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The
mission of the Ohio Fair Schools Campaign
is
to organize and advocate for high quality public
education opportunities for all Ohio children
wherever
they live, whatever their race and
whatever
their family background.
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Thursday January 31, 2008 Volume 6, Issue 2
WHAT’S UP WITH SCHOOL FUNDING
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1. OHIO FAIR SCHOOLS CAMPAIGN UPDATE
2. OHIO’S BUDGET DEFICIT
3. UPCOMING EVENT: TOLEDO WELCOMES COLUMBUS, FEB 2
4. SAVE THE DATE: OFT LOBBY DAY MARCH 11
5. GIFTED EDUCATION IN OHIO
6. HAS OHIO CLOSED THE FUNDING GAP?
7. HIGH SCHOOL DROPOUTS AND THE ECONOMY
8. QUALITY COUNTS 2008
9. WORKING CONDITIONS AS IMPORTAINT AS SALARY FOR TEACHER RETENTION
10. GRANTS AND RESOURCES
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1. OHIO FAIR SCHOOLS CAMPAIGN UPDATE
***CORRECTION- In the last issue of WHAT’S UP WITH SCHOOL FUNDING there was a bad link. My apologies to those of you who tried to click on the 2007 SUMMARY OF EDUCATION BILLS and got an error message . The correct link is: http://www.ohiofairschools.org/learn/Ed_Updates/12_31_07.html
Mark your calendar; our next statewide meeting is on Thursday, February 14 from 11-2 in Columbus. We’re still looking for a place to have the meeting, so if you are planning to attend, let us know so we can let you know where we will be.
Thank you to everyone who has already started using your Kroger cards. If you haven’t signed up yet, it’s easy! If you choose to help, it costs you nothing, but you will be contributing to help fix school funding in Ohio. Kroger will donate 5% of all of your purchases, including gasoline, to the Ohio Fair Schools Campaign. All you have to do is purchase a Kroger Gift Card from us for $5 (it will have $5 credit on the card) and use this card every time you shop at Kroger. You can use it at any Kroger store. You pay nothing extra for your items.
If 100 people spend an average of $200 per month at Kroger, the Ohio Fair Schools Campaign will receive $1,000 each month. This would help to sustain our work throughout Ohio. Please order your card today!
To get started with your card, please call the office (740) 592-2866 or e-mail Debbie: Debbie@ohiofairschools.org
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2. OHIO’S BUDGET DEFICIT
Governor Strickland held a budget briefing with legislative leaders on January 23, 2008. The briefing focused on the status of Ohio's FY08 and 09 budgets. The state budget approved by the Ohio General Assembly in June 2007 (HB119-Dolan) was based on an assumption that the economy would show slight growth in mid 2008 and stronger growth in 2009. According to recent analysis, the continued decline in the economy will have a negative impact on Ohio's economy and tax revenue. State economists forecast that the budget will face a $733 million gap if the economy grows slowly, $1.3 billion if there is no growth, and $1.9 billion if it goes into recession.
Governor Strickland is expected to address the budget issues in the annual State of the State Address on February 6, 2008. In the meantime, the governor has directed state agencies to identify areas to cut. The Office of Budget and Management also reports that approximately $1 billion is available in the budget stabilization fund (rainy day fund). A link to the briefing document is available through the article in the Columbus Dispatch at http://blog.dispatch.com/dailybriefing/2008/01/massive_budget_shortfall_possi.shtml
To read related articles, visit:
1/24 Columbus Dispatch
Ohio has fixed this problem before
http://www.dispatch.com/live/content/local_news/stories/2008/01/24/BEFORE.ART_ART_01-24-08_A1_VA956SU.html?sid=101
1/24 Columbus Dispatch
Cabinet told to look for ways to cut back
http://dispatch.com/live/content/local_news/stories/2008/01/24/budget_shortfall.ART_ART_01-24-08_A1_QR95584.html?sid=101
1/24 Akron Beacon Journal
Ohio deficit looming
http://www.ohio.com/news/top_stories/14173607.html
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3. UPCOMING EVENT: TOLEDO WELCOMES COLUMBUS, FEB 2
The Toledo Public Schools Parent Congress will host “Toledo Welcomes Columbus”, where a panel of students from each of the Toledo Public High Schools will ask legislators questions concerning how the decisions made in Columbus affect Toledo Public Schools. The event will be held at Rogers High School Auditorium on February 2, 2008 from 10am until noon. State Representative Edna Brown, Senator Teresa Fedor and State Representative Peter Ujvagi will be present. The event is open to the public. For more info, contact the Parent Coordinator’s Office at 419-671-8363.
