More Days of Action against School Takeovers
July 1-17, 2019
The Ohio House overwhelmingly passed a bipartisan bill, House Bill 154, to repeal the school takeover law (HB 70), and its language was added to the House’s two-year budget. Instead of accepting a repeal of HB 70, the Senate version of the budget removed any changes to Academic Distress Commissions altogether, leaving current law from HB 70 in place.
Public education advocates now have another 17 days to strongly indicate to the governor and the Ohio General Assembly that Ohioans want the state takeover law completely and immediately eliminated.
Check out their plans:
Individually, or as part of a group effort, people should complete at least one action every day.
Locate actions in the public school district at the school board office, school buildings, public library, other populous areas, or in the comfort of your own neighborhood.
Use social media extensively to show the large number of people involved and impress legislators.
Tag PEP @OhioPEP (Twitter & Facebook) so PEP can amplify your efforts. Suggested Hashtags: #RepealHB70 #Keep HB154 #OHbudget #protectpubliced
Actions against School Takeovers
(Try to complete at least one action daily.)
These ideas are meant to inspire and/or guide your efforts. This is by no means a step by step instruction booklet! Take what speaks to you, and leave what doesn’t. If you decide to do something completely new, please let us know so we can share your awesome ideas.
SHARE photos and other posts on all social media platforms. Tag your state rep, senator, the governor, education organization, etc.
SPREAD THE WORD. Educate and inspire others in your community to get involved.
Make signs/banners to use for the coming weeks. (Such as: NO SCHOOL TAKEOVERS, Repeal HB 70, Pass HB 154, School Takeovers are Undemocratic, etc.)
Tell your Senator to end Academic Distress Commissions and Fund Our Future!
Help host a rally/vigil in front of a local school or school board office – any local BOE/union collaboration on this event would be very powerful. Contact your community newspaper and news stations, and invite them to cover the event. Remember to bring your signs!
Holding your sign, take a selfie at home or at some interesting landmark: district legislator’s office, local school, school board office, library, park, pool, sporting event, vacation locale, national education conference… the possibilities are endless. Invite others to join you and post on social media. Be creative and have fun!
Urge your Senator to oppose the voucher provisions in the Substitute Budget Bill (HB 166.)
Create your own meme or choose one of the following memes that address school takeovers. Post the meme on social media with a Hashtag.
Call and/or send an email message to your elected state leaders, and ask them to support the complete repeal of HB 70 as designated in HB 154. The 3 most important people to contact are Governor Mike DeWine (614-644-4357), Speaker of the House Larry Householder (614-466-2500), and Senate Leader Larry Obhof (614-466-7505.)
Call the governor (614-466-3555) daily at 1:54pm, and tell him to keep the language of HB 154 in the biennial budget.
Email Gov. DeWine and remind him that we expect him to move in a different direction from Gov. Kasich. Allowing school takeovers to remain in effect would be the wrong way to go for Ohio.
Write a letter to the editor or an op-ed for your local paper sharing why you support wraparound services like health, vision and dental care, after-school sports leagues and more for both students and the broader community; include some reasons why you are against state takeovers of public school districts.
Speak to your city council members to compare and contrast the impact of state takeovers with wraparound services. Encourage them to call the governor at 614-466-3555 to remind him to respect local control and the authority of our democratically-elected and locally-accountable school boards to oversee their school districts.
Either individually, as a family, or within an organization, make a formal resolution rejecting school takeovers – signed resolutions should be forwarded to Gov. DeWine, the Ohio General Assembly, and the media. Post on social media. Template can be found here.
Following the Toledo School District’s model, ask community business leaders to send letters to the governor and the General Assembly about the need for collaboration instead of destructive school takeovers.
Talk with area realtors, particularly if you live in a school district that has potential for takeover, and give them an overview of how state takeovers are a form of redlining that negatively affects real estate sales. Ask them to share that information with your district’s state leaders found here.
Talking Points about School Takeovers
State takeovers of public school districts are UNDEMOCRATIC, UNACCOUNTABLE, AND UNACCEPTABLE.
School takeovers are UNDEMOCRATIC, because they take away the power from locally elected school boards. An elected school board provides a democratic voice for parents and community members to influence decision-making regarding public education.
School takeovers are UNACCOUNTABLE, because they give an unaccountable appointed CEO total control over every facet of the schools.
School takeovers are UNACCEPTABLE, because their reliance on test scores in underfunded schools disproportionately impacts minority families in low-income communities.
Efforts to change the governance of public schools will not result in the infusion of needed resources and will shift responsibility for providing a sound public education away from the state and towards financially struggling parents.
School takeover policies in other states have failed to raise student achievement and have created disruptions for students, parents, and community members.
High-quality opportunities for all students require additional resources, including better access to health and social services, early childhood education, and academic enrichment programs, which are the cornerstone of improved outcomes for Ohio’s children.
The Senate budget amendment plans to use the $125 million the House allocated for wraparound services to expand the Ed Choice program that provides school vouchers for students and to increase eligibility for more children to attend private and parochial schools using state funds.
Ohio legislators should reject HB 70 and keep HB 154 language in the budget. HB 154 offers support for lower performing school districts; it was designed to dissolve and replace academic distress commissions and to encourage wraparound services for high-poverty schools. House Bill 154 is an evidence-based model that was created using results from a 5-year research study of school turnaround by the American Institutes for Research (AIR) in MA.
Those field-tested results are the basis for the language of HB 154 as it addresses the concerns of educators, school district leaders, and community members. HB 154 was passed in a broad, bipartisan manner (83-12) and provides a pathway for local districts and communities to determine the needs of their districts, including a plan to get there.
