Education News for 03-22-2013

Local Education News

• Canton schools superintendent outlines reorganization plan Akron Beacon Journal)

A wide-ranging plan for Canton City Schools that would introduce more choice is taking aim at publicly funded charter schools that pull students — and money — from traditional buildings…Read more...

• Conneaut school officials unveil defense plan Ashtabula Star-Beacon)

School officials in Conneaut unveiled their defense plan to parents and the public in case of an armed intruder Thursday night in the first of four meetings scheduled at each of the districts buildings…Read more...

• Educators say “stop the misuse of standardized testing” Athens Messenger)

Those who think there’s an over-use of standardized testing in public schools have signed an online petition…Read more...

• Reform not often demanded of school boards, panel told Columbus Dispatch)

Voters typically don’t replace ineffective school board members and rarely demand reform from failing districts, an education policy expert told the Columbus Education Commission yesterday…Read more...

• Jackson school board member guilty in threats Columbus Dispatch)

A 25-year member of the Jackson City Schools Board of Education has been found guilty of intimidation of a public servant for sending threatening letters to educators and other school-board members in the southeastern Ohio district…Read more...

• Strongsville Mayor's proposed meeting with teachers, school board is shot down Sun Newspapers)

Mayor Thomas Perciak's proposed negotiating meeting between the board and teachers union representatives at 10 a.m. March 22 has fallen through…Read more...

• Parents share concerns over Supt. Hathorn's schools plan Youngstown Vindicator)

Gertrude and Alvin Hosea can live with city schools Superintendent Connie Hathorn’s revitalization plan for the schools as long as their granddaughter gets to stay at Kirkmere Elementary School next year…Read more...

Education News for 01-23-2013

State Education News

• State budget’s unknowns frighten advocates (Columbus Dispatch)

Faced with a “poker-faced” Kasich administration that won’t divulge new budget details until Feb. 4, a coalition of critics yesterday took a stab at things…Read more...

• Democrats want state school-board head out over Facebook post (Columbus Dispatch)

The head of the Ohio Democratic Party yesterday called for the resignation of Ohio Board of Education President Debe Terhar for a Facebook posting that appeared to compare…Read more...

• Columbus school board decides to assist review by mayor’s panel (Columbus Dispatch)

The Columbus Board of Education relented last night and decided to allow Mayor Michael B. Coleman’s Education Commission to conduct a management review of district non- academic operations — and without a written agreement…Read more...

Local Education News

• Referee will intervene in duct-taped students case (Canton Repository)

A referee is going to hear the case of a northeast Ohio teacher who may be fired over an allegation that she posted a Facebook photo of her students with their mouths covered with duct tape…Read more...

• After-school program takes holistic approach Chillicothe Gazette)

When the last school bell rings, things are just getting started at the Salvation Army’s after- school program…Read more...

• Schools sweat out decision to delay start due to cold (Columbus Dispatch)

The decision to delay classes at Canal Winchester schools in yesterday’s frigid weather wasn’t an easy one, Superintendent Jim Sotlar said…Read more...

• Bexley mayor rejects speed traps, student tax ideas (Columbus Dispatch)

Bexley’s mayor opposes the use of speed cameras and taxing students to help the city offset projected losses in state funding, both ideas proposed by a citizens group to raise new revenue…Read more...

• Finalists make pitch to RV public (Marion Star)

River Valley Local Schools gave the public a chance Tuesday evening to meet the finalists as it prepares to choose the district’s next superintendent…Read more...

• TPS won’t place levy renewal on spring ballot; Board cites too little time to mount solid campaign (Toledo Blade)

A Toledo Public Schools levy renewal won’t be on the May ballot after all. The Toledo Board of Education was set to vote Tuesday on a board finance committee recommendation…Read more...

• Youngstown school board discusses money woes (Youngstown Vindicator)

Schools Superintendent Connie Hathorn is meeting with his staff to devise recommendations to address a projected $48 million deficit by fiscal year 2017…Read more...

Editorial

• Uneasy money (Akron Beacon Journal)

Ohio schools will receive $38 million from the first distribution of the state’s tax on casino gambling. Have they hit the jackpot? Hardly. The amount boils down to about $21 per pupil…Read more...

