- Anyone got more bandwidth for reading about HB 2? Yep, me too! Editors in Cleveland opine today – not on repeat this time – in praise of the bipartisan, bicameral effort that led to the passage of a strong bill earlier this week. (Cleveland Plain Dealer, 10/9/15) The Enquirer ran a guest column from the new CEO of the Accelerate Great Schools project in the Queen City, also in support of HB2’s reforms. Awesome and welcome input from a great new partner on the education reform scene in Ohio. Now, about your website, Patrick… (Cincinnati Enquirer, 10/8/15)
- Lest you think that everyone is holding hands and singing round the same campfire regarding charter schools in Ohio, that is not so. Case in point, a tussle has arisen between the State Auditor (I know!) and the President of the state Board of Education regarding some documents that the auditor would like and which the board president says are protected by attorney-client privilege and would show no more than has already been admitted to by the board on the topic. That topic is the rescinded charter sponsor evaluations conducted by the Ohio Department of Education earlier this year. You can check out the factual but boring version here. (Gongwer Ohio, 10/8/15) A slightly more cantankerous version here. (Columbus Dispatch, 10/9/15) And the verging-on-conspiracy-theory version here. (Cleveland Plain Dealer, 10/9/15)
- Another case in point: today’s editorial from the formerly-Big D excoriating everyone involved in writing, submitting, reviewing, and awarding that $71 million grant Ohio won from the USDOE to expand and improve the state’s charter school sector. (Columbus Dispatch, 10/9/15)
- Third and final case in point: the “band” of district supes that form the Greater Cincinnati School Advocacy Network is back again complaining about how much funding charter schools “steal” from them. The journalist presents the supes’ version of school funding in Ohio (handwaving away the massive and pivotal caps and guarantees system as “complicated”), presents a brief and concise rebuttal from StudentsFirst Ohio, and then repeats the supes’ version with numbers and the word “transferred”. Sounds like maybe folks might be in the mood to consider an end to caps and guarantees for districts or perhaps even direct funding of charters rather than using districts as middlemen. (Cincinnati Enquirer, 10/9/15)
- In other news, the Big-E took a brief look at the new CRPE report on educational improvement and opportunity in major urban areas across the country, Cincy included. I say brief, but those three bullet points are pretty interesting and worthy of deeper investigation all on their own. (Cincinnati Enquirer, 10/9/15)
- I know that loyal Gadfly Bites readers sometimes look at each new issue and ask themselves, “I wonder whatever became of the Ohio Constitutional Modernization Commission’s Education, Public Information, and Local Government Committee?” with a wistful sigh. “Why doesn’t that otherwise-thorough Mr. Murray ever give us an efficient update on their deliberations with regard to the ‘thorough and efficient’ clause in the state constitution, an issue which was burning so brightly last spring?” Well sigh no longer, loyal readers, because here it is. The Ohio Constitutional Modernization Commission’s Education, Public Information, and Local Government Committee made formal recommendation to the full commission this week to make no changes to the vaunted “thorough and efficient” clause in the state constitution, despite the fact that they did reach consensus that it NEEDED changed. They simply couldn’t agree on how. They also debated whether the state board of education had any idea what it was supposed to be doing and whether that needed fixing. I’m assuming my loyal reader can guess where this line of inquiry will likely go. (Gongwer Ohio, 10/8/15)
- Back in the real world, the PD reports that thousands of middle and high school students are taking college courses for free this fall under Ohio's new College Credit Plus program. They seem pretty happy with this fact, although I have to think that the photo chosen to illustrate the story is communicating something slightly different. (Cleveland Plain Dealer, 10/7/15)