TOGETHER we must speak up for our local school districts and stop Ohio’s state leaders from removing the language of House Bill 154 from the state budget!
Research and analysis of successful school reform efforts have pointed to several supports that are consistently associated with stronger student outcomes than state takeovers of public school districts. These include access to high quality early childhood and pre-K programs, a learning environment centered on students, positive and restorative discipline practices, and investment in public school districts, not constant budget cut backs and efforts to educate students on the cheap.
Ohio needs to invest in wraparound supports like health services, vision and dental care, after-school sports leagues and more, for both students and the broader community. A promising policy (HB 154), which offers support for lower performing school districts, was designed to dissolve and replace Ohio’s school takeover law and to encourage wraparound services for high-poverty schools.
House Bill 154 passed without amendment in the Ohio House of Representatives by a bipartisan vote of 83-12. Unfortunately, a secret group of school privatization advocates recently surfaced with an alternative plan for school takeovers, the Ohio School Transformation Plan, and that takeover plan was included in a Senate amendment to the state budget. The plan was rolled out on a Tuesday and LIMITED testimony at the Senate Education Committee was scheduled for Thursday. The committee stuck to its 3-minute limit, and opponent testimony from the Board of Public Education Partners was abruptly cut off midway through the presentation.
The PEP Board strongly disagrees with putting LIMITS on public input of any law – especially a destructive school takeover law that was crafted in secret by a clandestine group of ALEC legislators, “school choice” lobbyists and organizations, and anti-public education “think-tanks.” That is simply NOT what democracy looks like!
Here is PEP’s testimony that was LIMITED by the Ohio Senate Education Committee:
Chair Lehner, Vice Chair Terhar, Ranking Member Fedor, and Members of the Ohio Senate Education Committee:
Thank you for the opportunity to submit testimony to this esteemed committee. My name is Jeanne Melvin, and I am a retired school teacher and president of Public Education Partners, a statewide advocacy group for public school districts and the children and families that they serve.
You may remember that the Board of Public Education Partners (PEP) continues to be adamantly opposed to House Bill 70 – Ohio’s school takeover law. Ohioans never agreed to any initiative to give the state authority to take over struggling public school districts. In fact, an overwhelming majority of the public believes that disinvestment in schools, which our state has authorized over the last eight years, is a primary obstacle to a high-quality public education.
The PEP Board commends Representatives Miller and Jones on the thoughtful research they incorporated into the language of House Bill 154 to solve this school takeover crisis. Kudos to the bipartisan group of 83 Ohio House members who passed HB 154 to repeal Ohio’s failed school district takeover law and put it into their version of the state budget. We salute the bipartisan State Board of Education whose members unanimously supported a resolution against House Bill 70 and the local school boards across the state that started the ball rolling. Many thanks to all of the parents, educators, and stakeholders who have taken a stand and spoken out against the destruction caused by House Bill 70. HOORAY for the grassroots public education advocates who have worked relentlessly to educate all Ohioans about school takeovers and what they are really about.
HB 154 is a promising policy offering support for lower performing school districts, and it was designed to dissolve and replace academic distress commissions and to encourage wraparound services for high-poverty schools. House Bill 154 is an evidence-based model that was created using results from a 5-year research study of school turnaround by the American Institutes for Research (AIR) in MA. Those field-tested results are the basis for the language of HB 154.
House Bill 154 addresses the concerns of educators, school district leaders, and community members. It passed without amendment in the Ohio House of Representatives by a bipartisan vote of 82-12, so now it’s up to the Ohio Senate to also act in a bipartisan manner to pass this well-researched plan.
Just like 2015, a secret partisan group (which includes some of the same people who turned HB 70 into a school takeover law) surfaced last month with its alternative “Ohio School Transformation Plan” – another untested school takeover plan with no research to back it up. That 17-page plan, drafted by school privatization advocates, has been “turned-around” into a 68-page sub. Amendment to the budget that is certain to be a lucrative deal for the many outside “consultants” and “school improvement organizations.”
The lengthy proposed amendment uses changes in terminology to fool the undiscerning eye (academic distress commissions = school improvement commissions; chief executive officers = school improvement directors), but it’s the same old tired efforts to change the governance of lower-performing underfunded public schools that will not result in the infusion of needed resources. How does this plan address poverty, which has already been analyzed as the root cause of lower school grade cards?
WHY do the framers of the Ohio School Transformation Plan assume that officials of the state, many of whom lack any training and experience in the field of education, know more about operating a local school district than the professional educators chosen by the struggling school district’s elected school board?
Even though over 600 traditional public school districts in Ohio serve more than 1.8 million students, the Ohio Department of Education and the Ohio General Assembly depend way too much on so-called school-choice lobbyists and organizations, philanthropies, and anti-public education “think-tanks” for advice and direction in education issues. The time has come to finally pay attention to the thoughtful input of thousands of parents, educators, school leaders, and local community members who continue to demand the end of state takeovers of public school districts.
PEP supports the complete and immediate elimination of HB 70 by keeping the bipartisan HB 154 language in the budget to repeal and replace Ohio’s failed school takeover agenda. The Youngstown, Lorain, and East Cleveland School Districts cannot withstand further disruption from an untested and highly questionable plan designed without the input of public school district stakeholders. Those school districts require the clear-cut evidence-based steps included in House Bill 154.
Please do not endorse another school takeover plan that was written without any input from local government leaders, locally elected school boards, and education organizations that support public school districts. We request that you reject HB 70, as well as this alternative school takeover plan, that were both drafted in secret. Thoughtful education policy-making can never happen within a culture of secrecy. Surely, Ohio is better than that.
Thank you again for allowing me to offer testimony on behalf of the Board of Public Education Partners and more importantly, in support of Ohio’s children and families.
