Ohio ignores online school F's as it evaluates charter school overseers

It turns out that Ohio's grand plan to stop the national ridicule of its charter school system is giving overseers of many of the lowest-performing schools a pass from taking heat for some of their worst problems.

Gov. John Kasich and both houses of the state legislature are banking on a roundabout plan to improve a $1 billion charter school industry that, on average, fails to teach kids across the state as much as the traditional schools right in their own neighborhoods.

But The Plain Dealer has learned that this plan of making charters better by rating their oversight agencies, known as sponsors or authorizers, is pulling its punches and letting sponsors off the hook for years of not holding some schools to high standards.

The state this year has slammed two sponsors/authorizers with "ineffective" ratings so far. But it has given three others the top rating of "exemplary" by overlooking significant drawbacks for two of them and mixed results for the third.

The state's not penalizing sponsors, we found, for poor graduation rates at dropout recovery schools, portfolios of charter schools that have more bad grades than good ones and, most surprising, failing grades for online schools.

Online school F grades aren't counted

We found that the state isn't counting the performance of online charter schools -- one of the most-controversial and lowest-performing charter sectors -- in the calculations in this first year of ratings.

(Readm ore at Cleveland.com)

State Senator Says Schools Are Missing Out on Millions in Casino Revenue

When Ohio voters gave the okay for casinos to hit the state more than five years ago, there was a catch.

Operators would have to pay a 33 percent tax on their revenue, calculated by subtracting “promotional credits” and payouts from their overall earnings.

A chunk of that money then would be funneled to local governments and schools.

But one state senator thinks the current equation means districts are losing big.

Promotional credits are things like “$10 in free gaming” or other methods aimed at bringing in customers. And right now, there’s no limit to how much casinos and racinos can say they gave in promotional credits.

That’s all money that could have been taxed to bring in revenue for schools and local governments, said Ohio Sen. Bill Coley.

He said over the past three years, the lost tax revenue amounts to roughly $165 million.

(Read more at NPR)

Half of Ohio charter school's students 'didn't exist at all'

A special audit has found that a now-closed Ohio charter school padded its rolls by nearly half and collected $1.1 million in tax dollars it wasn't owed.

Auditor Dave Yost said Monday that General Chappie James Leadership Academy, in Montgomery County, reported having 459 students in attendance, but only 239 students could be documented. He said at a news conference that the other 220 "didn't exist at all."

Several missing students were reported as attending over several years. Yost said that signaled potential fraud, not just bookkeeping errors.

He urged lawmakers to act to reform Ohio's charter school regulations.

The Ohio Department of Education calculated the unjustified payments for the review period from July 1, 2011, through June 30, 2014. Schools receive money based on how many students they have.

Opt-out movement in Ohio small but significant, say Miami researchers

Michael Evans and Andrew Saultz wanted to learn more about the national movement to opt out of standardized testing. They started with Ohio, discovering not widespread, but distinct pockets of dissent.

The scope of Ohio’s opt-out movement surprised the two researchers, both professors in Miami University’s College of Education, Health and Society. They found in preliminary data that the media portrait painted of the affluent suburbia parents leading the charge is not the case at all.

“Pockets of dissent are materializing in a wide range of districts — not only the affluent suburban or urban school districts as many believe,” Evans said.

Halfway into their research they discovered that 5 percent of the districts had a significant number of opt-outs. These districts represent typical Ohio communities. (See chart right.)

Evans and Saultz are now turning their attention to the rationale that informs a parent’s decision to opt out of having their children take the tests.

In Ohio there are two organizations that appear to be very influential: United Opt Out – Ohio, a progressive education group; and Ohioans Against the Common Core.

United Opt Out members believe testing is taking away time and resources from the arts and other forms of curriculum. They also are concerned about corporate influence on public education. Ohioans Against the Common Core dissenters hold the belief that the federal government wields too much control over local school districts.

”It’s a combination of strange bedfellows in terms of who is supporting the opt-out strategy,” Evans said.

(Read more at Miami University)

State lacks info on 1,700 Ohio charter-school students

As the Ohio Department of Education attempts to close the financial books on last school year, one thing is certain: Making sure charter schools get the right amount of money is no easy task.

The state is continuing to withhold or reduce payments to schools that educate about 1,700 charter-school students because they have been “flagged.” That means the state got conflicting claims about where the students lived or what schools they attended.

Although the number is down from about 5,000 flagged students this spring — mainly because a state computer system that charters and districts use to resolve enrollment disputes went down for maintenance — the 1,700 flags are still more than triple the number the state ended with last school year.

Out of 385 charters, 240 have been paid for students even though it is uncertain whether the students were enrolled at those schools. Other charters might have been shortchanged and are owed money by the state. To lessen the financial blow, the Ohio Department of Education has said it won’t reduce a charter’s payments by more than 5 percent in a month.

(Read more at the Dispatch)

Lawmakers would kill innovative ed fund

Senate Republicans want to kill another Gov. John Kasich priority, one that has given $250 million to schools for innovative ideas such as teaching students to program robots.

Kasich pushed for the Straight-A Fund in 2013 to reward schools that educate students in inventive ways. For example, eight career-technical schools used nearly $15 million to purchase robots that students use to earn industry certifications and jobs in skilled trades, said Chuck Speelman, superintendent of the Tri-Rivers Career Center in Marion.

"We trained students on generic robotic systems before then hoped those skills would be transferable. We don't hope anymore," Speelman said.

But senators stripped money for the education fund from their version of the two-year budget, saying it wasn't a priority as lawmakers look for places to cut spending, said Senate Finance Chairman Scott Oelslager, R-North Canton.

Kasich, whose office declined to comment on specific budget changes, had allocated about $200 million for the innovative education fund for the next two years. House lawmakers cut that amount in half. Senate President Keith Faber, R-Celina, said Monday that programs were eliminated throughout the budget to pay for an income tax cut for business owners.

(Read more at the Lancaster EAgle Gazette)