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.
Friday November 30, 2007 Volume 5, Issue 24
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1. OHIO FAIR SCHOOLS CAMPAIGN UPDATE

2. PER STUDENT SPENDING DATA AVAILABLE FROM ODE

3. HOW ARE LEGISLATORS TALKING ABOUT SCHOOL FUNDING?

4. SB 141: CHARTER SCHOOL ACCOUNTABILITY

5. CHARTER START UP GRANTS, MILLIONS WASTED

6. CANTON GROUP TO WORK ON SCHOOL FUNDING SOLUTIONS

7. SCHOOL CUTS IN CINCINNATI

8. DETERMINING THE COST OF A QUALITY EDUCATION

9. MEASURING ACADEMIC PROGRESS: A GUIDE TO GROWTH MODELS

10. GRANTS

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1. OHIO FAIR SCHOOLS CAMPAIGN UPDATE
Mark your calendar; our next statewide meeting is on Thursday, December 13 from 11-2 in Columbus, at the First Congregational Church, 444 E. Broad Street in Columbus.  

We have an exciting fundraising opportunity for the Ohio Fair Schools Campaign through the Kroger Giving Program. 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. This could be huge. 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. PER STUDENT SPENDING DATA AVAILABLE FROM ODE
Every October, the Ohio Department of Education releases data on per pupil spending for all Ohio school districts. The data is available on the ODE website, http://ilrc.ode.state.oh.us/Power_Users.asp. Here you can follow the prompts to download lots of school related data, including per pupil spending.

The Toledo Blade reported on the data and found that “ For the 2006-07 school year, 120 districts reduced the amount spent per student over the previous year while 494 averaged more spent per student.”

Columbus Grove Local School District in Putnam County, which has only 850 students, has the lowest per pupil spending at $6,876. Even though Columbus Grove is at the bottom of the list in per student spending, it has maintained an excellent or effective rating over the years. Among the top spenders are Cuyahoga Heights at $18,761 per student and Shaker Heights at $15,151 per student.

Also mentioned in the article is average per pupil spending (2003-04) in other states:
Utah: $5,008 (lowest in US)
Ohio: $8,963
Michigan: $9,072
Connecticut: $10,788
Vermont: $11,128
District of Columbia: $12,801
New York: $12,930
New Jersey: $12,981 (highest in US)

To read a related article, visit:
11/18 Toledo Blade
Per Student K-12 Spending Rises in Most of Ohio
http://www.toledoblade.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071118/NEWS04/711180327

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3. HOW ARE LEGISLATORS TALKING ABOUT SCHOOL FUNDING?
Representative Hottinger recently wrote an op-ed piece for the Newark Advocate, which talks about how the legislature has increased state funding for schools over the last 10 years. Rep. Hottinger states, “ Funding for Ohio schools has increased more than 72 percent over the last 10 years”. He goes on to say, “The base cost per pupil has grown 59 percent in 10 years, going from $3,315 in FY '96 to a per-pupil expenditure of $5,403 in FY '07”.

We’ve heard many legislators cite these increases, however we question the math. Per-pupil increases have averaged around 3% per year, which is not enough to keep up with inflation in school costs. Most schools we’re familiar with have faced difficult financial choices, and have been forced to cut staff and programs. Reasonable people would take inflation into account when discussing budget increases. After reading the article, please consider sending Rep. Hottinger your comments or questions about how these numbers were calculated. State Rep. Jay Hottinger, 71st House District, 77 S. High St., Columbus, OH 43215, e-mail: mailto:district71@ohr.state.oh.us, phone: (614) 466-1482.

To read the article, visit:
11/23 Newark Advocate
State spending on education has increased dramatically since '96
http://www.newarkadvocate.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071123/OPINION02/711230317/1014/OPINION
 
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4. SB 141: CHARTER SCHOOL ACCOUNTABILITY
The Senate Education Committee, chaired by Senator Padgett, accepted on November 14, 2007 a substitute bill for SB 141 (Padgett). SB 141 includes provisions that increase accountability requirements for community schools. The State Board of Education has recommended these provisions for several years. According to a summary prepared by the ODE, the bill now includes the following provisions:

-Requires a community school to withdraw a student who fails to participate in 21 days or 105 consecutive hours of learning opportunities (whichever comes first) without excuse, and prohibits the student from enrolling in this or any other community school for the duration of the school year. 

-Provides for the ODE to directly fund sponsors out of the total amount of state funding calculated for the school for that fiscal year. Sponsors are funded through an agreement between the sponsor and the school, and can be paid up to three percent of the state funds that the school receives. This provision will lessen the financial incentive for sponsors to keep poor performing community schools open.

-Prohibits a sponsor or its affiliate from selling services to any school it operates. This provision will lessen the financial involvement between community schools and their sponsors.

-Clarifies that sponsors have the authority in law to close a school that they are sponsoring. Sponsors can close a school or not renew its contract due to the school's performance, and/or if the school fails to meet certain academic criteria outlined in law (126-HB 79).

- Clarifies that no right to appeal exists when a school is closed due to academic performance.

-Prohibits a sponsor from sponsoring a new school for three years if a school that it sponsors closes and owes money to the state.

Summary excerpted from LWVO Weekly Education Update from Joan Platz. To read the full Update, including more info on the provisions included in SB 141, visit: http://www.ohiofairschools.org/learn/Ed_Updates/11_26_07.html

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5. CHARTER START UP GRANTS, MILLIONS WASTED
Would-be Ohio charter-school operators received a total of $2.55 million in state and federal "planning grants" to start 33 schools that never opened, state records show. The Ohio Department of Education is trying to recoup $1.56 million from 19 schools that either misspent startup grants or could not document how the money was spent.

