The Targeting of the Charter Schools
News Flash – The Ohio Attorney General Marc Dann has taken action against some dismal charter schools that are wasting Ohio tax dollars.
Citing the Moraine Community School, according to Dann:
* Met only three of the 32 applicable indicators for school performance;
* Amassed persistently dismal Performance Index Scores, averaging 66.1 out of a possible 120, giving it an institutional GPA or “F”;
* Failed to meet Adequate Yearly Progress standards for the past four school years;
* Consistently lagged behind the performance of the West Carrollton City School District on State tests.
(Blogger’s note: this charter school is actually located in Dayton Ohio, not West Carrolton Ohio. I wonder why this charter school is not listed in the Dayton school district. There seems to be some unseen politics going on here.)
“By any measure, this school, like those we filed suit against last week, is an utter failure”
The Ohio Education Association hailed the decision by Ohio Attorney General Marc Dann to seek court orders to close down three Dayton-area charter schools for failing to live up to Ohio's academic standards.
"OEA has hoped for this kind of enforcement action to reverse the state's long-term failure to monitor charter school programs. Finally, we have an Attorney General willing to target enforcement action against charter schools that have failed to meet standards of academic and fiscal accountability," said OEA President Patricia Frost-Brooks.
Well how about that, accountability from the Attorney General. Let’s hammer these appalling charter schools! How dare these schools waste Ohio tax dollars! The Attorney General has two other Dayton charter schools in his sights, the New Choices Community School, and the Colin Powell Leadership Academy.
Yet would you believe that there are at least 108 public schools listed by the Ohio Department of Education throughout the state that fall into the same utter failing bracket (and lower) as listed by their 2006-2007 performance index scores as these three charter schools?
Here is a spreadsheet using information from the Ohio Department of Education showing those dismal public schools that are in the same bracket with the utter failing charter schools Mr. Dann has targeted sorted by their 2006-2007 performance index score.
News Flash – The Ohio Attorney General Marc Dann has taken action against some dismal charter schools that are wasting Ohio tax dollars.
Citing the Moraine Community School, according to Dann:
* Met only three of the 32 applicable indicators for school performance;
* Amassed persistently dismal Performance Index Scores, averaging 66.1 out of a possible 120, giving it an institutional GPA or “F”;
* Failed to meet Adequate Yearly Progress standards for the past four school years;
* Consistently lagged behind the performance of the West Carrollton City School District on State tests.
(Blogger’s note: this charter school is actually located in Dayton Ohio, not West Carrolton Ohio. I wonder why this charter school is not listed in the Dayton school district. There seems to be some unseen politics going on here.)
“By any measure, this school, like those we filed suit against last week, is an utter failure”
The Ohio Education Association hailed the decision by Ohio Attorney General Marc Dann to seek court orders to close down three Dayton-area charter schools for failing to live up to Ohio's academic standards.
"OEA has hoped for this kind of enforcement action to reverse the state's long-term failure to monitor charter school programs. Finally, we have an Attorney General willing to target enforcement action against charter schools that have failed to meet standards of academic and fiscal accountability," said OEA President Patricia Frost-Brooks.
Well how about that, accountability from the Attorney General. Let’s hammer these appalling charter schools! How dare these schools waste Ohio tax dollars! The Attorney General has two other Dayton charter schools in his sights, the New Choices Community School, and the Colin Powell Leadership Academy.
Yet would you believe that there are at least 108 public schools listed by the Ohio Department of Education throughout the state that fall into the same utter failing bracket (and lower) as listed by their 2006-2007 performance index scores as these three charter schools?
Here is a spreadsheet using information from the Ohio Department of Education showing those dismal public schools that are in the same bracket with the utter failing charter schools Mr. Dann has targeted sorted by their 2006-2007 performance index score.
Click Here
And these municipal schools are still being allowed to continue operations with the blessings of the attorney general and OEA.
Could this single sided accountability be politically motivated by our Attorney General? I guess when those utterly failed charter schools are shut down in Dayton; their students will be dispersed to the utterly failed Dayton municipal schools instead.
In Cleveland, where I live, only 7% of the Cleveland schools are rated by the state as effective and above while 19% of the charter schools in Cleveland are rated effective and above.
Some people in Cleveland choose to send their children to charter schools because of the long failed Cleveland school system. Perhaps they cannot afford parochial school or cannot receive a school voucher.
