Monthly Archives: March 2024

Public Services Versus Private Choice

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This blog is a bit longer than I’d hope, but please hang in there.

Publicly funded school vouchers are an abomination. They are unconstitutional and, in my opinion, illegal. 

If you live in the Ohio counties of Hocking, Athens, Clinton and Lawrence, let this sink in. A family of 4 with an annual income of $135,000 living in Cuyahoga County can receive $8,000 per child to attend a private, Catholic school in the Cleveland area and your tax dollars help pay for it. While that will not cover the full tuition for the child, (in 2022 that was listed at $18,360) it will subsidize it. What’s more is that the early data shows us that the majority of families taking voucher money never attended the public school in their community and many live in places where the public school districts are highly rated on traditional measures of school quality (examples–Rocky River, Westlake, Bay Village, Olentangy, Dublin and so on).

I have no problem with a family opting out of the public school system and seeking to send their children to a private school, or even choosing to homeschool them. While I didn’t do that, some parents choose to send their children to private school because of religious reasons. That’s fine. People can choose how to raise their children and how to educate them.  The problem that I have is with the majority of Ohio Legislators using tax dollars to subsidize private schools. Listed below are a few examples to consider that are meant to illustrate my point regarding public services versus private choice. While it seems as though many have an issue with “government,” and the services that it provides, our American way of life was built on creating things for the purpose of contributing to the public good. Politically some would argue that the government should offer more to citizens, and some would say that it should be less. Regardless of your philosophical beliefs, I think that most would agree that a constitutional document should serve as the True North…that’s my opinion anyway.  If a group does not like or agree with what is written in a constitutional document there is a process to change it. 

The Public Park System: Example 1

At some point in time (and I’m not an expert on this subject), the Ohio Government decided that it was in the public’s best interest to create a system of parks for recreation. They allocated resources to create a public park system , and provided funding (only about $4.4 million) to ensure the parks were taken care of so that the public could enjoy them. If the local government chose to improve upon the park system that falls within its respective jurisdiction, they could go to their local voters and ask for additional resources to build upon the original system that was subsidized by the resources that the larger government body provided. The Cleveland Metroparks system does this. 

There is no provision for citizens to say, “we would like our income arising from taxation to be used for a private park system (example–Cedar Point) because we want to choose our own.”  A real life argument would be, “I don’t bike, play softball, use the walking paths and so on, so give me my money by way of a coupon to spend it elsewhere.” If private choice existed on this matter, a family who wanted to exercise choice could ask for a voucher to have their tax dollars go towards a private park system of their choosing. They could opt for a Cedar Point membership and fast pass, rather than the public system. As much as I like Cedar Point, I think I should have to pay for my admission to go there. 

Fire and Safety: Example 2

At some point in time, the “government” thought it was in the best interest of the public to have a fire and safety system put into place so that the citizens that live within a particular geographic boundary have services available to protect them from things like fires, crime and so on.  The larger government body (federal and state) provided a baseline of resources to provide this service to the public. At the local level, the government had the freedom to choose to build upon, or augment those services. If they chose, the government could go to the local voters and ask for additional resources. 

There is no provision that allows Ohio citizens to say, “We don’t like our safety services. We would like our State tax money to be used to fund a private fire and safety force because we want to choose our own.” While an odd argument, if a family wanted to make a personal choice and use their own money to hire an armed security guard, or have a person on standby to put out any fire or transport any family member to the hospital, they could do so. If they chose this, it would be at their own expense.  As nice as it might be to have my own police officer to keep my family safe, I think I should pay for it with my own money. That would be my choice.  

Education: Example 3

At some point in time, the Federal government decided that it was in the best interest of our Nation to ensure that its citizenry were an educated group. There are a number of reasons one could imagine why this was a good idea. For instance, the more “educated” a group of citizens are, the more likely they are to create things that would benefit society as a whole. While the Federal government didn’t want to fully fund this, they did provide resources, and then indicated in the Constitution that it would be up to the states to determine what they should do if they wanted to augment it. In short, in the US Constitution Amendment 10 tells us, “the powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.”

According to my research, in 1961, a group of elected officials, on behalf of the people of Ohio, wrote how education should be addressed and they codified it in the Ohio Constitution. Specifically, in Article VI, Section 6 of the Ohio Constitution they said–

The General Assembly shall make such provisions, by taxation, or otherwise, as, with the income arising from the school trust fund, will secure a thorough and efficient system of common schools throughout the State; but, no religious or other sect, or sects, shall ever have any exclusive right to, or control of, any part of the school funds of this state. (OH Const art VI § 2)

Common schools means schools that could be accessible by the public (i.e. public schools). The thorough and efficient system makes a “quality” argument that has already been debated and ruled upon by Ohio’s Judicial System. The “no religious or other sect, or sects, shall ever have any exclusive right to, or control of, any part of the school funds” seems pretty straightforward to me. The school trust fund should NOT go towards a “religious or other sect, or sects” nor “shall they even have an exclusive right to… (see what’s cited above).” 

