Budget boosts private & charter schools at the expense of public schools

Innovation Ohio has taken a close look at the public education implications of the budget bill making its way through the legislature

In particular, we find that HB 59:

• sends more money to charters, regardless of performance
• lowers standards for charter schools, exempting them from accountability expected of Ohio’s traditional public schools
• continues the push to privatize our public schools by union-busting and outsourcing
• sends more taxpayer money to fund private schools, and
• forces traditional schools to do more with less

They further found that the senate budget

• Cut 3 in 4 school districts compared to 2010-2011 funding levels, to the tune of $532.7 million.
• Cut 1 in 4 school districts compared to 2012-2013 funding levels.
• Continued the need for an unprecedented $1.3 billion in new school levies for operations that have appeared on local ballots since Kasich took office, and causing 82 percent of school districts to cut staff positions last year.

You can download their report, here.

Why such inequity? Some reason it is because for-profit charter school operators such as David Brennan and William Lager are such huge contributors to the very politicians making these inequitable decisions

Brennan and Lager are the top individual contributors to the Republican leadership in the House and Senate (or close to it) . And they're no slouches when it comes to Gov. John Kasich either. They've given nearly $1 million to politicians since 2008.

It should come as little surprise then, that even though Brennan and Lager operate some of the worst charter schools in the state, they are receiving some of the largest increases in state spending - even more than some of their higher performing charter school peers.

Kasich escalates public ed defunding

Ohioans would see income taxes fall, but would pay for them through higher sales and property taxes in the final Republican proposal

That's how the Cincinnati Enquirer opens its report on the massive last minute tax plan the Ohio GOP are planning to dump on the state, after months of internal disagreements.

Of particular concern to those who support public education, the budget conference committee decided not to restore the historic school funding cuts they made in the previous budget, but instead build upon it. Here was their starting point

FY12 (2011-2012 school year), which was the first year under Kasich's budget, saw a total of $7.52 billion in total state revenues. That's an 8% cut in total state revenue -- easily the largest cut since ODE started keeping these total state revenue figures in 1995.

And the bad news for districts is that FY12 won't represent the entire state divestment from education during Kasich's first budget. That's because the governor's budget phased down the Tangible Personal Property and Killowatt Hour tax reimbursement payments over two years. So the cut will be likely continued in FY13, pushing the total revenue figure down even lower.

As it stands, that $7.52 billion is the lowest amount provided by the state since the 2007-2008 school year.

Where they have ended up is even worse. In order to pay for their income tax cut, they have decided to eliminate the 12.5% property tax rollback.

The elimination of the property tax rollback will make future school levies harder to pass and more expensive, further shifting the burden from the state to local communities already struggling to support the needs of their students.

Eliminating the 12.5 percent property tax rollback for new taxes could make school levies harder to sell to voters. For example, without the rollback, last year's 15-mill Cleveland school levy would have cost $263 a year instead of $230 for the owner of a $50,000 home, and $525 a year instead of $459 for the owner of a $100,000 home.

The Governor and his legislative allies continue to shift the burden from millionaires to working people and their communities. We're going backwards at a time when the state can afford to move forward.

Rejected Kasich formula coming back?

The Ohio Senate revealed its version of the Budget, and it contained a number of changes to education policy proposals proposed by the Governor and the House. What it didn't contain was a school funding formula, for that we are told we will have to wait another week. A familiar story.

Based upon reporting, there should be some serious cause for concern. The Toledo Blade reports

A huge chunk still missing from the budget is how the chamber plans to deal with K-12 schools, preventing lawmakers from putting a total price tag on the two-year spending plan for the moment. Talks continue, but Mr. Faber predicted that the final product is likely to be closer to what Mr. Kasich initially proposed than what the House put forth.

Mr. Kasich’s school funding plans, particularly his promise that more money would flow to poorer schools, were initially greeted with optimism by school superintendents across the state. But that mood quickly soured when the administration released numbers showing that some 60 percent of school districts would see no funding increases while some wealthier, fast-growing, suburban districts were in line for large increases.

The House, in turned, capped the growth in subsidies to those suburban schools, resulting in more districts being in line for increases, including Toledo Public Schools. Mr. Faber would not speculate what the Senate’s total K-12 pot of funding would be larger or smaller than in the House version.

The Cincinnati Enquirer has a reaction

Senate Minority Leader Eric Kearney, D-North Avondale, said the small business tax cut wouldn’t provide business owners with enough money to create new jobs. He also lamented the budget’s lack of additional funding for local governments and schools.

“Our schools and local communities have suffered drastic cuts since Governor Kasich took office and today’s amendments by Senate Republicans to (the budget bill) did nothing to change that,” he said in a statement. “That’s not good news for local taxpayers who’ve been forced to pick up the slack from state funding cuts by voting for more local levies.”

Senate Republicans said they won’t have education funding numbers until next week, when they plan to reveal their final K-12 funding plan.

The Governor promised that poor districts would receive more, which should not have been a difficult task after he cut education funding by $1.8 billion in his last budget. But even that promise turned out to be empty as almost 400 school districts were set to receive flat funding. The House promised to fix the Governor's mess, and attempted to do so by returning to the Taft era building blocks formula - only they cut school funding by a further $200 million in the process. Now the Ohio Senate wants to return to the Governor's rejected formula. As we predicted, we have a school funding disaster on our hands, unless the Senate is also going to attach significant amounts of additional money to the plan to make it workable.

