Dayton Daily News education reporter Scott Elliott writes about schools, kids, teaching and learning.
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Saturday, December 23, 2006
What was your best gift ever?
A couple years ago, I asked this question of everyone in my family during the holidays — what was your all-time favorite gift you’ve ever received?
The question is purposeful and each answer, I thought, was revealing. I’ll explain where I got this question, why I’m asking and what your answer possibly says about you, or us, after I give you all a chance to post your answers.
So go on, tell us. What was the best gift you ever received?
(Image credit: www.ccfc.ca)
Last minute school law changes
As the lame duck legislature rushes last minute bills to the governor, there are some that affect education.
A couple thoughts on the implications of the rushed changes:
Vouchers
I’ve already written about how the expansion of the voucher program affects Dayton. But I can’t help but wonder why lawmakers, if they want more Ohioans to try vouchers, don’t take a more direct approach.
This further expansion of the eligibility rules again demonstrates how the program’s small enrollment was disappointing to supporters of the idea. This move is designed to use up more of the state-approved vouchers that so far have gone unused.
But when I was writing about this early in the year, some of the strongest advocates for vouchers were parents who have already chosen private schools and are scraping every dollar to make it work. Those parents have never understood why the state just doesn’t make families already attending private schools eligible for vouchers.
Does that cast the net too wide? Well, perhaps the law could add some limits. An income threshold could reserve vouchers just for the poorest private school families.
School buildings
Another change lawmakers pushed is designed to help charter schools. Many of them are now in unsuitable buildings because, short of raising private funds to build a new school, there aren’t many great options for school appropriate space.
Charter supporters feel public school districts should play fair and sell unused buildings to charters but fear that school districts will hold onto those schools just to spite charters that they view as competitors. So a new law proposed to require school districts to sell unused schools to charters if the school has been empty for a year and there is no plan for re-use during the next three years.
My first thought on that provision was that it could affect districts like Dayton that are in the midst of major school construction projects. Take the former Julienne High School building on Homewood Avenue that now houses Stivers School for the Arts. It is a nice quality building that Dayton Public Schools plans to use as “swing space” to temporarily house schools in transition.
But now DPS must take care to have a plan for that building after Stivers moves into its new building late next year or face the danger of being forced to sell it. And that’s just one example. Dayton has a couple dozen schools in transition. It seems like this change in state law creates one more headache for the managers of the building program.
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