1.  Effective for all first time 9th grade students, beginning July 1, 2010, the study of economics and financial literacy is required in either a social studies class or the content of another class. This revision to the state’s minimum graduation requirements became effective with the passage of Amended Senate Bill 311 passed in 2007. (Source: http://www.lbo.state.oh.us/fiscal/fiscalnotes/126ga/SB0311EN.htm)

2.  The Ohio Department of Education, as mandated by recent legislation, will be creating business education standards for grades 7-12. Currently, Ohio does not have state-mandated business education standards. In recent years, this void has been filled by the Professional Association Content Standards for Business, a joint initiative of the Interprofessional Association Taskforce (or IPAT) consisting of OBTA–An Association for Business Technology Educators, the Business Information Technology Division of Ohio ACTE, and the Ohio Marketing Education Association Division of Ohio ACTE. These Professional Association Content Standards for Business were developed using the NBEA Business Education Standards, MarkED Standards, and Ohio Academic Content Standards. The distribution of these Professional Association Content Standards for Business was undertaken by OBTA–An Association for Business Technology Educators and no professional association profited from the distribution of these standards. This has been a great service to Ohio districts and has helped numerous business educators revise their program offerings. (Source: OBTA Web site www.obta-ohio.org)

3.  Ohio continues to experience the loss of teacher preparation programs for business education teachers. In 2009, Wright State University ended its business education and marketing education teacher preparation programs after a significant decline in enrollment in these programs. Currently, Ohio has only one NABTE institution, Bowling Green State University, and eight state-approved teacher preparation programs in business education (2 of which are currently not accepting new students). (Source: Ohio Department of Education Web site www.ode.state.oh.us)

4.  Professional development in Ohio schools continues to be a challenge in the face of declining availability of professional development funds in districts and institutions of higher education. As a result, membership in professional associations has suffered because fewer and fewer teachers have the funding available to join and/or participate in professional association activities (workshops, conferences, etc…).