Support for the state wide broadcast of the state of Ohio comes from medical mutual, providing more than one point four million Ohioans peace of mind with a selection of health insurance plans online at Medd Mut.

dot com slash Ohio by the law offices of Porter Wright, Morris and Arthur LLP.

Now, with eight locations across the country, Porter Wright is a legal partner with a new perspective to the business community.

Morad Porter Wright dot com and from the Ohio Education Association, representing 100 24000 members who worked to inspire their students to think creatively and experience the joy of learning online at Ohga dot org.

New state House district maps are drawn, but they're likely going to court.

No statewide mass mandate for schools is coming with another week of more Covid cases among kids.

Many kids who can least afford to lose learning fell behind in the pandemic academic year.

And the state says a new high tech highway will move it ahead.

All this week in the state of Ohio.

Welcome to the state of Ohio, I'm Karen Kasler.

Once again, things went down to the wire at state House as the Ohio Redistricting Commission approved new district maps for state representatives and state senators just past the constitutional deadline.

And those maps are likely to guarantee a Republican supermajority at the state house for the next four years.

When the maps will have to be redrawn because there was not the bipartisan agreement necessary to create 10 year maps.

The move comes after days of debates behind closed doors.

And even those who voted for the map say they believe the plans will be challenged in court as being gerrymandered.

Statehouse correspondent Andy Chow reports.

Just after the clock struck midnight on Wednesday, the redistricting commission approved the new Ohio House and Ohio's Senate district maps five to two with the two Democrats on the panel.

Voting against Republican Senate President Matt Huffman says these maps, which he proposed, follow all the guardrails created in the Ohio Constitution.

You know, I think it's important that this commission vote on a map that is constitutional.

This is the only map.

So, you know, and with this amendment will continue to be the only map that is is constitutional.

But others disagree with the constitutionality of the maps.

The new maps lean toward sixty two Republican seats and thirty seven Democratic seats in the House and the Senate.

Republicans are likely to win 23 seats, leaving 10 districts favorable to the Democrats.

Right now, there are 64 Republicans in the House and thirty five Democrats and twenty five Republicans and eight Democrats in the Senate.

House Minority Leader Amelia Sykes says this is clearly gerrymandering and that the maps fail to follow a section of the Constitution created by a 2015 ballot issue that voters approved overwhelmingly and that state lawmakers supported .

No General Assembly district plan shall be drawn primarily to favor or disfavor a political party, end quote.

In contrast, the maps adopted today go to absurd lengths to create a Republican monopoly on legislative power that they have not earned at the ballot box.

Her father and fellow Democratic redistricting commission member, Senator Vernon Sykes, has been working on redistricting reform for years and was a key leader in getting the 2015 ballot issue passed.

Sykes says these maps failed to accomplish the goal of fair districts.

There's no way.

That I was slap the people in the face.

That promote fair districts.

And put them in a sleep, put them in the misfortune that we've been suffering for decades, for another 10 years.

While Vernon Sykes and Amelia Sykes voted against the maps, the five Republicans on the commission voted for them.

But the statewide elected officials prefaced their votes with their disappointment in the process, which went into the 11th hour of the constitutional deadline to approve the maps.

Secretary of State Frank Lleras was among the leaders who said they were trying to find a compromise, working with Democrats to find common ground.

But the process ran into a stalemate.

It didn't have to be this way.

Some of us worked in good faith, in a bipartisan way to try to get a compromise There are members of this committee who I do not believe worked in good faith to try to reach that compromise.

But here we are, Lero stopped short of saying who specifically was acting in bad faith.

Governor Mike DeWine also voiced his frustration with the parties not being able to reach an agreement, saying he had to vote yes because there was no end in sight.

I think we could have had a map that was more clearly constitutionally, more clearly followed what the Constitution says, but that's not what the reality was.

So while I've been optimistic and I've been hopeful and I thought that the parties, frankly, weren't that far apart, they weren't as far apart as they thought they were.