The Cleveland school system has never ever received an effective rating by state since the state report card system came into being back in 1999. Out of the over 100 schools in the Cleveland school system, only 5 schools have reached the level of effective, and only 2 are at the level of excellent. That’s only 7% of Cleveland Schools that are considered satisfactory by the Ohio Department of Education. Where is the accountability for the state tax dollars wasted by the Cleveland school system? Where are the Attorney General and the OEA? Instead, only the charter schools are targeted. You can almost hear the battle cry -
The monopoly must be preserved and choices taken away.
The inaction against the failing municipal school systems (which incidentally have been in existence much longer than any of the charter schools and have had more time to waste Ohio tax dollars) speaks volumes of the political grandstanding now taking place.
If the Attorney General is going to shut down these failed charter schools, why then is he not holding those municipal schools, which are also utter failures, to the same standards? If he does, will the OEA continue to support Mr. Dann? Accountability must go both ways.
There is a current campaign by some Ohio lawmakers to discontinue state funding to all charter schools including those that are successful. The Cleveland school system remains an utter failure yet it is allowed to operate well below Ohio standards. (Only 13% of the state standards met.)
If funding discontinues for charter schools, and the effective charter schools in Cleveland are forced to close, these Ohio lawmakers will be taking away from these charter school students inalienable rights of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness because most likely, the Cleveland schools that they would be assigned to would not be listed as an effective school by state standards.
The children of Cleveland are growing and do not have the time to wait for the Cleveland school system to get its act together. It took 8 years for the Cleveland School system to achieve a level of so called “continuous improvement” by reaching 4 out of the 30 state standards. At its continued rate, some Cleveland children will be in their 30’s before the Cleveland school system reaches an acceptable level of state standards. It is unjust to have to send Cleveland’s children to such a failed school system. It is also unacceptable that the state lawmakers continue to fund the failed Cleveland school system and all other failed public school systems throughout the state by allowing them to continue operations with little or no accountability.
Should I write to Attorney General Dann asking him if any of the failed Cleveland schools are in his sights to be shut down? According to information from the ODE, there are huge numbers of Cleveland students failing their state proficiency tests. Cleveland has a terrible graduation rate. Or am I to assume that the inaction of the Attorney General and the OEA means that they believe that the Cleveland school system is being held to an acceptable academic and financial standard?
I will write Mr. Dann. I hope he would have the courtesy to reply. I will ask him what plans are there in the works to properly fund the Cleveland school system. The Ohio Supreme Court has ruled that the current funding methods are unconstitutional. Why then are property tax levies allowed to continue? Is this not in contempt of the Supreme Court’s ruling? Charter schools in Cleveland that manage to be effective by state standards do it without the help of property tax dollars. It appears that these charter schools can do more with less, a measurable savings to the taxable Cleveland property owner. Perhaps the state legislators can learn from the management of these effective charter schools.
I will let Mr. Dann know that there is no question that the Cleveland school system has been plagued by mismanagement, fiscal and educational failure. Many generations of Cleveland children have had no other choice but to attend this utter failure of a school system. And I will ask Mr. Dann how many more generations of children will have to attend this ineffective school system. How many more politicians need to be elected until accountability for the state funds being used in those dismal public school systems is restored? There was never a need for charter schools and vouchers when public school systems were held accountable for their state funding.
Governor Strickland believes that “Every Ohio child deserves the best possible educational experience, regardless of whether he or she attends a traditional or charter school.”
If the charter schools which are already considered effective by the current State standards are allowed to lose state funding and are forced to close while the Cleveland school system, which by no means can be considered effective academically or fiscally is allowed to continue operations in its current condition, there will be no way Cleveland’s children will be able get the best possible educational experience they deserve.
For his information, I will also be sending Mr. Dann copies of some numbers from the Ohio Department of Education Website which show the public schools throughout the state that have scored as low as and even lower than the charter schools he is targeting. I will list the charter schools he has targeted so he can compare them to the ineffective public schools. I am hoping that these ineffective public schools are given the same courtesy as those charter schools.
But unfortunately, I will be writing from my home in Cleveland aka "Free Stamp City", which is usually ignored by state lawmakers, and the brunt of many jokes from the nation.
Note: I did write to Attorney General Dann in September of 2006. I still await his reply.
And these municipal schools are still being allowed to continue operations with the blessings of the attorney general and OEA.
Could this single sided accountability be politically motivated by our Attorney General? I guess when those utterly failed charter schools are shut down in Dayton; their students will be dispersed to the utterly failed Dayton municipal schools instead.
In Cleveland, where I live, only 7% of the Cleveland schools are rated by the state as effective and above while 19% of the charter schools in Cleveland are rated effective and above.
