Jan Resseger, a social justice activist in Ohio, writes here about John Kasich and his lack of knowledge of his own education policies. In one of the most recent presidential debates, Kasich boasted about the rebirth of Cleveland public schools and pretended that he knew how to fix the Detroit public schools.
As Resseger writes, he is wrong about Cleveland and Detroit. His policy has been to disinvest in public schools and to rely on charters. Ohio has some of the worst charters in the nation. His plan for Youngstown was hatched behind closed doors, and it follows the ALEC script of a state takeover, followed by privatization.
Kasich implied that mayoral control might fix the public schools in Detroit, but mayoral control hasn’t helped the public schools of Cleveland. Of course, he didn’t know that Detroit had mayoral control for a few years, but the voters vetoed it. That mayor, if memory serves, subsequently went to jail for something he did wrong.
Kasich plays the role of the adult among a bunch of squabbling kids. But when it comes to education, he is as clueless as the rest of them.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
They must know, though, right? National, professional charter advocates? They must be at least dimly aware of Ohio’s charter school mess.
Why do they allow Kasich to promote this state as an ed reform success, an ed reform state to be admired and replicated elsewhere? It just discredits them.
It’s not like people in Ohio don’t know this is going on. It is covered by one (or more) of three larger city newspapers on at least a weekly basis. I agree that it’s “delusion” but John Kasich isn’t the only one promoting this fiction. The “data based” crowd are happy to play along.
You’ll notice Kasich never mentions public schools either. The schools that 93% of Ohio children attend are omitted. There’s a reason for that, too. Ohio public schools have sunk in national rankings every year he has been governor. He will leave public schools in worse shape than when he arrived.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Reblogged this on David R. Taylor-Thoughts on Education and commented:
I have a nice cabin on the Titanic for Mr.Kasich. It includes an ocean view.
LikeLike
Meanwhile back in Ohio:
“By Catherine Candisky & Jim Siegel The Columbus Dispatch • Monday March 7, 2016 7:31 PM
As Ohio education officials begin a new round of charter-school attendance reviews, at least two online schools are returning hundreds of thousands of dollars after inflated enrollment numbers caused them to get excess state aid.
Aaron Rausch, director of budget and school funding for the Ohio Department of Education, said records for 104 charter schools will be examined this year, including the Electronic Classroom of Tomorrow, the state’s largest online charter school. Enrollment is used to calculate state funding; ECOT has about 18,000 students.
ECOT canceled its initial review with the state in February. The review has been rescheduled for this month, Rausch said.
School officials from ECOT reportedly crafted a softened attendance-tracking amendment — floated recently in the Ohio House — which would require online schools only to offer the statewide minimum 920 hours of instruction per school year but not require students to actually participate in those hours.”
They are busy gutting the charter reforms they just put in. ECOT lobbyists are writing the regulations.
It’s just brazen. It simply doesn’t matter that this stuff is (now) reported daily. It gets worse every year.
LikeLike
Am I wrong or is Kasich’s campaign manager and former Chief of Staff married to the former head of Ohio’s charter school office? Did he not have to resign because of fraud? Did he not fake data and send it to the federal government.
LikeLike
That’s correct. Also meticulously and thoroughly reported in Ohio newspapers. The fraud was actually uncovered by a newspaper reporter, with just an ordinary reading of the report. Both the state and federal government rubber-stamped 71 million in funding based on made-up numbers.
http://www.cleveland.com/metro/index.ssf/2015/11/ohio_has_some_explaining_to_do.html
LikeLike
Sue Legg, the answer is yes, yes, and yes.
LikeLike
clueless like the fox that that talks the farmer into letting him guard the hen house and when the hens are all gobbled up, the fox says he didn’t do it – buy more hens for me to guard, the fox says and if the farmer is a fool, he does.
LikeLike
Did anyone pick up on the comment at the Democratic debate last Sunday in Michigan? Hillary Clinton knew that the Detroit public schools were under state management. At least she knew that… just saying…not that much else is coming out from her against education reform…
LikeLike
Kind of amusing. Ed reformers seated another “panel discussion” that was limited to charter promotion. The locals figured it out 🙂
“Roger Smith, executive director of the S.C. Education Association, attended the meeting Wednesday and said he thought it was disingenuous to claim it was not a “pitch” for a particular reform model ”
It’s purely accidental that all they talk about is charter schools! Just a random selection of “experts” created to “inform the public” of the “choice” between…charters and charters.
http://www.postandcourier.com/article/20160309/PC16/160309354/1005/group-discusses-alternative-school-districts-for-charleston-county?utm_content=buffer391b5&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter.com&utm_campaign=buffer
I love how none of these people were elected to anything yet they feel perfectly comfortable laying out how they will transform “governance”.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I agree with Lloyd. Kasich may be many things, (craven, amoral, compromised by greed and ideology,) — but clueless is not one of them. The chickens being guarded by His Foxiness — many of THEM are clueless, but not the K man himself.
LikeLike
The Plain Dealer endorsed a real Democrat, Jill Miller Zimon, for a state congressional seat in northeast Ohio. Her incumbent, DINO opponent, received funding from Michelle Rhee, (Plunderbund)
LikeLike