Kasich's New Plan For Education

From the Journal...

Area educators hear Kasich’s plans for reform


CLEARCREEK TWP. — Results haven’t improved all that much, but Ohio schools are spending more to educate students. (Imagine that!)

"Lowering class sizes, increasing graduation requirements and other efforts to improve the state’s K-12 academic achievements are falling short of the goal, said Bob Sommers, education consultant for Gov. John Kasich".

“At the end of the day, all we’ve done is raised costs,” Sommers said Wednesday to a room full of area school board members, administrators, teachers and others at the Warren County Career Center." Hear that educators- "all we've done is raise cost"

According to this, all the talk by the education people about lowering class size to provide more individual attention for better results has not panned out.

"The new direction, he said, is focused on recognizing and supporting high-quality teachers and weeding out the ineffective ones; sharing resources to reduce costs; assessing and ranking schools more accurately and increasing competition; and empowering parents by providing more choices, including essentially taking over failing schools"

The suggestion of weeding out the ineffective teachers is long overdue. Should have happened decades ago when school performance was starting to trend downward. The merit system- the poor performing teacher's worst nightmare.

“We chose not to raise taxes,” Sommers said of the governor’s efforts to make up the state’s $8 billion shortfall. Anticipating the criticism that doing so only shifts the burden to local governments and school boards to raise taxes, Sommers added: “Locals need to be careful about raising taxes as well.”

Repeat- "Locals need to be careful about raising taxes as well".... Midd. School Board. Throwing more money at the problem isn't the solution. Never has been but you couldn't be convinced.

"I’m concerned about how all of it will go into effect,” she said. “I’m not against what they’re proposing, as long as it’s better for the kids.”- Esther Larson- Lebanon Board of Education President. Esther, if you and your fellow education people are concerned about "what is better for the kids". why did you keep doing ineffective things that provided poor results for so long? Seems like all of you were content to keep business as usual....until now.

I like this one.....

Voters in November wanted the new governor to create jobs and fix the economy; Kasich should be more focused on that mandate, said Leslie Nettling, president of the Carlisle Teachers Association, who has actively opposed Senate Bill 5, a proposed law that will curtail collective bargaining rights. (Not surprising) Leslie Nettling (and her teachers association) wants the governor to focus on job creation and the economy so that he won't focus on her little union kingdom and burst her little union bubble. Times a comin' Leslie....times a comin'.

So, many of the school districts may have given away more taxpayer money under the collective bargaining system again hey. How fortunate and convenient for the teachers to have their contracts done before the hammer comes down on them and their sweet little wage/benefit/retirement world of theirs. Next time, it may work out differently for them. They may have to accept the wages, bennies and retirement that are presented to them and that the rest of us have been accepting for decades. No bargaining, just take it, be happy with it and leave the room because that's all we can afford at this time and that's how much value you bring to the table for us. If so, welcome to the private sector, public folks!

sportsnut-you are correct! I was referring to the Middletown district with respect to my comments. I know that Lebanon is an excellent district and that most other districts are in better shape than Middletown's. I should not have generalized and should have made clear, I was directing my comments (and frustration) at Middletown. Thank you for the clarification.

TonyB wrote: If both places have teachers unions why is one place doing so well and the other not? I'd be interested in any theory or opinion on this.

The socio-economic status of the student body in each district.

sportsnut and vet - thank you for your posts. I appreciate these insights and opinions. I hope that others will offer their insights on this matter.

Vet -thanks for the post. If it hasn't become obvious in my 100+ previous posts, I'm just as interested in finding solutions as I am about pointing out problems. IMO, the more points of view obtained, the better the opportunity to find solutions.