The Letters to Lawmakers Series
Letters to Lawmakers Part 1
Letters to Lawmakers Part 2
Letters to Lawmakers Part 3
Letters to Lawmakers Part 4
Letter to Lawmakers, Part 2
This is a copy of the letter I sent to all education committee members of both Ohio house and senate back in July of 2007. Combined, there are a total of 32 representatives on the education committees.
Note: none of the committee members represent the Cleveland Area, yet these lawmakers can and will effect education decisions in Cleveland while us Clevelander’s have no respresentation.
Dear Education Member,
You have received an email with copies of my letter sent to the Governor. I am requesting that you provide your own answers to the questions I posed to the Governor.
From what I have observed and experienced from the time when I was a student in the Cleveland Public School system to the present day, I can only conclude that the current education committee members from both house and senate have little idea what so ever on the condition of public education in the city of Cleveland as it is allowed to continue operations in its current state.
The Cleveland Public School system continues to fail miserably yet for whatever the reasons it is allowed to remain operational.
At the same time, the charter school concept is in jeopardy of being eliminated.
My children attend charter schools in Cleveland Ohio. These schools have received an effective and excellent rating from the State of Ohio. These charter schools meet the current State standards.
Earlier this year, my wife and son had a chance to go to Columbus to express their concerns over this possible elimination of charter schools. My wife made an observation that on the panel of legislators, some were interested while others seemed board to death and one was possibly asleep. When I receive your responses, I will be able to figure out on which side you support.
For those who do support the charter schools, I offer my sincere thanks. For those who do not, I would like answers on why you are allowing failed public school systems to continue operations, wasting state tax dollars while threatening to eliminate my children’s effective charter schools.
The Cleveland School system has been broken for many years now. Approximately two thirds of its high school seniors do not graduate. It can easily be surmised that out of the other one third who do graduate, many have just gotten by with the lowest passing grade possible. There are very few success stories coming out of the Cleveland School system. Proficiency test scores continue to be dismal. With continued poor statistics, where is the accountability?
It is obvious that there is no accountability and has not been for many years.
As a Clevelander, I have personally seen schools renovated and then permanently closed. Some of these newly renovated schools have been razed a few years after all the money was spent to renovate them. While others that are operational still await needed upkeep.
I am a Boy Scout leader in Cleveland. I have been involved in scouting for 35 years now; 10 years as a youth member and 25 years as a volunteer adult leader. I have personally witnessed young teen age boys who were unable to read an analog clock let alone their Boy Scout Handbook. They attended the Cleveland School system. Yet miraculously they were not failing in school and were allowed to advance to the next grade level! My scouts have told me that all they do in school is prepare for the proficiency test by taking practice tests over and over again. There is little learning. I have no reason to doubt my scouts’ integrity.
My oldest son is now 11 years old. When he started kindergarten, his charter school was being built. We sent him to a Cleveland public school. His school in the past used to be a junior high school. When my son went there, it was a K to 8th grade school. This was one of the experiments of Barbara Byrd Bennett, at the time the highest paid school CEO in Ohio. It is my understanding that it was also under Ms. Byrd Bennett’s watch that attendance numbers were falsified in order to receive more state monies.
The problems are many; the solutions have yet to come.
I am not a lobbyist. I do not have the monetary power of a lobbyist. I am simply a concerned parent who hopes to hold my representatives accountable with my vote. I will do my part to spread the word loudly so people will hopefully listen.
My children’s charter schools have met your standards, yet there are those who do not support them and would like to lump all charter schools with the few bad ones. The Cleveland Municipal School district does not meet the standards and there are those who would like them to continue operation while lumping it with all other public schools in the state. Where do you stand?
My children cannot wait while some politicians want to eliminate an excellent school while testing their theories and making promises to fix the public school systems. Cleveland has waited long enough. Our children are only young once.
By looking at everyone’s credentials and education, do any of you believe you could reach the same levels of education now in Cleveland if you were again of school age?
Would you be willing to move to Cleveland and send your children or grandchildren to the Cleveland School system?
I’m sure that you would have no problem sending them to my children’s charter schools. All I ask is for you to visit them and see for yourself before any more decisions are made to further doom the City of Cleveland by eliminating one of the best privately managed public schools in Cleveland.
