Mike DeWine, Governor

Paolo DeMaria, Superintendent of Public Instruction

DATE: January 13, 2019

TO: Members of the State Board of Education

FROM: Paolo DeMaria

RE: Weekly Update –Week of January 7, 2019

Looking forward to seeing everyone on Tuesday!

Inauguration Toolkit: Early last week, we released a resource for teachers and students focused on the
inauguration. I was excited that the Inauguration Toolkit was released by way of a joint press release with the
Governor, and was co-promoted through our respective Twitter accounts. We look forward to this continuing
level of partnership.

Governor’s Executive Orders: Shortly after being formally inaugurated at midnight, the Governor signed several
executive orders. Most notable for us is the one creating the Governor’s Children’s Initiative. This one
specifically calls on the Department of Education, along with other agencies and organizations, to support and
collaborate with the Initiative in order to meet the needs of children. The Governor also signed orders creating
the Recovery Ohio Initiative (focused on the opioid epidemic), elevating the Foster Care office in the
Department of Job and Family Services (ODE administers particular education requirements for children in foster
care), and elevating the Prevention office in the Department of Mental Health and Addiction Services (in which
we will likely play a role as to drug addiction and abuse prevention).

Townsend Community School: In my recent round of board member phone calls, many of you brought up the
Townsend Community School. They have been reaching out to Board members expressing concerns about their
current circumstances. I wanted to provide a bit of background to this situation.

As you know, in five-year cycles we conduct full-time equivalent (FTE) reviews to ensure that schools are
appropriately reporting students based on the requirements of state law. Based on questions that surfaced from
several FTE reviews and determinations, the Department reviewed Townsend Community School’s blended
learning model to determine whether the model was compliant with state law regarding blended learning.

Ohio has specific requirements for blended learning schools. Blended learning schools are, first and foremost,
NOT electronic schools. If an electronic school was able to call itself a blended learning program, it could then
seek a higher level of state funding. The state has an interest that a blended learning model meet the specific
requirements of law and guidance to avoid ensure the correct level of state funding is provided to match the
approach being used.

Around August 2018, the Department determined from discussions with Townsend and a review of Townsend’s
policies that Townsend had not implemented a proper blended learning model, and that it had been overpaid.
The model was noncompliant with law in two major ways: (1) Townsend did not require students to attend the
school in Castalia at least a majority of the time – and, in fact, had recruited students who lived a long distance
from the school, and (2) Townsend did not have an online learning component that delivered instruction online.

25 South Front Street (877) 644-6338

Columbus, Ohio 43215 For people who are deaf or hard of hearing,
education.ohio.gov please call Relay Ohio first at 711.
The Department notified the school and its sponsor, the Margaretta Local School District, of the Department’s
determination.

The Department began providing technical assistance to the sponsor and required the sponsor to place
Townsend on a corrective action plan to ensure that Townsend implemented a blended learning model that
complied with law. Settlement negotiations have been ongoing to ensure that the school’s operations come into
compliance, and the parties have been working toward a mutual agreeable plan so as to minimize any disruption
to students – especially in mid-year. The Department has also offered technical assistance to the school and the
sponsor to assist with transitioning students, as needed. While the negotiations are ongoing, the Department is
committed to finding solutions to ensure that each child impacted is provided appropriate support and
educational opportunities that are consistent with Ohio law.

For more information, the Department has issued guidance on this, which can be found at:

https://education.ohio.gov/getattachment/Topics/Community-Schools/Sections/Public-Documents-and-
Reports/Blended-Learning-Guidance.pdf.aspx

It was represented to me that Townsend is claiming that ODE is trying to put them out of business. I hope that
you know by now that this assertion runs totally counter to our basic operating approach – which is to support
schools and districts to achieve success in becoming high quality providers of educational services. That said, we
cannot ignore issues of noncompliance with law and overpayment. We have an extensive track record of
working with schools who are willing to work with us to resolve issues and help them position themselves on a
path to success.

