Education News for 06-18-2012

Statewide Stories of the Day

• State joins school-attendance probe (Dispatch)

Columbus schools officials sought state help yesterday in a probe of possible record-tampering, saying the scope of the issue was larger than previously thought. Superintendent Gene Harris asked the state auditor’s office to conduct a special audit of the district’s enrollment data. Also, the Ohio Department of Education said that because of concerns raised yesterday in a story in The Dispatch and after a request for help from the district, it plans to review the accuracy of Columbus’ attendance figures. Read more...

• More grads not ready for college (Enquirer)

Rayjean Ranford graduated from Woodward High School over a year ago in the top 10 percent of her class. She planned to attend Cincinnati State Technical and Community College for two years, then transfer to the University of Cincinnati for two more. But the 18-year-old single mother fell behind before she took her first college class. Scores on her college placement tests were so low that Cincinnati State assigned her to “developmental” classes in math and English, designed to get her ready for college, but which yield no college credit. She took four. Read more...

• Early interaction helps children learn (News-Journal)

MANSFIELD - If you want your children to succeed in life, read to them, talk to them, play with them, especially in the first three years of their lives. Lisa Cook, early childhood consultant for Succeed and Prosper through Education Ashland, Richland, Crawford (SPARC), and a former teacher and head of school at Discovery School, wants to see parents become their child's first teacher. Cook played some humorous video clips of TV show host Art Linkletter interviewing children about their hopes and ambitions when they grow up. Read more...

• Failed SB 5 still a boon for some schools (Dispatch)

Fallout from the state’s failed attempt to scale back collective-bargaining rights has helped some school districts stretch levies longer than planned, officials say. When the Bexley schools treasurer put the district’s finances into focus recently, he found that the district likely can stay off the ballot until 2014, a year longer than expected. The Westerville district, too, plans to wait a year longer than officials had said. Olentangy is stretching the life of a 2011 property tax by two years. Read more...

Local Issues

• Columbus school district’s attendance data ‘not logical’ (Dispatch)

Columbus fifth-graders come to school nearly every day. But roughly half of them can’t pass their math, reading and science exams. Linden-McKinley STEM Academy has had near-perfect attendance for the past three school years. But only 54 percent of Linden-McKinley students graduate, and fewer than 2 in 5 can pass the state science exam on the first try. If showing up is half the battle in helping students succeed, why aren’t more Columbus schools winning? Read more...

• Scioto Valley schools not betting on set amount from casinos (Chillicothe Gazette)

CHILLICOTHE - School treasurers in Ross County aren't betting on much of a boost from casino tax revenues, which should begin paying out this year. Still, they said any additional funding, no matter the amount, is a good thing at a time when most districts are tightening their belts. Exactly how much money will be doled out to the schools depends entirely on the success of the casinos. In 2009, when voters approved a statewide referendum allowing casinos in Cincinnati, Cleveland, Columbus and Toledo. Read more...

• Lake Erie College camp all business for area high school students (News-Herald)

Beginning Sunday, high school students from the area will have the opportunity to hear from local business leaders during a weeklong, hands-on program. The Learning About Business program at Lake Erie College in Painesville brings 60 students from high schools in Lake, Geauga and Cuyahoga counties to live on campus for one week and work together on a business project. While there, students will hear from area professionals who will teach them various aspects of how to run a business, Executive Director Michael Jablonski said. Read more...

• Demand for vouchers declines in TPS district, reversing trend (Blade)

Demand for vouchers to attend private Toledo schools waned for next school year, abruptly ending a trend of rapid growth. The Ohio Department of Education received 2,023 applications from Toledo students for the 2012-2013 school year in the EdChoice program, which provides scholarships for students to attend private schools if their public school performs poorly on state standards. That's down from 2,068 the year prior, in contrast to two straight years of 200-plus growth in applications. Read more...

