1 hour ago, Brutus_buckeye said:

It is up to the voters to then decide

Well sure it is, but the Ohio house/senate are gerrymandered so that you can afford to make moves like this without risking your seat. So that's not a good reason.

2 hours ago, 10albersa said:

Well sure it is, but the Ohio house/senate are gerrymandered so that you can afford to make moves like this without risking your seat. So that's not a good reason.

I am not trying to justify things, just stating the facts. 

Don't know where to put this, but at least in Franklin County suburbs, most Moms for Liberty candidates or otherwise far-right conservatives lost or were kicked out of school boards.  Except in Grove City, where both of them won. Overall, this is good for education in the area. 

Ohio GOP Passes Bill for More Political Control Over Classrooms

 

The Ohio House passed a bill that Republicans say supports free speech in the classroom, but Democrats and educators disagree. 

 

House Bill 214 would mandate school districts to establish policies that ban teachers, students and those applying for jobs from adhering to a certain political or ideological belief. The policies would be publicly available.  

 

State Rep. Adam Holmes, R-Nashport, introduced the bill, which passed with a 64-30 vote in the House on Wednesday. The bill now moves to the Senate for consideration. 

 

“Ohio’s K-12 public schools must be forums for open expression, new ideas and diverse opinions and experiences,” Holmes said. 

 

More below:

https://columbusunderground.com/ohio-gop-passes-bill-for-more-political-control-over-classrooms-ocj1/

 

22 minutes ago, ColDayMan said:

Ohio GOP Passes Bill for More Political Control Over Classrooms

 

House Bill 214 would mandate school districts to establish policies that ban teachers, students and those applying for jobs from adhering to a certain political or ideological belief. The policies would be publicly available.

 

https://columbusunderground.com/ohio-gop-passes-bill-for-more-political-control-over-classrooms-ocj1/

 

CU got the grammar wrong.  It does not "ban" anyone from "adhering" to a certain political or ideological belief.  It bans school districts from requiring that they do so (or not do so).

 

The bill is here: https://www.legislature.ohio.gov/legislation/135/hb214.  A lot of it is technical cross-referencing, but the meat and potatoes is this:

 

Quote

 

(1) The school district shall not solicit or require an employee or applicant for employment or academic admission to affirmatively ascribe to, or opine about, specific beliefs, affiliations, ideals, or principles concerning political movements, or ideology.

 

(2) The school district shall not solicit or require a student to affirmatively ascribe to specific beliefs, affiliations, ideals, or principles concerning political movements, or ideology.

 

(3) The school district shall not use statements of commitment to specific beliefs, affiliations, ideals, or principles concerning political movements, or ideology as part of the evaluation criteria for employees or applicants for employment, or employees that are seeking career progression or benefits.

 

(4) The school district shall not use statements of commitment to specific beliefs, affiliations, ideals, or principles concerning political movements or ideology as part of the academic evaluation of students.

 

 

I'm not 100% sure but I think this language is largely lifted from religious nondiscrimination laws, now applied to secular/political belief systems as well.  And it's content-neutral (important for any potential First Amendment challenge), so it would equally prohibit a school district, as a condition of employment or enrollment, to force prospective teachers or students to sign something saying "I am not a communist" as "I am not a fascist."  But the obvious goal is to prohibit mandatory diversity statements as employment conditions.

Ohio Schoolchildren Continue to Go Hungry as Lawmakers Tinker With Budgets

 

The most recent state budget made changes to allow more students to be fed at no cost, but the battle to quell child hunger is still ongoing in Ohio.

 

The budget bill passed last year provided more than $4 million in funding to allow any students qualified for reduced-price of free breakfast and lunch can get the meals at no cost for the 2023-2024 school year.

 

It’s not quite the universal meals that school nutrition directors had asked for when budget talks began, but the final budget’s school meal provisions are progress in the right direction, child and education advocates in the state concluded.

 

The programs that are still attempting to help stem the flow of student hunger are seeing the struggles that inflation has on the cost of food, and Katherine Ungar, senior policy associate with the Children’s Defense Fund of Ohio, said the stigma of the income-based school food programs is still a barrier.

 

More below:

https://columbusunderground.com/ohio-schoolchildren-continue-to-go-hungry-as-lawmakers-tinker-with-budgets-ocj1/

 

On 11/20/2023 at 10:10 AM, Gramarye said:

 

CU got the grammar wrong.  It does not "ban" anyone from "adhering" to a certain political or ideological belief.  It bans school districts from requiring that they do so (or not do so).

