education

Attorney General awards $1.2 million in grants for campus sexual assault victims

The New Political

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Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine awarded over $1.2 million in grants to campus sexual assault and rape crisis centers across the state in late December.

After the attorney general’s office reviewed applications, the first round of grants was announced. According to Dan Tierney, a spokesperson for the Ohio Attorney General’s office, more awards could be announced either in a second round of grants or sporadically as grant applications are approved.

According to a press release, the money is a provision of the Victims of Crime Act and will be taken out of the $3 million of federal funding from VOCA set aside by DeWine in 2015. These specific VOCA grants are only intended for crime victim services, not preventative ones.

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Education department faces investigation after records are erased

The New Political

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As students begin to settle into a new school year, educators, armed with fresh lesson plans, curriculum and standardized tests, are welcoming their students back to their respective schools. But one Ohio education official will not be joining them.

David Hansen, who was the school choice director for the Ohio Department of Education, resigned in July after it was discovered that he omitted failing grades from charter school evaluations. Some believe this indicates a larger problem with Ohio’s standards for charter schools.

“We have long suspected that there’s problems with charter school accountability,” said Melissa Cropper, President of the Ohio Federation of Teachers. “When we saw that there had been some manipulation of data, we weren’t necessarily shocked, but we of course expected something to be done about it.”

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Ohio HOR introduces bill to change charter school funding

The New Political

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An education bill currently being considered by the Ohio House could clear up some controversy surrounding charter schools and their funding.

House Bill 2,  a piece of legislation that was introduced to the Ohio House of Representatives by Reps. Mike Dovilla, R-Berea, and Kristina Roegner, R-Hudson, details proposed changes in how community and charter schools are funded as well as how their progress and standards are measured.

Charter schools are unique because, like public school districts, they receive government funding from tax dollars but are often privately owned and receive additional funding from sponsors. According to William Phillis, executive director of the Ohio Coalition for Equity and Adequacy of School Funding, this has left them in a largely unregulated state since charter schools became legal in Ohio in 1997.

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Kasich plans to focus on funding colleges in new budget

The New Political

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The state government will dedicate a total of about $5.1 billion to higher education programs over the next two years, according to Gov. John Kasich’s 2016-17 budget proposal, Blueprint for a New Ohio.

The budget would increase funding for certain financial aid sources and create a new debt reduction program, but it would also erase other programs, such as the Co-Op Internship Program.

The largest increase in higher education funding is seen in Program Series 4: Student Access, which has a proposed increase of 25.7 percent in 2016. This program funds direct student aid including grants and institutional subsidies “that help certain campuses maintain lower, more affordable tuition rates,” according to the budget.

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