Kasich manufacturing a funding crisis

According to the Columbus Dispatch, the Ohio Lottery recently announced that

it was transferring a record $771 million to the Ohio Department of Education to support kindergarten-through-12th grade education. The profit — which by law goes to schools — came from record lottery sales of $2.73 billion in the fiscal year ending June 30.

That sounds like great news for cash strapped school districts that have suffered from historically massive budget cuts enacted by the Governor and his legislature in the last biennium budget.

However, the good news is only surface deep. For every dollar of lottery money that flows into the schools, the state removes a dollar of funding. Something school administrators recently wrote the Governor about

The Ohio School Boards Association (OSBA), the Buckeye Association of School Administrators (BASA) and the Ohio Association of School Business Officials (OASBO) want to set the record straight about lottery profits and their link to school funding.
[...]
“While it is true that all Ohio Lottery profits are used by the state to fund education, the profit from increased sales was simply used to free up other state funds that had previously been set aside for schools, allowing more money to be transferred into the stateʼs rainy day fund,” said OSBA Executive Director Richard Lewis. “No increase in this yearʼs funding for school districts will be available as a result of these unexpected profits.”

BASA Executive Director Kirk Hamilton said, “The increase in lottery profits was positive news for the state of Ohio because of its recent devastating budget shortfall. However, we were disappointed to see reports implying that it is school districts that will benefit. In reality, when lottery profits exceed estimates, the total amount available for Ohio schools does not change.”

[...]
“We urge Gov. Kasich to use this ʻextraʼ state money from the increased lottery profits to restore the budget cuts to education that were included in the current state budget,” said OASBO Executive Director David Varda. “It should also be utilized to help fund schools in the future as Gov. Kasich develops a new school-funding formula.

So all that extra lottery money didn't go to schools at all, instead it went into the Governor's rainy day fund. This move is made all the more troubling when one considers the news out of Cleveland this week.

The Mayor and Cleveland schools will be requesting an massive 15 mils in their levy

The Cleveland School District and Mayor Frank Jackson will ask voters this fall to raise their school taxes by about 50 percent to make major changes aimed at pulling the district out of its academic and budget hole.

The 15-mill levy -- the first operating increase for the district since 1996 -- would give the district an estimated $77 million more a year to add to its $670 million operating budget and $1.1 billion total budget.

We have long pointed out that the real crisis with Cleveland schools was its funding.

As buzz about the tax spread Wednesday, some jaws dropped at the amount. "I hope they dispense Depends when they announce it," said Cleveland City Councilman Mike Polensek, "so that when homeowners crap their pants it doesn't get too messy."

A little graphic, but it captures the problem. A problem the MAyor never sought to address with the legislature when crafting his "Cleveland Plan" - that plan now looks downright ridiculous given this levy news. Stephen Dyer, at 10th period is sanguine about it

It looks like there is little hope that the much ballyhooed Cleveland Plan will ever reach its promise of turning around Cleveland's public school system. Cleveland's teachers made major concessions to the district, including giving up seniority as a means of determining pay. All so that kids might be able to be helped by the necessary, but expensive, wrap around services the Plan promised.

Now that it looks like it will take a miracle to see any of that. And Cleveland teachers' good-faith efforts and sacrifices are all that will ever come from this Plan, whose legacy appears to be resigned to shorter school days, reduced offerings and larger classes.

I lay little of the blame for this issue at Cleveland's feet. This is a state problem, as it has been for decades. When the state cuts school funding, which it did in the last budget by $1.8 billion (nearly $3 billion if all stimulus money's included), districts are forced to make impossible, desperate choices.

When will the public schools rise again and force the state to fulfill its constitutional obligations? Maybe if the levy fails, media and others will finally take note of the State's failure. But why should it.

Indeed, the Mayor should have asked the Governor for funding as part of his plan, and the Governor given record lottery profits that are supposed to benefit the schools, ought to be ensuring that all that excess profit actually does go to the schools. Students and communities are being massively short changed.

We have a school funding crisis in Ohio, and there is literally no need for it to be happening. The state has both the constitutional responsibility, and the means to address it, it is simply refusing to do so.

