Did you know that the Ohio General Assembly created new graduation requirements for students beginning with the class of 2018?
*High school students must score well on new state tests to graduate- beyond earning credits and good grades in school.
*One third of Ohio’s Class of 2018 is now at risk of not receiving a high school diploma!
*The percentage of non-graduates could reach 60-70 percent in urban areas.
*Students earn 18 points toward graduation on seven end-of-course exams. They can earn one point if they score as Limited on a state end-of-course exam, two for Basic, three for Proficient, four for Accelerated, and five for Advanced.
*High school pupils must achieve four points in Math, four in English, and six between Science and Social Studies, as well as an additional four points somewhere else.
*High schoolers must take exit exams in Algebra I or Integrated Math I, Geometry or Integrated Math II, American Government, American History, English I, English II, and Biology.
*Students will need Proficient scores on four of the seven tests to reach 18 points, or some scores better than Proficient.
*The tests have changed three times in the last three years.
*There are no federal regulations that tie graduation to standardized tests.
*The Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) allows districts to use a locally determined, nationally recognized test like the ACT or SAT instead of end-of-course tests in high schools.
*A Certificate of Completion has been suggested as a solution to the graduation crisis. Getting into college without a diploma would be difficult, and students couldn’t get federal student loans with just a certificate of completion.
*According to the U.S. Census Bureau, a person without a high school diploma can expect to earn about $10,000 less per year than someone who has a high school diploma.
Thanks to Matt and Mandy Jablonski of Lorain County for inspiring advocacy and providing details about this pending catastrophe!
Public Education Partners urges all Ohioans to contact those in charge of public education policies about averting this pending crisis. In messages to the state Board of Education and Supt. Paolo DeMaria, add this additional request: Until Ohio’s graduation crisis is fixed, require that letters be sent from each high school to families of students not on track to graduate.
A template, created by Superintendent Power, is provided below.
I am writing you to voice my concern about the over-testing of students and the lack of local control in K-12 education. The job of educating our children should be up to the local Boards of Education, not the State. I urge you to bring back local control of our schools. I also ask you to fix the current testing system.
Changing the assessment system three times in three years is hurting our students and making them less competitive with students from surrounding states. It is time for the state to follow the federal guidelines and allow the schools to use the ACT test or industry accredited professional certification exams to assess college and career readiness. I ask you to take a hard look at this system and do what is right for all students across Ohio.
Sincerely, Your Name & Address
If your student is at risk of not graduating due to the state’s new graduation requirements, please consider sending this email as well:
Subject: Fix Ohio’s Graduation Crisis
Dear NAME,
My child has followed all the rules. However, (s)he is now at risk of not walking across the stage and to get a diploma, because the State is once again changing the assessment system and the requirements to graduate. [Insert any information about your child that you want them to know.]
It is wrong to damage my child’s future due to a failed accountability experiment. Enough is enough. I expect you to remedy this situation, and let teachers get back to teaching and our children get back to learning.
Sincerely, Your Name & Address
A sincere THANK-YOU goes to Supt. Greg Power for implementing this important call-to-action!
Until legislators cut back on high-stakes graduation tests, the future of Ohio’s children will be at stake!
President Obama signed the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA), an overhaul of federal education law, in December of 2015. According to the Ohio Department of Education’s website, “passed with bipartisan support, ESSA represents a shift from broad federal oversight of primary and secondary education to greater flexibility and decision making at the state and local levels. Ohio is committed to involving educators, parents and other stakeholders as we explore new ways to ensure that all our students receive the education they need for bright futures.”
I was happy to hear about the proposed involvement of experienced educators and parents, because since the early 1990s, ODE and many of our elected leaders seem to have depended more heavily on edicts from Washington, anti-public education think tanks, and major foundations, such as Gates and the Walton family, for advice and direction in education issues.
I attended the ESSA meeting at the King Arts Center in Columbus in August, a conversation in one of a series of conversations across the state. The event was sponsored by Philanthropy Ohio, the Ohio Department of Education, and the Thomas B. Fordham Institute and was promoted as a way to “engage in a regional meeting to share thoughts and perspectives on the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) and Ohio’s developing state plan.” This meeting was billed as “an exciting opportunity to gather valuable input from various perspectives from local educators, funders, parents, students and community members.” https://www.eventbrite.com/e/columbus-essa-stakeholder-meeting-registration-26527330961#
I participated in the Ohio Department of Education’s online survey, because I read that ODE was “actively engaging with stakeholders, school leaders, teachers and parents as the department works to develop the state’s Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) plan. In an effort to reach out to more Ohioans about these important issues, the department created a survey to get feedback on several focus areas within ESSA, including accountability measures, school improvement, educator quality and student supports.” http://education.ohio.gov/Media/Ed-Connection/Aug-22-2016/Help-Develop-Ohios-Every-Student-Succeeds-Act-Sta
The massive amount of feedback from the statewide ESSA stakeholder meetings and the ODE online survey was overwhelmingly in support of less state-mandated testing and less test-based accountability.
In ODE’s ESSA online survey, there were 11,287 responses received from each of Ohio’s 88 counties, and in addition to responding to specific questions, several general themes emerged. Survey respondents generally referenced a preference for a reduction in testing; more stability and consistency; reduce the rate of change; more “wraparound” services, including mental health services; additional art, music and physical education offerings; additional services for students with disabilities and students identified as gifted; more decision making at the local level; and greater accountability and less funding for charter schools. http://education.ohio.gov/getattachment/Topics/Every-Student-Succeeds-Act-ESSA/ESSA-Online-Survey-Results.pdf.aspx
Imagine everyone’s surprise when ODE unveiled its draft ESSA plan in February, which did exactly the opposite of what 15,000 stakeholders said they wanted. The draft plan proposed to keep the same level of testing!
Each state was expected to reach out to stakeholders for input, a mandate ODE spokesperson Brittany Halpin said Ohio takes very seriously. “A plan that is deeply rooted in the needs of Ohio’s students, educators and communities requires everyone’s input,” she said in a written statement. “Our goal was to meaningfully engage diverse groups of stakeholders to solicit a range of thoughts, opinions and recommendations.”
So, was the goal simply to reach out, engage, and solicit feedback from parents, education professionals, and other stakeholders, only to exclude the responses from well over 15,000 people and stay with the status quo?
I recently had a casual conversation with a person closely connected to the sponsors of the statewide stakeholder meetings, and I said that it was very unfortunate that stakeholder feedback had been ignored by ODE leaders when developing their draft ESSA plan. I was told that our responses were rejected, because they didn’t go along with the philosophy of the leaders at the Ohio Department of Education. How disingenuous to waste the valuable time and dismiss the thoughtful input of thousands of people, because they didn’t provide the same old answers that ODE wanted to hear!
The Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) promised to return fundamental decisions about education to parents, community members, and educators with the most at stake in our public schools, while continuing to focus on our students. The law’s ultimate success will depend on state plans being carefully crafted and implemented– and that, in turn, requires collaboration between stakeholders, legislators, and ODE.
I urge the Ohio Department of Education to hold on to the ESSA Plan until September, and submit it after it’s been corrected to reflect the ideas of thousands of Ohioans who continue to ask for less state-mandated testing and less test-based accountability. Ohio’s state plan must streamline the number of high stakes tests to the federal minimum and develop a more balanced school accountability system that relies less on standardized test scores.
Our children are counting on us to get this right!
The Akron Area School Superintendents Association recognizes that the federal ESSA legislation gives states an opportunity to make meaningful reforms to educational practices and policies. They are concerned that Ohio’s draft plan does not appear to reflect the input that was provided by the many stakeholders who took the time to participate in the process. They urge their colleagues and constituents to voice their opinions as the next month is critical as the state finalizes Ohio’s plan.
With others who are a part of the Ohio Public School Advocacy Network, they offer the following ideas and insights.
We, the undersigned superintendents of the Akron Area School Superintendents’ Association, want to be a part of the solution for positive education reform in the state of Ohio. We applaud the state for holding regional meetings and webinars that allowed educators, parents and community members to voice their opinions on how the new state education plan should look; however, we are alarmed that the feedback gathered during these stakeholder meetings does not appear to have been included in Ohio’s plan.
Below are several recommendations we believe will enhance Ohio’s education plan under the Every Student Succeeds Act:
Testing: During the regional meetings, participants urged the state to reduce the amount of testing, which is allowable under ESSA; however, the proposed plan maintains the existing levels of testing. As we understand the need to provide evidence of student progress in school, the state of Ohio should follow the requirements under ESSA, which outline that state testing should include grades 3-8 in reading and math, and grades 5 and 8 in science. This is also an opportunity to reduce testing at the high school and replace the end of course exams with the nationally normed ACT or SAT, which are more relevant to our students and their families. All state mandated testing should be consistently maintained for an extended period of time to allow for longitudinal data collection and analysis.
Accountability: We recommend the elimination of the letter grade report card system. While ESSA does mandate an accountability measure, it does not require using a letter grade to rate school buildings or districts. The added layers of new data and the addition of non-academic measures render the final grade inaccurate. The repeated changes in the report card have also made it confusing and meaningless to parents and community members.
Subgroups: The state of Ohio’s plan also looks to reduce the student subgroup size from 30 to 15. When a subgroup is this small, there is the potential for students to lose anonymity when data regarding subgroups is released to the public. Instead of using an arbitrary subgroup size, we recommend that accountable subgroups be set at the greater of 10% of a district’s ADM or students.
Graduation Rate: The state report card currently uses four and five-year graduation rates to determine a district’s score; however, districts are penalized for keeping students on IEPs beyond the four or five-year graduation mark. Many times, these students are receiving essential transition services and are better served remaining in the school district.
Testing Opt Outs: The opt out solution that was implemented by the state did not solve the issue facing school districts. Students are still calculated in the participation rate and the AMO calculations. Districts are being penalized for decisions made by parents. When a parent determines that their child will not complete the state assessments, that child’s score (calculated as a zero) should not be included in the participation rate and AMO calculations. A school district’s data should only include results for students who were not opted out of the state assessments.
K-3 Literacy Improvement: The state of Ohio’s plan must clarify the manner in which this accountability measure is calculated, aligned with the Third Grade Reading Guarantee, and described on the report card.
School Quality or Student Success Description: We acknowledge that strong student attendance in school leads to student success. However, the inclusion of excused absences in the calculation for the new non-academic indicator is problematic, especially when the report card does not differentiate between excused and unexcused absences.
Educator Effectiveness: The performance rubric of the OTES/OPES evaluation system is a useful tool and influences educator quality. It has led to rich and valuable conversations that have helped districts enhance the quality of education. We believe the state should eliminate the student growth measures from teacher and principal evaluations. Instead, we recommend enhancing the rubric to include evidence regarding the manner in which the educator uses formative assessments to inform instruction which ultimately leads to academic achievement.
Early Childhood Programming: The purpose of early childhood programming is to support the development and well-being of young children and to foster their learning. The research clearly indicates that we need to capitalize on the brain growth that occurs in the early years of life as a strong foundation for father learning. We are concerned that Ohio has not made PreK programming enough of a priority. As a result, the state has not invested enough in early childhood (PreK) programming.
Wrap-Around Services: Ohio’s plan does not include measures to support student mental and emotional well-being. We would like to see provisions for professionals to assist with the mental health and opiate issues affecting students and families throughout the state of Ohio.
ESSA presents a golden opportunity to return educational decisions to the state and local levels. As educators, we have the chance to create assessments and accountability measures that benefit students and truly reflect the needs of Ohio’s children today and into the future.
Again, we appreciate the efforts of the Ohio Department of Education in its draft document addressing Ohio’s plan under the Every Student Succeeds Act. We are encouraged by the department’s continued focus on educating Ohio’s children however, we believe that the aforementioned areas must be addressed before the plan is submitted to the US Department of Education for approval.
Sincerely,
Mr. Tom Bratten, Stow-Munroe Falls City Schools Mr. Russell Chaboudy, Coventry Local Schools Dr. Joe Clark, Nordonia Hills City Schools Mrs. Patricia Cleary, Barberton City Schools Mr. Walter Davis, Woodridge Local Schools Dr. Christina Dinklocker, Mogadore Local Schools Mr. David Dunn, Norton City Schools Mr. Jeffrey Ferguson, Tallmadge City Schools Mr. David Heflinger, Field Local Schools Mr. Phillip Herman, Hudson City Schools Dr. Andrew Hill, Wadsworth City Schools Mr. Joseph Iacano, Summit Educational Service Center Mr. Jeffrey Miller, Green Local Schools Mr. Matthew Montgomery, Revere Local Schools Dr. Benjamin Moore, Portage Lakes Career Center Dr. Todd Nichols, Cuyahoga Falls City Schools Mr. Brian Poe, Copley-Fairlawn City Schools Ms. Kathryn Powers, Twinsburg City Schools Dr. Jim Robinson, Manchester Local Schools Mr. Chuck Sincere, Springfield Local Schools Ms. Mary Jane Stanchina, Six District Educational Compact
School leaders have so much education, experience, and knowledge to offer our lawmakers for the benefit of sound educational policy-making.
