Stories featured in Ohio Charter News Weekly may require a paid subscription to read in full.
Arts weekend
Toledo School of the Arts is hosting a Teen Book Festival this weekend, which coincides with a community-wide arts weekend and includes a self-guided tour of the numerous murals in the Uptown neighborhood (which is anchored by TSA). Should be a great one!
Award winner
Kudos to Ohio Connections Academy superintendent Marie Hanna, who was honored with a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Ohio Council of Community Schools earlier this month. She is currently serving her 22nd year with the OCA, one of the state’s largest online charter schools, and that’s just the latest portion of her distinguished career in education.
Illustrious visitor
Here’s some new coverage of a recent visit by U.S. Senator Bernie Moreno to Northeast Ohio Classical Academy. Sen. Moreno observed some excellent examples of NEOCA’s education model including student recitations of the preamble to the Constitution and the poem “George Washington” by Rosemary and Stephen Vincent Benet.
Rhode Island legislation
A bill in the Rhode Island General Assembly proposes a moratorium on new or expanded charter schools in the state through 2029. Meanwhile a recent poll conducted by the Rhode Island League of Public Charter Schools indicates school choice is popular in Rhode Island, with 88 percent of respondents agreeing that families should have the option to choose among types of schools, and 78 percent saying they support giving children more access to charters. Hopefully, that’s why the moratorium bill has had no formal hearings as yet and is currently on hold “for further study”.
The news from Washington State
Washington State’s 2026 supplemental budget recently cut charter schools’ enrichment funding by $7.5 million. The money had been used to pay for counselors, nurses, and special education supports, among other things. The state’s Charter School Commission says schools will likely need to dip into their general operations funds if they want to keep providing these services to their students.
From hope to reality
The establishment of five Success Academy campuses was overwhelmingly approved by a vote of the Miami-Dade County school board this week. All will be co-located in underutilized district buildings thanks to Florida’s Schools of Hope program. Success Academy will pay the district $700 per student to cover shared costs like custodial services and cafeteria use, a requirement for all co-located charters in the revised Schools of Hope framework. All five are scheduled to begin operation in fall 2027. In a statement, Success Academy CEO Eva Moskowitz said, “We are honored to partner with Miami-Dade to ensure that every child — especially those from economically disadvantaged backgrounds — has access to an exceptional public education.”
*****
Did you know you can have every edition of the Ohio Charter News Weekly sent directly to your Inbox? Subscribe by clicking here.
