Stephen Dyer, a policy analyst for Innovation Ohio, wonders why Governor Kasich wants to replace the low-performing public schools of Youngstown, Ohio, with charter schools, since the existing charter schools in that city have worse performance than the public schools of that city, in every subject and in every grade.
Wait, there was one exception where charter schools in Youngstown had higher performance than public schools:
Youngstown outperforms the average charter school in Mahoning County in 19 out of 20 proficiency assessments that measure English, math, science and social studies. On average, the district did better than local charters by nearly 14 percent. The only category that charters performed better was in 8th grade Math, and that differential was only two-tenths of one percent.
Why invest millions of dollars expanding a sector that gets worse results? Why not work with parents and communities to improve the public school system?
Innovation Ohio compared the two sectors here:
COLUMBUS – A comparison of the new state proficiency test data shows that Youngstown-area charter schools based in Mahoning County perform far worse than the Youngstown City School District, which was designated by the state as academically distressed. The new data, released by the Ohio Department of Education, shows preliminary statewide results for the new PARCC tests.
“These findings should be a wake up call to policymakers that diverting more Youngstown money and more Youngstown students into failing charter schools is not the answer,” said Innovation Ohio Education Policy Fellow Stephen Dyer. “It’s clear that the path to turning around Youngtown schools must be more nuanced than simply creating more privately run charter schools.”
Youngstown outperforms the average charter school in Mahoning County in 19 out of 20 proficiency assessments that measure English, math, science and social studies. On average, the district did better than local charters by nearly 14 percent. The only category that charters performed better was in 8th grade Math, and that differential was only two-tenths of one percent.
In June 2015, the Ohio General Assembly passed a controversial plan to eliminate the publicly elected school board in Youngstown and replace them with an appointed commission and CEO whose powers would include the ability to close schools, change contracts and nearly everything in between.
One concerning outcome of this plan is that Youngstown public education system could be turned over to more publicly funded, privately run charter schools. According to news reports and the state’s grant application, Ohio officials planned on using a substantial portion of the controversial $71 million federal grant it received to increase the number of charter schools in Youngstown. The most logical place to start this expansion would be upscaling the charters already in Mahoning County.
“The comparison of this data lays bare the idea that more privatized schools are the answer in Youngstown,” said Dyer. “If we want to improve educational outcomes in Youngstown, we have to have meaningful community and parent input on common-sense approaches that will serve the children of Youngstown with the best possible educations. Pouring millions into the pockets of the current crop of Mahoning County charters would only serve to reward their performance failures.”
Diane Ravitch's blog 
Nothing will change. Our politicians blatantly do not represent the will of the people. Until we throw all of the politicians out me will continue to not be represented.
“wonders why Governor Kasich wants to replace the low-performing public schools of Youngstown, Ohio, with charter schools,”
Because it’s 100% about ideology and union busting- in other words, “adult interests”.
I’d like to know if there was any coordination between the Obama and Kasich Administrations on this. The timing is sure interesting.
Privatizing and pro-charter folks are just pretending to care about education. They are in it for themselves, through and through. The corruption of that sector is sickening.
I am a parent who cares strongly about education and I would be the first person supporting charter schools if they worked. They no longer do. The ones that work are making their operators rich by cherry picking kids and psychologically damaging 5 and 6 year old children to weed them out in the pursuit of making themselves richer. The failures make their operators rich and it doesn’t matter because the politicians are in cahoots with their big funders.
There might be a few mom and pop charter schools run in an ethical manner and I guarantee you that they will be taken over just like the public schools are. Their operators think they are safe, just like the people who supported Hitler’s rise in
Germany thought they were safe because they weren’t Jews. After all the public schools are destroyed, the ethical charter school operators are next on the list. It’s all about profit and how much you can donate to politicians. What a world the pro-charter folks have wrought.
MY HOMETOWN. Proud graduate of The Rayen School, as were my immigrant parents. The public education in Youngstown launched successful careers for all of us. As I have written before my dad went on to earn a Ph.D. in French history, had five books published on the French Revolution. My mom became a piano teacher following her years as a public school music teacher. The loss of its public school system is just another blow for a rust belt city that was once the incubator for a successful middle class
life. This privatizing is just the latest blow for a struggling, formerly vibrant mid-west union town.
Wow, i didn’t think they could get worse? Hoping something changes soon!