Quotes from the governor, or when will Statehouse tolerance for failed charter schools finally run out?
John Kasich wasn’t as harsh as he has been in the past. While participating in an “education summit” last week, the governor told Campbell Brown of “The 74” advocacy group, that if he were king, he “would abolish all teachers’ lounges where they sit together and worry about ‘woe is us.’ ” This was part of arguing that teacher unions engage in “constant negative comment.” Perhaps they recall how the governor talked not too long ago about how he would “break the back” of teacher unions.
That didn’t work out well, voters rejecting the governor’s plan to remake the state collective bargaining law. Which may help to explain another comment from the interview. The governor lamented how we pay a college football coach $4 million and pay teachers “peanuts.”
Will the governor soon begin crafting a plan to raise the pay of teachers? A rough calculation finds that a pay raise of $10,000 per public school teacher would translate into an added expense of $1 billion a year, or one-fifth of the $5 billion in tax cuts he often touts.
If that plan isn’t likely, consider another moment from the interview, the governor declaring: “We’re not going to tolerate failed charter schools.” That statement invites a chuckle, or a deep groan, from those who have watched the governor and his fellow Republicans at the Statehouse show much tolerance, proving slow to apply the accountability and oversight they heap on traditional public schools.
Republicans long have balked even as evidence has mounted about poor academic performance and misspending public dollars, the total the state routes to charter schools now at $1 billion per year. Dave Yost, the state auditor, has reported that one-half of the findings made by his office have involved charter schools. He examined attendance rates at a sample of charter schools and found a pattern of troubling discrepancies.
Finally, this year, the Statehouse began to act, pushed, in part, by high-performing charter schools weary of the taint. The governor proposed changes in his budget plan. The House approved legislation that advanced the cause of enforcing higher standards. Then, the Senate took a leap forward, Democrats and Republicans giving overwhelming support to legislation that promises to address failings that have made Ohio a national laughing stock.
Where does the bill sit? In the House, its leadership rejecting quick acceptance of the Senate changes, appearing to listen first to charter operators who write big campaign checks. The delay continues in the wake of revelations about a state education official doctoring evaluations of some charter schools.
What should a governor who won’t tolerate failed charter schools do? Come back from the presidential campaign trail and insist that the legislation get to his desk so he can sign it.
