In case you’ve been hibernating away from news lately, the Ohio General Assembly passed landmark charter school law reform legislation yesterday. HB 2 had a long gestation and filled up a lot of news coverage over that time. The clearing of the final hurdle did not disappoint in terms of additional coverage. Here’s a selection:
- To many observers, the biggest hurdle was not the floor votes in the House and Senate, but the conference committee that took up the Senate changes to the original House bill. The concern was that the bill would come out of committee “watered down” or compromised in its efforts to strengthen accountability and transparency for charter schools and their sponsors and operators. In the end, it came out of conference on Tuesday unscathed and with bicameral and bipartisan support. As Fordham’s Chad Aldis said, “It contains provisions that charter advocates and opponents alike have urged for a decade.” Whew. (Columbus Dispatch, 10/6/15)
- The AP also covered the favorable report of HB2 out of the conference committee. As Chad told them, “This won't fix everything all at once, but I think it really puts us on the trajectory to really see improvements in achievement, and I would expect that national folks will recognize that.” Good point, seeing as how this AP piece appeared in more than 20 media outlets nationwide. (Associated Press, 10/6/15)
- A tiny hiccup arose prior to final passage of the bill due to an amendment that would change pension rules for charter school teachers working for for-profit operators. In the end, it was agreed that more study was required on that issue – as noted in this PD piece – but the bill passed the House on a vote of 91-6 and the Senate unanimously. Chad expressed confidence upon passage that the new law would “create an environment where high performing charter schools grow and prosper and low performers are shuttered." Sounds just right. (Cleveland Plain Dealer, 10/7/15)
- The Dayton Daily News focuses mainly on hometown legislator Sen. Peggy Lehner (also chairwoman of the Senate Education Committee) in their coverage of the bill passage. She says she is “absolutely delighted” with the final bill. “It fixes many, many of the problems that have faced the charter school sector in Ohio.” Chad is quoted in this piece as well, echoing the senator and others saying, “This will be a huge step forward for Ohio’s charter sector.” DDN version. (Dayton Daily News, 10/7/15)
- The Repository skipped the journalistic report and went straight to opining – in favor of the bill and its vitally-needed reforms. They quote Chad in listing some of those reforms and urge the governor to sign it. (Canton Repository, 10/7/15)
- Curious headline to this piece from local public radio in Columbus. Chad and Fordham don’t qualify their praise of the reform legislation itself, but devil will most definitely be in the details of successful implementation. Nice of them to start to look forward already to the implementation phase of the process. (WOSU-FM, Columbus, 10/8/15)
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