Maureen Reedy, a teacher in Ohio for 29 years, was Ohio teacher of the year in 2002. Now she is running for the Ohio House of Representatives.
She deserves the support of every taxpayer, parent, and citizen in Ohio.
She is angry at the waste of taxpayer dollars for bad, deregulated charter schools. Forget what you read in The Economist about the miracle of privately managed charters. As she points out below, half the charter schools in the state are in academic emergency or academic watch, compared with only one in 11 public schools.
She is especially outraged by the rapacious cyber charters. As she points out in this article, two of Ohio’s major charter sponsors have collected nearly a billion dollars of Ohio taxpayer dollars since 1999:
Charter schools are a poor investment of Ohio’s education dollars and have a worse track record than public schools in our state; there are twice as many failing charter schools as successful ones, and one in two charter schools is either in academic emergency or academic watch, compared with only one in 11 traditional public-school buildings. Five of seven of Ohio’s largest electronic-charter-school districts’ graduation rates are lower than the state’s worst public-school system’s graduation rate, and six of seven of the electronic charter schools districts are rated less than effective.
And finally, the Electronic Classroom of Tomorrow has failed in every identified state category for eight years, a worse track record than the Cleveland City School system, which is under threat of being shut down by the state. The Electronic Classroom of Tomorrow is run by unlicensed administrators. Lager, in addition to his $3 million salary, earned an additional $12 million funneled through his software company, which sells products to his charter-school corporation. Just how much does the average teacher in the Electronic Classroom of Tomorrow earn you may ask? Approximately $34,000 per year.
Why do the Governor and the Legislature look the other way? Why are they quadrupling the number of vouchers and reducing oversight of the state’s troubled charter schools?
That’s easy:
I am appalled at the direct pipeline funneling vital state dollars for our children’s education directly into the pockets of millionaires like David L. Brennan, chief executive officer of White Hat Management ($6 million yearly salary) and William Lager, CEO of the state’s ninth-largest school district, the Electronic Classroom of Tomorrow ($3 million yearly salary).
Let’s follow the money trail of political contributions by these two for-profit charter-school CEOs to high-ranking GOP legislators. In the past decade, Brennan and Lager have donated a combined $5 million to high-ranking GOP legislators, including Gov. John Kasich, Lt. Gov. Mary Taylor, House Speaker William G. Batchelder and Sen. Kevin Bacon, chairman of the Senate Committee on Insurance, Commerce and Labor.
Why isn’t the U.S. Department of Education blowing the whistle on these scandals?
Is education reform about improving education or about lining the pockets of campaign contributors?
Not a hard question in Ohio.
Maureen is fantastic and will be an outstanding advocate for all Ohioans in the Statehouse. It’s also interesting to point out that Ohio has ten teachers running for either the House or the Senate in this year’s general election, even beating out career politicians in the primary to get this far. It’s going to be an amazing election year in the Buckeye State.
Thanks for the heads up! I’m not 24th district but she will be getting a donation from me.
How can this NOT be headline news-even nationally? Money laundering…fraud maybe…I’m no legal expert, but to support and fund lies on a money merry-go-round just isn’t right.
Pearson owns The Economist. Rupert Murdoch owns the Wall Street Journal and Fox News. Donald Graham (diploma mill billionaire) owns the Washington Post.
Does Maureen have clones? I think we will see more educators getting in the elected political arena.
I hope so. If they won’t listen, run against them.
Wonderful news! Even though I live in Maryland I support Maureen’s decision to run.
We need more teachers in state legislatures. It can only help. Here’s my favorite candidate, in Michigan: http://www.dale4staterep.com/
Ohioans should be aware of the Ohio Income Tax credit (not deduction!) for donations to STATE (and only state) campaign contributions, Line 55 on yr Ohio IT-1040
It works like this: if you are going to owe any Ohio State income tax, you can get a dollar for dollar tax credit for donations to STATE political campaigns, up to $50 per single person or $100 for married couples who file jointly.
So, if you are pretty sure that you will owe more than fifty bucks in Ohio State Income taxes (or over $100 per couple) contribute to Maureen’s campaign!
I am going to call this response “Open For Big Business…our tax dollars are paying for”
I have knocked on 3,000 doors and believe me, I am hearing mind blowing stories about the For Profit Charter schools travesties from the teachers…. Here are just a few to start with…
“The first piece of information I learn upon being hired, is the school has no Principal… and I am the 3rd teacher to fill the position in the current school year… weeks of instruction have been lost for the kids.” (a substitute teacher fills the duty of Principal, policies are non existent)
“The building appears to have been previously used for retail use… there is an adult bookstore less than a quarter mile down the road… no fenced in areas around the school.”
“There are no Phys. Ed, Art or Music teachers.”
“Intervention services for children with special needs are provided by substitute teachers with no teaching licenses.”
In another school…
“The kids are plugged in on-line with no supervision, 80 kids in a “classroom” with long cafeteria tables and folding chairs, surfing the net, students have been caught on porn sites.”
“Family relatives are hired by the CEO, with no teaching certification.””
“Teachers are hired with domestic violence records.”
These are real teachers, telling real stories…
And what is most frightening, these Charters are still “Open For Big Business…” that our tax dollars are paying for.
And ultimately, our children are the true victims, helpless as CEOs with no understanding of the nuances and complexities of our education profession and child development continue to build their corporate enterprises under the guise of school “choice.”
Collect the stories from parents and teachers and write a post about them.
Hi Maureen,
I plan to retire from the NYC school system within two years. When I retire, I would have dedicated 25 years to the children of NYC and I plan to move to Parma Hts, Ohio. I without a doubt understand the passionate fight teachers have against the charter schools, especially the co-location in a public school building. Please note if you’re elected I want to be one of your constitutes in the fight to protect public schools in Ohio. I wish you the best and I look forward to hearing that you have won the election. Tax dollars for the public school children of our nation.
oops….
“one of your constitutents”…