Statewide Education News

Shared leader saves districts money (News-Sun)

MECHANICSBURG — Board members knew they were taking a risk last year when they hired Dan Kaffenbarger to serve simultaneously as the superintendent for two separate school districts in Champaign County. Several months into the job, the gamble seems to be paying off, although Kaffenbarger is less sure than before that the practice of sharing superintendents will become a common occurrence in the future. Read More…

Ohioan is nominated for federal schools job (Dispatch)

WASHINGTON — The Obama administration has nominated former Ohio schools superintendent Deborah Delisle to serve as the Assistant Secretary of Education for Elementary and Secondary Education, Sen. Sherrod Brown said yesterday. Delisle, who was named state superintendent under former Gov. Ted Strickland, resigned in March after it became clear that new members of the State Board of Education appointed by Gov. John Kasich would replace her. She had spent 2 1/2 years at the post. Read More…

National Park Service seeking teachers who want to spend their summer as park rangers (WEWS 5 ABC)

BRECKSVILLE - Teachers have an great opportunity to spend their summer outdoors learning and giving. Cuyahoga Valley National Park is seeking qualified teachers who would like to work as a park ranger this summer in the Teacher-Ranger-Teacher (TRT) program. The TRT program offers teachers eight weeks working in national parks across the country and developing lessons to connect their students to the park during the following school year. Teachers have the opportunity to earn graduate credit for the experience. Read More…

Local Issues

City schools brace for lean budget (Chillicothe Gazette)

CHILLICOTHE - Chillicothe school leaders again are taking the long view as they prepare for a series of lean budget years. The district is projecting a negative cash balance of $3.1 million in 2013. The forecast only gets bleaker after that, with projections showing negative cash balances of $7 million in 2015 and almost $12 million in 2016. The school board did its best to get ahead of the shortfall in April 2011, making $1.55 million in cuts to help stave off the projected multi-million dollar deficit in 2013. Read More…

Liberty BOE OKs $1.2M in cuts (Vindicator)

Liberty - The board of education on Monday unanimously approved $1.2 million in personnel cuts, a process Superintendent Stan Watson called “gut wrenching.” The cuts will take effect next fiscal year, which begins July 1. They include the layoffs of two administrative positions: supervisor of maintenance/transportation, and the cafeteria supervisor. In addition, seven teaching positions will be eliminated and several positions will switch to part time. Read More…

Lakota considers sharing services with ESC (Journal-News)

LIBERTY TWP. — In an effort to help address a $9 million budget deficit projected by the 2012-13 school year, the Lakota schools board of education is considering a proposal to restructure its preschool program. Under the proposal, the district’s preschool program would partner with the Head Start program, which is operated by the Butler County Educational Service Center. The restructuring of the preschool program would offer an opportunity to share services, reduce cost and generate multiple benefits, according to the district. Read More…

Digital academy could help city keep students (News-Sun)

SPRINGFIELD — More than $1.1 million in state funding follows nearly 200 Springfield students to online schools, but that could change as the district prepares to launch its own virtual school. “Drawing the students back will bring the funding with them, and that’s always a plus,” said Superintendent David Estrop. “But we also see this as clearly consistent with what the community wants to do.” A pilot program of up to 25 students will kick off the digital school this spring. Read More…

New Westerville levy means sports, art, band (Dispatch)

Westerville school officials announced last night which programs would be restored if voters approve a March tax issue. Sports, marching band and all other extracurricular activities are included, along with arts classes, electives and programs that help gifted students and programs for those who need reading help. The programs that would be restored are roughly the top half of a priority list that Superintendent Dan Good presented last week. All programs on his priority list are to be cut or reduced by next school year because of a November levy failure. Read More…

Editorial

Niles BOE should cut from the top (Tribune Chronicle)

The Niles City Board of Education will have a difficult time solving its fiscal crisis and its contract dispute with the teachers because the teachers have no incentive to settle. Employees hired before 2008 pay zero for their health care premiums and little toward their health care deductibles and co-pays. There is no way on Earth they're going to get a better deal, so continuing to work under the old contract that expired Aug. 28 suits them just fine. Read More…

A smart and interesting post at Plunderbund, discusses which of the Columbus schools might be susceptible to a parental takeover, now that the Ohio house has reduced their statewide parent trigger provision to a trial in Columbus.

So how likely is that to take place? Consider some details:

As reported by ODE for 09-10, 21 percent of the students at Weinland Park are at the school for less than one year. That also means that the number of parents involved enough to sign the petition is around 80%, with the student population constantly changing. So if 50% of the parents need to sign, but only 80% are around, the parent(s) leading this effort must obtain the signatures of approximately 63% of the parents. And Weinland Park serves a population categorized as 93.7% “economically disadvantaged” in a building that already runs a non-standard year-round schedule. For additional perspective, the number of economically disadvantaged students is 43% statewide. I’m going to take a wild guess and project that these families have greater concerns than taking over a school. Just a guess.

This is a smart and reasonable observation, but as we pointed out in an article a while ago, it's not the only consideration to account for. Indeed, other provisions included in the budget bill could have a significant impact too.

The other question to be asked is this;

How much money could a for-profit charter make by sponsoring an effort to take over one of these Columbus schools?

With an empty promise to desperate parents to fix things, and a paid effort to garner the required parental support for the takeover, these schools might be easy marks, with easy profits to follow.

Education News for 01-24-2012

Dublin SB5 Referendum Petition Signing

The Columbus parent trigger profit motive