Something I have noticed is that there are no members on the state education committees who represent Cleveland. Yet these committees are supposed to represent my children’s right to a satisfactory education in Ohio. A parallel situation has been evident in Cleveland as well. Teachers do not have to live in the city and do not have to send their children there, the school CEO does not have to live in Cleveland. Past Mayors managed to use some law which allowed their children to attend the school system of another city, yet they were in charge of the Cleveland Schools. It is hard to find anyone involved in the administration of the Cleveland School system that owns property and supports the schools with their tax money or is willing to send their children to the Cleveland schools.
So for the opponents of Charter Schools on the education committees; come visit my children’s charter schools and see for yourself one of the only privately managed public schools in Cleveland that meets Ohio’s standards.
Sincerely,
Mr. RickCFD
And here is one of three responses I have received. The first response is from State Rep. Stephen Dyer:
Dear Mr. RickCFD: Thank you so much for taking the time to write me about this important topic. I want to first of all say that I have nothing against Charter Schools or Voucher programs; my opposition stems from the fact that their money comes out of the public schools' budgets and they are unaccountable to voters. I'll demonstrate my issues with two examples.
1) According to Cleveland’s SF-3 Report, charter schools take away $82.7 million from the public schools. What's that mean? That means that all of the district's poverty aid and about one-third of its parity aid goes to Charter Schools. So, essentially, the money the state gives to the schools in order to make them better and on par with the world-class education we all deserve goes instead to Charter Schools. Charters take away nearly $550 million from public schools around the state. To me, that makes no sense. If the schools work, as yours undoubtedly does for your kids, Charters should have their own line item outside the public school budget so that the public schools have a chance to improve and the Charters that do work can be funded too.
2) Charter schools are the only schools in the state that actually get all the funding they are promised. As the SF-3 report shows on Cleveland, Public Schools are supposed to get $5,565 per child. However, when the money going to charters and other adjustments are made in the formula, most schools get nowhere near that. So how do they make up the difference? They go to the ballot again and again. I have a district in the area I represent that will be going to the ballot in August for the fifth time in 15 months. That's because the state won't fully fund what it says it will fund. However, Charters don't have that problem; they get the $5,565 per child no matter what. They're never before the voters asking for money over and over. If local districts were able to count on the same funding, I wonder if we'd be in this fix.
3) I have serious concerns about for-profit ventures running schools. I want schools doing well because they educate my child, not because they make money off my child. I'm not certain who runs your Charter Schools, but that's my thought on that issue.
Finally, I don't believe the answer to fixing public schools is abandoning them. I believe the answer is, well, fixing them. Unfortunately, that takes a commitment this state has not been willing to make, at least not until this governor came along. I'm willing to make the fixes necessary to ensure all our children receive a top-flight education anywhere their family chooses to live. I'm glad that you've found a solution that works for your family.
I hope I've been able to address your concerns, and I hope you'll be before the Education Committee again. Just so you know, I'm not on the Education Subcommittee of the Finance Committee, which deals with budgeting. That may have been the committee before whom you testified.
I hope this note finds you and your family well. If you wish to discuss this further, feel free to call my office at 614-466-1790. Thank you again.
Sincerely,
State Rep. Stephen Dyer
My reply back to State Rep. Stephen Dyer:
Dear Representative Dyer,
A response to your email:
I want to first of all say that I have nothing against Charter Schools or Voucher programs; my opposition stems from the fact that their money comes out of the public schools' budgets and they are unaccountable to voters.
It is my understanding that a public school’s budget is based on the amount of students in enrolled it. Charter schools are in fact educating students. They are not simply sitting idle receiving funds. I will go more in depth in my next paragraph. As for accountability, it is also my understanding if a charter school fails to meet the State standards, it can lose its State funding. Correct? Public schools are not accountable to the voters because they are allowed to remain operational and receive state funding even when they do not meet State standards. The Cleveland School system is proof of this.
1) According to Cleveland’s SF-3 Report, Charter schools take away $82.7 million from the public schools. What does that mean? That means that all of the district's poverty aid and about one-third of its parity aid goes to Charter Schools. So, essentially, the money the state gives to the schools in order to make them better and on par with the world-class education we all deserve goes instead to Charter Schools. Charters take away nearly $550 million from public schools around the state. To me, that makes no sense. If the schools work, as yours undoubtedly does for your kids, Charters should have their own line item outside the public school budget so that the public schools have a chance to improve and the Charters that do work can be funded too.