Where Am I Going With This? 

A citizen (i.e. a parent) has the right to privately choose many things. He or she can choose where they shop for clothes and groceries, where he or she may go on vacation, the doctor one might choose, and so on. When one makes a private choice, it is understood that said private choice is paid for by the individual. There are certain things that society (and in this case, it is codified in the Ohio Constitution) has indicated ought to be provided as a matter of law. As it relates to schooling, it is clear–Ohio should provide for a thorough and efficient system of common schools. 

When it comes to a public park system, emergency and safety services, and a thorough and efficient set of common schools, these are things that are supposed to be available to Ohio’s citizens because of the system that has been set up to provide for them. In short, our tax dollars pay for public education. They pay for a safety force and they pay for public parks.  They do not pay for private security guards, fire-fighter people, and they don’t pay for my Cedar Point pass. Public services are meant to serve the good of the public in an organized society, and the government has a responsibility to use our tax dollars to provide them. According to how our system is set up, people aren’t permitted to say “no thank you” and take their tax dollars and funnel them to private entities under the banner of “choice.” 

If the Ohio Constitution says that the State Government is required to provide a “thorough and efficient system of common schools” and that “no religious or other sect, or sects, shall ever have any exclusive right to, or control of, any part of the school funds of this state,” why is appropriate (one could even ask, why is it even legal) for the government to earmark funds to pay for private school tuition–especially when the majority of those schools are religious?!?

A Final Example

Here’s a final example of why this shouldn’t be permitted. I know a senior citizen who lives in my school district. He has a pretty nice house and pays his taxes. His property value is high because he keeps his house in fine condition and the public school district where his house is located is pretty good as well (I’m biased, but it is). Good schools increase property values. While he has no students in the school system, under Ohio’s current Voucher Program for all, his tax dollars are paying for someone else’s choice to attend a private, parochial school in Cleveland. He’s told me that he isn’t happy about this, and for the life of me I can’t explain to him why it is appropriate that the Ohio Legislators have consciously chosen to disregard the Ohio Constitution. He benefits from a strong public school system. He does not benefit from an out of control voucher system.

If you want a choice, know that you’ve always had one. Like your grocery store that you choose to shop at, or the doctor that you choose to go to–families should use their private money to pay for private schooling. Respectfully, you shouldn’t expect those who pay into a system that benefits the public good to subsidize your individual choice.  There is one pot of tax resources to fulfill the Ohio Constitutional obligation of a system of common schools and it is being split up to pay for private choice because a political group has a stranglehold on what is permitted to occur and what is not. I think that’s wrong and, I would argue, it is unconstitutional. 

#PublicSchools

Reading to consider:

 https://www.policymattersohio.org/blog/2023/06/09/fund-what-works-public-dollars-for-public-schools

https://www.cleveland.com/news/2024/02/private-school-vouchers-program-balloons-from-24000-to-82000-students-and-counting-after-legislative-expansion.html

https://www.wosu.org/politics-government/2023-11-29/ohio-spends-15-million-more-than-estimated-on-expanded-private-school-voucher-program

https://reports.education.ohio.gov/report/nonpublic-data-scholarship-assessment-report

Frequently Asked Questions About Vouchers Hurt Ohio

Ohio’s New “Yelp Review” Report Card Is A Lie Telling, Truth Crushing Machine

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The point of this article is to illuminate how poorly designed Ohio’s accountability system is by using a very personal example.

The legislators from Ohio continue to tinker with the educational accountability system and in 2023 those of us that are forced to operate under this compliance driven model will be subjected to a new and improved reporting style that looks much like a “Yelp Review.” They will tell you that superintendents and other educators were involved in the creation of this “new” system, however the reality is the success of the project was doomed from the beginning because 1) innovation was shackled, 2) the right people weren’t at the table and more importantly, 3) the right questions weren’t being asked. Rather than being disruptive and starting over by  reimagining and transforming, the group simply put a new shade of lipstick on the same old pig, and when you do that you’re left with what you started with (my apologies to all pigs).

Based on the tone of this writing you’d probably expect my district to be one that did poorly under this revised system, however that is generally not the case. Olmsted Falls Schools received a 4.5 out of 5 star review from Ohio. Receiving a favorable rating is advantageous for me because it provides us with a reasonable amount of cover to criticize the model for what it is–at best a complete waste of taxpayer resources, and at worst, a lie telling, spirit crushing machine. Generally we have done well under Ohio’s accountability model. A model  that many believe is riddled with institutionalized racism and classism. In general the deck is stacked in favor of a district like mine so I’m going to load up and let go over the next several weeks because I think people need to know how badly it’s flawed.

