Youngstown not among Race to the Top winners

Not enough said.

The State of Ohio has labor laws in place that enable teachers to negotiate the terms of their working conditions. These laws protect teachers and other unions in the state from arbitrary and capricious management, which is what they were designed to do (remember your job actions, Vindy?) If the Vindicator has a problem with the law, lobby the legislature to change the law instead of berating the teachers who are exercising their rights. As far as Race to the Top, the stipulations for the money will expose teachers to the arbitrary and capricious whims of management without due process afforded through the negotiated labor contracts. Is the Vindicator promoting a discontinuation of due process?

"The latest school report card from the state’s proficiency testing shows that Youngstown is still in the academic cellar. It has been in fiscal emergency since 2006."

After high school the next level of education for far too many kids is prison . Is Youngstown a breeding ground for criminals ? It does certainly look that way . No matter what your grade score is you will be accepted at the prison that is chosen for you .

"The refusal of the Youngstown Education Association, which represents the teachers, to sign a memorandum of understanding as part of the application is the only reason the district was barred from participating."

And now they are going on strike.

If the RTTT program was so great, why didn't every school system in the state agree to it's provisions? I'd say the Youngstown Education Association and the rest of the districts and schools in the state who didn't sign off on it are showing guts and foresight of thought regarding this untested, intrusive mandate from Washington.

I know the Youngstown City schools are in Academic Emergency and are a disgrace. There should be a method that the State of Ohio can totally take over this system, like a bankrupt company, negate the contracts and start all over. I say, let the teacher's union strike and hire new replacement teachers because, seriously, it could not get any worse. I'm not saying that the teachers are the total problem, as they can only teach what children they are given. But, how can they cash their paychecks knowing the garbage they are putting out?

In addition, there is nothing new in the fact that money coming from Washington has strings attached to it. This is always the case. But, if you don't want to follow their rules fine. But, don't ask for a pay raise! I haven't had a raise for a few years and I am working more hours every week.

I think a good story would be to ask the districts other than Youngstown why they did not apply for RTTT funds. That might be enlightening and bring out the whole story. Very likely they will tell you that they did not because of the intrusive nature of the stipulations. So Walter, who do you think you would get to replace the teachers in the Youngstown Schools? Better teachers? Worse teachers? Non-teachers? Why would that make the schools better? And as far as raises go, the Youngstown teachers haven't had a raise in over 3 years. And just because "...the White House and U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan have called (RTTT) a linchpin of President Obama’s education improvement initiative..." doesn't make the program a good program. Remember the bill of goods the government sold to the public called No Child Left Behind? NCLB has caused the current mess because of it's testing schemes, and the RTTT plan premise is based on NCLB, a plan Obama vows to repeal! The real beneficiaries of RTTT are the bureaucrats in Columbus. Follow the money. How much money will go to Columbus to administer RTTT in Ohio? Why wouldn't the State Superintendent support the plan knowing the amount of money flowing into her office? Sounds like another good story Vindy. Do I get a finder's fee?

Youngstown teachers have not voted to go on strike.
The Vindicator uses careful wording to print a blatant lie when it says no charter schools are in the same emergency situation as YCS. There are 6 charter schools that are also in Academic Emergency. (I know exactly what the writer meant and I also know the writer realizes many people will think otherwise.)
If there is 2.4 million that is available for Youngstown schools to hire consultants or whatever who can help the students in this district, then it is criminal for the state or federal government to withhold these funds. This money is to benefit the students in YCS. None of it will go to the teachers. Why are the students punished and held hostage just because the YEA rightfully and legally defends its members and the contract they negotiated?

Actually Race to the Top funding is tightly controlled. It can not be used for the kids. It can not be used for salaries, utilities, building needs, supplies, books, transportation, counselors or anything else except:

1. designing new standardized tests
2. training the teachers to give new standardized tests
3. designing data systems to track the scores students achieve.

Now we hear this from Catalyst Ohio:
"The complex value-added formula has drawn fire this year from assessment experts who noticed wild variations in performance between grades – a yo-yo effect under which few students make expected growth one year, and almost all do the following year, or vice-versa.

The quirk was worrisome because value-added will be used to help evaluate the performance of teachers.

State officials today said fixes they made in value-added model have corrected the problem.

Some experts said the tool will become more effective after the state moves into a new testing system that is better aligned with value-added measurements.

“The Ohio Department of Education is doing the best it can with the assessments that they have,” said Fordham’s Ryan. “The current system was built with the notion of value-added. Value-added data is an important addition to the report card, but we shouldn’t focus too much on it. It’s still as much of an art as a science.”

I thought I would google "opposition, Race to the Top" to see how much effort it would have taken to get some balance and correct information on this issue. (I limited the date range to after July 2010)

I thought maybe 5 minutes to find some good articles. Nope. 30 seconds. 30 seconds that is apparently too much effort for the Vindication Editorial Board.