Jeanne Melvin, President, Public Education Partners
An Ohio political party issued a powerful statement against school privatization by unanimously passing this resolution at its Executive Committee meeting. Diane Ravitch published this important story of the Ohio Democratic Party’s support for public education and encouraged every political party around the nation to follow its lead.
Public education advocates can help make it happen by forwarding this post to their state political party (any party) leadership, and advising them how crucial it is to take a stand. Advocates could even offer to draft the document for the party by copying, pasting, editing, and filling-in-the-blanks in the template below. It’s a simple yet significant task to create a resolution that supports the state’s public school districts and rejects the school privatization agenda.
(Fill-in-the-Blank) Resolution Opposing School Privatization
WHEREAS, over ____ traditional public school districts in (State) serve more than ___ million students; and
WHEREAS, the state has the constitutional responsibility to secure a thorough and efficient system of public school districts; and
WHEREAS, adequate and equitable funding is required to fulfill the state’s constitutional responsibility to (State)’s school children; and
WHEREAS, students deserve a quality early childhood and K-12 education, certified teachers who have a voice in the policies which affect their schools, a rich curriculum that prepares students for college, careers, and meaningful participation as citizens; and
WHEREAS, the public school privatization agenda, which includes state takeovers, charter schools, voucher schemes, and a high-stakes test-and-punish philosophy, relies on destructive policies that harm students and blame educators that has proven to be ineffective at bringing efficiency and cost savings to our schools; and
WHEREAS, education profiteers dedicated to the public school privatization agenda and anti-educator initiatives also fund organizations entrenched in their movement to replace district schools with charter and private schools, such as the American Legislative Exchange Council, the Thomas Fordham Institute, Chiefs for Change, Teach for America, and Democrats for Education Reform; and be it
THEREFORE RESOLVED, that the (State Political Party) rejects the public school privatization movement and opposes making Ohio’s public schools private or becoming segregated again through the lobbying and campaigning efforts of affiliated organizations like the American Legislative Exchange Council, the Thomas Fordham Institute, Chiefs for Change, Teach for America, and Democrats for Education Reform; and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the (State Political Party) reaffirms its commitment to free accessible public school districts which are adequately and equitably funded to guarantee a comparable education for ALL children.
Adopted: (Date)
Meet with the political party leadership and share the resolution, as well as the links to educate about why those organizations (ALEC etc) are bad for the state’s schools. Ask that the resolution be considered for passage at the next central committee meeting, and be sure to request an invitation to the meeting.
To strengthen the chances of getting the resolution passed, contact the party’s central committee members through personal letters, emails, FB messages, and phone calls to pass along the resolution and impress upon them how important it would be to make a bold statement against school privatization. Forward the resolution to the state’s teachers’ union(s) and other education organizations to make sure they are also on board.
Diane Ravitch wrote, “If every state political party passed similar resolutions, the candidates would be forced to be equally resolute in support of public schools.”
Youngstown, Lorain, and East Cleveland are high-poverty school districts that are under state control in Ohio due to low performance on the state report card. Dayton schools could be next at the end of this school year. Columbus, Ashtabula, Canton, Euclid, Lima, Mansfield, North College, Painesville, and Toledo Public Schools face undemocratic state takeovers after next school year. State takeovers of public school districts are UNDEMOCRATIC, UNACCOUNTABLE, and UNACCEPTABLE.
Demonstrating growing Statehouse contempt for House Bill 70, Ohio’s school takeover policy, at least two bipartisan bills have been introduced to eliminate the disruptive school takeover law.
Ohioans need to show their support for these bipartisan bills by passing official resolutions seeking an immediate repeal of HB 70, because one cannot assume that the proposed legislation will move forward through the policy-making process without citizen input.
We must all work together to put a stop to the state takeovers of public school districts in Ohio.
Now.
Urge your local community leaders, school board members, district administrators, PTAs, public education advocates, and others to pass official resolutions asking Gov. Mike DeWine and the Ohio General Assembly to completely and immediately repeal HB 70 and replace it with an evidence-based turnaround model that restores local control and improves student outcomes.
To save time, all are welcome to copy, paste, and personalize the following composite:
Resolution to Repeal Ohio’s School Takeover Law – House Bill 70
WHEREAS, after months of covert meetings led by the Ohio Department of Education at the behest of the governor, Ohio’s 131st General Assembly swiftly enacted a school takeover bill in 2015, and the governor signed HB 70 into law, a plan to take over public school districts with low test scores and replace them with charter schools; and
WHEREAS, Ohio’s citizens have never agreed to any initiative to give the state authority to take over struggling public school districts; and
WHEREAS, House Bill 70 may have bypassed Article VI Section 3 of the Ohio Constitution, stating that, “Provision shall be made by law for the organization, administration and control of the public school system of the state supported by public funds: provided, that each school district embraced wholly or in part within any city shall have the power by referendum vote to determine for itself the number of members and the organization of the district board of education, and provision shall be made by law for the exercise of this power by such school districts;” and
WHEREAS, an elected school board provides a democratic voice for parents and community members to influence decision-making regarding public education; and
WHEREAS, school takeovers eliminate local democratic control when struggling districts are placed under state takeover; and
WHEREAS, school districts in economically distressed areas generally have low grades on the state report card, and school districts in affluent areas have high grades; and
WHEREAS, an overwhelming majority of the public believes that disinvestment in schools is a primary obstacle to a high-quality public education; and
WHEREAS, efforts to change the governance of public schools will not result in the infusion of needed resources and will shift responsibility for providing a sound public education away from the state and towards financially struggling parents; and
WHEREAS, school takeover policies in other states have failed to raise student achievement and have created disruptions for students, parents, and community members; and
WHEREAS, high-quality opportunities for all students require additional resources, including better access to health and social services, early childhood education, and academic enrichment programs, which are the cornerstone of improved outcomes for Ohio’s children; therefore be it
RESOLVED that ____________________ supports the complete and immediate repeal of HB 70, as well as replacement of the policy with an evidence-based turnaround model that restores local control and improves student outcomes; and be it
FURTHER RESOLVED that ___________________ shall inform the press and the community regarding the harm inflicted by HB 70.