Editorial

• Cleveland schools' diversion of bond funds causes taxpayers to get less for their money (Plain Dealer)

Just because it's legal to use Cleveland school construction bond money to repair aging schools doesn't make it right -- or smart. Cleveland voters approved the $335 million Issue 14 in 2001 to deal with aging schools. Since then, 32 of the district's 86 buildings have been renovated or replaced. The projects qualified for a two-for-one match that has brought in more than $422 million from the state, according to district spokeswoman Roseann Canfora. That's a huge jackpot for the city's children. Read more...

• Another win for kids (Dispatch)

It was a good week for Ohio schools at the Statehouse: A day after lawmakers came together to approve a revolutionary plan for Cleveland schools, the General Assembly on Wednesday at long last approved a measure that promises to hold all Ohio schools accountable in some critical areas. Experience shows that, in failing schools, accountability is a necessary first step toward improvement. Senate Bill 316 was subject to months’ worth of contention and horse-trading, and the final product isn’t perfect. Read more...

• School plan not right for all districts (Tribune Chronicle)

A federal program intended to help students who are doing poorly in school turned into a fiasco in Ohio. Now the state is doing what should have been done all along - in effect, telling local school districts they can get the kinds of help they want for such students. As so often is the case with the federal government, the program adopted a one-size-fits-all, strictly controlled approach. It provided federal money to pay for tutors for struggling students, but only by individuals, organizations and companies approved by the state of Ohio. Read more...

Education News for 06-15-2012

Statewide Stories of the Day

• Charters face strict standards (Enquirer)

The Ohio General Assembly Wednesday set a deadline of March 31 for lawmakers to figure out how to measure the performance of charter schools that serve dropouts. If the state fails to meet the deadline, perpetually failing dropout schools will be shut down starting in 2015. Until now, they’ve been exempt from academic closure rules. Lawmakers and charter school organizations have been pushing for years to craft an alternate set of accountability standards that accurately measure the performance of dropout schools. Read more...

• Projected deficits reflect funding cuts (Dayton Daily News)

The area’s 10 largest school districts are projecting multimillion-dollar deficits by the year 2016, according to the new five-year forecasts submitted to the Ohio Department of Education. The forecasts, required annually by the state, represent the districts’ general fund monies. They include total revenues, total expenditures and fund balances for the last three fiscal years and the projected totals for the next five years. Read more...

• Gov. John Kasich's administration releases study to help local governments share services (Plain Dealer)

COLUMBUS - Gov. John Kasich's administration on Thursday released a report to municipal groups encouraging them to move more toward sharing resources instead of raising local taxes or waiting for more state funding help. Call it a nudge or more of a shove, but Kasich policy adviser Randy Cole bluntly warned a small group in Columbus that embracing a shared-services approach might be local governments' only saving grace if they want to stay solvent. Read more...

Local Issues

• Schools probe attendance figures (Dispatch)

Columbus schools retroactively alter thousands of student-attendance records at the end of each school year, casting doubt on the accuracy of the district’s state report card, current and former district officials told The Dispatch. The changes would affect attendance rates and test-passing rates because they affect the pool of students who are considered in school-wide totals. They also might have confused Franklin County Juvenile Court officials so much that the court dismissed legitimate truancy cases. Read more...

• Toledo area charter schools make plans to expand, grow (Blade)

At least four new charter schools plan to enter the crowded Toledo education field next year, and an additional school with two sites in the area plans to open a new campus. Schools are planned in a former grocery store, a downtown office building, a once-shuttered Catholic school, and at the former Masonic Temple next to the Stranahan Theater. Combined, the schools plan to enroll hundreds of students, at a time when Toledo continues to lose population. Read more...

• KnowledgeWorks acknowledges it won’t work in Youngstown (Vindicator)

Youngstown - Whatever the immediate future holds for the city school district, it won’t involve KnowledgeWorks. “... our work in Youngstown has effectively been concluded” with the disinterest of the superintendent, Byron McCauley, a spokesman for the Cincinnati-based education reform organization, said in an email. KnowledgeWorks in a February visit to the city advocated what it called a “restart” or complete overhaul of the city school system, which is in academic watch based on the most recent state report card. Read more...

