Kasich on schools: ‘Changes are coming’ (and a personal note to Kasich)

[The Straight Story]

Kasich said on the campaign trail and shortly after his Nov. 2 win that he wants to make changes that will result in more money in the classrooms but he has yet to detail what that means. One thing is certain: he plans to ditch Gov. Ted Strickland’s new K-12 funding program.

“Same old, same old isn’t going to happen in our schools,” Kasich told a Columbus area TV station. “Changes are coming.”

Meanwhile, the U.S. Department of Education has said Ohio could lose its $400 million in federal Race to the Top money if it significantly diverts from the plan submitted. The Kasich administration, however, maintains that the new K-12 plan will stick with elements important to Race to the Top, such as standards, accountability and school choice.

School districts are bracing for funding cuts and facing a potential scheduling nightmare. Kasich has until March 15 to submit his budget and the General Assembly must adopt a balanced budget by June 30. That leaves districts less than two months to make changes before 1.8 million students show up for classes in 3,382 public and 330 charter schools.

http://www.daytondailynews.com/news/ohio-news/kasich-on-schools-changes-are-coming-1002970.html

Personal note to Kasich:

Back in the early 90's I fought with a senator from Northern Ohio against what the democrats were proposing - Out Come Based Education (called OBE). Back then republicans were decrying the loss of states' rights, more fed funds coming into local education, loss of control, and fear that control would be lost at the local level and that teachers and students would suffer from it all (and now it is called 'race to the top').

I agreed. Then bush 2 came into power and renamed it No Child Left Behind - and folks like you bought into it (and suddenly the dems who were all for it before were now against it).

You say "I want a smaller govt, want them out of X/y/z" but then they dangle cash in front of you and suddenly you are all for it.

NCLB and OBE were wrong - they were wrong before and they are wrong now.

Get the politicians out of education decisions and let the people doing the work make the decisions - but then you are used to being bought off by others, so from your view (because you are so used to it) if someone else is giving you the money they know best for you.

Educators know their job way better than you do. I work with these people every day, they have a grasp of what needs done and how to do it - they just need people to actually freakin' listen to them.

Stop making kids and schools pawns in your financial games. I am for home schooling, private schools, and even some charter schools. I am all for choice. I am not for 'suits' sucking up to corporate yahoos and deciding how teachers teach and how they are judged - those same people you bow to fucked up our economy with their advice (and you worked for them too). They would not listen, and people in power did not listen either because they all had that shiny object called money being dangled before them.

If you want real reform let it come from the people who are on the front lines, not some guy in a suit in some other state who is more concerned with profit than teaching.

One band aid does not fit all. The problems in education in one county are not the same in another, and the problems in one state may be vastly different than here.

Quit talking and listen.