Ohio's new charter school "reform" effort: What's all this talk about sponsors?

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Ohio doesn't have a simple plan to weed out its bad charter schools.

The state instead has an indirect strategy.

It puts agencies known as "sponsors," called authorizers in most states, in charge of overseeing charter schools, of fixing struggling charters and of closing the ones that can't be fixed. We'll be hearing a lot about Ohio's 69 sponsors this year, since both Gov. John Kasich and House leadership have made them the focus of charter reform plans.

What are they, exactly? Who are they? And why is Ohio just not cleaning up the charter school mess on its own?

We talked this week to Gov. John Kasich, state Superintendent Richard Ross, and State Sen. Peggy Lehner, who heads the Senate Education Committee, about the state's focus on sponsors.

Kasich and Ross said sponsors are the best way to push for improvements at charter schools quickly, without overburdening the Ohio Department of Education. And the governor said having sponsors overseeing the schools will prevent a future governor from undermining them.

Lehner, a Republican from Montgomery County, thinks Kasich's approach may be too narrow. She said she hopes the Senate will come up with changes for other parts of Ohio's charter system this spring.

(Read more at Cleveland.com)

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.