It's not taking 50 years.  Compare us to much of the rest of the industrialized world like Japan, Switzerland, The Netherlands, and the Scandanavian countries and we are already there.

From the 1/12/06 Middletown Journal:

 

 

Vouchers come with asterisk*

In Middletown, status of McKinley complicates matters

 

Last summer Gov. Bob Taft signed a bill that will allow 14,000 students who attend “failing” schools the choice to go to private schools beginning in the 2006-07 school year.

 

Nearly all of the schools identified as “failing” exist in Columbus, Cincinnati and Cleveland, but one is in Middletown.

 

McKinley Elementary School has been listed in “academic emergency” by the Ohio Department of Education for three years, which labels it as “failing.” Therefore students at the school would qualify for the program next fall.

 

However, McKinley Elementary won’t exist next fall.

 

...

 

Contact Carrie Whitaker at (513) 705-2845, or e-mail her at [email protected].

 

http://www.middletownjournal.com/news/content/news/stories/2006/01/12/mj011206vouchers.html

 

From the 1/17/06 Dayton Daily News:

 

 

Ohio may lose science grade

'B' will be 'F' if lesson plan does not drop intelligent design

By Scott Elliott

Dayton Daily News

 

The authors of a recent study that gave Ohio a "B" for science standards said they will change the grade to "F" if an intelligent design lesson plan is not dropped.

 

And one of the leaders of a group opposing Ohio's foray into teaching intelligent design said the state could be the next front in a national battle over evolution.

 

"Our preference is that the state board take responsibility for an honest science curriculum, but I know that plaintiffs are volunteering," said Richard Hoppe, head of a company that uses evolution-based modeling for stock market analysis.

 

Full story at:

 

http://www.daytondailynews.com/localnews/content/localnews/daily/0117flunk.html

 

OHIO SCHOOL BOARD

Witnesses badgered at science meeting

Board members say they went too far but offer no apologies

Friday, January 20, 2006

Catherine Candisky

THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH

 

When it came time for the public to comment at the end of last week’s state Board of Education meeting on controversial science standards, it wasn’t the board that got grilled — it was the public.

 

The badgering and berating of witnesses by some board members on Jan. 10 came after the panel narrowly rejected an effort to delete portions of the curriculum guidelines — and after reporters and television crews had left.

 

Newly released tapes obtained by The Dispatch from the Department of Education show:

 

Full story at:

http://www.dispatch.com/news-story.php?story=dispatch/2006/01/20/20060120-D1-04.html

Sparring of state board sheds heat, little light

Friday, January 20, 2006

ANN FISHER / Dispatch Columnist

 

When the State Board of Education met Jan. 10, members wrangled openly about guidelines that critics say promote the teaching of intelligent design.

 

After the heated debate and a 9-8 vote to retain the 10 th-grade science standards, the bright lights and cameras were turned off. The reporters departed. Taped transcripts, however, show that the acrimony only worsened.

 

At the tail end of the meeting that day, during a so-called "public participation" session, some board members decided to impose McCarthy-style tactics on would-be dissidents.

 

Full column at:

http://www.dispatch.com/news-story.php?story=dispatch/2006/01/20/20060120-D1-05.html

 

I'm reading a history of Germantown Ohio, and the subject of evolution has come up.  Shows how this was an issue even way-back-when....

 

The book talks about a newspaper editor, Harkrider, confronting the issue in local school...

 

"Perhaps, too, he served the villiage well when he upheld the right of teachers to lecture on Darwinism in their classes.  A  member of the board, hearing a rumor that a teacher had taken up the dread subject, proposed his dismissal if he had.  Harkrider spoke for teaching Darwinism and teaching it as more than theory.  Would it not be better, he asked, to teach Darwinism and the scientific truth that the human family was improving as the ages rolled on that to teach, as he heard from some pulpits, that man started in a perfect condition but was degenerating.  Whether the or not he made a telling case the board took no action against the teacher and did no officially forbid the teaching of Darwinism in the school"

---The Villiage, A History of Germantown Ohio, by Carl M. Becker

 

The above incident happened in the late 1870s.  And we Buckeyes are still conflicted about the subject!

 

 

If anyone wants to face the board, there's going to be a meeting on the 14th (approximately). http://www.ohioscience.org/ will have more info.

With all of the rednecks in Ohio, I would not be surprised if they just banned science altogether and made church attendance a requirement.  Honestly, Ohio is so backwards and its priorities are screwed up, IMHO.

From the 1/21/06 Akron Beacon Journal:

 

 

Schools lose state funds

Burden shifts to property taxes as charters grow, Beacon Journal analysis finds

By Dennis J. Willard and Doug Oplinger

Beacon Journal staff writers

 

COLUMBUS - The growth of charter schools is shifting the burden of funding public education increasingly onto local property taxes, according to an analysis of Ohio Department of Education data by the Akron Beacon Journal.

 

The shift is occurring statewide -- from urban centers like Cincinnati, Akron and Columbus, to rapidly growing suburbs such as Green and Medina.

