OHIO CORE PLAN; For college, enter doors marked math, science
BYLINE: Jim Siegel and Mark Niquette, THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH
Today's seventh-graders could be required to take an extra high-school math class and more science lab work if they want to get into most of Ohio's state colleges and universities.
Nearly 10 months after Gov. Bob Taft proposed requiring college-bound students to take a more rigorous set of high-school courses, Republican lawmakers unveiled their latest version of his Ohio Core plan yesterday.
The plan still would require 20 units for graduation, but it calls for four math classes instead of the current three and says science classes must be lab-based. It also reduces from six to five the number of electives a student must take.
For students starting in the class of 2012, failure to complete the Ohio Core curriculum would limit their higher education options. Only Shawnee State, Central State and Youngstown State, which Republicans called "access schools," could admit students who opted out of Ohio Core.
Other universities could admit non-Ohio Core students, but only after they took 10 hours of courses at a technical or community college or at a branch campus.
Students could opt out of Ohio Core after their sophomore year, at least through the class of 2015. The Partnership for Continued Learning, a panel of state officials and governor appointees, would recommend whether the opt-out provision should continue beyond 2015.
Republicans hailed the plan as a step toward getting more Ohio students into college and making sure they are more prepared when they get there. Only 24 percent of current high-school students complete the proposed curriculum.
"In the new 'flat' world that we live in, the rest of the world is just so aggressive that if we don't expect more and do more in America, we truly do risk our standard of living and quality of life," said Sen. Randall Gardner, R-Bowling Green, sponsor of the Senate's Ohio Core bill.
Democrats, including Gov.-elect Ted Strickland, voiced concern about increasing high-school requirements before improving education in pre-K and elementary school, and about creating a two-tier diploma system.
Strickland said he doesn't want to marginalize certain students and their abilities or cause the teaching of arts and humanities to suffer.
"I don't want us to set up a system that will forever consign a student that may have unique gifts and abilities to a secondary place within our society simply because they do not have the ability to function in other areas," he said.
Taft spokesman Mark Rickel said the idea is not to create a two-tier system but rather to raise expectations for all students, because business leaders agree that the Ohio Core skills are needed whether students go to college or directly to a job.
"Research shows that when we raise expectations, students rise to the occasion," Rickel said.
Though Strickland prefers that they wait until he takes over in January, Republicans plan to pass the bill before the end of the year.
House Speaker Jon A. Husted, R-Kettering, said he's interested in Strickland's input, but he fears a delay would lead to the bill getting bogged down by those looking out for their own self-interest.
"It should have been done six months ago, but it wasn't," he said.
The plan would cost an estimated $115 million to $120 million over five years, mainly to increase the number of qualified upper-level high-school math, science and foreign-language teachers. Lawmakers already have approved $13.2 million of that total.
School officials have said their biggest concern is getting funding to entice teachers with the proper skills to meet the demand.
Unlike Taft's initial proposal, the latest plan would not require two years of foreign language. Instead, an advisory council would recommend foreign-language requirements in grades K-12.
Republicans acknowledged that schools would have struggled to find enough foreign-language teachers to meet a two-year requirement.
"Is two years all they need for our global economy?" said Rep. Arlene J. Setzer, R-Vandalia, chairwoman of the House Education Committee. "We need to take a total look, kindergarten on up, how we can do this."