To read related articles, visit:
11/20 Canton Repository
Charter schools waste state money (Editorial)
http://www.dispatch.com/live/content/local_news/stories/2007/11/18/never_open.ART_ART_11-18-07_A1_FG8GJ6H.html?sid=101

11/18 The Columbus Dispatch
Schools That Never Were Got Millions
http://www.dispatch.com/live/content/local_news/stories/2007/11/18/never_open.ART_ART_11-18-07_A1_FG8GJ6H.html?sid=101

Summary courtesy of CORAS, http://www.coras.org
 
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6. CANTON GROUP TO WORK ON SCHOOL FUNDING SOLUTIONS
After widespread failure of school levies in Stark County, the Canton Regional Chamber of Commerce is putting together a task force to work on community-based solutions to school funding problems. According to an article in the Canton Repository, the group will meet monthly and next year anticipates releasing a report to the community that includes recommendations for action.

Robert Roland, chairman of the chamber board, said the community can’t afford to wait on the state legislative process. “When a business comes to town what they need is a workforce that is educated and education means technical knowledge and ability,” he said. “They also look for strong communities where employees want to live and strong communities mean strong schools.”
 
To read the article, visit:
11/17 Canton Repository
T ask force to tackle school funding
http://www.cantonrep.com/index.php?ID=386980&r=0&Category=9&subCategoryID=0

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7. SCHOOL CUTS IN CINCINNATI
The Cincinnati School Board is working on filling the $75 million gap in the district's next budget. After the November levy failed, the board needs to come up with a plan to make cuts and also decide if they will try again to pass a levy in March.  

To read a related article, visit:
Cincinnati School Board Considers What to Cut
http://news.enquirer.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071118/NEWS0102/711180362/1077/COL02

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8. DETERMINING THE COST OF A QUALITY EDUCATION
Pennsylvania state legislators directed the state's Board of Education to commission the independent cost study of the state's education system. The study was completed by Augenblick, Palaich and Associates Inc., based in Denver and asserts that school districts would have to spend on average $12,057 per student every year for that student to meet the state's standards. The study put forth a "base" amount for students who need no special services -- $8,003 per year -- but added money to account for students with special needs.

To provide additional context for the recent release of the Pennsylvania costing-out study, the Education Policy and Leadership Center (EPLC) has released a new report entitled Costing-Out Studies Across the Nation

The first such study was commissioned by the Massachusetts Business Alliance in 1991.  Since then, over 50 studies have been conducted in 38 states. The EPLC report provides a history of these studies and includes summaries of costing-out studies in other states. To read the report in PDF format, visit: http://www.eplc.org/CostingOutStudiesAcrossNation.pdf

To read related articles, visit:
11/5 Philadelphia Daily News
Pa. study: State underfunding schools by $4.6B a year
http://www.philly.com/dailynews/local/20071115_Pa__study__State_underfunding_schools_by__4_6B_a_year.html

Summary courtesy of CORAS, http://www.coras.org

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9. MEASURING ACADEMIC PROGRESS: A GUIDE TO GROWTH MODELS
The Center for Public Education has published a new guide. “ Growth Models: A guide for informed decision making” which explains the terms “value added” and “growth models” which have gained popularity over high stakes tests as methods for measuring students' academic progress between two points in time”. To view the guide, visit:
http://www.centerforpubliceducation.org

Here in Ohio, Battelle for Kids provides a lot of information and tools for Ohio's growth model, which is called Value-Added. Their website, http://battelleforkids.com/home has information about Value-added assessment, training, and resources for implementation.

And if you still want more information, join Jim Hull, the Center for Public Education's policy analyst and Marcus Egan, the National School Board Association's director of federal affairs, for an online chat on Thursday, December 6, 2007, at 2:00 p.m. to find out why growth models are important and how your school or district can use them effectively. For more info, visit: http://discussions.centerforpubliceducation.org. Click on the "Research and Practice" tab, then choose "Guides to issues"

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10. GRANTS
The HP Technology for Teaching Grant Initiative, sponsored by Hewlett-Packard, is designed to support the innovative use of mobile technology in K-16 education. The initiative will provide approximately 110 awards to K-12 public schools that are using a team-based approach to implementing technology integration projects. The activities of the project must be focused on using technology to teach, rather than on teaching students to use technology. Online applications will be accepted between January 8 and February 14, 2008. For more info, visit: http://www.hp.com/hpinfo/grants/us/programs/tech_teaching/index.htm

The Bowerman Track Renovation Program provides grants to youth-oriented organizations that seek to refurbish or construct running tracks anywhere in the world. Special consideration will be given to existing running tracks in need of repair or refurbishment and tracks located in low- and moderate-income communities. Matching grants of up to $50,000 are provided. Community-based, nonprofit, or nongovernmental organizations worldwide that serve youth ages 14-18 are eligible to apply. Requests are reviewed quarterly and will be accepted on an ongoing basis through May 31, 2009.
For more information, visit: http://www.nike.com/nikebiz/nikebiz.jhtml?page=26&item=bowerman
Ohio Fair Schools Campaign, 94 Columbus Road
Athens, Ohio 45701
Tel. (740)592-2866 Fax (740)593-5451