• Putnam County students tech up (Lima News)

OTTAWA — Brad Schmitz, Glandorf, is concluding his fourth year attending a tech camp offered in Putnam County. The tech camp is a free computer camp open to all county students entering the sixth through eighth grades. “When I started I barely knew anything technical,” Schmitz said. “Now I know how to create games, use green screens and do many other things.” Schmitz is one of 28 seventh and eighth graders to attend the summer tech camp at the Putnam County Educational Center this past week. Read more...

• Berea school Treasurer Randy Scherf files lawsuit against district; Ohio auditor releases findings for recovery (Sun News)

BEREA - Berea school Treasurer Randy Scherf filed a lawsuit against the Berea school district in May regarding a dispute concerning health insurance reimbursements. A statement the Ohio Auditor Dave Yost released today deals with a similar issue. The statement said Scherf overpaid himself nearly $28,000 in medical insurance expenses. The July 1, 2010 to June 30, 2011 audit showed findings for recovery totaling $31,387, including $27,899 against Scherf and $3,488 in unrelated findings against a former employee for excess COBRA payments. Read more...

• Edison Local Schools sign drilling lease (WTOV 9 NBC)

JEFFERSON COUNTY — Edison Local Schools have signed a lease with Chesapeake Energy, and now they've waiting on nearly $700,000 from the drilling company in July. However, this money isn't surplus -- without it, the schools would be in more financial trouble. "We would be in serious -- even more serious -- financial crisis, and, ultimately, the state would come in and basically do an audit," said Superintendent Dave Quattrochi. Read more...

• 9 laid off Lorain school employees recalled (Morning Journal)

LORAIN — At Thursday night’s Lorain school board meeting, Interim Superintendent Ed Branham announced one person’s retirement and that nine laid off employees will be coming back next year. Six of the nine are being rehired due to teacher retirements, another teacher is coming back because an employee accepted another position, and another will be coming back due an increase in special education enrollment. The ninth recalled employee, Cara Gomez, is a Race to the Top facilitator paid by federal money. Read more...

Editorial

• Got training? (Dispatch)

Learn a skill, support a family: This axiom was true for our grandparents’ generation, and a new study says it still holds. Technical education takes less time, costs less money and can command wages that will match or exceed those of some college degrees, according to the Center on Education and the Workforce at Georgetown University. Don’t believe it? Have you paid someone lately to fix a car or a computer? Read more...

• Education matters (Beacon Journal)

Ohio long has guaranteed that all students will be proficient in reading early in their schooling. Yet years later, too many students do not reach the mark, and their lives are diminished as a result, more often on public assistance, or in prison. On Wednesday, state Rep. Gerald Stebelton, the chairman of the House Education Committee, captured the exasperation of many Ohioans: “We are failing our children.” Read more...

• Education matters - Part 2 (Beacon Journal)

Cleveland’s public schools long have been a drag on the city and region. Once models for urban education, today just 37 of 115 schools, enrolling about one-fourth of the district’s students, are rated “excellent” or “efficient.” To turn the situation around, Mayor Frank Jackson, the only mayor in the state with responsibility for a public school system, abandoned his usual quiet diplomacy to confront festering problems, charter school supporters, members of his own party and the powerful Cleveland Teachers Union. Read more...

Education News for 06-14-2012

Statewide Stories of the Day

• Tougher reading standards passed (Dispatch)

A sweeping education bill proposed by Gov. John Kasich that imposes a new reading requirement for third-graders and a stricter evaluation of teachers passed the General Assembly yesterday, largely along party lines. The bill says districts must assess the reading skills of all children in grades K-3 starting this fall. Those who are struggling must be given services including “intensive, explicit and systematic instruction.” The additional help cannot be general; it must be targeted at a child’s specific reading problem. Read more...

