Statewide Stories of the Day

Sending more money to classroom part of Ohio Gov. John Kasich's plan to revamp school funding (Plain Dealer)

COLUMBUS — Jon Ritchie might just be the future of Ohio education. Since 2007, Ritchie has pulled double duty as superintendent of both the Orrville Local School District and the Rittman Local School District, a pair of rural districts in Wayne County connected by an 11-mile stretch of Ohio 57. This school year, Ritchie is adding Southeastern Local School District to his growing portfolio -- a move enlarging his fiefdom to 4,297 students spread across three Wayne County districts and his pay by $24,000, to $127,000. Read more...

Auditors investigating how schools, ODE report attendance (Dayton Daily News)

The state auditor’s office is launching a statewide investigation into how school districts, charter schools and the Ohio Department of Education report student attendance data after questionable practices surfaced in three districts. “It appears that attendance report rigging is not a localized problem with Columbus Public Schools, but that it may be more systemic – and that raises the question of what role ODE played during the time that false reports were made by multiple schools,” Auditor Dave Yost wrote in a letter sent Thursday to the Ohio Board of Education. Read more...

Students can choose when, where, how to learn (News-Sun)

Students will be able to customize their education through a new blended learning model that Springfield district officials think will attract more students and better prepare them for jobs and college. Blended learning allows students to choose from several available options — including the traditional high school classes, post-secondary college courses and the district’s online school — to complete their required courses and desired electives, said David Estrop, superintendent of the Springfield City School District. Read more...

Lottery windfall won't appear in school budgets (News-Journal)

Higher-than-expected state lottery profits last year do not equal a windfall for Ohio's schools this year, according to three major public education associations. The Ohio Lottery Commission recently released results for the past fiscal year, which ended June 30. Sales surpassed $2.7 billion, and that led to a profit of $771 million, well above the $717.5 million that had been budgeted for schools. By law, all Ohio Lottery profits must be directed toward kindergarten through 12th grade public education, so Ohio's schools are looking at a bump of $50 million for the upcoming school year, right? Read more...

Local Issues

Lakota recalls teachers for upcoming school year (Journal-News)

LIBERTY TWP. — Three months after their job cuts were approved, about 50 teachers within Lakota Local Schools are coming back for another year. Over recent months, the Lakota school board has approved to recall 53 teachers throughout the district — including on the early childhood, elementary, junior and high school levels — effective July 1, according to school board reports. Marla Niebling, Lakota’s assistant director of human resources, said the teachers were hired back at their same level of pay. Read more...

TPS, state on opposite sides of data issue (Blade)

Finger-pointing has begun as the investigation into possible school data manipulation rapidly escalates. Officials within Toledo Public Schools say, both publicly and in private, that the Ohio Department of Education has never made it clear that the practice of retroactively withdrawing and re-enrolling habitually truant students was prohibited, and say the department seems to have condoned the practices by remaining silent during similar situations. Education department officials, meanwhile, say the law and their guidance couldn't have been more straightforward. Read more...

Delphos adds online school option (Lima News)

DELPHOS — Nikki Fetzer watched her children's grades improve since enrolling in the online school Ohio Connections Academy. She no longer worried about bullies and always knew where her son and daughter were. It was perfect, except her son couldn't play football for his hometown school, Delphos Jefferson. Neither children could participate in other extras and would not receive a diploma from the school. Next month, the two will be Wildcats again, thanks to a new online option at the high school. Read more...

Southern Ohio Academy open for student enrollment (Daily Times)

The Southern Ohio Academy is now accepting students in grades 7-12 to begin their first school year of online classes for non-traditional, at-risk students. The not-for-profit Academy is a collaborative effort of Bloom Vernon, Clay, Green, Manchester, Minford, Northwest, Oak Hill, Scioto County Career Technical Center, South Central Ohio Educational Service Center, Valley, Washington Nile, and Wheelersburg schools. Its curriculum is provided by the Virtual Community School of Ohio. Read more...

Busing officials, school district ready for a better start (Middletown Journal)

MIDDLETOWN — Coming off a disastrous start to last school year, representatives of the Petermann Ltd. bus company and the Middletown City School District expect the second year of a five-year $15.1 million contract to be a lot better. Due to re-routing of the entire school district prior to the start of last school year and an addition of 130 school-of-choice students to the district within 36 hours of the first day of school, bus route delays of three or more hours occurred on the first day of school last year. Read more...

Editorial

Perception of state lottery support hurts Ohio schools (Newark Advocate)

It's been a recurring theme as Ohio's new casinos are rolled out: Public officials are seeing significantly smaller-than-projected profits from voter-approved casinos. Promises and reality, so far, don't measure up. In Licking County, skeptical elected officials actually refrained from building promised casino revenues into their budgets, warily adopting a "let's see how this really sorts out" posture. Long before casinos were approved for the Buckeye State, taxpayers similarly were enticed with promises of school financial support from promised slices of the state lottery profits pie. Read more...

State auditor's look at student scores is well deserved (Plain Dealer)

Ohio Auditor Dave Yost's launch of a statewide investigation into possibly fraudulent attendance reporting by a number of traditional and charter schools is both wise and timely. So is his decision to broaden that investigation to include whether lapses in Ohio Department of Education oversight allowed this practice -- first reported by The Plain Dealer nearly four years ago -- to persist. Ohioans need to know how many districts have gamed the system and why the state's education overseers seemingly turned a blind eye to the matter. Read more...