Gadfly Bites 1/30/19 – “We routinely talk about how we can impact our students and their learning experiences.” OK. But what, exactly, do you DO?

1. Nina Rees, president and CEO of the National Alliance for Public Charter Schools, teamed up with our own bossman Chad Aldis to pen an op-ed published in the Plain Dealer yesterday. Topic: the golden opportunity before the state of Ohio today to leverage federal dollars and boost facilities funding for charter schools. (Cleveland Plain Dealer, 1/30/19) 
2. Assuming that Ohio does indeed capitalize on that opportunity, there will be at least one less charter school next year needing facilities funds. Lakewood City Schools will be ending the sponsorship of its charter school this year. Despite the fact that “we had a lot of kids graduate and have success” in the charter school format, “like all things you want to evolve and innovate for children because the world is always changing.” That means bye-bye charter school and (eventually) hello “alternative school” of some type. Details are sketchy beyond “close charter”. (Cleveland Plain Dealer, 1/30/19)

3. With the demise of ECOT last year, the epithet mantle “Ohio’s largest online charter school” passed to Ohio Virtual Academy. Here is a quick look at the improvement plan OHVA is completing for submission to the state because it “failed to meet several student performance benchmarks.” Uneasy lies the head that wears a crown, I reckon. (Toledo Blade, 1/30/19)

4. Finally today, Ohio’s College Credit Plus program is a runaway success by almost any measure. Here’s a look at its popularly among high school students (and at least one local community college – you know which one I’m talking about) in the Dayton area. We should be careful, however, how readily we throw around the “money saved” metric. There is, in fact, no money being saved by anyone at this point—only money being spent. Eventually, families could save money. College will end up cheaper for families in the long run if you assume their kids were going to take five years or more to graduate and now will shorten that time frame thanks to the “head start” provided by CCP. Otherwise, four years of college costs pretty much the same, with or without a head start! Sorry to be a spoiler. Still a great program for all the other reasons. (Dayton Daily News, 1/28/19)

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