According to Bill Phillis, of the Ohio Coalition for Equity & Adequacy of School Funding: Governors and legislators should depend heavily on boards of education and their employees when formulating education policy. Prior to the last three decades, school personnel had substantial and consequential involvement in education policy formulation. Since the early 1990s in Ohio, governors and legislatures have depended more heavily on edicts from Washington, American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC), anti-public education think tanks and major foundations such as Gates and the Walton family for advice and direction in education policy development. Currently, ODE does not encourage local school leaders to frequent the Statehouse. https://publiceducationpartners.org/2016/11/07/importance-local-school-leaders-standing-together-education-policy-issues/
Many local school district superintendents have formed coalitions to address the problems caused by poorly-developed educational legislation. In November, Ohio school superintendents went to the Statehouse for a Public Education Rally, joined by a crowd of 400 other concerned citizens asking that educational leaders be involved in creating school policy. School superintendents need to be involved in the process, not just left to figure out how to comply. http://networkforpubliceducation.org/2016/11/the-day-the-supers-came-to-the-ohio-statehouse/
Re-engagement of local school district leaders is essential for the improvement of public education and for ending the encroachment of the privatization of public education. This rally was the first step to returning public policy regarding education back to the professionals who are on the front line of educating children on a daily basis. (Bill Phillis, Ohio E & A)
Imagine how helpful school superintendents could be if they were invited to collaborate with their elected leaders!
Ohio’s Greene County school superintendents recently met with their state legislators and recommended a list of logical solutions to problems facing Ohio public school districts. Their letter, printed below, is a forward-thinking approach that every organization of county superintendents should consider.
Please share this article with your local school superintendents and ask that they send a similar letter to your state representatives. The following text is an easy-to-use template that they can copy, paste, and personalize to get the process started:
Dear (Legislators’ Names):
Thank you for collaborating with the __________ County school superintendents by considering their input, concerns, and plausible solutions relative to public schooling.
Below, you will find our suggestions for improving education in the state of Ohio:
* Limit state testing. ESSA does not require as many tests as we have had in recent years. Ohio should lead the nation in reducing testing, not increasing it, and this aligns with the interest of parents.
* The new graduation requirements need to change. The _________ County superintendents suggest that graduation requirements be a local decision and should be established by each respective Board of Education.
* Eliminate the College Credit-Plus (CCP+) program. Focus on Advanced Placement (AP) classes which are much more rigorous, and allow for the Post-Secondary Educational Option (PSEO) to be reinstated.
* College and career opportunities to be defined more clearly and funded adequately to address the needs and goals of Ohio and based upon workforce requirements of each region.
* Reconsider Ohio’s return on for charter schools in the state and require the same video of accountability as the manager schools. We feel the use of public funds currently being offered to consistently unsuccessful charter schools could be better invested as a way to offer incentives finding success in so many of Ohio’s public school systems.
* Examine the state’s responsibility to the safe transportation of students. Funding for busing has nearly evaporated, yet the districts must absorb the rising costs of new bus purchases.
* Keep the teacher performance rubric side of OT ES as it is. Eliminate the student growth measure portion – the 50% based on either testing or student learning objectives is extremely inconsistent, statistically in accurate, and unreliable. Legislators should move to eliminate the 30% student growth measures from requirements for the teacher evaluation.
* Multiple studies and much research support the need for preschool and all day every day kindergarten for students. The state of Ohio should seek solutions to adequately fund this program in all school districts.
In closing, we recommend that our legislators consider this list and extensive list of unfunded mandate that face public schools in Ohio. This list is a small sample of challenges facing Ohio students, and we are happy to share additional input that would provide more information and for clarification. This is a defining time in the history of Ohio’s educational system. 0DE has a chance to be a leader again – instead of a compliance monitoring agency and we support that role.
Again, thank you for reading our thoughts and considering our suggestions. We look forward to enriching future discussions through continued effective communication with all of you.
In July of 2015, Ohio House Bill 70, a forward-thinking education bill involving community schools with wrap-around services, was hijacked with a 66-page amendment and turned into a school takeover bill, rushed to a vote, and quickly signed by Governor John Kasich. It was nicknamed the Youngstown Plan, because it was designed specifically to take over poverty-stricken Youngstown City Schools first, but any district that had an Academic Distress Commission could be taken over under the new rules.
HB 70 allows the state to step in to run “failing” school districts by creating a new CEO position, allowing mayors to appoint school board members, and giving the CEO power to override parts of union contracts.
Senator Joe Schiavoni and Representative Michele Lepore-Hagan attempted to lessen the strictest requirements of Ohio’s school takeover law, HB 70, by introducing companion bills that both died at the end of 2016 having not even gotten the initial hearings they deserved. Mandy Jablonski, a parent activist from Lorain County Parents Supporting our Children and Teachers, is calling on them to work with her House Representative Nathan Manning and Senator Gayle Manning, two Republicans on their respective Education Committees who both voted NO on HB 70 out of concern for what it would do to the districts they represent.
Although Governor Kasich has made it clear that he would veto any bill from Senator Manning that would give Lorain a safe harbor, Mandy is hopeful that with legislators working together in a bipartisan manner, they can get some relief to those districts affected by HB 70 and those that could be affected in the near future.
An overview of Senator Schiavoni’s bill that was proposed in October of 2015 can be found here and Representative Lepore-Hagan’s companion bill can be found here. Please read them and consider joining Jablonski in contacting these four legislators, as well as your own, and asking that they reintroduce these bills during the current General Assembly. Mandy’s messages are presented below:
MANDY’S EMAIL TO SENATOR MANNING:
Welcome back! I am sure things are really picking up, so I will try to be brief. During the last General Assembly, Senator Schiavoni put forth a bill (SB 230) that would lessen some of the strictest requirements in the Youngstown Plan. Unfortunately the bill was referred to the Senate Finance Committee where it did not even get the hearings it required, so it died at the end of the year. As I know you are aware, the Lorain City Schools will be taken over by March 7th (thank you again for working so hard to try to fight that, by the way). I still find this very upsetting and I fear that the Elyria City Schools could be next. I obviously would like to avoid a takeover of the Elyria Schools, but should it come to that, I would like to at least know that I did everything I could to make it just a little bit more tolerable. As I have mentioned to you before, Senator Schiavoni mentioned reaching out to Republicans that had voted NO on HB 70. As you are one of them (again, thank you so much for that), I was wondering if there is a possibility of you and Senator Schiavoni working together to introduce something like his SB 230 bill in this new General Assembly. And as usual, if there is ever anything I can do to help with this, please let me know.
