Elizabeth, Randi And Lily: The Trump-DeVos Budget: An All-Out Assault on America's Kids - YouTube

(24) The Trump-DeVos Budget: An All-Out Assault on America's Kids - YouTube:

Elizabeth, Randi And Lily: The Trump-DeVos Budget: An All-Out Assault on America's Kids

AFT President Randi Weingarten: ‘Trump’s Budget Proposal Is Manifestly Cruel to Kids’

WASHINGTON—AFT President Randi Weingarten on President Donald Trump’s 2018 education budget:

“President Trump’s budget proposal is manifestly cruel to kids. It is catastrophic to the public schools our most vulnerable and at-risk students attend, while being a windfall for those who want to profit off of kids or make education a commodity rather than a great equalizer and an anchor of democracy.

“The combined Medicaid and education cuts demonstrate a blatant disregard for children and are far worse than what the administration originally proposed. The $10.6 billion in education cuts, $800 billion in Medicaid cuts and $143 million in cuts to funds that help students afford college, demonstrate a lack of caring about other people’s children and an abandonment of the American value that all our children deserve a pathway to opportunity. The administration’s hypocrisy is stunning:

• While Trump and DeVos chose private schools for their kids, with small class sizes, they want to eliminate the federal funding that helps America’s public schools lower class sizes.
• While Trump and DeVos can afford whatever their children and grandchildren need or want, and while Ivanka Trump got $19 billion for her parental leave project, the budget completely zeros out all current federal programs that keep millions of poor kids safe and well-fed in after-school and summer programs.
• Trump says there is nothing more important than being a teacher, but he eliminates the loan forgiveness program that helps students pursue teaching careers, eliminates funding for teacher preparation and educator support, and guts most other programs that alleviate student debt or make college more affordable.
• Trump says vocational education is the way of the future yet slashes career and technical education funding.
• DeVos promised not to hurt children with special needs, but the budget cuts one-quarter of the Medicaid funding that now pays for essential school-based services like physical therapists, feeding tubes and other medical equipment, and health screenings.

“And while DeVos praised the work in the public schools we saw together in Van Wert, Ohio, this budget rips out the supports and teacher professional development that make that work possible. And for what? This budget provides tax cuts for the wealthy and redirects funding for expanded charters and vouchers. It spends $250 million on further research for vouchers even though the most recent studies, including one on the D.C. voucher program by DeVos’ own Education Department, show that vouchers hurt kids. And it diverts $1 billion from Title I funding—including $550 million in direct Title I cuts—to fund an Arne Duncan-like Race to the Top-style program. Aside from violating the bipartisan Every Student Succeeds Act, in which this approach was proposed and rejected, even DeVos’ friends on the right, including the Heritage Foundation, have criticized this as a federal intrusion.

“Make no mistake, we will fight for America’s children against this federal budget proposal whose cruelty is only matched by its callousness.”  

# # # #

The AFT represents 1.6 million pre-K through 12th-grade teachers; paraprofessionals and other school-related personnel; higher education faculty and professional staff; federal, state and local government employees; nurses and healthcare workers; and early childhood educators.

AFT President Randi Weingarten: ‘Trump’s Budget Proposal Is Manifestly Cruel to Kids’

NEA President: Trump-DeVos budget is a wrecking ball aimed at public schools

Vouchers deny students the opportunities they deserve in their neighborhood public schools

WASHINGTON - May 23, 2017 -

President Donald Trump today released his budget request for fiscal year 2018. NEA President Lily Eskelsen García today released the following statement regarding President Donald Trump’s proposed budget.

“The Trump-DeVos budget is a wrecking ball aimed at our nation’s public schools. Their budget shows how dangerously ill-informed they are about what works for students and in public education. Their reckless and irresponsible budget would smash the aspirations of students, crush their dreams, and make it difficult for them to go to college and get ahead.

“We should invest in what makes schools great, the things that build curiosity and instill a love of learning. That is what every student deserves and what every parent wants for his or her child. It should not depend on how much their parents make, what language they speak at home, and certainly, not what neighborhood they live in.”

“Even worse, DeVos and Trump have made failed private school vouchers a cornerstone of their budget. Vouchers do not work and they take scarce funding away from public schools—where 90 percent of America’s students enroll—and give it to private schools that are unaccountable to the public. Spending money on voucher programs means denying students the opportunities they deserve in their neighborhood public schools.

