Opposition to voucher expansion has doubled to more than 170

Only a month has passed since we last published the long list of local communities opposing the statewide expansion of vouchers contained in the Governor's budget. But in that short period of time, the number of school districts passing a resolution in opposition has now passed 170.

Here's the list.

Adena local	Lorain County ESC
Allen East Local	Lordstown Local
Anthony Wayne Local	Loudonville-Perrysville
Antwerp Local	Louisville City
Athens City	Lynchburg-Clay Local
Austintown Local	Madeira City
Barnesville EV	Mahoning County C&TC
Bath Local	Manchester Local
Bellbrook-Sugarcreek	Marietta City
Belmont-Harrison Vocational	Mathews Local
Belpre City	Miami County ESC
Berea City	Miamisburg City
Big Walnut Local	Millecreek West Unity
Bloom-Carroll Local	Milton-Union Local
Bloomfield-Mespo Local	Minford Local
Bluffton EV	Monroeville Local
Boardman Local	Morgan Local
Bridgeport	Muskingum Valley ESC
Bristol Local	National Trail Local
Brown Local	Nelsonville-York City
Brown County ESC	New Lexington City
Buckeye Local (Jefferson)	New Richmond
Caldwell EV	New Riegel
Campbell City	Newcomerstown EV
Chagrin Falls EV	Newbury Local
Chillicothe City	Noble Local
Chippewa Local	North Olmsted
Circleville City	Northern Local
Clay Local	Northmont City
Clinton-Massie Local	Northwest Local (Scioto
Clyde Green Springs	Northwestern Local
Columbiana County ESC	Northwood Local
Columbiana EV	Oak Hill Union Local
Coshocton City	Oak Hills Local
Coshocton County JVS	Oakwood City
Coventry	Oberlin Local
Crestline EV	Ohio Valley ESC
Crestview Local	Old Fort Local
Crooksville EV	Ottawa-Glandorf
Cuyahoga Falls	Parma City
Cuyahoga Heights	Put-in-Bay Local
Dublin City	Revere Local
East Guernsey Local	Ridgedale Local
East Liverpool City	Ripley Union Lewis Huntington
Eastern Local (Meigs)	River View Local
Eastern Local (Pike)	Ross Local
Fairbanks	Ross-Pike ESC
Fairborn City	St. Clairsville-Richland City
Fairfield Union	St. Marys City
Fayetteville-Perry Local	Sandusky City
Federal Hocking Local	Sheffield-Sheffield Lake
Felicity-Franklin Local	Shelby City
Findlay City	South Central Ohio ESC
Firelands Local	South Range Local
Fort Frye	Southeast Local (Portage)
Fort Loramie Local	Southern Local
Franklin Local	Southern Ohio ESC
Galion City	Southington Local (Lucas)
Gallipolis City	Springfield Local (Summit)
Garaway Local	Southwest Local
Geneva Area City	Springfield Local
Genoa Area Local	Springfield City
Goshen Local	Streetsboro City
Graham	Sylvania Local
Grand Valley Local	Trimble Local
Granville EV	Trumbull Career & Tech
Green Local (Franklin Furnace)	Tuscarawas Vlley Local
Greenfield EV	Tuslaw Local
Hardin-Houston Local	Union Local
Huber Heights City	Urbana City
Huntington Local	Vanlue Local
Indian Creek Local	Vantage Career Center
Indian Valley Local	Van Wert City
Jackson City	Vinton County Local
James A. Garfield Local	Warren City
Jennings Local	Warren Local
Kalida Local	Washington Local
Kenston Local	Washington-Nile
Keystone Local	Waverly
LaBrae Local	Wayne County Career Center
Lancaster City	Wayne Local
Leetonia EV	Wellston City
Liberty Local	West Muskingum
Licking County ESC	Wheelersburg
Lincolnview Local	Williamsburg Local
Lisbon EV	Yellow Springs EV
Logan-Hocking Local	Zane Trace Local
	Zanesville City

ALEC's Report Card Receives Failing Marks

Via the Great Lakes Center

EAST LANSING, Mich. (May 9, 2013) – Ranking states is a popular tool for education advocacy groups, with the goal of advancing a policy agenda based on ideologically driven pre-packaged reforms. These report cards receive considerable media attention, although few reflect research-based evidence on the efficacy of particular polices. The 18th edition of the American Legislative Exchange Council's (ALEC) Report Card on American Education: Ranking State K-12 Performance, Progress, and Reform is no different according to an academic review.

Christopher Lubienski, associate professor of education policy and Director of the Forum on the Future of Public Education at the University of Illinois, and T. Jameson Brewer, a doctoral student at the University of Illinois, reviewed ALEC's Report Card for the Think Twice think tank review project. The review was produced by the National Education Policy Center (NEPC), with funding from the Great Lakes Center for Education Research and Practice.

Lubienski and Brewer find that ALEC draws its grades exclusively not from research organizations, but from like-minded market-orientated advocacy organizations.

