- So there’s some reportage on the topic of school funding to report today. Just not the particular part of the topic I thought might get some coverage. First up, school districts and their associated associations testified this week on what they don’t like about Governor Kasich’s proposed education budget. Kudos to Jim Siegel on the empty piñata reference. Spot on. (Columbus Dispatch, 3/8/17) Anti-kudos the Enquirer for allowing reporters to grind axes in an opinion piece about the state education dollars that go to fund students and services at private schools masquerading as journalism. (Cincinnati Enquirer, 3/8/17) If only someone had this week released a rigorous research report that eschewed personal opinion and venom on the topic of school funding and instead hewed to a comprehensive, student-centric vision the ways that Ohio’s system could improve upon its already-pretty-good structure. If only…
- An interesting set of three stories on the ongoing tussle between Ohio’s largest online school and the state of Ohio. No, not a court case. This time, it’s an audit conducted by the State Auditor’s office (seems like forever since we mentioned that guy!). It’s a kind of timey-wimey thing in that the results of the audit indicate that the school did not in the past track the duration data the state seems to be looking for because they could not track it. The school takes this as verification that they should not have been asked for said data at all; StateAuditor! Man appears to be using the results as a springboard to audit other online schools and see what they did or could have done or will be able to do in regard to tracking; and other players in the drama have decided that this means that the whole online-school enterprise should have been shut down long ago (or sometime in the near future). Anywho, you can check out coverage of varying degrees in the D as linked above (Columbus Dispatch, 3/9/17), the Dayton Daily News (Dayton Daily News, 3/9/17), or the Associated Press (AP, via Youngstown Vindicator, 3/9/17).
- In case you didn’t know (I didn’t, which isn’t saying much!), Savannah James, wife of LeBron, is a philanthropist in her own right. And her interests are similar to his. Case in point: she has started a new mentoring program in Akron’s Buchtel High School (Mrs. James’ alma mater) called Women of the Future. The aim of the program, she says, is to help young women in Akron navigate their teen years with one-on-one mentoring and academic support. The goal is to encourage participants to pursue their studies and a college education. WOOF indeed! (Akron Beacon Journal, 3/8/17)