“With this budget, Trump and DeVos want to slash billions of dollars from public education, but it's more than education programs. These deep cuts will harm students and will have a direct impact in the classroom, but these cuts will also reach far beyond the schoolhouse doors. These budget cuts will hurt every working family in America. And that's why we have to call on Congress to reject the Trump budget.”

“At the end of the day, the students and families most in need will pay the price because of the draconian cuts the Trump administration is proposing. The Trump-DeVos budget would slash the federal investment in public education programs by a whopping 13.6 percent for the upcoming fiscal year, eliminates at least 22 programs, and cuts $10.6 billion from federal education initiatives overall. This means deep and painful cuts to funding for after school programs, elimination of funding for professional development and class size reduction, elimination of public loan forgiveness programs meant to encourage students to go into teaching and public service. They also propose cuts to Medicaid, Meals on Wheels, and to services whose aim is to provide a safety net and protect children and working families.

For detailed information about how the proposed budget affects students and public education by state and by program, please click on these two links.

NEA President: Trump-DeVos budget is a wrecking ball aimed at public schools

Announcing Release of Draft ESSA State Plan - Year 2017 (CA Dept of Education)

Announcing Release of Draft ESSA State Plan - Year 2017 (CA Dept of Education):

State Schools Chief Tom Torlakson Announces Release of Draft ESSA State Plan, Invites Public Review and Comment

SACRAMENTO—State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Torlakson announced the release of California’s draft Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) State Plan today along with a schedule of workshops and Webinars to review the plan and collect public comment.

ESSA is the new federal law passed in December 2015 that governs U.S. education policy for kindergarten through grade twelve. States are required to submit plans to the U.S. Department of Education that describe how they will meet various federal goals.

California released its draft State Plan online today at the California Department of Education’s (CDE) Draft ESSA State Plan Public Comment Toolkit Web page. The page includes the entire draft of the ESSA State Plan split into sections, videos that summarize each plan section, and a public comment survey to gather feedback on the draft plan. The toolkit also contains a facilitator guide for groups that want to host their own local stakeholder events on the plan.

Comments, questions, recommendations, or other correspondence concerning California’s ESSA State Plan can be submitted to the CDE by e-mail at ESSA@cde.ca.gov. The public comment period runs from May 22 to June 30, and all interested members of the public are encouraged to submit input. The public forum and Webinar schedule follows:

2017 California Draft ESSA State Plan Public Meetings and Webinars

Date / Time	Location	Registration Information
May 23, 2-3:30 p.m.	Webinar co-hosted by the Small School Districts’ Association	http://bit.ly/2qsHWRV
May 24, 9-10:30 a.m.	Webinar co-hosted by the Association of California School Administrators and the California School Boards Association	http://www.acsa.org/Advocacy/gr-webinars
May 25, 5:15-7:30 p.m.	Lake County Office of Education, Lakeport	https://lcoe-essa-state-plan.eventbrite.com
May 30, 9-11 a.m.	Sacramento County Office of Education, Rancho Cordova	https://scoe-essa-state-plan-am.eventbrite.com
May 30, 6-8 p.m.	Sacramento County Office of Education, Mather	https://scoe-essa-state-plan-pm.eventbrite.com
June 5, 9-11 a.m.	Stanislaus County Office of Education, Modesto	https://stancoe-essa-state-plan.eventbrite.com
June 7, 6-8 p.m.	San Diego County Office of Education, San Diego	https://sdcoe-essa-state-plan-pm.eventbrite.com
June 8, 9-11 a.m.	San Diego County Office of Education, San Diego	https://sdcoe-essa-state-plan-am.eventbrite.com
June 12, 9-11 a.m.	Alameda County Office of Education, Hayward	https://acoe-essa-state-plan.eventbrite.com
June 14, 6-8 p.m.	Los Angeles County Office of Education, Downey	https://lacoe-essa-state-plan-pm.eventbrite.com
June 15, 9-11 a.m.	Los Angeles County Office of Education, Downey	https://lacoe-essa-state-plan-am.eventbrite.com
June 21, 3-4:30 p.m.	Webinar	http://bit.ly/2qouH6x
June 24, 10-11:30 a.m.	Saturday Webinar	http://bit.ly/2rngaqi

# # # #

Tom Torlakson — State Superintendent of Public Instruction
Communications Division, Room 5602, 916-319-0818, Fax 916-319-0100

 Announcing Release of Draft ESSA State Plan - Year 2017 (CA Dept of Education):

CURMUDGUCATION: Religious Voucher Schools

CURMUDGUCATION: Religious Voucher Schools:

Religious Voucher Schools

Like everyone else in the education universe, I was talking vouchers on line, and in the midst of a conversation, this tweet popped up: 

 Follow

Michael Petrilli @MichaelPetrilli

@palan57 @PCunningham57 @educationgadfly@shavarjeffries @matt_barnum @Chalkbeat @jasonscrye Peter, what do you have against letting poor families choose religious schools?

