Enterprising x 2
Here’s a great story about a high schooler from suburban Toledo who is already a thriving entrepreneur, having created an electronics recycling business in his family’s garage. As part of a senior project, he has also put together a related effort which took hundreds of used laptops—courtesy of an online charter school—and refurbished them to be donated to a school in Vietnam. Awesome!
Governor DeWine says…
Ohio governor Mike DeWine joined with 17 other governors to submit comments expressing their opposition to proposed new changes to the federal Charter School Program (CSP). “It is a certainty,” they write, “that the expansion of such burdensome regulations will make it more difficult—if not impossible—for independent and smaller charter schools to access federal funds.” The governors’ full statement is here. Associated news coverage can be found here.
Former mayor Bloomberg says…
Former New York City mayor Michael Bloomberg added his voice to the criticism of those CSP proposals in an op-ed in the Washington Post this week. The new rules, he writes, “would reverse the progress of the $440 million federal charter-school program — championed by President Barack Obama — that helped so many children and educators succeed. This is especially disturbing given the impressive track record of urban charter schools in low-income communities.”
Also in Gotham…
Bloomberg also joined current New York City mayor Eric Adams this week to announce a huge new effort to help charter school students catch up academically after three pandemic-disrupted school years. Summer Boost NYC will be funded by $50 million of philanthropic money and will include an additional five weeks of math and English instruction as well as outdoor activities and field trips. The program is expected to reach 25,000 K-8 students.
New research on charters
Two researchers from Tulane University recently discussed their massive new charter school research project in Education Next. It is a system-level analysis which averages student outcomes for both traditional public schools and charter schools located within those districts’ boundaries—weighted by school enrollment—and which includes data from nearly all districts in the United States that had even one charter school established between 1995 and 2016. Key finding: the greater the share of charter enrollment in the district, the higher test scores and graduation rates climb.
*****
Did you know you can have every edition of the Ohio Charter News Weekly sent directly to your Inbox? Subscribe by clicking here.