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4. SAVE THE DATE: OFT LOBBY DAY MARCH 11
The Ohio Federation of Teachers will host a Lobby Day on March 11 in Columbus from 9am until noon, including events in the afternoon and evening with the House and Senate Education committees. Educators are encouraged to come and let legislators know how the bills that are being discussed in the Ohio Legislature will impact you and your schools. For info, contact: Sarah Hamilton at shamilton@oft-aft.org or at 614-562-5061
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5. GIFTED EDUCATION IN OHIO
According to a recent article in the Plain Dealer, most students who are gifted in Ohio are being neglected due to a lack of commitment, resources, laws, and policies. Currently under Ohio law school districts are only required to identify gifted students, but are not required to provide education services to meet their learning needs. 31 states require school districts to offer special services to gifted students, but there is no federal or state law that mandates schools to identify or serve gifted students.
Approximately sixteen percent of students in Ohio have been identified as gifted, but only twenty-six percent of those students received full or partial services last year. Without gifted education services, research shows that these students often become disengaged, can develop behavior problems, and lose their academic or creative advantage.
To read the article, visit:
1/23 Plain Dealer
Thousands of Ohio's gifted students not receiving adequate education
http://www.cleveland.com/news/plaindealer/index.ssf?/base/news/120108103541840.xml&coll=2
(Summary excerpt from LWVO Education Update for 1-28-08, courtesy of Joan Platz)
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6. HAS OHIO CLOSED THE FUNDING GAP?
The Education Trust released “The Funding Gap”, the seventh in a series of annual reports that includes a state-by-state analysis of funding trends from 1999 to 2005. The report says that Ohio is improving school funding equity by decreasing the gaps between the high and low poverty school districts. The Education Trust news release said "Ohio took important steps toward greater funding equity, and not only closed their low-income funding gaps, they reversed them and began providing more funding to their highest-poverty districts." The study found that in 1999 Ohio's high-poverty school districts received $77 less per pupil than the state's wealthiest school districts. In 2005 the state's high poverty school districts received $833 more per pupil than wealthy districts. The report is available at http://www2.edtrust.org/EdTrust/Press+Room/fundinggap07.htm.
Dick Fisher from the Coalition of Rural and Appalachian Schools points out that the funding gap still exists when we look at Ohio’s Appalachian counties. And that “according to Expenditure Flow Model (EFM) data from the Ohio Department of Education (ODE), the funding gap between the average per pupil expenditure for the state and Ohio's 29-county Appalachian region was not "closed" or "reversed" between the years 2000 and 2006. Not only did the funding gap not close, it actually increased between FY 2005 and FY 2006. (See table below.)
Average Per Pupil Expenditure for State of Ohio and the 29 Appalachian Counties
Fiscal Year State of Ohio 29 Ohio Appalachian Counties Per Pupil Funding Gap
2000 $6,619 $6,129 $490
2001 7,220 6,600 620
2002 7,547 6,980 567
2003 7,822 7,329 493
2004 8,112 7,654 458
2005 8,364 7,938 426
2006 8,675 8,229 446
* Ohio Department of Education has used the EFM - Expenditure Flow Model since FY 2000 to determine per pupil expenditures.
In addition, FY 2006 ODE data show school district per pupil expenditures in Ohio's 29-county Appalachian region as low as $6,653, more than $2,000 below the state average.
To read related articles, visit:
1/20 Akron Beacon Journal
B- for Ohio
http://www.ohio.com/editorial/opinions/13929447.html
1/18 Plain Dealer
Ohio narrows funding gap among school districts
http://www.cleveland.com/news/plaindealer/index.ssf?/base/cuyahoga/1200648781154250.xml&coll=2
1/17 The Advocate
Ohio bucks trend in school funding
http://www.newarkadvocate.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080117/UPDATES01/80117020/1002/
(Summary excerpt courtesy of CORAS, http://www.coras.org)
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7. HIGH SCHOOL DROPOUTS AND THE ECONOMY
The Alliance for Excellent Education has created economic impact fact sheets for every state and the District of Columbia. These fact sheets provide an overview of the economic costs to society of an educational system that serves so many students poorly. They also include the potential economic benefits that a state could enjoy were it to invest in a high school system that prepares all high school students for graduation and success after high school. To view Ohio’s fact sheet, visit: http://www.all4ed.org/files/Ohio_econ.pdf
Also available on the Alliance’s website is an interactive map that provides statistical snapshots of high schools in each state, including data on graduation rates, college readiness, academic achievement, and teachers' salaries. Where applicable, statewide numbers are compared to the national average and include national rankings. Visit: http://www.all4ed.org/about_the_crisis/schools/map. *Please note: If nothing happens when you click on a state, you must add this website to the “allowed sites” list in your pop-up blocker window.
