Senate Education Committee Reconvenes Tuesday

by Michelle Faust

Although the Lame Duck Legislative Session doesn’t begin until after the November election, the Ohio Senate Education Committee is scheduled to reconvene Tuesday. 

Education Committee Chair Peggy Lehner says a truancy bill is her highest priority.  The Senate Republican from Kettering says the legislation requires schools to look at why students skip class instead of resorting to suspensions.

"To start looking at truancy as a social-emotional issue, as opposed to a judicial-issue."

She says she hopes to amend the bill to prohibit suspensions and expulsions for children in the 3 ^rd grade and younger.

Other pending education legislation includes a House bill that would allow for district annexation, another that would require cursive handwriting in school curriculum, and a bill that would review the value-added scores on school report cards.