Budget conference committee continues
As we go to press, House and Senate conferees on the state budget bill are still working toward consensus on a number of provisions before the full bill can be voted on by both chambers. We discussed last week several of the biggest issues related to charter schools, and there are a number of other big picture items, including a wholesale revamp of K-12 education governance, to keep an eye on as the bill is finalized and ultimately signed into law.
Student transportation changes for next year
We have also discussed some important changes to school transportation policies which could also be part of a final budget bill. The state’s proposed changes can’t come soon enough, given the uncertainty about transportation that remains in districts such as Dayton less than two months before the start of the new school year. The indecision of district officials could affect not only district students, but also those attending charters, private schools, and STEM schools in the area.
Research and the reality on the ground
A recent issue brief from the National Alliance for Public Charter Schools digs into the data around alternative education campuses (AECs). That is, school buildings dedicated to serving students who are at high risk of dropping out of school—or have already done so. Charter AECs, overall, appear to outperform their district-run counterparts, but the brief’s authors explain that student success should likely be viewed differently for students in AECs than it is in traditional educational settings. In Ohio, such charter schools are called “dropout prevention and recovery schools”, and while their programming is accurately reflected in the research, reading about the day-to-day work of students and teachers at Flex High School in Cleveland—as in this profile piece—gives readers a far more intimate view of the model.
Welcome aboard
The Mid-Ohio Educational Service Center (MOESC) this week announced their new Director of Community Schools. David Jones joins MOESC from the Franklin County Data Center and will take over sponsorship duties for two charter schools—GOAL Digital Academy and Tomorrow Center—on August 1. Congratulations!
U.S. Supreme Court action
This week, the U.S. Supreme Court declined to hear the Peltier v. Charter Day School case, effectively upholding a lower court ruling on the matter. While the impetus for the case was a dispute over a dress code requirement for girls at a North Carolina charter school, the lower courts had to address weightier issues of whether charter schools are “state actors.”. Following the court’s announcement, NAPCS president and CEO Nina Rees said in a statement, “The actions of the high court affirm that as public school students, charter school students are entitled to the same federal protections as their counterparts who attend district schools.”
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