defeat

Education News for 11-20-2012

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State Education News

  • School levy failure won’t stop drug testing (Columbus Dispatch)

    • Despite a failed tax levy that could lead to more cuts, the North Fork school district is reinstating its drug-testing program…Read more...

Local Education News

  • Audit cited in board members' defeat (Cincinnati Enquirer)

    • The fallout from the state audit of the Mason County School District continues with the defeat of two Board of Education members in the Nov. 7 election and the near-loss of a third member to a write-in candidate…Read more...

  • Cleveland City Council seeks tougher penalties for failing to stop for school bus (Cleveland Plain Dealer)

    • Ten days after a Cleveland municipal judge ordered a woman to stand in public with a sign labeling herself an “idiot” for driving on a sidewalk to avoid a stopped school bus…Read more...

  • Highland Schools: No charges for not reporting sexual misconduct (Columbus Dispatch)

    • No charges will be filed against two Morrow County elementary-school principals and one teacher who had been under investigation…Read more...

  • Elida board soon to decide on levy, cuts (Lima News)

    • The next couple of months will be full of tough decisions for the Elida school board. After the levy defeat earlier this month, the board now faces decisions on going back to voters and what to cut from its budget…Read more...

  • Warren board discusses unanticipated tax bill (Marietta Times)

    • The granted appeal of a tax bill from several years ago has cost the Warren Local school district more than $160,000…Read more...

  • Conotton Valley cuts music program (New Philadelphia Times)

    • The Conotton Valley Union School Board made the first of what may be several budget cuts…Read more...

  • Auburn Career Center focuses on community outreach, opens welding lab (Willoughby News Herald)

    • At Monday's ribbon-cutting ceremony for its new welding lab, educators with Auburn Career Center also unveiled the new strategic plan for the center…Read more...

Editorial

  • On the money (Columbus Dispatch)

    • As other major American cities struggle to provide the basic services, Columbus is fortunate to have leadership that has locked down expenses and is able to propose a 2013 budget that invests in improving neighborhoods, strengthening safety forces…Read more...

  • Example exists for grad rates (Warren Tribune Chronicle)

    • Among nine schools the Ohio Department of Education is holding up as models of success under trying circumstances is East Garfield Elementary in Steubenville…Read more...

Fordham Exposed Part I

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Since the blistering repudiation of SB5 by Ohio's voters last week, supporters of the extreme measure have wisely fallen silent. Whether it's the Ohio Chamber of Commerce, NFIB, Ohio CPA's, or even the legislative architects themselves, all have decided that the best course of action after this stinging rebuke is to instead return to silently seeking ways to undermine working people.

That is, all except one. The Thomas B. Fordham Foundation, a conservative corporate education reform organization.

In one post on their website, only a day after the election, their Vice President for Ohio Programs & Policy, Terry Ryan proclaimed "You’d be crazy to see SB5’s defeat as a defeat for Ohio school reform". He is of course talking about corporate education reform - the very thing voters rejected the day earlier.

Mr. Ryan tries hard to minimize the loss, and pass all credit to safety forces for causing the rejection of SB5. But even while mentioning the $30 million spent, he fails to recognize that teachers and education support professionals contributed over 1/3 of the campaign funds used to defeat SB5, provided thousands of the volunteers who made calls and knocked on doors, and featured in a number of widely broadcast ads, ads such as this one

You'd be crazy to believe voters didn't reject corporate education reforms.

The Fordham Foundation has decided to double down on its undemocratic opining, with a new article from Michael J. Petrilli their Executive Vice President. This new article, designed to be incendiary is titled "Dealing with disingenuous teachers unions: There are no shortcuts". Despite being an uncharacteristically offensive piece of writing published by the Foundation, it's also disgraceful in its call for voter nullification. As if voters had not rejected SB5 by a wide enough margin, Mr. Petrilli pushes further to join with the far right tea party in his calls, perhaps even betraying the cause of his organization.

So where do reformers go from here? One option is to be even more radical: To go after not just collective bargaining but school boards too. Make all of the key decisions at the state level. Negotiate with the teachers around a statewide approach to pay and benefits, the whole kit and caboodle. (Marc Tucker’s “New Commission” made such a proposal several years ago.) That’s an attractive long-term strategy, but voters—averse to big, sudden changes—will need some time to get used to the idea.

Indeed. The push to eliminate collective bargaining has been going on since 1958, and voters are still rejecting the idea overwhelmingly. Mr. Petrilli might have a very long wait.

Perhaps these petulant responses from a conservative organization immediately after such a big loss should be expected, but this is not what surprises us.

What surprises us about the Fordham Foundation's response to SB5 is the simple fact that of all the supporters of SB5, they have always been in a position to prove its merits, but have failed to do so.

You see the Fordham Foundation sponsors 8 Ohio charters schools.

Here at JTF we have posed the question to charter operators and SB5 supporters many times - if you believe SB5 and its education reform tools are so effective at producing quality educational outcomes, why is it that charter schools in Ohio that already have all these tools at their disposal fail, consistently, to produce these results today? We have yet to receive an answer.

Join us in part II of Fordham exposed as we take a look at the failures SB5 like policies have had at Fordham sponsored schools and the hypocrisy of its most vocal boosters.

SB5 heading for humiliating defeat

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PPP has just released the final poll of the campaign and the results show that SB5 is headed for a massive defeat on Tuesday, if the We Are Ohio campaign gets all its voters out to vote.

