Today, Representative Bill Reineke (R-Tiffin) announced that he’ll be introducing legislation to significantly change the way Ohio governs public schools. The proposal calls for the creation of the Ohio Department of Learning and Achievement, which will focus on aligning Ohio’s education system to better prepare the workforce of tomorrow.
It has been said (mostly by me, probably) that there are only three seasons in Ohio – budget season, campaign season, and summer vacation. I invite all five of my loyal Gadfly Bites subscribers (yes, it’s been a successful couple of months) to guess which one we’re in right now.
Campaign season in Ohio is in full swing.
I think this story is probably just as cute and benign as it comes across, but just for kicks I’m going to try to be needlessly provocative in clipping it.
Ohio Representative Andrew Brenner has introduced legislation described on the General Assembly’s website as an effort to “revise school funding.” If there were an award for understatement of the year, that might win the prize.
Northeast Ohio’s own version of the Loch Ness Monster has reared his head again, and it looks like he might want to stick around a while this time. Denessie Kucinich says he’s running for governor, you see, using lots of the same rhetoric and ideas that he’s floated before.
Not much to report on today that isn’t shameless politicking or overt criminality. So what does that leave us with? John Kasich, that’s what. Mr.
Editors in Toledo this week offered their opinion on the closure of ECOT. It’s generally what you’d expect, but it curiously includes something of a warning that might seem a little odd at first blush, but will not be that big of a surprise for all of my loyal Gadfly Bites subscribers.
It’s always interesting when education stories are covered in unconventional outlets.
Columbus City Schools is, apparently, facing a budget shortfall within two years, and the initial discussions about solving it involve closing it down immediately so it can repay lost revenue to the state of Ohio the elimination of up to 163 positions.
With ECOT closed, a special master appointed by the court to help oversee things like records transfer and asset management, and families working to find new schools that are at least the second-best fit for their kids, it seems there is little else for education reporters
Earlier this week, Chiefs for Change (CFC) announced that Ohio’s Superintendent of Public Instruction, Paolo DeMaria, joined their network.
The 2018 Quality Counts ratings are out and very little has changed for Ohio from the previous year. Doesn’t stop folks from trying to spin those results into a vision of speculative doom. Our own Chad Aldis is quoted in this piece as the voice of anti-spin.
Changes are coming to the popular College Credit Plus program as early as this summer, courtesy of the Chancellor of Higher Education (at the request of the General Assembly).
Creating school funding policy is a delicate juggling act for state leaders. Contentious issues include deciding the responsibilities of local and state governments; determining efficient and fair ways to allocate funds; and ensuring economically friendly tax policies while raising sufficient revenue.
We should probably start with the big ECOT news, I guess. Did you see that ECOT’s request to become a dropout recovery school was rejected by the Ohio Department of Education yesterday? No? How on earth did you miss that? Wonder what else was screaming off the headlines that took your attention?
Editors in Akron opined in favor of revamped state report cards for schools and districts, opining in favor of Fordham’s recent report on same along the way.
I don’t know about you, but for the most part, I shut down my social media and news apps over the winter holiday this year. As it turns out, tending to your neighbor’s chickens, building gingerbread houses, and riding sleds are all good strategies for recovering from the dumpster fire that was 2017.
Ahead of this week’s state board of education meeting, the Dispatch took a look at the issue of graduation requirements, sure to be a highlight of the agenda. If the one board member quoted here is anything to go by, extending the no-competency diploma pathways to the Classes of 2019 and 2020—two new fronts in the state’s War on Knowing Stuff—is a slam dunk.
One of the perils of working at a think tank, especially one like Fordham, which encourages provocative ideas and never shies away from a debate, is that it can be easy to anger or frustrate even your closest allies. That’s especially true in this polarized, fraught time we’re living in.
A task force was created this week to lead discussion and recommend a course of action to deal with the—frankly pretty enormous—problem of Dayton City Schools’ numerous underutilized buildings.
Fordham is namechecked in this brief New Year’s Day story on possible report card changes for schools and districts coming via legislation in 2018.
Closing out the year with a further discussion of graduation rates, the Dispatch settled on the topic of charter school grad rates, finding them to be far lower than for traditional district schools.
To ring in the New Year, we at the Ohio Gadfly have a tradition—two years running!—of predicting the top issues in education for the coming year.
The outgoing school board and the interim supe made some fairly permanent decisions this week regarding the school closure process in Dayton.
In the world of American politics, controversy dominated 2017. In the world of Ohio education policy, things were a bit quieter—but still eventful. As we say goodbye (or good riddance) to 2017, here’s a look at the seven biggest education stories of the year.7) State budget
Here at Fordham, we try to keep our finger on the pulse of what our Ohio readers are interested in. But every year, we are pleasantly surprised when blog posts take on lives of their own.Herewith, the most-read Ohio Gadfly blog posts of 2017, with some thoughts as to why these pieces caught your attention.1. The student perspective
Fordham’s Aaron Churchill is quoted in this Dispatch piece on the topic of rising high school graduation rates. Our research guru warns that giving out unearned diplomas just for the sake of “fairness” can devalue both the piece of paper and the education it is supposed to represent.
The state board of education finished up their meeting this week by drafting a resolution proposing to create a working group to review and recommend changes to state report cards. The resolution will be debated at the next meeting in January.
