The Education Gadfly Weekly

Can Ohio afford Gov. Strickland's education reform plan? Not without a tax increase, according to Richard Sheridan, of the Center for Community Solutions, writing in the latest issue of State Budgeting Matters. Sheridan is surely right-after all, with the full implementation of scheduled tax cuts in a few years, Ohio will see billions of dollars less in revenue annually. Those tax cuts, in addition to other economic development stimuli, are designed to boost business. If the resulting tax take doesn't offset the future lower rates, then every state-spending program will be up for substantial reductions. Sheridan, however, is wrong to assume that improving Ohio's public-education system means spending more.

Sheridan chronicles the public-education changes Ohio governors have made throughout the 20^th century. He highlights three major instances-under governors White, Gilligan, and Voinovich-that he says can be considered real reforms. In each instance, Sheridan argues, education reform and increased taxes were inextricably bound. The changes he points to, however, were really just modifications to how the state funds its schools and how much it spends on education. They were not wholesale transformations of the education system. And, while Ohio's K-12 education needs a transformation, it is not the one Gov. Strickland is probably contemplating.

Sheridan looks at education through the lenses of the educational producers, who never seem to see that successful education reform does not necessarily mean more teachers, more programs, more requirements, and more money. A recent report by the World Bank entitled "Education Quality and Economic Growth" (see here) looked at the impact of educational spending in 25 countries since the early 1970s. The researchers discovered that, "pure resource policies that adopt the existing structure of school operations are unlikely to lead to necessary improvements in learning." In short, there is no relationship between spending and student performance across the 25-country sample of middle- and higher-income countries. What does make a difference, according to the World Bank, are good teachers, strong and transparent accountability systems, school autonomy, and high-quality choice programs.

It's still too early to tell what the governor's reform plan will include and how it will be financed, and it is wise not to over-speculate. In the meantime, Sheridan's brief is a terrific, lay-friendly primer in the evolution of school funding in Ohio and a good refresher for those, including The Gadfly, who follow Strickland's every move.

The General Assembly approved the state's $1.3 billion biennial capital appropriations and budget-correction bill (H.B. 562) last week and it is now awaiting Gov. Ted Strickland's signature. Like every appropriations bill, H.B. 562 is stuffed with lots of extras, in addition to the cash, including these education-related items:

• Charter schools will not have to make up days missed for inclement weather so long as the schools provided at least the minimum-required 920 hours of instruction this year. This fixes a problem for some charters dependent on public-school busing that The Gadfly first reported in March (see here). District schools that were closed due to flooding and which meet a host of other requirements also won't have to make up those days.
• School districts that jointly or cooperatively operate a school or education program-like the Metro High School in Columbus-may charge fees or tuition to participating students.
• Nonpublic schools, including parochial schools and most other private schools, can make purchases through low-cost contracts negotiated by the Department of Administrative Services. District and charter schools, political subdivisions, and other public entities have long had this privilege.
• Private-school students will be allowed to participate in the new Seniors-to-Sophomores program.
• A district may run a STEM school; however, the district must treat the STEM school as a separate operating unit for accounting purposes and the auditor must certify that dollars intended for the STEM school are spent on the STEM school.
• The Distance Learning Clearinghouse will move from eTech to the Board of Regents and expand to include college courses. The Regents chancellor will have authority over the clearinghouse and the selection of its operator.

 The bill also tweaked Ohio's charter school law:

• The moratorium on start-up charter schools has been loosened to allow the opening of new schools that are sponsored by a Big Eight district and meet certain qualifiers.
• Education service centers may now sponsor conversion charter schools.
• High-performing, start-up charter schools operated by nonprofits may, under certain conditions, operate multiple facilities under one contract.
• The governing authorities of multiple charter schools can enter into pooling agreements for health care and liability insurance, transportation, and to purchase goods and services. This will allow an organization, such as the Ohio Alliance for Public Charter Schools, to negotiate a group agreement for all of its members. Or, charters in a city could band together to buy buses or provide transportation.

Talk about streamlining education. This month, some Ohio high school seniors will be earning not just high-school diplomas but also associate-college degrees. In Columbus, 19 seniors have already taken enough courses to earn associate degrees from DeVry Advantage Academy (see here). Some students knock off as much as 18 months of future college classes toward a bachelor's degree under the program paid for by the Columbus City Schools.

