Local schools, and districts across Ohio, already walk the "new path of reform" the president proposes in the new federal education bill, Lawrence County superintendent Harold Shafer said.

Wednesday, January 09, 2002

Local schools, and districts across Ohio, already walk the "new path of reform" the president proposes in the new federal education bill, Lawrence County superintendent Harold Shafer said.

"I think we’re already there, doing these effective things," Shafer said Tuesday, after watching on television as President Bush signed the bill in a Cincinnati school.

Chief among the bill’s highlights – third- through eighth-grade testing in reading and math; district report cards on progress of schools; partnerships with universities; and teacher testing – are already in place, and have been for some time, he said.

In fact, Texas’ progressive education reforms formed a basis for the bill, and Ohio based some of its reforms on Texas methods, he added.

Local schools test in those grades already, except that the state only officially monitors certain grade level scores for proficiency purposes, Shafer said.

Partnerships, especially with Ohio University Southern Campus, are common across the county; and district report cards, now a standard, were just released.

Ohio also uses Praxis that calls for a college test and a subject area test for prospective teachers. In September Praxis 3 begins, which calls for internships and assessments of teachers before licensure, Shafer said.

So, with what he’s seen so far, the bill will have little effect in Lawrence County, the superintendent said.

Lawrence County will see some extra funding from the bill – it boasts $8 billion in more federal dollars than last year – but federal money on the average, makes up only 6-7 percent of district budgets, Shafer said.

"When you’re talking that much money, divide that by 50 states, then divide by 613 districts (in Ohio," he said. "It sounds big but when it’s filtered down, it won’t be a tremendous amount of money

Still, it is extra funding – a positive change during a time of questionable economy

"No one’s opposed to it," Shafer said, adding he views the bill as a plus for educators.

"But what they’re thinking about, we already thought about and are doing it."