School Funding Crisis in Ohio

This is an excerpt from an article published in the Columbus Dispatch this morning:

“Hilliard schools and Logan Elm, a Pickaway County district, both fell prey to a new provision that downgraded them to "continuous improvement" — the equivalent of a C — even though districtwide test scores could have given them higher ratings.

Hilliard, which met 21 of 23 state attendance, graduation and testing goals this year, had expected to maintain its "effective" rating, but dropped a rank because its Latino, English-as-asecond-language and specialneeds students did not meet state benchmarks.

One of the principles of No Child Left Behind is that a school or district isn’t succeeding if certain
kinds of students aren’t. Hilliard and Logan Elm ended up in "continuous improvement" because more than one subgroup of students has failed portions of math or reading tests for three consecutive years. “

This is going to boil over in our community. The school district is already in a financial crunch because the funding system is broken. The federal government is allowing hordes of legal and illegal immigrants to pour into unprepared communities, then turns around and dings us because they can't pass the No Child Left Behind requirements.

If the School Board puts a levy on the fall ballot, the debate will be ugly.