And qualified students in 42 Ohio school districts are gearing up to take their senior year in high school on a state college campus under Gov. Ted Strickland's Seniors-to-Sophomores program. Under S-to-S, high school seniors will receive their high-school diplomas next June and also, hopefully, earn enough credits to be college sophomores (see here). Such programs look good to students and parents because they keep kids learning during their senior year and they cut the cost of higher education. Knocking a year off a state college education would save thousands-at Miami of Ohio about $21,000 and that doesn't include a student's personal expenses.

The idea of making K-16 education seamless is generating powerful and positive innovations that are central to the Ohio Board of Regents' plan to boost the number of college graduates in the state. By 2017, Regents Chancellor Eric Fingerhut wants to have 230,000 more students enrolled in Ohio colleges and universities, boosting the total to 830,000.

Fingerhut's basic ideas have been circulating for a couple of months, but he has recently provided more detail, especially in connecting the dots between the state universities and primary and secondary schools. Basically, Fingerhut's plan calls for high schools to be more like colleges, at least for some students. "We have not been good partners with primary and secondary education," he told the Ohio Grantmakers Forum in May. "We intend to become aggressive, supportive partners." At a minimum, the Regents want to expand Advanced Placement high-school courses and tutoring programs. Fingerhut envisions professors teaching college courses in high schools as well as high-school seniors taking classes on college campuses. "I'm embarrassed that higher education hasn't offered more courses in high school," he said. "We have resisted in the past offering college courses in high-school buildings. Now, not only are we not resisting, we are aggressively moving toward it."

The chancellor is moving in the right direction for young people, families, and the state of Ohio. Fingerhut, however, needs to tread cautiously and not inadvertently cripple this program by pushing too fast, too soon. While only about 12,000 Ohio students took so-called dual-credit, college-level courses last year, according to the Ohio Department of Education, the number has nearly doubled in a decade. Ironically, Fingerhut's emphasis comes when universities are starting to resist recognizing dual-enrollment courses for college graduation requirements (see here).

"Places like New York University...are rejecting credit for high school students because they can't be sure of what the student experienced," said Thomas J. Lasley, dean of the School of Education and Allied Professions at the University of Dayton. But, he said, money also may be a factor: "My guess is it could also affect the number of courses a person takes on campus and that could eventually begin to affect a university's income."

Lasley advocates rigorous state guidelines to ensure that the college courses taught in high schools are truly college-level. A lesson, he believes, should be drawn from the charter-school movement in Ohio, which expanded rapidly and at the expense of quality. Based on a model developed at Kenyon College in Gambier, Ohio, the University of Dayton has offered college-level math, political science, philosophy, and other courses in Dayton-area high schools for several years. The courses are taught by qualified high-school teachers and UD professors oversee the instruction, curriculum, and assessment. Despite these safeguards, the university's dual-credit courses are sometimes turned down by colleges and universities when students begin college.

Dual-credit programs in Ohio are concentrated more among high schools and two-year colleges, in part, because students and their parents are trying to save money, agrees Frank DePalma, superintendent of the Montgomery County Educational Service Center. Because they could produce shorter high-school and college careers, dual-credit programs likely threaten the jobs of some high-school teachers. And, since the courses have to be taught by licensed instructors with at least master's degrees, if one can't be found then a college instructor or professor might have to come to the high school to teach the course. While that instructor probably knows the subject material, he or she probably won't have a high-school teaching license, so school districts risk being dinged on their state report cards, DePalma said.

Additionally, union worries over potential staff cuts and report-card accountability have already been raised. Fingerhut has not said how much all of this will cost in the short term, nor is it clear where the money will come from. But he is absolutely right to be seeking ways to streamline the K-16 education system and to help young people who are ready to take college level courses take them at the age they can manage them. This streamlining will benefit young people, their families, and ultimately the state of Ohio.

The Annie E. Casey Foundation (of which Fordham board member Bruno Manno is a Senior Associate for Education) recently released a series of publications entitled Closing the Achievement Gap (see here). These concise education briefs provide insights and lessons concerning major aspects of the foundation's work over the past seven years to improve education by supporting all stakeholders (e.g., school principals, community organizations, parents, education reform organizations, philanthropists, and policy makers). The series makes clear the broad scope of Casey's work and influence in education, yet at the same time, zeros in on key strategies that the foundation has used over time to improve educational opportunities for young people.

Topics covered include the importance of making early strategic investments. One example is Casey's seed funds to the mayor's office in Indianapolis that enabled the mayor to become one of the country's premier charter-school authorizers. Another is how critical it is for parents, students, teachers, governing boards, and community members to speak a common language and share a common vision in raising student achievement. Funding is always a key topic in the world of education, and perhaps the most interesting lesson learned is that investments needn't be large to attract additional resources and produce change, but they do need to be well-calculated and targeted.