Education News for 06-13-2012

Statewide Stories of the Day

• Strickland appointee resigns from state school board; one left (Dispatch)

One of two remaining appointees of the former Democratic governor has resigned from the Ohio Board of Education. Dennis Reardon, former executive director of the Ohio Education Association, the state’s largest teacher’s union, stepped down about six months before his four-year term on the 19-member board was to expire. “Due to scheduling conflicts with other activities in which I am involved, I must resign from the state Board of Education,” the 69-year-old Pickerington resident wrote in a letter to Gov. John Kasich, a Republican who will appoint a replacement. Read more...

• Ohio lawmakers approve Mayor Jackson's Cleveland schools plan after weeks of tense negotiations (Plain Dealer)

COLUMBUS - Cleveland Mayor Frank Jackson, after weeks of tense negotiations, finally gained the legislative approval he needed on Tuesday to carry out his plan to reform the city’s troubled schools. The mayor’s proposal was debated at length, with several Democrats from outside Cleveland opposing the plan because it allows the city to share local tax dollars with charter schools. But the ongoing dismal performance of Cleveland schools proved too much for the majority of lawmakers to ignore. Read more...

• Lawmakers approve Cleveland school plan (Dispatch)

The Ohio House and Senate today overwhelmingly passed Cleveland Mayor Frank Jackson’s plan for improving ailing school district. Republican and Democratic supporters hailed the legislation as a model of collaboration and local control. “We should help the mayor do what he believes he needs to do,” said Rep. Sandra Williams, a Cleveland Democrat and co-sponsor of the legislation. “I am a product of the Cleveland Municipal School District. I believe when I was in school, I got a great education,” she said. “I don’t think those kids that are there now are getting a great education.” Read more...

• Local school districts face deficits next 5 years (News-Sun)

SPRINGFIELD — Most local school districts face grim financial forecasts in the next five years, with several staring down multimillion dollar deficits, according to a Springfield News-Sun analysis of Ohio Department of Education documents. Flat or falling state aid and the expiration of federal stimulus funds meant to close the gap combined with rising costs of doing business has many districts eyeing large deficits in the future, according to the five-year forecasts. Districts are legally required to file the projections every October and May. Read more...

• Education Bills Top Ohio Statehouse Agenda (ONN)

COLUMBUS - The Ohio Legislature is slated to return Tuesday after a Memorial Day break and lawmakers hope to finish work on a handful of bills before recessing for the summer. Education-related bills are at the top of their agenda this week, including a wide-ranging measure being pushed by Gov. John Kasich as part of his midterm budget review. The Legislature also is expected to take up a proposed compromise to a Cleveland school improvement bill that's aimed to help the city's struggling public schools and high-performing charter schools co-exist. Read more...

• Bill gives Cleveland mayor stronger control over schools (Dispatch)

Ohio legislators yesterday overwhelmingly approved Cleveland Mayor Frank Jackson’s plan to improve his ailing school district. Republican and Democratic supporters hailed the legislation as a model of collaboration and local control. Though the Cleveland district was once a national model, today two-thirds of students attend failing schools. It’s also the only district in the state under mayoral control, a decision made by district voters more than a decade ago. Read more...

• Gov. John Kasich, Ohio House and Senate Republicans reach deal on education policy (Plain Dealer)

COLUMBUS - Gov. John Kasich and Republican state lawmakers from both chambers brokered a deal on a third-grade reading guarantee and quickly sent the measure through the House Education Committee Tuesday. The deal tasks the state Board of Education with developing a phased-in standard that third-graders must meet on a state reading test to be promoted to the fourth grade. The standard would start off holding back third-graders who score "limited" in reading next school year. Read more...

• School-funding advocates seek to inform the public (Vindicator)

BOARDMAN - Organizers of a meeting last month regarding public-school funding are planning to establish subcommittees this summer aimed at informing the public. Hundreds of people filled the Boardman Performing Arts Center last month for the forum that included local, state and national speakers about the issue. “We want to form subcommittees out of people who did respond,” said Ron Iarussi, superintendent of the Mahoning County Educational Service Center. Read more...

