NOTE: Ohio Charter News Weekly is back from vacation and presenting this, our latest regular Friday edition. If you missed our special catch-up edition, published yesterday, you can find it here.
Important new data
On October 14, the Thomas B. Fordham Institute released a new report presenting up-to-date evidence about the strong performance of Ohio’s brick-and-mortar general education charter schools. Among the important findings: In grades 4–8, students in brick-and-mortar charters make significant gains on state math and ELA exams when compared to district students of similar backgrounds. News coverage of the report from the Columbus Dispatch is here, and you can watch a video of Fordham’s Chad Aldis discussing the report with Friends of Breakthrough President John Zitzner here. Report author Dr. Stéphane Lavertu of The Ohio State University presented his findings at an online event, including some Q&A at the end, a recording of which you can view by clicking this link.
Myths, busted
The Mackinac Center for Public Policy recently published a detailed response to a previous report critical of Michigan charter school oversight which was, as the Mackinac Center’s Michael Van Beek and Ben DeGrow put it, based on flawed and unsupported assumptions. “Myths and misinformation about charters should be rejected, not repeated,” DeGrow added. “K-12 education in our state can’t be improved with deceptive arguments that attempt to justify restricting choices for parents, most of which prove a lifeline to families in need of better educational opportunities.”
The rise of school choice inevitable?
Also in Michigan this week, Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos told an audience at Hillsdale College that school choice is “…not a matter of if, it’s a matter of when.” She added: “At the end of the day, we want parents to have the freedom, the choices, and the funds to make the best decisions for their children.” She was certain that this would come to pass.
Here in Ohio… Pt 1
We learned this week that the State of Ohio is appealing that recent Franklin County Common Pleas Court ruling that said the state improperly calculated funding tied to charter school enrollment in three large urban districts more than fifteen years ago. The long-running legal case involving Dayton, Columbus, and Toledo City Schools will go on.
Here in Ohio… Pt 2
Despite a shortened timeframe, a pandemic, a recession, and an impending biennial budget process, the Ohio General Assembly seems primed to fast-track a plan to revamp school funding in the Buckeye State during the post-election lame duck legislative session. The funding plan, as the Dispatch reports, has some significant hurdles to overcome in a short period of time.