And I thought really there was something that could be worked out.

There would be give us a 10 year map, which is really what the optimal would be.

And it became clear to me tonight in those discussions, one on one, that that was just not going to happen.

And there was just a futile act not to not to move forward at this point.

Voting rights groups, many of whom turned out to offer public comment at meetings around the state, have also voiced their opposition to the maps.

The executive director of the League of Women Voters of Ohio said lawmakers who voted for the maps, quote, put their shortsighted and selfish interest over the rights of the people.

But she says another ballot issue to make more changes in the process is 100 percent on the table.

The anti gerrymandering group all on the line wrote in a statement, quote, Despite the resounding message Ohioans sent about the need for fair maps the Republican commissioners have sent back one of their own.

They just don't care.

They don't care about fairness.

They don't care about public input.

They don't care about our reforms or following the law.

And they ultimately don't care about our democracy.

End quote.

The group Fair Districts, Ohio, which brought the changes to the process to voters, wrote, quote, fair districts Ohio is still reviewing the Ohio House and Senate maps and considering next steps, including possible litigation and ballot initiatives in the future.

And, quote, It is likely groups will mount a legal challenge and take these maps to the Ohio Supreme Court.

They're back in session in person now.

There are now three Democrats on the court compared to the one Democratic justice.

When the existing maps were challenged in 2011, the current maps were upheld.

But among the three votes to strike them down was current Chief Justice Maureen O'Connor, who's still on the court.

Andy, chÃo, Statehouse News Bureau.

Covid covered cases in Ohio are still at levels not seen since last winter search and deaths which are reported twice weekly or in the triple digits for the last week.

There have been six hundred and fifty four Covid deaths in Ohio in the last month since the middle of August.

Nearly 30000 Ohio kids have tested positive for Covid.

And children have made up a quarter of the new Covid cases for the last few weeks.

Children's hospitals around the state say they're overwhelmed not just with Covid patients, but with more illnesses like RSV and with their usual volume of injury and disease.

But they have less staff, as some medical professionals are quittin because of exhaustion, frustration or opposition to vaccine mandates.

But nearly half of Ohio students are not required to wear masks in schools And Gov.

Mike DeWine said there won't be a statewide schools mask mandate.

He says that's not because he doesn't want one, but because he says if he issues one.

Republican legislators who have supermajorities in the House and Senate will invoke a new law giving them the power to overturn his health orders, which he says would cause confusion.

And he says going to court over this as some critics, including Dayton mayor and Democratic gubernatorial candidate Nan Whaley have called for, would not help.

What we don't want to have is a setback.

And there's a lot of confusion.

And people think, oh, no, we can't have a mass mandate in school.

If the school doesn't matter, that we would end up with a lot of confusion.

So, no, I thought I thought a lot about that.

And, you know, in thinking about it, I came to the conclusion that that was just not the right way to go and that we would end up with fewer kids with Maskin and what we have today.

Instead, DeWine is continuing to promote vaccines and masks alongside doctors in the Ohio Department of Health and says he's talking with superintendent and school board members about locally instituted mask mandates.

Enrollment was lower, test scores were down, and absences were way u in Ohio's traditional public schools last year as students, teachers and families struggled with the continuing impact of the pandemic.

But the impact on the state's poorest students was even more profound than on their wealthier counterparts.

A review of data from the Ohio Department of Education shows state test results were about eight points down in language arts and 15 points down in math.

A report from Ohio State University says students basically lost a half a year to a full year's worth of learning in math.

And between a third and a half a year of learning in English language arts and the odd data says three hundred and eighty thousand kids.

Nearly a quarter of all public school students in Ohio were chronically absent.

Though it also says that was unexpected, yet substantial increase compared to prior years.

Thirty eight percent of economically disadvantaged kids were chronically absent last year.

Twenty six percent the year before.

That's a 46 percent increase.

It's also a two hundred and forty five percent increase, over the 11 percen of non economically disadvantaged kids who are also chronically absent.

