This is our last edition for 2022. Thank you for reading and subscribing. We’ll be back on January 6, 2023 with a final rundown of late December news.
Cincinnati charter school on the grow
The piece is brief, but the news is good: Cincinnati College Preparatory Academy broke ground this week on a huge new expansion project that will nearly double the size of the school, adding a science lab, a multi-purpose commons area, and 12 more classrooms. Kudos to all!
How to avoid “the risk” of competition
In Poland Local School District, officials are working with the Port Authority to take on a closed elementary building—for the bargain price of $1—with the ultimate goal of the authority selling it to a developer to build luxury apartments. This, they say, is the only way to avoid “the risk” of a charter school buying the building—which they would have to do at a market price far higher than a buck—and creating another competitor to the district. Keeping their eyes on the prize.
New transportation plan same as the old?
Student transportation woes continue for families throughout the Dayton area, including more than 10,000 charter and private school students, despite efforts to address concerns within the current busing framework with which they have been struggling all year. Meanwhile, Columbus City Schools is rolling out information about a brand-new transportation framework—a full reset of all service provision—which is to begin in January. The early details already being provided to parents are not inspiring much confidence for a better experience.
The view from Missouri
Traditional school districts in Missouri have long been allowed by law to sponsor charter schools; St. Louis Public Schools never have before, but they’re getting into the business now. With the University of Missouri bowing out of charter sponsorship at the end of this school year, five schools in the Confluence Academies network were looking for a new sponsor. And given a pre-existing partnership with the charter network, the district’s elected school board voted this week to take on the oversight of Confluence. Everyone quoted in the piece seems thrilled with the move, and so does the Editorial Board of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.
The view from Kentucky
In Kentucky, the only entities allowed to be charter sponsors are traditional school districts. This has served to limit the number of charters in the state to zero thus far. Legislation passed earlier this year will likely jump that number up to one, but the sponsorship issue remains. The President and CEO of the Bluegrass Institute for Public Policy Solutions opined this week that without a widening of the list of entities allowed to sponsor, charters will continue to lag in the state. Unfortunately, Kentucky Governor Andy Beshear is in no hurry to assist charter school growth, telling LINK NKY in a year-end wrap up interview that, “The answer to making the public education system work for every child isn’t to pull some of them out of it and then to let those new groups have fewer rules than the ones you apply to the public school system.”
A survey of Ohio’s charter funding system is now underway
The Ohio Department of Education’s Office of Community Schools is working to gain a better understanding of how well the current funding system supports charter schools and their students. To that end, community school governing authority members, superintendents, principals, and school staff are invited to participate in the Ohio Community Schools Funding Survey. Community Schools receiving grants from the Quality Community Schools Support Fund grant will be asked additional questions to understand how these funds are used as well. The link to the survey is here. ODE officials say it should take no more than 10-15 minutes to complete. The deadline for submissions is close of business on Friday, December 23.
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