Media Coverage of Designated Schools List: Sunday saw both the Dayton Daily News and the Cleveland Plain
Dealer run articles about the recently released Designated Schools lists that drives eligibility for Ohio’s education
scholarship (voucher) programs. The articles themselves were generally balanced, but the headlines were a bit
exaggerated. As I’ve explained in a previous weekly update, while there will be some modest increase in the
number of scholarships awarded next year (as there is in any year) I do not anticipate a “massive expansion.”
The capacity of private school providers to accept more students is a fundamental control on how quickly the
numbers go up.

Another Important Staffing Change: I wanted to share with you that Brittney Colvin, our legislative director, has
accepted a position as a Deputy Director for the Department of Natural Resources. Her last day will be January
18. This is truly a bittersweet event. Brittney has been absolutely fabulous in conducing our legislative affairs.
She has been instrumental in all the legislative successes we’ve achieved since I’ve been Superintendent. She
will be sorely missed. That said, this is a great opportunity for Brittney to grow and make an even greater
contribution as a public servant. We wish her the very best in her future work – and we know she will always be
a phone call away.

New Administration Relationship Building (Continued): This past week saw a number of additional cabinet
appointments that have relevance to ODE.
 Randy Gardner was designated to be the Chancellor of the Department of Higher Education. I’ve known
Randy for the past 30+ years as a member of the General Assembly – first, in 1985 as a member of the
House, and most recently in the Senate. He is a former teacher – and has always been involved in K-12
education issues. He has also done extensive legislative work in higher education. He will be a great
partner.
 Jeff Davis was designated to be the director of the Department of Developmental Disabilities (DODD).
Back when I was at the Office of Budget and Management, Jeff was the legislative director at DODD. He

2|Page
 and I have remained good friends since then, and I was thrilled to see him appointed to this position.
DODD is a key partner – especially in terms of service provided to children with developmental
disabilities before age 3. Some county boards of DD also still provide educational services to older
students.
 Kim Hall was designated to be the director of the Department of Job and Family Services. Kim is another
ODE alum having served as deputy chief counsel back in the mid-2000s. Kim and I worked together
closely at that time, and have stayed friends ever since. ODE has several important partnerships with
ODJFS – including with regard to early childhood education as well as workforce development. I look
forward to working with Kim.
 Maureen Corchoran was named to be the Director of the Department of Medicaid. Again, while at
OBM, I worked closely with Maureen when she was an assistant director in the Medicaid office. Most
recently we’ve been working closely with Medicaid on our School Based Health Care Network. Maureen
will be a great partner as we continue to seek to leverage each other’s organizations to meet the needs
of children.

Federal Grant Award Announcement: The Ohio Department of Job and Family Services was just awarded a
competitive federal Preschool Development Grant Birth – Age Five award. Our Office of Early Learning and
School Readiness worked closely with the Office for Family Assistance at ODJFS to write this grant and identify
how the resources will be used to improve quality and access to early childhood education services. Ohio was
awarded $10.5 million for the one-year grant; one of the highest awards made by the U.S. Dept. of Health &
Human Services. The dollars will increase access to quality early childhood care and education; raise awareness
about the Step Up to Quality program, and increase participation of children in quality settings. The grant
funding is for 12/31/2018 through 12/31/2019.

School Funding Musings: Part of our January Board meeting will be to hear a presentation from a group that is
working on a new school funding model. Having worked on a number of school funding plans and proposals, I
want to share a few thoughts to add some context to the work.
1. The current system is NOT unconstitutional: Many people make the mistake of calling the current
school funding system unconstitutional. If that was the case, our agency wouldn’t be sending out billions
of dollars each year to districts and schools. The current funding model is very different than what was
scrutinized as part of the DeRolph lawsuit, and it has never been tested in court. Consequently, it is
presumed to be constitutional. People have a right to have opinions about whether the funding system
meets the test of Ohio’s constitution or not. But the actual determination of unconstitutionality is
something only the courts can do.
2. The courts never ruled that property taxes can’t be used to support schools: Sometimes people
assume that the courts have previously said that property taxes can’t be used to support schools. The
courts did not say this.
3. School funding sits at the policy intersection of education policy, tax policy, fiscal policy, agriculture
policy and economic development policy. This means that school funding is not just an education issue,
but impacts all these other policy areas. In fact, from a historical perspective, and as odd as it seems, tax
policy has always held a preferred position over the education policy aspects of school funding (hence
the existence of H.B 920 reduction factors, for example).
4. More money does not necessarily make a school better, and there are few mechanisms to ensure that
more money is spent in a way that maximizes impact. We’d love to believe that if we simply spent
more money, our schools will get better. The reality is that, while money is important, HOW the money
is spent is even more important. There are examples where high spending districts perform poorly, and
where low spending districts perform well. There are examples where schools and districts have made
better choices about how they spend money and have seen improvements in student performance –