“The Youngstown Plan.” Sounds very positive, doesn’t it? Academic distress commission. Opportunity school district. School turnaround. When the state takes over a school district, it may sound really promising, but it’s not. Simply put, a state takeover is part of the effort to privatize public education.
Youngstown’s hundred-year-plus development was halted in 1977 when the Youngstown Sheet and Tube Company closed the Campbell Mill. More than 5,000 jobs were lost immediately, and the loss of 50,000 jobs followed soon after. Most industry is now gone, and the median income in the city is $20,098. The Youngstown School District was the first one taken over by the state under House Bill 70.
School takeovers heavily rely on standardized-test scores to label schools as “failing” and in need of state control – even though federal education laws acknowledge that a broader set of indicators should be used to measure school progress.
HB 70 mandates the appointment of school district CEOs with the power to override the decisions of locally elected school boards. The public school system’s role is to maintain and strengthen our democracy. In public schools, students learn how to become productive and engaged citizens, and society benefits from the public good of having educated citizens. Voters elect local school representatives who will advance their community’s unique wants and needs, so it’s a vital opportunity to engage in the democratic process.
Youngstown’s CEO doesn’t attend the meetings of the elected school board. Board president Brenda Kimble said, “He doesn’t share anything with us and if he can cut us out he will. He doesn’t let the administration talk to us. There’s no communication. We’ve been totally cut out. We’re working as hard as we can to move this bill out of the way because it’s just not right.” She advises other school districts facing takeover, “Please get behind your board. They need your help because they have no power. The people you elected to look over your taxpayer dollars? They have no power. You have more than they do.”
Youngstown state Rep. Michele Lepore-Hagan described House Bill 70 as “taking away the voice of the locally elected school board members and giving an autocratic, unaccountable, appointed CEO total control over every facet of the system.”
Lepore-Hagan said, “The CEO can hire who he wants. Fire who he wants. Pay people whatever he wants. Hire consultants and pay them as much as he wants. Buy whatever he wants and pay as much as he wants for it. Tear up collective bargaining agreements. Ignore teachers. Ignore students. Ignore parents. And he also has the power to begin closing schools if performance does not improve within five years. Nearly four years in, here’s what the Youngstown Plan has produced: Ethical lapses. No-bid contracts. Huge salaries for the team of administrators the CEO hired. Concern and anxiety among students, parents, and teachers. And the resignation of most of the members of the Distress Commission who were charged with overseeing the CEO. Here’s what it hasn’t produced: better education for our kids.”
Youngstown Education Association President Larry Ellis said, “In Youngstown, HB 70 has proven to be a bill aimed at destroying public education – not improving it. It has eliminated any type of local control and vested all power in a sole dictatorial CEO. There’s been little to no collaboration with teachers, and they are all but ignored, even though they are the ones in the classroom. Teachers have become the source of blame. They are labeled as broken and needing fixed. Discipline is all but ignored leading to more problems.”
They infringe on school districts with some of the highest concentrations of minority and high-poverty students in the country. Since 1989, there have been more than 100 takeovers of local school districts in the United States, according to Domingo Morel, author of the book Takeover: Race, Education and American Democracy. In nearly 85% of these cases, the districts have had a majority of economically disadvantaged African American and Latino students.
Numbers provided by Youngstown Schools show that 62% of the district’s 5,250 students are black, and about 14.5% are white. In 2018, the Ohio Department of Education’s District Profile Report revealed that 99.98% of Youngstown public school students are disadvantaged, and the city’s median income is $20,098.
Over 20 years ago, the Ohio Supreme Court found that Ohio’s system of relying on property taxes for school funding was unconstitutional. The DeRolph decision was one of many attempts to correct an education funding problem, and it’s still a problem that’s never been solved.
In its policy for impoverished school districts, Ohio has chosen punishing – instead of investing to support the children, their families, and their teachers.
The result of this reliance on test scores in underfunded schools is a disproportionate impact of state-run takeovers on people of color and low-income communities. Nationwide, they are being disenfranchised by school takeovers, which leave them further marginalized.
William Phillis, Executive Director of the Ohio Coalition for Equity and Adequacy of School Funding, says that, “School districts in economically-distressed areas generally have low grades on the state report card; conversely, school districts in affluent areas have high grades. One could travel through a county or region of Ohio and predict the report card grade of the various school districts. Students and school personnel in poverty areas need help from the state to implement wraparound services, not a grade of F.”
Of the 12 school districts under state takeover or soon-to-be taken over, the number of disadvantaged students by school district ranges from 79% to 100%, and the median income of the communities ranges from $20,000-$30,000.
It’s unacceptable that urban districts and most other Ohio school districts have been deprived of the funding and resources required to deliver high-quality education and then have been targeted for takeover by the same state policymakers who set those inadequate funding levels.
Using resources in the following post, tell your elected leaders that House Bill 70 must either be repealed or drastically revised to return to its original purpose of providing resources to implement wraparound services.
School districts in economically-distressed areas generally have low grades on the state report card; conversely, school districts in affluent areas have high grades. One could travel through a county or region of Ohio and predict the report card grade of the various school districts.
Students (and school personnel) in poverty areas need help from the state to implement wraparound services, not a grade of F.
