August 7th 2012 school levy results

Here are the results of the August 7th 2012 school levy elections, currently reported.

The passage rate is very similar to those of the 2011 August attempts. August ballots are no place for school levies it seems, unless there's significant urgency.

Meanwhile, as school struggle with the ongoing state budget cuts, Ohio should finish fiscal year 2013 with a $408 million surplus.

New renewal	Failed	Passed	Pass %
New	23	5	17.9%
Renewal	1	6	85.7%
Over all	24	11	31.4%

Here's the full list of results.

District	County	For	Against	Result	N/R
Ashtabula Area City	Ashtabula	42.27%	57.73%	Failed	New
Barberton City	Summit	42.93%	57.07%	Failed	New
Bethel Local	Miami	57.00%	43.00%	Passed	Renewal
Bethel Local	Miami	52.00%	48.00%	Passed	New
Brecksville-Broadview	Cuyahoga	73.89%	26.11%	Passed	Renewal
Bryan City	Williams	36.53%	63.47%	Failed	New
Buckeye Local	Medina	62.82%	37.18%	Passed	New
Buckeye Valley Local	Delaware	27.94%	72.06%	Failed	New
Chardon Local	Geauga	39.90%	60.10%	Failed	New
Clear Fork Valley Local	Richland	52.54%	47.46%	Passed	New
Clyde-Green Springs	Sandusky	43.07%	56.93%	Failed	New
Columbiana EV	Columbiana	30.72%	69.28%	Failed	New
Coventry Local	Summit	46.71%	53.29%	Failed	New
Dalton Local	Wayne	55.95%	44.05%	Passed	Renewal
East Holmes Local	Holmes	36.02%	63.98%	Failed	New
Edon Northwest Local	Williams	38.01%	61.99%	Failed	New
Geneva Area City	Ashtabula	39.59%	60.41%	Failed	New
Green Local	Scioto	47.38%	52.62%	Failed	New
Groveport-Madison	Franklin	70.59%	29.41%	Passed	New
Jackson Center Local	Shelby	49.89%	50.11%	Failed	New
Jefferson Area Local	Ashtabula	18.81%	81.19%	Failed	New
Lake Local	Wood	52.39%	47.61%	Passed	New
Louisville City	Stark	39.82%	60.18%	Failed	New
Madison Local	Lake	27.63%	72.37%	Failed	New
Margaretta Local	Erie	53.92%	46.08%	Passed	Renewal
Monroe Local	Butler	48.18%	51.82%	Failed	New
North Fork Local	Licking	28.14%	71.86%	Failed	Renewal
Northmont City	Montgomery	68.18%	31.82%	Passed	Renewal
Osnaburg Local	Stark	14.12%	85.88%	Failed	New
Swanton Local	Fulton	54.17%	45.83%	Passed	Renewal
Tipp City EV	Miami	37.00%	63.00%	Failed	New
Tri-Village Local	Darke	33.88%	66.12%	Failed	New
Vandalia-Butler City	Montgomery	44.21%	55.79%	Failed	New
Woodridge Local	Summit	48.65%	51.35%	Failed	New
Xenia Community City	Greene	26.27%	73.73%	Failed	New

Teacher evaluations years away from completion

The state budget (HB 153) required all eligible teachers to be be evaluated using 50% student growth measures, by the 2013-14 school year.

Student growth measures may use value-added data that is calculated to determine whether a student achieves one year's worth of growth. But because the current value-added measure relies on data from statewide assessments, it can only be computed for reading and math education in grades 4-8.

That covers approximately 30% of Ohio's public school teachers. But before even those 30% can be measured, lots of training and data systems need to be put in place. By the end of this year, only 60% of those 30%, that is about 18% of Ohio's teachers, will have something in place.

72% of Ohio's teachers will not be in a position for the provisions in HB153 to be implemented by the end of this year.

It has taken significant costs, efforts and time to get to just 18% - and that was the "easy" part. Many districts have yet to begin to think about how to measure student growth for the other 70% of teachers. Social studies, the sciences, physical ed, art, and music are just some of the subject areas that will need measures developed, for all grades, in just 18 months from now.

"In areas where there are no state tests and where districts need to use local measures, you start getting down into issues around who pays for those measures, how are those measures administered, do they provide adequate information for the purposes of teacher evaluation, or are they even appropriate to use to create a growth measure from it."

That's not us saying that, that's Mary Peters, Battelle for Kids Senior Director of Research and Innovation. she raises a lot of big, important questions, to which there are no answers.

If there is a silver lining, it's that SB5 was defeated, which leaves teachers free to collectively bargain for an evaluation system that they feel can be the most fair within the framework prescribed.

We doubt that the 2013-14 year brings about a widespread breakout of effective teacher evaluations. Indeed, it is increasingly likely that there will be a patchwork system of half-baked systems throughout the state and districts will continue to struggle to fund and develop anything that is remotely workable.

On top of all that, research and evidence continues to demonstrate that teacher level value add is an inappropriate tool for making high stakes decinios such as evalautions and pay.