 

There are constitutional implications.

 

...

 

Dennis J. Willard can be reached at 614-224-1613 or [email protected]. Doug Oplinger can be reached at 330-996-3750, or [email protected]

 

http://www.ohio.com/mld/ohio/news/13678876.htm?source=rss&channel=ohio_news

---

From same:

 

 

How districts lose state funding

 

About charter schools

• Began in Ohio in 1998.

• Current enrollment: 71,571 in more than 250 schools.

• Operating cost to state: $475 million.

Additional state aid per pupil since 2003

• Charter schools: up $443.

• Public schools: up $186.

 

Calculating state aid (with Cincinnati as an example)

(Figures are rounded.)

• Multiply the "base amount'' for educating one child (same in every Ohio district; $5,283) times number of public and charter school children in the district. Then add services such as special education, transportation aid and aid for disadvantaged students.

Cincinnati: $298 million.

• Multiply the district's taxable property valuation by 23 mills to determine local share from property taxes.

Cincinnati: $148 million.

• The state's contribution to the district is the difference between the two figures calculated above.

Cincinnati: $150 million.

• However, before paying the district, Ohio subtracts roughly $6,382 for each charter-school child.

In Cincinnati, which has 6,999 charter kids, state takes away $44.7 million.

 

Bottom line for Cincinnati

• The district receives $105.3 million in state aid for its 33,000 public-school students ($3,189 per child).

• So, the district is losing about 30 percent of its state funding despite losing only 17 percent of its school-age children to charter schools.

 

http://www.ohio.com/mld/ohio/news/13678884.htm?source=rss&channel=ohio_news

---

Another threat to the public schools from the 1/21/06 Canton Repository:

 

 

Online schools lure pupils, numbers still small

Saturday, January 21, 2006

By Melissa Griffy Seeton

REPOSITORY EDUCATION WRITER

 

Online charter schools threaten to take the student out of the schoolhouse, the apple away from the teacher, the pencil away from the paper and replace it with a virtual world where connecting is about clicking a mouse and reading an e-mail.

 

But there’s no denying online schools are drawing students not just from struggling school districts, but from high-performing districts like Jackson Local and Northwest Local.

 

Enrollment in online schools skyrocketed by more than 100 percent in some cash-strapped districts last year, when Stark County’s public school districts lost more than $4 million to online charters.

 

...

 

Reach Repository writer Melissa Griffy Seeton at (330) 580-8318 or e-mail: [email protected][/i]

 

http://www.cantonrep.com/index.php?ID=264855

 

With all of the rednecks in Ohio, I would not be surprised if they just banned science altogether and made church attendance a requirement.  Honestly, Ohio is so backwards and its priorities are screwed up, IMHO.

 

Been to Mississippi, Arkansas, Texas, or Louisiana?  They make Ohio look like Harvard.

With all of the rednecks in Ohio, I would not be surprised if they just banned science altogether and made church attendance a requirement.  Honestly, Ohio is so backwards and its priorities are screwed up, IMHO.

Are you saying that rednecks and religious people are synonymous with one another?  Because if so, then that minnset is so backwards.  keep your close minded comments to yourself please!

School funding flawed, teachers say

Union survey shows little faith in legislature

Wednesday, January 25, 2006

Catherine Candisky and Jim Siegel

THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH

 

Ohio teachers overwhelmingly think that the state’s schoolfunding system is fatally flawed and have little faith that legislators will fix it, according to a survey returned by 4,000 members of Ohio’s largest teachers union.

 

Ohio Education Association President Gary L. Allen said the survey results, released yesterday, show teachers are united on educational issues despite differences in political affiliation.

 

The union is working with other education groups on a school-funding plan to present to lawmakers this year. If the General Assembly fails to adopt the measure, they intend to seek the necessary signatures to put the proposal before voters, most likely in November 2007.

 

...

 

[email protected]

 

[email protected]

http://www.dispatch.com/news-story.php?story=dispatch/2006/01/25/20060125-B5-01.html

 

From the 1/25/06 Dayton Daily News:

 

 

Husted to push for voucher expansion

By Scott Elliott

Dayton Daily News

 

DAYTON | Ohio House Speaker Jon Husted, R-Kettering, said Tuesday that he will push for a major expansion of Ohio's voucher program after Dayton parents complained that the rules were too restrictive.

 

Husted said he and voucher proponent state Rep. Dixie Allen, D-Jefferson Twp., want to see vouchers available this fall for any student in any district, like Dayton, that is rated in "academic emergency."

 

If such a change were approved by the legislature, it could make thousands more Ohio kids eligible to receive one of 14,000 vouchers available this fall.

 

...

 

Contact Scott Elliott at 225-2485.

 

http://www.daytondailynews.com/localnews/content/localnews/daily/0125husted.html

 

From the 1/29/06 Enquirer:

 

Common ground on intelligent design, evolution

Other voices: Ted Scharf and Phil Geis

 

(Editor's note: This column is a brief summary of a detailed paper analyzing the current debate and proposing solutions, particularly for Ohio's public school curriculum. The full text is available online at http://tinyurl.com/9z4pr.)