"Furthermore, when studies are highlighted in this report, they do not represent the peer-reviewed research on a given issue, are often of extremely poor quality, and generally unsuited for supporting their claim."

In their review, Lubienski and Brewer provide two key areas – alternative teacher certification and school choice – to highlight gaps between ALEC's agenda and empirical evidence. Despite multiple claims that a "growing body of research indicates…" – the report offers absolutely no supporting evidence. Math results, which have a lower pass rate, were used to compare traditionally-certified teachers to alternatively-certified teachers. Meanwhile alternatively-certified teachers were portrayed using their reading results.

"Many of the grades given to states reflect the level to which pro-market policies have been implemented while the grades systematically ignore meaningful measurements of equality and outcomes" according to the review.

Readers of ALEC's Report Card should consider it a statement of policy preferences and not an overview of research on education reforms.

The reviewers conclude, "At best, the report serves as an amalgamation of other like-minded think tanks' assessments of states' adoption of pro-market policies, and thus offers nothing new … it provides little or no usefulness to policymakers."

Find the report by Lubienski and Brewer on the Great Lakes Center website: www.greatlakescenter.org

A decade-long crisis of democracy

We highlighted that despite Ohio voters in the aggregate preferring Democrats over Republicans in the 2012 election, the Republicans will hold a probable super majority 60-39 as a consequence of extreme partisan gerrymandering. The Dispatch was prompted by this result to produce an article about redistricting

Issue 2 is dead, buried deep by Ohio voters last week.

But over and over again, opponents of the redistricting plan, be they Republicans or editorial-page writers, noted that their opposition was not based on the belief that the current system of drawing legislative and congressional districts is good.

In fact, most acknowledged that it remains badly in need of an overhaul.

But if was this paragraph in the article that prompted us to take an even deeper look

Republicans now control 75 percent of the U.S. House seats and nearly two-thirds of the legislative seats in a state that has leaned Republican but is a key battleground state

We analyzed Ohio House of Representative results for each of the past 6 election cycles. By aggregating the votes for Democrats and Republicans in contested races we found a systematic, and extreme disenfranchising of Democratic representation in Ohio

Year	Democratic	Republican	D Seats	R Seats
2012	2,418,815	2,362,310	39	60
2010	1,447,949	1,696,064	40	59
2008	2,296,678	1,982,281	53	46
2006	1,832,548	1,605,801	46	53
2004	1,869,051	2,036,398	38	60
2002	1,243,671	1,364,656	36	63
Total	11,108,712	11,047,510

Based upon the preferences of voters, Democrats should have controlledthe General assemblies after the 2012, and 2006 elections - but were denied by partisan gerrymandering. Furthermore, the majorities that Republicans did earn in all of their successful years should have been much, much smaller - and never reacher super majority status.

Indeed when one looks at the sum total of votes in contest races over the past decade, rather than being center right, the results indicate a center to center left leaning electorate.

It is simply not possible to conclude that Ohioans have been legitimately represented in the 21st century by their preferred choices, either in actuality or in scope. We have a crisis of democracy in Ohio.

Education News for 10-16-2012

State Education News

• Grad rates tumble under new rule (Columbus Dispatch)

Call it the ugly truth. Many Ohio schools saw their graduation rates plummet after the state required them to track whether every high-school senior…Read more...

Op/Ed

• School Reform, But From Whose Perspective? (Education Week)

Public K-12 schooling is a popular subject in all forms of media these days, with the majority of coverage highly critical of both the professionals who work within the system…Read more...

Local Education News

• Bluffton board OKs new policies (Findlay Courier)

The Bluffton school board approved a number of new policies Monday, including one to provide reading intervention to students who may need it. Superintendent Greg Denecker said most of the policy changes were made because of changes in the laws…Read more...

• Tri-Rivers levy would fund job training, upgrade facilities (Marion Star)

Tri-Rivers Career Center is talking job development as it seeks a tax levy that officials say is needed for updating the building and equipment…Read more...

• New school could help lure jobs (Springfield News-Sun)

A major corporation’s sponsorship of the Global Impact STEM Academy not only secures help for the school but also provides a boost to local efforts to bring more businesses and jobs here…Read more...

• LaBrae principal praises lockdown (Warren Tribune Chronicle)

LaBrae High School principal Rocco Adduci said he is pleased with the way staff and law enforcement secured the facility and took three intruders into custody…Read more...

• TCTC decides against being part of solar project (Youngstown Vindicator)

The Trumbull Career & Technical Center board of directors has decided against participating in a proposed $8 million Solar Planet project…Read more...

Education News for 10-10-2012

State Education News

• School report card date set (Cincinnati Enquirer)

Ohio will be handing out state report card ratings for districts and schools Oct. 17, state officials said Tuesday, now that State Auditor Dave Yost’s investigations into enrollment…Read more...

