Will The Sun Ever Shine On Charter School Spending?

Ohio House Bill 2 has now been relegated to “lip-service” status on charter school reform after the GOP-dominated House Education Committee refused to adopt any meaningful changes (including recommendations by Republican State Auditor Dave Yost). When it was introduced, it was allegedly a bill that would be demonstrating that Ohio Republicans, including Governor Kasich, were serious about turning the corner on Ohio’s charter schools and becoming serious about holding them to the same level of accountability as Ohio’s real public schools.

Instead, House Bill 2 has fallen flat. As reported by the Ohio Education Association this week [emphasis-added]:

In the most recent action on HB 2, the House Education Committee adopted 20 amendments to the bill at its Tuesday, March 17 hearing. Most of the amendments consist of the Governor’s charter school recommendations proposed in the state budget bill (HB 64), which are heavily focused on charter school sponsor accountability.

Notably absent from the additions made to the bill were most of the reform recommendations submitted to the committee by State Auditor Dave Yost (R). The Auditor’s proposals were based on his recent on-site audits of numerous charter schools, which raised a variety of concerns about the lack of accountability and transparency.

Fellow Republicans on the House Education Committee rejected the State Auditor’s recommendations for more transparency on how tax dollars are spent by charter schools, tighter student truancy laws for charters, more accountable charter school governance and measures to prevent charter operators from using these schools as a “back-door means to acquire real estate.” The committee also rejected numerous amendments proposed by Democrats, some of which were attempts to include the Auditor’s proposals in the bill.

(Read more at Plunderbund).

Excessive tests crimp lesson time, Ohio teachers say

Diane Smeenk’s honors English class is paired with an Advanced Placement U.S. History course so students can study key moments in the country’s history along with literary works.

But this year, the Fairbanks High School teacher and her history counterpart had to adjust their lessons because of interruptions from at least 30 hours of state-mandated and district tests and five school cancellations because of the weather. Students in the Union County district also have missed class time to prepare for the online exams and from shorter class periods because of testing.

With less time to cover concepts, she scrapped two novels and condensed several assignments to keep pace with her lessons plans. “I would have been teaching Of Mice and Men in the middle of World War II,” she said.

Educators throughout Ohio have similar stories of how their school year has been upended by testing overload. School psychologists, counselors and teachers who work with children with special needs or those who struggle with English have spent weeks away from their students because they’ve been pulled to proctor exams. Middle- and high-school students have been revolving in and out of their foreign-language and elective classes to take exams, leaving teachers to hold off on lessons until they return.

Educators say they’ve had to come up with new class assignments for students who are too emotional and tired to focus on lessons. Class schedules have been shortened, and, in some cases, students are operating on two-hour delay schedules typically reserved for bad weather while their peers spend the morning on exams.

“Whenever you change the schedule, it throws kids off,” said Cheri Brown, who helped oversee testing at Edison Intermediate School and Larry Larson Middle School in Grandview Heights.

During six days of testing, fourth-graders at Edison started their academic classes after noon with 25-minute class periods. Middle-schoolers at Larson normally have a 110-minute block for classes; testing shaved their time with teachers by half.

(Read more at the Dispatch)

HUDSON SCHOOL BOARD SENDING LETTER TO GOV. KASICH OPPOSING PROPOSED STATE BUDGET

Hudson -- The Board of Education is asking for the public's help voicing opposition to Gov. John Kasich's proposed state budget which, if passed, will use a formula to take money from wealthier districts and give more cash to districts in financial need.

Board members passed a unanimous resolution March 16 to "sponsor a letter to the governor and state legislators on behalf of the Board of Education expressing concern regarding the considerable negative impact of said proposed 2016 - 2017 budget on the Hudson City School District."

Under the current funding formula, the budget, which Kasich has touted as a "Blueprint for a New Ohio," the district would lose $2.98 million, or 28 percent, in state funding over the next two years, according to Superintendent Phil Herman.

The reduction would be akin to losing 3.3 mills in funding, reducing state funding per pupil from $2,243 to $1,991, according to the Board.

"We recognize that some districts in the state need additional financial assistance, and we are not advocating for an increase in state funds for Hudson," Herman said in a letter sent to parents March 4. "However, it is essential that state resources are held stable for high performing districts such as Hudson City Schools. Reductions in the state funding formula to high performing districts will not enhance education in Ohio."

(Read more at Hudson Hub Times).

Test security now means checking social media for cheaters

For the organizations that give standardized tests, it's a common - and common-sense - security measure.

But to the growing number of critics of the exams, the practice of monitoring students' social media accounts against leaks of test questions is evidence that the tests and the companies that create them are too invasive.

The debate exploded last week in New Jersey when a school administrator emailed some colleagues about her district's experience. In the email, Watchung Hills Regional High School District Superintendent Elizabeth Jewett said the state Education Department contacted her district at a testing company's request at 10 p.m. one night last week with news of a possible test breach. A student apparently had posted a photo of a question from the Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers test, or PARCC, on Twitter.

