Perhaps you recall that Republicans used to favor local control of public schools by elected boards. That time is now gone, since Republicans bought into the idea of privatization of public funds. Now they support state takeovers, even though there is no evidence that state takeovers have ever been successful, and a good deal of evidence (see the Michigan “Education Achievement Authority” and the Tennessee “Achievement School District”) that they have failed.
In Ohio, as Bill Phillis reports here, the state Supreme Court just approved a state takeover of school districts where test scores are low.
Ohio Supreme Court strikes a major blow to local community control of school districts and the rule of law
On May 13 the Ohio Supreme Court upheld the egregious HB 70 of the 131st General Assembly. HB 70 removes the control of certain school district from the elected board of education to an appointed entity. HB 70 was enacted in a short timeframe in violation of Article II section 15(c) which requires, “Every bill shall be considered by each house on three different days, unless two-thirds of the members elected to the house in which it is pending suspend this requirement, and every individual consideration of a bill or action suspending the requirement shall be recorded in the journal of the respective house.” Additionally, the enactment of HB 70 violated Article II section 15(d) which requires that “No bill shall contain more than one subject, which shall be clearly expressed in its title.”
HB 70, as introduced, provided for wraparound services as a means to help low-performing districts to improve student outcomes. The amendment, which was void of public input and the opportunity for public input, is totally antithetical to the purpose of the original bill.
Justice Donnelly, in a dissent, clearly shows how the legislature violated the Constitution. The dissent provided a chronology of events that led to the unlawful enactment of HB 70.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
Republicans have only one guiding first principle in all things: Anything that enhances their power and the wealth of their already privileged supporters is good. There is no otherwise normative moral code that informs their thinking. The common good is anathema to them.
And the ones I know cannot define the concept of “the common good” or the word “anathema.” Education is truly a 💩 show here in Ohio.
But they certainly have mastered the politics and policy of apartheid on many fronts.
It’s interesting though, because as the ed reform-dominated state legislature and governor continue to cut STATE funding of public schools that means local communities are levied for higher taxes to make up the share the state no longer contributes.
So the ed reform echo chamber in Columbus CONTRIBUTE less and less state-share funding to public schools while at the same time asserting more and more control over public schools FROM Columbus.
They’re on a collision course with the public. They contribute less every year but demand more and more control.
There’s also a growing divide between how ed reformers treat public schools and how they treat the publicly-funded private schools they promote. They tightly control public schools using the rationale that our schools are publicly funded, but do no regulation or agenda setting at all for the private schools that are now publicly funded.
The ed reform movement is incoherent. Their agenda promoting public funding of private schools runs right into their attempts to run every public school in the country from their think tanks. They want all the control but none of the duty that goes along with it.
We could end up with a situation where the only way the public could avoid the gimmicks, fads and junk ed reform promotes and mandates in PUBLIC schools is to take a voucher and move to a private school.
They don’t contribute to our schools, yet they all want to direct our schools. Public school students and families get the worst deal of all. We get all the ed reform junk with none of the funding.
Yes. The powers that be in OHIO have made sure that we are on a path to demolish the role of elected school boards in public education. The demolition begins with the absurd A-F report cards, designed to perpetuate so-called value added measures, totally invalid, and to add a bunch of others into a stew with different proportional weights, merging these into a single measure, then assigning an A-F grade to the school and another for the district.
and in our city the A-F grades seem to change on a whim depending on things other than actual test scores: how gentrification is doing in certain areas of town, for example
Republicans today have been actively pursuing top down control of states and cities. Like most of what they do, it is a power grab. Republicans want to control local budgets.while giving local communities little control over how their local tax dollars are spent. Privatization is often implemented by a top down imposition, not a vote. It is another tool to quash democratic input.
I spent thirty years in the classroom (1978-2008) and all 30 years were under a flawed and unconstitutional funding system. The supreme court has deemed it so three times. We are still in that unconstitutional funding system, but instead of fixing that underlying problem we allow for profit companies to usurp that money with no oversight. It is a travesty.
It seems the problem, of introducing more unreality into the mix, is…
It does nothing to improve matters.
Didn’t the “local control of public schools” horse, leave the barn years ago?
JUST approved the takeover of “local control”…
What part of the testing malpractice is “local control”?
What part of the testing malpractice is “community based” ?
What part of the testing malpractice is based on “democratic input”?
Damn repubs and incoherent deformers…