This week I talked about that data with Marlon Stiles, the superintendent of the Middletown City Schools.

He's a nationally recognized educator and was the co-chair of the Cut Patterson Work Group's Poverty Subcommittee.

Scott Patterson was the name of the bill that eventually became the fair school funding plan, which was absorbed into the state budget but not fully funded for the full six year Faizan.

I am not surprised by the data that you just shared coming from the state of Ohio We felt in the moment that we were giving it our best shot.

We were trying to reach as many students as possible.

The last year, we we lost a lot of children at the start of the year.

As you think about some of the attendance and enrollment data that came in that report, you know, we lost about five, five and a half percent of our students last school year.

There weren't enrolled during the school, and we were trying our best to try to locate those students.

So so our reality here in Middletown City schools matched some of the statistical data for enrollment.

But also, you know, we've got evidence.

We assumed our students were losing some of the educational gains that we'd experienced pre pandemic.

Our data real time last year, but also affirmed through the state's data.

So far, you know, we've seen about 12 to 15 percent decrease in student learning compared to where we were.

How does a district before COVID 19 hit?

Let's talk a little bit about the decreases in learning where two to three times greater in English language arts among students who are economically disadvantaged compared to those who are non economically disadvantaged.

And that was a lot of this report talking about the impact of the pandemic on economically disadvantaged students.

They got hit harder.

Yeah, so far, our school district, we're a hundred percent free, reduced lunch.

Very proud urban district.

But you think about the comparison between different educational models.

Students were in different environments throughout the year across the state and country here in our district.

One fourth of the school year last year, our students were fully virtual.

You go back to the previous school year, the fourth quarter, squar schools were shut down.

So based you're talking a semester, a half a school year between fourth quarter the previous year and first quarter last school year.

You're talking a semester worth of academic learning that our students were at home and virtual learning as well as second and third quarter last school year.

Our school district was a hybrid model, so we weren't fully return.

So three fourths of the school year our students were out.

We've got a skilled group of educators that did their best to educate students distance through distance learning.

But the service model itself definitely had a huge impact on economically disadvantaged students.

I want to ask about that most, if not all, school districts did some sort of remote or hybrid learning last year.

And the report says that it all grade levels, the decrease in learning was more pronounced among students in districts that primarily use fully remote or hybrid education delivery models.

Why didn't remote or hybrid models work for economically disadvantaged students?

What what is it about learning at home or learning not in the classroom that there doesn't seem to work for them?

I can say for the economically disadvantaged student group, our students with disabilities, student group, all the student groups that we serve, it's difficult.

You think about just take hybrid, for example.

So that was two days of in-person learning for our children.

But also that was three days per week where the children were at home teaching themselves or educators did a great job posting activities and assignments and projects.

But that's three out of five days.

That's 60 percent of your educational time per week to where you as the learner are taking a lead role in educating yourselves.

You know, parents are working as well as those supports, aren't there?

But the model for delivery of education, hybrid or virtual, was very difficult for our students because of the the weight that they needed to carry.

Unfortunately for us, given the community spread that we had here in our city, a lot of the school year, three fourths of it was not in-person, full time combination of remote and hybrid.

When it comes specifically to chronic absenteeism, 38 percent of economically disadvantaged kid were chronically absent last year compared to 26 percent the year before.

That's a 46 percent increase.

It's a huge increase.

Over the 11 percent of non economically disadvantaged students who are chronically absent, economically disadvantaged students were the most likely category of students to be absent .

Why is that?

That's a difficult question to answer the why.

What I can tell you is that there was a great deal of fear around Koven 19 last school year from many parents in our school district.

I've heard it across the state and country as well.

We did offer a virtual platform to try to satisfy parents and make sure kids felt safe and educational.

But our preschool enrollment dropped significantly.

We had a number of students who did not go to preschool that are now in our kindergarten classrooms.

You heard me say earlier, about five percent of our student body, we lost enrollment.