 

The bill is here: https://www.legislature.ohio.gov/legislation/135/hb214.  A lot of it is technical cross-referencing, but the meat and potatoes is this:

 

 

I'm not 100% sure but I think this language is largely lifted from religious nondiscrimination laws, now applied to secular/political belief systems as well.  And it's content-neutral (important for any potential First Amendment challenge), so it would equally prohibit a school district, as a condition of employment or enrollment, to force prospective teachers or students to sign something saying "I am not a communist" as "I am not a fascist."  But the obvious goal is to prohibit mandatory diversity statements as employment conditions.

Thanks for that information. This is the first time I've even heard about "mandatory diversity statements" and a google search on the subject seems to find a lot of complaints about them from both the left and the right.  To me that suggests that this is a problem that is going to go away without the government's help; this isn't the kind of situation where we need the government to step in to force change to happen. 

 

Probably harmless, as long as Trump doesn't become President and demand loyalty pledges... 😱

There’s a Lot Going on in the New Ohio Education Bill

 

The Ohio Senate passed a bill requiring Ohio universities and community colleges to be more transparent with costs but not before tacking on more than $1.4 billion in state spending proposals.

 

The spending proposals include $600 million for K-12 school building construction, $575 Million for the Ohio Public Works Commission, $196 Million for the Ohio State Fair and $38 million for the state adoption grant program. 

 

The new fiscal year starts July 1, so the legislation would need to pass by the end of March in order for it to take effect by July, state Sen. Rob McColley, R-Napoleon, said during Wednesday’s Senate Session.

 

“The reason we’re doing this now … if we pass these things in by the end of March or within very quickly at the end of April, then all those folks who are sitting there waiting to put windows in school buildings will be able to go okay, we know we’re gonna get paid,” Senate President Matt Huffman, R-Lima, said Wednesday before the vote. 

 

More below:

https://columbusunderground.com/theres-a-lot-going-on-in-the-new-ohio-education-bill-ocj1/

 

Ohio Colleges Impacted by Supreme Court’s Anti-Diversity Ruling

 

At least seven Ohio public universities are reviewing scholarships in the wake of comments Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost made about race-based scholarships after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled against race-conscious admissions. 

 

Cleveland State University, Kent State University, the University of Akron, the University of Toledo and Youngstown State University all said they are in the process of reviewing their scholarships. This is in addition to Ohio University and Ohio State University, as previously reported by the Capital Journal.

 

“The University of Toledo has paused the distribution of scholarships that consider race as a part of their award criteria following the U.S. Supreme Court ruling on the use of affirmative action in higher education admissions,” university spokesperson Tyrel Linkhorn said in email.

 

This affects 6% of Toledo’s nearly 1,200 donor-supported scholarships, which is worth $500,000, he said in an email.

 

More below:

https://columbusunderground.com/ohio-colleges-impacted-by-supreme-courts-anti-diversity-ruling-ocj1/

 

12 minutes ago, ColDayMan said:

Ohio Colleges Impacted by Supreme Court’s Anti-Diversity Ruling

 

At least seven Ohio public universities are reviewing scholarships in the wake of comments Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost made about race-based scholarships after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled against race-conscious admissions. 

 

Cleveland State University, Kent State University, the University of Akron, the University of Toledo and Youngstown State University all said they are in the process of reviewing their scholarships. This is in addition to Ohio University and Ohio State University, as previously reported by the Capital Journal.

 

“The University of Toledo has paused the distribution of scholarships that consider race as a part of their award criteria following the U.S. Supreme Court ruling on the use of affirmative action in higher education admissions,” university spokesperson Tyrel Linkhorn said in email.

 

This affects 6% of Toledo’s nearly 1,200 donor-supported scholarships, which is worth $500,000, he said in an email.

 

More below:

https://columbusunderground.com/ohio-colleges-impacted-by-supreme-courts-anti-diversity-ruling-ocj1/

 

 

Personally I don't have a problem with a private donor attaching such conditions, as long as it's okay across the board.

Demand Grows for Ohio’s Private School Voucher Program

 

There have been more than 91,100 applications for Ohio’s private school voucher expansion program so far this school year — a dramatic increase compared to previous years. 

 

Out of 91,157 voucher expansion applications, 87,312 scholarships have been awarded as of March 18 — amounting to $394,015,641 in allocated funding, according to the Ohio Department of Education and Workforce. Applications are continuing to be accepted through the end of the fiscal year. 

 

There were 26,390 voucher expansion applications submitted in 2023 with 24,323 scholarships awarded, and 25,011 applications submitted and 21,873 scholarships awarded in 2022. 

 

Ohio lawmakers expanded private school voucher eligibility to 450% of the poverty line — or a household income of $135,000 or less for a family of four — in the state budget that was signed into law last summer. Families above the $135,000 threshold can still be eligible for at least 10% of the maximum scholarship.

 

K-8 students can receive a $6,165 scholarship and high schoolers can receive a $8,407 scholarship in state funding under the expansion. 63,798 K-8 students were awarded a voucher scholarship and 20,495 high school students were awarded a scholarship, according to ODEW. 

 

More below:

https://columbusunderground.com/demand-grows-for-ohios-private-school-voucher-program-ocj1/

 

Prayer, Bible lessons and a big red bus: How an Ohio group is bringing God to public school

 

After a morning lesson on multiplying fractions, about half of the students in a fifth-grade class at Etna Road Elementary School packed up their work and headed to the campus library.

 

The other half, all wearing matching red T-shirts, put on their coats, lined up single-file and boarded a red bus with the words “LifeWise Academy” painted on the side.

 

While their classmates back at school browsed shelves of books, the children on the bus sang praise to Jesus.

 

“For there is no other name ... by which we must be saved.”

 

The students soon arrived at a church a half-mile away where, for the next 30 minutes, they would pray, read the Bible and sing worship songs — activities that have become a routine part of their week thanks to an Ohio-based nonprofit on a mission to put God back in the public school day.

 

LifeWise Academy is permitted under a pair of little-known, decades-old U.S. Supreme Court rulings that allow for off-campus religious instruction during school hours.

 

When LifeWise launched in 2018, the initial goal was to serve 25 schools by 2025, but it surpassed that long ago. By the start of this year, LifeWise had set up chapters in more than 300 schools in a dozen states, teaching 35,000 public school students weekly Bible lessons that are usually scheduled to coincide with lunch or noncore courses such as library, art or gym class.

 

Way more below:

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/lifewise-academy-public-school-christian-church-rcna142172

 

13 hours ago, ColDayMan said:

Demand Grows for Ohio’s Private School Voucher Program

 

There have been more than 91,100 applications for Ohio’s private school voucher expansion program so far this school year — a dramatic increase compared to previous years. 

 

Out of 91,157 voucher expansion applications, 87,312 scholarships have been awarded as of March 18 — amounting to $394,015,641 in allocated funding, according to the Ohio Department of Education and Workforce. Applications are continuing to be accepted through the end of the fiscal year. 

 

There were 26,390 voucher expansion applications submitted in 2023 with 24,323 scholarships awarded, and 25,011 applications submitted and 21,873 scholarships awarded in 2022.

For some context, the Ohio education budget for fiscal year (FY) 2023 was $12.7 billion.  Ohio has approximately 1.6m K-12 students.

 

 

The vouchers are just going to be a huge transfer payment to the church.

^exactly and we all know how those priests and churches will use it. Not one single state who has gone to the voucher system (Louisiana, etc) has seen increased student performance. I hope a ballot initiative stops giving these Bible lovers coupons.

19 minutes ago, GCrites said:

The vouchers are just going to be a huge transfer payment to the church.

 

I see this canard trotted out all the time.  How do you figure this?

We don't have an elaborate non-parochial private school system in this state outside of charter schools and I don't forsee a state full of Columbus Academies opening up since a lot of people want their kids to go to school with their neighbors. When I was in private school I hated that all the other kids lived in like Plain City and Beechwold while I was in Groveport. Meanwhile nondenominational Appalachia church is foaming at the mouth to open up in a pole barn.

34 minutes ago, GCrites said:

We don't have an elaborate non-parochial private school system in this state outside of charter schools and I don't forsee a state full of Columbus Academies opening up since a lot of people want their kids to go to school with their neighbors. When I was in private school I hated that all the other kids lived in like Plain City and Beechwold while I was in Groveport. Meanwhile nondenominational Appalachia church is foaming at the mouth to open up in a pole barn.

 

What you seem to be aiming at here is that most EdChoice providers will be religious schools.  Absolutely.  However, that wasn't what you said that I took issue with.  That was: 

 

1 hour ago, GCrites said:

The vouchers are just going to be a huge transfer payment to the church.

 

This fundamentally misunderstands the economics involved.  My parish school does not financially support the parish; it's the other way around.  In concrete terms, the church would be wealthier without the parish school, since something like $0.20 of every dollar in the collection basket goes to the school.  The school is a mission of the parish--a cost center, not a profit center, in crude business terms.

3 minutes ago, Gramarye said:

 

What you seem to be aiming at here is that most EdChoice providers will be religious schools.  Absolutely.  However, that wasn't what you said that I took issue with.  That was: 

 

 

This fundamentally misunderstands the economics involved.  My parish school does not financially support the parish; it's the other way around.  In concrete terms, the church would be wealthier without the parish school, since something like $0.20 of every dollar in the collection basket goes to the school.  The school is a mission of the parish--a cost center, not a profit center, in crude business terms.

Cool, now tell me why it deserves public money? 

13 minutes ago, Gramarye said:

The school is a mission of the parish--a cost center, not a profit center, in crude business terms.

More like a loss leader.

11 minutes ago, VintageLife said:

Cool, now tell me why it deserves public money? 

 

For the same reason that public schools do, at least to the extent that they're doing what they're supposed to: The education of children from immature pre-kindergartners to mature adults adds value to the entire community, and in fact to the entire country.  It is a completely unsupportable bias to suggest that public schools somehow educate for the good of all but private schools only educate for the benefit of the specific students who get to go there.

  

1 minute ago, Ineffable_Matt said:

More like a loss leader.

 

I think you'd have almost as much trouble coming up with evidence for that as the equally reflexively biased take that the school must just be run to profit the church.

 

===================================

 

For the less reflexively antireligious or simply pro school choice that might be lurking, just a reminder that you still have until April 15 to donate to a scholarship granting organization (SGO) and claim the Ohio state individual income tax credit on your Ohio tax returns for 2023 (https://tax.ohio.gov/individual/resources/scholarship-donation-credit).  Many SGOs will still be able to utilize those funds to support low- and moderate-income students in the upcoming (2024-2025) school year, and those that cannot turn the donations around that quickly will still be able to offer that assistance to those students in need in 2025-2026.  The net cost to you as an Ohio taxpayer are zero if your Ohio individual income tax liability would otherwise be over $750 individually / $1,500 married filing jointly, and just as the number of families availing themselves of EdChoice has expanded dramatically this year, the number of certified SGOs has likewise expanded dramatically over the past two years; the rollout in 2021 was a little slow out of the gate but has hit its stride.

28 minutes ago, Gramarye said:

 

For the same reason that public schools do, at least to the extent that they're doing what they're supposed to: The education of children from immature pre-kindergartners to mature adults adds value to the entire community, and in fact to the entire country.  It is a completely unsupportable bias to suggest that public schools somehow educate for the good of all but private schools only educate for the benefit of the specific students who get to go there.

  

 

I think you'd have almost as much trouble coming up with evidence for that as the equally reflexively biased take that the school must just be run to profit the church.

 

===================================

 

For the less reflexively antireligious or simply pro school choice that might be lurking, just a reminder that you still have until April 15 to donate to a scholarship granting organization (SGO) and claim the Ohio state individual income tax credit on your Ohio tax returns for 2023 (https://tax.ohio.gov/individual/resources/scholarship-donation-credit).  Many SGOs will still be able to utilize those funds to support low- and moderate-income students in the upcoming (2024-2025) school year, and those that cannot turn the donations around that quickly will still be able to offer that assistance to those students in need in 2025-2026.  The net cost to you as an Ohio taxpayer are zero if your Ohio individual income tax liability would otherwise be over $750 individually / $1,500 married filing jointly, and just as the number of families availing themselves of EdChoice has expanded dramatically this year, the number of certified SGOs has likewise expanded dramatically over the past two years; the rollout in 2021 was a little slow out of the gate but has hit its stride.

Just asking because I really don’t know:  Are private schools allowed to have entry requirements that public schools don’t?  Can they require test scores for entry?  Are they allowed to discriminate against children with behavior or cognitive issues? Can they require you to be of a specific faith to attend?  
 

44 minutes ago, Gramarye said:

For the same reason that public schools do, at least to the extent that they're doing what they're supposed to:

With the main difference being that one is actually public and the other one is a private school. Money goes to public schools because it is open to all and any. 

1 minute ago, OH_Really said:

Just asking because I really don’t know:  Are private schools allowed to have entry requirements that public schools don’t?  Can they require test scores for entry?  Are they allowed to discriminate against children with behavior or cognitive issues? Can they require you to be of a specific faith to attend?

 

Private schools are allowed to have entrance exams, but I don't know of much in the way of elementary schools that have them.  I see that more at the high school level.  The current 8th graders at my kids' K-8 school are practically on testing tours at the moment--there are three major Catholic high schools in the Akron area (St. Vincent-St. Mary, Hoban, and Walsh Jesuit) and they all have entrance exams, though I think two of them use the same exam and generally allow it to be used interchangeably.

 

On the behavior issue, that's a sliding scale--public schools are also allowed to discipline or expel students with endemic behavior problems, too, after all, whether you call it "discriminating" against them or any other verb.  They just generally don't, or at least they're far more hesitant to pull the trigger.  For many parents, of course, that's part of the reason to get out of the public schools, if your kids are the ones more likely to be the victims than the aggressors and the school acts incapable of doing anything about it.

 

I have to assume that private schools could require students to be of a specific faith, but I don't know of any who do.  I just checked the Web sites of some of the very orthodox Jewish schools that I know in Cleveland, just to see if they have express religious bars, and even they don't (though of course the curriculum will be largely of interest mostly to orthodox Jews).  I also checked the site of a Catholic school run by the Society of St. Pius X (a traditionalist splinter group within or, depending on whom you ask, lurking around the boundaries of Catholicism--one that would be likely to have a strict Catholics-only policy if anyone around here would) in the area and didn't see anything about a religious requirement.  I know we have a preference system--children of parishioners get first crack at open spots, which is fair considering that the parishioners are a major source of financial support for the school--but not a bar.

 

10 minutes ago, VintageLife said:

With the main difference being that one is actually public and the other one is a private school. Money goes to public schools because it is open to all and any. 

 

Not all public schools are open to all and any, either, so that can't be the differentiating factor--and more to the point, even the ones that are notionally open to all and any are hardly that in practice.  Going to Solon might be free; moving there, to put it mildly, isn't.

Why are we supposed to assume that just because the Catholic schools don't use tuition as a graft that others won't?

Ohio Approves $78,000 for School Gun Training

 

The Ohio Controlling Board has approved a $78,028 purchase to buy two mobile modular shoot houses to help train school districts with armed staff. 

 

The Ohio Department of Public Safety made the request to the Controlling Board, which was approved during Monday’s meeting last week.

 

The mobile modular shoot houses are from North Carolina-based Kontek Industries will “provide live fire and scenario-based training,” according to the Controlling Board agenda. 

 

More below:

https://columbusunderground.com/ohio-approves-78000-for-school-gun-training-ocj1/

11 hours ago, ColDayMan said:

Ohio Approves $78,000 for School Gun Training

 

The Ohio Controlling Board has approved a $78,028 purchase to buy two mobile modular shoot houses to help train school districts with armed staff. 

 

The Ohio Department of Public Safety made the request to the Controlling Board, which was approved during Monday’s meeting last week.

 

The mobile modular shoot houses are from North Carolina-based Kontek Industries will “provide live fire and scenario-based training,” according to the Controlling Board agenda. 

 

More below:

https://columbusunderground.com/ohio-approves-78000-for-school-gun-training-ocj1/

Let's arm the kindergartners and train them in the shoot houses, too!

Ohio bill would require public schools to adopt policies to teach religious classes during school hours

 

An Ohio House bill would require public schools to adopt a policy allowing their students to attend religious classes during the school day if their parents opt-in.

 

House Bill 445 would change one word in current law from “may” to “shall.” State Rep. Gary Click, R-Vickery, introduced the bill along with State Rep. Al Cutrona, R-Canfield.

 

“I think it’s important that we actually do address this and say listen, folks, these are people’s rights,” Click said.

Teaching religious classes to public school students during the school day is legal under a pair of Supreme Court decisions in 1948 and 1952, but there are many restrictions on it under federal law.

 

Some of the federal rules include that religious instruction cannot be provided by teachers or school staff, the school grounds cannot be used, and no school funds can be spent.

 

More below:

https://www.daytondailynews.com/local/ohio-bill-would-require-public-schools-to-adopt-policies-to-teach-religious-classes-during-school-hours/RVXAC5T45NFUREZ6DJ4Y7M2ZKM/

 

Sounds like an excuse for a Super Smash Bros. tournament every day since the school can't moderate it.

😒

 

Ohio Republicans Want Mandatory Religious Time in Public Schools

 

Two Republican lawmakers are trying to strengthen an existing Ohio law by requiring — instead of just allowing — school districts to create a policy letting students to be excused from school to go to released time religious instruction.

 

State Reps. Al Cutrona, R-Canfield, and Gary Click, R-Vickery, recently introduced House Bill 445 and it has had one hearing so far in the House Primary and Secondary Education Committee. 

 

“The correlation between religious instruction, schools, and good government are embedded in our constitution,” Click said in his written testimony. “You will notice that HB 445 does not establish which religion but merely acknowledges the opportunity for religious instruction. This opportunity is open to all faiths.” 

 

More below:

https://columbusunderground.com/ohio-republicans-want-mandatory-religious-time-in-public-schools-ocj1/

 

Ohio Legislation Will Restrict Mobile Devices in Schools

 

At a Dublin middle school Wednesday, Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine signed legislation ordering school districts around the state to develop written policies for cellphones on campus. The state education department will write it’s own model policy that districts may adopt, but so long as they come up with something to keep cellphone use “as limited as possible” districts can do what they like.

 

District level view

 

Several districts around the state stood up their own cellphone policies well before state lawmakers acted. Dublin City Schools, for instance, prohibited cell phones in high school classrooms this year, but they eliminated them completely for middle schools.

 

“It’s so much fun to walk into a middle school lunch again,” Superintendent John Marschhausen explained. “Because it used to be you’d go in and it’d be somewhat quiet, kids looking down at their phones. But now that it’s loud, it’s fun, and the interaction and the interpersonal skills that students learn is increasing.”

 

The law carries a provision retroactively blessing the policies Dublin and other school districts instituted if they meet the minimum standards laid out in law. Although it’s too soon to connect the policy changes to outcomes like test scores, Marschhausen explained the impact is still showing up in noticeable ways.

 

“Our discipline is down, our bullying is down,” he explained. Without kids on social media during the day, he added, teachers and administrators aren’t forced to respond to the latest post and students’ group chats aren’t fanning the flames of that day’s drama.

 

More below:

https://columbusunderground.com/ohio-legislation-will-restrict-mobile-devices-in-schools/

 

New Legislation Proposed to Help Improve Ohio Schools

 

Ohio House Democrats have laid out a plethora of bills targeting the education system in the state, impacting everything from teacher pay to oversight of private school vouchers and the overall funding of the public school system.

 

In a press conference last week, House Democratic leadership and bill sponsors listed off legislation that has been active for a while in the chamber, and newly introduced measures they hope will see light before the end of the legislative session.

 

“Our principles are pretty clear on that front,” said House Minority Whip Dani Isaacsohn, D-Cincinnati. “There is no better investment we can make in the future of our state than investing in the education of our students, and that every kid, no matter which corner of the state they grow up in, deserves a world class education.”

 

More below:

https://columbusunderground.com/new-legislation-proposed-to-help-improve-ohio-schools-ocj1/

Ohio GOP Wants Felony Charges for Teachers Over Book Issues

 

A Republican-led bill just introduced in the Ohio House would charge teachers and librarians with a felony offense for distributing material deemed “obscene.”

 

The problem is, the bill does not explain what materials would be considered obscene, despite laying a fifth-degree felony on the feet of teachers and “public school librarians” who may possess or share such material.

 

State Rep. Adam Mathews, R-Lebanon, put forth House Bill 556 last week, a bill that would “create criminal liability for certain teachers and librarians for the offense of pandering obscenity,” according to the language of the bill.

 

Librarian, in this sense, is defined as “a librarian employed by a school district, other public school… or chartered nonpublic school and a librarian employed in a school district public library.”

 

More below:

https://columbusunderground.com/ohio-gop-wants-felony-charges-for-teachers-over-book-issues-ocj1/

Ohio Education Board Struggles with More Funding Cuts

 

Another cloudy financial outlook has the State Board of Education of Ohio looking at further ways to make cuts, though the options are dwindling, according to leadership.

 

At the board’s July meeting, Superintendent of Public Instruction Paul Craft led the state agency’s budget committee through current balances and future projections for their $17 million operating budget.

 

With the changes made to carve out the board from the rest of the Ohio Department of Education and Workforce — changes tacked on to the previous state operating budget by the General Assembly last year and allowed despite a lawsuit against it — the board is left to use only the funds collected from teacher licensure fees as spending money for the entire agency, according to Craft.

 

In a separate bill passed by the Senate just last month, $4.7 million would be transferred from the state’s general revenue fund to the board’s licensure fund, also called Fund 4L20. That bill was passed by the House as well, but because they made changes before approving the bill, the Senate will need to concur on the changes, which won’t happen until at least November, when the legislature is scheduled to come back from summer break.

 

“This fund, supported by license fees paid by teachers and other school staff, is used by the State Board of Education to pay its operating expenses,” an analysis of Senate Bill 117 by the Legislative Service Commission stated, adding that the expenses are associated with educator credentials, investigations and disciplinary actions for education misconduct and background checks for school teachers and staff.

 

More below:

https://columbusunderground.com/ohio-education-board-struggles-with-more-funding-cuts-ocj1/

Conservative Ohio Group Continues Fight Against Student Loan Forgiveness

 

An Ohio group is asking the U.S. Supreme Court to keep to previous decisions in which a Biden administration student loan forgiveness program was struck down.

 

In a July amicus or “friend of the court” brief, the conservative think-tank The Buckeye Institute criticized the newest student loan forgiveness plan as unconstitutional and crossing congressional lines. The group supports reversing an appellate court decision that allowed the Biden administration’s “Saving on Valuable Education” (SAVE) program to continue as a challenge to it moves through the courts.

 

“Despite the clear congressional limitations on when and how student loan borrowers may obtain forgiveness or cancellation of their direct loans, the Department (of Education) has fabricated a new student loan forgiveness program without Congress’ approval,” the institute wrote in its brief, joined by the National Taxpayers Union Foundation and the Kansas Justice Institute.

 

More below:

https://columbusunderground.com/conservative-ohio-group-continues-fight-against-student-loan-forgiveness-we1/

Back to School: Ohio Kids Get New Reading Curriculum This Year

 

As students return to school this fall, their reading curriculum might look a little different. 

 

This is the first academic year Ohio school districts are required to teach the science of reading curriculum, which is based on decades of research that shows how the human brain learns to read and incorporates phonemic awareness, phonics, fluency, vocabulary, and comprehension.

 

“The most important thing for school to teach a child is how to read because it’s their access to the rest of their education and to their life,” said Brett Tingley, the president of both Parents for Reading Justice and OH-KID (Ohio Kids Identified with Dyslexia).  

 

A portion of the state’s two-year operating budget goes toward the science of reading — $86 million for educator professional development, $64 million for curriculum and instructional materials, and $18 million for literacy coaches. 

 

More below:

https://columbusunderground.com/back-to-school-ohio-kids-get-new-reading-curriculum-this-year-ocj1/

So they get better at the mechanics of reading. But does it make them like it more or will they just crave video and audio the entire time they're reading? When I hear Republicans push really hard for something like this I wonder if it drives kids to video and audio (where Republican media excels) and away from the written word (where Democrats and other leftists thrive). Look at it like work -- you're probably good at it but is it your favorite thing to do?

3 hours ago, GCrites said:

So they get better at the mechanics of reading. But does it make them like it more or will they just crave video and audio the entire time they're reading? When I hear Republicans push really hard for something like this I wonder if it drives kids to video and audio (where Republican media excels) and away from the written word (where Democrats and other leftists thrive). Look at it like work -- you're probably good at it but is it your favorite thing to do?

Nope. The evidence is overwhelming that these teaching techniques are far more effective in helping kids to learn to read, and nothing is more conducive to love of reading than actually knowing how to do it. 

I just don't want everything going to video/audio is why I asked. I'm no expert on this and I literally don't know how to do phonics since I was taught Whole Language the entire time and vastly prefer reading to video and spoken audio (but like hearing people speak in real life). Your response is not uncommon including from people on the Left.

14 hours ago, GCrites said:

So they get better at the mechanics of reading. But does it make them like it more or will they just crave video and audio the entire time they're reading? When I hear Republicans push really hard for something like this I wonder if it drives kids to video and audio (where Republican media excels) and away from the written word (where Democrats and other leftists thrive). Look at it like work -- you're probably good at it but is it your favorite thing to do?

 

Catholic schools, which are generally well-supported by Republicans including via school choice measures, have generally been using science-of-reading curricula or their predecessors for a long time.  In fact, it was/is among our primary academic "selling points" for students considering alternatives to public schools.  Seeing public schools follow our lead might be a slight loss of competitive edge for us but it is an overwhelmingly positive development for the state (and the country).

 

And while I don't want my kids to think of reading as just "work," I also don't have a problem with saying that they need to internalize that strong reading skills are needed to get good work.  Not just in law, if they want to follow in my footsteps, but even in tech, finance, or medicine (generally considered the "elite" professions), it's certainly part of the work.  But it's just as meaningful to me that my kids are starting to actually read genuinely good novels and be able to understand and talk about them.  My son worked his way through Island of the Blue Dolphins and Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH the summer between his second and third grade years.  The science-of-reading curriculum works, though of course, like all other school subjects, it works better when reinforced at home, i.e., when the kids see Mom and Dad reading for enjoyment as well.  That gets a little away from the school funding topic, though, because our main source for that material is a different set of public institutions in Ohio, one that remains far too underrated for the amount of national standouts it contains:
 

 

16 hours ago, GCrites said:

I just don't want everything going to video/audio is why I asked. I'm no expert on this and I literally don't know how to do phonics since I was taught Whole Language the entire time and vastly prefer reading to video and spoken audio (but like hearing people speak in real life). Your response is not uncommon including from people on the Left.

 

I suspect a lot of more introverted kids got into reading because it was the one form of entertainment they could do on their own.   Where it was frowned upon for someone to look over their shoulder, as opposed to being "rude" to object to someone joining them or worse, doing so and commenting.

 

Now tablets and phones are the same as books used to be.

1 hour ago, E Rocc said:

Now tablets and phones are the same as books used to be.

 

Only in the hell-to-the-no sense that I would cheerfully kill a billion trees to make paper for schoolbooks if it would mean banishing tablets and phones from every school in Ohio.