Our school district is unique. We are relatively small (about 3,600 kids) and have 5 school buildings. Our schools are arranged in the following manner: OF Early Childhood Center has grades PreK-K; Falls Lenox Primary has grades 1-3; OF Intermediate School has grades 4-5; OF Middle School has grades 6-8 and OF High School has grades 9-12. We like how our grade levels are arranged. It allows our teachers to really focus instructionally on the developmental levels of the students specific to the school, and each building has a great sense of community.

Each of our 5 buildings will be subjected to Ohio’s Compliance-Based Accountability Model and each will have a school report card. I could devote a dissertation as to why Ohio’s accountability model lacks truth, precision and the robustness that it should have in order to provide communities with a real understanding of what is going on in their schools, but I will not. I’m going to devote this space to demonstrate why one size does not fit all AND the harm that Ohio’s model causes my colleagues that work within my school district and the families that continue to move into the Olmsted Communities.

What’s in Ohio’s Rating System?

Ohio’s reporting system provides an Overall Rating that is composed of 6 Components: Achievement; Progress; Gap Closing; Graduate Rate; Early Literacy; and College, Career, Workforce & Military Readiness. Four out of six use student standardized test scores in the component. Some of the components are grade level specific (e.g. Graduation Rate is specific to a high school not an elementary school and Early Literacy is specific to elementary not high school). Below is a screen shot from Ohio’s reporting system that shows how many stars the district will receive and from which components. Remember that this rating is “rear-view.” It is based on data obtained from last school year. 

Most primary schools in our state are arranged with more than 1 grade level. Generally they contain grades K-2, K-3, K-4 or K-5. The Olmsted Falls Early Childhood Center (ECC) has 1 grade level (kindergarten) and a wonderful preschool program that serves students from ages 3-5 with special needs and peer models. While Ohio’s preschool programs have a compliance-based accountability system, that system is separate from the K-12 system. Due to the unique grade level configuration at the ECC (it contains 100 preschool students and approximately 215 kindergarteners), it will be rated and judged inaccurately and unfairly because the system has many missing components.

The ECC is a school that has only preschool and kindergarten students so it does not have a State math or reading test which eliminates Ohio’s report card components of achievement, growth, and early literacy. When you think about that it is pretty absurd to imagine a state system that’s supposed to report on school quality being incapable of accounting for and reporting on the achievement, growth and literacy of its youngest learners when research would suggest that the earliest years are the most critical years when it comes to student development, but I digress. Shown below is what Ohio will tell our community. They’ll say that our Early Childhood Center is not good. It will receive a rating of 1 out of 5 stars. Not only is this inaccurate and damaging as it relates to the quality of this particular school, it’s a damn lie which makes it even worse.

The rating for this school will be based on only 2 factors–whether the school serves 5 year old’s identified as gifted (which doing so is just plain dumb and this is coming from a former school psych who has evaluated quite a few kids) and what Ohio calls, “chronic absenteeism.” Chronic absenteeism happens when kids miss too much school regardless if those absences are excused or unexcused. So…if you have a young child who has an underdeveloped immune system, is prone to ear infections, colds, COVID, whatever, and the child misses “too much school,” the state takes it out on your school district. Imagine doing this post COVID-19 when we’ve told families to keep sick kids at home so they’re not coughing all over each other.

The picture below shows how the school chronic absenteeism indicator is generated. I’ll be honest. I have a doctorate, am a former psychometrician and have been involved with school accountability for a long time. I can certainly follow along, but the picture below is “Educational NC-17.” If our school building received a 1 star as a result of this indicator I think it would follow that Ohio should get a “0” as a state. Does it surprise you that the absenteeism rate has increased post-COVID? 

The point of this article isn’t that school attendance doesn’t matter or gifted education isn’t important because both are. The issue is releasing a state endorsed school quality measure that is so poorly designed that it cannot account for the quality of a school. The repercussions of a system that uses gifted service delivery and who kept their kid home the most in order to publicly pronounce the quality of a school is a system designed by lazy people who do not understand the complexity of determining school quality. Ohio kids and parents deserve honesty, precision and so much more. Be better!

I’ll end with this…in Olmsted Falls City Schools we’ve been engaged in creating a more innovative and transformative approach to communicating what we’re focusing on and how we’re doing. We’ve engaged our families and students and asked them what their hopes and dreams are. Our new system for accounting for what we’re doing will be based on those hopes and dreams. We will be launching this new approach in November and will communicate to our primary stakeholders more specifically about what we’re trying to do in a language that is easily understood and free of the educational jargon that educators love and parents do not.

Parents with preschoolers and kindergarteners at the ECC have hopes and dreams for their kids that include early literacy development, the ability to think mathematically, begin communicating through print and all kinds of other things. We will account for those things, show that evidence to our community and celebrate our youngest learners. Everything that Ohio’s accountability model cannot do, we will do. In the meantime, I hope that those that created, endorsed and voted for this new yelp model stub their toe tonight because your model has done harm to students, families and staff. Listed below is the kind of trust building, truth telling machine we are looking to create in order to tell a more complete story.

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