Education News for 05-22-2013

State Education News

• Little Miami regains its independence (Cincinnati Enquirer)

Today is Independence Day for the financially embattled Little Miami Schools. Once Ohio’s poster child for school district monetary woes, the Warren County school system will be autonomous…Read more...

• Coleman, Gee pitch Columbus school proposal to legislators (Columbus Dispatch)

State legislators drew attention to academic failures of the Columbus school district and to its ongoing data scandal last night in the first talks over a bill that…Read more...

• Special-needs aides still fighting dismissal (Columbus Dispatch)

Two Columbus special-needs aides who were fired last summer are still fighting to get their jobs back. The final day of hearings before the Columbus Civil Service Commission…Read more...

• Northridge out of fiscal caution, but levy needed (Newark Advocate)

The Northridge School District is out of fiscal caution. However, the district will have to renew its 8.86 mill levy by the end of 2014 to remain in the black long term…Read more...

• As prepared as we can be for Tornadoes (Portsmouth Daily Times)

An enormous tornado ripped through Moore, Okla., Monday, killing more…Read more...

Local Education News



• Families of the victims of Chardon School shooting are suing the United Way over access to Chardon (Cleveland Plain Dealer)

The families of the three Chardon High School students who were killed in 2012 are suing the United Way of Greater Cleveland and its Geauga County chapter…Read more...

• Reynoldsburg takes over charter e-school (Columbus Dispatch)

The Reynoldsburg school board is taking over the charter e-school that it placed on probation last year…Read more...

• Groveport Madison levy still losing by 12 votes (Columbus Dispatch)

Groveport Madison’s school levy gained four votes but is still behind after elections officials counted provisional ballots and added in an uncounted…Read more...

• Columbus school board votes to back report of Coleman’s education panel (Columbus Dispatch)

A resolution supporting the recommendations of the Columbus Education Commission passed a divided Columbus school board last night, after a lengthy debate that centered largely around whether…Read more...

• Brunswick school officials close all buildings in response to norovirus (Sun Newspapers)

Although symptoms of the condition itself last, in general, little more than 24 hours, a norovirus outbreak at the Brunswick City Schools this past week led to the closer of every building…Read more...

• Maysville students benefit from early college courses (Zanesville Times-Recorder)

Skylar Novaria might achieve his goal of becoming a business manager or CEO sooner than expected because of being a proactive teenager…Read more...

A decade-long crisis of democracy

We highlighted that despite Ohio voters in the aggregate preferring Democrats over Republicans in the 2012 election, the Republicans will hold a probable super majority 60-39 as a consequence of extreme partisan gerrymandering. The Dispatch was prompted by this result to produce an article about redistricting

Issue 2 is dead, buried deep by Ohio voters last week.

But over and over again, opponents of the redistricting plan, be they Republicans or editorial-page writers, noted that their opposition was not based on the belief that the current system of drawing legislative and congressional districts is good.

In fact, most acknowledged that it remains badly in need of an overhaul.

But if was this paragraph in the article that prompted us to take an even deeper look

Republicans now control 75 percent of the U.S. House seats and nearly two-thirds of the legislative seats in a state that has leaned Republican but is a key battleground state

We analyzed Ohio House of Representative results for each of the past 6 election cycles. By aggregating the votes for Democrats and Republicans in contested races we found a systematic, and extreme disenfranchising of Democratic representation in Ohio

Year	Democratic	Republican	D Seats	R Seats
2012	2,418,815	2,362,310	39	60
2010	1,447,949	1,696,064	40	59
2008	2,296,678	1,982,281	53	46
2006	1,832,548	1,605,801	46	53
2004	1,869,051	2,036,398	38	60
2002	1,243,671	1,364,656	36	63
Total	11,108,712	11,047,510

Based upon the preferences of voters, Democrats should have controlledthe General assemblies after the 2012, and 2006 elections - but were denied by partisan gerrymandering. Furthermore, the majorities that Republicans did earn in all of their successful years should have been much, much smaller - and never reacher super majority status.

