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- No additional Ohio media coverage of the Urban Institute’s new research report on EdChoice Scholarship recipients’ postsecondary outcomes as yet (go figure), but the folks at RealClear Education were very interested. Attorneys for the Boggs family of Columbus, who are among the individual defendants in the voucher groucher case, discuss the research findings in this editorial piece published yesterday. They say that the positive college-going and degree-earning outcomes are proof that the Boggs family made the right choice years ago to send their children to private school in search of better academic futures. And everyone is very clear that a private school option was entirely out of the question without voucher assistance. (RealClear Education, 4/27/25)
- Speaking of voucher recipients, here’s Walter Blanks, Jr. appearing on Fox News on Friday to talk about his important educational journey here in central Ohio, much of the success of which he credits to receiving an EdChoice Scholarship. Walter is much farther along in his life and career than the Boggses—so much so that he’s convinced his college enrollment and degree completion are among the data points in the Urban Institute report. I love it! The timing of both of these local stories is impeccable, seeing as how our voucher groucher lawsuit will finally have its first proper day in court this week. I’m sure many eyes will be upon it…maybe even some from Ohio. (Fox News, 4/25/25)
- Here’s a look at what some Dayton area schools (including the Fordham-sponsored Dayton Early College Academy) are doing to combat chronic absenteeism this year. We are told these efforts, which run the gamut from wraparound services to “fun activities” to gift cards, are working, but details are light and I remain skeptical. A) Because the numbers were so high to begin with, any reduction is an improvement, even if the smaller numbers are still very high. B) Because knowing that “When students want to be at school, an increase in the daily attendance rate naturally follows,” as Dayton City Schools’ superintendent opines, and making it a reality are two different things. C) Because if that statement is true, the corollary is also true all the time. (Dayton Daily News, 4/27/25)
- ALL CAPS. Calamitous, doomy, and incendiary words. Cheap appeals to emotion. And so! Many!! Exclamation points!!! These are but a few of the surprising features of this comically-dramatic but wholly-accurate coverage of the financial woes facing Portsmouth City Schools right now. Perhaps the rhetorical flourishes are due to the fact that the reporter used to cover small town crime stuff and there’s only so much natural interest such stories can generate without assistance. (One can only imagine how entertaining those would have been.) But it’s more likely an attempt to pad the thing out to article length, seeing as how the real story is brief and concise: “The district’s financial meltdown didn’t happen overnight. Years of overspending, dropping enrollment, and COVID-era funding drying up pushed Portsmouth schools into what the state calls ‘fiscal watch.’ Translation? The district had no choice but to make big changes—or face a total financial collapse.” Says the district supe clearly and succinctly mid-article: “We explored every alternative” [to laying off staff]. “But fewer students means less funding. We had to match our staff to the size of our student body.” Given that the same issues are facing many other school districts across the state, everybody needs to lay off the reportorial varnish and just say it outright. The sooner the better. (Scioto County Daily News, 4/26/25)
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