COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — State lawmakers disagreed Wednesday
over how many additional calamity days to give Ohio schools off this
year because of the winter’s hazardous weather, and how districts can
make up the ones they have already taken.
The impasse came after the Senate passed its own plan Wednesday, different from a version passed earlier
by the House.
Snow,
ice and bone-chilling temperatures have led many districts across Ohio
to exhaust the school year’s five allowable calamity days, in which
schools can close without making up the lost instructional time.
Many
districts have canceled classes for nine or more days this year. Some
Guernsey County schools in eastern Ohio have topped 17 such days.
Gov.
John Kasich has been among those advocating adding extra snow days on a
one-time basis. He has said if schools exceed their allowable days and
have to extend the year, it can "wreak havoc" with schedules and school
budgets.
The House passed a bill last week to let schools receive
up to four additional days off, with teachers having to report on two of
those.
Senators put their own mark on the measure Wednesday.
The
Senate unanimously passed a plan to let schools take up to four
additional days off this year, with teachers reporting for one day for
training. But first, districts would have to use four contingency days
before they could get the extra days off.
Each school district
adopts an annual contingency plan that includes adding at least five
whole days to the school year if needed to make up any days missed
beyond the excused calamity days. The bill would let districts revise
their plans, which were submitted last September.
Senators changed
the bill during an education committee hearing Wednesday morning. They
made additional changes on the Senate floor in the afternoon to try to
win House support.
"We all know that there are some issues that
everyone has an opinion on and everyone wants to talk about: Calamity
days is one of those," said state Sen. Peggy Lehner, who chairs the
education panel.
She said she believed the committee had struck "a
good balance between the need to keep our students safe and our need to
keep our children well-educated."
"But we do have some who would
like to make it a little different," she said. She then offered an
amendment to "keep perhaps some more people happy."
But the House rejected the Senate amendments, sending the bill to a joint conference committee to work on
an agreement.
Lawmakers in each chamber acknowledged that schools were waiting for an answer on the issue.
"With
no clear end to winter in sight, it is important that we as legislators
take the necessary steps to protect our children from the current
frigid environment," state Rep. Tony Burkley, the bill’s co-sponsor,
told fellow legislators earlier Wednesday.
John Scheu,
superintendent of the Sidney City School District, said blisteringly
cold temperatures and busted water pipes in one building forced his
schools to go beyond the five allotted calamity days this year. The
district, which is north of Dayton, used Presidents Day to make up one
of the days.
Scheu urged senators to grant districts more days.
"It
has been said that allowing additional days will adversely affect
learning for our students," he told the Senate Education Committee. "I
would argue that tacking on an additional four days at the end of the
school year is not going to increase learning for our students."
The
Senate-passed bill also would allow districts to make up the time off
by lengthening school days by 30-minute increments. High school seniors
would be excused from makeup days that occur after their scheduled
graduation ceremonies.
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