euclid

Education News for 04-11-2012

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Statewide Education News

  • Schools expected to receive portion of casino taxes (Newark Advocate)

    • Licking County schools could receive $2.6 million in casino money in 2014, but treasurers are hesitant to count on it. The money -- which ranges from $129,000 for Northridge to $663,000 for Newark -- is based on estimated casino tax revenue and current enrollment of the districts. "We've not planned for it yet," said Heath Treasurer Brad Hall, whose district could see $170,000 in revenue. "It's not like you don't think about it." Read More…

  • State Board of Education urges collaboration, but stops short of endorsing Cleveland Mayor Frank Jackson's school plan (Plain Dealer)

    • A divided state Board of Education on Tuesday rejected Gov. John Kasich's request to endorse Cleveland Mayor Frank Jackson's school reform plan. Instead, the board united around a watered-down resolution urging a collaborative process for reforming the schools. Read More…

  • Drop in public preschoolers in Ohio is biggest in nation (Dispatch)

    • Ohio had about 18,000 fewer 3- and 4-year-olds enrolled in high-quality public preschools last school year than a decade ago, the biggest decline of any state with public programs. And although the state didn’t lose ground in preschool enrollment between 2010 and 2011, enrollment didn’t grow, either, according to a report released yesterday. Read More…

  • Ohio worst in nationwide preschool study (Dayton Daily News)

    • A new study of state-funded preschool education, based on state policy, ranked Ohio last out of 39 states evaluated. According to a study released Tuesday by the nonpartisan National Institute for Early Education Research, Ohio met the fewest benchmarks for quality preschool standards of any state offering state-funded preschool last year. Read More…

  • ‘Friends’ & teachers? (Warren Tribune Chronicle)

    • When Facebook and other social networking sites first took off several years ago, local educators said drafting policies to govern how teachers and other school staff used the forums wasn't a top priority. "But times have changed and Facebook in particular has become bigger as more and more people use it," said Richard Buchenic, Hubbard Local Schools superintendent. "It needs to at least be discussed and given a closer look." Read More…

Local Issues

  • Euclid, South Euclid-Lyndhurst school districts eye new learning methods (News Herald)

    • Euclid City Schools and the South Euclid-Lyndhurst School District have partnered in an effort to earn each district $130,000 in grant money to fund a blended learning program next year. Schools will choose a particular model of blended learning from six options. One school will be awarded for each model, meaning six districts out of 92 that applied for the grant will receive it, Euclid Curriculum Director Ted Lisiak said. Read More…

  • National union: CPS exaggerated teacher cuts (Enquirer)

    • One of the nation’s largest teachers unions, the American Federation of Teachers, says Cincinnati Public Schools over-projected its expenses and doesn’t need to cut up to 225 teaching jobs as planned next week. The AFT reviewed Cincinnati Public’s budget forecast at the request of the local teachers’ union president, Julie Sellers. The AFT represents 1.5 million teachers nationwide and routinely does such analysis for its affiliates, including the 2,500-member Cincinnati Federation of Teachers. Read More…

Private schools getting more public dollars

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The Cleveland Plain Dealer has a great article on the expansion of vouchers in Ohio, and what that means for the public schools affected. This year Ohio has expanded eligibility to 30,000 students, with further expansion to 60,000 next year.

Fifteen states and the District of Columbia direct about $1 billion a year in public money to private schools through voucher or tax credit programs, according to ASCD. The nonprofit organization, which develops resources for educators, ranks Ohio fourth in the amount provided, after Florida, Louisiana and Wisconsin.

Current Ohio voucher programs are limited by geography, and income, but that can change

There is also support for even more growth in vouchers. Rep. Matt Huffman, a Lima Republican, is championing a bill still in the legislature that would award private-school tuition vouchers of up to $4,626 to families based on their household incomes -- with no geographic restriction and no requirement that students come from failing public schools.

The vouchers have a crippling financial effect on the public schools who lose these students, the Euclid district lost 544 students to vouchers on top of 1,067 students to independently operated charter schools. There are further pernicious effects

Another twist that hurts: Students can keep their vouchers through high school, even if their public schools improve and get off the EdChoice list. So, Euclid High School ultimately may be affected even though it's never been on the list.

As for the quality of education these students who transfer to private schools at the expense of public school students, the results are suspect

Research done so far on voucher programs across the country - including Ohio -- has failed to show that they lead to better academic achievement, according to a report released last month by the Washington-based Center on Education Policy, a group that advocates for public education.

Ohio recently started requiring that EdChoice and Cleveland voucher students take state tests to gauge their performance in private school. Early data suggests that their public school counterparts often did better.

This week in education cuts

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