Here's some of the first:
http://voices.washingtonpost.com/answ...

http://www.good.is/post/christian-gro...

http://www.opednews.com/articles/Oppo...
By the way, any thoughts on Pennsylvania being shut out entirely of Race to the Top funding despite their excellent record and school plan? There have been some questions about the scoring methods used in Round 1 of the competition. An umpire or football referee would have tried to balance the mistake in Round 2. But not this Administration.

Maybe the Vindicator doesn't care about opposition to the RTTT program. They are pushing the Obama/Arne Duncan agenda. If the money is only to be used for new tests, consultants to teach the teachers how to use the tests and data systems to track the scores, well, I think we have enough of those already. RTTT is a big scam, designed to make the govt. look likes it's doing something and to make the teachers and their unions look bad.

Great posts Education_Voter! Unfortunately, don't try to confuse the Vindicator editorial board with the facts. Their mind is already made up. And as far as the Obama administration commitment for education, read this tidbit from the posts cited by Education_ Voter: "..."For President Obama to try and say that opposition to Race to the Top and his education policies are coming from people who want to preserve the status quo --- that's very misleading and President Obama should know better coming from Chicago that these people are not status quo people," explained Klonsky. "I include myself in this we are not status quo people. We've been fighting for the past decades to fix a broken system here in Chicago..." And this "...Klonsky agreed that many who are for privatized education are casting themselves as "revolutionaries" and casting teachers especially members of teachers' unions as people who are for the status quo because they want to keep the public in public education..." And this "...There was talk about how children who come from homes that don't have a lot of parental support lead to teachers having to put much more effort into working with them than other students and how sometimes teachers don't succeed as much as they would have hoped but that doesn't mean that teacher is necessarily bad..." Any response from the Vindicator? No? The silence is deafening.

Consider this about the Editorial writers:
They have nothing to say about these districts that nixed participation in Race to the Top:
Campbell
Struthers
Austintown
Boardman...
Okay, never mind the list, almost every school district in Mahoning County. It's not like any of them are swimming in money. Youngstown gets more money because they have more students. More students means funds get spread thinner.

The Vindy seems to think that it's okay to stick to your beliefs unless you are offered more money. So the price for Youngstown education is $500,000 a year for 4 years. (promised at least) Get your beliefs back later.

Nice job everyone dispelling the myths spun by the Vindicator.

"There are 22 districts and charter schools in Mahoning, Trumbull and Columbiana counties that will share $2.55 million over the next four years to improve student learning through increased data collection and analysis, training for teachers and principals and other initiatives."

Youngstown and Warren have had this occurring for years, if not a decade or so. Both have been ahead of the curve in collection and data analysis and training. Just check those contracts.

The problem MUST go beyond these areas, since each district has them in place. Let's examine "successful" school districts and really look at what is different.

It's a shame a LOCAL paper would want to see even MORE LOCAL CONTROL given away for a one time shot of money that doesn't do anything to directly impact students.

For an area FULL of taxpayers crying over the state of taxation, I'm surprised to see anyone decrying more pork barrel spending. As someone said above, if the money is useful for the students, it's a CRIME to withhold it. Perhaps the tax rate should NOT be so high as to accumulate such a pool of money.

Maybe one reason this area struggles so much to clean up its problems is that the Vindicator is constantly confusing voters by sensationalizing all the conflicts while offering no workable solutions, only patronizing lectures from Aunt Bertram. They are constantly stirring the pot while failing in their duty to provide the whole truth.

TB,
Good point about testing, data collection, and tracking scores.
I never really looked at it this way, but you are right.
If using tests and data improved achievement, then Warren and Youngstown should have the highest scores in the county.

http://www.stateofohioeducation.com/s...

From the State of Ohio Education Blog, a conservative point of view:
"Well, the biggest winner is the Ohio Department of Education. Between the latest batch of federal bailout money (ODE gets to keep 2% of $361 million) and the 40+ percent of Race to the Top money retained at the state level, ODE will have enough to ramp up staffing in a big way. I'm guessing they're still partying down on Front Street in Columbus. No recession when it comes to hiring at this state agency!

Who's next on the list of big winners? Vendors. Look for a variety of vendors, including nonprofit organizations such as Battelle for Kids, to receive big R2T-funded contracts. (Just for fun, when contracts are signed, we'll compare the list of vendor contracts with letters of support that accompanied Ohio's application. I bet we find more than a couple matches.)"

What about districts? Aren't participating districts big winners? Well . . .

It's hard to say whether districts and community schools that opted to participate get to join the winner's circle. The influx of R2T money doesn't mean districts won't ask taxpayers to pass new levies. It very well could be that for some districts the grant funding won't even cover all the costs of grant participation.

Thank you Education_Voter for your efforts to get to the bottom of this matter. Your information (and others on this thread) provide a balanced perspective on this issue, contrary to the Vindicator editorial which did nothing but sensationalize the issue on the backs of the Youngstown City Schools teachers who likely have called it right. Any response from the Vindicator would be interesting wouldn't it? Don't count on one.

