Students lacking support, or the consequences in ending the ‘5 of 8’ rule
Posted December 25, 2016 in Selected Press
The State Board of Education thought it was providing local school officials with helpful flexibility. Unfortunately, its decision nearly two years ago to eliminate the “5 of 8” rule concerning school staffing has proved problematic, or at odds with the objective of ensuring a strong education for all Ohio students in public schools.
Policy Matters Ohio, a Cleveland-based think tank, recently released an analysis that puts the change in valuable context. The rule set up a minimum level of staffing for music, the arts, physical education, counselors, librarians, nurses, social workers and visiting teachers. A school district was required to have at least five of these eight positions for every 1,000 students. The change by the board coincided with school officials facing budgetary pressure as state spending on primary and secondary education declined in real dollars from 2000 to 2010.
Today, state spending on public schools (again adjusting for inflation) still has not caught up to the level in 2008, or pre-recession.
Policy Matters examined the trend from 2005-06 school year to 2014-15. It found the state has lost 3,269 educators in the “5 of 8” category in that time. The number of art, music and physical education teachers has declined 12.3 percent. The drop has been a steep 39.7 percent for school librarians.
Gov. John Kasich has touted the importance of the arts in achieving a complete education. His words echo many studies showing how the arts improve academic achievement and creativity, the benefits eventually rippling into the private sector, as Policy Matters points out.
The same goes for music education, aiding self-expression and self-discipline, helping students handle multi-layered challenges in a range of subjects. Physical education advances cognitive capacity and academic performance.
All of this is especially crucial for disadvantaged children, studies showing that they benefit significantly from access to high-quality programs in the arts, music and physical education. Policy Matters cites data showing that schools with full-time, licensed librarians tend to generate higher average student test scores.
The employment trends are better for school counselors, nurses and social workers, with slight declines and even increases when factoring for enrollment. Yet in these instances, the state still lags behind the recommended levels or best practices. The analysis notes that the state has a counselor-to-student ratio of 1 to 482. The national standard calls for 1 to 250. The presence of nurses in schools falls short to a similar degree.
The recommended standard for social workers is one for every 800 students. In 2015, Ohio had a ratio of 1 to 4,537.
These are not luxury positions for schools. They are essential to the mission. Again, the data show counselors, nurses and social workers making a difference for students in better discipline, decision-making, in dealing with chronic illnesses and emotional problems, all to the benefit of classroom performance and just growing up. The same goes for visiting teachers who work with students facing particular difficulties with school.
A state such as Ohio with a glaring education deficit and still struggling with a wrenching economic transition should be mobilizing to ensure school districts have the resources they need. That may not require reviving the “5 of 8” rule. It must involve confronting what Policy Matters Ohio has made clear, making the necessary commitment to higher standards and then getting there.
Original Article: http://www.ohio.com/editorial/editorials/students-...