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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...

The real fight over SB5 is still ahead

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Yesterday was the filing deadline for candidates wishing to run for the Ohio General Assembly. We had looked earlier at the impact of incumbents of the Ohio House of Representatives voting for SB5 would have on their reelection chances.

14 SB5 supporters could not survive a 5% swing from their margin of victory in 2010 (2 didn’t even reach the 50% threshold due to a third party taking significant support). With only a 10-seat margin to maintain control, it is quite possible that control of the Ohio House will swing away from the Republicans and back to the Democrats.

Such a swing, could put a halt to the Governors radical agenda and turn the remaining 2 years of his first term into a lame duck effort.

Now some of this calculation is complicated by the recent redistricting, but as Gongwer notes, the 2012 elections are shaping up to be a continuation of the fight over SB5

SB5 Redux?: In some ways, the contest for control of the House next session is shaping up as a proxy battle between the two sides in the fight over the collective bargaining law changes (SB 5) that voters rejected last month in a referendum vote.

House Democrats, for example, noted that a number of educators have filed to run and Speaker Batchelder said the GOP newcomers include an ample amount of businesspeople.
[...]
Rep. Debbie Phillips (D-Athens), the House Democratic Caucus Campaign co-chair, said 2002 Teacher of the Year Maureen Reedy, who is seeking the open 24th House District seat in Franklin County, is among at least 10 teachers running for the House as Democrats.

"State budget cuts and the unfair attacks in SB5 have put educators and our children's education directly in the crosshairs of the Republican's anti-middle class agenda and teachers are standing up, fighting back and getting involved," Rep. Phillips said in a release. "We are very excited to have so many great teachers running for office. They are trusted and well known in their communities, which are two key components of electoral success."

While some candidates might have a difficult task ahead of them due to the gerrymandering of districts, the overwhelming rejection of SB5 is likely to create some very sharp contrasts for voters to decide upon.

Gahanna city council in the hot seat

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Gahanna city council has put itself in the hot seat over SB5. A member of the council has placed a resolution on tonghts agenda, supporting issue 2. We are hearing that attendance at tonights meeting might break records as members of the community flock to denounce this resolution.

We have heard that council President Dave Samuel is opposed to the resolution, as is At Large council member Tim Pack. We have also heard that the Gahanna Mayor does not support this resolution and will not sign it.

If you live close by, or espeically live in Gahanna, you can attend in person
When: Tonight at 7pm
Where: Gahanna City Hall. 200 South Hamilton. Gahanna, OH 43230

If you can't make it at such short notice, please consider sending a message, before tomorrow nights meeting, in opposition to this resolution to your council representative.

At Large (President) Dave Samuel

Ward 3 (Vice President) Brian Larick

At Large Timothy W. Pack

At Large Nancy McGregor

Ward 1 John McAlister

Ward 2 Shane W. Ewald

Ward 3 Brian Larick

Ward 4 Beryl D. Anderson