factor or prescribe a specific method of assessing any factor:(a) Quality of instructional practice, which can be determined by announced and unannounced classroom observations and examinations of samples of work, such as lesson plans or assessments designed by the teacher;(b) Communication and professionalism, including how well the teacher interacts with students, parents, other school employees, and members of the community;(c) Parent and student satisfaction, which may be measured by surveys, questionnaires, or other forms of soliciting feedback.

Also, no later than April 30, 2012, the Superintendent must develop and submit to the State Board recommendations for a framework for the evaluation of principals. The framework must require at least 50% of each evaluation to be based on measures of student academic growth specified by the Department. When applicable to the grade levels served by a principal's building, those measures must include student performance on specified assessments and value-added progress dimension. The framework for the evaluation of principals must be based on principles comparable to the framework for the evaluation of teachers but must be tailored to the duties and responsibilities of principals and the environment in which principals work.

Reduction In Force

These are less identical than the other provisions but have considerable overlap and pertain to the same sections of ORC.

Budget:

Includes a provision that requires school districts, community schools, STEM schools, and ESCs to lay off teachers in order of their evaluation ratings, starting with teachers who receive "unsatisfactory" ratings first.

Includes a provision that prohibits giving preference in retention based on seniority.

Specifies that these provisions prevail over conflicting provisions of a collective bargaining agreement entered into on or after the provision's effective date.

Eliminates the requirement that, in rehiring tenured teachers when positions become available, the order of rehiring be based on seniority

SB5:

With regard to teaching and non-teaching employees, the bill removes the authority of school districts and school district financial planning and supervision commissions to give preference to those employees who have greater seniority.

Teachers and non-teachers with continuing contracts receive preference under continuing law.

The bill states that after giving preference to continuing contracts, the board of a city, exempted village, local, or joint vocational school district is required to consider the relative quality of performance the principal factor in determining the order of reductions.

With respect to teachers, the board is required to measure the quality of performance by considering the level of license that the teacher holds, whether the teacher is considered a "highly qualified teacher," the value-added measure the board uses to determine the performance of the students assigned to the teacher’s classroom, the results of the teacher’s performance evaluation, and any other criteria established by the board.

Teachers and non-teaching employees whose continuing contracts are suspended by a city, exempted village, local, or joint vocational school district, however, have the right under continuing law to be brought back in the order of seniority.

Forbids school district decisions on reduction in force to be inhibited by a collective bargaining agreement.