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Taft Wants A+ High Schools: Governor Proposes More Math, Science, Language Courses

Posted on: Thursday, 26 January 2006, 15:00 CST

By Mark Niquette, Jim Siegel and Catherine Candisky, The Columbus Dispatch, Ohio

Jan. 26--To better prepare Ohio's high-school graduates for college or work, Gov. Bob Taft proposed a bold new plan yesterday during his final State of the State address that would require all students to take more math, science and foreign-language courses.

Starting with students who graduate in 2011, a new core set of courses would be required, including Algebra 2, physics and chemistry.

The new requirements would apply to all high-school students whether they plan to attend college or not, although parents could sign a waiver opting out of the courses and accepting the consequences.

For example, students opting out wouldn't be able to attend a state university under Taft's plan. The governor's initiative also would move college remedial classes to the state's twoyear campuses.

"If we don't have students coming out of our high schools and colleges with skills in Ohio, then we're going to lose more jobs overseas," Taft, a former teacher, said in a conference call with newspaper editors.

"And these aren't going to be low-paying jobs; these are going to be higher-paying jobs, the kind that we're working so hard to attract."

Taft said only 26 percent of high-school students are taking the classes his plan would require, a statistic that lags Indiana and other states that already have pursued similar initiatives.

School officials, teachers and union leaders lauded the governor's goal of increasing education standards but expressed concerns about how the plan would be implemented -- and who would pay for it.

And although Taft said he's confident the legislature will en- act his plan this year, Speaker Jon A. Husted, R-Kettering, called Taft's initiative a starting point and said details will have to be ironed out.

"I think it's a point from which we should start the discussion about what high standards should be," Husted said, adding that he's "never been a believer in 'one-size-fits-all' education."

Democrats agree students should take more math and science classes but accused Republicans of not providing adequate money for public education in Ohio -- especially early childhood and primary education.

"These kinds of ideas will only work if we commit ourselves to funding education and higher education in this state, and there has been no such commitment demonstrated by this governor," said state Rep. Chris Redfern, DCatawba Island, chairman of the Ohio Democratic Party.

Taft said that by this fall, the state will have increased education funding by $2.2 billion, or 56 percent, since he took office in 1999.

The governor, who is in his final year in office, spent much of the 33-minute speech in the House chambers at the Statehouse thanking supporters and recounting what he considers to be his accomplishments -- including changes to the state tax code last year.

He also talked about legislative initiatives for his final year, including helping the struggling automotive industry, but he saved for the end of his speech details about the education plan he's calling "The Ohio Core."

The plan is in part a response to Ohio's ailing economy, which lags the nation in key indicators. Ohio slipped to 47 th in the nation last year in job growth, for example, adding 3,600 net nonfarm jobs.

According to preliminary data, the state lost 10,700 jobs last month alone, the most in the nation. Taft conceded in his speech that "economic uncertainty is a fact of life for far too many Ohioans."

Business leaders say Taft's proposal is needed to attract and fill the jobs of tomorrow, citing statistics showing 40 percent of Ohio high-school graduates need remedial study.

Even students who have no plans to go to college often need advanced skills to operate machinery or land good-paying jobs, they said.

"Not every high-school student will aspire to go to work for NASA or become an engineer," said Richard A. Stoff, president of the Ohio Business Roundtable.

"But it is increasingly important in today's workplace that we have young people who have a basic mastery of math and science."

Even so, educators and others raise major questions about how to do what Taft proposes.

The primary concern of most is cost. In recent years, they've had to meet the requirement of the federal No Child Left Behind law, accommodate new state tests and register higher achievement levels -- all, they argue, with little or no financial help.

Taft's plan will require more science and foreign-language teachers in some districts, additional tutoring and intervention support for students and perhaps even new science labs.

"We would certainly support more rigor, more academics. But how in the world would we find the funding for that?" asked Columbus Superintendent Gene Harris.

Lancaster High School Principal Bob Richards said he doesn't have enough foreign-language or physics teachers to meet Taft's proposed requirements.

"I had a very hard time finding a Latin teacher after ours left; and every summer, I'm making calls, 'Who has a Spanish teacher? Where can I find a French teacher?' "

During his eight years as principal, he said he has interviewed science teachers every summer and found only one certified to teach physics.

Taft said he wants a proposal by Husted that would provide incentives for college math and science graduates to include payments for new teachers in those fields as well. Husted agreed.

But even in districts such as Upper Arlington -- where 95 percent of students are collegebound and most are already taking the courses prescribed by Taft -- the governor's proposal presents challenges and additional costs, said Assistant Superintendent Debi Binkley.

Officials in less-affluent districts say they're cutting class offerings and don't know how they would meet the new requirements.

"I'd love to hire another science teacher, but we can't afford to hire more staff," said Sandra Powell, assistant superintendent of Galion City School District, about an hour north of Columbus.

Of 200 Galion juniors and seniors, about 20 take physics each year and 60 take Algebra 2, she said.

To meet Taft's requirements, Powell said she would have to reduce or eliminate elective science classes such as anatomy and advanced biology and shift science teachers to physics.

Karen A. Holbrook, president of Ohio State University, likes Taft's idea. But she doubts his proposals will have much impact on OSU, where, thanks to tightened admission standards, students already have taken the high-school courses he wants to require. The main campus also has done away with all reading and most remedial math courses.

"I think the net effect is there is going to be a larger pool of very well-prepared students, and we'll continue to see strong students," Holbrook said.

Roderick Chu, chancellor of the Ohio Board of Regents, said some specifics of Taft's plan are not clear -- such as the impact on the state's two-year colleges, whose leaders are concerned with the perception that they are not first-rate institutions.

"(But) I think the governor's focus is exactly right," Chu said. Dispatch reporter Bill Bush contributed to this story.

mniquette@dispatch.com

jsiegel@dispatch.com

ccandisky@dispatch.com

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Copyright (c) 2006, The Columbus Dispatch, Ohio

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Source: The Columbus Dispatch, Ohio

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