For us, that's roughly about 250 students.

Now, it is a blessing.

This school year is as much as we try to find our kids, that we've got all of our enrollment back We're back to 60 to 100.

But for me, I think what it came down to was the fear around COVID 19 for all parents in our school district and what they felt their kids could be safe in school.

As a district, we're trying to find all of our students.

We have some students that did not enroll as we're trying to engage our district resources to partner with community resources, to reach out to families and find our students.

A reality of last school year that we had some students that did not come back to school.

As I said before, it is a blessing.

Our students and families have returned this year.

Our students are back in class, but a lot of factors go into that participation rate at the state level that that they're demoting some schools for that really are Adobe schools and school districts.

Control doodah, specifically the quarantining guidelines provided by the Department of Health.

Yeah.

On those missing kids, there are some data nationally that suggests one to three million kids just went missing, didn't show up for school, did not come back.

And trying to reengage with those kids, I imagine, is a priority, but it's hard to find them.

Where did they go?

Do you do you have any you know, how do you find out what happened to those kids and bring them back into your classrooms?

Yeah.

And see know we've we've reached out has some campaigns over the summer, in the late spring to really reengage our families, to push kindergarten enrollment similar to other school districts across the state of Ohio.

More importantly, I think what I would focus my response on here currently is what are what are we as a school district doing now that our students are back?

We have leverage are our funds and some very creative ways to focus on really addressing the negative impact of Koban 19 on our kids.

I'm sure there are a lot of creative ways to service students that are out there.

I'll share just a few that we have in our school district first as students transition back.

Our big focus care was around their social, emotional well-being.

We instituted some full time counselors.

We hired seven additional full time counselors to make sure that we could assist students in transitioning back to restructure school setting.

In addition to that, we had some some community supports for families and success liaison's.

We double down in those areas to make sure that we had a team of supports for families who were transitioning back to the school district, given what they experienced last October 19.

More importantly, in the classrooms, we put a few supports in to address our preschool students who are now in our kindergarten classrooms, transitioning to become school, ready to have some kindergarten assistants on hand for that purpose.

We have doubled down on our literacy supports for our children.

We've increased the number of translators and ESL supports that we have as well.

And then last but not least, what I'll share is kind of moving forward really focused in on accelerating the learning gains.

I know the report identifies learning loss.

I don't like to admire problems.

I'd like to explore solutions.

So we have really pushed the idea of connectivity for our families Last year, we pushed all of our devices home.

We're doing that same exercise again today, the school year.

All of our students grades one through 12, take a school issue device home.

We have confidence that over 95 percent of our students have connectivity at home, Internet access, which now allows us to leverage some of the digital platforms that we have to extend the learning when kids are at home.

So some key digital academic platforms that allow students a personalized experience to keep learnin going beyond the school day is really what we're really trying to focus on.

When the school day.

And so some key programs at folks are probably familiar with things like DreamBox, wrasse, kids, those type of platforms are really critical to what we're doing , trying to engage kids and families and not just usage, but focusing in on learning games outside the school day.

With all of that and the fact of the pandemic is still going on, you also have a school bus driver shortage that's across the country All of these challenges that you're having to deal with here.

What do you wish state education officials, state lawmakers, people running for office?

What do you wish they knew about?

What do you want to tell them about this?

All these things that you're dealing with during the pandemic here and with all the crises that you're dealing with?

I would say this and I'll speak I'll speak for our district here.

Our students did not ask for Covid to show up in their lives.

They were impacted in ways that they never dreamed possible.

I would say that our families are giving us their best effort right now and our students are giving us their best effort right now as they transition to transition back to school full time for the first time in over a year and a half.

More importantly, I would like to celebrate for those who are really watching the educators in our district and educators across the state are pouring their heart and souls and trying to make sure that our students are catching up to where they're supposed to be.

We know that's a here and now problem.

We know that it will take some time, but know that we as school districts are really focused on some strategic ways to try to attack ways to accelerate learning.