Democrats are almost unanimous in their opposition to SB 5, supporting repeal by an 86-10 margin. Meanwhile there's division in the Republican ranks- 30% are planning to vote down their Governor's signature proposal while only 66% are supportive of it. Independents split against it by a 54/39 spread as well.

If this margin holds on Tuesday night it will be a humiliating defeat for John Kasich. Kasich continues to be one of the most unpopular Governors in the country with only 33% of voters approving of him to 57% who disapprove.

Poll For SB5 Against SB5
PPP Mar 15th 31% 54%
Wenzel Apr 12th 38% 51%
Quinnipiac May 18th 36% 54%
PPP May 25th 35% 55%
Quinnipiac Jul 20th 32% 56%
PPP Aug 18th 39% 50%
Quinnipiac Sep 27th 38% 51%
PPP Oct 19th 36% 56%
Quinnipiac Oct 25th 32% 57%
PPP Nov 6th 36% 59%

Michelle Rhee, Inc.

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At almost the exact moment Michelle Rhee took to a podium at a downtown D.C. hotel ballroom to announce her departure as the District’s schools chancellor in October, people working for her flipped the switch on a fancy new website, Facebook page, and Twitter account.

The well-choreographed roll-out was followed the next day with Rhee making the rounds on the network morning shows, marking the beginning of a media cycle that’s showed no sign of slowing since. Less than two months after her resignation, Rhee was sitting on Oprah’s comfy chairs announcing plans for a new advocacy group, StudentsFirst, that has already become a dominant force at the nexus between education and politics.

Just how was Rhee able to cement her brand as a national player so quickly? After all, there were reports from the Wilson Building that as of the morning after Adrian Fenty’s primary defeat, Rhee was still interested in staying on as chancellor. That, of course, wasn’t meant to be. She had become famous in three years at the D.C. Public Schools; as she shifted into the private sector, it became clear that she also had a ready-made organization standing by to keep her in the spotlight.

[readon2 url="http://www.washingtoncitypaper.com/articles/41086/michelle-rhee-inc/"]Continue reading...[/readon2]

Primary election results quick snapshot

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We'll be bringing more in-depth coverage of the results from yesterdays election. In the mean time, the Dispatch reports - Voters say yes in six of 11 districts

The Cleveland Plain Dealer reports - Parma, Garfield Heights voters pass school taxes, but Cuyahoga County voters defeat all other school issues

At the other end of the state, the Cincinnati Enquirer reports - Little Miami loses very close vote; Loveland, Norwood only winners out of seven

The Toledo Blade reports - Maumee levy fails; Sylvania's approved

  • Maumee City Schools - Failed
  • Sylvania City Schools - Passed
  • Woodmore - Passed
  • Wauseon - Passed
  • Benton-Carroll-Salem - Failed
  • Patrick Henry - Failed
  • Clyde-Green Springs - Failed

From Akron, Ohio.com reports - Only Nordonia Hills faces defeat in county. Highland squeaks out win in Medina. Portage levies fall. Full area results at the links below.

A pernicious argument

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There's a pernicious argument being made by supporters of S.B.5. It's quite vile in its attempts to pit middle class against middle class. It was on full display in the Plain Dealer over the weekend in an op-ed article written by Brent Larkin

Supporters of Senate Bill 5 own a convincing argument in the staggering cost borne by taxpayers for sweetheart health care and pension benefits now enjoyed by public-sector employees. That's especially true when those perks are contrasted with sacrifices made by private-sector employees.

Lest you think this is an isolated case, the Buckeye Institute leads with the same nasty rhetoric

government workers continue to prosper at the expense of their private sector neighbors. As our State of the State report details, the average government salary (not even to mention the entire compensation package) increased at all levels. Local government increased by nearly $1,000, state government by over $1,500, and federal government by almost $800.

You would think they had talked to each other before writing these screeds.

But these are the same failed tactics to divide that were made by people who opposed increasing the minimum wage, which Ohioans recently voted in favor of overwhelmingly. The same failed tactics used by the chamber of commerce pushing union busting "right to work", that in 1958 went down to massive defeat 2,001,512 to 1,106,324.

These forces against progress have always had the same prescription - the middle class boat should not be raised for everyone, it should be lowered in persuit of lower taxes for the wealthy, only then can everyone prosper. It used to be an insultaing argument, that has since been proven to be demonstrably false, now it's just craven and damaging to the fabric of our communities.

The Washington Post has an article today which reveals the true effects of this kind of rhetoric

It had never occurred to the Embrees that firefighters and nurses could be unnecessary. They thought of themselves as linchpins of the community — and one of the biggest rewards of their jobs was knowing that the rest of the world thought so, too.

“Kids go trick or treating in firemen’s costumes,” Jim Embree, 48, said. “Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts come and take tours and sit in the truck and blow the horn. People talk to you in the grocery store. I’m used to positive interactions with people. So it shocked me. To hear people speak in a public venue like I’m a Rockefeller . . . it shocked me.”
[...]
One of those was Heather Baugess, 44, a librarian married to a firefighter. Baugess said she was less upset about proposals that would require her to work longer and receive less when she retires than she is about how people view her and her husband.

“It’s not the money,” said Baugess, who earns about $60,000 and whose husband, Larry, earns a bit more. “We’re comfortable. It’s the teacher-bashing. It’s the negativity. I guess I live in my own perfect would where everybody supports teachers and everybody supports firefighters. I don’t want that to change.”

The whole WaPo article is worth a read. We need to stand together, to oppose these forces that seek to divide, we need to stand together and defeat S.B.5 to send yet another reminder that Ohioans will not be divided and pitted against each other.