Why can’t state officials understand the futility of using the report card as a tool to take over school districts? Do some of them have a sinister agenda? Maybe some want to set the districts up for privatization.
HB 70 of the 131st General Assembly should be repealed.
~William L. Phillis, Ohio Coalition for Equity & Adequacy of School Funding
Watch THIS PRESENTATION to see what Ohio’s school takeover law is really about.
CLICK HERE to contact Ohio’s education leaders and tell them to repeal House Bill 70, Ohio’s FAILED school takeover law. Use the following fact sheet to help guide your conversations.
HERE is an example of a resolution to share with local community leaders, school board members, and district administrators. It provides the language for official resolutions asking Gov. Mike DeWine and the Ohio General Assembly to completely and immediately repeal HB 70 and replace it with an evidence-based turnaround model that restores local control and improves student outcomes.
State-run districts have not improved academic outcomes for most students. Instead, they have served as a mechanism for wholesale conversion of public schools to charters, and to disenfranchise tens of thousands of African American and Latino voters.
State takeovers of school districts, followed by the appointment of CEOs with power to override the decisions of elected school boards and nullify union contracts, are undemocratic, unaccountable, and unacceptable.
In a recent column entitled “State Reins in the “Wild West of Charter Schools” that was published in the Columbus Dispatch, Greg Richmond, who heads the Chicago-based National Association of Charter School Authorizers, stated that “Nothing inspires change quite like a good quote.” He was referring to the famous description of Ohio charter schools as the Wild, Wild West.
Those knowledgeable about the history of charters hate to deflate the hubris of Mr. Richmond, who went on to extol what he views as positive changes since the passage of House Bill 2 in 2015 and the seeming disappearance of an unfettered environment for these privately operated but publicly funded schools.
As a way to bolster his claims of dramatic improvement, he makes this statement: “The bill’s efforts to increase transparency, eliminate conflicts of interest and strengthen charter school governing boards have drawn deserved praise.” Really?
Unlike another of his claims, the sun has not set on the Wild, Wild West because charters continue to abuse the public trust. Consider these examples, which Mr. Richmond may not be able to see very clearly from his offices in the Windy City.
– Many charters make exorbitant rent payments to companies owned by their management companies. A July 2018 Dispatch investigation revealed that state tax funds helped to pay $7.7 million in renovations for a building owned by a subsidiary of the school’s management that was valued at only $2.2 million. Inflated rent payments help companies to quickly retire the debt on their holdings, allowing the conversion of public funds to private assets.
– Even after the spectacular failure of the behemoth ECOT online charter, some digital academies seem to be of questionable value. As an example, the national K12 chain which operates Ohio Virtual Academy was sued by the California attorney general for “deceptive advertising to mislead parents about students’ academic progress, parent satisfaction … the individualized and flexible nature of their instruction, hidden costs, and the quality of the materials provided to students.” Unlike California, it is unclear whether any state agency has conducted a thorough investigation of the practices of Ohio online schools other than ECOT, which mostly focused on fraudulent student attendance data that garnered the school tens of millions of undeserved state payments. Moreover, the National Collegiate Athletic Association examined the K12 chain as it operates in nine states, including Ohio, and found the academic program and progress toward graduation to be of concern.
– In spite of the supposed reforms to improve charter school governing boards, an investigation of one national charter school chain by the Akron Beacon Journal showed that some of their governing board members aren’t even American citizens. Unlike traditional public school districts, where board members must be “qualified voters” and thus U.S. citizens, there is no such requirement for charter board members, who are mostly hand-picked by the management companies or who may be friends of the school director. It does not take too much imagination to see that such a process of populating governing boards with individuals who may be beholden to those who appointed them rather than the public who might have elected them is fraught with the potential for conflict-of-interest situations.
– Numerous studies have shown that charter schools, which operate with about 150 exemptions from state law that otherwise apply to public schools, spend excessively on administration rather than instruction. This means that charter leaders, who aren’t required under state law to hold any minimum educational qualifications nor professional licensure of any kind, are rewarded at a higher percentage of the charter school dollar than licensed school administrators in comparable situations. How interesting that privately managed charter schools mimic the behavior and mindset of the corporate world, where CEOs are rewarded handsomely, while the workers see their wages and benefits squeezed. It is this situation that encourages the public to think of these privatized entities with few constraints as corporate schools.
But these observations only represent a short list of serious concerns about Ohio charter schools. For those who closely monitor them, as I have for nearly 20 years, the Wild, Wild West also known as charterworld is still untamed, despite Richmond’s rosy report that the industry is vastly improved since 2015.
The rubble of 292 closed Ohio charter schools is testament to the fact that a Matt Dillon or a Wyatt Earp-type may be needed to police what one authorizer told me, in an unguarded moment ten years ago, was what he called “The Dark Side.”
Wild, Wild West? Dark Side? Pick your favorite. In the meantime, let’s allow the sheriff in the form of state agencies to maintain better order and let sunshine better illuminate the workings of that dark place called charterworld.
~Denis Smith, retired public school administrator and former consultant in the Ohio Department of Education Office of Charter Schools
Ohio Kids ROCKED the Statehouse during Public Education Partners’ annual CELEBRATE PUBLIC EDUCATION ceremony on January 24th in honor of Public Education Week in Ohio.
Mighty marching band performances, dance, music, songs, poetry, art, sign language and video broadcasting projects were shared by inspirational students who turned PEP’s CELEBRATE PUBLIC EDUCATION ceremony into a powerful testimonial and a vital vision for re-investing in Ohio’s public schools.
Loudly and clearly, the audience and bi-partisan group of legislators witnessed strong academic and artistic student performances and heard the dynamic message from Public Education Partners: “STOP the failing state-takeovers of Ohio’s Public Schools and START addressing the real issues underlying academic achievement gaps – children living in poverty and trauma need additional resources, supports and services to come to school healthy and ready to learn and grow each day.”