The money going to charter schools also comes from the school foundation formula. It is a per pupil amount. It pays the same per pupil amount to either a public or charter school for the students that are enrolled in the school district or charter school. The premise that the public schools are losing money is inaccurate. This money you speak of is money used to educate the individual children of Ohio. My children are recipients of this money. Considering that they do not attend the Cleveland Public School system, they do not receive any services from the Cleveland Schools. There is no logical reason that the monies allotted for their education should go to a school system that they are not enrolled in, especially a failed system such as Cleveland. Considering that students are being educated at the charter schools with this state money, how can there be any money lost from the public schools? Let me put it another way; In my children’s case, the Cleveland School system membership has decreased by three students because they are not enrolled there, and the Charter Schools have increased by three students. This State money does not belong to the Cleveland School system; it follows the student to the school they are enrolled in. It is the parent’s choice to enroll their children in a charter school. It follows reason that the Cleveland School system has not lost any money as they have three less students to educate.
The State money used in my children’s charter school has been used properly and has not been wasted as their charter schools have met the State standards, (currently excellent and effective). The only money that is truly lost is that which is still going to the broken school system that does not meet the State standards and is not held accountable by the State. As for the issue of poverty, this would be another topic unto itself.
2) Charter schools are the only schools in the state that actually get all the funding they are promised. As the SF-3 report shows on Cleveland, Public Schools are supposed to get $5,565 per child. However, when the money going to charters and other adjustments are made in the formula, most schools get nowhere near that. So how do they make up the difference? They go to the ballot again and again. I have a district in the area I represent that will be going to the ballot in August for the fifth time in 15 months. That's because the state won't fully fund what it says it will fund. However, Charters don't have that problem; they get the $5,565 per child no matter what. They're never before the voters asking for money over and over. If local districts were able to count on the same funding, I wonder if we'd be in this fix.
And according to the Ohio Supreme Court, the current system of funding schools (tax levies) have been ruled unconstitutional. It is clear that these current formulas should be disbanded all together. How long will this system be allowed to continue? When did the Supreme Court first make their ruling? How many times have they upheld that ruling since you have been in office? Why hasn’t this issue been resolved? Plus there is an important thing you missed, even though the Charter Schools get their full funding as you say, the charter schools educates their students without additional municipal property tax monies. Furthermore the city of Cleveland is in short supply of property taxpayers due to many reasons including but not limited to tax abatements for those building new housing, and tax abatement for large corporations who should be doing their civic duties by paying their fair share of property taxes. Yet these non-taxpayers are allowed to vote to raise my property taxes. The City of Cleveland with its 400,000 plus population borders on economic collapse. We have regained the title of the poorest American city. According to our Mayor, he is concerned that the 8000 city workers may move out of the city now that the State has ruled that residency laws are invalid. He says the leaving of 8000 city workers would devastate the city’s economy. It is not right that 5 % of the city’s working population seems to be holding up the city financially while being given a failed school system.
Out of curiosity, the school system that you spoke of which has gone to the voters five times; are charter schools allowed in this district? Perhaps the voters are simply dissatisfied on how their schools are being managed and would like other choices such as charter schools. Their lack of yes votes speaks loudly. Is their lack of yes votes the fault of charter schools or the result of an unconstitutional school funding system that our representatives have failed to address?
3) I have serious concerns about for-profit ventures running schools. I want schools doing well because they educate my child, not because they make money off my child. I'm not certain who runs your Charter Schools, but that's my thought on that issue.
You failed to list your concerns but considering the “Excellent and Effective” rating from the State of Ohio, there is no question that my children are in fact being educated at their charter schools. This is also evident by their proficiency test scores and attendance records, both state standards met. The teachers and management of the West Park Community and Middle Schools have definitely earned their pay and not wasted tax payer money. These charter schools are meeting your standards by effectively educating Cleveland’s children.
