Governor's proposal for charter-school funding a head scratcher

Terry Ryan / April 1, 2009

Much has been much written about the challenges of understanding Gov. Strickland's school-funding plan. For example, the Akron Beacon Journal asked, why some "wealthy districts receive more state money than much poorer ones? How were the costs calculated for components of the key funding factor, the Instructional Quality Index?" (see here and here). If, however, the numbers are a mystery for traditional school district officials they are, stealing a line from Winston Churchill, "a riddle, wrapped in a mystery, inside an enigma" for charter schools.

The accompanying graph shows a sample of charter schools in Dayton and how their funding would improve, or suffer, in 2010 under the governor's Evidence-Based Model of school funding. The numbers were shared in mid-March through a simulation provided by the Ohio Department of Education. The X axis shows student enrollment in each school while the Y axis shows the revenue gain/loss in thousands of dollars for each school in the scatter plot.

What one sees here is that there are some serious charter school winners in the governor's plan, and some big-time losers. For example, the 48-student Summit Academy in Dayton would see its revenues jump from $663,993 to $1,174,334 (an increase of 76.9 percent), while the 657-student Dayton Academy would see its revenues decline 20.5 percent from $4,920,719 to $3,914,014 (Dayton Academy is authorized by our sister organization, the Thomas

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Governor's proposal for charter-school funding a head scratcher

Ohio schools can expect to see federal stimulus dollars soon

Mike Lafferty / April 1, 2009

Federal stimulus dollars will begin flowing into the state as early as this week, according to State Superintendent Deborah Delisle.

The money will flow through the state education department and both she, as state schools chief, and Gov. Ted Strickland must sign off on how the money is used. A second round of stimulus funding will come in October. However, while the districts theoretically have to follow the federal rules in spending the money, Delisle admitted she can't make them. How the rules are followed the first time, however, could make a difference in the second round of funding. (See more on this issue here.)

Delisle made the comments last week in a wide-ranging discussion with members of the Ohio Grantmakers Forum (see here).

Delisle said districts may receive some flexibility on mandated student-teacher ratios under the proposed revamping of Ohio's education system. Instead of trying to attain a 1-15 ratio, for example, a district may choose to use extra state money for mathematics or literacy programs or some other need.

"One of our goals is to not overwhelm districts," she said.

Delisle said she has proposed a transition plan to Strickland that would impose new requirements gradually on districts, "so districts don't feel we're dumping all of this work on them at one point."

Delisle, who has 34 years in public education and was superintendent of the Cleveland Heights-University Heights school district before coming to the state, has become Gov. Ted Strickland's principal

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Ohio schools can expect to see federal stimulus dollars soon

Ohio earns a D-plus in use of technology in schools

Mike Lafferty / April 1, 2009

Ohio, birthplace of the Wright brothers, Thomas Edison, and Neil Armstrong has received a D-plus in the use of technology in education (see here), according to an Education Week survey.

Oddly, though, the state received a B-minus in the capacity to use technology, so we seem to have it but we don't know what to do with it.

However, some Ohio education experts say the survey is misleading in that it misuses the term "technology" by implying only computer-related technologies and that it distorts the issue of "technology standards." Technology includes aerospace, agriculture, manufacturing, materials, environment, energy, and other issues, they said.

In the survey of the 50 states plus the District of Columbia, Ohio was ranked 47^th in the use of technology. Ohio tied Tennessee, Vermont, and Washington (all with D-plus scores). The District of Columbia was last with the lone F.

Education Week evaluated the use of education technology in four categories: Do state standards for students include technology? Does the state test students on the use of technology? Has the state established a virtual school? And, does the state offer computer-based assessments? Ohio met the standard only for having state achievement standards that includes the use of technology.

At the top were Arizona, Georgia, Louisiana, Maryland, North Carolina, South Carolina, South Dakota, Utah, and West Virginia. They all had scores of 100.

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Ohio earns a D-plus in use of technology in schools

Pension worries need to be addressed now, not later, two lawmakers say

Mike Lafferty / April 1, 2009

Two Ohio lawmakers on opposite sides of the political aisle say it is critical for the state to address a looming pension crisis among teachers and other public-sector employees.

"There have been rumblings about pensions for some time. We've seen bloated pension benefits take down companies like GM," said Rep. Seth Morgan (R-Huber Heights).

Morgan and Rep. John Domenick (D-Smithfield) believe the needs of public pension funds, including the State Teachers Retirement System (STRS), all of which have been hit hard by the world financial crisis, need to be addressed.

"There will be a problem down the road," Domenick said.

In 2007, the Thomas B. Fordham Institute raised serious questions (see here) concerning the long-term viability of the STRS fund, which serves 458,000 current or retired teachers. Last year's financial meltdown has only heightened fears.

The STRS expects its unfunded liability to more than double to $38 billion by July based on investment expectations (see here). The fund is below required minimums mandated by law but no one in state government has shown any inclination to enforce the law.

During its March meeting, the STRS board said that without changes the system would not be able to meet future benefits. The board instituted what it termed long-term contingency planning because of the "significant impact market losses have had on both the system's pension and health care funds" (see here).

While there is no problem meeting short-term obligations, the STRS noted in its board report:

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Pension worries need to be addressed now, not later, two lawmakers say

Comparative Indicators of Education in the United States and Other G-8 Countries: 2009

April 1, 2009

National Center for Education Statistics
March 2009

The United States still has some catching up to do in science and math education before its schools can stand equal to those in other G-8 nations, according to the fourth in a series of reports published by the Institute of Education Services' National Center for Education Statistics. The report draws from the results of four international student assessments.

Although American students scored higher than average than several of their G-8 peers in reading on the Progress in International Reading Study, their performance in mathematics and science left much to be desired.

On the Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study assessment, Japanese students outperformed students in all other participating G-8 countries with 26 percent of eighth graders reaching the advanced benchmark compared with only six percent of U.S. students. On the Program for International Student Assessment, 15-year-old students in the United States scored lower than their peers in the U.K., Germany, Japan, and Canada. About one-quarter of them scored at or below the lowest proficiency level on the test.

The report notes that teachers in the United States have a lower average number of years of teaching experience than all of the other G-8 countries and a higher frequency of behavior problems in the classroom, but it would be difficult to point to either of these as the main cause for the continuing lackluster results.

The United States isn't doing everything wrong, though. The percentage of teachers

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Comparative Indicators of Education in the United States and Other G-8 Countries: 2009