Gadfly Bites 1/18/19 – A single question with implications for tax policy, household budget, and gastronomy

1. When I was in school, a B- grade was nothing to rest upon. Better than a C, of course, but indicating that some misunderstanding of either the topic or the work required of me to properly show understanding had occurred. That’s how I approached this story on Ohio’s rating of B- in the recent Nation’s Report Card produced by Education Week. Chad is quoted herein with a similar take, getting down into the important details that made up the final overall grade. (Columbus Dispatch, 1/17/19)
2. We now present you with a trio of hyperventilating, hyperbolic headlines and stories from across the state. Families fleeing! (Dayton Daily News, 1/17/19) State siphoning! (ABC6 News, Columbus, 1/18/19) Classless corporate citizen! Seriously, this is one of the best headlines ever covered in Bites. (Zanesville Times Recorder, 1/17/19)
3. Of course amidst the above-mentioned hyperbole there are actual stories and maybe even an issue worth debating. Case in point is the issue of Ohio’s awful school funding formula which is beset by the archaic and Byzantine “caps and guarantees” system. It may be hard to tell in the doom-mongering ABC6 News story above, but the state legislature may actually be in the process of solving this problem. You can see more on this via decidedly non-hyperbolic coverage in Gongwer. (Gongwer Ohio, 1/17/19)
4. We have this week been discussing the fact that Lorain City Schools CEO David Hardy can’t seem to stay off the hot seat so far in 2019. He was back again while running the first Community Business Schools Partnership meeting of the year. Seems a little calmer than some of the previous events we’ve covered. (Northern Ohio Morning Journal, 1/16/19) Dude doesn’t even have to be out in public for his seat to be hot. (Elyria Chronicle, 1/16/19) He is not even safe from scrutiny in his own home, it appears. (Elyria Chronicle, 1/16/19) In what I am sure is a completely coincidental turn of events unrelated to any of the foregoing, the chair of Lorain’s Academic Distress Commission announced this week that he was stepping down due to the time pressure of new job responsibilities. (Northern Ohio Morning Journal, 1/17/19)

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