Indeed when one looks at the sum total of votes in contest races over the past decade, rather than being center right, the results indicate a center to center left leaning electorate.

It is simply not possible to conclude that Ohioans have been legitimately represented in the 21st century by their preferred choices, either in actuality or in scope. We have a crisis of democracy in Ohio.

Where the polls stand - the last look

Here's our last look at the state of the polls before we know the result tomorrow.

After months of campaigning, millions spent on advertising and mail, the campaign has settled in to where it always looked destined to, a narrow lead for the president, creating an even narrower path for Mr Romney to achieve 270 electoral college votes.

The most conservative of the polling analyst, Real Clear Politics, has the race for electoral college votes almost neck-and-neck

One of the states they have in the toss-up column naturally being Ohio. However, their state-by-state look at the polling shows President Obama with a lead averaging 2.9%, one of his largest in some time, right at the moment he would want to be leading.

Meanwhile, 538, the NYT poll analyst has the President winning the electoral college vote 307.2 - 230.8, a margin that has been increasing since the first debate

583 has the probably of President Obama winning Ohio at 86.8%.

If you just want to settle in an watch the results, BuzzFeed has created a "Viewer's Guide To Who Won The Presidential Election"

This (probably)* doesn't have to be all that complicated. Obama has several paths to victory. Romney has fewer. And these are the main ones, organized by the time (EST) that polls close.
*The New York Times counts 512 possible outcomes — but the paths above are the likely ones.

As you can see, Romney has to run the table of swing states in order to prevail.

Of course, all of this only matters if you vote. Don't forget to check our our voters checklist of what you might need, and what your voting rights are in Ohio.

Where the polls stand - 1 week to go

With the debates behind us, and just a week of swing state campaigning ahead, the race for the Presidency is once again a close, polarized affair, between two very different choices.

Real Clear Politics has Mitt Romney falling back slightly from their previous weeks projection, with Obama favored to win 201 electoral college votes, Mitt Romney 191 (down from 206), and 146 up for grabs.

President Obama maintains a small but persistent lead in Ohio, of around 2%

The NYT calculates that this persistent lead is now projecting a 74.9% chance of President winning Ohio next Tuesday.

538 projects Obama to win 296.6 electoral college votes to Mitt Romeny's 241.4

Where the polls stand - 2 weeks to go

With just one Presidential debate to go, and a little more than two weeks remaining, campaign 2012 continues to be a close affair. Real Clear Politics has the race essentially tied, with Obama favored to win 201 electoral college votes and Mitt Romney 206, with 131 up for grabs.

Despite the narrowing of the national polling, President Obama continues to enjoy a small but persistent lead in swing states, including the all important Ohio

The NYT calculates that this persistent lead is generating a 70.3% chance of President winning Ohio on November 6th

These persistent swing state leads have 538 projecting the President to win 288 electoral votes to Mitt Romney's 255.

Where the polls stand - 22 days to go

With just over 3 weeks remaining until the November 6th election, Presidential polling has gotten a lot tighter, with the Presidents large lead having been eroded since the first debate.

Real Clear Politics now has the President ahead by just 10 Electoral College votes, with 146 up for grabs.

The NYT pollster has the President projected to win in the narrowest of fashions to date, too

Meanwhile, in Ohio, the race has tightened too, but remains a crucial firewall for the President

As you can see from the graph below, Mitt Romney has never led in Ohio

These polling leads in Ohio are confirmed by actual votes currently being cast early

A new poll shows President Obama with a commanding 59-31 percent lead among those who have already voted, with seven percent of those surveyed saying they have already cast their ballot.

A second poll, from PPP, showed similar results

The key finding on this poll may be how the early voters are breaking out. 19% of people say they've already cast their ballots and they report having voted for Obama by a 76-24 margin. Romney has a 51-45 advantage with those who haven't voted yet, but the numbers make it clear that he already has a lot of ground to make up in the final three weeks before the election.

The President is being projected to win Ohio by the NYT polling analyst, but by the smallest probability we have seen to date