- Less than a month until it’s all over and the gubernatorial race in Ohio is trending rather lopsided. Problem is, certain issues that typically arise during a contested race just haven’t gotten a lot of play this time around. Fordham’s Chad Aldis is briefly quoted in this piece, lamenting about the lack of specifics on K-12 education from either side. (Columbus Dispatch)
- Oddly enough, state board of education races seem to be getting more play in the media than the gubernatorial race…in certain places. We’ve clipped a few stories about individual district races before, but here’s a nice overview on all of the contested seats on the board. You would have thought that Common Core would have been a bigger issue, but it seems that charter schools are more relevant to most candidates…especially if they are Democrats. (Columbus Dispatch)
- Big changes are being promised for the education provided to students with special needs in Columbus City Schools, following a pretty earth-shaking admission that the district had routinely followed a “no-fail” policy for students on IEPs, moving young people along whether they passed or not. These changes even include efforts to allow former students to retake classes to pass on their own merit. (Columbus Dispatch)
- A press conference was held in Chillicothe on Friday with both the founder and the current owner of a local private school, which closed its doors earlier that day. As you might expect, lack of money was the issue – lack of parents paying, sure, but also a paperwork snafu that left a group of students receiving the Jon Peterson Special Needs Scholarship unable to use it at the school. What a mess. (Chillicothe Gazette)
- There was a candidate forum last week in Athens…that really just turned into Common Core-bashing. Very one-sided Common Core-bashing at that. (The Athens News)
- I don’t think many people will be surprised to know that Ohio’s 2014 Teacher of the Year is supportive of Common Core. (WKSU-FM, Kent)
- The Enquirer was interested in investigating the allegations against a number of Horizon/Concept charter schools, and so went to visit Horizon Science Academy in Cincinnati. My reading of this leads me to believe the reporter had some preconceived notions before going in. You’ll have to check it out for yourself to see if you agree…and whether you think he learned anything that challenged those notions after being given pretty wide access. (Cincinnati Enquirer)
- Toledo Public Schools is cautiously optimistic about the first uptick in its enrollment for nearly 20 years. Never mind that it’s only 57 kids or that there is an argument to be made that the closure of several other options (Horizon Science Academy, RIP) helped the district in this regard. The point is that TPS has a big opportunity to serve more students. AND they actually have to work to keep them. Luckily, we’ve got multiple student counts in districts for the first time since way before Cosby and we’ll be able to see whether these newcomers actually do stay. (Toledo Blade)
- Where else is student enrollment rising after many years of decline? In the schools of the Catholic Diocese of Youngstown. EdChoice vouchers are briefly noted as contributing to diversity in the schools, but the actual rise in enrollment is credited to efforts to realign the schools to the needs of students and the support system within the Diocese. Fascinating. (Canton Repository)
