Dear Colleagues,
Welcome to testing month! So much much effort goes into ridiculous state tests this month, finishing up SLOs, and other nonsense that has so little to do with teaching and learning. I am sure most of you agree that when anytime there is a change in the daily schedule or routine, our students act out in different ways. So, along with the stress related to the tests we also have the anxiety, uncertainty and general weariness that comes from being forced to comply with testing mandates. Glad we had spring break to prepare, but I am already feeling that break was years ago.
We are faced with many day to day issues that impact our work. Sometimes there are so many important things going on in our classroom and in our schools, that it is hard to think about larger political issues. Here are two that warrant your attention and action.
The first is the state’s biennial budget for primary and secondary education. The process has started in Columbus to pound out a budget. The Governor’s education budget has some improvements in some areas, but does not solve problems in CHUH. Our state aid is drained in a disproportionate amount when considering the students we serve. For instance, last year students using vouchers in CHUH accounted for close to 3% of ALL vouchers given statewide. CHUH only represents around 0.5% of the population of the state. The net effect is that we are losing an incredible amount of our state aid to students we don’t serve. In fact, between charter students and voucher students we lose over one-third of our state aid even though these students account for less than one-sixth of all students for which we receive aid.
Second. The House of Representatives Primary and Secondary Education Finance Committee leaders have come up with a new proposal that has a lot of promise. It is the Cupp-Patterson school funding formula named after the two reps that put it together. Bob Cupp is a Republican lawmaker who is very experienced and reasonable. John Patterson is a Democrat from Ashtabula County and a former teacher who understands how things work. Their proposal is gaining traction for being both equitable and adequate. This proposal would help most districts in the state, including ours. Most importantly for us is that it distributes voucher and charter money directly from the state treasury instead of coming out of our district’s allocation and ultimately diverts local tax dollars to charters and vouchers. Although we would prefer vouchers and charter schools to disappear at least this change in funding would help CHUH. In the next few weeks we may be asking you to help out by calling or writing your state rep, posting on FB or Twitter or writing a letter to the editor of local newspapers in support of this funding proposal.
Whatever comes out of the House will then go to the State Senate. They might have their own ideas about funding or might be persuaded to adopt Cupp Patterson. This is where we will probably want the most help.
For some more information you might enjoy OFT President Melissa Cropper’s article in the Columbus Dispatch this week that includes a link to the Cupp-Patterson report and references the issues in Cleveland Heights.
https://www.dispatch.com/opinion/20190403/column-ohios-schools-need-new-formula-new-revenue
The second big picture issue has to do with legislation in the State House right now that would eliminate the state takeover language that has decimated 3 Ohio school districts so far; Youngtown, Lorain, and East Cleveland. Taking away local voice and control of education makes little sense - it does not work to bring in some CEO type to “fix” what is supposedly wrong with our schools. This is the club we have been threatened with if we don’t “FOCUS” on getting higher scores. For years we have been threatened with a state takeover of our schools. There are three bills currently in the House that might fix this mistake. We will keep you apprised of how you can help in getting this legislation into law.
When we speak with one voice we can be heard.
In Union,
Ari Klein
CHTU President