COLUMBUS – June 3, 2014 – Ohio Education Association President Becky Higgins said today that the compromise reached by the House and the Senate in the teacher evaluation provisions of HB362 were a step in the right direction but more work needs to be done to fix the state’s flawed teacher evaluation system.
HB 362, which was overwhelmingly approved by both branches, sets up an alternative framework that reduces from 50% to 42.5% both student growth measures and classroom performance as factors in teacher evaluations. It also provides local flexibility in determining how the remaining 15% of an evaluation will be calculated.
“We would have preferred to have seen the changes that were initially proposed in SB 229, which was unanimously approved by the Senate,” said OEA President Higgins. “But today’s actions by the House and Senate represent some progress which can be built on in the future. We appreciate that lawmakers listened to the concerns of educators and are thankful for the steps taken by the Senate leadership and the tenacity of Senators Gardner and Lehner in making this progress happen.”
Join the conversation @OhioEA and Like Us at OhioEducationAssociation
###
The Ohio Education Association (ohea.org) represents 121,000 teachers, faculty members and support professionals in Ohio’s public schools, colleges and universities.
CONTACT: Michele Prater
614-227-3071; cell 614-378-0469, praterm@ohea.org