• Legislature OKs education reforms (Vindicator)

COLUMBUS - State lawmakers have signed off on legislation increasing reading requirements for third-graders and providing increased intervention for younger students who are not keeping pace with their grade level. Senate Bill 316 calls for increased testing requirements in coming years, eventually blocking students who are not proficient from moving on to fourth grade. The bill also calls for reading assessments of students starting in kindergarten and increased identification, parental notification and targeted teaching intervention for students struggling with reading. Read more...

• Bill Targets Third-Graders For Reading Help (WBNS 10 CBS)

COLUMBUS - Ohio third-graders lagging in reading skills face the possibility of being held back for up to two school years under a sweeping overhaul of state education policy that has cleared the state legislature on Wednesday. The so-called third grade reading guarantee is modeled after a Florida program that's shown positive results in improving reading scores. It's one of dozens of elements in the education bill that cleared the Ohio House on Wednesday, and the Senate agreed to the changes. Read more...

• Report pushes shared services for schools, local governments (Dispatch)

Shrinking budgets have left Ohio schools and local governments with a choice: raise taxes or cut services. A state report being released today focuses on a third option: sharing services to save money. A state report being released today focuses on a third option: sharing services to save money. It’s not a new idea. In fact, the report, Beyond Boundaries: A Shared Services Action Plan for Ohio Schools and Governments, identifies nearly $1 billion in savings already being realized by 51 collaborative efforts involving schools and governments across the state. Read more...

Local Issues

• USV audit shows potential saving measures (Lima News)

McGUFFEY — Upper Scioto Valley schools has already reduced more than a recent state audit said it should, but officials continue to look for more ways to save the struggling district. “We will get control of this. We are trying to salvage and save the district,” said Superintendent Dennis Recker, who also said he faces constant surprise expenses that “bites the district.” A state performance audit suggests adjustments to staff levels and bus routes to address forecasted future deficits. The office believes the recommendations can save $686,900. Read more...

• Springfield seeks free lunch for all students (News-Sun)

SPRINGFIELD — The Springfield City School District plans to apply to a federal program that provides free lunch and breakfast for all students in the district. The board will vote Thursday night on a resolution to apply for the Community Eligibility Option for the National School Lunch and Breakfast program. The USDA-funded program allows high-poverty districts like Springfield to serve free lunch and breakfast to all students at all schools, regardless of family incomes, and pays schools back for the cost of the meals. Read more...

• Pay hike for Wolf Creek teachers (Marietta Times)

Teachers in the Wolf Creek Local school district will receive pay increases in exchange for insurance concessions. The district's board of education unanimously approved a new three-year contract with members of the Wolf Creek Local Education Association during an early morning meeting on May 31. The agreement creates a two-tiered insurance system. Workers who choose the first option, a traditional plan which includes prescription drug coverage, will receive a half-percent increase to their base salary. Read more...

• Cleveland Schools CEO Hopes to Stay With District (WJW 8 FOX)

CLEVELAND — The man in charge of the Cleveland Metropolitan School District (CMSD) is giving himself a passing grade for the school year, and hopes to be rehired by the school board. On Wednesday, Chief Executive Officer Eric Gordon spoke to FOX 8 News about the future of the district. “We’ve got a long way to go,” said Gordon. “We knew that going into it, but we can’t discount how much great goes on within the CMSD every day just because we haven’t gotten to the end goal, so I think we’ve had a great year!” Read more...

Editorial

• A new chapter (Dispatch)

When state lawmakers gave the green light Tuesday for the Cleveland Metropolitan School District to go forward with a groundbreaking reform plan, they gave that troubled district its best chance yet to break out of decades of dysfunction and failure. And if it brings meaningful improvement, it could provide a model for other districts. Cleveland Mayor Frank Jackson, a Democrat, deserves credit for risking the ire of his traditional political supporters by pushing for changes that the Cleveland Teachers Union and other unions dislike. Read more...