MANDY’S EMAIL TO SENATOR SCHIAVONI:
I was very disappointed to see your bill, that would have lessened some of the strictest requirements of HB 70, was sent to the Senate Finance Committee where it was left to die at the end of the year having never even received the three initial hearings it needed. I have been following the progression of the Youngstown Plan very closely since the day the bill passed. I am already very concerned about the lack of transparency taking place in the Youngstown City Schools with regards to CEO Mohip refusing to disclose just how much money is being spent on hiring new administrators and purchasing more technology, even when asked by members of the local school board about it. The public has a right to know what is involved in his plan.
Further, I recently learned that my neighbors in Lorain will be taken over by a new academic distress commission by March 7th of this year. While I find all of this very upsetting I cannot help but also be concerned that the district my son attends and my husband teaches in will be next. On the most recent report card our district, the Elyria City Schools, received a “D” on PI and an “F” on value-added progress. While I have no doubt that everyone here works very hard every day and we do indeed make progress, it may not be enough to stop a state takeover courtesy of the state’s perpetually changing, ever increasing rules.
In the Summer of 2015 you had said, at the first of one of your many, many community meetings about HB70, that you wanted to reach out to the Republicans who voted NO on HB 70 to try to work with them on a solution to this. I am proud to say that the Republican Senator who represents me, and is also on the Senate Ed committee, did vote NO on HB 70, which is something I will always be grateful for. Is there any possibility of you working with Senator Manning on a bipartisan compromise much like SB 230 that you had proposed in the last General Assembly? I believe that this course of action would be most likely to lead to success.
MANDY’S EMAIL TO REPRESENTATIVE MANNING:
Good afternoon and welcome back! I am sure you are already hard at work so I will make this brief. In October of 2015, Rep. Lepore-Hagan introduced HB 379 which was meant to be a companion bill to Senator Schiavoni’s SB 230. Both bills would lessen some of the strictest requirements of the Youngstown Plan by doing such things as changing the makeup of the new academic distress commission as well as who appoints them, limiting the power of the CEO with regards to collective bargaining agreements as well as other things, insisting that the CEO have an extensive background in education, changing the requirements for a district to transition out of academic distress from an overall “C” grade instead to a “C” on performance index or overall value-added score, and allowing for more transparency by insisting that all information relating to the commission be subjected to the Public Records Law. Unfortunately both bills died at the end of last year having not even gotten the initial hearings needed.
I am very upset at how HB 70 has been implemented thus far in Youngstown, I am worried about how this will affect the Lorain City Schools when they get taken over March 7th, and of course I am concerned that this could happen to Elyria next. In order to make this less burdensome for those already affected and to protect districts like Elyria in the future, I am hoping to convince you to work with Rep. Lepore-Hagan to perhaps reintroduce HB 379 or something similar. Of course I would rather HB 70 not exist at all, but I believe that if you and Rep. Lepore-Hagan can work together in a bipartisan fashion on this, we could see some positive changes in the worst aspects of HB 70.
MANDY’S EMAIL TO REPRESENTATIVE LEPORE-HAGAN:
Good afternoon! I wanted you to know that I was very impressed with the companion bills that you and Senator Schiavoni both proposed in your respective bodies of the General Assembly with regards to HB 70. I am fully supportive of everything in the bills as they would allow for more transparency, limit the powers of the CEO, and perhaps soften the harshest of requirements put forth in the Youngstown Plan. Of course I was disappointed that neither bills were given the hearings they deserved and instead died at the end of the year.
I have been following HB 70 closely from the very beginning. I am already concerned about how it is being implemented in Youngstown as the CEO seems very unconcerned about disclosing how he is spending funds- specifically on the hiring of new administrators and on new technology. With Lorain being taken over March 7th, and any district, including the Elyria City Schools where my son attends school and my husband teaches, possibly next, I am asking that you please consider working with Representative Nathan Manning to either reintroduce your bill, or something similar, with him. He was one of the few Republicans that voted NO on HB 70. He did so because he realized how devastating the bill could be to districts like the ones he represents.
If we could get legislators like the two of you to work together in a bipartisan manner to address this issue, I believe that we could be successful in lessening the very worst parts of HB 70 for those already affected and those who will be in the near future.
Please contact these four legislators, as well as your own, and ask that they reintroduce these bills during the current General Assembly.
The Ohio Department of Education is in full force, head-in-the-sand, denial. Those in charge of ODE want to institute a policy that highly favors rich children over poor. Disproportionately, white people over African-Americans and Hispanic-Americans. Their refusal to recognize the damage they are about to do to our children is mind boggling.
They say that schools have had three years to prepare for the coming graduation requirements. Not true. The goal posts are constantly moving. Since the graduation requirements were put into place, the standardized tests have changed each year, the passing marks have been arbitrarily changed, and resources have been stretched thin as schools have been forced to spend more than $200 million collectively, each year, to accommodate the tests to the detriment of student learning.
Test results measure wealth and little more. Wealthy school districts do well on these arbitrary, unvalidated, and narrow measurements while poor students do not. Instead of doing the hard work of creating solutions for poor districts, the ODE has decided to punish them for not being able to overcome underfunding, poor nutrition, bad health, lack of proper mental stimulation, bad eyesight, lack of sleep, overbearing stress, and more.
They say there has to be some standard. There have always been standards. Students have always been required to pass certain courses and accumulate a certain number of credits. Nobody is asking ODE to do away with those standards.
They say that there are three routes to graduation. Problem is, the other two routes are harder to accomplish than the 18 point accumulation route. All three routes require testing that is intended to measure whether a child is prepared for college. Every school in Ohio is now officially a college prep academy. If a student isn’t college material, they will be denied a diploma. Forty percent of today’s jobs require no college, but they do require a diploma.
If we deny poor children a diploma the consequences will be disastrous. First, the 40% of 2018 seniors who are denied a diploma will find it very hard to impossible get a job. Second, in 2019, we will see a massive increase in drop outs as those who see no hope of succeeding decide not to waste their time. Third, we will see an increase in crime as those who can’t get legitimate jobs, or jobs that pay enough to live, will seek alternative ways to create income. Fourth, poverty will increase as the rich, and their children, get richer while the poor get poorer and poorer.
ODE says they have almost two years to solve this problem while June 2018 is less than a year-and-a-half away. Rounding skills must not be on the test.