3|Page
 without any new money. There are examples where more money results in improvement, and examples
where it does not.
5. The question “How much does it cost to educate a child?” oversimplifies the issue. Similar to the
previous point, if it was as simple as adding up all the costs and providing that amount of resources, we
would have “fixed” school funding long ago. It also ignores the concept of efficiency – there are schools
that do a great job and spend less than the average cost per pupil. What these schools are doing to get
the best bang for the buck rarely finds its way into a cost model.
6. There is no agreement about what “fixed” means. It seems like everyone has a different opinion about
what is broken, and what “fixed” looks like. Some suggest it is about levies and levy frequency. Others
suggest it has to do with how much a district gets from the state on a per pupil basis. Some look at the
costs of providing certain groups of students with more opportunities. Some want to continue
guaranteed funding – even student counts go down. Others don’t like limits on funding growth.

Meetings/Activities: These past several weeks included the following notable events.
 Inaugural Activities: I attended a number of the inaugural activities, and will be present at the
inauguration on Monday. I enjoyed interacting with members of the new Governor’s staff as well as
some of the new cabinet members.
 School Visits: I visited three schools that were recipients of the recently announced Schools of Honor
award. These schools are showing strong progress with high percentages of low-income students.
o Rockhill Elementary School (Alliance City SD): I had a great time at Rockhill Elementary. Board
member Hagan joined me for this visit. I was impressed by the fantastic culture among the
faculty and students at this school. There was such a strong commitment to addressing the
needs of the whole child. There was a great sense of pride in the work they were doing.
o Central Elementary School (Logan-Hocking SD): I was so impressed by the staff, and the work
they were doing in the spirit of continuous improvement. Their use of data, and having specific
conversations about each child’s progress and needs was particularly notable.
o Ashville Elementary (Teays Valley SD): I was pleased to be joined by new State Senator Brian Hill
for this visit. Once again, I saw great leadership, great instruction, and a school culture that was
student-centric and improvement oriented. I also embarrassed myself by displaying my pathetic
basketball-handling skills.
The following are upcoming events and activities of note:
 School Visits: I will be visiting the following schools:
o Southwest Local Schools: Southwest Local is a Momentum Award winner. It also is doing some
innovative work in career-technical education in partnership with Great Oaks Career Center.
o Three Rivers School District: Three Rivers also has satellite career-tech programs from Great
Oaks Career Center. The district has also focused on providing “wraparound services”
embedded in the school day and within their PreK-12 building.
o NW Ohio: Board member Manchester asked that I arrange to visit some schools that she would
like me to see. The exact schools have not yet been finalized. Board member Haycock will be
joining us.
 Public Television Station General Managers: I will be meeting with the Public TV Station General
Managers to build a stronger relationship and discuss issues of mutual interest. Public TV has a strong
mission to address the education needs of children and I’m interested in exploring further opportunities
for collaboration.
 Ohio Association of Local School Superintendents: I will be meeting with this group as part of their
annual meeting. This is the association of Ohio’s smallest school districts. I look forward to sharing with
them thoughts about emerging issues as well as listening to their issues.

4|Page
  Alpaugh Leadership Program: The 2018 Alpaugh Leadership Program group is comprised of roughly 40
individuals who are school administrators at all levels of schools/districts in southwest Ohio. The
program is a 5-month experience that exposes the cohort members to a variety of leadership and policy
issues. I will be addressing them about our Strategic Plan.
See you soon!

5|Page