Let’s talk of who profits in Cleveland. The city of Cleveland has paid their last School CEO an enormous amount of money to manage a failed system. She profited well and has since resigned leaving the schools in worse shape than when she arrived. We continue to pay a new school CEO an enormous amount of money to continue running this failed system. He has profited well enough to live outside the City limits he works for in the upper class, quiet and country-like village of Bratenahl.
Private contractors profit to renovate schools and other private contractors profit to tear them down a short time later. Everyone involved in the traditional public schools profits off of the children. To think otherwise is misleading. The Cleveland Public School system has been broken for many years and does not provide a quality education and yet many have profited from its failure. How is this any different from a for profit company being involved in education especially if they meet State standards? Is this not money well spent?
Finally, I don't believe the answer to fixing public schools is abandoning them. I believe the answer is, well, fixing them. Unfortunately, that takes a commitment this state has not been willing to make, at least not until this governor came along. I'm willing to make the fixes necessary to ensure all our children receive a top-flight education anywhere their family chooses to live. I'm glad that you've found a solution that works for your family.
Abandonment? I don’t believe I ever used the word in my letters. I did question what was being done to ensure that failing public schools are held accountable to its state funding, which incidentally you chose not to answer. But since you brought it up; if I understand you correctly, you are implying that families using charter schools are abandoning the public schools. Using this premise, do you also believe that families receiving vouchers and/or choosing private or parochial schools have abandoned the public schools as well? Is it your belief that pouring more taxpayer money into the broken Cleveland School system without holding them accountable is the answer in solving its problems? Not all voters pay property taxes. Perhaps tax abatements should be outlawed or at least the issue of tax abatement should be taken to the voters to give them a say on if anybody should be cut a tax break when the schools are in such need of funds.
The ship called the Cleveland School System was sunk long ago. The call for abandon ship happened in the late 70’s after the Battisti torpedo hit. Those who remained in Cleveland have been treading water for a long time. Fortunately, an island of hope was found called charter schools. Unfortunately it appears that some politicians have this island in their torpedo sights. The only abandonment I see is from the politicians who continue to fund this sunken ship without any accountability, while there are students treading water.
Regardless of any of your present and future arguments concerning charter schools, the fact remains that my children’s charter schools are effective by current State standards and the Cleveland School system is not and has not been for many years. I, like you, want schools to do well by educating my children. My children are receiving that good education at their charter schools. This fact cannot be denied. It would be morally wrong to shut down these charter schools leaving my children no other choice but to attend the below State standards Cleveland School system. This definitively would be abandonment.
I hope I've been able to address your concerns, and I hope you'll be before the Education Committee again. Just so you know, I'm not on the Education Subcommittee of the Finance Committee, which deals with budgeting. That may have been the committee before whom you testified.
Unfortunately, you failed to address any of my concerns. I have included a breakdown of the questions that I needed answers to for your convenience. I hope that you will find the courtesy to answer them. That would be a start in addressing my concerns.
1. Would you live in a city where the graduation rate is less than 35% or would you abandon it?
2. Have you ever stood by helpless and watched as an appointed school board spends thousands of dollars renovating old schools only to have them torn down a few years later with all the new windows and other renovations going to the landfill?
3. Have you ever stood by helpless as your municipal school system has been broken for over 25 years and can do nothing because the Mayor appoints the school board?
4. Have you ever felt helpless when those who do not pay property taxes vote to raise your taxes?
5. Considering the continued poor performance of the Cleveland Municipal School system, are you proposing any moratoriums for the creation of new public school systems?
6. Do you believe that the Cleveland Municipal School system is being held to acceptable academic and financial standards? If so, which ones?
7. Will there be newly crafted standards to ensure that municipal school systems are held accountable as they also receive state funding?
8. What plans are there in the works to properly fund the Cleveland Municipal School system?
9. Why are property tax levies allowed to continue if the Ohio Supreme Court ruled that this current way of funding schools is unconstitutional?
10. Is there a plan to hold charter schools to a higher standard than the current state standards in order to hold them even more accountable while allowing the Cleveland Municipal School system to continue its failed operations under the current state standards with no visible fiscal or academic accountability?
11. My children’s charter schools have met your standards, yet there are those who do not support them and would like to lump all charter schools with the few bad ones. The bad charter schools lose their State funding. The Cleveland Municipal School district does not meet the standards and is allowed to continue receiving State funds and remain operational. Is this a correct analogy?