If I were a conspiracy theorist, I would say that ODE wants nearly every high school graduate to be white and rich. They want public schools to fail so they can sell money making, underperforming, charter schools funded with your local property taxes that you approved for funding your neighborhood school. I would say that they are catering to money making test companies. I would say they are favoring well off computer companies. I would say that high paid lobbyists give large campaign contributions to make this so.
Just because I’m not a conspiracy theorist, however, doesn’t make any of these statements less true.
~A.J. Wagner, State School Board of Ohio – Retired
In Ohio, instead of directly funding charter schools, the state subtracts the money from the bottom line for traditional districts, depending on where a student lives.
Public school districts have the fiduciary responsibility to create public awareness and inform their taxpayers about charter school funding inequities.
Woodridge Local Schools sent a bill to the state of Ohio for reimbursement of $5 million given to charter schools. Supt. Walter Davis said, “What we are dealing with in Ohio is a system of charter schools that are failing, and the state continues to transfer local public funding from traditional public schools to support them.”
Davis continued, “We aren’t expecting a check, but we are doing it to call attention to how, year-in and year-out, money is being taken away from us to support these schools that traditionally have much lower academic achievement rates than we do.” http://wpo.st/aWyw0
This frequently updated list of Ohio school systems have all passed resolutions to invoice ODE for their share of district funding that’s dispersed to the state’s failing charter school system.
Woodridge (Summit County)
Logan-Hocking (Hocking County)
Troy (Miami County)
Elyria (Lorain County)
Parma (Cuyahoga County)
West Clermont (Clermont County)
Cardinal (Geauga County)
Keystone (Lorain County)
Northmont (Montgomery County)
Jackson (Stark County)
Streetsboro (Portage County)
Firelands (Lorain County)
Lake Local (Wood County)
Bowling Green (Wood County)
Belpre (Washington County)
LaBrae (Trumbull County)
Southington (Trumbull County)
Beaver Local (Columbiana County)
Northridge (Montgomery County)
Claymont (Tuscarawas County)
Southern Local (Perry County)
Indian Creek (Jefferson County)
Green Local (Summit County)
Garaway Local (Tuscarawas County)
Xenia (Greene County)
Noble Local Schools (Noble County)
Adena Local Schools (Ross County)
Gallipolis (Gallia County)
Oak Hills (Jackson County)
Monroe Local (Butler County)
Liberty Union -Thurston Local Schools (Fairfield County)
Tuscarawas Valley Schools (Tuscarawas County)
Amherst Schools (Lorain County)
Huron City Schools (Erie County)
Fairborn City Schools (Greene County)
Champion Local Schools (Trumbull County)
Washington Local Schools (Lucas County)
Euclid City Schools (Cuyahoga County)
Sheffield-Sheffield Lake City Schools (Lorain County)
Dayton City Schools (Montgomery County)
Bristol Local Schools (Trumbull County)
North Ridgeville Local Schools (Lorain County)
Brecksville-Broadview Heights City Schools (Cuyahoga County)
Loudonville-Perrysville Exempted Village School District (Ashland County)
Oberlin City Schools (Lorain County)
Geneva Area City Schools (Ashtabula County)
Little Miami Local Schools (Warren County)
Olmsted Falls School District (Cuyahoga County)
Centerville City Schools (Montgomery and Greene Counties)
Crooksville Exempted Village School District (Perry County)
Black River Local Schools (Ashland, Lorain, & Medina Counties)
Southwest Licking Local Schools (Licking and Fairfield Counties)
Gahanna Jefferson Schools (Franklin County)
Nordonia Hills Schools (Summit County)
Coventry Local Schools (Summit County)
Reynoldsburg City Schools (Franklin County)
Marietta City Schools (Washington County)
Goshen Local Schools (Clermont County)
Georgetown Exempted Village Schools (Brown County) – $683,082.26
Norton City Schools (Summit County) – $4,100,000
Elida Local Schools (Allen County) – $3,100,000
The GRAND TOTAL INVOICED TO THE STATE OF OHIO is $650,655,826.62, and that’s only for a little over 10% of the local school boards that fulfilled their fiduciary responsibility to the people that live within their school district boundaries.
MORE school boards need to highlight the charter school funding details in Ohio. Given that the charter school industry donates huge amounts of money to their campaigns, Governor Kasich and the General Assembly will not put an end to the charter debacle until the public becomes completely aware of this fraud on the taxpayers and reacts to it.
Boards of education can easily create public awareness by invoicing the state for past charter school deductions. How can you help make this happen?
Attend a local school board meeting, and ask to speak about the importance of these eye-opening resolutions and invoices from the SEVENTY-NINE school boards.
Use the Ohio Charter School Accountability Project as a resource to show how much money is currently being transferred out of your district to fund charter schools. http://knowyourcharter.com/
Urge your BOE to pass an official resolution asking the state to reimburse all of the money that has been hijacked from your school system and sent to charter schools during the last 10-15 years. The school treasurer can readily produce the figures needed to create an itemized bill for the funds that were diverted to charter schools each year.
Make it simple for your school board members and treasurer, and email Public Education Partners at ohiopep@gmail.com for a digital copy of the resolution and invoice from the Logan-Hocking School District and a generic resolution template to use as examples.
Or, have them do what many of our legislators do when “creating” Ohio laws- your school board can use the following template to copy, paste, and personalize their resolution.
RESOLUTION TO Invoice ODE for Past Charter School Deductions from State Funding
WHEREAS, it is the statutory duty of the ________________________ School District Board of Education to deliver the educational programs and services to the school children of the _____________________ School District, and
WHEREAS, the members of the Board are elected by the school community to ensure an effective, efficient, vibrant and productive system, and
WHEREAS, the elected board of education has a legal responsibility to the community, including taxpayers, parents, and other patrons, as well as the state, and
WHEREAS, the charter school industry now extracts in the range of one billion dollars ($1,000,000,000) ANNUALLY from public school districts across the State of Ohio, and
WHEREAS, school district boards of education have no control of students, financing, educational programming, and student outcomes for those who enroll in charter schools, and
WHEREAS, charter schools as a group in Ohio demonstrate low academic performance compared to traditional public schools, and
WHEREAS, the fraud and corruption in charter schools, as reported repeatedly in the public media, has made Ohio the laughing stock throughout the nation, and
WHEREAS, Ohio has been dubbed the “Wild Wild West” in charter operations, and
WHEREAS, the ________________________ School District has lost a total of $_____________ in state AND local funding to charter schools over the period of FY 2000 to FY2015, and
WHEREAS, this deduction has reduced programs and services to ________________________ School District students, and
WHEREAS, the ________________________ School District Board of Education has a fiduciary responsibility to the students and taxpayers of the District, be it therefore
RESOLVED that the Board of Education direct the Treasurer of the District to invoice the State of Ohio for all the funds extracted from the ________________________ School District for charter school students.
