So, it’s all about that budget today? No trouble.
- First up, the Beacon Journal. They equate the traditional district and charter school proposals in their headline, but definitely spend most of their column inches “spotlighting” those related to charter schools. How much so? So much that Chad is quoted and the Fordham-sponsored CREDO report on charter school quality in Ohio gets a name-check. Nice. (Akron Beacon Journal)
- Next, the Big D. They separate various budget strands in separate stories. Their K-12 education piece begins by noting, “more than half of Ohio school districts would see their state funding reduced” under the new budget. There is some mention of charter school oversight and funding changes along with some bullet points on the return of Straight A Grant funding and a proposed increase in EdChoice voucher amounts. (Columbus Dispatch)
- In the Blade, they combine K-12 and higher ed coverage. Their K-12 section begins by noting, “Increased revenue would go to Ohio schools,” under the new budget, but that district-by-district changes depend on “multiple factors”. There is a tiny notation of charter school oversight and funding changes. (Toledo Blade)
- There really is just one “factor” that’s most at play in the district funding changes proposed in the new budget. And that is the buzzword of “capacity”, by which is most simply meant the ability of localities to tax themselves to support local education and other stuff besides. It is a more complex calculation in reality, based on a comparison of income wealth and property wealth in an area, as highlighted last week in a report from the Tax Policy Institute covered in these very clips. The complex nature of the calculations is probably why the “tax runs” for individual districts were not available yesterday. When these do turn up, expect an explosion of coverage down to the individual district level. Journalist Patrick O’Donnell also notes in some more detail other proposals related to charter schools, early childhood education, and the fact that guidance counselors should be counseling more and covering playground duty less. Good read. (Cleveland Plain Dealer)
- How can you tell if a report on the K-12 education budget is wonky? Look for the word “quintile”. There are three instances of that word in Gongwer’s thorough coverage of the education portion of the budget. There are also six instances of the word “charters”. (Gongwer Ohio)
- The folks at StateImpact promise they will be digging into the Kasich budget proposals in detail in the next few weeks, so we’ll stay tuned for that. For today, they provide a series of bullet points covering early childhood, K-12, and higher education proposals. The charter school section makes references to the Fordham-sponsored CREDO study on charter school performance in Ohio. (StateImpact Ohio)
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