School administrators were not kind about the Governor's funding formula the first go-around, and here's the graph to demonstrate why

Will Ohio's media be bamboozled a third time by Republican legislators?

Education News for 05-21-2013

State Education News

• Legislature may ditch takeover proposal for Columbus schools (Columbus Dispatch)

As hearings start this week on a Columbus school-district reform bill, an earlier proposal allowing for a state takeover of the state’s largest district is likely to vanish…Read more...

Local Education News

• North Canton school officials take steps to increase building security (Akron Beacon Journal)

The Board of Education has approved the purchase of digital radios and antennas as part of a district-wide safety and security initiative…Read more...

• Akron board cuts Akron Digital Academy loose (Akron Beacon Journal)

The Akron school board effectively severed ties with Akron Digital Academy — after sponsoring the online charter school for more than a decade…Read more...

• A look inside the future of education (Cincinnati Enquirer)

In a new building just outside of Indianapolis’ downtown, Darren McCorkle sits at a desk in a sea of short-walled cubicles, taking an eighth-grade algebra lesson online…Read more...

• Teachers negotiating (Findlay Courier)

Contract negotiations between Findlay's teacher union and the district administration are progressing smoothly, according to Superintendent Dean Wittwer…Read more...

• Lorain City Schools' staff looks to change culture of low expectations (Lorain Morning Journal)

Lorain City Schools’ staff has developed a “widespread culture of low expectations” but hope is budding among employees under its new administration, a state assessment determined…Read more...

• Lots of changes in Warren district (Marietta Times)

The Warren Local school district will look very different next year with a new superintendent, new high school and elementary administrators and the return of high school busing…Read more...

• Boardman schools official warns of 5% cut in funding (Youngstown Vindicator)

The Boardman schools director of instruction said she expects a 5 percent cut in funding next year for the four federal programs for which the school district receives money…Read more...

Editorial

• Dollars in the classroom (Akron Beacon Journal)

State Sen. Peggy Lehner wants to devote an additional $100 million to early childhood education in Ohio. The Kettering Republican cites the handsome return, $10 or more for every dollar spent…Read more...

• Added scrutiny of charter schools in city and state is overdue, but finally coming (Youngstown Vindicator)

State and local education leaders are committing themselves to beefed-up monitoring of Ohio’s ballooning network of charter schools…Read more...

Graph of the week

We hear a lot from the Governor and his legislature about the need for students to be "college ready", which is laudable. But there's the rhetoric of "being ready" and the reality of a legislature that is making college harder, especially for students from poor families.

Exhibit A is this graph sent to us by a reader, regarding the states disinvestment in the Ohio College Opportunity Grant

Is an $81 a year tax cut really worth it?

Education News for 01-11-2013

State Education News

• Ohio’s public schools rate 12th in U.S. with B- grade (Columbus Dispatch)

Ohio’s public school system earned a better grade on the nation’s report card this year, but the state’s rank — fifth in the nation three years ago — fell to 12th…Read more...

Local Education News

• Groveport schools offer 12 options for levy (Columbus Dispatch)

Groveport Madison school officials took their first steps to place a levy on the May ballot at last night’s school board meeting…Read more...

• Huber Heights schools to cut 108 jobs, 64 teachers (Dayton Business Journal)

The board of the Huber Heights school district voted to cut 108 jobs and 64 teachers, according to WDTN-TV 2…Read more...

• Lakota saves $1.5M after cuts to art, music (Hamilton Journal-News)

Elementary students within Lakota are getting less exposure this school year to subjects, including art and music…Read more...

• Retired teacher group offering grants to current teachers (Lima News)

The Allen County Retired Teachers Association is accepting project proposals for teacher grants the group began giving last year…Read more...

• Casino money: Not enough help for local schools (New Philadelphia Times)

Joe Edinger, superintendent of East Holmes Local Schools in Berlin, doesn’t plan on spending the $39,677.15 his district will receive as its share of state casino-tax revenue…Read more...

• District facing state oversight (Springfield News-Sun)

Tecumseh Local Schools must further cut expenses and increase revenues or face a projected $1.6 million deficit and fiscal caution status in 2014, the state education department told the district this week…Read more...

• Mathews student charged after describing school shootings as ‘easy’ (Youngstown Vindicator)

Two buddies from Mathews High School were arraigned Wednesday on felony charges — one accused of making remarks that caused panic at the high school, the other accused of vandalizing a teacher’s house in Niles last week…Read more...

Editorial

• Disruptive students (Akron Beacon Journal)

Tamika Williams has a problem. And so, unfortunately, does the Akron Public Schools, which has the responsibility to ensure a learning environment that is safe for all staff and students, including angry, young ones like Tamika…Read more...

• Fine could have helped Jackson kids (Canton Repository)

Judge had noble idea, but ex-coach’s victims may need counseling, too. Scott D. Studer pleaded guilty last month for videotaping Jackson High School student athletes in the showers…Read more...