• The Jackson plan finally wins out (Plain Dealer)

The battle for the Cleveland schools is far from over, but Tuesday's overwhelming Ohio House and Senate votes to approve Mayor Frank Jackson's school reform plan show what can happen when politicians look beyond partisan self-interest. The mayor, who often works behind the scenes, deserves tremendous credit for staying out front and for acting without regard to his Democratic Party affiliation or his own political future. Read more...

Education News for 06-13-2012

Statewide Stories of the Day

• Strickland appointee resigns from state school board; one left (Dispatch)

One of two remaining appointees of the former Democratic governor has resigned from the Ohio Board of Education. Dennis Reardon, former executive director of the Ohio Education Association, the state’s largest teacher’s union, stepped down about six months before his four-year term on the 19-member board was to expire. “Due to scheduling conflicts with other activities in which I am involved, I must resign from the state Board of Education,” the 69-year-old Pickerington resident wrote in a letter to Gov. John Kasich, a Republican who will appoint a replacement. Read more...

• Ohio lawmakers approve Mayor Jackson's Cleveland schools plan after weeks of tense negotiations (Plain Dealer)

COLUMBUS - Cleveland Mayor Frank Jackson, after weeks of tense negotiations, finally gained the legislative approval he needed on Tuesday to carry out his plan to reform the city’s troubled schools. The mayor’s proposal was debated at length, with several Democrats from outside Cleveland opposing the plan because it allows the city to share local tax dollars with charter schools. But the ongoing dismal performance of Cleveland schools proved too much for the majority of lawmakers to ignore. Read more...

• Lawmakers approve Cleveland school plan (Dispatch)

The Ohio House and Senate today overwhelmingly passed Cleveland Mayor Frank Jackson’s plan for improving ailing school district. Republican and Democratic supporters hailed the legislation as a model of collaboration and local control. “We should help the mayor do what he believes he needs to do,” said Rep. Sandra Williams, a Cleveland Democrat and co-sponsor of the legislation. “I am a product of the Cleveland Municipal School District. I believe when I was in school, I got a great education,” she said. “I don’t think those kids that are there now are getting a great education.” Read more...

• Local school districts face deficits next 5 years (News-Sun)

SPRINGFIELD — Most local school districts face grim financial forecasts in the next five years, with several staring down multimillion dollar deficits, according to a Springfield News-Sun analysis of Ohio Department of Education documents. Flat or falling state aid and the expiration of federal stimulus funds meant to close the gap combined with rising costs of doing business has many districts eyeing large deficits in the future, according to the five-year forecasts. Districts are legally required to file the projections every October and May. Read more...

• Education Bills Top Ohio Statehouse Agenda (ONN)

COLUMBUS - The Ohio Legislature is slated to return Tuesday after a Memorial Day break and lawmakers hope to finish work on a handful of bills before recessing for the summer. Education-related bills are at the top of their agenda this week, including a wide-ranging measure being pushed by Gov. John Kasich as part of his midterm budget review. The Legislature also is expected to take up a proposed compromise to a Cleveland school improvement bill that's aimed to help the city's struggling public schools and high-performing charter schools co-exist. Read more...

• Bill gives Cleveland mayor stronger control over schools (Dispatch)

Ohio legislators yesterday overwhelmingly approved Cleveland Mayor Frank Jackson’s plan to improve his ailing school district. Republican and Democratic supporters hailed the legislation as a model of collaboration and local control. Though the Cleveland district was once a national model, today two-thirds of students attend failing schools. It’s also the only district in the state under mayoral control, a decision made by district voters more than a decade ago. Read more...

• Gov. John Kasich, Ohio House and Senate Republicans reach deal on education policy (Plain Dealer)

COLUMBUS - Gov. John Kasich and Republican state lawmakers from both chambers brokered a deal on a third-grade reading guarantee and quickly sent the measure through the House Education Committee Tuesday. The deal tasks the state Board of Education with developing a phased-in standard that third-graders must meet on a state reading test to be promoted to the fourth grade. The standard would start off holding back third-graders who score "limited" in reading next school year. Read more...