Some people in Cleveland choose to send their children to charter schools because of the long failed Cleveland school system. Perhaps they cannot afford parochial school or cannot receive a school voucher.
The Cleveland school system has never ever received an effective rating by state since the state report card system came into being back in 1999. Out of the over 100 schools in the Cleveland school system, only 5 schools have reached the level of effective, and only 2 are at the level of excellent. That’s only 7% of Cleveland Schools that are considered satisfactory by the Ohio Department of Education. Where is the accountability for the state tax dollars wasted by the Cleveland school system? Where are the Attorney General and the OEA? Instead, only the charter schools are targeted. You can almost hear the battle cry -
The monopoly must be preserved and choices taken away.
The inaction against the failing municipal school systems (which incidentally have been in existence much longer than any of the charter schools and have had more time to waste Ohio tax dollars) speaks volumes of the political grandstanding now taking place.
If the Attorney General is going to shut down these failed charter schools, why then is he not holding those municipal schools, which are also utter failures, to the same standards? If he does, will the OEA continue to support Mr. Dann? Accountability must go both ways.
There is a current campaign by some Ohio lawmakers to discontinue state funding to all charter schools including those that are successful. The Cleveland school system remains an utter failure yet it is allowed to operate well below Ohio standards. (Only 13% of the state standards met.)
If funding discontinues for charter schools, and the effective charter schools in Cleveland are forced to close, these Ohio lawmakers will be taking away from these charter school students inalienable rights of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness because most likely, the Cleveland schools that they would be assigned to would not be listed as an effective school by state standards.
The children of Cleveland are growing and do not have the time to wait for the Cleveland school system to get its act together. It took 8 years for the Cleveland School system to achieve a level of so called “continuous improvement” by reaching 4 out of the 30 state standards. At its continued rate, some Cleveland children will be in their 30’s before the Cleveland school system reaches an acceptable level of state standards. It is unjust to have to send Cleveland’s children to such a failed school system. It is also unacceptable that the state lawmakers continue to fund the failed Cleveland school system and all other failed public school systems throughout the state by allowing them to continue operations with little or no accountability.
Should I write to Attorney General Dann asking him if any of the failed Cleveland schools are in his sights to be shut down? According to information from the ODE, there are huge numbers of Cleveland students failing their state proficiency tests. Cleveland has a terrible graduation rate. Or am I to assume that the inaction of the Attorney General and the OEA means that they believe that the Cleveland school system is being held to an acceptable academic and financial standard?
I will write Mr. Dann. I hope he would have the courtesy to reply. I will ask him what plans are there in the works to properly fund the Cleveland school system. The Ohio Supreme Court has ruled that the current funding methods are unconstitutional. Why then are property tax levies allowed to continue? Is this not in contempt of the Supreme Court’s ruling? Charter schools in Cleveland that manage to be effective by state standards do it without the help of property tax dollars. It appears that these charter schools can do more with less, a measurable savings to the taxable Cleveland property owner. Perhaps the state legislators can learn from the management of these effective charter schools.
I will let Mr. Dann know that there is no question that the Cleveland school system has been plagued by mismanagement, fiscal and educational failure. Many generations of Cleveland children have had no other choice but to attend this utter failure of a school system. And I will ask Mr. Dann how many more generations of children will have to attend this ineffective school system. How many more politicians need to be elected until accountability for the state funds being used in those dismal public school systems is restored? There was never a need for charter schools and vouchers when public school systems were held accountable for their state funding.
Governor Strickland believes that “Every Ohio child deserves the best possible educational experience, regardless of whether he or she attends a traditional or charter school.”
If the charter schools which are already considered effective by the current State standards are allowed to lose state funding and are forced to close while the Cleveland school system, which by no means can be considered effective academically or fiscally is allowed to continue operations in its current condition, there will be no way Cleveland’s children will be able get the best possible educational experience they deserve.
For his information, I will also be sending Mr. Dann copies of some numbers from the Ohio Department of Education Website which show the public schools throughout the state that have scored as low as and even lower than the charter schools he is targeting. I will list the charter schools he has targeted so he can compare them to the ineffective public schools. I am hoping that these ineffective public schools are given the same courtesy as those charter schools.
But unfortunately, I will be writing from my home in Cleveland aka "Free Stamp City", which is usually ignored by state lawmakers, and the brunt of many jokes from the nation.
Note: I did write to Attorney General Dann in September of 2006. I still await his reply.
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