Together, in growing numbers, PEP and Ohio’s public school’s teachers, students, parents, superintendents, principals and school board members are “Standing Up for Public Education” because “Kids’ Lives and Ohio’s Public Schools Matter!”
Wrap-Around Services Matter in Ohio’s Public Schools!A visionary dream-turned-into-reality for Cincinnati’s Public Schools was shared on the State House stage by an expert school resource team from Cincinnati’s Community Learning Centers.
Almost twenty years ago, this dream was born. It was a dream of helping students and families in economic distress and trauma recover by offering health services, counseling, after-school programs, nutrition classes, parent and family engagement programs, career and college access services, youth development activities, mentoring, arts programming and more in each public school.
It was a dream shared by teachers, administrators, parents, students and community members based on the belief that communities and their public schools are strongly linked — one seldom succeeds if the other fails.
It was a visionary dream of supporting struggling students and their families by building partnerships with community organizations to build Community Learning Centers in each public school.
Today, almost twenty years later, Cincinnati Public Schools’ Community Learning Center model has over 750 partnerships with community businesses and organizations that share resources, staff and support to help students and families facing challenges that are barriers to students’ learning, growing and building healthy, happy and successful lives.
Dreams turn into reality one step-at-a-time! Thank-you Cincinnati Public Schools for forging the path for the rest of Ohio to follow. Public Education Partners is committed to working together to stomp out the failing “state takeovers” of public schools and passing legislation that will fund comprehensive “wrap-around” services that will tackle the root-problem of academic distress in our public schools.
Music Matters in Ohio’s Public Schools!From the pulsing drum beats and blasting horns, to the dynamic dancing of East Cleveland’s award-winning Mighty Shaw High School Marching Band and the talented guitar, trumpet and ukulele trio from Columbus City’s Fort Haye’s High School; music, song and dance spilled into the State House CELEBRATING PUBLIC EDUCATION.
Diversity Matters in Ohio’s Public Schools!All children, from different cultures, races and ability levels are welcomed, supported and included in Ohio’s public schools.“LEARNING TOGETHER,” was the theme of 1st grade hearing-impaired children supported by expert deaf educators in an inclusion setting with their 1st grade “hearing” friends from Huy Elementary in Columbus Public School district. These exuberant 1st graders shared their WORDS about “Learning Together” in their public school with the help of American Sign Language interpreters; “During ‘Inclusion’ we like to learn about each other, we like to make new friends, we like to play together, during ‘Inclusion’ we like to learn new things!”
CHOICE Matters in Ohio’s Public Schools! CHOICE was celebrated by Wickliffe Progressive Elementary School in Upper Arlington’s Public Schools and Fort Hayes Metropolitan Education Center, of Columbus Public Schools. Both Wickliffe and Fort Hayes offer an arts/academic integrated alternative public school’s CHOICE in their respective public schools’ districts.
Art Matters in Ohio’s Public Schools! Wickliffe Progressive Elementary turned their love of art into a memorable connection between 4th grade students and adults in their community with Alzheimer’s disease. This community outreach Art project was shared through a beautiful slide show and poignant student reflections on the indelible impact of their shared experience together.
Performance Poetry Matters in Ohio’s Public Schools!Words and phrases turned into masterful poetic performance art as English students from Fort Hayes High School’s Poetry Slam Team held the audience spellbound while they “slammed down” some deeply introspective, original poetry for our audience.
Video Technology and Broadcast Journalism Matters in Ohio’s Public Schools!
“Standing Up for Public Education” isn’t only a powerful slogan, it also spurred on a flurry of original student-produced videos in a state-wide contest sponsored by the Ohio School Boards Association.
HUGE CONGRATULATIONS go out to the First, Second and Third place award winning video teams from Boardman, Upper Sandusky and Hoover High Schools for their incredible state-of-the-art video productions. Creating, collaborating, writing, producing, acting, directing, filming AND cutting-edge technology…. it doesn’t get more exciting than that, no wonder these students think their Public Schools’ ROCK!
Speeding across the screen in the Statehouse, students were captured sharing “live” testimonials in one-of-a-kind video productions about how their public schools have inspired them and made a difference in their lives; Robotics… Drama Club… Costume Design… Engineering Lab… Coding… Dance Teams… Math Club…. Quiz Bowl… Mass Media… Marching Band… Anatomy… Physiology … Spanish Club… Pop Culture Club… Football… Swimming… Debate Teams… Physical Education… Broadcasting Journalism… Local History Club… Music… Art… Novel Studies… TEACHERS… and more…
Celebrating Public Education Matters… Standing Up for Ohio’s Public Schools Matters! Public Education Partners would like to thank all our Public-School Teachers, Students, Parents, School Board Members, Leaders and Legislators who gathered together in our State House to lift our children and their futures by Celebrating PUBLIC EDUCATION WEEK in Ohio.
From the powerful driving beat of the Mighty Shaw Marching Band, to the love of creating Art in a community bonding 5th graders with adults with Alzheimer’s, to the performance art of the Poetry Slam, to the incredible Top 3 Award winners in the Stand Up for Public Education videos, to the teaming together of 1st grade deaf children with their first grade hearing friends spreading their message: “We love to LEARN TOGETHER!”
What we have witnessed together during CELEBRATE PUBLIC EDUCATION proves that state “takeovers” of Ohio’s public-school districts are not the solution to educating our struggling children who live in poverty and trauma.
Dismantling, disrupting and turning over our public schools to private CEOs and for-profit operators with little or no educational expertise is not the answer. We need to keep our neighborhood public schools OPEN.