• School-funding advocates seek to inform the public (Vindicator)

BOARDMAN - Organizers of a meeting last month regarding public-school funding are planning to establish subcommittees this summer aimed at informing the public. Hundreds of people filled the Boardman Performing Arts Center last month for the forum that included local, state and national speakers about the issue. “We want to form subcommittees out of people who did respond,” said Ron Iarussi, superintendent of the Mahoning County Educational Service Center. Read more...

Local Issues

• Columbus district could offer $12 million in grants for charters, private schools (Dispatch)

Columbus City Schools could pay up to $12 million in local tax dollars to high-performing charter and private schools under a plan detailed by the district yesterday. Three-year grants could go to charter schools, private schools or even other district schools that score an A or B on their state report cards. The district envisions that grants could range from $380,000 to $2 million a year. The effort would link the high-performing schools with perhaps 17 or so low-performing district schools, Columbus school Superintendent Gene Harris said yesterday. Read more...

• Austintown parents panel vows to fight busing plan (Vindicator)

A committee of concerned parents says its Tuesday news conference is only the opening salvo in a fight against Austintown’s proposal to offer public-transit vouchers to private-school students instead of using district vehicles. “Stick with us and fight this fight. ... We cannot let them win because if they win, who’s next? Canfield? Boardman?” said David Gerchak, a member of the Austintown Parents for the Safe Transportation of Students Committee. He was one of several speakers who addressed a crowd of more than 80 people at St. Christine School. Read more...

• Orange Schools teacher contract talks at a standstill (Sun News)

PEPPER PIKE - Negotiations between the Orange school board and the Orange Teachers’ Association have reached an impasse, according to Superintendent Dr. Nancy Wingenbach. Further action will await assignment of a federal mediator to oversee the process. Negotiations to replace the OTA’s three-year contract began early this year, and the contract expires July 31. So by the time a mediator is assigned, late this month, all those involved will have just a month to make progress. Read more...

• 15 teaching positions eliminated in Niles (Vindicator)

NILES - The city board of education, which last month deadlocked on a proposal to eliminate 15 teaching positions, approved the issue Tuesday by a 3-2 vote. Without the layoffs, the board faced a deficit in excess of $1.3 million and could eventually have been forced into fiscal emergency and a state takeover, according to Superintendent Mark Robinson. The decision will cost 11 teachers, one of them a part-time employee, their jobs. The remaining four positions, which became vacant due to retirements, will not be filled. Read more...

Editorial

• Bend rules for dropout recovery (Tribune Chronicle)

Among the toughest challenges in education is keeping at-risk youngsters from dropping out of school. That does not mean institutions specializing in the task should not be required to meet some state requirements, however. More than 18,000 Ohio children attend special ''dropout recovery'' charter schools, which are private institutions receiving government funding. Perhaps in recognition of the difficulty of coaching such youngsters through graduation, state officials exempted such schools from some rules governing other institutions, both public and private. Read more...

Education News for 06-12-2012

Statewide Stories of the Day

• Language for Cleveland school reform bill finalized at last minute (Plain Dealer)

COLUMBUS - The Cleveland schools reform plan, supposedly a done deal just before Memorial Day weekend, was barely finished in time for today's planned vote. At the close of business Monday, the final legislation due to be voted on by both the Ohio House and Senate education committees still wasn't written -- 17 days after Republican Gov. John Kasich joined Democratic Mayor Frank Jackson and others in a celebratory press conference. Read more...

• Deal struck on Kasich’s schools bill (Dispatch)

Special charter schools for gifted children are out, and there will be no exemption from Ohio’s school-closure law for failing dropout-recovery charter schools under an agreement reached by state legislators on Gov. John Kasich’s sweeping education bill. The House and Senate are expected to pass Senate Bill 316 this week after legislators and the administration reached a compromise on competing versions of the proposal. Read more...