6:41 AM - 23 May 2017

 
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Remember that question, because it's going to be part of how this debate is framed-- mean old flat-Earth public education advocates trying to deny poor families their choices. This carefully constructed question gets one things right, and several things wrong, all worth remembering in the days ahead:

Vouchers are about private religious schools.

Where vouchers have been put into effect, the effect has been to funnel all sorts of public money into religious school coffers. Take a look at this piece from Jersey Jazzman's website. It breaks down exactly what schools are receiving voucher money, and in all cases, we're talking overwhelmingly about private religious schools. In Indiana, 97% of vouchers go to religious schools. In Milwaukee, 93% of vouchers go to religious schools. In Louisiana, 93% of vouchers go to religious schools (75% Roman Catholic).

So Petrilli is correct in making this about religious schools-- because vouchers are by and large about private religious schools. But everything else about his question is wrong.

Private Religious Schools Choose

There is no system that would allow poor families to choose religious schools. Well, I take that backCURMUDGUCATION: Religious Voucher Schools:

Trump’s Education Budget Pushes Forward Education Industrialization | Metro Center Blog

Trump’s Education Budget Pushes Forward Education Industrialization | Metro Center Blog:

Trump’s Education Budget Pushes Forward Education Industrialization

Recently a short clip of a young Black child naming a supposed Donald Trump, “a disgrace to the world”, has gone viral. Trump has of course branded it as “fake news” because the Trump in the video was actually an impersonator from a show called “The President.”

But the message is still clear.

Young Black children and many children generally, are completely in tune with the disaster of our government that is Donald Trump. His hatred, misogyny, racism, insensitivity, divisiveness, and outright disgusting beliefs, practices, and policies are portrayed in the exact light that he presents them: with (cringeworthy) clarity and honesty. So, though the person in this video was not actually Donald Trump, he was a representation of the 45, and this young girls reaction was undoubtedly representative of the feelings of millions of children, especially those directly attacked by his administration, all across the world.

His disdain for the working class and issues affecting the vast majority of this country was perhaps most on display with his pick for Secretary of Education. Betsy DeVos, grand contributor of the Republican Party and staunch anti-public education advocate is the single most under-qualified cabinet member.

With the release of the education budget, Ms. DeVos and her counterpart Trump have brought this viral video and the sentiment it represents to life.

The education budget privatization agenda presented as a budget cuts nearly 15% of the total education budget and features deep cuts to programs meant to aid poor and working class families. Some 22 programs are eliminated, including after-school programs, teacher trainings, programs for gifted students, international education, arts education and nearly anything good and enriching for students and especially students of color or from low-income families. The budget does however, increase charter school funding by 50% to over $500 million, as well as introduce a Trump’s Education Budget Pushes Forward Education Industrialization | Metro Center Blog:

Education Budget Privatizes Students, Enrages Parents, Dupes Taxpayers | U.S. Department of Education

Education Budget Prioritizes Students, Empowers Parents, Saves Taxpayer Dollars | U.S. Department of Education:

Education Budget Privatizes Students, Enrages Parents, Dupes Taxpayers 

Today, the Trump Administration released the Fiscal Year 2018 budget, which lays out a series of proposals and priorities designed to ensure every student has an equal opportunity to receive a high quality education. Through this budget, the President has reaffirmed his commitment to returning decision-making power over education back where it belongs—in the hands of parents, educators and State leaders.

U.S. Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos issued the following statement:

"This budget makes a historic investment in America's students. President Trump is committed to ensuring the Department focuses on returning decision-making power back to the States, where it belongs, and on giving parents more control over their child's education. It also ensures stable funding for critical programs, including Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) and Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs).

"The budget also reflects a series of tough choices we have had to make when assessing the best use of taxpayer money. It ensures funding for programs with proven results for students while taking a hard look at programs that sound nice but simply haven't yielded the desired outcomes.

"By refocusing the Department's funding priorities on supporting students, we can usher in a new era of creativity and ingenuity and lay a new foundation for American greatness."

