Kasich makes worst cuts to best performing “Blue Ribbon Schools”

By On April 8, 2011 · 8 Comments

During hearings last week Barbara Mattei-Smith, Kasich’s Assistant Policy Director for Education, told legislators that Kasich has big plans for his school funding formula :

“The governor has told me that we will have a new formula at the end of this year and it will be the best formula in the country.”

Ms. Mattei-Smith wasn’t able to provide any more details regarding the plan except to say that Kasich promised her it would be totally awesome. Seriously. You have to find that laughable.

Not only is it pretty remarkable that Kasich’s Policy Director for Education has no details about Kasich’s education policy, but when you consider that Kasich’s current plan for education funding is to cut, cut, cut and to shift tons of money to poorly performing charter schools, it seems very likely next year’s plan will turn out to be the absolute WORST formula in the entire country.

As the superintendent of Solon schools pointed out “Kasich is trying to create a performance-based operation” with his education agenda but the way he has chosen to fund education in his current budget proposal does exactly the opposite. Kasich’s education funding not only makes huge cuts in education funding – but some of the worst cuts impact the best performing schools.

Every year the U.S. Department of Education’s No Child Left Behind-Blue Ribbon Schools Program (NCLB-BRS) honors “elementary and secondary schools in the United States that make significant progress in closing achievement gaps or whose students achieve at the highest levels in their state. Through this program, the U.S. Department of Education recognizes and presents as models these elementary and secondary schools.”

There are 18 Ohio schools (six private, twelve public) on the list this year. These 18 schools are among the top-rated schools in the country. They are the model for other schools to follow.

In Kasich’s current budget, these schools are facing some of the harshest cuts in the state.

Bay High School, Bay Village City SD: 17.2%
(756,305 cut)
Chagrin Falls Middle School, Chagrin Falls Exempted Village SD: 49.9%
(1,322,081 cut)
Clermont Northeastern Elementary School, Clermont Northeastern Local SD: 15.9%
(941,861 cut)
Dublin Jerome High School, Dublin City SD: 31.5% (8,0077,177 cut)
Fredericktown Elementary School, Fredericktown Local SD: 6.7%
(308,074 cut)
Royal View Elementary School, North Royalton City SD: 38.1% (2,453,570 cut)
Western Elementary School, Lexington Local SD: 8.3%
(794,348 cut)
Whittier Elementary School, Massillon City SD: 7.9%
(1,767,293 cut)
Poland Seminary High School, Poland Local SD: 14.6%
(907,591 cut)
Robert A. Taft Information Technology High School, Cincinnati City SD: 14.1% (24,497,423 cut)
Schiel Primary School for Arts Enrichment, CIncinnati City SD: 14.1% (24,497,423 cut)
Solon Middle School, Solon City SD: 27.3% (3,740,194 cut)

Stay tuned. We will be closely following the performance of these schools, the tax-levies that are required to make up the funding and the much anticipated “best formula in the country” that will fix Ohio’s education woes.

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  • Anonymous

    Olentangy, in the fastest-growing county in the state and 20th fastest in the nation, has been cut by 48%.

  • I went to Clermont Northeastern for K-12. The district has always struggled financially, and could barely afford to provide much more than a state-minimum education. It’s probably one of the most anti-tax Republican districts in Ohio, the community isn’t one to show much interest in passing levies regardless of the need and circumstances. There was already talk of selling timber on school-owned land to help out current budget problems, trees are apparently the only thing left for the district to cut.

  • Gmild

    And recognized as one of the highest achieving districts on Ohio.

  • Gmild

    And recognized as one of the highest achieving districts on Ohio.

  • Gmild

    To be clear, the Governor is not planning on using merit pay to determine funding for school districts. So a district is expected to compensate teachers for increasing student achievement, but the State will not act likewise, thereby negating any agreement a district has with those teachers.

    Hmm . . . I’m wondering how that is providing flexibility to the local governments. Sounds more like a shell game.

  • Gmild

    *in

  • Gmild

    “That funding had been tied to performance was immoral”

    As in merit pay linked to an arbitrary single-day demonstration of student performance, right?

  • Greg Soper

    As a taxpayer in the great state of Ohio I would like you to comment on the lawsuit the state of Ohio, 10 White Hat Schools has against White Hat Management and David L.Brennan.

    Since 2008 Mr.Brennan has received over 235 million in tax payer dollars, and yet no one can account for how it is spent. This is not a new problem as two years ago Lt. Governor Mary Taylor said their books were unable to be audited, yet they have still been given tax payer money?

    It has also come to light that only 2% of students in White Hat Schools have met Adequate Yearly Progress under the No Child Left Behind Act. Yet, all public schools are outperforming White Hat schools and more money will be given to White Hat Schools, while public schools are being forced to deal with significant state cuts.

    Since 2006 White Hat Management has given 2.43 million dollar to school choice supporters in the Ohio Legislature.

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