In case you missed it, Charter News co-author Chad Aldis is leaving Ohio and returning to his native Iowa for a big important job. This is his last edition of the news, but our weekly roundups will continue with Jeff Murray as solo author. Thanks, as always, for reading and subscribing
Tug-of-War
There was a serious escalation of rhetoric around student transportation this week in Dayton. School district leaders held a press conference to denounce the Regional Transit Authority’s plan to stop allowing students on their buses next school year. RTA officials responded by reminding them that student transportation is the district’s responsibility and that they should look to fully embrace it. There’s no sign of a solution in the works, but it will likely be students utilizing charter, private, and STEM school options who will continue to bear the brunt of the ongoing dysfunction.
A glimmer of hope in Nevada?
In response to similar transportation struggles in the past, a number of charter schools in Nevada long-ago opted to take the plunge and provide their own busing services to students. Nevada Prep, in the Las Vegas area, is the largest such school in the state. More are joining them every year, supported by a small amount of state funding per pupil served. Now, Nevada’s Commission on School Funding is recommending boosting that amount—to the same level as districts receive—in order to help more charters take on student transportation themselves. Nice!
Closure announced
Citizens of the World Charter School in Cincinnati announced this week that it would close permanently at the end of the school year. There is a lot of relevant discussion in this piece about the challenges of starting up a school in the midst of a global pandemic and at the same time as a number of other schools were coming online. A sad end for a promising school model.
Wellness matters
Governor Mike DeWine has repeatedly cited Ohio’s moral imperative to support children and youth in both district and charter schools. His latest efforts to direct state funds toward students’ mental and physical health—and to make sure that schools and providers are spending that money appropriately—are proof of his ongoing response to that imperative. Fordham’s Jessica Poiner digs in to the new proposals in this recent analysis.
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