Key initiatives in the President's 2018 budget are below:

Creating New Education Options through School Choice

• $1 billion increase for Title I for new Furthering Options for Children to Unlock Success (FOCUS) grants. FOCUS grants would provide supplemental awards to school districts that adopt student-centered weighted student funding formulas combined with open enrollment systems.
• $250 million increase for the Education Innovation and Research (EIR) program for competitive awards for applicants to provide scholarships for students from low-income families to attend the private school of their parents' choice.
• $167 million increase for the Charter Schools Grants program to strengthen State efforts to start new charter schools or expand and replicate existing high-performing charter schools while providing up to $100 million to meet the growing demand for charter school facilities.

Maintaining Support for the Nation's Most Vulnerable Students

• $14.9 billion in level funding for the core Title I Grants to local education agencies (LEAs) program to support State and local efforts to ensure that more than 25 million students in high-poverty schools have access to rigorous coursework and teaching.
• $12.7 billion to maintain the Federal investment in the IDEA formula grant programs, which help support services to the 6.8 million children with disabilities nationwide and to States in their ongoing work to design and implement program improvement efforts under the Department's Results Driven Accountability framework.
• $736 million for the English Language Acquisition program to implement effective language instruction educational programs designed to help English learners attain English language proficiency.

Simplifying Funding for Postsecondary Education

• Safeguards and strengthens the Pell Grant program by level funding the discretionary appropriation and supporting year-round Pell, which will increase aid available to eligible students by $16.3 billion over 10 years. The budget also proposes the cancellation of $3.9 billion from unobligated carryover funding; this cancellation will have no effect on students and will leave the Pell program on sound footing.
• Simplifies loan repayment for students by replacing five different income driven repayment plans with a single plan aimed at prioritizing expedited loan repayment for undergraduate borrowers.
• Provides $808.3 million for the Federal TRIO Programs and $219 million for GEAR UP, resulting in savings of $193 million from the 2017 annualized CR level. Funding for these programs is reduced in areas that are either not supported by rigorous evidence of effectiveness or that can be supported through other resources.
• Provides $492 million for Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs), Minority-Serving Institutions, and Hispanic-Serving Institutions through the Higher Education Act Titles III and V programs. Titles III and V funding are important vehicles for helping close gaps among racial and socioeconomic groups in college enrollment and degree attainment by improving these institutions' academic programs, institutional capacity and student support services.
• Reduces Federal Work-Study while reforming the poorly-targeted program to ensure funds go to undergraduate students who would benefit most.

Building Evidence around Educational Innovation

• $616.8 million for the Institute of Education Sciences (IES) for continued support of State and local-based research, evaluation and statistics that help educators, policymakers and other stakeholders improve outcomes for all students.
• $370 million for Education Innovation and Research to expand support for evidence-based initiatives to develop, validate and scale up effective education interventions that help States and LEAs meet Elementary and Secondary Education Act requirements.
• $42 million for Supporting Effective Educator Development (SEED) to provide evidence-based professional development activities and prepare teachers and principals from nontraditional preparation and certification routes to serve in high-need LEAs.

Streamlining Existing Programs

• Eliminates funding for Supporting Effective Instruction State grants, a reduction of $2.3 billion. The program is proposed for elimination because evidence shows the program is poorly structured to support activities that have a measurable impact on improving student outcomes and it duplicates other ESEA program funds that may be used for professional development.
• Eliminates funding for the 21st Century Community Learning Center program, saving $1.2 billion. The program lacks strong evidence of meeting its objectives, such as improving student achievement.
• Eliminates Striving Readers/Comprehensive Literacy Development Grants, which will save $190 million. This program has limited impact (only 5-10 State grants are expected in the final cohort) and duplicates activities that may be supported with other Federal, State, local and private funds.

Note that because the President's budget was completed before final fiscal year 2017 appropriations action, all comparisons are to the 2017 annualized CR level.

More information on the Department of Education's budget request can be found at https://www2.ed.gov/about/overview/budget/budget18/index.html.

Education Budget Prioritizes Students, Empowers Parents, Saves Taxpayer Dollars | U.S. Department of Education:

Plan to Attend the BATs Annual Conference in Seattle in July! | Diane Ravitch's blog

Plan to Attend the BATs Annual Conference in Seattle in July! | Diane Ravitch's blog:

Plan to Attend the BATs Annual Conference in Seattle in July!

