State Board of Ed 2012 Results

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In the 7 races for State Board of education, 4 pro-public education candidates won.

Ann Jacobs defeat former OSU QB and Kasich appointee Stanley Jackson handily 65-35. Both Mary Rose Oakar and Stephanie Dodd also handily beat their opponents 63-37 and 60-24-15 respectively, with Michael Collins narrowly defeated his 2 opponents to be reelected.

Bryan Williams, Jeff Hardin, both incumbents defeated their pro-public education opponents. To round out the results, Sarah Fowler, a home-school graduate was also elected.

The State board of education has a lot of work to do, as the Dispatch notes

The new board has some heavy lifting to do in the coming year, starting with the hiring of a state superintendent. The post has been vacant since early August, when Stan Heffner resigned after an ethics probe.

The board also must fix state-issued report cards that have been manipulated by false data submitted by school districts, and oversee implementation of Ohio’s third-grade reading guarantee and more-rigorous curriculum standards.

Let's hope the pro public education voices are listened to. We'll be watching closely.

Campaign 2012 Election Live Blog

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12:09 p.m.
We're closing down the live blog. We'll be bringing all the relevant election results tomorrow, ahem, later today, - school levies, state board of ed, state legislature.

11:27 p.m.
Obama projected to win NV

11:27 p.m.
Incumbent house GOPers appear to have lost: Craig Newbold in HD5 to challenger Nick Barborak 50.44% to 49.56% and Rep. Casey Kozlowski has lost to John Patterson 52.78% to 47.22%.

11:13 p.m.
NBC calls Ohio for Obama. President Obama will be reelected to a second term.

11:10 p.m.
IA called for Obama. Romney now has to run the table to win.

11:02 p.m.
CO, CA, WA, HI called for Obama.
NC, ID, Called for Romney
Too early to call in OR

10:54 p.m.
Sadly, it looks like teachers Donna O'Connor (HD21) and Maureen Reedy (HD24) are going to narrowly lose

10:49 p.m.
MO called for Romney

10:44 p.m.
MN called for Obama

10:36 p.m.
Ohio Supreme Court Justice Yvette McGee Brown trails Sharon Kennedy 43%-57% of the vote, with 54% reporting

10:34 p.m.
As expected, Mitt Romney wins AZ.

10:32 p.m.
Teachers Tanyce Addison (SD26) and Teresa Scarmack (SD-20) are both trailing 40-60, with few precincts left to report.

10:17 p.m.
Ohio state Issues 1 & 2 both going down b y 69% and 64% respectively with 51% of precincts reporting.

10:13 p.m.
As of this time, in the race for the Ohio State Board of Education...
QB Stanley Jackson looks destined for defeat trailing 35-65
Districts 5 & 6 are close
Sarah Fowler, a 23 year old home schooler is going to win in District 7
Pro public education candidates Stephanie Dodd and Mary Rose Oakar are headed to victory
Tood Book, sadly looks destined for defeat.

9:35 p.m.
Another swing state, NH, is called for Obama.

9:26 p.m.
AP Calls Sherrod Brown reelected as Senator from Ohio

First swing state, WI called for Obama

9:15 p.m.
PA called for Obama

Education related, voters in South Dakota so far want to keep teacher tenure. 70 against repealing it, 29% for.

9:03 p.m.
All as expected...
NM, NY, MI are called for Obama.
TX, LA, KS, NE, ND, SD, WY, are called for Romney
AZ, MN, PA too early to call

8:32 p.m.
Teacher Donna O'Connor: 11,558, Duffey (Incumbent) 10,776 in early/absentee voting
Teacher Maureen L. Reedy: 12,082, Stephanie Kunze: 10,535 in early/absentee voting

8:29 p.m.
According to early vote totals Issue 2 is doing very badly. 57 of 88 counties have voted against measure.

8:03 p.m.
DC, DE, RI, ME, CT, MD, MA and IL are called for Obama.
MS, TN, AL, OK are called for Romney
Still too early to call in PA, NJ, MO, OH, NC, VA, FL

7:42 p.m.
Folks are still in line to vote in a number of locations around Ohio, including OSU

7:37 p.m.
SC called for Romney as expected.

7:32 p.m.
As expected so far. CNN calls WV, IN, KY, for Romney. VT for Obama.

A CNN exit poll has Obama 51, Romney 48 in Ohio. Exit poll in NC was 49-49 which was supposed to be Romney +4%

7:30 p.m.
The polls in Ohio are closed, and is being categorized as "too close to call" by NBC.

