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School transportation in Ohio – Columbus’ checkered history
Following on from last week’s huge news that the Fordham-sponsored United School Schools Network will be taking over transporting their own students this school year, the Columbus Dispatch took a deeper look at the issue of charter (and private and STEM) school busing in central Ohio. Among those quoted anew were Fordham’s Aaron Churchill, who opined that “Districts have traditionally treated [choice students] as second-class citizens. And I think that’s really unfortunate that they don’t see them as residents of the district, whose parents are paying property taxes to the schools.” And while the Ohio School Boards Association’s transportation guru was newly quoted as saying “The sentiment that it’s ‘them versus us’ is not that way in the transportation department of districts,” he also opined that “If parents choose to send their kid to a private or nonpublic school, in my mind, the parent should accept some of the responsibility to get them there.” Among the classic quotes included in the mix was an elected school board member who once quipped during a previous tough year full of busing fails: “If you’re a charter school parent and your child can’t get to school, Columbus City Schools is a great option for your family. Our staff is better trained, it’s not located in a strip mall… Choose Columbus City Schools.”
School transportation in Ohio – losing the thread in Dayton
Two weeks ago, we discussed the fact that Dayton City Schools cancelled all transportation services for high school students for this school year rather than cobble together a last-minute plan destined to put school choice students second and likely to be another expensive, inefficient mess for everyone. However, the district also sued the state for outlawing the use of RTA transit passes for high schoolers, one of the reasons they say they were unable to offer transportation this year. While superintendent David Lawrence said that community members were the catalyst for the new legal action (“they want us to be a bit more aggressive”), it feels much more like an attempt to stick it to the General Assembly for a perceived slight. Meanwhile, state Senator Andy Brenner, Education Committee Chair, listed out some changes he might like to make to transportation law statewide. To wit: Tightening the allowed definition of “impractical to transport”, significantly boosting the amount of payment given to parents in lieu of providing transportation to their kids, and giving state transportation funding directly to charter and private schools who take on the job themselves. Any of these would be better than whatever will result from Dayton’s lawsuit. Guaranteed.
Are charters overregulated?
Education Next recently published an opinion piece which argued, among other things, that charter schools today are facing “regulatory creep” from state education agencies, authorizers, and other entities. Authors Robert Enlow and Michael McShane of the nonprofit education organization EdChoice said that further growth, innovation, and excellence in the sector will be stifled if regulation isn’t curtailed. “Broader, innovative, decentralized school options may be the road less traveled,” they concluded, “but it is the one that we should take.” In response, Fordham’s Mike Petrilli argued in a blog post that charter regulations arise from hard-won experience of “waste, fraud, abuse, bad ideas, poor execution, and all the rest that comes along with human imperfection,” especially from the perspective of authorizers like Fordham. The push for innovation and autonomy, he says, cannot be prized above commonsense regulation enacted with the best interests of students at heart.
Speaking of innovation…
Two interesting stories of innovative charter schools from across the country this week; one good, one less so. First up is the approval of a new skilled-trades focused charter high school coming to Ridgeway, South Carolina. The model will ensure that graduates leave school with both a diploma and a certification that could land them a good-paying job the day after commencement if they want to join the workforce right away. The Academy for Skilled Technologies is scheduled to open in fall 2027. Second, San Francisco Unified School District leaders recently proposed creating a Mandarin-immersion school—reportedly because district families were asking for it, but more likely in order to short circuit a citizen initiative to found a charter school on that model in the city, a move vocally opposed by the teachers union. This is an ongoing story with many twists and turns.
Good things (sometimes) come to those who wait
In a rare moment of serendipity, something good seems to have arisen from bureaucratic roadblocks designed to delay the expansion of a charter school in Miami. We talked several weeks ago about the Sports Leadership and Management (SLAM) network’s effort to take over a historic theater in downtown Miami—with the blessing of city council—to expand its arts and technology offerings and to steward the venerable Olympia into its second century. The haters were victorious in stalling what appeared to be a win-win deal for several months, but the delay has happily resulted in an even stronger plan that includes a new supporter (Miami Dade College) and a new dual enrollment pathway for SLAM students to access college credits. Amazing. There’s still another month until what should be the final council vote on the matter and anything can happen of course, but the momentum for a win-win-win seems strong right now.
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