Local Issues

• Columbus district could offer $12 million in grants for charters, private schools (Dispatch)

Columbus City Schools could pay up to $12 million in local tax dollars to high-performing charter and private schools under a plan detailed by the district yesterday. Three-year grants could go to charter schools, private schools or even other district schools that score an A or B on their state report cards. The district envisions that grants could range from $380,000 to $2 million a year. The effort would link the high-performing schools with perhaps 17 or so low-performing district schools, Columbus school Superintendent Gene Harris said yesterday. Read more...

• Austintown parents panel vows to fight busing plan (Vindicator)

A committee of concerned parents says its Tuesday news conference is only the opening salvo in a fight against Austintown’s proposal to offer public-transit vouchers to private-school students instead of using district vehicles. “Stick with us and fight this fight. ... We cannot let them win because if they win, who’s next? Canfield? Boardman?” said David Gerchak, a member of the Austintown Parents for the Safe Transportation of Students Committee. He was one of several speakers who addressed a crowd of more than 80 people at St. Christine School. Read more...

• Orange Schools teacher contract talks at a standstill (Sun News)

PEPPER PIKE - Negotiations between the Orange school board and the Orange Teachers’ Association have reached an impasse, according to Superintendent Dr. Nancy Wingenbach. Further action will await assignment of a federal mediator to oversee the process. Negotiations to replace the OTA’s three-year contract began early this year, and the contract expires July 31. So by the time a mediator is assigned, late this month, all those involved will have just a month to make progress. Read more...

• 15 teaching positions eliminated in Niles (Vindicator)

NILES - The city board of education, which last month deadlocked on a proposal to eliminate 15 teaching positions, approved the issue Tuesday by a 3-2 vote. Without the layoffs, the board faced a deficit in excess of $1.3 million and could eventually have been forced into fiscal emergency and a state takeover, according to Superintendent Mark Robinson. The decision will cost 11 teachers, one of them a part-time employee, their jobs. The remaining four positions, which became vacant due to retirements, will not be filled. Read more...

Editorial

• Bend rules for dropout recovery (Tribune Chronicle)

Among the toughest challenges in education is keeping at-risk youngsters from dropping out of school. That does not mean institutions specializing in the task should not be required to meet some state requirements, however. More than 18,000 Ohio children attend special ''dropout recovery'' charter schools, which are private institutions receiving government funding. Perhaps in recognition of the difficulty of coaching such youngsters through graduation, state officials exempted such schools from some rules governing other institutions, both public and private. Read more...

Education News for 05-29-2012

Statewide Stories of the Day

• Schools test-drive state's online testing system (Lima News)

LIMA — A colorful pie chart appears on the screen, inviting pupils to create their own colonies, figuring out how best to allocate their resources. On another test question, pictures of state senators appear with information hinting to whether they belong in the North or South. Pupils drag the pictures to the appropriate spots. This is the future of state testing: All online, more colorful, more interactive, more fun. Read More...

• Cleveland schools plan wins legislative support as Mayor Frank Jackson agrees to less control over new charter schools than he sought (Plain Dealer)

CLEVELAND — Mayor Frank Jackson scaled back his push to empower a local panel to approve new charter schools to win approval of his far-reaching Cleveland schools plan in the state legislature. Instead the new Transformational Alliance will only be advisory and will review charter school sponsors, or authorizers, and make a recommendation to the Ohio Department of Education, which will have final approval. Read More...

• Anti-truancy effort lauded (Dispatch) County and school officials yesterday touted an anti-truancy program that aims to help chronically absent Columbus students avoid court. The event was meant to take stock of several anti-truancy efforts that affect Columbus City Schools children, including Project KEY, drop-off centers for corralled truants and work by police officers to round up truants, said Edwin England, who helps oversee Project KEY. There’s little data to measure whether some of those programs have helped curb truancy. Read More...

Local Issues

• School adopts drug-test policy (Blade)

TOLEDO — St. John’s Jesuit High School & Academy plans this fall to introduce random drug tests for all students and staff, making it one of the first schools in Ohio to have such a policy. All students and staff could be asked to provide a hair sample for testing, and submission to the tests will be a condition of enrollment, the Rev. Joaquin Martinez, school president, said last week. School administrators have discussed a possible drug testing policy for about two years. It does not include testing for alcohol. Read More...