The series titles tell the story: Getting to Results; Creating Quality Choices: Charters; Creating Quality Choices: District Schools; Exploring Quality Choices: Vouchers; School, Community, Family Connections; Strategic Funding Attracts Co-Investment; and, The Anatomy of Influence. As one can tell from the titles, there is something of interest for anyone involved in working to improve public education for young people.

Can Ohio afford Gov. Strickland's education reform plan? Not without a tax increase, according to Richard Sheridan, of the Center for Community Solutions, writing in the latest issue of State Budgeting Matters. Sheridan is surely right-after all, with the full implementation of scheduled tax cuts in a few years, Ohio will see billions of dollars less in revenue annually. Those tax cuts, in addition to other economic development stimuli, are designed to boost business. If the resulting tax take doesn't offset the future lower rates, then every state-spending program will be up for substantial reductions. Sheridan, however, is wrong to assume that improving Ohio's public-education system means spending more.

Sheridan chronicles the public-education changes Ohio governors have made throughout the 20^th century. He highlights three major instances-under governors White, Gilligan, and Voinovich-that he says can be considered real reforms. In each instance, Sheridan argues, education reform and increased taxes were inextricably bound. The changes he points to, however, were really just modifications to how the state funds its schools and how much it spends on education. They were not wholesale transformations of the education system. And, while Ohio's K-12 education needs a transformation, it is not the one Gov. Strickland is probably contemplating.

Sheridan looks at education through the lenses of the educational producers, who never seem to see that successful education reform does not necessarily mean more teachers, more programs, more requirements, and more money. A recent report by the World Bank entitled "Education Quality and Economic Growth" (see here) looked at the impact of educational spending in 25 countries since the early 1970s. The researchers discovered that, "pure resource policies that adopt the existing structure of school operations are unlikely to lead to necessary improvements in learning." In short, there is no relationship between spending and student performance across the 25-country sample of middle- and higher-income countries. What does make a difference, according to the World Bank, are good teachers, strong and transparent accountability systems, school autonomy, and high-quality choice programs.

It's still too early to tell what the governor's reform plan will include and how it will be financed, and it is wise not to over-speculate. In the meantime, Sheridan's brief is a terrific, lay-friendly primer in the evolution of school funding in Ohio and a good refresher for those, including The Gadfly, who follow Strickland's every move.

The General Assembly approved the state's $1.3 billion biennial capital appropriations and budget-correction bill (H.B. 562) last week and it is now awaiting Gov. Ted Strickland's signature. Like every appropriations bill, H.B. 562 is stuffed with lots of extras, in addition to the cash, including these education-related items:

• Charter schools will not have to make up days missed for inclement weather so long as the schools provided at least the minimum-required 920 hours of instruction this year. This fixes a problem for some charters dependent on public-school busing that The Gadfly first reported in March (see here). District schools that were closed due to flooding and which meet a host of other requirements also won't have to make up those days.
• School districts that jointly or cooperatively operate a school or education program-like the Metro High School in Columbus-may charge fees or tuition to participating students.
• Nonpublic schools, including parochial schools and most other private schools, can make purchases through low-cost contracts negotiated by the Department of Administrative Services. District and charter schools, political subdivisions, and other public entities have long had this privilege.
• Private-school students will be allowed to participate in the new Seniors-to-Sophomores program.
• A district may run a STEM school; however, the district must treat the STEM school as a separate operating unit for accounting purposes and the auditor must certify that dollars intended for the STEM school are spent on the STEM school.
• The Distance Learning Clearinghouse will move from eTech to the Board of Regents and expand to include college courses. The Regents chancellor will have authority over the clearinghouse and the selection of its operator.

 The bill also tweaked Ohio's charter school law:

• The moratorium on start-up charter schools has been loosened to allow the opening of new schools that are sponsored by a Big Eight district and meet certain qualifiers.
• Education service centers may now sponsor conversion charter schools.
• High-performing, start-up charter schools operated by nonprofits may, under certain conditions, operate multiple facilities under one contract.
• The governing authorities of multiple charter schools can enter into pooling agreements for health care and liability insurance, transportation, and to purchase goods and services. This will allow an organization, such as the Ohio Alliance for Public Charter Schools, to negotiate a group agreement for all of its members. Or, charters in a city could band together to buy buses or provide transportation.