Statewide Stories of the Day

Former-quarterback appointee to quit charter-school effort (Dispatch)

Stanley Jackson will resign from the charter school he founded before it ever opens so he can qualify for an appointment to the Ohio Board of Education, a spokesman for Gov. John Kasich said yesterday. Jackson, 37, the former Ohio State quarterback whom Kasich appointed to the board on Monday, said during an interview with a radio station yesterday that his charter school was “in place” to open in the fall of 2013. Read more...

Driving schools not thrilled with online class option (News-Sun)

SPRINGFIELD — Ohio teens taking driver’s education classes will be able to fulfill their 24 hours of classroom requirements online beginning in September, an idea that worries local instructors. The new law, signed by Gov. John Kasich last week, still requires eight hours of in-car instruction for drivers. Local driving school owners expressed concern that online classes may not give drivers who are just learning the roads all the benefits in-class instruction can. Read more...

Kasich set to sign education bill here today (Enquirer)

MADISONVILLE - Ohio Gov. John Kasich is expected in Cincinnati today to sign a sweeping education bill that seeks to strengthen ties between the state's employers and public schools and makes dozens of other policy changes. The event will be held at Fifth Third Bank's operations center in Madisonville, 5050 Kingsley Dr. Under the measure, Ohio third-graders lagging in reading skills face the possibility of being held back for up to two school years as they get academic help. Read more...

Educators debate when kids should start school (Dayton Daily News)

While most parents send their child to kindergarten when he or she is 5 years old, some people delay their child’s entry to give them an academic, social or athletic advantage. About 9 percent of U.S. kindergartners are purposefully held back, or academically redshirted, each year, according to the National Center for Education Statistics. This practice of delaying an age-appropriate child’s entry into kindergarten is debated by educators and parents. Some say it can lead to academic success and confidence, while others contend it can cause alienation and behavioral problems. Read more...

Local Issues

Reynoldsburg's student grouping shows evidence of progress (Dispatch)

Meet Elijah Carter, Taylor Kendrick and Quinaya Moore. The Dispatch followed the students through their sixth-grade year at Reynoldsburg’s Hannah Ashton Middle School, which has taken a radical approach of teaching students in one of three groups based on their ability. Advanced students such as Taylor are grouped together in C.R.E.W., struggling ones such as Elijah in Contenders and those in the middle such as Quinaya in Navigators. Hannah Ashton also allows students to move up or down through the groups, depending on their needs and abilities. Read more...

Painesville Schools refinance bonds, which is expected to save taxpayers $1 million (News-Herald)

Painesville City Schools recently refinanced some outstanding bonds, resulting in savings of more than $1 million for tax payers. The district refinanced parts of its outstanding school construction bonds that were issued in 2004. The bonds provided the district with $31 million that helped create five new school buildings. The school board achieved the savings by approving the issuance of an $8.4 million construction bond, district Treasurer Rick Taylor said. Read more...

Few local districts fiscally red-flagged (News-Sun)

Twenty-seven public school districts across the state are in either fiscal caution, fiscal watch or fiscal emergency, according to the Ohio Department of Education. “That number might be a few districts low (on average), but the numbers are pretty typical,” said Roger Hardin, who oversees the fiscal oversight program for the ODE. “It’s a fluid list, and districts come and go.” Most importantly for the Springfield area, no local districts made the list, which was released last week. Read more...

Schools pruned records, four say (Dispatch)

A team of data-processing workers inflated Columbus schools’ attendance figures by routinely and purposely removing large numbers of absent students from the rolls, four former district data analysts told The Dispatch. At the same time, district administrators summoned school principals to the Kingswood Data Center. There, they were schooled in how to alter other students’ attendance data to improve the schools’ academic standing. Read more...

Cost savings, convenience among points of contention in new Zane Trace busing plan (Chillicothe Gazette)

Not everyone is on board with Zane Trace's new busing plan. A dual-route approach, which is set to be implemented in August, staggers school hours and puts students in grades six through 12 on separate bus routes -- an hour earlier -- than students in kindergarten through grade five. A number of bus drivers, some of whom lost their jobs this past week as a result of the switch to dual routes, have criticized school Superintendent Richard Spindler and the board of education for hastily approving a plan the drivers said might not necessarily save the district money. Read more...

14 Monroe district accounting errors (Journal-News)

The state auditor’s office reported 14 accounting citations in the Monroe Local School District’s latest audit report. “There is usually not anything listed on the audit report,” said Monroe treasurer Holly Cahall, who was not the treasurer during the time of the fiscal 2011 audit. “But 14 (incidences) would seem like a significant number.” Asked about the number of infractions the audit report listed, state auditor spokesman Mike Maurer said 14 is a higher than normal number. Read more...

Editorial

States Raise the Bar With Standards Implementation (Education Week)

This month marks the two-year anniversary of the release of the Common Core State Standards, a set of rigorous academic expectations for English/language arts and mathematics that were envisioned, developed, and now adopted by 46 states and the District of Columbia. The most telling shift in K-12 public education in recent history is that virtually every state has set new college- and career-ready standards—common-core or state-approved. Read more...

Start fiscal restraint at the top (Plain Dealer)

When the economy turns sour and public-sector employees are asked to accept pay freezes or cuts, it's only fair to expect that their leaders should have to submit to financial limits, too. That seems to have happened in the case of hardworking Cleveland schools CEO Eric Gordon, once again willing to accept a stripped-down contract. Yet some public boards of trustees seem tone-deaf in tough times, risking the wrath of employees and taxpayers alike. Read more...

Voice questions (Beacon Journal)

John Kasich tapped Stanley Jackson last week to fill a vacancy on the Ohio Board of Education. The governor described the former Ohio State quarterback as “a man of great character” and “a man of faith.” That may be so. The state Senate has the task of confirming the choice. Senators would do well to look more closely at Jackson’s qualifications and preparation for the job. The Columbus Dispatch went searching for the charter school that Jackson supposedly founded. The newspaper discovered the school does not exist. Read more...