• 'Shared' treasurers saving school districts money (Dayton Daily News)

Local school district treasurers Dan Schall and Brad McKee are on the forefront of a state effort that aims to reduce costs and increase efficiencies by sharing services across public entities, such as school districts. “The governor really believes that for too long the first options considered to save money are cutting services or raising taxes, but there really is a third way,” said Randy Cole, policy manager with the Ohio Office of Budget and Management. “They can find efficiencies and change the way they perform services.” Read More...

• Licking County School Districts all pass Ohio Graduation Test (Newark Advocate)

NEWARK - Licking County's school districts all passed every section of the Ohio Graduation Tests for the first time this year. Although the results, posted online this week by the Ohio Department of Education, are only preliminary, they are encouraging, Newark Superintendent Doug Ute said. Ute's district sits at 76.1 percent of sophomores passing the science test -- up from 68.8 percent in 2011. "It's higher than it's ever been at this time," he said. "You have to keep in your mind, too, those things could change." Read More...

• Summer school numbers decrease (Journal-News)

Increasing costs of summer courses and more online options have contributed to the shrinking number of students enrolling in traditional summer school programs according to local school officials. Hamilton City Schools has seen its summer school enrollment plummet from 668 high school students in 2008 to 376 in 2011 according to a Hamilton JournalNews analysis. Keith Millard, director of secondary programs at Hamilton City Schools, said there are several contributing factors for the drop off. Read More...

• Decision on drug testing for all Vermilion students could come this summer (WEWS 5 ABC)

VERMILION - A few days after 16-year-old Jessica Fernandez committed suicide by standing in front of a train, an ex-boyfriend is speaking out. The police report states that Fernandez had a drug problem. The report does not say whether drugs had anything to do with her suicide, but James Harwood of Lorain believes it did. “Jessica was a beautiful person,” Harwood said, sitting on his couch with tears in his eyes. The 22-year-old said he is a former addict himself and has been in recovery for some time now. Read More...

• Minerva cuts teaching, bus-driver jobs (Repository)

MINERVA — As a cost-saving measure, 10 teaching positions and two bus driver slots were eliminated from the Minerva Local School District payroll. The school board also eliminated two administrative positions while filling two others. One of the positions filled was treasurer. That went to Larry Pottorf, the school system’s business manager. “The business manager also has a treasurer’s license,” Superintendent Joseph Chaddock said. “So the business manager will become the treasurer and I am eliminating the business manager’s position.” Read More...

• Area students fare slightly worse than 2011 on OGT (Chillicothe Gazette)

CHILLICOTHE - Students in Ross and Pike counties, as a whole, met fewer benchmarks on the Ohio Graduation Tests this year than in 2011, but not by much. Passing the OGTs is a requirement for all high school graduates. Introduced in 2001, the standardized tests met the federal requirement for testing. They're administered each spring to high school sophomores, as well as juniors and seniors who have not achieved proficient scores on one or more of the tests. Read More...

• Schools still face financial challenges (Vindicator)

Youngstown - Even though the city school district’s loss of state money isn’t as large as what was expected a couple of months ago, the school board president said financial challenges remain. “We’re not out of the woods yet,” said Lock P. Beachum Sr., Youngstown city school board president. The board decided late last year to place a replacement levy on the March ballot — seeking less millage than the levy that expires this year. But in February, the board voted to remove the replacement levy. Read More...

Editorial

• Hard-won legislative accord on Cleveland school reform should galvanize local officials (Plain Dealer)

Give Cleveland a chance to reform its struggling schools, which could mean a chance to remake the city. That's all that Cleveland Mayor Frank Jackson and Cleveland Schools CEO Eric Gordon have been asking for as they seek legislation in the Ohio General Assembly that would, among other things, give a review panel oversight of city charter schools. Fortunately, despite some last-minute controversy about the Transformation Alliance, the mayor's proposed vehicle to monitor Cleveland charters, a deal was finally struck last week. Read More...