Help your public school district make a statement and call attention to how, year-in and year-out, money is being taken away from traditional public school systems to support charter schools that traditionally have much lower academic achievement rates than public schools.
Join the revolution, and pass a resolution!
We are many. There is power in our numbers. Together we will save PUBLIC EDUCATION. ~Diane Ravitch
A.J. Wagner, J.D.
Ohio Board of Education, District 3
7 Stonemill Road
Dayton, Ohio 45409
November 18, 2016
Honorable Tom Gunlock, President
State Board of Education of Ohio
25 South Front Street
Columbus, Ohio 43215-4183
Dear President Gunlock,
It is with much regret that I submit to you this Letter of Resignation from the State Board of Education to be effective at the end of today, November 18, 2016.
I leave the Board because of personal family matters that will require Joan and me to move from Dayton in the next few months. I leave with much gratitude to the Board and the citizens of District 3.
I am grateful to Governor Kasich for his willingness to appoint me to the Board prior to the 2014 election. I am pleased that all of the United States now knows of the important, good qualities of his personality. He has represented Ohio well to our great nation.
I am grateful to you for your guidance and your steadfast commitment to Ohio’s kids. We may not always agree, but I know that every vote you cast is with a sincere concern for children, and I am confident of your integrity and good character. It has been an honor to serve with you.
I feel likewise as to each and every member of the Board. I am grateful for their service and friendship, and I am honored to have been a part of our collective effort. Our discordant votes were often portrayed in a manner that belied my respect and admiration for these terrific public servants. I wish them nothing but the best.
I must be sure to include Senator Peggy Lehner in my gratitude. Her political courage and skill have been critical in the effort to make charter schools accountable. I am proud to have called her my friend for more than four decades.
I am grateful to the staff at the Ohio Department of Education. They have proven, time and again, immense dedication to Ohio’s children. They care more than I ever thought possible.
I am grateful for the great advocates for children that I have met over the past few years. I hope you continue to listen to the active and retired teachers, principals, and superintendents who have vital experience to share with the Board on policy and system design that will benefit Ohio’s children.
I am grateful for all that I have learned in the past two years, and I am grateful for the voice I was granted during my short tenure. I believe education is changing, and not necessarily for the better. Funding shortages, unnecessary testing, the Ohio report card system, shortage of teachers, elimination of music, art, nurses, recess, counselors and other essential services for our students will certainly haunt Ohio for years to come.
I am grateful to you, the Board, and Superintendent DeMaria for exploring the issues surrounding the new graduation requirements. Changing all our high schools to college preparatory schools will have dire consequences for those who cannot, because of intellect, emotional struggles, physical limitations, or financial need, attend college. More than 40% of the jobs in Dayton area today require no college. The number of states requiring graduation testing has gone from 27 down to 14 as the other jurisdictions come to grips with the negative consequences of limiting diploma access.
I joined the Board with a hope of moving the needle on programming for children in poverty from ages zero to three. I leave the Board having accomplished nothing in that regard. So, I leave with one more articulation of recommendations for what can be done to improve education in Ohio. This is hardly a complete list, but I hope I hit some of the more important areas.
The overall outline of what I recommend is taken from a December 2015 study by the Southern Education Foundation authored by Leigh Dingerson, a consultant with the Annenberg Institute for School Reform at Brown University.
1. Access to high quality early childhood and pre-K education including programs that assist parents of infant children ages zero to three. Although Ohio is contributing more to pre-school for four year olds, the problems of education begin before birth. A child raised in poverty will be far behind her counterparts in middle and upper socio-economic classes by the time she is three years old. Lack of exposure to positive reinforcement, vocabulary, intellectual stimulus, medical care, and sleep, combined with over exposure to stress, violence, negativity, poor nutrition, and poor health beginning in utero requires the earliest of interventions with parent and child. Programs are available from around the country that demonstrate the positive effects of early childhood intervention. James Heckman, Ph.D., a Nobel Prize winning economist from the University of Chicago, has established that for every dollar spent on such programs, we can save seven dollars in future expenditures on health care, remedial education, criminal justice, and public assistance.
2. Inclusive school leadership committed to creating strategic plans that include authentic input from teachers, parents, community partners, non-instructional school staff, youth, and other stakeholders. Most importantly, leadership must include the development of caring relationships with and among each of these groups.
3. Quality teaching including professional development focused on the needs of struggling students. Teacher development, especially in areas of high poverty, should include training on how to deal with the stresses experienced by their pupils.
4. Positive discipline practices such as restorative justice, social and emotional learning supports, and a student-centered learning environment. Funding that allows a return of counsellors in sufficient numbers to deal with improper behaviors with the goal of eliminating suspensions.
5. A strong curriculum that is rich, culturally relevant, and developmentally appropriate for each child. More and more our schools are being divided along racial and ethnic lines. This makes it imperative to have culturally appropriate materials, and where possible, teachers that look like their students. College preparatory standards are great and useful for a child with the desire and ability to attend college, but standards must be flexible for those without the talent or money needed for college success. I repeat, more than 40% of jobs in the Dayton area do not require any college. Students who are capable of performing these jobs should not be denied a diploma because they are not college ready.
6. Wrap-around supports such as health care, nutrition services, mentoring, and social and emotional services that support students and their families.
7. Investment, not divestment. School funding must come into constitutional compliance. We must stop raiding the public school share of state and local funding to finance non-transparent, private entities that fail to follow full academic and operational standards without full accountability to the public. Change in governance has never resulted in significant educational improvement. Witness Detroit, Philadelphia, and Chicago, all taken over by the state with disastrous consequences.
I also add this cautionary note from “The Death and Life of the Great American School System: How Testing and Choice Are Undermining Education,” by Diane Ravitch. Copyright 2016. Available from Basic Books, an imprint of Perseus Books, a division of PBG Publishing, LLC, a subsidiary of Hachette Book Group, Inc.:
“Poverty matters. An exceptional school here or there may break the pattern for a tiny number of students—usually with the benefit of extra private funding and extended time—but the pattern will persist so long as social conditions remain unchanged, so long as there are districts and schools with intense concentrations of students who are both racially segregated and impoverished. We must set national goals to reduce poverty and increase racial integration.