 

Over the past few years The Enquirer has published a number of columns, articles and letters on the topic of evolution as opposed to Young Earth Creationism (YEC) and Intelligent Design Creationism (IDC). So far, the arguments have communicated back and forth about as much as two freight trains passing each other going in opposite directions.

 

Both sides start from strong, positive and important values. One starts with a pre-eminent belief in God's role as creator with dominion over all things. The other starts with a rigorous commitment to the methods of science (including the methods of evolutionary biology). So where is the common ground?

 

Full story at:

 

http://news.enquirer.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060129/EDIT02/601290306/-1/rss

 

Heck I went to a Catholic High School and Intelligent Design was not talked about in the science classes.  It was taught, however, in the religion classes; and that is where is should be taught, because it is religiously based.

I first found out about evolutinon in a kids book on the subject in my parochial school library...and this was back in the 1960s....

Here is the link for the partcipating private and parochial schools in the EdChoice program, broken down by county:

http://www.ode.state.oh.us/school_finance/ecs/participating.asp

---

From the 2/2/06 Enquirer:

 

 

Private schools OK vouchers

Tuition program will allow some students to leave public schools

BY JENNIFER MROZOWSKI AND DENISE SMITH AMOS | ENQUIRER STAFF WRITERS

 

More than 100 private and parochial schools across Ohio, including 43 in Southwest Ohio, are interested in enrolling public school students with tuition vouchers, and some school officials see the new scholarship program as a way to halt declining enrollment in their systems.

 

The Ohio Department of Education published on Wednesday the list of private and parochial schools that have registered for the Ohio Educational Choice Scholarship Program, or the tuition voucher program that Taft approved as part of the two-year budget. The system would provide up to 14,000 scholarships for students in persistently low-performing schools and could make Ohio's program one of the largest voucher initiatives in the nation.

 

The vouchers would award up to $4,250 for K-8 students or up to $5,000 for grades 9-12 beginning in the 2006-07 school year.

 

...

 

Source: Ohio Department of Education[/color]

 

http://news.enquirer.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060202/NEWS01/602020366/1056/rss02

 

Taft adds to evolution debate

Friday, February 03, 2006

Mark Niquette

THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH

 

Gov. Bob Taft backs the state’s 10 thgrade biology standards. 

 

The governor also said he should have asked his previous appointees to the State Board of Education more questions about their position on the controversial issue, and that he will be asking about it before making future appointments.

 

"There were cases in which I didn’t ask the right questions, in some cases where I supported someone

 

Full story at:

 

http://www.dispatch.com/news-story.php?story=dispatch/2006/02/03/20060203-D1-01.html

Well of course, our method of funding schools was ALREADY found to be unconstitutional and illegal, but I haven't ever really seen the legislature or the school board take initiative on that one. 

 

Maybe they should put more effort into worrying about that!!!!    :x

From the 2/4/06 Enquirer:

 

 

CPS to fight payback demand

State says it's owed $2.1M for enrollment discrepancies

BY JENNIFER MROZOWSKI | ENQUIRER STAFF WRITER

 

Cincinnati Public Schools owes the state $2.1 million for discrepancies in enrollment numbers that the district reported for charter schools last school year, but the district plans to fight the state's demand for a payback.

 

The state says that the public school system reported - and was paid for - 595 more students than were enrolled in charters by year's end. But the district says the state's convoluted funding system is at fault, not the public schools.

 

Cincinnati school officials also argue that the repayments, to be made over the next three years, would be a hardship and could impact timing for its next levy.

 

...

 

E-mail [email protected]

 

http://news.enquirer.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060204/NEWS0102/602040359/1077/NEWS01

 

Taft remark encourages intelligent design foes

State school board could revisit issue next week

By JIM PROVANCE

BLADE COLUMBUS BUREAU

 

COLUMBUS - Critics who argue Ohio's science lesson plan has opened the door to debate over whether some intelligent force helped guide the creation of life are hoping recent comments by Gov. Bob Taft will convince regulators to pull the controversial language next week.

 

Mr. Taft has suggested that lawyers take a look at Ohio's standards and lesson plan given a recent federal ruling that struck down as unconstitutional the teaching of "intelligent design" in a south-central Pennsylvania school district.

 

U.S. District Court Judge John Jones in December determined that intelligent design is creationism in disguise and has no place in a science class.

 

More at:

 

http://www.toledoblade.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060207/NEWS24/602070375/-1/RSS

 

Evolution wording attacked

Science advisers want standards changed

Wednesday, February 08, 2006

Catherine Candisky

THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH

 

More than two-thirds of scientists and educators who initially advised the State Board of Education on science standards are urging the board to scrap a portion of the guidelines.

 

Ohio’s standards for teaching 10 th-grade biology and their accompanying lesson plans undermine Darwin’s theory of evolution by singling it out for critical analysis, they said yesterday in a letter to Gov. Bob Taft.

