Gadfly Bites 4/24/19 – “I really hope it’s not just going back to what the district was doing before.”

1. It may be quiet around Capitol Square this week, but that doesn’t mean there aren’t things for Fordhamites to talk about. First up, Chad Aldis is quoted outlining some of the questions surrounding charter funding in the proposed new education formula. (WCBE-FM, Columbus, 4/23/19) Previous writings from both Chad and our own Aaron Churchill are quoted in this piece on the potential benefits of Opportunity Zone funding for education generally and for school choice in particular. (CityLab Daily, 4/23/19) Finally, a blog by Fordham’s Jessica Poiner analyzing the governor’s budget proposals in regard to Ohio’s credential attainment goals is quoted at length in this piece. Her analysis of what is proposed and where those proposals do or do not hit the desired mark is juxtaposed with a new report on the topic by the good folks at Innovation Ohio. The report seems to me to ignore the actual proposals entirely, in favor of touting IO’s own pricey priorities. Although I could be missing something. (Gongwer Ohio, 4/23/19)

2. Here’s a good news story: A new partnership between Middletown City Schools and Miami University of Ohio will streamline and expedite the process of current paraprofessionals in the district becoming licensed teachers. Miami has one of the best teacher prep programs in the state, if its perennial top ratings are to be believed, and the program is focused particularly on licensing teachers for special education classrooms, which is an ongoing need in Middletown and pretty much everywhere else. Sounds like a win all around; hopefully the students most of all. Best of luck to everyone! (The Journal-News, 4/22/19)

3. We end with three stories about the ongoing efforts in a number of venues to “fix” the state’s academic distress intervention paradigm. It kind of seems like we’ve hit the last three stages of the Kübler-Ross model of grieving (with denial and anger in the rearview mirror by my reckoning). Check it out: Bargaining is must right now as there are approximately 527 different versions of a “fix” to the academic distress paradigm currently floating out there. Some folks would give anything for one of those versions to stick, and for it land in the state budget to put an end to the issue once and for all. But I’m not sure. (Gongwer Ohio, 4/22/19) Seems like depression could be on the agenda in Lorain City Schools as the efforts of the elected school board and its allies to coopt the support of the state superintendent (using video of that crazy summit meeting from the other week as Exhibit A) did not bear the expected fruit. In fact, Supe’s response seems pretty good by my humble reckoning (but who cares what Jeff thinks, I hear you all saying): Kinda like a master class in being circumspect and showing your cards at the same time. (Elyria Chronicle, 4/24/19) Finally, in Youngstown there are additional signs of acceptance, as you might expect from a district which is actually making some good progress via the CEO/ADC paradigm. The next Youngstown CEO could be named as early as tomorrow. (Youngstown Vindicator, 4/23/19) Not to denigrate the grieving process, of course, but most of this agita could have been avoided if everyone involved realized that the paradigm isn’t actually “broken” and that there’s not much to really “fix” anyway.

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