- It may be said that our own Chad Aldis keeps some odd company from time to time. Probably just a hazard of the job. Case in point: his comments in this piece that reads generally like a “greatest hits” from the early days of Common Core hit jobs. Mind you, Chad’s comments were totally reasonable and show a thorough understanding of Common Core, Ohio’s actual learning standards, and the surprisingly rational review process currently underway in the Buckeye state. The same cannot be said about the rest of the piece. (Heartland Institute blog, 5/6/15)
- Some folks in Cleveland appear to be observing National Charter Schools Week by celebrating a successful unionization vote in another I Can Network school there. Or maybe they were celebrating Cinco de Mayo. Who can tell? (ClevelandScene, 5/5/16)
- Ohio’s Supreme Court ruled this week that the state legislature can retroactively rescind funding from schools or other funded entities if some “discrepancy” pops up after funding has been received. The case stems from just such a “discrepancy” which occurred in a number of school districts in 2005 with regard to district-resident students who attended charter schools. Neither the widely-distributed AP version of this story (AP, via Dayton Daily News, 5/4/16) nor the Toledo-centric version (it was TPS’s legal boffins that pushed the case up to the supremes) describes the original “discrepancy” in any detail (Toledo Blade, 5/4/16), but I’m going to go out on a limb and guess it has something to do with being paid for kids you didn’t actually serve. Which is bad.
- Sticking with state government happenings for a minute: efforts to decriminalize truancy in Ohio and create a more proactive path for schools to address students at risk of dropping out got a boost this week with House passage of HB 410. Gongwer covered the press conference lauding the bill’s passage, where proponents indicated that the bill codified many of the efforts already underway in their schools. (Gongwer Ohio, 5/4/16) Same for the D, but they noted that the bill faces some possible amendments in the Senate, aimed at lessening reliance on zero tolerance policies as well. (Columbus Dispatch, 5/6/16)
- There are precious few private non-religious schools available to EdChoice voucher students across Ohio. The Academy in Springboro, as awesome as it sounds, is not one of them, even as it expands to high school grades next year. Just sayin’. (Dayton Daily News, 5/5/16)
- We end today with a CTE success story courtesy of Toledo City Schools, which provides interesting insight into the state of career tech education from both the system and the personal sides. (Toledo Blade, 5/6/16)