7:16 p.m.
Here's the times for poll closings:
7:00 pm: GA, IN, KY, SC, VT, VA
7:30 pm: NC, OH, WV
8:00 pm: AL, CT, DE, DC, FL, IL, ME, MD, MA, MS, MO, NH, NJ, OK, PA, RI, TN
8:30 pm: AR
9:00 pm: AZ, CO, KS, LA, MI, MN, NE, NM, NY, ND, SD, TX, WI, WY
10:00 pm: IA, MT, NV, UT
11:00 pm: CA, HI, ID, OR, WA
1:00 am: AK

An AFL poll of Ohio union members has found that SB5 has had a significant effect on union members

Ohio union members are energized and overwhelmingly supporting President Obama and Senator Brown for reelection.

By a 41-point margin, Ohio union members are voting for President Obama (70%) over Mitt Romney (29%) in the presidential race. The early vote among Ohio union members tilts even more heavily in President Obama’s favor (79% to 21%).

Obama’s support among Ohio union members has increased by five percentage points since 2008. Our Election Night and post-election polling in 2008 showed Obama winning 65% of the Ohio union vote, so even accounting for each poll’s margin of error, Obama currently is performing at least as well among Ohio members, if not better, than he did in 2008.

Senator Sherrod Brown also is in a strong position to win Ohio thanks to strong support among the state’s union members, among whom he leads Josh Mandel by 70% to 29%.

According to an NEA poll, 8 out of 10 people had education as a top priority.

The NYT has an interactive tool that will show you who needs what states to win.

Official live results can be seen at the Secretary of States website, here.

Education News for 11-06-2012

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State Education News

  • Finding new head of schools a challenge (Columbus Dispatch)

    • For the third time in less than five years, Ohio has a job opening for state superintendent of public instruction. Attracting good candidates could be a challenge…Read more...

  • Health care costs rising by $700K in some districts (Hamilton Journal-News)

    • All Butler County schools enrolled in a countywide health care consortium are facing a 12 percent hike in insurance premiums…Read more...

  • Common questions voters have on schools (WKYC)

    • Every election, voters ask why there are school levies on the ballot when the Ohio Lottery and casinos help fund the schools?…Read more...

Local Education News

  • Somber Canton BOE names Allison to replace late Chris Smith (Canton Repository)

    • A somber Board of Education met Monday evening to grieve its loss of Superintendent Chris Smith and name a successor to continue Smith’s vision for the City Schools…Read more...

  • Rossford schools to consult voters on upgrades (Toledo Blade)

    • The Rossford schools could come to the voters next November with a levy request, but this would happen only after a community survey…Read more...

  • Boxing Legend Pushes CMSD Levy Passage (WJW)

    • Legendary boxing promoter and Cleveland native Don King was in the city Monday, going door to door and pressing the flesh, pushing for the passage of the controversial school levy…Read more...

Teachers to the legislative rescue

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We brought HB555 to your attention quite some time ago. Yet another vehicle for school "reform". It was mothballed, but now appears to be getting a dust-off according to Gongwer, and readied for lame duck action

The House Education Committee is scheduled to meet on three days in the week following the election, and the chairman said Thursday the yet-to-be-completed report card rating bill will be top priority during lame duck.

With meetings set for the afternoons of Nov. 13-15, Chairman Rep. Gerald Stebelton (R-Lancaster) said it is possible the committee will hear other bills, but the main focus will be on legislation to revamp the state's grade cards for school districts and buildings.

Rep. Stebelton introduced a placeholder bill during the summer (HB 555) that currently contains language stating the General Assembly's intent to put in place a system by Dec. 31. He said Thursday, however, the bill is not "totally completed yet."

"The subject matter of 555 is the highest priority (for lame duck)," he said in an interview. "We've had a lot of negotiations and there's still a lot of moving parts."

Mr. Stebelton said he is hopeful the legislature can reach consensus with the governor's office in time to have the bill passed by the end of the year as intended. He has been working with administration officials, the Department of Education and the Senate, he said.

Rep Stableton would be wise to wait just a short while, he might have some actual educators join him in the state legislature, who can help guide him to better policy, instead of creating a mess like this one

Reading Guarantee: Mr. Sawyers said the department is asking for a change during lame duck session to the third-grade guarantee, specifically to a requirement that students with a reading deficiency be assigned to a teacher with a "reading endorsement."

Because teachers with such a certification are few and far between, the agency wants clarification that would align the requirement of a high-performing teacher with the reading endorsement for the time being because acquiring the training for the title requires 12 to 16 semester hours of college credit, he said.

"It's not practical that between January of 2013 - if they're not already in a fall semester someplace - between January and then when they will start again in August that we're going to have this mad rush of people going out to get this reading endorsement (and) that can actually complete 12 to 18 semester hours of credit," Mr. Sawyers said.

"There's got to be an alternative, ultimately, that's put in place for fall (2013), so we're proposing to the General Assembly, what could that alternative be?"