 

The guidelines also open the door to teaching religion in the public-school classroom, the letter says.

 

Thirty-two committee members made recommendations on state science standards in 2001, and a second, larger committee was then impaneled to write the standards. Wording questioning the validity of evolution was added in 2002.

 

More at:

http://www.dispatch.com/news-story.php?story=dispatch/2006/02/08/20060208-A1-02.html

"Last month, the Ohio board defeated a motion to delete the challenged provisions by a vote of 9-8.

 

Energized by the razor-thin margin, critics promised to continue their fight.

 

Supporters also jumped back into the debate, lobbying the board to retain the curriculum guidelines."

 

:-o***On Tuesday February 14th at the Ohio School for the Deaf on 500 Morse Rd off of I-71 sometime from 1:00-4:00PM*** :-o , the public will be able to voice their opinion on the lesson plan which allows ID. I'm sure plenty of pro-ID/creationists will be there and try to gain validity by sheer numbers.

 

Also, before this on the 12th-

 

Eric Rothschild, the lead ACLU attorney in the Dover PA creationism trial, will speak on An Inside Look at the Dover Intelligent Design Case and What it Means for Ohio at Tifereth Israel (1354 E. Broad Street, Columbus, OH 43203) on Sunday, February 12th, at 3 p.m.

 

http://science2.marion.ohio-state.edu/ohioscience/RothschildFlyer2.pdf

 

If you can't make the meeting or don't want to sit for hours before the issue comes up, email the board members. The five who voted in favor of ID and may be persuaded to change their vote are:

 

Colleen D. Grady [email protected]

District 5

 

Jim Craig [email protected]

District 8

 

Emerson J. Ross, Jr. (419) 537-1562

At-Large

 

Jennifer L. Sheets [email protected]

At-Large

 

Sue Westendorf [email protected]

At-Large

 

Carl Wick [email protected]

At-Large

 

 

There were three others, but I'm pretty sure hell will freeze over before they change their positions:

 

Michael Cochran [email protected]

District 6

 

Deborah Owens Fink [email protected]

District 7

 

and of course, the guy who was reading the paper the whole time and got paid $30+ for each hour:

 

Richard Baker (937) 997-2101 (voice)

At-Large

 

http://www.ode.state.oh.us/board/

INTELLIGENT-DESIGN PUSH

[b]‘Analysis’ of evolution is a threat, lawyer says

Attorney in Pa. case warns Ohio standards are asking for trouble [/b]

Monday, February 13, 2006

Catherine Candisky

THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH

 

The phrase critical analysis of evolution in Ohio’s high-school biology standards might appear harmless, but an attorney in a Pennsylvania intelligent-design trial says it invites creationism into the classroom and threatens religious freedom.

 

"When you see ‘critical analysis of evolution,’ you really need to look at what’s behind that. Who? Why?" said Eric Rothschild, a Philadelphia attorney who represented parents in a lawsuit against the Dover, Pa., school board.

 

"Why is there this need for critical analysis of evolution? Why is there no call for critical analysis of plate tectonics?"

 

Full story at:

 

http://www.dispatch.com/news-story.php?story=dispatch/2006/02/13/20060213-C1-01.html

 

The New York Times

February 14, 2006

Ohio Expected to Rein In Class Linked to Intelligent Design

By JODI RUDOREN

 

COLUMBUS, Ohio, Feb. 13 — A majority of members on the Board of Education of Ohio, the first state to single out evolution for "critical analysis" in science classes more than three years ago, are expected on Tuesday to challenge a model biology lesson plan they consider an excuse to teach the tenets of the disputed theory of intelligent design.

 

A reversal in Ohio would be the most significant in a series of developments signaling a sea change across the country against intelligent design — which posits that life is too complex to be explained by evolution alone — since a federal judge's ruling in December that teaching the theory in the public schools of Dover, Pa., was unconstitutional.

 

A small rural school district in California last month quickly scuttled plans for a philosophy elective on intelligent design after being challenged by lawyers involved in the Pennsylvania case. Also last month, an Indiana lawmaker who said in November that he would introduce legislation to mandate teaching of intelligent design instead offered a watered-down bill requiring only "accuracy in textbooks." And just last week, two Democrats in Wisconsin proposed a ban on schools' teaching intelligent design as science, the first such proposal in the country.

 

Here in Ohio, pressure has been mounting on board members in recent weeks to toss out the lesson plan and the standards underpinning it.

 

Full story:

  http://www.nytimes.com/2006/02/14/education/14evolution.html?_r=1&th&emc=th&oref=slogin

State Board Eliminates Disputed Evolution Lesson Plan

Evolutionary Science Elements Deleted

 

The vote was 11-4 to get rid of the plan that allowed ID.  :clap:

This isn't over yet.

 

http://www.nbc4i.com/education/7054527/detail.html

Amazing what a little well-deserved embarrassment for the State School Board in the media will do. 

 

This is good news.

From the 2/17/06 Akron Beacon Journal:

 

 

School survey

 

The Ohio Fair Schools Campaign launched a survey this week to learn what people think should be done to address the state's school-funding problems.