Every cent of public funding needs to be re-invested in educational expertise, strategic resources and “wrap-around services” to support our children and the challenges they face in school.
Public Education Partners invites Ohio’s legislature and Governor DeWine to come together on common ground for Ohio’s children by re-investing in Ohio’s Public School Districts. Passing and funding legislation to support Ohio’s Public Schools in embracing “wrap-around models” to connect children and families in poverty and trauma with community resources onsite will finally address the real root of the “achievement gap” in our public schools.
Together, we will “Stand Up for Ohio’s Public Schools!”
Public school districts in the Buckeye state are open to all children, paid for by our taxes, and governed by democratically chosen school boards. They are considered a public good and the pillar of our democracy.
Our public schools are welcoming places where people from all walks of life can send their children to work, learn, and play together.
Public education is what we need to help heal the deep divisions in our nation.
Ohio celebrates public education, and to honor PUBLIC EDUCATION WEEK, local school boards, city councils, mayors, and members of the Ohio House and Senate officially adopted formal proclamations.
There was also an event that took place in the Ohio Statehouse, appropriately entitled CELEBRATE PUBLIC EDUCATION!
WHY celebrate public education?
WE CELEBRATE the 1.8 million students, including those with special needs or disabilities, English language learners, homeless kids, and troubled children, who attend Ohio public school districts.
WE CELEBRATE the parents and caregivers who entrust their precious children to neighborhood public schools to be nurtured, educated, and empowered to become productive adults.
WE CELEBRATE the 245,000+ public-school employees, including our dedicated hard-working teachers, who help make our public school system the largest employer in the state.
WE CELEBRATE the state Board of Education, the 714 local school boards, and their 3,466 democratically elected school board members who represent Ohio’s local, city, exempted village, career center, and educational service center districts.
WE CELEBRATE the local communities that form partnerships with their neighborhood public schools to support the goals, hopes, and dreams of our children.
WE CELEBRATE the members of the Ohio House and Senate who have committed to making the education, health, and well-being of our children primary concerns in state governance.
Ohio does hereby celebrate January 20-26, 2019 as PUBLIC EDUCATION WEEK and calls this observance to the attention of all citizens.
COLUMBUS – It’s time to “Celebrate Public Education!” Ohio public school districts serve more than 1.8 million students and employ more than 245,000 Ohioans as the largest employer in the state. Public schools are open to all children, paid for by our taxes, and governed by democratically elected public school boards. In fact, public education is the pillar of our democracy.
Let’s celebrate that!
On January 24th from 11:00am – 12:30pm, Public Education Partners (PEP) will honor the expertise, dedication and passion of public school students, teachers and leaders in school districts across the state during a PUBLIC EDUCATION WEEK ceremony at the Ohio Statehouse Atrium.
PUBLIC EDUCATION WEEK has been officially recognized throughout Ohio with formal proclamations issued by local school boards, city councils and other elected leaders. There has also been bi-partisan support at the Statehouse for PUBLIC EDUCATION WEEK. Republican and Democratic legislators in the Ohio House and Senate have issued formal proclamations in honor of this special week celebrating public education in Ohio.
The Statehouse event, appropriately named CELEBRATE PUBLIC EDUCATION, will honor teachers & students from Ohio’s Public Elementary and High Schools. Students will share Music, Writing, Poetry, Film & Video and other Classroom Projects.
East Cleveland’s Award-Winning Mighty Shaw High School Marching Band will perform in the State House Atrium to “Kick-Off” Celebrate Public Education at 10:45 am, January 24th. In just a few weeks after performing its magic at Celebrate Public Education, it’s on to the Mardi Gras in New Orleans for the highly esteemed Mighty Shaw Cardinals Marching Band!
Cincinnati Public Schools District Coordinator will share the school district’s nationally recognized Community Learning Centers “wrap around” model, integrating Cincinnati’s Public Schools with their local neighborhoods and communities in support of students and their families.
Fort Hayes Metropolitan High School’s Librarian and English teacher (Columbus Public Schools) will be sharing powerful performance poetry with talented Fort Hayes’s musicians and student poets from Fort Hayes “Poetry Slam” team.
Wickliffe Progressive Community School art teacher and students (Upper Arlington City Schools), will be presenting an incredible month-long partnership that paired 4th grade art students with community members who have Alzheimer’s disease, as reported on by the Dispatch (April 27, 2018 – Program pairs elementary students in art classes with Alzheimer’s adults).
Huy Elementary School Principal and supervisor of the Columbus Hearing Impaired Program will share the Hearing Impaired Teaching services at Huy Elementary which serve hearing impaired children from the ages of 3 – 22 years of age and offer a variety of services to meet the needs of each child, including audiological and speech services “in-house.” The teachers within the program are all highly qualified, with a wealth of knowledge of language development and Deaf Education.
“Stand Up for Public Education” High School Video Tech Broadcasting teams from Boardman Public Schools, North Canton Public Schools and Upper Sandusky Public Schools will be presenting their 1st, 2nd and 3rd place award winning videos from the Ohio School Boards “Stand Up for Public Education Video contest (Fall 2018).
Quotes from participating Teachers, District Leaders and PEP Board Members:
Jeanne Melvin, President of the Board, Public Education Partners
“I am a board member of an organization called Public Education Partners (PEP), a statewide nonprofit that was created to connect and unite advocates that support public school districts and the children and families they serve. PEP is a nonpartisan group that was formed to support publicly accountable Ohio schools for all students, to advocate for equitably funded public schools that offer a full curriculum to all children, and to help connect public education advocacy groups across the state.
