- Tired of reading about calls for fixes to Ohio’s charter school law? Me neither. Chad Aldis has a guest commentary in the Enquirer today on that very topic. “It is past time,” he says, “for Ohio's charter sector to leave its troubled past behind.” Yes indeed. (Cincinnati Enquirer)
- Editors in Akron are also still keen to opine on education fixes as well. They laud the leaders of the new 131st General Assembly for their verbal commitment to education this week but warn of similar previous rhetoric that went nowhere. Interestingly, they use their soapbox to urge legislators to utilize specific data and research to inform their work. I won’t spoil the surprise and let you read it yourself to see of whom they are speaking. (Akron Beacon Journal)
- Members of the Youngstown school board say they agree with an outside consultant’s recommendation that communication needs to be improved between the board and the district superintendent. Just not so much that they think it a good idea for the supe to attend all their meetings. Go figure. (Youngstown Vindicator)
- From the “haven’t we been down this road before?” file: A local church was the highest bidder in an effort to sell a closed school building in Middletown. They’ve got some big plans for the place which – says the pastor – will enhance the community. And the sale will save the district a packet. But Middletown is just down the road from Monroe, where friction over a similar proposed sale has ended up in rancor, involvement of an outside group, threatened legal action, stalemate, and extended expense to the district. We’ll definitely keep an eye on this as it develops. (Middletown Journal News)
RESEARCH BITES 1/7/15: Fewer children (proportionally) in Ohio
On Monday, we looked at a snapshot of school-age children across Ohio cities in 2010. The results showed that the cities generally had similar percentages of school-aged children, though Cincinnati and Columbus seemed to lag slightly behind. Here, I look at the longitudinal trend across Ohio’s cities, using 1990 and 2010 Census data. The chart below shows that children, as a percentage of the overall population, are declining in Ohio’s cities—and statewide. (The absolute number of children may be increasing, but falling as a proportion of the total population.) Cincinnati experienced the largest loss over the period (3 percentage points) in its under 18 population, while Columbus lost less than one point. Interestingly, among the Ohio cities, Cleveland was a leader in the proportion of child-age population in both 1990 and 2010. Ohio does not have a booming child-age population, but how does its 1990 to 2010 trend compare with other states?
Is Ohio an outlier state, with its shrinking share of children? Stay tuned for Friday’s Research Bite.
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Source: United States Census Bureau. (See here for 1990 data and here for 2010 data.)
