Dayton Public Schools leaders are speaking out against a an Ohio Senate bill that could more easily close low-performing schools.
Senate Bill 127 would require a poor performing public, STEM or charter school to either close or go through remedial actions.
Under this proposal, a poor-performing school could replace its principal and most of its licensed staff instead of closing. Or it could undergo a rigorous school improvement plan.
It defines a poor performing school as one that is ranked in the bottom 5% based on its performance index score on its state report card for three consecutive years. Also, if it ranks in the bottom 10% among Ohio schools based on its "value-added" progress on its report card for three consecutive years.
The measure is currently under debate in the Ohio Senate Education Committee.
Dayton Public School Superintendent David Lawrence wrote a letter to the committee. He said closing schools is flawed and will hurt communities.
“Parents typically move away from areas where the school is closed. If you have families moving out, now you have a dead zone, You have these food deserts there's no fresh fruits and groceries, and you just have a zone where there are very few businesses," Lawrence said.
Dayton Public Schools and a member of the Ohio 8 Coalition, a strategic alliance composed of
the superintendents and teacher union presidents from Ohio’s urban school districts: Akron,
Canton, Cincinnati, Cleveland, Columbus, Dayton, Lorain, Toledo, and Youngstown.
In his letter to the Senate Education Committee, Lawrence emphasized DPS's Academic Action Plan. It focuses on five key areas: culture and climate, third-grade reading, high school readiness, freshman success, and college and career readiness. Some of the strategies include data-drive instruction, better communication and a model for better transitions from elementary through high school.
According to Lawrence, these efforts have resulted in
• 6% increase in third grade reading scores;
• 10% reduction in chronic absenteeism;
• 2.6% increase in eighth-grade math performance;
• 4.5 out of 5-star rating on its Ohio School Report Card for career technical education including an 87% CTE graduation rate;
• 5 out of 5 rating for career and postsecondary readiness ;
• and a full one-star increase in achievement within a single school year.
Lawrence also believed the proposed changes would make it harder for schools to improve.
“It guarantees that there'll always be a bottom 5%. So, Dayton Public and some of the other Ohio 8s may be the victims today. But in 10 years, who's the next group that has to go because we're doing the bottom 5-10%, based on the performance index. So I think it's perpetual restructuring of schools and it creates instability.”
Instead, Lawrence urged legislators to focus on what’s helping public schools.
"What we do know works is consistent support in the form of resources, supplies and dollars," he said.