How about this information from the same link cited by Education_Voter?

You knew it was bound to happen. Districts receiving Race to the Top funding having to explain to taxpayers why they still need a levy.

The Dayton Daily News reports on three R2T districts concerned that taxpayers will see the federal money as the solution to district funding problems.

Three Dayton-area school districts that had tax levies defeated in the May primary election are among those that will receive federal Race to the Top funds now that Ohio has won $400 million in the competitive grant competition.

Trotwood-Madison Local Schools will receive $868,112 over four years, the second largest amount coming to a Montgomery County school district. In May, the district saw its third failed levy in a year.

Superintendent Rexann Wagner couldn’t be reached for comment Wednesday, but in June she said district officials were crossing their fingers hoping Ohio would receive the funding. She also said it couldn’t come at a better time for the district, which cut 19 additional teaching positions after the levy failed.

The district is going back to the voters in November, seeking approval of an additional 7.5-mill continuing levy that would generate $2 million in annual revenue for operating expenses.

Kettering City Schools, where voters rejected a 6.9-mill additional levy request this spring, stands to receive a $673,534 Race to the Top grant.

West Carrollton City Schools — where voters in May renewed a 6.5-mill levy that brought a zero tax increase but rejected a 3.25-mill additional levy — will get $479,474 in Race to the Top funds, according to estimates.

The district is putting the 3.25-mill levy back on the ballot in November to generate $1.3 million annually for operating expenses.

West Carrollton Superintendent Rusty Clifford said district officials intend to “proudly” tell voters the district participated in Race to the Top after he, the teachers union and school board president signed a memorandum of understanding agreeing to the conditions.

“This is a good thing,” he said, believing it will send a message to voters that the district is one of 538 districts and charter schools in Ohio willing to transform education and “it’s one more reason why you should be casting your ballot.”

But Xenia Community Schools Superintendent Deb Piotrowski intends to downplay that the district will receive $566,662 in Race to the Top funding to avoid voter confusion.

District officials already have seen questions from voters as to why it can’t use funding earmarked for constructing new schools to operate the district.

“It’s confusing,” she said. “Finance is not an easy concept to understand.”

They don’t want to cause more confusion among voters, who may not hear that the federal Race to the Top money can’t be used for district operations either, she said.

There ya go folks! R2T isn't what it appears to be. Go figure

Youngstown WINS the Race to the Bottom. They are the worse district in the state of Ohio and we all know why. Between the lack of parental involvement in education and the greedy uncaring school unions, it's no wonder academic emergeny exists here.

There is no funding for those who refuse to be accountable. We all know that the teachers union will fight any form of accountability until their last breath. Maybe its time for that breath. Let's put the children first for a change. Youngstown with some of the most beautiful facilities remains at the bottom and is destined to do so for a looooong time.

And the ignorance of the last two posts indicates the real struggles Youngstown faces

People who are unable to deal with facts and speak without understanding or even wanting to understand run rampant, as evidenced in an earlier article about the valley being more uneducated than most areas of the country.

Break up the district and split the children between the nearby Mahoning and Trumbull districts. The schools are a state function, so this could be done.

(For instance, Liberty and Hubbard currently accept Youngstown students, albeit the ones of their choosing.)

I hope UnionForever and Palbubba don't get weak-kneed at the prospect of these children entering their school districts. YCS's beautiful buildings could then be filled again with the new mixture of students. P.C. Bunn is in Boardman, Kirkmere is a block from Austintown and two blocks from Canfield (As is Volney). P. Ross Berry is almost in Hubbard, etc.

Precisely...send the Ytown kids to the best performing districts! Watch the success rate!

TB....or watch the drop out rate in those districts go up!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I'd like to see those districts have the same success rates as they currently do with a different clientele.

TB- It's what is killing McDonald

This late debate is on target but does not identify the issue which is that parents with high educational expectations of their children usually produce the desired success the schools and the public desire. It's not the teachers stupid, to paraphrase Mr Clinton. This isn't a teacher issue so it doesn't matter who is teaching - Canfield teachers or Youngstown teachers. If students are expected to follow the rules, do as their told, try the hardest they can, and parents enforce this, students will learn. Of course Canfield teachers will never agree to this. They would rather have the public believe that they are the reason for the success (no offense Canfield. Just using you as an example). And spare me the cultural differences debate. It's tired and old.

I think McDonald is having some money troubles too eh?

interesting points theotherside. I'd agree almost wholeheartedly.

the biggest predictors of student success are zip code, parental educational attainment (and we know from recent articles that the valley lags behind the nation in this), and socioeconomic status.

The community school run by Sr. Jerome is evidence of theotherside's point. These are inner-city children, the same as the ones attending Youngstown Schools. And they are learning and passing the tests. But you can be sure that any student who doesn't follow the rules, try hard, etc. won't be long in her school. All the things she mentioned are things Youngstown schools are also doing, but aren't getting results. It is time for the parents to take responsibility.

Thank you DC for an excellent comment