Republicans land both state school board leadership seats: Gunlock will be president, Elshoff as VP

Tom Gunlock was elected president of the state school board this morning in a 12-7 vote that mostly followed party lines on what is, officially at least, a non-partisan board.

Gunlock, a Centerville Republican and one of eight appointees of Gov. John Kasich on the board, was vice president of the board last year.

He defeated new board member and Democrat Pat Bruns, of Cincinnati, who had been nominated by a coalition of seven Democratic members. The only Democrat voting for Gunlock was A.J. Wagner of Dayton.

That coalition has promised to work together to have their voice heard about school funding, standardized testing and charter schools, despite being a minority on the board.

Republican Tess Elshoff of New Knoxville was elected as vice president with an 11-8 vote.

She beat longtime member Michael Collins, who was also nominated by the coalition of Democrats. Wagner joined the seven members of the coalition in voting for Collins.

Board member Mary Rose Oakar, of Cleveland, nominated Collins and urged the board to elect him in the spirit of both parties working together.

(Read more at Cleveland.com)

'School Choice' and Disenfranchising the Public

"School choice" is one of those policy ideas that just never goes away, and it probably never will. For some people it is an irresistible way to unlock all those public tax dollars and turn them into private profits. For others it's a way to make sure their children don't have to go to school with "those people." Other people are justifiably attracted to the idea of more control over their child's education. And still others have a sincere belief that competition really does create greatness.

Voucher fans and proponents of modern charters like to focus on those promises. They're much quieter about one of the other effects of a choice system.

School choice disenfranchises the public.

Our public school system is set up to serve the public. All the public. It is not set up to serve just parents or just students. Everybody benefits from a system of roadways in this country -- even people who don't drive cars -- because it allows a hundred other systems of service and commerce to function well.

School choice treats parents as if they are the only stakeholders in education. They are not. We all depend on a society in which people are reasonably well-educated. We all depend on a society in which people have a reasonably good understanding of how things work. We all depend on a society in which people have the basic abilities needed to take care of themselves and the people around them. We all depend on dealing with doctors and plumbers and lawyers and clerks and neighbors who can read and write and figure. We hope for fellow voters who will not elect a politician because he promises to convert straw to gold by using cold fusion. We all depend on a society that can move forward because it is composed of people who know things.

(Read more at the Huffington Post)

State school board Democrats vow that their "voice will be heard" on testing, school funding and charter schools

Democrats on the state school board have banded together to push for better state funding of schools, better controls over charter schools and a reduction in the amount of standardized tests kids have to take.

The coalition of seven members will be a minority on the mostly-Republican board of 19. But leaders of the coalition said in a press conference this morning that they hope that by speaking together, they can have a voice in support of education.

"That voice will be heard," said new board member Bob Hagan, a former state representative from Youngstown. "I don't think you've seen or heard of a coalition like this at the state school board in the past."

In the hour-long discussion with media from across the state, six of the seven members raised multiple objections with changes that have occurred in public education in Ohio the last several years: more state money going to charter schools and away from traditional districts; a reduction in state support for public schools; a lack of accountability in both finances and performance of charter schools; increased testing of students; and creation of new evaluation systems for teachers and principals they say may need adjustments.

(Read more at Cleveland.com)

Ohio schools earn a C in nationwide review

Ohio’s education system still outperforms that of most other states, but it has fallen to 18th on a national report card released today.

Ohio earned a C, receiving 75.8 points out of a possible 100, in the annual Quality Counts report by Education Week, an education trade newspaper. That was slightly higher than the national average of 74.3, also a C.

Five years ago, Ohio got a B- and ranked fifth among the 50 states and the District of Columbia.

“We know we have a literacy problem, and we’ve been addressing that for a few years,” said John Charlton, spokesman for the Ohio Department of Education.

“We feel like we’re moving in the right direction and have put some things into motion that we hope will have long-tem positive effects, like the third-grade reading guarantee, but it will take time.”

Most states — 31, including Ohio — were in the C+ to C- range.

(Read more at the Dispatch)

State school board to have leadership battle next week

Democrats are still a minority on the state school board, but several are banding together to try to make one of them president or vice president of the board.

That's the first step in a planned push by Democrats, who gained two seats on the 19-member board in November, to take a more active role in support of "public education," meaning, traditional public schools instead of charter schools.

The members will explain their new agenda to the public Friday morning in a conference call with media.

The board will select new leadership at its first meeting of the new year on Monday, with last-year's vice president, Tom Gunlock, the clear favorite for the position.

Gunlock, an appointee of Gov. John Kasich who did much of the work to redesign the state's report cards for schools and districts, had been wavering on whether to seek the spot. He told The Plain Dealer this week that he is interested, but will not actively campaign for it.

Board members pointed to Ron Rudduck, a Wilmington Republican, as a likely nominee for vice president.

(Read more at Cleveland.com)

Kasich reappoints four members to State Board of Education

Ohio Gov. John Kasich is making no changes in his appointments to the State Board of Education.

The Republican today reappointed four at-large members whose terms expired yesterday -- Cathye J. Flory of Logan, Teresa A. Elshoff of New Knoxville, Thomas W. Gunlock of Centerville and Joseph L. Farmer of Baltimore in Fairfield County. Their new terms expire on Dec. 31, 2018.

The State Board of Education, which oversees state K-12 school policy and the superintendent of public instruction, consists of 11 members elected in nonpartisan races and eight members appointed by the governor.

The Republican-dominated board made headlines last year with its vote to abolish school-staffing requirements that critics contend would allow districts to eliminate art teachers, librarians, counselors and other staff members. The decades-old "5 of 8" rule mandated that schools have at least five of those eight positions for every 1,000 students.

(Read more at the Dispatch)