Statewide Education News

Cuts in Ohio's state budget could make Northeast Ohio communities consider combining services (Plain Dealer)

CLEVELAND - Gov. John Kasich's $112 billion state budget, which cut $455 million in funding for local governments, has caused communities statewide to consider collaborating and sharing services. That was the focus of a special forum held before about 55 people Thursday evening at the City Club in downtown Cleveland. Orange Mayor Kathy Mulcahy, one of three panelists, said that regionalism could be good for local governments but that she realizes a lack of trust among city leaders and the potential loss of supportive officials -- if they are not re-elected -- hinders the process. Read More…

Bill's school scheduling limits draw fire from educators (Times Reporter)

Area superintendents are cool to the idea of restricting the school year from Labor Day to Memorial Day — a measure that proponents say would help Ohio’s tourism industry. “This sends the wrong message to the people of Ohio with new school standards coming out,” said Newcomerstown Schools Superintendent Jeff Staggs. He wondered why the state would condense the time that school districts have to prepare their students to get ready for new tests and curriculum that will take effect in 2014 and 2015. Read More…

Monroe schools fall into 'fiscal watch' (Enquirer)

MONROE — Despite recent deep budget cuts with more planned in 2012, the Monroe school district was placed in “fiscal watch” Thursday by the Ohio Auditor’s office. “These are undoubtedly tough times for the Monroe Schools that will require difficult decisions,” Ohio Auditor David Yost said. “I encourage the district to utilize every tool available to chart a path back to fiscal health.” The Butler County district had already been placed in “fiscal caution” last fall by the Ohio Department of Education and school district officials said they were not surprised by this latest development. Read More…

County boards share services, budgets (Dispatch)

Because federal funds won’t be increasing and state money is diminishing, county boards of developmental disabilities across Ohio are cutting their budgets. “The money we all once had isn’t coming back, and programs are adjusting accordingly. And, yes, change is difficult, particularly when our sons and daughters are vulnerable,” John L. Martin, the director of the Ohio Department of Developmental Disabilities, told board members in charge of such programs in Union County last week. Read More…

Local Issues

School Background Checks Under Scrutiny (WBNS 10 CBS)

GRANDVIEW HEIGHTS - A California teacher was in jail on $23 million bond on Thursday after being accused of tying up his students and other children up and taking pictures. The teacher, Mark Berndt, had passed his background check, CrimeTracker 10’s Jeff Hogan reported. A central Ohio superintendent said on Thursday that there were checks in place to prevent a school employee from getting away with criminal behavior. Read More…

CPS rolls out career-counseling tool (Enquirer)

Cincinnati Public Schools’ high school students will soon have their own personal guidance counselors -- ones that start working with the student as early as ninth grade, will be available anytime they’re needed and who memorize their career goals and do college research in a split second. Oh, the counselors aren’t people. They’re embodied in a software program called Naviance Succeed. CPS has partnered with the software giant Naviance, based in Arlington, Va., for a computer program that allows students to create individual success plans for college and career. Read More…

Hebrew is elementary at Youngstown's Akiva Academy (Vindicator)

Youngstown - By using the Rosetta Stone program, Akiva Academy sixth- grader Alexander Smith, 12, may work on Hebrew at his own pace. “It’s supposed to be one of the easiest [languages], but I struggle,” he said. Using the program, though, lets him focus on areas that give him difficulty. Sixth- and seventh- graders at the school began using Rosetta online about a month ago with plans for fourth- and fifth-graders to begin using it soon. Read More…

City schools OK tutoring for 2,901 students (Dispatch)

After a long delay, the Columbus City Schools now have approved tutoring for 2,901 students in a federally funded program, and the district is awaiting information from companies that have signed up an additional 600 children. Because of a time lag in invoicing, the district doesn’t know how many students have begun being tutored. As of Wednesday, the district had received bills for 241 students. Read More…

Editorial

Passing the Blue Ribbon Schools test (L.A. Times)

When the 2011 winners of the coveted National Blue Ribbon Schools award were announced, only one of the 305 recipients was in Los Angeles, and that was a charter school. By contrast, two were located about 30 miles away, in Santa Ana — in a school district less than one-tenth the size of L.A. Unified. Yet Santa Ana Unified is far from affluent. A higher percentage of its students are poor and not fluent in English than in L.A. Unified. Close to 95% are Latino — making Santa Ana the most demographically homogenous school district in Orange County. Read More…