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- Big thanks to Tonisha Johnson of Spectrum News Ohio for taking a look at Fordham’s recent paper on charter school competition in the state. Report author Stéphane Lavertu and Fordham research guru Aaron Churchill are both quoted in her coverage. Nice! (Spectrum News 1, 4/29/24)
- Two national stories with vital Ohio data now. First up, author Jude Schwalbach says high-performing school districts that close their borders to systematic open enrollment operate more like private schools than public schools, and Ohio is his prime example. This is especially egregious, he says, when districts charge tuition (generally higher than the average private school tuition here in Ohio) to let some students in, and when they can impose GPA or other requirements for entry on top of that big check. And he didn’t even get to the infamous story of the Upper Arlington student attending high school by paying the district’s outrageous tuition cost who lost two sets of parents and guardians to tragedy in less than a year and was still denied graduation until she ponied up more than $10K. Hmmm… Maybe those districts aren’t much like private schools after all. (The 74, 4/29/24) Meanwhile, a new report finds that enrollment in teacher preparation programs grew 12 percent nationally between 2018 and 2022, leading some folks to cautiously suggest that reported classroom shortages might soon be easing. Best of all, Ohio is one of nine states “leading the pack” with the strongest increases in enrollment. Yay! (The 74, 4/28/24)
- It can’t all be good news in a day, though, can it? The head of the Columbus City Schools’ teachers union resigned this week from the district’s Community Facilities Task Force after coming to the realization that the group was actually going to recommend closing a bunch of undersubscribed buildings just like the previous such taskforce did in 2018. And that this time—unlike in 2018—the district was highly likely to follow through on those recommendations. Oh wait. Maybe it can be all good news. 😉(Columbus Dispatch, 4/29/24)
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