Gadfly Bites 12/16/19 – What’s the opposite of expert testimony?

Bites is back with you after a tiny hiatus last Friday. So sorry to leave you hanging. Lots to talk about, so let’s dive in!

1. EdChoice eligibility heartburn stuff from various suburbs around the state: First up, dyspeptic details from the current holder of the Livingston Chair of School Choice Animus. (Akron Beacon-Journal, 12/11/19) Folks in central Ohio’s otherwise-awesome-I’m-sure suburban districts feel the same. (Columbus Dispatch, 12/15/19) We hear about the heartburn occurring in Lorain County for the first time here. (The Elyria Chronicle, 12/16/19) We’ve heard so frequently from the suburban districts in Butler and Warren counties—including this piece—that it may be more a case of rising gorge than simple heartburn. At least a private school parent was consulted this time. (The Journal-News, 12/14/19) The same choir masters who have been leading the Heartburn Chorus tried last week to add the state board of education to their ongoing refrain, but it didn’t work all that well. The board voted to pass along to the state legislature just two of the education establishment’s nine recommendations for “fixing” the EdChoice Scholarship program. I guess it turns out that some of these folks are actually baritones sometimes. Who knew? (Gongwer Ohio, 12/13/19)
    
2. Updates from two of the state’s Academic Distress Commission districts: The elected members of the Youngstown Board of Education last week opted to tell folks what is best to do to turn around a long-underperforming school district. I suppose that’s slightly better than the Iceberg Avoidance lecture Captain Smith had been planning to give in New York on April 17, 1912. (Vindy.com, 12/15/19) The Lorain ADC named an interim CEO for the district last week. He is Greg Ring, a former school superintendent retired from nearby Firelands Local School District and from the county ESC. Wait? Does that make him a triple-dipper? The only really positive thing I see is that he says he likes the existing Lorain Promise plan. (The Morning Journal, 12/11/19)
   
   

3. Legal stuff: The Ohio Supreme Court expeditiously decided that the village of Hills and Dales lacks standing to pursue a suit that would question the constitutionality of a new law designed to make it easier for families to get their property rezoned from one school district to another. Oops. (Canton Repository, 12/13/19) It looks like the ongoing legal action regarding the athletic league weighting system known as “competitive balance” may be at an end. The Ohio Supreme Court kicked the case back to the lower court some months ago. But it looks like plain old negotiation will come out the winner, as the Cincinnati-area Catholic Schools seem to have accepted a compromise plan with the Ohio High School Athletic Association. Remember that this is about the ways in which school choice affect a high school’s “size” based on recruiting ability outside of its own “system”. Almost any school can be a feeder into a given high school these days, and a new weighting system was clearly needed. (Cincinnati Enquirer, 12/11/19)
    
4. Online school news: A new bill aiming to make changes to online school attendance and reporting procedures got a hearing in an Ohio House committee last week. (NBC4i.com, Columbus, 12/12/19) Meanwhile, here is the announcement of the formation the Ohio Online Learning Coalition, a team-up of the state’s online schools. I am 100 percent certain these two actions are not related. (Gongwer Ohio, 12/13/19) 

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