Education News for 01-03-2013

State Education News

• Green Twp. couple takes reins in Columbus (Cincinnati Enquirer)

Lou and Debe Terhar laugh at the suggestion that they are Southwest Ohio’s new power couple in the state capital…Read more...

• Trainer deal benefits hospital, schools (Columbus Dispatch)

After the day’s final bell rings at Fairbanks High School, the student-athletes cram into the locker room, and the wrist tape and ankle wraps soon fly…Read more...

• Geauga County studying school districts, could consider consolidation (Willoughby News Herald)

Will some Geauga County school districts be facing consolidation or other alternatives in light of unrelenting money problems?…Read more...

Local Education News

• SWL considers its policy for students, staff charging school lunches (Newark Advocate)

Southwest Licking Schools might soon have a policy governing the maximum number of meals students in the school-lunch program can charge, even though the amount of unpaid charges were reduced dramatically in November…Read more...

• Heights must adjust snow removal plans in wake of spending cuts (Newark Advocate)

Licking Heights has had to revamp its snow removal policy in the wake of budget reductions, and the move could influence the cleanliness of classrooms…Read more...

• Response ‘overwhelming’ to armed teacher program (Springfield News-Sun)

A free program to train teachers and school administrators on how to use firearms has gotten an overwhelming response…Read more...

• Attorneys For Teen Charged In Chardon School Shooting Want Trial Moved (WBNS)

Attorneys for an Ohio teenager charged in the school shooting deaths of three students are renewing their effort to move the trial out of the grief-stricken community…Read more...

Education News for 06-20-2012

State Education News

• Ex-OSU quarterback needs no resume for state post (Columbus Dispatch)

Gov. John Kasich didn’t get a look at former Ohio State quarterback Stanley Jackson’s playbook before he appointed him to the state Board of Education. Read more...

Local Education News

• Cleveland School District plans to move STEM high school students (Cleveland Plain Dealer)

The Cleveland School District's MC²STEM high school for science, technology, engineering and math plans to move its juniors and seniors to Cleveland State University. Read more...

• Charter-school treasurer’s accounting questioned in state audit (Columbus Dispatch)

The state auditor says another charter-school treasurer is responsible for misspending about $170,000 in taxpayer money and has committed ethical misdeeds. Read more...

• Streetsboro schools receive $80,000 grant to improve online classroom (Ravenna Record-Courier)

Streetsboro -- The Streetsboro City School District plans to purchase 30 new computers plus a SMART board with money from an $80,000Blended Learning grant that was awarded to the school system by the Ohio Etech Commission. Read more...

• Summer Meals Program Underway In Mansfield (WMFD)

The Mansfield City Schools will again be the vendor for the Ohio Summer Food Service Program in the city. Read more...

Editorial

• A full accounting (Columbus Dispatch)

If an investigation proves some Columbus City Schools officials are falsifying student-attendance records to make schools’ performance ratings look better, the district should come clean with the details, however embarrassing. Read more...

• State needs to back education mandates with dollars (Marietta Times)

Children who don't learn to read at an early age often lag behind their peers throughout school. In extreme cases, they become so frustrated by failure they either stop trying to succeed in the classroom or drop out of school. Read more...

Education News for 02-16-2012

Statewide Education News

• Regents to share office space with education department (Dispatch)

They may not be ready for marriage, but Ohio’s primary-, secondary- and higher-education systems plan to move in together later this year. The Ohio Board of Regents is preparing to leave its Downtown offices in the Rhodes Tower and move a block and a half to the state Department of Education’s building on Front Street. The move — expected this summer — will allow the two agencies to better collaborate on several efforts, including the shared goal of ensuring that all high-school graduates are academically prepared for college. It also should save money. Read More…

• Study shows woeful state of school budgets (News-Herald)

If your child attends a school experiencing or nearing a budget shortfall, he or she is far from being alone. A recent study of state schools by Policy Matters Ohio shows two out of three districts lack sufficient funds to make ends meet. “Schools across the state — poor, wealthy and in between — revealed alarming levels of fiscal distress,” said Piet van Lier, education researcher and one of the report authors. “The cuts being discussed — to staffing levels, course offering, arts and extra-curriculars — will hurt Ohio students.” Read More…

• Are you an Ohio educator?

We invite you to join Ohio Teachers’ Homeroom, the new Facebook page from the Ohio Department of Education. It’s a great way to keep up with the latest news important to your career and to connect with colleagues around the state. We welcome you to share your ideas, lesson plans and comments with fellow Ohio educators. Find us here

Local Issues

• Budget, staff cuts proposed by district (News-Sun)

MECHANICSBURG — School officials plan to slash $750,000 from the district’s budget and reduce its staff by about 14 percent as it faces a long-term deficit and a still struggling local economy. For local parents and students, it will mean fewer options for classes, fewer bus routes and new fees to participate in sports, among other changes. Dan Kaffenbarger, district superintendent, said the recommended cuts could eliminate as many as 15 positions, including one teacher each in physical education, Spanish, art, music, industrial technology and a part-time agricultural position. Read More…

• Youngstown schools system facing a challenging future (Vindicator)