Sincerely,
Mr. RickCFD
To date, State Rep. Stephen Dyer has not replied back.
Note: none of the committee members represent the Cleveland Area, yet these lawmakers can and will effect education decisions in Cleveland while us Clevelander’s have no respresentation.
Dear Education Member,
You have received an email with copies of my letter sent to the Governor. I am requesting that you provide your own answers to the questions I posed to the Governor.
From what I have observed and experienced from the time when I was a student in the Cleveland Public School system to the present day, I can only conclude that the current education committee members from both house and senate have little idea what so ever on the condition of public education in the city of Cleveland as it is allowed to continue operations in its current state.
The Cleveland Public School system continues to fail miserably yet for whatever the reasons it is allowed to remain operational.
At the same time, the charter school concept is in jeopardy of being eliminated.
My children attend charter schools in Cleveland Ohio. These schools have received an effective and excellent rating from the State of Ohio. These charter schools meet the current State standards.
Earlier this year, my wife and son had a chance to go to Columbus to express their concerns over this possible elimination of charter schools. My wife made an observation that on the panel of legislators, some were interested while others seemed board to death and one was possibly asleep. When I receive your responses, I will be able to figure out on which side you support.
For those who do support the charter schools, I offer my sincere thanks. For those who do not, I would like answers on why you are allowing failed public school systems to continue operations, wasting state tax dollars while threatening to eliminate my children’s effective charter schools.
The Cleveland School system has been broken for many years now. Approximately two thirds of its high school seniors do not graduate. It can easily be surmised that out of the other one third who do graduate, many have just gotten by with the lowest passing grade possible. There are very few success stories coming out of the Cleveland School system. Proficiency test scores continue to be dismal. With continued poor statistics, where is the accountability?
It is obvious that there is no accountability and has not been for many years.
As a Clevelander, I have personally seen schools renovated and then permanently closed. Some of these newly renovated schools have been razed a few years after all the money was spent to renovate them. While others that are operational still await needed upkeep.
I am a Boy Scout leader in Cleveland. I have been involved in scouting for 35 years now; 10 years as a youth member and 25 years as a volunteer adult leader. I have personally witnessed young teen age boys who were unable to read an analog clock let alone their Boy Scout Handbook. They attended the Cleveland School system. Yet miraculously they were not failing in school and were allowed to advance to the next grade level! My scouts have told me that all they do in school is prepare for the proficiency test by taking practice tests over and over again. There is little learning. I have no reason to doubt my scouts’ integrity.
My oldest son is now 11 years old. When he started kindergarten, his charter school was being built. We sent him to a Cleveland public school. His school in the past used to be a junior high school. When my son went there, it was a K to 8th grade school. This was one of the experiments of Barbara Byrd Bennett, at the time the highest paid school CEO in Ohio. It is my understanding that it was also under Ms. Byrd Bennett’s watch that attendance numbers were falsified in order to receive more state monies.
The problems are many; the solutions have yet to come.
I am not a lobbyist. I do not have the monetary power of a lobbyist. I am simply a concerned parent who hopes to hold my representatives accountable with my vote. I will do my part to spread the word loudly so people will hopefully listen.
My children’s charter schools have met your standards, yet there are those who do not support them and would like to lump all charter schools with the few bad ones. The Cleveland Municipal School district does not meet the standards and there are those who would like them to continue operation while lumping it with all other public schools in the state. Where do you stand?
My children cannot wait while some politicians want to eliminate an excellent school while testing their theories and making promises to fix the public school systems. Cleveland has waited long enough. Our children are only young once.
By looking at everyone’s credentials and education, do any of you believe you could reach the same levels of education now in Cleveland if you were again of school age?
Would you be willing to move to Cleveland and send your children or grandchildren to the Cleveland School system?
I’m sure that you would have no problem sending them to my children’s charter schools. All I ask is for you to visit them and see for yourself before any more decisions are made to further doom the City of Cleveland by eliminating one of the best privately managed public schools in Cleveland.
