Ohio’s education challenge
Ohio’s education challenge
Columbus Dispatch: Gov. John Kasich, a man who does not shy away from challenge, is saying that he intends to work with the legislature to come up with a better way to fund the state’s schools, likely in time for next year’s new state budget. Meanwhile, members of the General Assembly are doing the homework needed to craft reform.
Parents who think their district is doing great might be shocked to find out that, compared with national achievement-test scores, in many cases student performance is substandard.
The challenge lawmakers face is to build consensus for a shift in how the state funds education, and how it stretches those dollars to make sure all students learn.
Among the thornier issues is what it should actually cost to educate a student and how much local control should be preserved.
Ohio fundamentally changed how it approaches school funding. But it didn’t fix schools.