- As dedicated Gadfly Bites subscribers will no doubt recall, your humble clips compiler is of the opinion that a) the EdChoice voucher program is not “broken” (it is operating as designed, including a boost in the number of eligible students based on school report cards, which has happened before), and b) that no mass outflow of students from districts to private schools will occur (no more so than in any of the other previous expansions of the program). Y’all will also recall, no doubt, that I am likely the only person in Ohio who holds this opinion and that no one else cares what I think on the matter except perhaps some of you. At a minimum, you are continuing to read this. (Silly you!) At-large discussion around “obvious brokenness” and the necessity for a legislation-based “short term or long term voucher fix” continues feverishly. Based on the discussion, I’d like to a third facet to my opinion. It is that c) the February 1 “deadline for action” noted in said discussion is artificial and unnecessary. If the state’s voucher program is so potentially catastrophic and as harmful as we are being told, the deadline should be whenever it needs to be to “contain the damage”. Since the only damage anyone is concerned about is to districts’ bottom lines (and not to any families being chronically underserved by those district schools), surely the real “deadline” is nearer to the fall, just before school starts, and thus the “fixers” can take their time to get the proper “fix” in place. Chill out, gang. Clawing back vouchers from families after they have been awarded should be no big deal if districts’ very survival is at stake. Right? But again, that’s just my opinion. (Cleveland Plain Dealer, 1/14/20)
- As I have exposited in these Bites before, the main aim of most of the voucher grouchers seems to me to be attacking those things which underpin the EdChoice program: school report cards. No report cards, no ranking of low-performing schools, no EdChoice eligibility. Simple. But is there a way to rate schools without report cards, perhaps? One state representative, discussing voucher hatred with some local peeps in Fulton County, seems to favor “feelings” as a replacement rating system. He explains repeatedly how he “feels” that schools in his district are good, despite what the current report cards (and EdChoice eligibility list) say. Perhaps we could keep vouchers if we simply replace report card-based eligibility with someone’s feelings on school quality? Probably as good a way as any to lower the number of eligible schools to some acceptable number…whatever number that may be. (Fulton County Expositor, 1/14/20)
- Something similar is at work in this piece, I think. It is a huge and detailed article about so-called “improvements” wrought upon pre-K in Cincinnati via a massive infusion of tax dollars. (You know what I’m talking about.) Despite in-depth discussion of numerous “improvements” to the trappings and conditions of the pre-K experience (teacher salary increases, more teacher training, free school uniforms, more curricular materials)—and despite several promises in the piece to turn to a discussion of outcomes—the piece skillfully avoids that final dénouement. In the end, we are given no evidence at all that things have improved for kids academically. Only trappings, suppositions, hopes…and feelings of improvement. (Soapbox Cincinnati, 1/14/20)
- The power of eminent domain is likened to the unavoidability of the draft in this update on the football field kerfuffle in Bridgeport Local Schools, which we first talked about on Monday. A local attorney made that assertion to a reporter this week, indicating his belief that the district will win in its efforts to secure the property it wants, a thriving commercial hub which the owner doesn’t want to sell. While that lawyer is probably right, I doubt that the 95-year-old property owner made it to where he is today by rolling over for a good analogy. (WTOV-TV, Steubenville, 1/14/20)
- Greg Toppo, author of the book “The Game Believes in You,” takes a look at the efforts of Cleveland private school Hathaway Brown to forge a path for girls in the competitive and growing world of varsity esports. Interesting stuff. (The 74, 1/14/20)
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