Education officials worry that a more rigorous high school curriculum signed into law in early January by former Ohio Gov. Bob Taft will be an unfunded mandate for financially burdened districts.
The curriculum rules, known as the Ohio Core, will be implemented for the graduating class of 2014 ' current fifth-graders ' and will require an additional year of mathematics and an increase in lab-based sciences, according to Taft's office.
The law appropriates $30 million from the state's general fund for teacher training, wages for new personnel and lab equipment, but the amount of funding likely will be adjusted after consultations with the Ohio Department of Education and local school districts, said state Sen. Joy Padgett, R-Coshocton, a proponent of the bill.
Most of the state's four-year universities, including Ohio University, will require applicants to complete Ohio Core curriculum for admission, Padgett said.
Students can opt out of the Ohio Core, but it likely would limit their college choices to a two-year program, she said.
Athens City School District, which has a more stable financial situation than some southeastern Ohio schools, already offers the courses required by the Ohio Core as electives and will adjust curriculum requirements to meet the Core standards, said Sharon Parsons, director of curriculum and instruction for Athens schools.
State Rep. Jimmy Stewart, R-Athens, said he voted against the bill because he thinks some districts are too poor to fund the necessary changes.
With a mounting $400,000 debt for the current fiscal year, Federal Hocking School District officials have not had time to examine their ability to meet the Core requirements, Superintendent James Patsey said.Federal Hocking, which already is looking at cutting positions, does not have the budget to hire and train new teachers, Patsey said. This would burden current teachers with extra course loads.
Trimble Local School District, one of the poorest school districts in Ohio, employs one Spanish teacher and is concerned about funding additional salaries that might be needed because of the Ohio Core's use of foreign languages as an option for fulfilling required elective credits, Superintendent Cindy Johnston said.
Johnston said students need to be prepared for the changing world and its emphasis on computers and science.
It's not a bad idea
she said. They just have to fund it.Padgett, a public school teacher of 20 years, said the Ohio Core would prepare students for the workforce and college better than current curriculum.
Students are no longer competing with others from Columbus and Cleveland or even New York City and Chicago Padgett said. They are competing against students in China and India and we have to be sure they are prepared.
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