Oh dear. We wrote about the mixed messages and policy mess the legislature has caused with this, so it's good to see ODE acknowledge the problems too. But, these are the kinds of problems that simply would not occur if legislatures with no education experience or background listened to those who have, and hopefully come January, that will include a number of colleagues.

Final Campaign 2012 recap

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We've covered a lot of ground during campaign 2012, and wanted to recap some of the important pieces you will want to keep in mind.

School Levies
There are a lot of levies on the ballot, as a result of the Kasich budget cuts. You can see a list of them here , organizned by county, type and whether they are requests for new money or continuations.

State Board of Education
There are 7 state board of election seats up for grab, here's our primer on those, including some bios of pro public education candidates.

Voting Checklist
Confused by the shifting voting requirements caused by politicians seeking their own advantage? Here's a handy checklist of what you need to vote, and what your rights are.

Union Candidates
Remember SB5? So do these union members who decided to run for office. If you're lucky, one of them will be on your ballot. One such member is Donna O'Connor, who has inspired so many people with her positive vision and strong leadership. Check the link to see all the union members running on pro-worker platforms.

The Big One - President
We've written a lot about the race for the Presidency, but we'll leave it in the hands of the candidates own visions to make closing arguments

President Obama's 2nd term plan for education.
Mitt Romney: Mr. Corporate Ed.

Issue 2: Voters First, Not Politicians
A YES on Issue 2 puts voters first.

Education News for 11-05-2012

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State Education News

  • Seclusion-room policy: State plan a burden, schools say (Columbus Dispatch)

    • Schools say they’d be overburdened with paperwork, extra testing and expensive training if the state sticks with its plan to regulate how they seclude and restrain students…Read more...

  • Ohio 12th in US for strongest teacher unions (Dayton Daily News)

    • Ohio has the nation’s 12th-strongest teacher unions, which have “highly permissive” bargaining rights and are involved politically even though the public…Read more...

  • Two compete for state school board seat (Findlay Courier)

    • Northwestern Ohio voters will be picking a representative to the state school board Tuesday. Vying for the District 1 board seat are incumbent Ann E. Jacobs…Read more...

  • School districts could be hit hard by federal sequestration (Middletown Journal)

    • Should automatic spending cuts, or sequestration, set to take place in January occur, it could have a dramatic impact on the availability of federal grant funds for education…Read more...

Local Education News

  • Schools pause to mourn Canton City Schools Superintendent Chris Smith (Canton Repository)

    • Silence fell over three Stark County stadiums Saturday night as thousands of rowdy high school football fans took a moment to honor Canton City School Superintendent Chris Smith…Read more...

  • Enrollment campout begins at Clifton school (Cincinnati Enquirer)

    • Nearly two weeks before enrollment starts, parents are pitching tents on the lawn of a Cincinnati Public school with hopes of getting their kids in one of the district’s most popular magnet programs…Read more...

  • Northeast Ohio schools seek tax increases, voters seeks answers about other sources of funding (Cleveland Plain Dealer)

    • More than a third of Northeast Ohio's school districts are asking voters for tax increases…Read more...

  • Anti-levy group: school-produced video crosses legal line (Dayton Daily News)

    • A video produced by Vandalia-Butler City Schools in advance of Tuesday’s levy vote has members of an anti-levy group questioning whether it pushes the envelope on laws…Read more...

  • Kindness in Action: Madison students sending 3,200 items to troops (Mansfield News Journal)

    • Madison Junior High School students collected 3,200 items to send to U.S. troops overseas in time for Christmas…Read more...

  • School within a school project focuses on hands on learning within a school (Newark Advocate)

    • Raymond Leslie often struggles to stay focused on a lecture in class. But when he’s holding a camera, or creating a piece of art, the concepts start clicking…Read more...

  • 4.9-mill TPS levy would cost owner of $100,000 home about $150 per year (Toledo Blade)

    • Of the seven levy requests facing Toledo voters on Election Day, the largest by far is from Toledo Public Schools…Read more...

  • How Cleveland public schools are funded (WKYC)

    • The Issue 107 ballot issue to levy taxes for the Cleveland Metropolitan School District raises a lot of questions…Read more...

Editorial

  • Guarantee to fail? (Akron Beacon Journal)

    • Reading is such a basic skill, you can’t argue against children being able to read at grade level by the time they leave the third grade…Read more...

  • Parents and teachers need to team up to help lift children out of poverty (Columbus Dispatch)

    • “The fate of our country won’t be decided on a battlefield. It will be determined in a classroom.”…Read more...

  • The Importance of Education: An Economics View (Education Week)

    • It's not headline news that educational attainment is highly correlated with income: College graduates typically earn more than less-educated Americans…Read more...