Just when it seemed that the em-battled Youngstown City School District had weathered the worst of the financial and academic storms, it was hit with a lightning bolt that has jeopardized its future. The Ohio Department of Education recently informed Superintendent Connie Hathorn that the district will lose $4 million in funding from the state. The reason: The loss of more than 500 students, as determined by the official October enrollment count. In the public education system in Ohio, the money follows the student. Read More…

Editorial

• Schools need sunshine (Dispatch)

A recent ruling by Franklin County Common Pleas Judge John F. Bender should establish an important principle from here on: Whoever is spending tax dollars to educate students in charter schools should have to make that spending transparent. Charter schools are public schools, and the public is entitled to an accounting of how tax dollars are spent. Accordingly, Bender recently ruled in favor of 10 charter schools that contracted with Akron-based White Hat Management to run the schools, but later sued the company because it refused to disclose its spending and claimed ownership of the desks, computers and other equipment bought for the schools with tax dollars. Read More…

• Change orders (Beacon Journal)

David James, the superintendent of the city schools, plans to recommend that the Akron Board of Education close three elementary schools at the end of this school year. Neighborhood residents are not likely to welcome the school closings, but the proposal is crucial for more efficient management of the public school system. In 2003, when Akron voters approved an increase in the city income tax to finance school construction, the facilities list for the Akron Public Schools featured 58 buildings the district reckoned would have to be rebuilt or renovated during 15 years. The joint state and local construction project, with an estimated price tag of $800 million, has progressed with gratifying efficiency. Read More…

It's too late Rheeby

Now that Michele Rhee's corporate reform agenda has been exposed for the partisan effort it always was, she's looking to rehabilitate her tarnished image by hiring yet more lobbyists.

Democratic National Committee national spokesman Hari Sevugan will move to a top post at the former Washington, D.C., school chief Michelle Rhee's new advocacy group, Students First, a move aimed at strengthening its hand in the complex and high-stakes politics of education policy.

The move is intended to bring "the reputation of the group back to a non-partisan place after being seen, undeservedly, as overly friendly with Republicans," the source said. "Students First has strong relationships with many Democratic establishment hands including [former White House Communications Director] Anita Dunn.. and has worked with Democratic and Republican officials on a number of issues. But because some of the more prominent work has been with Republican governors including scoring some stunning successes in unlikely states like Nevada, that partisan reputation has been thrust upon it," the source said.

It's also, a more skeptical Democrat said, a sign of the damage that's been done to her image since she left her post in Washington after last year's mayoral election.

Folks are right to be skeptical, as the Washington Post lists Rhee's recent partisan anti-teacher activities

FLORIDA

She is an unpaid adviser to the anti-union Florida Gov. Rick Scott, who has never met a voucher or a charter school he doesn't like. If Scott had his way, he would proceed with a program that would provide vouchers to every public school family in the state and allow them to use it at whatever school they wished. Such a scheme would decimate the public school system. (No, I'm not arguing that public education doesn't need big changes, so please don't tell me I am.)

Rhee is also allied with former Republican governor Jeb Bush, who has been a leader in corporate-driven education reform in Florida and the nation.

TENNESSEE

She played a role in persuading lawmakers in Tennessee (where her ex-husband, Kevin Huffman, is the new commissioner of education) to pass an anti-union bill that, among other things, eliminates collective bargaining for teachers. She co-authored an April op-ed in the Tennessean supporting the legislation with former Republican Sen. Bill Frist. Gov. Bill Haslam (R) recently signed the bill into law.

WISCONSIN

Republican Gov. Scott Walker, you will remember, pushed a budget that cut state worker pay, eliminated collective bargaining rights for public employees, and contained other measures to weaken unions. Massive protests followed. Rhee went on Fox News to support the plan to limit bargaining rights for teachers. Take a look at the video here.

And here's another video of Rhee, on a local news channel, talking about why it is important that teachers not have some collective bargaining rights.

OHIO

Republican Gov. John Kasich pushed through SB 5 -- a bill expected to face a ballot referendum -; that severely limits collective bargaining rights for public employees, including teachers, and StudentsFirst was there to lobby on behalf of the bill.

NEW JERSEY

Republican Gov. Chris Christie made overtures to Rhee about serving as the state education commissioner, but she didn't want to be constrained by a job that kept her in just one state. She has, though, expressed support for his budget-cutting policies.

INDIANA

Rhee joined forces with Republican Gov. Mitch Daniels, who pushed through the most extensive school voucher bill in the country. The law will provide public money for low- and middle-income families to help pay tuition at any private school. Here you can see Rhee attending a rally in support of the legislation.

Is it just me, or does it strike you as odd that a former public school chancellor supposedly dedicated to public education wants to use public money for private education?

NEVADA

Republican Gov. Brian Sandoval recently met with Rhee and said she supports his education policies, including a teacher quality bill that among other things supports vouchers for private schools and would eliminate teacher tenure.

Meanwhile, Rhee was nominated for the Public's Servant award by the Sam Adams Alliance. The other two nominees were Wisconsin's Walker and super conservative Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli. Alas, she didn't win. Cuccinelli did, for "challenging the constitutionality of the federal health-care law."

And the strongly conservative American Federation for Children -- which focuses on promoting school vouchers -- hosted a policy summit in Washington in March, where they gave awards to Michelle Rhee, Scott Walker and Republican Gov. Tom Corbett of Pennsylvania.

Well, you can say this for Rhee: She's been mighty busy.