If you are a BadAss Teacher, or if you want to be one, or if you want to learn about their activities, you will not want their fourth annual conference in Seattle this summer.

BATs will be heading into summer with their 4th Annual Education Conference in Seattle, Washington at The Seattle Labor Temple.

Titled Back to School With BATs the conference, to be held on 7/22, will focus on Whole Child Education and cultural diversity.

How can we meet the social/emotional/cultural needs of our children?

The 7/23 event at Westlake Park will have participants engage in a powerful restorative justice circle!

#WeChoose public education, not the illusion of choice.

Keynotes for the event will be Dr. Wayne Au and Dr. Denisha Jones.

For event information and registration please go here: https://sites.google.com/view/backtoschoolwithbats/home

To learn more about the BATs”

Twitter @BadassTeachersA #TBATs
Facebook https://www.facebook.com/groups/BadAssTeachers/
Instagram @badassteachersa
Pinterest https://www.pinterest.com/nationalbats/
BAT Blog http://badassteachers.blogspot.com/

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Plan to Attend the BATs Annual Conference in Seattle in July! | Diane Ravitch's blog:

DeVos confirmation triggered outpouring of support for public education system | EdSource

DeVos confirmation triggered outpouring of support for public education system | EdSource:

DeVos confirmation triggered outpouring of support for public education system

In this unusual political season, marked by one unexpected turn after another, the emergence of Betsy DeVos as the main target of opposition by Senate Democrats was one of the most surprising, especially because she will have far more limited powers as secretary of education than most other cabinet secretaries.

With virtually no power to stop DeVos’ nomination this week, Democrats nonetheless mounted a nearly 24-hour long talkathon in which Senators derisively declared her totally unfit to be secretary of education. No other  nominee of President Trump got a similar round-the-clock treatment.

Equally surprising – and encouraging to public school advocates – was the stirring defense of public schools, coming after years of sustained criticism from numerous quarters, both Democrat and Republican. That was capped by Trump campaign rhetoric routinely attacking “failing schools,” a theme that extended into his inaugural address when he said students were being “deprived of all knowledge.”

The dozens of senators who spoke out included many who are supporters of charter schools. They didn’t suggest that public schools weren’t in need of improvement. Rather, they defended public schools as essential institutions attended by most children in all states that needed to be strengthened, not weakened or destroyed.

That contrasted with what Michael Feuer, dean of the Graduate School of Education at George Washington University, said was the rhetoric of both Trump and DeVos portraying “the whole system as bankrupt and hopeless.”

“In fact, even in places where you have the greatest concentrations of disadvantaged children, there are programs that are making a difference that can help these kids,” he said.

Newly-elected Sen. Kamala Harris, D-CA, in her maiden speech on the Senate floor captured the mood when she paid tribute to her first grade teacher Frances Wilson DeVos confirmation triggered outpouring of support for public education system | EdSource:

Don’t Like Betsy DeVos? Blame the Democrats. | New Republic

Don’t Like Betsy DeVos? Blame the Democrats. | New Republic:

Don’t Like Betsy DeVos? Blame the Democrats.

The Democratic Party paved the way for the education secretary's efforts to privatize our public schools.

Of all the corrupt, unqualified, and extremist characters Donald Trump has tapped to lead his administration, none has generated the tsunami of liberal outrage whipped up by Education Secretary Betsy DeVos. And with all due respect to Jeff Sessions, there’s good reason for the backlash: The billionaire Amway heiress from Michigan, who long ago made “school choice” her passion project, is the first education secretary in history to be hostile to the very idea of public education.



 Prodded by grassroots activists and what’s left of teachers’ unions, Democrats went all out to defeat DeVos. George Miller, the former congressman from California, slammed her plan to create a $20 billion “school choice” program that would underwrite private and religious schools, calling it “a perfect storm of ignorance, money, and power.” Senator Al Franken grilled DeVos at her confirmation hearing, drawing out her jaw-dropping ignorance of federal programs. Senator Michael Bennet called her nomination an “insult to schoolchildren and their families, to teachers and principals and communities fighting to improve their public schools all across the country.” And when DeVos was confirmed by a vote of 51 to 50, over unanimous Democratic opposition, Senator Cory Booker went on Facebook, “frustrated and saddened,” to sound a sorrowful note: “Somewhere in America, right now, there is a child who is wondering if this country stands up for them.”



