Charter School Failure Leaves State, Students Scrambling

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The controversial sponsor of eight northeast Ohio charter schools is going out of existence and the state is trying to help the schools come up with alternatives.

Last summer, the state accused the Portage County Educational Service Center of trying to open a charter in Cincinnati. That would have violated a rule that prohibits sponsors of poor-performing charter schools from opening new ones.

The center says it’s been unfairly targeted. But Ohio Department of Education spokesman John Charlton says the state is just doing its job.

“What we’re here to do is to make sure every student in the state is getting a quality education. And if you’re not holding up your end of the deal, then we’re going to question why you’re not doing that.”

Besides sponsoring the charters, the Portage Educational Service Center provides public school districts with joint purchasing, curriculum development and other services. But all 11 public districts in the county have decided to contract with someone else, forcing Portage to dissolve, making it the first educational service center in the state to do so.

Ohio school district winners, losers in John Kasich's new budget plan

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Details of Kasich's two-year budget proposal show that about half of the state's 610 school districts would receive more money from the state than they currently are receiving.

In Cuyahoga County, 14 districts would receive more money in 2016-2017, and 17 would receive less, according calculations from data released Wednesday by the Ohio Office of Budget and Management.

The Northeast Ohio Media Group and The Plain Dealer Publishing Co. calculated the changes using both core aid from the state and money the state provides some districts to help make up for some revenue lost by the elimination of a tangible personal property tax and some utility taxes.

Jim Lynch, a spokesman for the governor, however, said no district would encounter a large decrease, once both local and state money are considered. The maximum loss would be 3 percent in the first year from both sources.

(Read more at Cleveland.com)

Kasich budget trims aid to over half of Ohio's public school districts

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More than half of Ohio's public school districts would get less money from the state under Gov. John Kasich's proposed education budget as the administration seeks to adjust the funding formula to better reflect district incomes.

Those cuts come even as Kasich's $72.3 billion, two-year budget increases state foundation funding by $700 million over two years.

The state budget director and superintendent both said the spending blueprint doles out state education aid under a formula adjusted to better reflect a district's wealth.

Budget director Tim Keen told state lawmakers a formula that's ineffective in getting dollars to the neediest districts is unacceptable.

Kasich's budget also reduces districts' state guarantee and resumes phase-out of two tax streams they've received, reducing state payments by $235 million over two years.

Ohio school districts facing cuts in Kasich plan

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More than half of Ohio school districts would see their state funding reduced under Gov. John Kasich’s new two-year budget, which also seeks to increase oversight of charter schools.

Kasich wants to pour another $700 million in state foundation funding into K-12 education over the next two years. But that funding is partially offset by a loss of $235 million in state reimbursements to schools for lost tangible personal-property taxes — a tax on business property and inventory that the state has eliminated.

Kasich wants to rework the school-funding formula to better incorporate a district’s ability to raise local revenue.

“We are really trying to say we are trying to help those who can’t help themselves,” Kasich said. “For those that can help themselves, we need you to step up and help.”

(Read more at the Dispatch)