Trouble in Youngstown
The elected board of Youngstown City Schools will likely decide to evict Mahoning Valley Community School from a district-owned building at the end of the school year. The dropout recovery charter school has been operating in the building free of charge for several years but district leaders say they now need the space for alternative programs for their own students. They also indicate in this coverage that it might be about money, although it does not appear that the district has asked for rent and will go directly from “here’s space you can use for free” to “pack up and go”. Reading this piece, the official motivation for the eviction remains unclear.
Potential hope in Cincinnati
While there is no mention of charter or private school students in this piece, Cincinnati City Schools officials are making changes to their own bell schedules for next school year in an effort to improve their ability to bus students attending district schools. It is to be hoped that the thousands of students utilizing school choice will also benefit from the changes being made after a several very long years of difficulty in getting to school via district-provided transportation.
Budget update – Ohio
The state budget bill for the next biennium passed out of the House of Representatives this week. Among the provisions of interest: A big boost in state foundation dollars as part of the new school funding formula, a sizeable increase in transportation funding, and a retention of the governor’s plan to raise funding for high-quality charter schools. The Senate will take up the measure starting next week.
Next steps for Ohio
In the coming weeks, advocates in Ohio will work to emphasize the longstanding gaps that exist between charter and traditional district school students and how legislators can help to close those gaps by supporting important funding provisions in the budget bill.
Budget update – Indiana
The Indiana legislature completed conference committee work on their state budget bill this week. Among other education-related provisions, lawmakers folded in the local-revenue-sharing plan that had been part of Senate Bill 391 and which we have been following for some weeks. If signed by the governor, charter schools in many Hoosier counties will soon have access to voter-approved local dollars for operations, school safety, and facilities improvement for the first time.
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