expansion

Public schools neglected in favor of private choice expansion

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From William Phillis, Ohio E & A

"The public common school," Horace Mann said, "is the Greatest Discovery made by man." It constitutes a social compact established for the benefit of all the children of all the people, community by community, across Ohio and across America. It has been the primary force for the common good in America.

Although a state system in Ohio, required to be thorough and efficient by constitutional decree, it is operated at the community level by elected boards of education-the fourth branch of government. In spite of inadequate levels of state funding through the decades, the public common school in Ohio and throughout the nation has nurtured this country to which millions and millions in every generation have migrated.

The public common school, typically, on a modest and constrained budget, has attempted to meet the individual needs of students. Programs for vocational/technical training, programs for those with disabilities and special needs, have been a part of the common school fabric. Typically, education options have been limited by the fiscal resources available to school districts.

In the past two decades, the political will to maintain and strengthen the public common school, and thus the social compact, the common good, has dwindled in a frenzied untested "quick fix" strategy that is fueled by many who want to take public money to the altar of the god of school choice.

The public common school system, due to the transfer of resources from the system to private choices, is less able to provide for choice; hence, students within the public common school system are being denied choices due to choice expansion outside the system.

The school funding measures in HB 59 (school funding level and non-formula school funding formula) are detrimental to most school districts while favoring the school choice movement. The state has the constitutional responsibility to maintain and nurture the common school system, not give it away.

The 130th General Assembly should put a moratorium on the expansion of school choice and establish a bipartisan, bicameral legislative research committee to study the current choice program.

Voucher demand falls

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We have previously reported how the last budget expanded the availability of vouchers from 14,000 a year to 60,000, and how little demand there was for them. This year demand for vouchers has fallen even further.

The Department of Education received nearly 600 fewer applicants to the Educational Choice scholarship this spring compared to last year
[...]
The 16,848 students whose families submitted applications by last Friday's deadline comes in short of the 17,438 who did so a year ago and still far below the 60,000 limit on vouchers. ODE also held a second application window last fall that brought the total applications to 17,516 for use in the present school year.

Let's look at the graph

If parents in school districts that are struggling are rejecting the voucher option, why would the legislature think expansion of vouchers into districts where schools are excellent, prove to be any more popular?

School choice proponents need to begin to understand that the vast majority of parents choose public schools, and that choice deserves the same vigorous support for-profit education receives from the "choice" community and Ohio's current crop of legislators.

Voucher opposition is expanding

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HB59 as introduced by the Governor and passed out of the House finance committee on a party line vote, would create a statewide voucher program, based solely on household income. Eligibility would only be limited to those with incomes below 200% of the federal poverty line ($46,100 for a family of 4). Initially only covering kindergarten, it expands to first grade the following year.

This expansion would occur even in the highest performing school districts at a time when so many are still reeling from massive budget cuts the legislature is not keen to restore. Furthermore, once a student qualifies for a voucher they will forever qualify regardless of family income.

Previous attempts to expend vouchers statewide (via HB136) met with huge community resistance across at least 400 of Ohio's 60+ school districts (see the list below). Similar opposition is now growing to this provision in the budget. The following districts have all passed a resolution opposing the voucher expansion in HB59

Adena local Millecreek West Unity
Allen East Local Monroeville Local
Anthony Wayne Local Morgan Local
Athens City Muskingum Valley ESC
Austintown Local Oak Hill Union Local
Barnesville EX Vill Oakwood City
Bath Local Old Fort Local
Bellbrook-Sugarcreek National Trail Local
Berea City New Lexington City
Big Walnut Local New Richmond
Bluffton EX Vill Noble Local
Brown Local Northern Local
Chillicothe City Northwood Local
Columbiana Ex Vill Ripley Union Lewis Huntington
Coshocton City Ross Local
Crestview Local Ross-Pike ESC
Cuyahoga Falls St. Clairsville-Richland City
Fairbanks Sheffield-Sheffield Lake
Fairfield Union South Central Ohio ESC
Felicity-Franklin Local Southern Local
Firelands Local Southington Local
Galion City Springfield City
Gallipolis City Tuscarawas Vlley Local
Goshen Local Tuslaw Local
Graham Urbana City
Grand Valley Local Vanlue Local
Granville EX Vill Vantage Career Center
Green Local (Franklin Furnace) Van Wert City
Indian Valley Local Washington-Nile
Keystone Local Waverly
Lancaster City Wayne County Career Center
Licking County ESC Wellston City
Lincolnview Local West Muskingum
Louisville City Wheelersburg
Lynchburg-Clay Local Williamsburg Local
Madeira City Yellow Springs EV
Mathews Local Zane Trace Local

A copy of the resolution can be found here, and reads as follows:

WHEREAS, Governor Kasich’s biennial budget (HB 59) proposes to expand the EdChoice Scholarship Program through two new options that will significantly increase the number of publicly-funded vouchers for students to attend private or parochial schools; and

WHEREAS, one of the programs provides private or parochial school tuition vouchers to any entering kindergarten student of a family with a household income less than 200 percent of the federal poverty level, to be used at the parent’s choice of participating private or parochial school; and

WHEREAS, the following year, such vouchers would be expanded to include students in both kindergarten and first grade, totaling $25 million over the biennium; and

WHEREAS, such vouchers would be granted without regard to the academic performance or quality of the public school that the student is assigned to attend; and

WHEREAS, the second voucher expansion proposed by the Governor in HB 59 expands eligibility for the EdChoice voucher program to Kindergarten through 3rd grade students enrolled in buildings that received a “D” or “F” in the new K-3 Literacy component of the New Report Card in 2 of the 3 most recent report cards; and

WHEREAS, the operation of the proposed programs would effectively reduce funds from the already financially beleaguered local public school districts, resulting in fewer resources for the education of remaining students;

NOW THEREFORE BE IT, AND IT IS HEREBY RESOLVED, that the ____________ Board of Education does hereby express its opposition to these provisions in HB 59; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the _________ Board of Education expresses its opposition to any legislation that seeks to transfer public dollars to support private education; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Treasurer be directed to spread this resolution upon the minutes of the Board of Education and that copies of the resolution be forwarded to the Governor and members of the Ohio General Assembly.

Below is a list of the districts that opposed HB136

HB136 Voucher Expansion Opposition

In Ohio, Charter School Expansion By Income, Not Performance

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For over a decade, Ohio law has dictated where charter schools can open. Expansion was unlimited in Lucas County (the “pilot district” for charters) and in the “Ohio 8” urban districts (Akron, Canton, Cincinnati, Cleveland, Columbus, Dayton, Toledo, and Youngstown). But, in any given year, charters could open up in any other district that was classified as a “challenged district,” as measured by whether the district received a state “report card” rating of “academic watch” or “academic emergency.” This is a performance-based standard.

Under this system, there was of course very rapid charter proliferation in Lucas County and the “Ohio 8” districts. Only a small number of other districts (around 20-30 per year) “met” the performance-based standard. As a whole, the state’s current charter law was supposed to “open up” districts for charter schools when the districts are not doing well.

Starting next year, the state is adding a fourth criterion: Any district with a “performance index” in the bottom five percent for the state will also be open for charter expansion. Although this may seem like a logical addition, in reality, the change offends basic principles of both fairness and educational measurement.

[readon2 url="http://shankerblog.org/?p=3652"]Read more...[/readon2]

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.