Committees
Operations and Efficiency Committee
February 6, 2004 Minutes
In attendance were Chairman Walt Davis, Vice Chairman Denny Woods, Richard Baker (for Jennifer Sheets), Senator Robert Gardner, Representative William Hartnett, Thomas Johnson, Jim Mahoney and David Varda. Other committee members in attendance were John Brandt and Paolo DeMaria.
Presentation:
- Operations and Efficiency Draft Recommendations (PDF*, 31 KB)
Mr. Davis called the meeting to order at approximately 10:10.
Mr. Davis noted that committee staff has prepared a draft of the committee's recommendations for discussion by members. He noted that today might be the last meeting of the committee. The Ohio Education Association has engaged a consultant to analyze health care insurance in school districts. If the consultant is in a position to make recommendations for the committee to consider, there may be another meeting to hear what this consultant has learned up to this point.
Mr. Davis noted that the recommendations are organized by topic. He asked for feedback from committee members on the draft recommendations. (The committee's recommendations, as amended by members as a result of this meeting, are listed at the end of these minutes.)
Performance Audits
The first item for discussion was performance audits. Mr. Johnson asked what the law currently says about performance audits. Ms. Weir responded that school districts that are in fiscal emergency, watch or caution may be subject to performance audits by the Auditor of State. Mr. Davis asked if we should focus on best practices. Mr. Baker asked how these audits could be made meaningful for school districts. He noted that the State Board looked at performance audits several years ago and generated good data. We need to be specific about what we want. Senator Gardner suggested that the committee needed to consider performance in relationship to spending. He also expressed interest in promoting best practices.
Mr. Woods noted that performance audits promote best practices. He wants to make sure that performance audits compare like districts. Mr. Hartnett raised the issue of what is meant by greatest need. Mr. Davis would prefer random audits rather than necessarily those with the greatest need. Representative Hartnett opined that if the Legislative Office of Education Oversight (LOEO) is to evaluate these pilot performance evaluations the LOEO staff should be consulted on how the evaluation would be conducted. There was consensus that the audits should be representative of Ohio's school districts, not just for the school districts with the greatest need. Mr. Johnson expressed concern about conducting performance audits for all school districts. There was consensus to confine the performance audits to the pilot school districts for the FY 2006-2007 biennium. How the state would proceed with performance audits in the future would depend on the outcome of the pilot evaluations. In general, the focus of these performance evaluations should be on fiscal efficiency and academic performance.
Group Purchasing
After a brief discussion, the committee concurred with the recommendation that the Ohio Department of Education engage an expert consultant to recommend the specifics of a regional or statewide health care insurance program. The committee recognized that this recommendation could be impacted by work being done by other organizations, such as the Ohio Education Association.
Teaching Success Commission Recommendations
The committee reviewed the additions to the Teaching Success Commission's recommendations that Operations and Efficiency Committee members had suggested at the last meeting.
The first recommendation discussed dealt with the new Educator Standards Board that is created in S.B. 2. The issue related to who approves teacher members, the Governor or the State Board. There was a general discussion about whether the committee should recommend the State Board or the Governor to have final approval over appointments. The committee ultimately endorsed S.B 2, which requires the State Board to choose teacher members of the Educator Standards Board from lists submitted by the Ohio Education Association and the Ohio Federation of Teachers.
The consensus of the committee consensus was to let stand the recommendations presented to them.
Governance and Management
After a brief discussion of the recommendation that all school board members be required to take ethics and legal training, the committee retained the recommendation as it was presented.
The committee also endorsed the final recommendation, which supports the work of the Ohio Department of Education as it clarifies its needs regarding regionalization.
Mr. Woods would like for the committee to recognize that there are costs over which school districts have little or no control. He cited the School Employees Retirement System surcharge as one example.
Mr. Davis adjourned the meeting at approximately 11:40 a.m.
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