- House Bill 2 – historic charter law reform in Ohio – was signed into law by Governor Kasich yesterday. Upon the signing, the governor said, “Making sure that our kids aren’t stuck in failing schools has been a priority, and this bill will profoundly benefit our children.” Nice. (Columbus Dispatch, 11/2/15) I don’t usually clip letters to the editor, but this one – from NACSA President/CEO Greg Richmond – praising the now-enacted charter reform bill, seemed worthy. (Toledo Blade, 11/1/15)
- The state board of education is in the process of updating the standards for gifted education in Ohio. Gifted advocates have some concerns about the process up to this point and some firm ideas about what they’d like to see in the final version of the standards, which are still some months of meetings, public comment, and debate away. (Columbus Dispatch, 11/2/15)
- In other news, here’s an in-depth look at funding for special needs students in school districts in Clark and Champaign Counties. District and ESC officials say numbers of special needs students are increasing, along with the associated costs. State and federal funds for services, they say, are flat or shrinking. Kudos for some discussion of charter schools here but some better info on Ohio’s Jon Peterson and Autism Scholarships for students to attend private schools could have been provided. (Springfield News-Sun, 10/3/15)
- We finish up inside that time and space bubble known as Athens, Ohio, wherein journalism professor Guido Stempel provides a guest commentary on the topic of PARCC testing. It includes the phrase “the more I find out about this test…” (as if he hasn’t testified a dozen or more times on the evils of PARCC over the last two years). It also includes the phrase “Common Core has all kinds of material they want to sell schools” (as if “Common Core” is a store in the mall). My new favorite newspaper in Ohio. (Athens Messenger, 11/1/15)
