Cheers to State Representatives Mike Dovilla and Kristina Roegner. They are the sponsors of House Bill 2, a high-priority bill introduced early in the 131st General Assembly that would remedy long-neglected deficiencies in Ohio’s charter school law, including in transparency, sponsor/school relationships, board roles, and accountability.
Cheers to Governor John Kasich, whose FY 2016–17 state budget also includes important charter school reforms, especially in the area of sponsor quality (which you can read about elsewhere in this issue of Ohio Gadfly). While there are incentives being proffered for achieving higher quality, it should not be overlooked just how much the bar is being raised in Ohio. If the governor is successful, sponsors and schools who fail to reach the mark will not just miss out on incentives; they will be out of the education business.
Jeers to the drawing of false battle lines. Walnut Township Schools in rural Fairfield County is heading for a fiscal abyss. They must cut nearly a million dollars from their budget by February 10 or risk being placed under fiscal emergency by the state. At an emergency board meeting on February 4, a budget-cutting plan was unanimously approved, which still might not be enough to keep them away from state oversight. But two members said on the record they were only buying time to avoid the emergency declaration and have no intention of following through on the voted plan. Why? They see the state as an enemy. At a February 2 school board meeting, the Ohio Department of Education’s representative told them: “I’ve never seen more harm done to a school district than with a fiscal emergency.” But the state can move obstacles and cut through red tape in a way that districts simply cannot do on their own. That is especially true of those in financial trouble. Many districts (notably Mansfield, Monroe, Ledgemont, and Cloverleaf in the last year alone) have found the state’s assistance to be Cheer-worthy. So why not put students and families first, skip the overheated rhetoric and false demonization of one another, and get down to solving the real problems?
