Commentary
Charter Schools
Ohio Charter News Weekly – 4.11.25
Stories featured in Ohio Charter News Weekly may require a paid subscription to read in full. Ohio budget update
Topics
Commentary
Governance
Gadfly Bites 4/11/25—Rounding errors
News stories featured in Gadfly Bites may require a paid subscription to read in full. Just sayin’.
Commentary
Governance
Gadfly Bites 4/9/25—The Berenstain Bears and Too Much Taxation
News stories featured in Gadfly Bites may require a paid subscription to read in full. Just sayin’.
Commentary
School Finance
Ohio House puts the brakes on Cupp-Patterson
Facing an out-of-reach price tag and questions from leadership on its sustainability, the Ohio House proposed stopping the Cupp-Patterson funding plan in its tracks, replacing it with a middle ground proposal feature some important pluses and minuses.
Report
Curriculum & Instruction
The Science of Reading in Action: How Toledo’s Escuela SMART Academy is making phonics and content knowledge central to literacy instruction
In 2022, the first year Samantha Eischen used Amplify CKLA, a reading curriculum based in the Science of Reading, the second-grade teacher at Escuela SMART Academy in Toledo was sold.
Commentary
Teachers & School Leaders
House lawmakers throw a wrench in DeWine’s principal apprenticeship plan
Governor DeWine first announced his interest in principal apprenticeship during his 2024 state of the state address.
Commentary
Governance
Gadfly Bites 4/7/25—Banging on about the bucks
News stories featured in Gadfly Bites may require a paid subscription to read in full. Just sayin’.
Commentary
Charter Schools
Ohio Charter News Weekly – 4.4.25
Stories featured in Ohio Charter News Weekly may require a paid subscription to read in full. A sad update
Commentary
Governance
Gadfly Bites 4/4/25—Miswritten
News stories featured in Gadfly Bites may require a paid subscription to read in full. Just sayin’.
Commentary
Governance
Testimony presented before the Ohio House Finance Committee on Substitute House Bill 96
NOTES: Today, the Ohio House Finance Committee heard testimony on House Bill 96
Commentary
Governance
Fordham Institute written testimony on House Bill 96
NOTES: Today, the Ohio House Finance Committee heard testimony on House Bill 96
Commentary
Governance
Gadfly Bites 4/2/25—Rigorous implementation indeed
News stories featured in Gadfly Bites may require a paid subscription to read in full. Just sayin’.
Commentary
Personalized Learning
Impact of a direct admissions program on bringing more and more diverse students into college
Direct admissions (DA) programs—where colleges proactively (and preemptively) admit high school students to their institutions without the need to apply—are
Commentary
Personalized Learning
School safety concerns and considerations of homeschool families
As a recent edition of the Journal of School Choice makes abundantly
Commentary
Accountability & Testing
Interested party testimony on Senate Bill 127
NOTES: Today, the Ohio Senate Education Committee heard testimony on Senate Bill 127, which would make changes to the way in which low-performing public schools are identified and how the state intervenes when scho
Commentary
Career & Technical Education
Ohio lawmakers should build on Governor DeWine’s proposed reboot of the industry-recognized credential framework
Ohio’s current efforts to help high schoolers earn credentials before graduation are working, but there are flaws in the system that must be fixed. Gov. DeWine’s latest budget proposals are a start, but here’s how to make them even better.
Commentary
Accountability & Testing
Nixing inflated fourth grade promotion rates will strengthen accountability for early literacy
It’s no secret that improving early literacy has been Governor DeWine’s hallmark education passion.
Commentary
Governance
Gadfly Bites 3/31/25—100 Day Dream School
News stories featured in Gadfly Bites may require a paid subscription to read in full. Just sayin’.
Commentary
Charter Schools
Ohio Charter News Weekly – 3.28.25
Stories featured in Ohio Charter News Weekly may require a paid subscription to read in full. Dollars and (common) sense
Commentary
Governance
Gadfly Bites 3/28/25—I don’t write ‘em, I just compile ‘em
News stories featured in Gadfly Bites may require a paid subscription to read in full. Just sayin’.
Commentary
School Finance
Senate proposal makes a sensible modification to the “20 mill tax floor”
With property values soaring throughout Ohio—and property taxes climbing upward—state lawmakers have been giving more time and attention to local tax policy.
Commentary
Governance
Gadfly Bites 3/26/25—A tiny bit miraculous
News stories featured in Gadfly Bites may require a paid subscription to read in full. Just sayin’.
Commentary
Governance
Governor DeWine doubles down on cellphone bans in schools
Last spring, Governor DeWine used his state of the state address
Commentary
Governance
Gadfly Bites 3/24/25—Seeing the data and responding to the data are two different things
News stories featured in Gadfly Bites may require a paid subscription to read in full. Just sayin’.
Commentary
Charter Schools
Ohio Charter News Weekly – 3.21.25
There was so much news over our break that we needed two editions to cover it all!
Commentary
Governance
Gadfly Bites 3/21/25—Data and words…but mostly data
News stories featured in Gadfly Bites may require a paid subscription to read in full. Just sayin’.
Commentary
Charter Schools
Ohio Charter News Weekly special edition – 3.20.25
Welcome to a special Thursday edition of Ohio Charter News Weekly. We’re back after three weeks’ break, with this edition covering Ohio-specific news published between 3/3/25 and 3/20/25. We’ll be back again tomorrow with a national catch-up.
Commentary
Governance
Gadfly Bites 3/19/25—Show your work, people
News stories featured in Gadfly Bites may require a paid subscription to read in full. Just sayin’.
Commentary
Governance
Comparing the mental health impacts of schools' restrictive and permissive cellphone policies
School systems across the country (and world) have been implementing limitations or outright bans on student smartphone use during the school day in an effort to improve the educational experience for young people. Improvements have been predicted along many dimensions: attention span, academic achievement, mental wellbeing, disciplinary referrals, and even absenteeism.
Commentary
Curriculum & Instruction
Four ways Ohio lawmakers could strengthen Governor DeWine’s literacy and numeracy push
Student math and reading achievement continue to lag in schools across Ohio. Governor DeWine is proposing numerous initiatives to address this issue via the state budget. Yet lawmakers can and should go further in the following ways.
