Kasich makes worst cuts to best performing “Blue Ribbon Schools”
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
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Charlie Hartman
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Gmild
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Gmild
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Gmild
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Gmild
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Gmild
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Greg Soper