- Last week, it was the new school funding system delayed due to the…intricacies...of operationalizing new legislation. This week, it’s Education Savings Accounts for tutoring, summer camps, and the like which are struggling to get off the ground due to the same sorts of…intricacies. (Gongwer Ohio, 1/10/22)
- Speaking of the bureaucratic “abyss”, a newly-elected board member in Cincinnati City Schools recently discovered some…intricacies…all along the process were snagging substitute teacher applicants, stopping their efforts to get approved and hired at a time when the district really really needs them. Sounds like some remedies are being implemented. (Local 12 News, Cincinnati, 1/10/21)
- Remember last year when headlines were made when the legislature passed new and more stringent rules regarding transportation of charter, private, and STEM school students? And also when the outgoing state supe wrote a pretty stern memo to districts about properly prioritizing same? Turns out that, not making headlines at the same time, were five school districts across the state being fined for failing to properly transport those resident non-district students. The full list is: Columbus City Schools, Cincinnati Public Schools, Cleveland Metropolitan School District, Elyria City Schools, and Groveport Madison City Schools. In GM’s case, the fine was $53,000 per day multiplied by 13 days, for a total of nearly $700K. Yowza! The district is now suing the state (no doubt “watched” very closely by the others), alleging that aspects of the noncompliance definition are arbitrary and unconstitutional. Expect some amount of movement fairly quickly because that big old dollar amount is scheduled to be deducted from Groveport Madison’s February payment from the state. And Ohio’s school districts don’t waste time when it comes to their money. (Columbus Dispatch, 1/10/22)
- Speaking of that very topic, Lt. Governor Jon Husted went on the record earlier this week defending Ohio’s voucher programs in light of the lawsuit recently filed against them. “When we focus on the kids, usually education conversations are easy,” he said. “When we focus on the adults, that’s when they get complicated. And this is about adults fighting over control and resources, not about what children and families want.” Yep. What he said. (WOSU-FM, Columbus, 1/11/22)
- Meanwhile, back in the real world of schools doing the right thing for their kids, Utica Shale Academy recently created an outdoor welding lab because the contracted work to build the indoor one was taking too long. Not only will the charter school’s students immediately begin gaining experience with the shiny new welding machines (donated by a local employer), they will also get to work in situations more resembling the real world environments of the oil and gas industry. Nice! (The Daily Review, 1/11/12)
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