NOTE: Ohio Charter News Weekly will be on vacation next week and will return on October 23, 2020.
In case you haven’t registered yet: Do not miss out on Fordham’s virtual event
The Fordham Institute will be releasing a new report presenting up-to-date evidence about the performance of Ohio’s charter schools. At this online event—to be held on Wednesday, October 14, from 9:00 to 9:45 a.m. ET—study author Dr. Stéphane Lavertu of The Ohio State University will present his findings, which are based on a rigorous analysis of student-level data from 2015–16 through 2018–19. The event will consist of a 20 minute presentation from Dr. Lavertu and include 20-25 minutes for Q&A. Please register to attend by clicking this link.
CSP grant awards announced
On October 2, U.S. Education Secretary Betsy DeVos announced the awardees of more than $131 million in Charter Schools Program (CSP) grants. Recipients include three statewide charter school associations, five state educational agencies, and more than ten nonprofit organizations. Ohio was not among the awardees this year. During her announcement, Secretary DeVos noted that high-quality charter schools had been “a bright spot” amid the difficulties faced by students and families during the coronavirus pandemic.
More “bright spots”
The 2020 Democratic Party platform includes a promise to ban all federal funding for for-profit charter schools. “Education is a public good,” it states, “and should not be saddled with a private profit motive.” Michael Q. McShane, Director of National Research at EdChoice in Indiana, wrote a detailed analysis of not only why this would be a wrong move—highlighting charter schools’ terrific work in quickly pivoting to remote learning when the coronavirus hit the United States as early as February—but also why even the term “for-profit charter” is problematic. An important read.
What the people say
On a similar theme, Ray Domanico, the director of education policy at the Manhattan Institute, published an op-ed The Philadelphia Inquirer which questions the Democratic Party platform’s promise in light of the institute’s recent report showing that likely voters in Pennsylvania, Ohio, Wisconsin, Michigan, and North Carolina are largely supportive of school choice and believe that “giving parents the right to choose their children’s school raises the overall quality of K–12 education for students”.
