Dayton Daily News education reporter Scott Elliott writes about schools, kids, teaching and learning.
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Thursday, March 30, 2006
Voucher rule changes pass
Here’s the story I wrote for today’s paper. It didn’t end up making it into the paper today, but some version of it should be in tomorrow’s paper.
By Scott Elliott
selliott@DaytonDailyNews.com
Thousands more kids in Dayton and across Ohio are eligible to receive private school vouchers under newly approved rules.
Changes to the voucher law were passed by the legislature as part of a budget corrections bill this wee and are awaiting Gov. Bob Taft’s signature. Normally, new laws take effect in 90 days, but spokesman J.C. Benton said the Ohio Department of Education will begin following the new rules immediately.
The voucher program will allow students in consistently low performing schools to use up to $5,000 in state money for private school tuition. When the program kicks off this fall it will be the nation’s largest statewide voucher program, helping 14,000 Ohio kids attend private schools.
Under the new rules:
• Students attending schools that have been rated in the two lowest state categories — academic watch or academic emergency — would be eligible. This would include Dayton’s Belle Haven, Edison, Fairview, Hickorydale, Cornell Heights and McNary elementary schools, plus Dunbar and Belmont high schools; Jefferson Twp. High School; and Camden Elementary School in Preble County.
• In Dayton, all incoming kindergartners and all students attending charter schools can seek vouchers under the new rules.
Statewide, 45,000 kids will now be eligible to apply, probably guaranteeing they will all be used. If more than 14,000 apply, lowest income students would be given first priority.
Tom Mooney, president of the Ohio Federation of Teachers, said the teachers’ union opposed the expansion, because it believes the changes will hurt schools that are improving.
“We think its a bad idea to expand a program that hasnt even been launched yet,� he said. “There is no track record anywhere that shows vouchers improve student achievement.�
Daria Dillard Stone, program manager for the Dayton-based Parents Advancing Choice in Education, said the new rules offer help to parents who need it.
“It gives them more choices,� she said. “Anything that increases their options is a plus.�
Contact Scott Elliott at (937) 225-2485.
Permalink | Comments (6) | Categories: Charter Schools and School Choice
A win for voucher supporters
Proposed new rules to greatly expand eligibility for vouchers that I wrote about recently have passed the legislature and are now headed to Gov. Bob Taft for his signature. The Ohio Department of Education said they will begin following the new rules immediately and plan to take out ads and hold informational meetings in Dayton and other affected cities.
You can find my summary of the new eligibility rules here.
And look for my story tomorrow in the Dayton Daily News.
Permalink | Comments (6) | Categories: Charter Schools and School Choice
Ohio’s new school watchdogs
With the announcement yesterday that The Academy of Dayton is losing its sponsorship, Ohio saw a new idea in charter school accountability begin to kick in.
It’s an approach only Ohio has tried, and a lot of people around the country are watching closely to see how it goes here.
Last summer, the Ohio Department of Education got out of the business of watchdogging charter schools entirely. Under a new state law. The department has a new role — to approve “authorizers,” or sponsoring organizations, to direct charters day-to-day.
These new sponsors could be school districts, universities or non-profit groups, provided those groups could show the state that they had enough cash, appropriate management and a coherent plan for operating charter schools. Once approved, each sponsor could take up to 30 charter schools under its wing and, in doing so, became solely responsible for the school’s success or failure.
This was a plan backed by charter school proponent, with the goal of giving the monitoring power to an oversight group that was really invested in helping the school succeed — an overseer who would nurture schools along and, advocates hoped, would put a foot down when schools failed to live up to their expectations.
When the state played this role, it was handicapped by the scope of the job. There were hundreds of schools to monitor and limited resources. Plus the charter idea came from outside the education department, essentially dumped in its lap by the legislature in 1997. Especially in the early years of charters here, the department struggled just to put decent oversight processes in place.
So how is the new system working? Well, already the Lucas County Educational Service Center has declined to renew 12 of its schools and now Academy of Dayton has fallen short with its sponsor, the Ohio Council of Community Schools.
The council’s non-renewal letter was pretty direct, detailing all the contract requirements the school did not fulfill. For instance, the school failed to apply for 501(c)(3) non-profit status, add local people to its governing board, give adequate notice for public meetings, produce an annual report and complete background checks on all employees. That’s even before you get to the council’s concerns about the school’s staff turnover and low test scores.
It’s not over yet for Academy of Dayton. If they can find a different sponsor to take them on, they can remain open next year. It will be interesting to see how that search turns out.
Charter advocates are sensitive to charges that the schools are not accountable and are low performing. Their hope is that the sponsors will be more vigilant than the state, helping good schools grow and forcing low performers to improve or close. If so, proponents believe the movement will look better overall as more good schools flourish and bad schools disappear.
If it works, expect to see this model appear in other states.
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