Listening to their cries of outrage, one might imagine that Democrats were America’s undisputed champions of public education. But the resistance to DeVos obscured an inconvenient truth: Democrats have been promoting a conservative “school reform” agenda for the past three decades. Some did it because they fell for the myths of “accountability” and “choice” as magic bullets for better schools. Some did it because “choice” has centrist appeal. Others sold out public schools for campaign contributions from the charter industry and its Wall Street patrons. Whatever the motivations, the upshot is clear: The Democratic Party has lost its way on public education. In a very real sense, Democrats paved the way for DeVos and her plans to privatize the school system.



Thirty years ago, there was a sharp difference between Republicans and Democrats on education. Republicans wanted choice, testing, and accountability. Democrats wanted equitable funding for needy districts, and highly trained teachers. But in 1989, with Democrats reeling from three straight presidential losses, the lines began Don’t Like Betsy DeVos? Blame the Democrats. | New Republic:

Nurse Support is Crucial to School Telehealth Program Success

Nurse Support is Crucial to School Telehealth Program Success:

Nurse Support is Crucial to School Telehealth Program Success

Sacramento officials are getting pushback from school nurses who object to a new school telehealth program launched last year. The dispute underscores the need for staff support in any new program.

May 23, 2017 - A school-based telehealth program in Sacramento is drawing complaints from the school nurses the program is designed to help.

The dispute highlights a key ingredient in any new telehealth venture: Buy-in from everyone involved in the service, including and especially nurses.

All but one of the 27 nurses in the Sacramento City Unified School District have signed a letter of protest over the district’s telehealth program, which serves some 3,000 students in five elementary schools. The service was launched as a pilot in early 2016 with HippoMD, and has been such a success that school and company officials are looking to expand to more schools.

But according to the Sacramento Bee, the nurses’ union feels the city entered into a partnership with the San Francisco-based telehealth provider without hearing first from the nurses. In a three-page letter, they say the platform could pose a danger to students or be wasteful when someone other than a nurse serves as a telepresenter.

While this is Sacramento County’s first experience with a school-based telehealth program, school districts across the country have been experimenting with telehealth for years. Some partner with local healthcare providers, while others use telehealth vendors that can provide a real-time connection with their own provider network.

“Every community is completely different,” says Don Best, coordinator of school health for Tennessee’s Sevier County School System, which has had a telehealth program in place for more than eight years. “You need to know what you want and what you can do, and make sure you know who’s going to be providing the healthcare.”

In Florida, the Nemours Children’s Health System has launched a program with a school for special need students in Orlando. Shayan Vyas, MD, the medical director for Nemours’ Florida telehealth operations, says the platform is designed as much for the school nurses as it is for the students.

“We’re helping the school’s nurses provide a higher level of care,” he says. “They’re limited in what they can do, so anything we can do to help them is a huge bonus.”

Most school-based telehealth programs require a school nurse or trained staff member to sit with the student during the telehealth visit, collecting vital signs and helping the clinician on the other end of the videoconference platform.

Sacramento’s school nurses say the level of efficiency drops off when someone else handles the telepresenter duties.

They “are not trained to know what is a real headache, and what is a headache because Nurse Support is Crucial to School Telehealth Program Success:

Don't penalize us for failing schools, charter overseers say, if management is good | cleveland.com

Don't penalize us for failing schools, charter overseers say, if management is good | cleveland.com:

Don't penalize us for failing schools, charter overseers say, if management is good

CLEVELAND, Ohio - Failing grades at charter schools shouldn't bring automatic penalties, Ohio's charter oversight organizations say, so long as schools have good oversight otherwise.

Leaders of Ohio's nationally-ridiculed charter school community continued a campaign to limit repercussions for the lagging academic performance of charters before a state Senate sub-committee last week.

The latest pushback deals with Ohio's controversial ratings of charter school oversight organizations known as "sponsors," or as "authorizers" in most other states.

The state hopes to push the schools to improve by evaluating the sponsors -  school districts, county education agencies and non-profits -  that help create and monitor charters, and giving them perks and penalties based on those ratings.

But Peggy Young, president of the Ohio Association of Charter School Authorizers, told a Senate Finance subcommittee that the ratings are giving the academic performance of schools too much weight. Young said the Ohio Department of Education has unfairly blocked sponsors with failing schools from having good ratings, even when they do other oversight tasks well.

State law says that the ratings should count three measures equally in those evaluations - academic performance of schools, how well sponsors use quality practices and how well the schools and sponsors followDon't penalize us for failing schools, charter overseers say, if management is good | cleveland.com: