The following article was originally published in the Ohio Capital Journal and published on News5Cleveland.com under a content-sharing agreement.
The head of a statewide Ohio teachers union on Tuesday slammed a proposed bill that would automatically close low-performing Ohio public schools, saying it would harm students and communities, and force districts into counterproductive situations and decisions.
Ohio Education Association President Scott DiMauro testified against Ohio Senate Bill 127 Tuesday morning during the Ohio Senate Education Committee meeting. The bill would revise Ohio’s public school closure law and require a poor performing school to either close or take remedial action.
“S.B. 127 proposes a heavy handed and overreaching state approach to local schools that receive low ratings on state report cards,” DiMauro said. “The impact of the actions compelled by S.B. 127 would harm students and communities. The harsh measures required by the bill ignore mitigating factors, forcing districts to make counterproductive decisions that could harm well-functioning schools.”
Senate Education Committee Chair Andrew Brenner, R-Delaware, introduced the bill last month and no one has submitted supporter testimony for the bill yet. Five people submitted opponent testimony while the Buckeye Institute and the pro-charter-school Thomas B. Fordham Institute submitted interested party testimony.
S.B. 127 defines a poor performing school as a school (district-operated, community or STEM), serving grades four and older, that has performed in the bottom 5% among public schools based on its Performance Index Score for three consecutive years, and is in the bottom 10% based on its Value-Added Progress for three consecutive years.
A poor-performing school would have the option to close at the end of the school year or replace its principal and a majority of licensed staff. Another option is the school could get the help of an Ohio Department of Education and Workforce management organization, charter management organization, education service center, or an Ohio public or private university with experience in school improvement.
Ohio charter schools are automatically closed if they have three straight years of poor performance.
“Instead of offering significant support, S.B. 127 proposes significant punishments that will most likely destabilize schools where many great things are happening, even if those successes are not revealed on data printouts of standardized test scores,” DiMauro said. “The barriers to learning caused by under-resourced schools and communities do not disappear when a state punishes a school district.
Greg R. Lawson, a research fellow at the Buckeye Institute, said the bill addresses chronic underperformance in public schools.
“Critics worry that closures may disrupt communities, but trapping students in the status quo cycle of underachieving schools is far more disruptive to students and their futures,” he said.
Thomas B. Fordham Institute’s Vice President for Ohio Policy Chad Aldis said he would support the bill if a few tweaks were made including revising the growth measure to the Ohio report card one-star rating on Value Added Progress.
“This is a clearer and more stable indicator of inadequate growth, and it better reflects the state’s own definition of “low performance,” Aldis said. “Combining this with a bottom 5% Performance Index score would ensure that only schools with sustained low achievement and weak student progress are flagged— exactly as intended.”
