- Yesterday saw a Q&A between House Education Committee members and the sponsors of HB 2 (the charter law overhaul bill) as well as the start of committee hearings on HB 7 (the bill which would, among other things, give students a “safe harbor” from PARCC test results). Not much to say at this point on the testing bill – that will come – but it was interesting to hear how very open the sponsors of HB 2 were to lots of other recommendations to improve the charter sector over and above what’s already in the bill. Call us, members of the committee, we have some more recommendations. (Gongwer Ohio)
- Editors in Cleveland opine on standardized testing in Ohio today. The specific issue of cutting testing time is not yet on the legislative radar, but the calls continue. (Cleveland Plain Dealer)
- Editors in Cleveland also opined on the governor’s budget proposal this week, saying “there’s a lot to like” in it. Among the education provisions, charter law reforms get a thumbs-up from PD Tower while district funding reforms get a wait-and-see-but-we’re-inclined-to-be-bothered. (Cleveland Plain Dealer)
- One of the things the PD’s editors wanted to wait-and-see about is what is known as “district runs”. That is, a spreadsheet from the state that shows which districts’ funding go up and which go down under the new plan. Those runs were released yesterday. (Gongwer Ohio)
- The governor was in Cleveland yesterday as those district runs were released – pitching his education proposals while visiting the E-Prep/Village Prep charter schools. He predicted that the spreadsheet would have “lots of people squawking” about whose funding was up and whose was down. He also said that the current education funding formula is “unsustainable”. Guess which quote got the most play? (Columbus Dispatch)
- Governor Kasich was, of course, correct in his prediction. Here are some media reports of the “squawking” – at various decibel levels and in various directions – from the Columbus Dispatch, the Cleveland Plain Dealer, and the Akron Beacon Journal. There are lots of other examples if you’re interested.
- Fairfield County’s “district runs” figure into this story – an update on the efforts of Walnut Twp. Schools to avoid a declaration of fiscal emergency ahead of a looming deadline. Some accounting updates since Tuesday left the district in a slightly better position, needing to cut only $826K instead of the full $1 million originally needed. While board members voted unanimously on a new cut plan – which still might not be enough to keep them from fiscal emergency anyway – at least two said on the record they were only doing so to avoid the declaration and the ensuing “state meddling”, and admitted they have no intention of following through. It couldn’t have helped that the “district run” for Walnut Twp. released yesterday prior to that vote showed a prospective state funding cut for the next two years. Twisty. And sad. (Lancaster Eagle Gazette)
