voters

Education News for 05-09-2013

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State Education News

  • Voters OK’d 60 percent of levies for schools (Columbus Dispatch)

    • Ohio voters approved 60 percent of 137 local tax requests for schools on Tuesday…Read more...

  • Just 7 percent of voters go to polls in central Ohio (Columbus Dispatch)

    • Tuesday was far from a proud day for democracy in central Ohio. It also was a costly one in terms of citizen participation…Read more...

  • State takeover closer after levy defeat (Dayton Daily News)

    • State fiscal watch is imminent for Fairborn City Schools following voter rejection Tuesday of an 11.7-mill emergency levy by a 2-to-1 margin…Read more...

  • Senator Looking For $100 Million In Budget To Support Preschool Vouchers (Gongwer)

    • Sen. Peggy Lehner (R-Kettering) said Wednesday she hopes to amend the budget to add $100 million for a new voucher program to cover preschool costs for three- and four-year- olds…Read more...

  • Liberty schools hopeful about teacher negotiations (Youngstown Vindicator)

    • State officials are hoping contract negotiations with the Liberty teachers union will save the school district “hundreds of thousands of dollars.”…Read more...

Local Education News

  • Conneaut BOE, City Council building deal in jeopardy (Ashtabula Star-Beacon)

    • A possible partnership between the city of Conneaut and its school district to share use of a commercial building is in jeopardy over the cost of rehabilitating the structure…Read more...

  • Cleveland school district and teachers union reach agreement on Cleveland Plan details (Cleveland Plain Dealer)

    • The Cleveland Metropolitan School District and Cleveland Teachers Union have reached a tentative agreement on how the two will work together to implement…Read more...

  • Huber schools continue staff reduction plan (Dayton Daily News)

    • The Huber Heights school board will continue implementation of more than $6 million in cuts by reducing 34 support staff…Read more...

  • Avon schools prepare to go wireless (Lorain Morning Journal)

    • Students can ready their Ipads and other Wi-Fi capable devices as Avon schools prepare to go wireless…Read more...

Editorial

  • Minority decides for the majority (Columbus Dispatch)

    • A look at Tuesday’s primary-election results shows that many important races and issues were decided by only a handful of the people…Read more...

  • School spirit (Findlay Courier)

    • Most would agree there's no better investment in the future than education. But by cutting funding in recent years, state government has shifted more of the burden of operating public schools to taxpayers and property owners…Read more...

Education News for 05-08-2013

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State Education News

  • Toddlers and tech - reasons to share your smartphone (Canton Repository)

    • A lot of things change when you become a parent. The shows you watch, the restaurants you go to and the concept of sleep as you once knew it all evolve when your family structure transforms from a "me" to a "we."…Read more...

  • Security Concerns Raise Questions About Voting At Schools (Columbus Dispatch)

    • Polls were open at Licking Heights High School on Tuesday, and Superintendent Phil Wagner says security preparations were made far in advance…Read more...

  • Ohio school buys eye control device to help students communicate (Newark Advocate)

    • Like most 6-year-olds, Algassimou Bah has a lot to say. However, living with cerebral palsy has made it difficult for Algassimou, known by his teachers…Read more...

  • Maysville schools mull drug testing athletes (Zanesville Times-Recorder)

    • Maysville Local Schools will be the first district in the area to require athletes to be drug tested if a proposal submitted to the Board of Education…Read more...

Local Education News

  • Columbus district sells old school buildings for $3.2 million (Columbus Dispatch)

    • The Columbus Board of Education sold three vacant school buildings last night, including a historical middle school a block from German Village’s Schiller Park that sold for about half what the county auditor says it’s worth…Read more...

  • Hilliard sale odd for one board member (Columbus Dispatch)

    • Even before Paul Lambert was elected to the Hilliard school board more than three years ago, he raised concerns about residential development outpacing commercial growth…Read more...

  • Ada School District voters approve 0.75% income tax (Findlay Courier)

    • Voters in the Ada School District approved a 0.75 percent income tax…Read more...

  • Westlake schools prepare to make cuts (Sun Newspapers)

    • School officials will face some tough decisions on nearly $1 million in proposed cuts when they meet…Read more...

  • Brookfield schools cautiously happy (Warren Tribune Chronicle)

    • A member of the Brookfield Board of Education said she was on "pins and needles"…Read more...

  • Libraries may return (Warren Tribune Chronicle)

    • Voters in the Champion school district supported a 5.95-mill, 10-year additional operating levy for emergency requirements of the district…Read more...

  • Columbus City Schools To Hire 300 For Transportation Positions (WBNS)

    • Columbus City Schools announced on Tuesday that it is hiring 300 people to drive buses for the district…Read more...

A decade-long crisis of democracy

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We highlighted that despite Ohio voters in the aggregate preferring Democrats over Republicans in the 2012 election, the Republicans will hold a probable super majority 60-39 as a consequence of extreme partisan gerrymandering. The Dispatch was prompted by this result to produce an article about redistricting

Issue 2 is dead, buried deep by Ohio voters last week.

But over and over again, opponents of the redistricting plan, be they Republicans or editorial-page writers, noted that their opposition was not based on the belief that the current system of drawing legislative and congressional districts is good.

In fact, most acknowledged that it remains badly in need of an overhaul.

But if was this paragraph in the article that prompted us to take an even deeper look

Republicans now control 75 percent of the U.S. House seats and nearly two-thirds of the legislative seats in a state that has leaned Republican but is a key battleground state

We analyzed Ohio House of Representative results for each of the past 6 election cycles. By aggregating the votes for Democrats and Republicans in contested races we found a systematic, and extreme disenfranchising of Democratic representation in Ohio

Year Democratic Republican D Seats R Seats
2012 2,418,815 2,362,310 39 60
2010 1,447,949 1,696,064 40 59
2008 2,296,678 1,982,281 53 46
2006 1,832,548 1,605,801 46 53
2004 1,869,051 2,036,398 38 60
2002 1,243,671 1,364,656 36 63
Total 11,108,712 11,047,510

Based upon the preferences of voters, Democrats should have controlledthe General assemblies after the 2012, and 2006 elections - but were denied by partisan gerrymandering. Furthermore, the majorities that Republicans did earn in all of their successful years should have been much, much smaller - and never reacher super majority status.

Indeed when one looks at the sum total of votes in contest races over the past decade, rather than being center right, the results indicate a center to center left leaning electorate.

It is simply not possible to conclude that Ohioans have been legitimately represented in the 21st century by their preferred choices, either in actuality or in scope. We have a crisis of democracy in Ohio.

Corporate Ed Reform a big election loser

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Corporate education reformers lost big on election night in a number of states with high profile issues and races affecting public education. In no particular order, here's what went down

Florida voters defeated a measure that would have allowed the use of public funds for religious school tuition, effectively turning back an effort that was expected to lead to a state-wide voucher program. It only garnered 44% of the vote.

In Indiana, The Washington Post reports

Indiana voters tossed out controversial state Superintendent of Public Instruction Tony Bennett and elected veteran teacher Glenda Ritz in his place, the Indianapolis Star reported.

The vote has resonance beyond Indiana because Bennett was a leader of the national market-driven school reform movement who pushed through a statewide voucher program and took other steps that critics said amounted to the privatization of public education.

Idaho voters voters

  • Rejected plans to mandate students to take online courses and for the state to spend $180 million on laptops - a boon for the profiteers, an economic disaster for districts.
  • Rejected merit pay for teachers that is linked to student standardized test scores
  • Opposed limits on the collective bargaining rights for teachers.

In California, voters approved Prop 30, which calls for a $6-billion-a-year tax increase, in part to fund public education. They also rejected Prop 32, the third attempt in 14 years to prevent unions, which represent 2.5 million workers in California, from using annual dues payments to contribute to state and local candidates or campaigns for ballot measures.

The Washington Post Reports, In Bridgeport, Conn.

voters rejected an expensive effort by the mayor and his supporters in the corporate world to win mayoral control over the Board of Education. Voters retained the right to elect their own school board representatives.