“Schools, too, must certainly improve. The status quo today is intolerable. After many years in which the nation has placed its highest priority on test-based accountability, we have little to show for it other than small increments in test scores, billions squandered on testing and test preparation, and vast numbers of teachers and administrators demoralized by utopian goals and harsh sanctions.
“No other high-performing nation in the world tests every child in grades three through eight every year. We should not either.
“No other high-performing nation in the world evaluates teachers by the test scores of its students. We should not either.
“No other high-performing nation in the world welcomes non-professionals to assume the roles of teachers, principals, or superintendents. We should not either.
“No other high-performing nation in the world has abandoned its public school system and turned public dollars over to private entrepreneurs, amateurs, and religious organizations. We should not either.
“Never before in our own history have we allowed for-profit corporations to operate schools with public dollars. This must stop.
“Never before in our history have investors and entrepreneurs targeted the public schools as profit centers. This must stop.
“Never before in our history have public schools been forced to make standardized testing their main mission and purpose. This must stop.
“The status quo today is promulgated and funded by the US Department of Education, major foundations, hedge-fund managers, and ideologues at right-wing think tanks. It consists of high-stakes testing, rewards and punishments, and privatization. We must reject the status quo. We must dramatically improve our public schools to meet the needs of all children. We must preserve public education for future generations of children.”
I have had my chance. I now return my seat to the voters of District 3 with the hope that my successor will do better than I did. I hope that voices are raised louder than mine was, and I hope that legislatures become responsive to those voices.
After our first meeting, you told me that there are dozens of groups representing adults that lobby for educational issues. You challenged me by saying that dozens of organizations lobby us for adult issues, but nobody advocates for the kids, that’s what we must do. I hope my legacy is that I did.
Sincerely,
A.J. Wagner, J.D.
Ohio Board of Education, District 3
cc: Governor John Kasich
Board members
Paulo DeMaria, Superintendent of Public Instruction
Montgomery County Board of Elections
The boards of education in the 613 Ohio school districts represent the same geographic territory and citizens as the governor and legislature. Boards of education are the fourth branch of government established to deliver quality education opportunities for all the children of all the people. Boards hire administrators and teachers to provide these opportunities.
Governors and legislators should depend heavily on boards of education and their employees when formulating education policy. Prior to the last three decades, school personnel had substantial and consequential involvement in education policy formulation. Since the early 1990s in Ohio, governors and legislatures have depended more heavily on edicts from Washington, American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC), anti-public education think tanks and major foundations such as Gates and the Walton family for advice and direction in education policy development.
Prior to the Voinovich administration, Ohio superintendents and key staff members attended an annual August back-to-school convocation conducted by the Ohio Department of Education (ODE). It was a very collegial event during which there was dialogue regarding contemporary education practices and policies. ODE officials encouraged local education leaders to participate in policy discussions during State Board of Education meetings and legislative sessions. Local school leaders, individually and in large numbers, frequented the Statehouse legislative sessions.
Governor Voinovich, who served in the 1990s, was an astute politician and understood the power of the school superintendency. For whatever reasons, Mr. Voinovich instructed his handpicked Superintendent of Public Instruction, Ted Sanders, to keep the school superintendents out of Columbus. With the possible exception of one year, ODE has not had a statewide back-to-school convocation in August since the Voinovich edict.
Currently, ODE does not encourage local school leaders to frequent the Statehouse.
The grassroots-driven Superintendents’ Rally at the Ohio Statehouse on November 15 at 10:00 AM is an encouraging signal that local school leaders in masse are becoming engaged in the formulation of education policy.
Reengagement of local school district leaders is essential for the improvement of public education and for ending the encroachment of the privatization of public education. The privatizers, along with their charter school allies and political minions have had a stranglehold on public education policy for about two decades. This Rally is the first step to returning public policy regarding education back to the professionals who are on the front line of educating children on a daily basis.
Public education advocates are urged to support the superintendents in this turning point in history.
The General Assembly shall make such provisions, by taxation, or otherwise, as, with the income arising from the school trust fund, will secure a thorough and efficient system of common schools throughout the state; but no religious or other sect, or sects, shall ever have any exclusive right to, or control of, any part of the school funds of this state.
Appreciation expressed
At the outset, I wish to express my appreciation to the public school teachers, former teachers and all public school advocates. You are the guardians of my liberty. You are my link with democracy and a free social order. You make liberty possible. You work in the crucible of democracy.
Public school teachers are the unsung heroes while being subjected to untold ingratitude by those who are committed to the privatization of public education. But for the people who count in your professional life—your students and their parents—you are appreciated.
To those of you who are advocates of the public common schools, I also express my most sincere gratitude. You likewise are my heroes. You support a magnificent institution—the great American common school system.
Common school idea
The public common school is an idea; an idea that was initiated over two centuries ago by Thomas Jefferson, John Adams and scores of others who laid the foundation for our nation. Jefferson said, “If a nation expects to be ignorant and free, in a state of civilization, it expects what never was and never will be.” Jefferson further stated, “Every government degenerates when trusted to the rulers of the people alone. The people themselves are its only safe depositories.”
Jefferson’s voice resonates in our ears today. We cannot allow government to be controlled by a few wealthy elitists and their political minions.
It was necessary for this common school idea to be implemented in order for a government of the people, by the people and for the people to survive. Horace Mann, often referred to as the father of the common school, said it was the greatest discovery of mankind. It is the only institution that has the capacity to bring all the children of all the people together to learn together and to become Americans. The marvel of America is the successful assimilation of people from nearly every nation into the American culture. This great feat has been accomplished primarily by the common school.
The America of the past has been the greatest “melting pot” in the history of the world. The common school is at the epicenter of this phenomenon. I shudder when I hear we have become a “lettuce salad” rather than a “melting pot.”
The battle for the common school must be fought anew—in the 21st century. The fervor that Horace Mann displayed must be replicated in our lives. That’s what this conference entails. It is why Public Education Partners (PEP) was formed.
The common school has several unique characteristics:
A function of government (public not private)
Democratically governed by elected board members from each school community
A state responsibility-a statewide system
Tax supported
Open to all and free to all
Transparent and accountable to the state and the local communities
Fully regulated to ensure that it is operated with integrity and fairness to all
At the local level an essential and vibrant part of and participant in community life
In Ohio, the Constitution requires the state to secure a thorough and efficient system of common schools throughout the state. Whatever else the state might do regarding education, the common school demands the highest priority.
For a variety of reasons, there are those who adamantly reject the common school idea and forcefully campaign to privatize this time-honored American institution. In doing so, they reject the provisions for a common school system embedded in every state constitution in the U.S.
