Stories featured in Ohio Charter News Weekly may require a paid subscription to read in full.
National recognition
Kudos to Akron’s Dreams Academy, an all-boys private school in its inaugural year of operation, for being named a finalist for the prestigious Yass Prize this year. Each year, the national organization aims to reward the most innovative and successful education models. Each of the 23 finalists will have the opportunity to make their pitch in person at an upcoming event, explaining why they should receive the $1 million prize. If the Dreams Team wins, they plan to expand their model to Cleveland, Columbus, and Youngstown. Fingers crossed for their success!
State recognition
This week we’re also celebrating all the charter schools across the state who were awarded Ohio STEM Learning Network grants for Fall 2025. The list is too long to include here, but you can see them all at this link. Overall, 194 projects across 68 counties were awarded a share of $900,000 in funding from Battelle. Great news!
School transportation must benefit all students
Fordham’s Aaron Churchill published an op-ed this week blasting Ohio’s “impractical to transport” rules that give districts every possible opportunity to deny busing to charter, private, open enrollment, and STEM school students. “Districts’ reluctance to provide reliable transportation — or any transportation at all,” he writes, “has caused unnecessary headaches for families choosing non-district options, and has even aggravated the chronic absenteeism crisis.” And he provides solutions as well.
The extent of Hope
We have been following the imminent expansion of the Schools of Hope program in Florida, which will allow charter schools to occupy space in any underenrolled district school building in the state starting in fall 2027. How many charters will take advantage of the new rules—which come with few restrictions and minimal costs—is just now starting to become clear, as is the staggering number of district buildings who fit the underenrollment criteria.
Great new national data
As part of its Bright Spots initiative to draw out and highlight what’s working in education across the United States, The 74 published an analysis and data tool focusing on schools doing a great job in teaching students to read—especially those with high concentrations of low-income students. Even better news: Charter schools tended to be overrepresented in the list of exceptional schools, making up 7 percent of all schools in the sample, but 11 percent of those that are doing an exceptional job at the vital work of early literacy. Amazing! You can check out all the data and see if your school is on the list at the link above.
A new round?
Many pundits were sure that the constitutionality of a religiously-affiliated charter school would be tested again after the St. Isidore of Seville Catholic Virtual School v. Drummond case ended in a 4-4 decision at the U.S. Supreme Court earlier this year. All eyes are back on Oklahoma where the proposal to create Ben Gamla Jewish Virtual Charter School appears to be proving those predictions true.
*****
Did you know you can have every edition of the Ohio Charter News Weekly sent directly to your Inbox? Subscribe by clicking here.
