- Chad is quoted in the Columbus Dispatch’s big weekend gotcha story about the Electronic Classroom of Tomorrow (ECOT), a statewide online charter school that spends somewhere around 2 percent of its budget on advertising. It is that advertising that is the sticking point here, with some odd comparisons made to Columbus City Schools’ designated “recruitment” spending. The full Dispatch story is here. The story also hit the AP wire in various non-Columbus-centric versions and so that same headline popped up in media outlets across the state. Some – like this one from the Toledo Blade – include some edited input from Chad. Other versions do not.
- Q: When do you know a teacher’s union actually approves of a charter school? A: When they actively try to unionize it. “We are careful about where we look to organize,” OFT President Melissa Cropper says. “Although we believe that all teachers should have the right to organize if they so desire, we don’t feel right in organizing teachers in a school we are trying to shut down.” There are a lot of interesting details in here – from teachers, the union, and school leaders. Worth a read. (Akron Beacon Journal)
- The ABJ piece above notes that teachers at Franklinton Preparatory Academy, a Columbus charter school actively organized by OFT, voted last week in favor of unionizing. The vote was 5-4 and will be contested, but if it goes through, FPA will be the first non-district-sponsored charter school in Ohio to have union teachers. Must be a good one, based on the above criteria. (Stateimpact Ohio)
- As you may be aware, efforts to reform Ohio’s charter school law continue apace in the General Assembly. Editors in Columbus opined this weekend specifically in favor of reform provisions in HB2 and lauding the additional reforms proposed last week by State Auditor Dave Yost during testimony on the bill. (Columbus Dispatch)
- The Big D also published a commentary from former reporter and well-known Statehouse curmudgeon Tom Suddes, opining in favor of current efforts to change the education funding formula in Ohio via the new state budget. My favorite quote: “…a school-aid formula is, or should be, a Rubik’s Cube, twisted uniquely by the distinct circumstances of each of the 600-plus districts.” Nicely-turned phrase. The clip linked above is from the Dispatch, but the piece ran in the Plain Dealer and other papers throughout the state. (Columbus Dispatch, others)
- I’m not sure of the status of Blade Editor David Kushma’s legend status or level of curmudgeonhood (sorry Toledoans!), but he too opined on the topic of school funding this weekend. He does not appear to be a fan of either the new state budget or the education funding formula changes included therein. (Toledo Blade)
