12/05/02

Columbus- A divided Ohio Senate approved a bill yesterday that would increase oversight of charter schools while allowing more of them to open.

The House is expected to approve the bill today and send it to Gov. Bob Taft, who is expected to sign it.

The Senate vote came during a busy day at the Statehouse as the 124th General Assembly draws to a close:

The House approved a $1.27 billion capital spending bill, despite objections that it would weaken labor laws and slight Northeast Ohio. The bill now goes to the Senate for possible action today.

The Senate approved a bill that would eliminate the requirement that candidates for statewide office and the General Assembly file finance reports electronically. The bill goes to the House for possible action today.

The Senate rejected House changes to a bill that would limit medical malpractice awards, calling for a last-minute conference committee to work out a compromise. The committee is scheduled to begin meeting today.

A House committee approved a bill that would require schools and colleges to distribute information about meningitis vaccines, but supporters said there probably won't be enough time to move the bill all the way through the legislature.

Bills that aren't approved before lawmakers leave for the year will die, and supporters will have to start over next year. House leaders want to go home this week, but Senate leaders want to work into next week, and they are threatening to hold House bills hostage to keep the legislature in session.

The charter school bill, approved 19-12, would allow the number of schools to increase from 127 to 225. But it would strengthen training requirements for the schools' financial officers, and it would require the schools to adopt policies for helping students who fail state tests. The bill would also allow private, nonprofit education groups to sponsor the schools.

"We have made major improvements to a system that we knew had problems," said Sen. Robert Gardner, a Madison Republican and the main Senate supporter of the bill.

Opponents said the bill wouldn't provide enough oversight for charter schools that regularly generate student test scores far below those in traditional public schools.

"We raised the limit to 225 schools, so we could get 225 failures," said Sen. C.J. Prentiss, a Cleveland Democrat.

Also yesterday:

The House approved the capital spending bill by a vote of 93-3. Rep. Charles Calvert, a Medina Republican, said the bill continues the state's school construction program, including for the first time joint vocational schools. The bill also commits $50 million for the governor's high-tech job initiative, labeled the Third Frontier.

"Some will look up here and see Santa Claus, and some will see 'The Grinch Who Stole Christmas,' but we have done our jobs," Calvert said.

Rep. Timothy Grendell, a Chester Township Republican, apparently saw the Grinch. Grendell voted against the bill because Cuyahoga County - the state's largest county - would get only $49 million, compared with $166 million for Franklin County and $76 million for Hamilton County.

Leaders of seven public-employee unions accused Taft and the legislature of sandbagging them by inserting last-minute provisions that would weaken Ohio's collective-bargaining law.

One measure would allow fact-finder reports in collective-bargaining disputes to be resolved by the seven-member State Controlling Board, rather than the entire legislature. The other would make hundreds of public-employee union lawyers exempt from the collective-bargaining process. It also shields applications for certain Third Frontier grants from the public.

Irwin Scharfeld, OCSEA's executive director, said, "Intrusions into the bedrock of the collective-bargaining law will not take place on our watch."

Taft said "most people would agree" that lawyers, because they provide confidential advice to clients, should not be members of a bargaining unit.

Secretary of State Ken Blackwell called the idea to eliminate the electronic-filing requirement for campaign finance reports "an open assault on transparency and accountability." Joe Andrews, a spokesman for Taft, said the governor is concerned about the provision but hasn't decided whether to veto the bill.

Plain Dealer reporters Ted Wendling and T.C. Brown contributed to this report.

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sohlemacher@plaind.com, 1-800-228-8272