• Grand bargain (Dispatch)

With a deal hammered out on Thursday, one of the boldest experiments in education reform ever seen in Ohio is poised to be launched after final approval by the General Assembly in June. It aims to transform the education and prospects of the children of Cleveland, not to mention enhancing the economic prospects of Ohio. If it succeeds, much of the credit will go to Cleveland’s Democratic Mayor Frank Jackson, who exhibited political courage and remarkable political skill in crafting a bipartisan plan that led a variety of special interests to make sacrifices for the common good. Read More...

Education News for 05-25-2012

Statewide Education News

• $700 million in federal education grants coming (Cincinnati Enquirer)

National education groups said this week that they’re putting their money where their mouths are when it comes to improving teacher effectiveness. Cincinnati Public Schools said Thursday it will join the growing cadre of districts applying for the $400 million latest round of federal Race to the Top school reform grants announced this week by the U. S. Department of Education. Read More...

• Late changes stall education bill (Springfield News Sun)

State lawmakers aren’t finished revising Gov. John Kasich’s education reform bill and will continue to hash out their disagreements and attempt compromise after the holiday weekend. Senate Bill 316 was scheduled for a floor vote in the House on Thursday, but there was disagreement about changes that include:
• Raising the minimum reading test score students need to pass third grade.
• Scrapping the report card committee.
• Creating a system of charter schools for gifted students. Read More...

• Five Things You Can Learn Tomorrow About Ohio Teacher Evaluations (State Impact Ohio)

Ohio school districts are in the middle of making major changes to how public school teachers are evaluated. The changes come amid a national push to make teacher evaluation actually count. That means using it to help teachers improve and to tie performance to how teachers are paid and whether they keep their jobs. How important is this change to teachers and principals? So important that about 2,500 of them will descend upon Columbus tomorrow for a conference on what the new evaluations will look like and what they mean. Read More...

Local Issues

• Ohio Graduation Test scores down, but still good (Mansfield News Journal)

Early reports indicate Ohio Graduation Tests scores at all Richland County public schools decreased this year. Lucas High School Principal Eric Teague said he wasn't surprised scores dropped a bit in his district. Last year, scores were phenomenal and students scored a 100 percent in reading, mathematics and writing, he said. Read More...

• Inmates May Soon Work Inside Central Ohio School District (NBC-4, Columbus)

They've been sentenced to years in prison, but inmates may soon be working in and around schools in a Central Ohio district. Leaders with the Fairbanks Local Schools in Union County are currently working on a partnership with the Ohio Reformatory for Women. Read More...

• Lane to be tried as adult in Chardon High shootings (News Herald)

T.J. Lane will be tried as an adult in the Chardon High School shootings, Geauga County Probate/Juvenile Judge Tim Grendell ruled Thursday. Lane is being held in the county Juvenile Detention Center without bond. Read More...

• Special-needs students benefit from work-training program (Vindicator)

A year of hands-on vocational training has helped 10 special-needs students secure entry-level jobs. Corey and Brian Dyer, work-training coordinators for the Mahoning County Educational Services Center, brought the work-training program to Austintown Fitch High School and the Mahoning County Career and Technical Center. Read More...

• Male teachers are rare in elementaries (Hamilton Journal News)

Men make up only 10 percent of the elementary school teachers in Butler County, a trend seen nationally and one that concerns education experts. The Hamilton JournalNews analyzed staff lists in 10 Butler County districts, and of the 1,603.8 full-time equivalent teachers in elementary schools, 164 — or 10.2 percent — are men, according to 2010-11 data from the Ohio Department of Education. Read More...

• Cleveland Mayor Frank Jackson's education plan does not get legislative approval, but deal is made to pass it soon (Plain Dealer)

Mayor Frank Jackson did not get final approval from state lawmakers on his education reform plan, but they struck a deal late Thursday that it would be passed soon. Jackson was adamant he wanted his sweeping plan to pass Thursday so he could move ahead with a school tax campaign. Raising property taxes would help offset the school district's projected budget deficit. Read More...

• Cleveland mayor reaches agreement to fix troubled schools (Dispatch)

Cleveland Mayor Frank Jackson reached an agreement tonight with state legislative leaders on a bill to overhaul his struggling school district. House Speaker William G. Batchelder, R-Medina, said there will be a news conference on Friday to announce the details, but said it is his intent to pass House Bill 525 when the legislature returns to Columbus in mid-June. Read More...