But it's going to take some time and some resources.

I know that our educators are giving it their best shot.

And if they could, just those that you mentioned before, if they could just continue to deliver confidence to educators who are pouring their heart and souls into children, that would be a huge lift for the educators, not just in my district, but across the state of Ohio.

I think that's something that's just desperately needed for those serving children to know that they know that we're awfully proud of your effort and to keep going.

Our kids are counting on all of us.

The report from the John Glenn College of Public Affairs at Ohio State Universit also noted the achievement gaps between disadvantaged minority and lower performing groups and higher performing students increased over the pandemic academic year Those in the bottom achievement quartile, according to fall test scores, usually record the largest gains in the spring.

But last school year, they made up considerably less ground by kids, and the highest achievement quartile learned as much during that time as they did before the pandemic.

The information superhighway has merged with an actual highway on the stretch of Route thirty three between Dublin and Marysville, just outside of Columbus.

Ground was broken this week on the nation's longest connected highway The thirty three smart mobility corridor.

And it's expected to attract new tech business and increase highway safety.

Our videographer and show director, Dan Konik, has this look.

It's an honor to be here with all of you today as we officially cut the ribbon on the nation's longest connected highway.

This OK.

I guess I deserve some applause.

This is an unprecedented milestone, not just for Ohio, but for the country.

For years now, we've talked about the transformation of transportatio and the rapid advancement of smart mobility technology in our state And it's one thing to talk about technology and plans for the future.

But in Ohio, it's already happening.

Ohio's first smart highway, which begins here and goes to Dublin in the outskirts of Columbus.

Thirty five miles of limited access now equipped with high speed fiber optic, as well as the 100 roadside or so roadside units connecting the Dublin intersections, as well as the Marysville intersections.

And then everything else in the Columbus region, it's the recipe for success.

The corridor itself is comprised of roadside units, which are D.R.C.

radios for the layman and then onboard units.

So the ability to communicate in real time between what's going on in the roadway and the drivers.

When we look at it like an urban application, like connectin Marysville, connect to Dublin, the ability to inform drivers and pedestrians to what's going on on the transportation system.

Number one is safety.

The technology that is being tested now and will be in the future is going to save lives.

And then second is economic opportunity.

This is the art of the possible.

We know this asset will mature with technology and it will be a baseline and a framework for continued investment in advanced mobility here in the state.

Why should you care your travel is going to be more efficient it's going to be safer, it's going to save lives, and we're going to be able to futureproof Ohio's economy.

We want these jobs and this investment here in the state of Ohio.

So it's going to employ your kids.

You can employ you as a bridge.

So this is the future is being built in the state of Ohio.

This is going to increase the network of companies that are doing business here So that is automotive, it's aerospace, it's suppliers.

It's this ecosystem.

It's this supply chain that is just going to explode as you go towards Marysville.

New business parks, new investment.

This is the future of the 21st century economy.

This is just the beginning.

It's going to get better.

Like this is this is the first shot.

This is the starting point.

The thirty three smart corridor is a thirty five mile loop with four hundred and thirty two strands of available fiber, sixty three roadside units and forty five connected intersections.

And that's it for this week for my colleagues at the Statehouse News Bureau of Ohio Public Radio and Television.

Thanks for watching Please check out our website at State News dot org.

And you can follow us on the show on Facebook and Twitter.

I won't be in this chair for the next two weeks, but please join us again next time for the state of Ohio.

Support for the state wide broadcast of the state of Ohio comes from medical mutual, providing more than one point four million Ohioans peace of mind with a selection of health insurance plans online at Medd Mut.

dot com slash Ohio by the law offices of Porter Wright, Morris and Arthur LLP.

Now, with eight locations across the country, Porter Wright is a legal partner with a new perspective to the business community.

Moorad Porter Wright dot com and from the Ohio Education Association, representing 100 24000 members who worked to inspire their students to think creatively and experience the joy of learning online at Ohga dot org.