Statewide Stories of the Day

State probe doesn't worry school chiefs (Courier)

Area superintendents said Monday they are not worried about their districts as Ohio's auditor expands an investigation into schools falsifying attendance records to improve their state report cards. "We're not concerned at all," Findlay Superintendent Dean Wittwer said. "We work extremely hard on our practices." The statewide review by Auditor Dave Yost comes after reports recently surfaced that staff, first at Columbus and Toledo schools, then at a suburban Cincinnati school, falsified attendance records. Read more...

State TPS investigation update (WTVG 13 ABC)

Dr. Jerome Pecko was on vacation when new developments broke in the State investigation into whether TPS tweaked attendance numbers on the state tests. The Auditor's office has announced it will investigate ODE, since several school districts may have violated state regulations. Dr. Pecko tells 13abc, "I am pleased that the auditor is going to take a look at not only what the school districts are doing but also what is going on down in Columbus." TPS has hired a legal team to look into the case. TPS leaders believe the law is unclear on whether districts can throw out data. Read more...

Kasich wants answers from inquiry into data manipulation at schools (Blade)

Ohio Gov. John Kasich said on Monday that he wants answers on the investigation into school-data manipulation at two of the state's largest school systems — with one being Toledo Public Schools — as well as the Ohio Department of Education. "I know there are things in the paper now about the data affecting our schools. Got to get to the bottom of it," the governor told an audience of more than 200 people at the Toledo Rotary Club meeting in the ballroom of the downtown Park Inn. Read more...

Teachers Retiring In Greater Numbers As Pensions Change (WBNS 10 CBS)

COLUMBUS - Some local school districts are seeing two or three times the usual number of teacher retirements. Cathy Williams said that she is one of many giving up her post. “I am retiring before I lose most of my pension," Williams said. Williams spent 35 years teaching, much of it at Champion Middle School in Columbus. She taught students who have special needs. "I am a caretaker. I am a nurse. I am a doctor, a lawyer, a judge,” Williams said. “I make sure that my students are protected.” Read more...

Local Issues

Opposing sides debate how to solve Monroe fiscal emergency (Middletown Journal)

Both sides agree the Monroe School District has to deal with its financial issues. Why the problem exists and how it should be fixed appears to be where the two sides part. Placed in “fiscal emergency” by the state auditor’s office in May, and facing a $2.2 million operating deficit and a bond retirement debt of $3.1 million, Monroe schools will ask voters to approve a five year, 7.05-mill emergency property tax levy during the Aug. 7 special election. The levy will raise $2.5 million a year for the district. Read more...

DPS to provide busing to fewer students (Dayton Daily News)

Dayton — Dayton Public Schools will bus about 3,000 fewer students this year than last under a plan district officials say should eliminate transportation problems, including late or sporadic bus service, that have plagued the district. That means more students will be walking to school after the district tightened eligibility requirements for bus service. The changes take effect with the start of school on Aug. 15. Last year, the school district transported students who live farther than 1.5 miles from their school. Read more...

At Crayons to Computers, teachers shop for free (Enquirer)

Carmie Boesch looks forward to the days she gets to shop at Crayons to Computers. Besides picking out supplies for her Woodford Paideia Academy students, Boesch gets ideas from other educators shopping at the free store for teachers. And it saves her money. In the past two years Boesch has shopped for supplies that would have cost $5,300, said Robbie Atkinson, Crayons to Computers’ director of operations. Because her school is one of 258 in a 16-county region where 60 percent or more of the students qualify for free or reduced meals, she shops for free. Read more...

Editorial

Diving Into How Students Learn Best (Education Week)

In a fortunate turn, advances in research and theory are emerging at a long-awaited moment in U.S. education: the agreement of 46 states and the District of Columbia to adopt the Common Core State Standards. The standards were developed with the recognition that global socioeconomic imperatives, combined with the dizzying pace of technological innovation, create new urgency for the development of engaging and challenging ways to educate our nation’s young people. Read more...