Columnist Marilou Johanek of the Toledo Blade writes that Governor John Kasich let the cat out of the bag, unintentionally, of course. Or, as she put it, he let his mask slip.
It was probably an accident. Ohio Gov. John Kasich let his public education mask slip. He ranted when he should have relaxed.
What Mr. Kasich blurted out to a roomful of incoming legislators, assembled in Columbus for an orientation session last November, was enormously revealing. It was prophetic about a secret effort, already begun, to erode local control of Youngstown Schools and any Ohio district like it.
Representative-elect Michele Lepore-Hagan, a newly elected Youngstown Democrat, wanted to talk to the governor about the troubled school district she represented. “And he threw a tablet into the air and said those Youngstown City Schools are in such a mess I want to shut them down and put one great big charter school in there.”
Later a committee, quietly spearheaded by the Kasich administration, would sign off on a plan to change the Youngstown district and others like it in the state. The plan, crafted behind closed doors by the Youngstown City Schools Business Cabinet, could put traditional public schools out of business.
Do Republican voters really want to eliminate traditional public schooling? Do they really want public money to go to unregulated, for-profit charter schools? Do they really want the state’s children to be sent to religious schools with taxpayer funds?
Let’s hope that Governor Kasich lets the cat out of the bag more frequently and does it in public. Let’s hope that when the Republicans debate again, one of the moderators ask him about his views on privatization of public education. And when they do, let’s hope that the moderator is fully informed about the long list of charter school scandals in Ohio, where charter schools underperform traditional public schools across the state.
Read more at http://www.toledoblade.com/MarilouJohanek/2015/08/22/Governor-Kasich-s-education-agenda-unmasked.html#MxmBbUqjxq2k2F5M.99
Diane Ravitch's blog 
Candidates from both parties should be asked about financial support they receive from those supporting privatization.
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Keep in mind: Ohio already has unlimited and virtually unregulated charter schools, thanks to the diligent efforts and funding of the Obama and Kasich Administrations. Ohio also has private school vouchers. The charter schools that are in Youngstown NOW perform worse than the public school system there.
None of that mattered. They pushed thru a takeover plan with the intent to privatize the whole system over a 2 day period when no one was looking. These are the same people that are now on Year Three of slow-walking the charter school regulations they haven’t gotten around to doing.
3 years to write simple regulations for charter schools (and they still haven’t gotten it done) and 2 days to push thru a privatization plan to turn public schools over to private contractors.
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The system for rating and ranking schools in Ohio is rigged to favor high failure rates in metro areas, similar to those used to justify the takeover of the Youngstown schools.
Other school districts that are ripe for takeover include Akron City, Canton, Columbis, Cleveland Municipal, Cincinnati, and Toledo. Youngstown was at the bottom of this list comparating district overall “performance.”
The rating and ranking scheme for 2016 will make more extensive use of value-added metrics and basically continue some version of stack rating, assigning letter grades/scores and using those to justify takeovers.
You look at the F’s in Cincinnati’s report card for last year and see the metrics proposed for next year to see how the system works.
http://reportcard.education.ohio.gov/Pages/District-Report.aspx?DistrictIRN=043752
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If setting one school system against another “worked” wouldn’t Ohio have the best schools in the country by now?
We have the whole ed reform menu- charters, vouchers. stack-ranking, endless testing, the whole works.
We’ve been following this “market based” approach for 15 years now. This isn’t policy. It’s a belief system. The latest fad is privatizing the bottom 5% so we’re doing that now, too?
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Trickle down economics was a belief system that never worked, but it didn’t stop politicians from trying to sell it.
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These Republican candidates keep outdoing one another.
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Outdoing each other in ….the greatest level of stupidity…ugh!!
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Yea because Obama and Hillary are definitely winners! good grief!
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I have not stated that any of them are winners. I just know that most of republican governors are doing the most damage to public education and pushing for the privatization of education.
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And the Democrats are better? The one positive thing is that I don’t have to vote anymore. I always figured it was a scam. Both parties (2) are determined to get rid of public schools. I call that a done deal. I guess we should be spending our time talking about how to start a private school or charter school and make money.
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Steve, you are correct when speaking for the federal level. At the state level, here in Michigan, the outnumbered Democrats have been trying to resist reforms.
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We read, we reply, we cry, but somehow I cannot help but feel that all this reform outrage is going nowhere. I have 3 why’s. 1. WHY is there a lack of mainstream media attention to this fundamental civil rights issue? We are witnessing the destruction of public education and there is a severe lack of ethical reporting. 2. WHY isn’t it obligatory for public servants (congress, reps, mayors etc.) to send their children to public school? Imagine how robust funding, academic, creative and athletic programs would be. 3. WHY aren’t we, as a deserving public, challenging the private charter system in a massive class action civil rights lawsuit? Where are the civil rights lawyers who want to take this on? I fear that it is our public’s patience and apathy that is allowing reform/privatization interests to bulldoze a system that admittedly needs to be fixed but not destroyed. The foundation of quality and equality must be preserved. It is fundamental to our democracy.
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Adding a “why”.
Why aren’t the teachers’ unions and the teachers’ pension system organizing their members, against Republicans, like Kasich, in Ohio?
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agree. but not just against Republicans…our current administration is as much to blame. privatization is an economic issue and both republicans and democrats have equally contributed to the destruction of public education.
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And here’s what is RELLY scary: the media are viewing Kasich as a “moderate” and many who are not political junkies got the same feeling from his performance at the “debate” on Fox…
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“And he threw a tablet into the air and said those Youngstown City Schools are in such a mess I want to shut them down and put one great big charter school in there.”
Who is he, Moses?
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“Who is he, Moses?”
Moses, Schmoses, he’s god himself!
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