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Lawmakers Compromise To Pass Bill On Teacher Evaluations

Lawmakers have come to a deal on some changes to Ohio’s new teacher evaluations. And Statehouse correspondent Karen Kasler reports that agreement has removed an obstacle for lawmakers working on another bill. 

Senators reported hearing that new teacher evaluations were costing too much time and money, and so they made a few changes. But House Republicans, including Speaker Bill Batchelder, weren’t happy.

“Most of the school districts have done one appraisal at this point. And when you start out by changing the rules, it’s probably not helpful.”

The House changed the Senate’s changes. So Senators put their original evaluation change bill into the governor’s education budget update, which threatened that bill’s passage. Lawmakers have now compromised on evaluating top-rated teachers every three years instead of every two, and they’ve agreed that student growth will be 42.5% of an evaluation, essentially splitting the differences in the percentages they wanted.  The changes were added to a bill related to STEM schools, and that clears the way for the education budget update to come out of committee.