Bill Title: As Introduced 128th General AssemblyRegular Session2009-2010S. C. R. No. 1 Senator Miller, D.
Spectrum: Moderate Partisan Bill (Democrat 8-1)
Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2009-02-10 - To Finance & Financial Institutions
[SCR1 Detail]Download: Ohio-2009-SCR1-Introduced.html
As Introduced
| 128th General Assembly | | Regular Session | | 2009-2010 |
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Cosponsors:
Senators Fedor, Turner, Stewart, Smith, Miller, R., Roberts, Cafaro, Sawyer
A CONCURRENT RESOLUTION
| To urge the President and the Congress of the United | 1 |
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States to amend the No Child Left Behind Act of | 2 |
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2001 to ensure more flexibility and to fully fund | 3 |
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the appropriations authorized in the Act. | 4 |
BE IT RESOLVED BY THE SENATE OF THE STATE OF OHIO
(THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES CONCURRING):
| WHEREAS, On January 8, 2002, President George W. Bush signed | 5 |
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into law the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 (NCLB), which | 6 |
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applies to all states that accept federal Title I education funds | 7 |
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and aspires to reform primary and secondary education in the | 8 |
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nation by prescribing increased accountability of schools through | 9 |
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regular student testing and high teacher qualification standards; | 10 |
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and | 11 |
| WHEREAS, NCLB mandates that every public school make adequate | 12 |
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yearly progress toward the goal of 100% student proficiency on | 13 |
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tests in mathematics and reading and language arts by
the end of | 14 |
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the 2013-2014 school year; and | 15 |
| WHEREAS, NCLB requires that an entire school or school | 16 |
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district be identified as failing to make adequate yearly progress | 17 |
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in any school year in which the school or district as a whole or | 18 |
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any one of the following subgroups within the school or district | 19 |
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fails to make such progress: (1) students with disabilities, (2) a | 20 |
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major racial or ethnic group, (3) economically disadvantaged | 21 |
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students, or (4) students with limited English proficiency; and | 22 |
| WHEREAS, It will be extremely difficult for 100% of all of | 23 |
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the identified subgroups of students to make adequate yearly | 24 |
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progress in each of the measured areas, since those students are | 25 |
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identified by federal law as belonging in a subgroup because of | 26 |
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significant educational challenges that are above and beyond the | 27 |
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challenges encountered by other students; and | 28 |
| WHEREAS, Failure by any subgroup in any given year to meet | 29 |
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any one of the state's proficiency expectations for that year in | 30 |
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the federally mandated academic areas will result in | 31 |
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identification of the school or district as a whole as failing to | 32 |
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make adequate yearly progress; and | 33 |
| WHEREAS, This unreasonable standard will wrongly identify | 34 |
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many of our successful public schools and districts as "failing"; | 35 |
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and | 36 |
| WHEREAS, Adequate yearly progress subgroup standards make it | 37 |
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more difficult for larger and more diverse schools and districts | 38 |
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to meet federal standards because they must meet more performance | 39 |
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targets than schools and districts that are more homogeneous, | 40 |
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smaller in size, and have wealthier students; and | 41 |
| WHEREAS, NCLB imposes significant financial costs on states, | 42 |
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school districts, teachers, and paraprofessionals for staff | 43 |
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development, certification upgrades, coursework, school | 44 |
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improvement strategies, choice-related transportation and private | 45 |
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tutoring, as well as the unavoidable costs and dislocation that | 46 |
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would arise in the event of mandatory school restructuring and | 47 |
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staff dismissals; and | 48 |
| WHEREAS, In 2004, the Superintendent of Public Instruction | 49 |
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submitted to the General Assembly a detailed financial analysis of | 50 |
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the projected costs of compliance for the state and for each | 51 |
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school district with the No Child Left Behind Act, which estimated | 52 |
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the cost to Ohio of complying with the Act will reach $1.447 | 53 |
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billion annually in fiscal year 2010; and | 54 |
| WHEREAS, Although many of the provisions of NCLB reflect | 55 |
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noble goals, especially regarding closing the achievement gaps | 56 |
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between subgroups of students, the President and the Congress of | 57 |
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the United States have failed to fund NCLB in a manner that makes | 58 |
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these goals fully attainable; now
therefore be it | 59 |
| RESOLVED, That we, the members of the 128th General Assembly | 60 |
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of the State of Ohio, urge the President and the Congress to amend | 61 |
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the No Child Left Behind Act by doing both of the following: | 62 |
| (1) Adopting more common-sense and flexible requirements and | 63 |
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assessments for special education students and students for whom | 64 |
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English is a second language; and | 65 |
| (2) Adopting more equitable requirements for schools and | 66 |
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school districts; and be it further | 67 |
| RESOLVED, That we, the members of the 128th General Assembly | 68 |
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of the State of Ohio, urge the President and the Congress to | 69 |
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appropriate full funding for NCLB at the authorization levels | 70 |
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called for by NCLB itself; and be it further | 71 |
| RESOLVED, That the Clerk of the Senate transmit duly | 72 |
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authenticated copies of this resolution to the President of the | 73 |
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United States, to the members of the Ohio Congressional | 74 |
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delegation, to the Speaker and Clerk of the United States House of | 75 |
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Representatives, and to the President Pro Tempore and Secretary of | 76 |
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the United States Senate. | 77 |