 

The survey is available at www.ohiofairschools.org/survey.htm and can be printed for distribution to others.

 

...

 

http://www.montereyherald.com/mld/ohio/news/13895062.htm?source=rss&channel=ohio_news

 

Curriculum guidelines on evolution sent to panel for review

Monday, February 20, 2006

Catherine Candisky

THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH

 

Meet the new committee, same as the old committee.

 

Last week, the State Board of Education scrapped curriculum guidelines that would have opened the schoolhouse door to the teaching of intelligent design. Now the guidelines will be reviewed by the same panel that singled out Darwin’s theory of evolution for additional scrutiny in the first place.

 

If the board’s achievement committee decides revisions are in order, they’ll be sent back to the board for yet another vote.

 

The committee’s co-chairmen were on opposing sides of the board’s 11-4 vote Tuesday that gave a boost to evolution backers. That vote left the state science standards and lesson plan for 10 th-grade biology with no requirement for critical analysis of the theory of evolution.

 

More at:

 

http://www.dispatch.com/news-story.php?story=dispatch/2006/02/20/20060220-B3-00.html

 

Panel is split on teaching evolution

State board likely to debate months

BY CARRIE SPENCER GHOSE | THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

 

COLUMBUS - Committee members re-examining the state science teaching standards agree that any new lessons should not single out evolution for criticism.

 

From there, opinions differ, with both sides accusing the other of being motivated more by politics than science. The debate is likely to take months.

 

The state Board of Education voted 11-4 last week to delete a state standard and corresponding lesson plan that encouraged students to seek evidence for and against evolution. Critics said the lesson echoed arguments from proponents of intelligent design, the idea that DNA and other aspects of life are so complex that they're best explained by intervention of a higher power.

 

More at:

 

http://news.enquirer.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060222/NEWS01/602220349/1056/rss02

 

From the 2/28/06 Dayton Daily News:

 

 

Lawmaker to push vouchers

Rep. Allen wants more parents in Dayton district to be able to obtain grants

By Scott Elliott

Dayton Daily News

 

DAYTON | State Rep. Dixie Allen, D-Jefferson Twp., told frustrated parents Monday night that she will begin a push this week to try to make more parents eligible to use tax money to send their children to private schools this fall.

 

Allen, a rare Democrat who favors vouchers, said she and House Speaker Jon Husted, R-Kettering, have targeted legislation House Bill 79 — to add new voucher rules in hopes the bill will be approved quickly.

 

Allen spoke to about 50 parents at the Dayton Cultural and RTA Transit Center on Edwin C. Moses Boulevard. Parents Advancing Choice in Education sponsored the meeting.

 

...

 

http://www.daytondailynews.com/localnews/content/localnews/daily/0228voucher.html

 

From the 3/9/06 Dispatch:

 

 

Union sounds warning bell to schools

Change or lose out to charters, official says

Thursday, March 09, 2006

Catherine Candisky

THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH

 

The head of one of Ohio’s largest teachers unions said yesterday that public schools must adopt "bold reforms" if they are to survive against burgeoning charter schools.

 

Tom Mooney, president of the Ohio Federation of Teachers, said the tax-funded, privately operated schools are crippling the public-school system by siphoning away students and state aid, and academic performance is lagging.

 

Still, a growing number of parents and students are signing up, and Mooney said that complaining about what he sees as the shortfalls and abuses of charter schools is not enough to save the public ones.

 

...

 

Dispatch Senior Editor Joe Hallett contributed to this story.

 

[email protected]

 

http://www.dispatch.com/news-story.php?story=dispatch/2006/03/09/20060309-B5-00.html

 

Who's profiting from Ohio's charter schools?

In the name of reform, $1.4 billion has been re-routed to charters most of which can't get a passing grade

Sunday, March 19, 2006

Bob Paynter, Sandra Livingston and Scott Stephens

Plain Dealer Reporters

 

Nearly a decade after David Brennan set out to out-educate the educators and make money doing it, the godfather of Ohio's charter schools is now at the heart of what looks to many like a bungled experiment -- of massive proportions.

 

In the name of reform, Ohio has re-routed more than $1.4 billion in taxpayers' money away from traditional urban schools -- much of it going to profit-seekers like Brennan, the Akron entrepreneur who has dominated the charter scene here.

 

But with some notable exceptions, the results so far have been dismal.

 

At the end of the last school year, Ohio's charter schools remained far behind traditional public schools in proficiency test scores. Despite some gains, the charters continued to trail the maligned urban districts they were supposed to outclass as well.

 

Brennan's Hope Academies have faired even worse, records show, especially in Cleveland, where they remain well behind other charters, as well as the poster child for Ohio's failing schools -- the Cleveland Municipal School District.

 

It didn't have to be that way.

 

...

 

To reach these Plain Dealer reporters:

 

[email protected], 216-999-4820

 

[email protected], 216-999-4453

 

[email protected], 216-999-4827

 

 

What exactly is a charter school?