Something I have noticed is that there are no members on the state education committees who represent Cleveland. Yet these committees are supposed to represent my children’s right to a satisfactory education in Ohio. A parallel situation has been evident in Cleveland as well. Teachers do not have to live in the city and do not have to send their children there, the school CEO does not have to live in Cleveland. Past Mayors managed to use some law which allowed their children to attend the school system of another city, yet they were in charge of the Cleveland Schools. It is hard to find anyone involved in the administration of the Cleveland School system that owns property and supports the schools with their tax money or is willing to send their children to the Cleveland schools.
So for the opponents of Charter Schools on the education committees; come visit my children’s charter schools and see for yourself one of the only privately managed public schools in Cleveland that meets Ohio’s standards.
Sincerely,
Mr. RickCFD
And here is one of three responses I have received. The first response is from State Rep. Stephen Dyer:
Dear Mr. RickCFD: Thank you so much for taking the time to write me about this important topic. I want to first of all say that I have nothing against Charter Schools or Voucher programs; my opposition stems from the fact that their money comes out of the public schools' budgets and they are unaccountable to voters. I'll demonstrate my issues with two examples.
1) According to Cleveland’s SF-3 Report, charter schools take away $82.7 million from the public schools. What's that mean? That means that all of the district's poverty aid and about one-third of its parity aid goes to Charter Schools. So, essentially, the money the state gives to the schools in order to make them better and on par with the world-class education we all deserve goes instead to Charter Schools. Charters take away nearly $550 million from public schools around the state. To me, that makes no sense. If the schools work, as yours undoubtedly does for your kids, Charters should have their own line item outside the public school budget so that the public schools have a chance to improve and the Charters that do work can be funded too.
2) Charter schools are the only schools in the state that actually get all the funding they are promised. As the SF-3 report shows on Cleveland, Public Schools are supposed to get $5,565 per child. However, when the money going to charters and other adjustments are made in the formula, most schools get nowhere near that. So how do they make up the difference? They go to the ballot again and again. I have a district in the area I represent that will be going to the ballot in August for the fifth time in 15 months. That's because the state won't fully fund what it says it will fund. However, Charters don't have that problem; they get the $5,565 per child no matter what. They're never before the voters asking for money over and over. If local districts were able to count on the same funding, I wonder if we'd be in this fix.
3) I have serious concerns about for-profit ventures running schools. I want schools doing well because they educate my child, not because they make money off my child. I'm not certain who runs your Charter Schools, but that's my thought on that issue.
Finally, I don't believe the answer to fixing public schools is abandoning them. I believe the answer is, well, fixing them. Unfortunately, that takes a commitment this state has not been willing to make, at least not until this governor came along. I'm willing to make the fixes necessary to ensure all our children receive a top-flight education anywhere their family chooses to live. I'm glad that you've found a solution that works for your family.
I hope I've been able to address your concerns, and I hope you'll be before the Education Committee again. Just so you know, I'm not on the Education Subcommittee of the Finance Committee, which deals with budgeting. That may have been the committee before whom you testified.
I hope this note finds you and your family well. If you wish to discuss this further, feel free to call my office at 614-466-1790. Thank you again.
Sincerely,
State Rep. Stephen Dyer
My reply back to State Rep. Stephen Dyer:
Dear Representative Dyer,
A response to your email:
I want to first of all say that I have nothing against Charter Schools or Voucher programs; my opposition stems from the fact that their money comes out of the public schools' budgets and they are unaccountable to voters.
It is my understanding that a public school’s budget is based on the amount of students in enrolled it. Charter schools are in fact educating students. They are not simply sitting idle receiving funds. I will go more in depth in my next paragraph. As for accountability, it is also my understanding if a charter school fails to meet the State standards, it can lose its State funding. Correct? Public schools are not accountable to the voters because they are allowed to remain operational and receive state funding even when they do not meet State standards. The Cleveland School system is proof of this.
1) According to Cleveland’s SF-3 Report, Charter schools take away $82.7 million from the public schools. What does that mean? That means that all of the district's poverty aid and about one-third of its parity aid goes to Charter Schools. So, essentially, the money the state gives to the schools in order to make them better and on par with the world-class education we all deserve goes instead to Charter Schools. Charters take away nearly $550 million from public schools around the state. To me, that makes no sense. If the schools work, as yours undoubtedly does for your kids, Charters should have their own line item outside the public school budget so that the public schools have a chance to improve and the Charters that do work can be funded too.