• State to release new report cards (Columbus Dispatch)

A second round of preliminary school report-card data that includes school ratings and attendance rates will be released next week. The State Board of Education voted 12-3 yesterday to make the additional data public…Read more...

• Parent attacks dress code policy (Dayton Daily News)

A Tippecanoe High School student’s mother isn’t happy with the new principal’s interpretation of the dress code…Read more...

• State board to release some report-card data (Toledo Blade)

The state board of education voted Tuesday to release some of the school report card information it has withheld pending a state auditor’s investigation of attendance-data manipulation in some districts…Read more...

• Ohio officials discuss Ledgemont Schools' fiscal emergency (Willoughby News Herald)

Community and staff members filled Ledgemont Elementary School’s cafeteria Monday to hear an Ohio Department of Education official outline the ramifications of the school district’s fiscal emergency status…Read more...

Local Education News

• Riverdale, teachers union reach contract settlement (Findlay Courier)

Contract agreements have been reached between Riverdale school's administration and the teachers union, officials…Read more...

• Schools, families adjust to healthier school lunches (Hamilton Journal-News)

Many students and parents have reacted strongly to National School Lunch Program updates introduced this year that mandate calorie limits and more fruits…Read more...

• Parents cite bullying issue as reason to reject Lima schools levy (Lima News)

Bullying is at the center of an effort to defeat next month’s Lima schools levy. Three families upset about what they say is a bullying problem in the district called a news conference…Read more...

• Switzerland of Ohio schools paring $1M from budget (Marietta Times)

The Switzerland of Ohio Local school district is working to cut $1 million from its budget. The district has already laid off three employees and instituted a teacher hiring freeze…Read more...

• Career center banks on surplus (Marietta Times)

The Washington County Career Center is projected to be in the black for the next five years, even as expenses overtake revenue, according to a forecast approved…Read more...

• Catholic teachers will vote on union (Youngstown Vindicator)

About 100 Catholic elementary school teachers will decide later this month whether to be part of a union…Read more...

Editorial

• Why secrecy? (Columbus Dispatch)

The Dispatch has filed a lawsuit against the Columbus Board of Education for a simple reason: Public meetings should be open to the public. The board has ignored repeated requests by the newspaper to honor that legal requirement…Read more...

Education News for 05-14-2012

Local Issues

• Cincinnati success studied by Toledo (Toledo Blade)

As Toledo Public Schools finds itself in the midst of a political battle over who should run the federally funded Head Start program, it also finds itself in uncharted waters. For years, Head Start, a program for 3 to 5-year-olds from low-income families, has been run locally by the Economic Opportunity Planning Association of Greater Toledo. Read More…

• What's behind Walnut Hills' No. 1 ranking? (Enquirer)

Walnut Hills High School and its graduates have won countless accolades and awards over the years. This week, the Evanston-based institution was ranked the top high school in Ohio by U.S. News & World Report magazine. It ranked No. 90 in the nation. What makes Walnut Hills distinctive? Read More…

• Xenia Board of Education expected to OK outsourcing (Dayton Daily News)

The Xenia Board of Education is tonight expected to approve agreements that would permanently outsource its transportation, custodial and maintenance and information technology services departments. “None of us ever thought this would be happening,” said Vickie Jones, Xenia bus driver and president of the Xenia Education Support Professionals union. “We were always told there would be (jobs in) public education.” Read More…

• Providence neighborhood center faces closing (Toledo Blade)

A South Toledo neighborhood center could have to close its doors in a matter of months, depriving an underserved community of essential services, its leaders fear. The Providence Center, formerly known as Aurora Gonzalez Community and Family Resource Center, faces the June 30 expiration of a two-year, $75,000 grant from United Way of Greater Toledo. Read More…

• Lisbon school officials pleased with sophomore mini-laptop program (Salem News)

School officials like what they have seen so far of a program begun last November to place a mini-laptop computer in the hands of every sophomore. Technology Director Steve Stewart reported at this week's school board meeting the response has been nothing but positive to the program, although it is still a learning process for the staff and administrators. Read More…

• Columbus schools may offer health care (Dispatch)

Columbus City Schools could open five school-based health clinics under a plan a consultant is to craft over the summer. The “wellness centers” would provide health services to students, district staff members and maybe the public, officials said. “The main focus is our students,” said Debbie Seastone, a school nurse who coordinates the district’s wellness initiative. “We know that healthy children make healthy learners.” Read More…

Editorial & Opinion

• Faulty warranty (Dispatch)

In a dispute with fellow Republicans over how to approach important public-school reforms, Gov. John Kasich is taking the more difficult, but wiser course: Changes shouldn’t be put off or watered down, even if they’re painful. Tops on the governor’s list is the so-called third-grade reading guarantee: a policy to closely watch the reading ability of children in kindergarten through third grade, give extra help to those struggling and to no longer promote to fourth grade children who can’t read at the third-grade level. Read More…