Statewide Education News
- Charters’ treasurer owes Ohio $617,260 (Dispatch)
- Fiscal emergency would be ‘ugly’ for Lorain Schools (Morning Journal)
- School Choice Ohio program set to expand (Repository)
A New Albany man owes the state more than $600,000 because he mismanaged taxpayer dollars meant for kids at several charter schools, the state auditor said yesterday. At least two schools closed in financial ruin, including Montessori Renaissance Experience in Columbus. Carl W. Shye Jr. has been hit with 25 findings at three schools since last year, including the auditor’s announcement yesterday that he must repay $112,000 that he collected on behalf of Montessori Renaissance Experience — even after it no longer had students. Read More…
LORAIN — The Lorain school board was told going through the steps to fiscal emergency is an “ugly” process. The board heard a presentation from Roger Hardin, assistant director for finance program services with the Ohio Department of Education, regarding what fiscal emergency is and what they can do. “Lorain Schools is in fiscal caution,” Hardin told them. “I will throw this out there in the beginning, everything we do at my office is to try and avoid fiscal emergency.” Read More…
CANTON — Representatives from School Choice Ohio (SCO) hosted a news conference Thursday morning with families, teachers and students at Heritage Christian School to celebrate Ohio School Choice Week. Heritage Christian School has the most EdChoice students in Stark County with 87. The vouchers allow students in poor performing schools to attend private schools that accept the voucher. Read More…
Local Issues
- Local parents sing praises of EdChoice scholarships (Vindicator)
- Garfield Heights schools reduce staff, increase pay to play (WEWS 5 ABC)
Youngstown - Through the EdChoice scholarship program, Cindi Hilson is able to send her three children to Youngstown Christian School. “Without [the EdChoice scholarship], even though my husband works, we wouldn’t be able to afford to send all three of them,” she said. “Maybe one of them could come here.” EdChoice allows children whose residential school is considered low-performing to attend a private school using a voucher. The Hilson family lives within the city school district. Read More…
GARFIELD HEIGHTS - Already faced with shortened school days and the elimination of art, music and gym classes, students in the Garfield Heights City School District will have to pay more to participate in extra-curricular activities next school year. The Garfield Heights school board voted Thursday to go to full pay to participate during the 2012-2013 school year, and to eliminate 48 positions in an effort to balance its budget. Read More…
Editorial
- Realistic standards (Dispatch)
Charter schools that serve dropouts and students at risk of quitting school can’t fairly be judged by the same standards as other schools, but they should be judged. Families in the unhappy position of needing that sort of help for their children deserve to know which ones are most effective. To date, this has been hard to determine, because the state Department of Education had only one set of criteria for measuring charter schools’ effectiveness, and most dropout-recovery schools earned dismal marks. Read More…