The money going to charter schools also comes from the school foundation formula. It is a per pupil amount. It pays the same per pupil amount to either a public or charter school for the students that are enrolled in the school district or charter school. The premise that the public schools are losing money is inaccurate. This money you speak of is money used to educate the individual children of Ohio. My children are recipients of this money. Considering that they do not attend the Cleveland Public School system, they do not receive any services from the Cleveland Schools. There is no logical reason that the monies allotted for their education should go to a school system that they are not enrolled in, especially a failed system such as Cleveland. Considering that students are being educated at the charter schools with this state money, how can there be any money lost from the public schools? Let me put it another way; In my children’s case, the Cleveland School system membership has decreased by three students because they are not enrolled there, and the Charter Schools have increased by three students. This State money does not belong to the Cleveland School system; it follows the student to the school they are enrolled in. It is the parent’s choice to enroll their children in a charter school. It follows reason that the Cleveland School system has not lost any money as they have three less students to educate.
The State money used in my children’s charter school has been used properly and has not been wasted as their charter schools have met the State standards, (currently excellent and effective). The only money that is truly lost is that which is still going to the broken school system that does not meet the State standards and is not held accountable by the State. As for the issue of poverty, this would be another topic unto itself.
2) Charter schools are the only schools in the state that actually get all the funding they are promised. As the SF-3 report shows on Cleveland, Public Schools are supposed to get $5,565 per child. However, when the money going to charters and other adjustments are made in the formula, most schools get nowhere near that. So how do they make up the difference? They go to the ballot again and again. I have a district in the area I represent that will be going to the ballot in August for the fifth time in 15 months. That's because the state won't fully fund what it says it will fund. However, Charters don't have that problem; they get the $5,565 per child no matter what. They're never before the voters asking for money over and over. If local districts were able to count on the same funding, I wonder if we'd be in this fix.
And according to the Ohio Supreme Court, the current system of funding schools (tax levies) have been ruled unconstitutional. It is clear that these current formulas should be disbanded all together. How long will this system be allowed to continue? When did the Supreme Court first make their ruling? How many times have they upheld that ruling since you have been in office? Why hasn’t this issue been resolved? Plus there is an important thing you missed, even though the Charter Schools get their full funding as you say, the charter schools educates their students without additional municipal property tax monies. Furthermore the city of Cleveland is in short supply of property taxpayers due to many reasons including but not limited to tax abatements for those building new housing, and tax abatement for large corporations who should be doing their civic duties by paying their fair share of property taxes. Yet these non-taxpayers are allowed to vote to raise my property taxes. The City of Cleveland with its 400,000 plus population borders on economic collapse. We have regained the title of the poorest American city. According to our Mayor, he is concerned that the 8000 city workers may move out of the city now that the State has ruled that residency laws are invalid. He says the leaving of 8000 city workers would devastate the city’s economy. It is not right that 5 % of the city’s working population seems to be holding up the city financially while being given a failed school system.
Out of curiosity, the school system that you spoke of which has gone to the voters five times; are charter schools allowed in this district? Perhaps the voters are simply dissatisfied on how their schools are being managed and would like other choices such as charter schools. Their lack of yes votes speaks loudly. Is their lack of yes votes the fault of charter schools or the result of an unconstitutional school funding system that our representatives have failed to address?
3) I have serious concerns about for-profit ventures running schools. I want schools doing well because they educate my child, not because they make money off my child. I'm not certain who runs your Charter Schools, but that's my thought on that issue.
You failed to list your concerns but considering the “Excellent and Effective” rating from the State of Ohio, there is no question that my children are in fact being educated at their charter schools. This is also evident by their proficiency test scores and attendance records, both state standards met. The teachers and management of the West Park Community and Middle Schools have definitely earned their pay and not wasted tax payer money. These charter schools are meeting your standards by effectively educating Cleveland’s children.
Let’s talk of who profits in Cleveland. The city of Cleveland has paid their last School CEO an enormous amount of money to manage a failed system. She profited well and has since resigned leaving the schools in worse shape than when she arrived. We continue to pay a new school CEO an enormous amount of money to continue running this failed system. He has profited well enough to live outside the City limits he works for in the upper class, quiet and country-like village of Bratenahl.