The state Education Department, she said in her note, was informed of the issue by Pearson, the London-based company that oversees the test developed by PARCC. It is being given in a dozen states this month.

"The DOE wanted us to issue discipline to the student," she wrote.

But, Jewett said in the March 10 email to leaders of other schools that was obtained by education blogger Bob Braun, it turned out that the student was merely complaining about a test question; there was no photo of the item itself. She said the student's tweet was removed.

Jewett released a statement confirming that the email was hers and asserting it was accurate, but she did not return an email seeking more details. The district also said she would not comment further.

PARCC, intended to measure how well students are learning what's required by the national Common Core curriculum standards, has many critics. Some students scattered across the country are protesting the exam and some parents organized through social media networks are boycotting it.

(Read more at NBCi4)

HB 2 Amendments One More Positive Step. Heavy Lift Remains

The House Education Committee yesterday adopted an omnibus amendment to its charter reform legislation (House Bill 2). Most of the amendments were the charter reform provisions introduced in the Budget Bill (House Bill 64), but there were some meaningful and significant tweaks. I will talk more in depth in a separate post about the omnibus' "high performing charter" definition -- the first we've seen in this recent spate of charter reforms.

For now, though, let's start with the better stuff:

1. Operator Oversight
1. The amendments include one that will post all school-operator contracts at the Ohio Department of Education website. This is a huge step forward. When I was chairman of the Primary and Secondary Education Subcommittee of the House Finance Committee, I was stunned that ODE didn't have these contracts because the law didn't require them to have the contracts, even though some operators get as much as 97% of the state revenue to educate kids at charters. This is so basic, yet so important for strong oversight and accountability. 
2. The amendments include one that would have operator report cards listed in the charter school annual report, which is a good tweak of the HB 2 original language. Now we'll know how all three charter entities -- sponsors, schools and operators -- perform. Great for transparency.
3. The amendments require that the schools have independent counsel to negotiate the contracts they sign with operators and sponsors -- a very positive step to safeguard taxpayer dollars. However, the charter legal world is a very tight knit group. Will this essentially serve as the Jamie Callendar Permanent Employment Act? Or will it allow some independence from his dominance in this area? We'll see.
4. Financial and enrollment reports have to be sent to the operator too, not just sponsor and school. I am still perplexed why they wouldn't be sent to ODE since it's public money we're talking about here. 
2. Transparency
1. In addition to the posting of operator contracts, the amendments say that all charter governing board members shall be listed on school websites, with their addresses and contact information sent to ODE and sponsors. This is another step forward. Again, though, for 16 years they haven't been required to do this. Amazing.
2. ODE approves financial plans for schools and has contracts with all sponsors, even previously grandfathered entities. Again, keeping all this information in the public's warehouse is a nice step forward.
3. The amendments require annual training for all charter employees and sponsors on public records requirements. This should avoid the embarrassment of charters not telling reporters basic information, like who's on the board and when they meet, like they did last year.
3. Accountability
1. Adds more requirements for the sponsor contracts with schools, which would help bring more sunshine in on that.
2. Allows the state Board of Education to establish additional requirements for new sponsors and allows the Cleveland Transformation Alliance more of a voice on new Cleveland charters. While this isn't meeting the original intent of the Alliance --namely having local communities control which schools can open in them -- it does give them a little more say on which charters can open in Cleveland. And that's a good step. Giving the mostly elected board some additional oversight authority is also a nice step.
3. Requires that the sponsor, not its agent, has to work with the Auditor of State on audits and other procedures. This is a response to Auditor David Yost's recommendations and is a nice step.
4. Has ODE approve all financial plans of charters. Again, solid provision.

As you can see, the vast majority of the provisions are improvements. Do they go as far as they need to? No. But we're definitely on a solid reform path that will help the public be better informed about the sector. And that's important. However, there remains a major blind spot in this bill: the schools themselves.

(Read more at 10th Period)

Panel gets to work on testing in Ohio schools

As students wrapped up their first round of new tests based on Common Core standards, a state advisory panel convened yesterday to study whether Ohio should scale back or even scrap some standardized tests.

The 28-member Senate Advisory Committee on Testing, led by Senate Education Chairwoman Peggy Lehner, R-Kettering, was created in response to growing complaints from parents, teachers and administrators about excessive testing.

“Legitimate concerns have been raised both about the current state assessments as well as Ohio’s overall testing policies,” Lehner told the group, which includes teachers, superintendents, education experts and lawmakers.

The committee will first review Ohio’s shift this year to PARCC (Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Career) tests for English/language arts and mathematics, and AIR (American Institute of Research) exams for science and social studies.

(Read more at the Dispatch)