22 hours ago, GCrites said:

I just don't want everything going to video/audio is why I asked. I'm no expert on this and I literally don't know how to do phonics since I was taught Whole Language the entire time and vastly prefer reading to video and spoken audio (but like hearing people speak in real life). Your response is not uncommon including from people on the Left.

For anyone interested in a deep dive the “Whole Language” vs phonics-based learn-to-read education, the “Sold a Story” podcast was excellent. 

 

https://features.apmreports.org/sold-a-story/
 

Sold a Story: How Teaching Kids to Read Went So Wrong

 

“There's an idea about how children learn to read that's held sway in schools for more than a generation — even though it was proven wrong by cognitive scientists decades ago. Teaching methods based on this idea can make it harder for children to learn how to read. In this podcast, host Emily Hanford investigates the influential authors who promote this idea and the company that sells their work. It's an exposé of how educators came to believe in something that isn't true and are now reckoning with the consequences — children harmed, money wasted, an education system upended.”

Oh good, it has transcriptions.

Quote

She gives an example. He was reading out loud and the word was “irrepressible.” But he said “irresponsible.”

 

This is indeed one of the main criticisms of Whole Language. Even highly experienced readers fall into this trap.

 

Quote

The most alarming statistic: eighty-two percent of Black fourth graders are not proficient readers. That’s more than 8 in 10 Black children. 

 

I am also alarmed that we still have to tell people that 82% is "more than 8 in 10" but it sounds like it's S.O.P.

 

I just read the first module in 10 minutes (while quoting) vs. the 33 minutes the audio takes -- which is why we shouldn't make people who want to read do without in favor of A/V and because TikTok is popular with young people.

Edited August 28, 2024Aug 28 by GCrites

On 8/27/2024 at 8:37 PM, GCrites said:

 

This is indeed one of the main criticisms of Whole Language. Even highly experienced readers fall into this trap.

 

 

I am also alarmed that we still have to tell people that 82% is "more than 8 in 10" but it sounds like it's S.O.P.

 

I just read the first module in 10 minutes (while quoting) vs. the 33 minutes the audio takes -- which is why we shouldn't make people who want to read do without in favor of A/V and because TikTok is popular with young people.

I’m glad you were able to get transcripts! I generally listen to podcasts at 1.5x speed - “regular” speed is slow and boring. On YouTube I can sometimes do 2x. 

On 8/27/2024 at 4:23 PM, Gramarye said:

 

Only in the hell-to-the-no sense that I would cheerfully kill a billion trees to make paper for schoolbooks if it would mean banishing tablets and phones from every school in Ohio.

 

Oh, I meant in a recreational sense.  Laptops are the thing in schools in part because they are way easier to monitor.

 

Minor quibble:  as anyone who has ever had to remove a stump knows, making paper does not kill trees.  Most paper comes from trees which are grown as a crop.  Saying "Save the trees, don't use paper" is a lot like saying "Save the wheat stalks, don't eat bread.".

On 8/27/2024 at 7:56 PM, Boomerang_Brian said:

For anyone interested in a deep dive the “Whole Language” vs phonics-based learn-to-read education, the “Sold a Story” podcast was excellent. 

 

https://features.apmreports.org/sold-a-story/
 

Sold a Story: How Teaching Kids to Read Went So Wrong

 

“There's an idea about how children learn to read that's held sway in schools for more than a generation — even though it was proven wrong by cognitive scientists decades ago. Teaching methods based on this idea can make it harder for children to learn how to read. In this podcast, host Emily Hanford investigates the influential authors who promote this idea and the company that sells their work. It's an exposé of how educators came to believe in something that isn't true and are now reckoning with the consequences — children harmed, money wasted, an education system upended.”

 

Once upon a time this was a political issue.  Phonics was championed by conservatives, the educational establishment assertively swore by "whole language".  

 

We're seeing similar with "common core" math.  

2 hours ago, E Rocc said:

Minor quibble:  as anyone who has ever had to remove a stump knows, making paper does not kill trees.  Most paper comes from trees which are grown as a crop.  Saying "Save the trees, don't use paper" is a lot like saying "Save the wheat stalks, don't eat bread.".

A good bit of paper is recycled now too.  And paper doesn't have to come from trees -- other fibrous plants (such as bamboo and hemp) also can be used to make paper. 

1 hour ago, Foraker said:

A good bit of paper is recycled now too.  And paper doesn't have to come from trees -- other fibrous plants (such as bamboo and hemp) also can be used to make paper. 

 

I worked in the corrugated container business for awhile.   Recyclate feedstock is unpopular for higher quality applications and post consumer recyclate is particularly inefficient since newspapers have become so much less popular.   Those and cans used to be big school fundraiser items.

Edited August 30, 2024Aug 30 by E Rocc