The battle to protect and save the common school today is as difficult, and possibly more difficult, than it was to implement it. Although some rich folks and some private school people fought the idea of publicly-supported education for all in the early 1800s, the opposition forces today are much more rich and powerful. Additionally, the common school advocates today seem proportionally fewer in number and less enthusiastic.
Just say no to charters and vouchers
In context of the efficacy of the common school idea and the state’s responsibility to provide for the common school, please consider my perspective on the privatization of public education movement. Notwithstanding the earlier rulings by the U.S. Supreme Court and by the Ohio Supreme Court that vouchers and charters are constitutional in Ohio, and notwithstanding the concession of many public school advocates that vouchers and charters are here to stay, I am convinced we should just say no. Many will argue that the train has left the station on these issues. I believe we should work together to derail the train. These choice programs neither fit the constitutional provision for a thorough and efficient system of common schools nor the requisite of promoting the common good.
These privately-operated alternatives are free from many critical government regulations and thus are ripe for abuse and corruption. They are not governed by elected board members. They are not community schools. They are not open to all. They are neither transparent nor accountable. Students are not entitled to an education in these choice programs.
THEY DO NOT FIT THE THOROUGH AND EFFICIENT COMMON SCHOOLS PROVISION OF THE OHIO CONSTITUTION.
There were recent attempts to remove the thorough and efficient provision from the Ohio Constitution by some members of the Ohio Constitutional Modernization Commission. Although those attempts were defeated, they demonstrate a measure of contempt for the common school idea and how deeply rooted the privatization movement is in Ohio.
I need not enumerate the nepotism, fraud, corruption and low performance that is inherent in the charter industry. You are well aware that failure is the hallmark of charterdom. The enrollment rigging, particularly in the online sector, has been screaming from newspaper headlines for months and begs a solution. The questions swirling around the Gulen charter empire are mindboggling. I need not rehash the devilish threads that run through the charter world.
Tactics of the privatizers
The tactics of privatizers, from the 1983 Nation at Risk report until now, are familiar to you. Likewise, the harm caused by the test and punishment tactics of No Child Left Behind (NCLB) and Race to the Top (RTTT) are well known. You are acutely aware of the damage the Bush and Obama administrations have done to the common school system and teaching profession.
Choice programs segregate. They contribute little or nothing to the common good. They don’t improve educational opportunities; but yet federal and state officials give priority to choice while neglecting their constitutional and moral responsibility to the common school. The $3 billion the federal government has distributed to states, and in part to charter operators, to advance charter schools illustrates the federal commitment to diminish the common school.
The voucher/charter schemes are solidly entrenched in Ohio and across the nation. A segment of Corporate America, American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC), hedge fund managers, and pro-privatization foundations have coordinated efforts and campaign contributions to pressure federal and state officials to neglect, even malign, the common school as a strategy to advance the privatization campaign. These schemes will be hard to stop or even slow down.
Strategies of the privatizers
The privatizers’ strategies to advance their cause include:
Intimidating common school personnel
Issuing Nation at Risk-type of propaganda that public schools are failing
Imposing an unrealistic counter-productive accountability system on school districts
A-F report cards inspired by ALEC and Jeb Bush
Ignoring research that shows choice programs do not generally compare favorably in academic performance, graduation rates and comprehensive education programming with the common school system
Overpowering public officials with campaign funds. The ECOT Man is a prime example!
Promoting half-baked research propaganda
Spending huge sums of money to influence the outcome of statewide education choice issues (pro-privatization advocates have spent nearly $20 million to remove a charter school cap in Massachusetts)
The specific tactics they employ are:
Charters
Vouchers
Tuition tax credits
Education savings plan
Taking over entire school districts by electing pro-privatization candidates
State recovery districts
Youngstown Plan
The privatization schemes keep on coming. You are already conversant with the fraud, corruption and low performance in the charter world. You know charters and vouchers do no fit the mold of the constitutionally-mandated, thorough and efficient common school system. Thus I will not dwell on these.
Concurrently, Ohio is operating an unconstitutional common school system. Four times the Ohio Supreme Court ruled Ohio’s elementary and secondary schools are neither thorough nor efficient.
All of the political de-emphasis on the common school and promotion of “choice” troubles me greatly. But just as alarming is: why do public school officials, citizens and state officials tolerate an unconstitutional common school system? Why don’t Ohioans become ruffled when the ECOT superintendent testified in court that ECOT is entitled to full payment even if a student logs on as little as a minute per day. Why isn’t there contempt expressed when the Gulen charter schools spend hundreds of millions of dollars to bring members of their Islamic movement to the U.S. on H-1B visas under the guise that they can’t fill the positions with Americans? Why is it that the public education community has not protested very much against the test and punishment provisions of NCLB and RTTT?
It is amazing that local school officials hesitate to pass resolutions or otherwise speak out in opposition to federal intrusion into the boardrooms and classrooms of America.
Where is the outrage against policies that are detrimental to students and teachers? For example, why have only 75 districts invoiced the state for charter school deductions? Why? Why? Why?
But there are hopeful signs. Organizations such as Public Education Partners are gathering momentum. Throughout Ohio, school administrators are beginning to challenge legislators on local control issues.
On November 14, a group of education leaders will meet in a 2:30 pm session with the E & A Coalition Steering Committee to further plan a campaign to reclaim charter students. Public meetings on the “local control” issue are being conducted in local communities throughout Ohio. On November 15, 10:00 am, school superintendents will hold a Public Education Rally on the west side of the Statehouse.
A unified, strategic battle plan must emerge. Leaders from the various pro-public education groups must come together to form a plan to rally the troops. But while getting organized, we must push forward now, today. In spite of the power of the privatizers, we will prevail if we plan strategically.
Meanwhile, we can continue to build momentum to restore the grandeur of the common school within our own spheres of influence. Some actions are:
Organize community meetings to discuss how the public common school is being eroded by the privatizers
Challenge state officials to support adequate funding for the traditional school system and to stop throwing tax funds down the black hole of the failing alternatives
Encourage local school officials to stand proudly for the traditional school system and against failing alternatives
Encourage local boards to pass resolutions in support of local control and in opposition to the failing charter industry
Inform friends and neighbors about the waste and corruption inherent in the charter industry
The anti-public school forces are well-funded and politically powerful. But we the people have the numbers on our side. After three decades of public school bashing the pendulum is beginning to swing back. Our opponents will spend more money to recapture their momentum. They will tell bigger lies and create new intimidation tactics.
But this is our Horace Mann moment—our moment in history.
We will prevail.
~William Phillis, The Ohio Coalition for Equity & Adequacy of School Funding, 10/22/16