Sunday, March 19, 2006

 

Charter schools, called community schools in Ohio, are independent public schools. They are funded by taxpayer dollars, but operate free from many of the rules and regulations that govern traditional public schools.

 

Parents choose to send their children to charter schools, which are tuition-free, nonsectarian and cannot turn students away because of their backgrounds.

 

The schools are financed by a per-pupil allotment of state tax money. Unlike traditional public schools, they generally do not share in local property tax revenues.

 

 

More From The Plain Dealer

Who's minding the store?

Sunday, March 19, 2006

Ohio's charter school system set up for conflicts of interest

 

 

Ohio's charters are required to have sponsors to oversee and regulate school operations. Originally, the state'sEducation Department largely played that role. Stung byevidence of lax oversight, lawmakers stripped the department of sponsorship duties, inviting universities andnonprofits to step in. But questions remain, in part because schools pay their new sponsors to regulate them. Here's one such cozy example.

 

Sept. 15, 1999: Republican Sally Perz, sponsor of the state's charter-school law, leaves the Ohio House and becomes staff lobbyist for University of Toledo.

 

Nov. 16, 2001: With Perz as a member, the university's Charter School Council approves White Hat Management's online school proposal. The school has since received $32 million in state money.

 

...

 

http://www.cleveland.com/charter/plaindealer/index.ssf?/base/news/114277504492760.xml&coll=2

 

 

 

 

I didn't read all that but in my opinion, if a charter school can't keep the same academic standards as the public school and turn over equal or higher proficiency scores, then it should be shut down.  What they do is they send you a letter in the mail talking about how your child was selected to go to the oh so prestigious [insert name of charter school here] because he or she is apparently so bright so the parents think its a great opportunity. These charter schools sure know how to market themselves.

From the 3/19/06 Dayton Daily News:

 

 

Voucher eligibility to expand

Legislature expected to OK bill that would put thousands more students in tuition program

By Scott Elliott

Dayton Daily News

 

Question: What are vouchers?

Answer: Students in low-performing schools can use state tax money for private school tuition. Ohio will launch the biggest statewide voucher program this fall.

 

Q: What's new?

A: Newly proposed rules would make thousands more students eligible. The rules are part of a bill expected to be quickly passed by the legislature and in place by April 1.

 

...

 

For more information:

You can go to www.edchoice.ohio.gov

 

http://www.daytondailynews.com/localnews/content/localnews/daily/0319voucher.html

---

From the 3/18/06 Enquirer:

 

 

Ohio voucher history

 

Supporters of tuition vouchers have been fighting for the plan for more than two decades. Ohio’s first tuition voucher program was approved in Cleveland a decade ago.

 

1996: Tuition voucher plan goes into effect in Cleveland, allowing students to receive money to attend private schools.

 

July 1999: A group of parents and educators files a lawsuit to have the Cleveland-based school voucher program declared unconstitutional, claiming it violates the separation of church and state.

 

...

 

http://news.enquirer.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060318/NEWS01/303180005/1056

 

From the 3/21/06 Canton Repository:

 

 

Schuring offers fix for school funding

Tuesday, March 21, 2006

By Melissa Griffy Seeton

REPOSITORY EDUCATION WRITER

 

CANTON Sen. Kirk Schuring says he has a way to fix the school-funding problem that’s been baffling state and local officials since 1991.

 

And it starts with a constitutional amendment.

 

Schuring, R-Jackson Township, says he will introduce his school funding reform proposal to the state Legislature in the next few weeks, and, if the Legislature refuses, he’ll go directly to voters.

 

“Either embrace it, offer suggestions to make it better, or come forward with an alternative plan,” said Schuring on Monday.

 

...

 

http://www.cantonrep.com/index.php?ID=275939

 

From the 3/24/06 Dispatch:

 

 

Charter patron realizing big profit

Critics say schools suck tax dollars, perform poorly

Friday, March 24, 2006

Catherine Candisky

THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH

 

Akron industrialist David L. Brennan is reaping nearly $1 million in Ohioans’ tax dollars for each charter school operated by his White Hat Management Co.

 

A Dispatch analysis of recent state audits for 17 of Brennan’s 34 schools shows White Hat made $15.4 million in combined profits and management fees last year.

 

That means that nearly a third of the state funding received by each school was pocketed by Brennan’s operation. The rest was spent on teacher salaries, books and other expenses.

 

...

 

Dispatch reporter Joe Hallett contributed to this story.

 

[email protected]

 

http://www.dispatch.com/news-story.php?story=dispatch/2006/03/24/20060324-A1-01.html

 

From the 3/26/06 Dover-New Philadelphia Times Reporter:

 

 

Feeling the pinch: Schools, residents realizing effects of tax changes

By ZACH LINT,T-R Staff Writer

 

It wasn’t clear last summer whether Gov. Bob Taft’s tax plan would hurt Ohio’s school districts.

 

It is now.

 

Dover City Schools Treasurer Brenda Hurst is finding that the elimination of tangible personal property taxes – a move that Taft figured would help to spur business expansion in Ohio – will cost her district $3.3 million in annual operating funds.

 

Simply put, personal property taxes are paid by businesses on equipment, machinery and inventory. The rate of tax on personal property is determined by, among other factors, voted school levies.

 

...

 

http://www.timesreporter.com/index.php?ID=52146

 

Beginning this June, college tuition will be free for any student who enters the Kalamazoo school system by the ninth grade — regardless of income or need. The program, unveiled in November by the city’s superintendent of schools and underwritten by a group of local philanthropists, is to run for at least 13 years.

 

....From the front page of today’s (March 10) Wall Street Journal (sub required).

 

The program is being financed anonymously and requires children to be in the Kalamazoo public school system from K-12 to achieve complete tuition payback. The tuition is good for Michigan public universities. It appears tuition is prorated if the child entered the system later. It also appears that this has already created an economic boom in the downtrodden city.

 

(KJP: interesting idea. I wonder how many other cities are doing this or at least may consider this?)

From the 3/28/06 Canton Repository:

 

 

Forum probes fix for school funding

Tuesday, March 28, 2006

By Melissa Griffy Seeton

REPOSITORY EDUCATION WRITER

 

NORTH CANTON - Messy. Unsustainable. Moving target.

 

Those are just some of the words local educators and politicians used to describe the state’s school-funding system Monday night.

 

More than 100 area residents gathered at Walsh University for the community forum hosted by The Plain Connection, a grassroots organization.

 

“The reality is the Legislature has failed,” said Rep. William J. Healy II, D-Canton, one of the nine-member panel.

 

...

 

http://www.cantonrep.com/index.php?ID=277216

 

From the 3/30/06 Dispatch:

 

 

Schools could see new type of levy

Proposed law would let funds keep pace with property values

Thursday, March 30, 2006

Bill Bush

THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH

 

Ohio school districts could finally see their dream come true — a local property-tax levy that can grow with inflation, possibly relieving them of frequent, expensive levy campaigns.

 

A budget-corrections bill containing such a measure cleared the legislature yesterday, and Gov. Bob Taft supports it, spokesman Mark Rickel said.

 

But some county auditors, including Joe Testa in Franklin County, are calling the change a step backward for Ohio taxpayers, who might unwittingly vote away their right to periodically check their school district’s spending and efficiency.

 

...

 

[email protected]

 

http://www.dispatch.com/news-story.php?story=dispatch/2006/03/30/20060330-A1-01.html

 

From the 4/1/06 Enquirer:

 

 

Levy law hit from both sides

Inflation clause faulted by school officials, taxpayers

BY MICHAEL D. CLARK | ENQUIRER STAFF WRITER

 

A new Ohio law that allows new school levies to increase with inflation is a nice idea that doesn't go far enough, Greater Cincinnati school officials said Friday.

 

The law signed by Gov. Taft, they complain, has three problems: the inflationary increase can be no more than 4 percent annually; it would be allowed only in communities with growing property values; and it applies only to new levies, not existing ones.

 

"The problem is that most districts get their tax money from continuous levies that have already been approved by voters and form the base of our revenue that will not increase with inflation," said Richard Gardner, treasurer for Mason schools in Warren County. "Over time, it will help as new levies with the inflationary option replace the old levies that don't have an inflation option."

 

...

 

http://news.enquirer.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060401/NEWS01/604010406/1056/rss02

---

From the 4/1/06 Dayton Daily News:

 

 

Voucher changes start immediately

New rules await Taft's signature; 45,000 eligible to seek state aid for private schools

By Scott Elliott

Dayton Daily News

 

DAYTON | Ohio will begin honoring new voucher rules immediately, a state education official said, making 45,000 kids eligible to apply, including thousands more locally.

 

Changes to the voucher law were passed by the legislature this week as part of a budget corrections bill and are awaiting Gov. Bob Taft's signature. New laws take effect in 90 days, but spokesman J.C. Benton said the Ohio Department of Education will begin honoring the new rules immediately.

 

The voucher program will allow students in consistently low-performing schools to use up to $5,000 in state money for private school tuition. When the program kicks off this fall it will be the nation's largest statewide voucher program, helping 14,000 Ohio kids attend private schools.

 

...

 

http://www.daytondailynews.com/localnews/content/localnews/daily/0401voucher.html

 

From the 4/4/06 PD:

 

 

Ohio's average spending per pupil 16th in nation

But reliance on local taxes remains problematic

Tuesday, April 04, 2006

Scott Stephens

Plain Dealer Reporter

 

The U.S. Census Bureau says Ohio school districts spent an average of $8,963 per student in 2004.

 

Don't tell the North Central Local School District.

 

The rural Wayne County system will wonder why its kids are getting $3,000 less than the Ohio average.

 

North Central spent an average of just $5,859 on each of its students last year. And that was more than $11,000 per student less than what the Beachwood school district spent.

 

...