Through my 36-year career as a public school teacher, I witnessed firsthand the important role that public education plays in preparing students to be successful adults. Public schools are welcoming places where people from all walks of life can send their children to learn together – schools that teach children not only how to read and write, but also how to work and play together. Public schools are what we need to help heal the deep divisions in our state and our nation.
Public school districts need to be equitably funded, so they have the necessary resources to offer a top-notch curriculum to every student. We encourage elected leaders to support legislation that would declare moratoriums on new charter schools and school voucher programs, which currently take funding and other valuable resources away from public school districts.
We ask that they work together to repeal the state takeovers of schools imposed in House Bill 70, which are undemocratic, unaccountable, and unacceptable. Our state should instead provide resources to revitalize schools as wraparound community learning centers that bring health, dental, and mental health clinics, after-school programs, and parent support programs into the neighborhood schools.
Let’s guarantee a comparable opportunity to learn for EVERY child, which includes a quality early childhood education, qualified teachers, a rich curriculum that will prepare students for college, work, and community, and equitable instructional resources.
Our kids are worth it!”
Maureen Reedy, Board Member, Public Education Partners
“As a Columbus City Schools graduate, and 30-year retired public school teacher, I believe state “takeovers” of Ohio’s public school districts are not the solution to educating our struggling children who live in poverty and trauma.
Dismantling, disrupting and turning over our public schools to private CEO’s and for-profit operators with little or no educational expertise is not the answer. State takeovers have proven disastrous in Ohio as well as across the country.
Ohio’s legislature and Governor DeWine need to fund legislation to support Ohio’s Public Schools in embracing ‘wrap-around models’ to help connect children and families in poverty and trauma recovery with community resources on site (ie. East Cleveland’s ‘wrap-around’ model and the Community Learning Center model; Cincinnati Public Schools). Lifting children up each day in school by investing in curricular resources, the arts, librarians, guidance counselors, gifted services, social workers, safety personnel, intervention specialists and school nurses for student with special needs; from specific learning disabilities to diagnosed medical conditions is the way to help our children learn and thrive. Our Public Schools are second homes for Ohio’s children, their teachers and their families. Strong, well-funded Public Schools mean healthy, safe and vibrant communities where children and their parents belong and contribute, learning and growing together.
Every cent of public funding is re-invested in strategic resources to support our children in school.
Our most important goal is for every child to reach their potential and live happy, productive lives. As we’ve witnessed here today, Celebrating Public Education, children thrive academically, socially and emotionally as they learn together, in ‘real time,’ with expert, professional teachers in their school community.”
Denyse Woods, Principal, Huy Elementary School, Columbus City Schools (Supervisor, Columbus Hearing Impaired Program – CHIP)
Denyse Woods and Britt Mickley represent the Columbus Hearing Impaired Program from Columbus City Schools. Britt is in her 12th year teaching the Deaf and currently teaches Kindergarten. Denyse Woods is the Principal of Huy Elementary School and the supervisor of the Columbus Hearing Impaired Program (CHIP). Huy Elementary School is lucky to have a Principal with a background in Deaf Education who also supervises the CHIP program. Our hearing-impaired program has 235 children enrolled from Columbus, one of the 25 school districts served from Central Ohio.
We are honored to serve hearing impaired children from the ages of 3 – 22 and offer a variety of services to meet the needs of each child, including audiological and speech services “in-house.” The teachers within the program are all highly qualified, with a wealth of knowledge of language development and Deaf Education. Many of the students utilize technology such as hearing aids or cochlear implants to better access spoken language. Some students utilize American Sign Language for their communication needs. The CHIP program also has interpreting services to meet the needs of each child including: mainstreaming, inclusion, and itinerant services. We work with outside community agencies to ensure the success of each individual child.
Britt Mickley: “As a veteran educator of the Deaf, I believe in inclusive education. I believe in combining both typical and students with special needs in the same learning environment. The benefits, socially and academically, can make a positive impact on both groups of students (and co-teachers) in so many ways. Fostering this type of learning environment in the classroom should be the expectation in every public school! ”
We are honored to Celebrate Public Education and continue the hard work we put forth for our students each day!
Chris Clones – Media Director , Boardman High School
Boardman School District is very proud of our MultiMedia Program! BSTN students are creative, hard-working, and passionate about communication and video production. And while we believe Boardman is the Best– BSTN is a GREAT example of the exceptional opportunities available in Ohio Public Schools.
Our students operate cameras, edit videos, cover live sports in our football stadium and on our basketball court. They shoot musicals, band and choral concerts that are live streamed to our community. They build the graphics, they run the teleprompter…they direct and anchor the interviews during community segments with the local police chief, or the township trustees….or the local Lions Club and the Rotary. Boardman schools have supported the media program since 1990.
We are grateful for the community partners who support us as well. Boardman Township, Boardman Park, The Rotary, the Lions, the Optimists Club, …the list goes on. With their support, we are able to afford to upgrade equipment, like wireless microphones, Teleprompters, and a host of technology. It gives our students an edge, as they are exposed to high tech equipment they will find at college and even professional studios. Our community partners help make excellent programming affordable for public education.
Shelly Simon – Computer/Technology Teacher, Upper Sandusky High School
Public schools are always looking for ways to improve education for our students. Teaching at Upper Sandusky High School has allowed me to create classes in the Technology/Computer department which helps students to develop ideas from concepts, become critical thinkers, problem solvers, and collaborators. This is done by giving students the foundation, and letting them build upon it whatever interests them in the multimedia, and coding areas. Our public school has given me the freedom as an educator to decide what will best benefit our students in the area of technology.
Please join PEP and friends in the Ohio Statehouse Atrium on Jan. 24, 2019 from 11am-12:30pm to CELEBRATE PUBLIC EDUCATION!
We’re effective because we work together. Join Us.
