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National news of the week
We start with big news from the U.S. House Committee on Appropriations, where members advanced a request for $500 million for the federal Charter Schools Program (CSP)—a $60 million increase from last year and the first boost after years of flat funding. The bill in question also includes some other funding provisions—like increasing the amount that state grantees can devote to technical assistance—lauded by the National Alliance for Public Charter Schools. “Public charter schools are built on choice, strengthened by accountability, and fueled by demand,” said NAPCS President and CEO Starlee Coleman. “This funding request marks meaningful progress at a time when these student-centered, future-focused schools are serving more students than ever before.” Fingers crossed the United States Senate follows suit.
Student transportation in Ohio
Back here at home, coverage of a draft report from the Ohio Student Transportation Workgroup continued this week. Ideastream Public Media in Cleveland previewed the preliminary recommendations (including increased funding, regional collaboration, and student- rather than school-centric routing) and quoted United Schools’ Andy Boy on the challenges his families face, but also took pains to question the focus of the committee and the authorship of parts of the report. WVXU News in Cincinnati mentioned the workgroup’s upcoming findings at the end of a report specifically covering the nearly 1,000 choice-using students in the Queen City who were deemed “impractical to transport” this school year. Families were given payments between $607 and $1,214 in lieu of a seat on the bus. “This is something that should be a basic expectation of local government, which a school district is, to provide the public service to the students in their communities so that they can get to school,” said Fordham’s Aaron Churchill. “What does $600 do? How does that help you? You can’t buy a car on $600. You can’t lease a car.”
Building bust
Fordham’s Aaron Churchill also published a scathing blog post this week, calling out Columbus, Cleveland, and other school districts around the state for using procedural tricks, bureaucratic loopholes, and even the wrecking ball to circumvent state law and prevent charter and private school operators from buying unused and underused buildings. “This gamesmanship not only sets a poor example, but also keeps half- to fully-empty buildings out of the hands of educational entities that are helping students succeed,” he concludes. “It’s time to stop the games and ensure that taxpayer-funded buildings are used to educate Ohio students.”
A step forward…
Tennessee governor Bill Lee signed a law this week that allows religiously-affiliated colleges and universities to be charter school authorizers in the state. The bill’s sponsor said that “our institutions should have the right to provide high-quality education to our high school or elementary students or middle school students,” while noting that the curriculum taught in all public charter schools must be nonsectarian, regardless of who authorizes them.
…a step back
Rhode Island House Bill 7415 passed both the House and Senate earlier this week during a whirlwind legislative session. Among other provisions, the bill would enact a three-year moratorium on new charter schools in Rhode Island and would lower the maximum number of charters allowed in the state from 35 to 28. It now heads to Gov. Dan McKee’s desk, where its prospects remain unclear as of this writing.
Summer professional development opportunity
United Schools is hosting the Leverage Learning 3.0 Institute in Columbus on July 23 to 24, and registration is open now! The institute, led by Paul Bambrick-Santoyo of Uncommon Schools, will focus on Observation and Feedback and Weekly Planning Meetings, two of the highest-leverage leadership actions for improving teacher effectiveness and student outcomes. Participants will also receive a copy of the new Leverage Leadership 3.0 book and six months of access to the AI-powered leadership platform that accompanies it. Any principals, academic deans, assistant principals, instructional coaches, and other professionals responsible for developing teachers and leading instructional improvement will find much of value in the training. To register for the session, click here.
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