Private contractors profit to renovate schools and other private contractors profit to tear them down a short time later. Everyone involved in the traditional public schools profits off of the children. To think otherwise is misleading. The Cleveland Public School system has been broken for many years and does not provide a quality education and yet many have profited from its failure. How is this any different from a for profit company being involved in education especially if they meet State standards? Is this not money well spent?
Finally, I don't believe the answer to fixing public schools is abandoning them. I believe the answer is, well, fixing them. Unfortunately, that takes a commitment this state has not been willing to make, at least not until this governor came along. I'm willing to make the fixes necessary to ensure all our children receive a top-flight education anywhere their family chooses to live. I'm glad that you've found a solution that works for your family.
Abandonment? I don’t believe I ever used the word in my letters. I did question what was being done to ensure that failing public schools are held accountable to its state funding, which incidentally you chose not to answer. But since you brought it up; if I understand you correctly, you are implying that families using charter schools are abandoning the public schools. Using this premise, do you also believe that families receiving vouchers and/or choosing private or parochial schools have abandoned the public schools as well? Is it your belief that pouring more taxpayer money into the broken Cleveland School system without holding them accountable is the answer in solving its problems? Not all voters pay property taxes. Perhaps tax abatements should be outlawed or at least the issue of tax abatement should be taken to the voters to give them a say on if anybody should be cut a tax break when the schools are in such need of funds.
The ship called the Cleveland School System was sunk long ago. The call for abandon ship happened in the late 70’s after the Battisti torpedo hit. Those who remained in Cleveland have been treading water for a long time. Fortunately, an island of hope was found called charter schools. Unfortunately it appears that some politicians have this island in their torpedo sights. The only abandonment I see is from the politicians who continue to fund this sunken ship without any accountability, while there are students treading water.
Regardless of any of your present and future arguments concerning charter schools, the fact remains that my children’s charter schools are effective by current State standards and the Cleveland School system is not and has not been for many years. I, like you, want schools to do well by educating my children. My children are receiving that good education at their charter schools. This fact cannot be denied. It would be morally wrong to shut down these charter schools leaving my children no other choice but to attend the below State standards Cleveland School system. This definitively would be abandonment.
I hope I've been able to address your concerns, and I hope you'll be before the Education Committee again. Just so you know, I'm not on the Education Subcommittee of the Finance Committee, which deals with budgeting. That may have been the committee before whom you testified.
Unfortunately, you failed to address any of my concerns. I have included a breakdown of the questions that I needed answers to for your convenience. I hope that you will find the courtesy to answer them. That would be a start in addressing my concerns.
1. Would you live in a city where the graduation rate is less than 35% or would you abandon it?
2. Have you ever stood by helpless and watched as an appointed school board spends thousands of dollars renovating old schools only to have them torn down a few years later with all the new windows and other renovations going to the landfill?
3. Have you ever stood by helpless as your municipal school system has been broken for over 25 years and can do nothing because the Mayor appoints the school board?
4. Have you ever felt helpless when those who do not pay property taxes vote to raise your taxes?
5. Considering the continued poor performance of the Cleveland Municipal School system, are you proposing any moratoriums for the creation of new public school systems?
6. Do you believe that the Cleveland Municipal School system is being held to acceptable academic and financial standards? If so, which ones?
7. Will there be newly crafted standards to ensure that municipal school systems are held accountable as they also receive state funding?
8. What plans are there in the works to properly fund the Cleveland Municipal School system?
9. Why are property tax levies allowed to continue if the Ohio Supreme Court ruled that this current way of funding schools is unconstitutional?
10. Is there a plan to hold charter schools to a higher standard than the current state standards in order to hold them even more accountable while allowing the Cleveland Municipal School system to continue its failed operations under the current state standards with no visible fiscal or academic accountability?
11. My children’s charter schools have met your standards, yet there are those who do not support them and would like to lump all charter schools with the few bad ones. The bad charter schools lose their State funding. The Cleveland Municipal School district does not meet the standards and is allowed to continue receiving State funds and remain operational. Is this a correct analogy?
Sincerely,
Mr. RickCFD
To date, State Rep. Stephen Dyer has not replied back.
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