- It’s quiet around the Statehouse these days, just like most summers. That’s probably why Innovation Ohio, the Ohio Education Association, and others held an event yesterday to trot out some old saws – charter school funding issues, charter school law reform, charter school quality, charter schools stealing kids, etc. As a response, particularly to the funding question, Chad was interviewed for this piece in the Advocate. Chad is not exactly quoted here, but his more detailed description of how school funding actually works in Ohio is laid out. (Newark Advocate, 8/28/15). Chad’s dulcet tones explain school funding directly – characterizing the Innovation Ohio description of it “not intellectually honest” – in this piece from public radio. Ouch. Link (WKSU-FM, Kent, 8/27/15)
- The event was also covered by a number of other news outlets – remember, it’s pretty quiet over there in the Statehouse – without quoting Chad. How do you like your coverage? It ranges from ranges from bland (Gongwer Ohio, 8/27/15), to mild (Columbus Dispatch, 8/28/15), to medium (Youngstown Vindicator, 8/28/15), to hot (Toledo Blade, 8/28/15).
- In the Dispatch story, above, there is a reference to FCI Academy, a charter school on the city’s north side which closed suddenly either on or just before the scheduled first day of classes earlier this week. It is indeed awful for students and families that the school’s closure was not completed sooner and with more notice, but that school deserved to be closed. Academic achievement was persistently bad, its financials appear to have been troubling from the start, and that doesn’t even get into the unproved tax allegations. So, what we have here is a sponsor doing what it’s supposed to do, although the school fought the closure up until its very last possible opportunity, leading to students starting the year without a school. Not the best circumstances under which families can undertake a search for a new school for their kids. (Columbus Dispatch, 8/26/15). But let us not forget about some charter schools which actually fight closure beyond the last opportunity. You may remember that the Ohio Department of Education inherited sponsorship of some charters it eventually decided to close, due primarily (but not solely) to persistent poor academic performance. The operator of two of those schools sued the department in their fight to reopen. Earlier in August the operator dropped that lawsuit and neither of their schools reopened. (Canton Repository, 8/26/15)
- Also discussed in coverage of the Innovation Ohio event are the ongoing endeavors of some media outlets to access ODE’s email traffic regarding charter sponsor review from earlier this year. Editors in Cleveland opined today on the topic, strongly urging handover of the info ASAP. (Cleveland Plain Dealer, 8/28/15).
- Editors in Columbus opine in praise of the district’s new text-message-based notification system for bus transportation. They are likely right. It WILL be an improvement over the current system….at whatever point next month it actually starts. (Columbus Dispatch, 8/28/15)