 

To reach this Plain Dealer reporter:

[email protected], 216-999-4827

 

http://www.cleveland.com/news/plaindealer/index.ssf?/base/news/1144139531213060.xml&coll=2

 

vouchers are a good way to drain public schools money. and results show charter schools are another waste of time and effort. adjusting for inflation on property tax levies? this is all a horrible sideshow, they just dont want to face up to, address and rectify the unjust funding issue.

From the 4/9/06 Akron Beacon Journal:

 

 

Ruling renews charter debate

Auditor says power over Oriana doesn't extend to firms such as White Hat; critics disagree

By Dennis J. Willard and Doug Oplinger

Beacon Journal staff writers

 

COLUMBUS - The Ohio Supreme Court ruling that gave State Auditor Betty Montgomery the power to look deep into the books of Summit County's Oriana House has led to questions about her not shining a similar light on Ohio's charter schools, which receive nine times as much state money.

 

Montgomery told the Beacon Journal a 2002 law prohibits her from conducting the same financial examination of charter schools and the for-profit education management organizations that run them, such as White Hat Management in Akron.

 

Others, including the chief of staff for House Speaker Jon Husted, R-Kettering, the lawmaker who sponsored the 2002 law, don't agree with Montgomery's interpretation.

 

...

 

Dennis J. Willard can be reached at 614-224-1613 or [email protected]. Doug Oplinger can be reached at 330-996-3750, or [email protected]

 

http://www.ohio.com/mld/ohio/news/14301950.htm?source=rss&channel=ohio_news

 

From the 4/18/06 PD:

 

 

Democrats dust off old federal suit in Ohio school funding battle

Tuesday, April 18, 2006

Scott Stephens

Plain Dealer Reporter

 

Thirty-nine Democrats in the state legislature tried to breathe life Monday into the seemingly moribund court battle to change the way Ohio pays for the education of 1.8 million public-school children.

 

Their vehicle: an updated version of a mostly forgotten federal lawsuit. The suit, filed in 1991, claimed Ohio was violating the state constitution and federal disability laws by failing to provide a "thorough and efficient" education for children with disabilities.

 

The federal lawsuit was shelved in favor of an action filed in state court by low-wealth school districts that challenged the funding system on behalf of all students.

 

...

 

To reach this Plain Dealer reporter:

[email protected], 216-999-4827

 

http://www.cleveland.com/news/plaindealer/index.ssf?/base/news/1145349053302720.xml&coll=2

 

good schools are not the primary for higher property values. they play a part, but the largest part of our tax dollars already go to the public schools. TIME TO CHANGE. THE OHIO SUPREME COURT HAS RULE THAT THE COLLECTION OF TAX DOLLARS FOR SCHOOLS BASED ON PROPERTY VALUES IS UNCONSTITUTIONAL. FROM THIS POINT FORWARD TILL THE LEGISLATORS FIX THE PROBLEM WILL BE A NIGHTMARE FOR THE SCHOOLS. ONCE THE PROBLEM IS FIXED ALL THE TAXES COLLECTED AFTER THE SUPREME COURT RULING WILL HAVE TO BE RETURNED TO THE TAX PAYER.

 

SCHOOL ADMINISTRATORS MUST THINK HARD AND FAST AND FOR GO THESE BOND AND LEVIE ISSUES. STOP THE MADNESS. PLUS AS A SINGLE PERSON IT IS NOT MY RESPONSIBILITY TO PAY FOR CHILDRENS TUITION WHEN THEY DON'T BE LONG TO ME.

 

*EDITED BY ADMINISTRATOR*

PLUS AS A SINGLE PERSON IT IS NOT MY RESPONSIBILITY TO PAY FOR CHILDRENS TUITION WHEN THEY DON'T BE LONG TO ME.

 

*EDITED BY ADMINISTRATOR*

 

Ladies and gentlemen, Logic has left the building.

From the 4/27/06 Dispatch:

 

 

CHART: Aid to school districts

 

Schools have more money despite charter drain

Extra state aid, tax funds helping in Columbus

Thursday, April 27, 2006

Jennifer Smith Richards

THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH

 

School districts have long blamed charter schools for their money problems. Although they are losing thousands of students — and the more than $5,000 in state money that follows each one –– to charters, some districts actually have more money now than they did before charter schools opened, a Dispatch analysis found.

A closer look at financial forms that school districts file with the state shows Columbus Public Schools receive $20 million more in state aid today than they did in 1999-2000, when the first charter opened here. That reflects state increases in perpupil funding.

 

Last school year, Columbus spent 22 percent more on each student ($11,145) than it did in 1999, when it spent $9,078. Through the current school year, more than 7,000 district students have switched to charter schools.

 

Cleveland, which also has lost a significant number of students to charters, receives nearly $67 million more than it got from the state in 1998-99, when charters began there. Dayton and Cincinnati each receive about $10 million less.

 

...

 

The Columbus Public Schools decided this year to close 12 schools over the summer and this week announced they would cut more than 300 teachers. [email protected]

 

http://www.dispatch.com/news-story.php?story=dispatch/2006/04/27/20060427-A1-03.html