Local Issues

• Youngstown school district must get handle on finances (Vindicator)

When the president of the Youngstown Board of Education used the word “yet” in talking about the district’s finances — “We’re not out of the woods yet” — we wondered if he was indulging in a bit of wishful thinking. Lock P. Beachum has been around public education in the city for many years, having served as an educator — he retired as principal of East High School — and a board member for more than a decade, which means nothing surprises him. However, the system’s ongoing financial turmoil has Beachum baffled. Read more...

• Newark school board ends 'pickup' of administrator retirement costs (Newark Advocate)

NEWARK - Newark City Schools no longer will pay its administrators' share of retirement costs, beginning with their next contracts. Board members approved a resolution Monday to adjust administrators' pay during the next contract cycle to get rid of the district payment of their share of retirement -- commonly known as a "pickup" and a "pickup-on-the-pickup." "The pickup-on-the-pickup is a political hot button," Board President Bev Niccum said. "We want to move away from it." Read more...

Education News for 06-11-2012

State Education News

• Ohio schools prepare for another budget hit (Cleveland Plain Dealer)

COLUMBUS, Ohio -- Therese Konrad, who has taught in the Rocky River School District for 24 years, says her students always rise to the challenges she presents them. Read more...

• State may add schools for gifted (Columbus Dispatch)

Should Ohio have special schools for smart kids? Advocates for gifted students say a new proposal for regional schools would ensure the students have access to more rigorous courses and learning opportunities that keep Read more...

• School rating plan minds achievement gaps (Columbus Dispatch)

For years, Ohio educators have struggled to close the gaps. White students perform much better than their black and Latino peers in most of the state’s school districts. Poor students generally do worse than their wealthier Read more...

• Schools' summer slide’ worse for poor kids (Dayton Daily News)

American students in grades one through nine reportedly lose one month of learning, on average, during a typical three-month summer break — which is often referred to as the “summer slide” — Read more...

• Needy kids can get summer lunches (Dayton Daily News)

Forty-five percent of Ohio children were eligible for free or reduced-priced lunches this past school year through the National School Lunch Program. Read more...

Local Education News

• Summer reading program combines major Summit County entities (Akron Beacon Journal)

Reading and exercise will be key parts of a summer reading program for adults and children at the Akron-Summit County Public Library. Read more...

• Private company disrupts status quo at South High, renews student (Columbus Dispatch)

There were classes, and there were sports. But there was little else at South High two years ago. The couple of lunchtime clubs barely attracted students’ attention. Read more...

• Tech-savvy South Range grads get age-old advice (Youngstown Vindicator)

The new high school is surrounded by wide-open spaces, split-rail fences, horses and cows. Read more...

• School board OKs placing 5.9-mill levy on Nov. ballot (Youngstown Vindicator)

POLAND The Poland board of education has agreed to place a five-year, 5.9-mill emergency operating levy on the Nov. 6 general-election ballot. Read more...

Editorial

• City teachers mistakenly dig in against proposed concessions: editorial (Cleveland Plain Dealer)

It will take more than two to tango if the Cleveland schools hope to banish a looming $19 million deficit. Read more...

• Let Local Schools Make the Decisions (Wheeling Intelligencer)

A federal program intended to help students doing poorly in school turned into a fiasco in Ohio. Now the state is doing what should have been done all along - Read more...

• Legislating in Ohio for the kids -- yeah, sure: Brent Larkin (Cleveland Plain Dealer)

When it comes to charter schools, Republicans who control the Ohio House don't lie all the time. Only when their lips move. Read more...

• Charter schools get short end of the funding stick (Columbus Dispatch)

The Sunday Dispatch article “Residents carry more school costs” highlighted the need for school districts to keep going back to the levy well to cover costs Read more...

• Don't punish the kids because they can't read (Columbus Dispatch)

To improve the teaching of reading, we’re now going to flunk third-graders that districts haven’t taught to read. Somehow, this latest magic bullet seems aimed more at the victims than the culprits. Read more...