Corporate education reformers and union busters spent a lot of money on issues and candidates in election 2012 and left with a lot of heavy losses.

Education News for 11-08-2012

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State Education News

  • 55% of school levies pass (Columbus Dispatch)

    • As Gov. John Kasich’s administration finishes work on a new plan for funding public education, Ohio voters approved 55 percent of the 192 tax increases for schools on Tuesday’s ballot…Read more…

  • Test scores suffer when kids move (Columbus Dispatch)

    • The students aren’t staying put, Not in Columbus, a district that has long struggled with a student population that often.…Read more…

Local Education News

  • Cyberbullying and Sexting - Prevention and Education (New Carlisle News)

    • On Thursday, October 25th, 2012, Tecumseh Middle School, hosted the CyberBullying and Sexting Prevention and Education for all students and parents.…Read more…

  • Cleveland school board votes to restore full school day, along with cut programs, after levy wins (Cleveland Plain Dealer)

    • CLEVELAND, Ohio — Cleveland schoolchildren will have 50 minutes returned to their school day in January, after East Side voters overwhelmed West Side opposition to give the district more money Tuesday.…Read more…

  • Columbus school board discussing bus problem (Columbus Dispatch)

    • Spurred by complaints from parents, the Columbus Board of Education wants a plan to fix problems with the district’s bus operation.…Read more…

  • Upper Arlington Schools Did Not Plan For Levy Failure (WBNS)

    • Upper Arlington City Schools officials said that they did not plan for specific cuts should their levy fail at the ballot – which it did.…Read more…

  • Cleveland: Work begins after levy passes (WKYC)

    • CLEVELAND -- The Cleveland Metropolitan School District took its first action Wednesday night, one day after voters passed a 15-mill property tax levy.…Read more…

Education News for 11-07-2012

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State Education News

  • Cleveland school levy sails to apparent victory (Cleveland Plain Dealer)

    • The Cleveland school levy was passing Tuesday night, winning support from about 55 percent of voters with almost all of the ballots counted…Read more...

  • Collins wins seat in State Board of Education central district (Columbus Dispatch)

    • Michael Collins won re-election to the State Board of Education in a three-way race for a seat representing Franklin, Delaware and Knox counties…Read more...

  • Jacobs re-elected to state school board (Findlay Courier)

    • Northwestern Ohio voters picked Ann E. Jacobs to continue as representative on the state school board on Tuesday…Read more...

Local Education News

  • Most school levies defeated in Stark County (Canton Repository)

    • Tax issues for area school districts were failing for the most part early Wednesday with Canton Local, Marlington, Massillon…Read more...

  • Central Ohio school ballot issues (Columbus Dispatch)

    • What happened: Voters approved a combined 6.94-mill operating levy and $15.8 million bond issue that will raise $1.3 million a year for the district…Read more...

  • Parents get look at new math courses (Hamilton Journal-News)

    • A group of parents previewing Fairfield City Schools’ new math curriculum said Monday the courses added up to a more promising future for their children…Read more...

  • School levy left off Butler County electronic ballots (Hamilton Journal-News)

    • Voters in a small section of Butler County are voting with paper ballots after a glitch left the Northwest School District levy off the electronic ballot, according to election officials…Read more...

  • Lorain schools get first new money in 20 years (Lorain Morning Journal)

    • “We won,” yelled Lorain City School Superintendent Tom Tucker to a roar of cheers at the school’s watch party at the Elks…Read more...

  • Only 1 local school issue approved (Springfield News-Sun)

    • Of the six local school districts on Tuesday’s ballot in Clark and Champaign counties, only one issue was approved by voters, according to final unofficial results…Read more...

Editorial

  • Chris Smith’s gift was bringing people together (Canton Repository)

    • He invited dialogue, consensus with his easy smile and low-key demeanor. The last time we mentioned Canton City Schools Superintendent Chris Smith…Read more...

  • Bravo, Cleveland, for a wise vote for the city's future (Cleveland Plain Dealer)

    • By agreeing to a large increase in property taxes to support public education, Cleveland voters have made a major investment in their children and their city…Read more...