Education funding cuts
This week, Governor DeWine announced sizeable budget cuts to combat what is a bleak revenue forecast in Ohio. These include $300 million in cuts to K-12 foundation aid, which will affect charter schools as well. More details will be forthcoming soon, but this is a typical first-look piece appearing in media outlets across the state.
More details on unique graduations
The loss of year-end milestones has weighed on students and teachers alike; none more so than graduation. Here is a more-detailed look at the “unique and individual” ceremonies conducted by the leader of Dohn Community School in Cincinnati. Unique because they are being held one student at a time, and individual because they are happening at students’ homes. Caps and gowns; decorated folding tables; diplomas conferred in front yards and parking spaces. Amazing.
Teacher Appreciation Week
It’s Teacher Appreciation Week 2020, and there is more appreciation than ever for online school teachers this year. Of special note is the teamwork aspect of longtime online teachers reaching out and supporting the ranks of newly-deputized online teachers created during school closings across the country. Check out these appreciations from a news outlet in Michigan and from the Superintendent of Connections Academy here in Ohio.
Mutual appreciation
Horizon Science Academy in Lorain this week conducted a teacher car parade through the neighborhoods where its students live. Both the appreciation of teachers by students and of students by teachers was very clear.
See you next year?
The form that K-12 education will take next year is still to be decided. AEI recently released its own blueprint for returning to school, taking into account myriad moving parts both inside and outside schools themselves. You can check out a detailed description of the plan here.
This week’s non-pandemic news
Back in February, the National Charter Schools Institute hosted a number of in-person meetings of charter authorizers from across the country. Their goal was to brainstorm new forms of accountability for alternative education campuses. That is, schools serving former dropouts, pregnant and parenting teens, formerly incarcerated students, and others with extraordinary risks to successful learning. There are approximately 700 such schools in the United States. It is hoped that, despite the upheaval caused by coronavirus and the response to it, the work of these authorizers can continue so that the vulnerable students they serve can receive even stronger educational opportunities in the future.
NEXT WEEK = NATIONAL CHARTER SCHOOLS WEEK!