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8. QUALITY COUNTS 2008
For over 10 years Education Week has been grading states on their efforts to improve public education as part of the “Quality Counts” annual report. The report’s executive summary explains that this year states were graded “on their performance outcomes as well as on their policy efforts” and “on their efforts to better align policies across the various levels of education—from early-childhood education to postsecondary study and training.” This year’s report also introduces “a greatly revised set of indicators on the teaching profession that looks more broadly at state efforts to attract, develop, and deploy talent in education, including some new indicators related to school principals.”
Ohio ranked 17th in the nation in per pupil expenditure. Ohio's ranking on other selected indicators:
- Wealth Neutrality Score (Relationship between district funding and local property wealth) Ohio ranked 29th in the nation.
- McLoone Index (Actual spending as percent of amount needed to bring all students to median level) Ohio ranked 35th in the nation.
- Coefficient of Variation (Amount of disparity in spending across districts within a state) Ohio ranked 30th in the nation.
To read the Executive Summary, visit: http://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2008/01/10/18execsum.h27.html
From here you can view state-by-state highlights reports, a state report cards map and other web exclusives.
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9. WORKING CONDITIONS AS IMPORTAINT AS SALARY FOR TEACHER RETENTION
Researchers say working conditions may be more important than salary to many teachers. "Recent studies are beginning to suggest that working conditions are a key to attracting and retaining teachers, perhaps even more than financial incentives," according to a recent Education Week article. "A Harvard University survey of 50 Massachusetts teachers who entered the classroom in 1999... found that teachers who left the job after a year or two most often cited factors that all arguably fall under the umbrella of working conditions," the article said. Student discipline issues, heavy courseloads, disputes with administrators and lack of resources were all common reasons cited by teachers leaving the profession.
Stanford University researchers who followed 375,000 Texas teachers from 1993 to 1996 found "that teachers systematically moved to schools with greater resources and higher test scores for about the same pay, on average, as the teachers in the schools they left behind." A 2004-2005 study of New York City teachers revealed largely the same pattern. The president of the nonprofit Center for Teaching Quality, said, "Effective and supportive leadership also crops up consistently as the single most important issue in the working-conditions surveys that the center has helped conduct in Arizona, Kansas, Mississippi, Nevada, North Carolina, Ohio, and South Carolina." To read the Education Week article, visit:
http://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2008/01/10/18conditions.h27.html
(Summary courtesy of CORAS, http://www.coras.org)
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10. GRANTS AND RESOURCES
Dollar General Literacy Grants
The Dollar General Literacy Grants programs provide funding to literacy providers in the communities served by the company. The Family Literacy Grants program supports family literacy service providers that offer programs for both parents and children. The application deadline is March 4, 2008. For application guidelines visit:
http://www.dollargeneral.com/community/communityinvestments.aspx?Category=Community&SubCategory=Grant%20Programs#AdultLiteracy
School Wellness Grant Program
The U.S. Potato Board, in partnership with the School Nutrition Foundation, has initiated the School Wellness Grant Program for elementary schools in the United States. Grants will be awarded for equipment and/or educational programs that will help move children toward healthier diets and improve their overall wellness. Grant money can be used for food service equipment for the healthful preparation of fresh or processed potatoes, physical activity equipment for use on the campus playground or during physical education programs, or development or execution of nutrition or physical activity educational programs. Applicants must be members of the School Nutrition Association (SNA) or be sponsored by an SNA member. The application deadline is April 15, 2008. For application guidelines and forms, visit:
http://www.potatogoodness.com/healthEducators.php?id=11
Grants for integrating the arts into educational programs
The Moss Foundation encourages and rewards instructional collaboration among educators for the purpose of including the arts in classroom experiences as an essential ingredient in the education of all children. Grants will be awarded to educators to support a new or evolving program that integrates the arts into educational programming. The purpose is to aid and support teachers who wish to establish an effective learning tool using the arts in teaching children who learn differently. The application deadline is February 29. To download the grant application, visit: http://www.mossfoundation.org/page.php?id=89
YSA Invites Youth to be Ambassadors during 2008 Summer Olympics
Youth Service America is accepting applications for the American Young Ambassadors Program, which will take place August 4-17, 2008, in Beijing, China. Thirty exceptional high school students, ages 15-18, will be selected to represent the U.S. as Young Ambassadors-at-large during the 2008 Summer Olympics. Applicants must be U.S. citizens and should demonstrate significant academic or athletic accomplishment in addition to notable public service efforts in their communities. Applications are due March 3, 2008. For additional information, visit
http://servenet.org/tabid/122/articleType/ArticleView/articleId/489/American-Young-Ambassadors-Program.aspx |
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Ohio Fair Schools Campaign, 94 Columbus Road
Athens, Ohio 45701
Tel. (740)592-2866 Fax (740)593-5451 |
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