State may change pension requirements for teachers

Apr. 26, 2012, Bucyrus Telegraph-Forum

By Jessica Alaimo
CentralOhio.com

Teachers may have to work longer and pay more into their pension system if a proposal to the Ohio Legislature is accepted.

The Legislature is moving on public pension reform, and three of the funds have updated their proposals. The most significant updates are in the State Teachers Retirement System, or STRS.

These reforms are happening because three of the five pension systems don't meet the state-required obligation of being able to pay off all their benchmarks within 30 years. All funds recognize changes need to be made for long-term stability.

Read more in the Bucyrus Telegraph-Forum.

Ohio college students save money by working quickly

Apr. 7, 2012, Port Clinton News Herald

By Jessica Alaimo
CentralOhio.com

Kaytlyn Tracy hasn't had a lot of time to be a college student.

Instead of partying, going out on Thursday nights and joining a sorority, Tracy has kept her head down and focused on getting her college career done in three years instead of four.

She's eager to graduate early from Kent State University with a psychology degree so she can move to North Carolina to be with her husband, who is in the Marines...

Read more in the Port Clinton News Herald. 

Common Core Standards aim to transform education in state of Ohio

The U.S. economy could grow at a "remarkable increment" if its students were just a little better at math, a group of Harvard researchers recently concluded.

That's one reason Ohio teachers already are learning a new set of curriculum standards that will be in place by 2014 -- the Common Core State Standards.

These standards call for educators to tackle fewer subjects in class, but with more depth. They encourage long-form answers on tests, and teachers using material beyond the textbook. Students will be asked to stop memorizing and start explaining.

Read more in the Zanesville Times Recorder.

Common Core setting a new education standard for Ohio

Place three rectangles of varying shapes and sizes in front of a group of third-graders.

In today's classes, a teacher might ask what the length of one side is, or what the area is. In a year or two, however, the broader question might just be: "What size are these?"

Educators are being asked to teach differently, thanks to the new Common Core State Standards. This means the classroom could operate much differently come 2014 -- although some districts are implementing them sooner.

Read more in the Zanesville Times Recorder.

With no state mandate, Ohio’s gifted children may see services cut

June 4, 2011, Port Clinton News Herald

By Jessica Alaimo

CentralOhio.com

Rayne Wilson hid behind his mom on the couch, scared to talk to the company in the room.

His younger brother explained a computer game where players build a world around four basic elements. It requires math. It requires logic.

“I only made it to Level 2,” 6-year-old Brayson said.

The urge to brag finally was enough to break his silence.

“I made it to Level 11,” Rayne said.

When it comes to anything numerical or measurable, Rayne is brilliant. At age 7, he knows the full multiplication table. Give him a date two years out, he’ll tell you what day of the week it falls on — even accounting for the leap year. One day he visited his brother’s karate studio. His mother saved the map of the room that he drew from memory — done to scale.

Rayne is fortunate. Next year, a gifted specialist at Bucyrus Elementary School will work with him and his teachers to accommodate his skills. He’ll be in second grade, but move up to a third-grade math class.

Across the state, however, budget-crunched school districts are cutting their gifted staff, and the proposed state budget could eliminate dedicated gifted students.

Brown proposes consolidating student loans

May 26, 2011, Fremont News-Messenger

By Jessica Alaimo

Special to the News-Messenger

U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown touted a plan Wednesday he said would make repaying college loans easier and cheaper, and make more grants available for low-income students.

Last year the federal government stopped contracting with private lenders to service new student loans, instead administering all payments through the U.S. Department of Education.

However, 6 million people found themselves caught in the middle when the transition took...

Proposal would allow ads on school buses

May 25, 2011, Newark Advocate

By Jessica Alaimo

CentralOhio.com

NEWARK — Cash-strapped school districts could have the right to sell advertising on the outside of school buses under a law proposed last week.

State Sen. Joe Schiavoni, D-Canfield, said anything that can help a school buy a new computer or textbooks or not lay off a teacher is a positive, with school districts facing less revenue.

However, a national interest group is fighting the proposal in Ohio and several other states, claiming the small revenue boost is not worth the exploitation of captive audience of students.

Students explore alternate routes to escape high debt

May 21, 2011, Fremont News-Messenger

By Jessica Alaimo

Special to The News-Messenger

Short rainstorms gave brief moments of relief from an otherwise humid Thursday on the shared campus of Ohio State University’s Mansfield branch and North Central State College.

Many students commute. Some will graduate with a two- or four-year degree from these campuses; others will transfer elsewhere.

So why forgo going away to school, a rite of passage for many young adults? Students interviewed all said the same thing: It’s cheaper.

The heavy load of student loans

May 21, 2011, Fremont News-Messenger

By Jessica Alaimo

Special to the News-Messenger

COSHOCTON – Peter Madsen graduated from the University of Wisconsin in 1978 with $1,500 in student loans. His parents didn't help him pay for school.

The Coshocton father started saving for his sons' college education when his oldest, Michael, was in second grade. Michael was accepted into Ohio Northern University with grant money. Nonetheless, he graduates this year with almost $20,000 in loans to pay back. Michael's brother, Matthew, a sophomore at Ohio Northern, will have a similar burden. Both are majoring in graphic arts.

Not only are this spring's college graduates more likely to enter adulthood deeper in the red, but with a historically poor economy providing fewer jobs, they are more likely to default on their loans within three years.

High school harder than it used to be

May 11, 2011, Newark Advocate

By Jessica Alaimo

CentralOhio.com

High school is more difficult than it was in 1990.

Students have to take more classes and more difficult classes.

Some students no longer wait to have a diploma in hand before college begins.

The National Center for Education Statistics examined the transcripts of 2009 high school graduates across the country.

According to the report, students averaged 420 more hours of instruction than those in 1990, with more emphasis on math and science courses.

School districts learn how deep state cuts might be

Mar. 30, 2011, Marion Star

BY JESSICA ALAIMO

CentralOhio.com

Local school officials figured they would have less state and federal aid in 2012. Tuesday, they learned what the cuts could be.

Last week, Gov. John Kasich touted more state aid for local districts. However, the slight increases in state foundation aid don’t make up for what school districts stand to lose from the expiration of stimulus funds and an accelerated phase-out of the personal property tax reimbursement.

The Office of Budget and Management unveiled projections of how much less schools would get from the reimbursements under Kasich’s proposed budget.

School budgets face uncertain future

Aug. 22, 2010, Fremont News-Messenger

BY JESSICA ALAIMO

Special to the News-Messenger

Like many educators across the state, those at Elgin Local Schools are returning to school with a certain uneasiness.

The district barely averted layoffs this year, and officials do not know what kinds of cuts the state will make to education in the next two years or how local revenue might change.

“It’s really scary,” Superintendent Bruce Gast said. “This district has been through so many cuts. We’re being as cautious as we can, and then more cautious. ... All our employees understand there is uncertainty.”

By October, every school treasurer must submit a five-year forecast to the Ohio Department of Education, estimating revenues and expenditures through 2015. While they submit only one plan, the education department advises districts to plan for three scenarios — steady, bad and catastrophic.

Many treasurers contend they might as well use a Magic 8 Ball to answer the following questions when compiling their forecasts:

Educators await details on No Child Left Behind changes

Feb. 8, 2010, Newark Advocate

BY JESSICA ALAIMO AND SETH ROY

CentralOhio.com

Johnstown-Monroe Superintendent Damien Bawn said he is hopeful the changes to the No Child Left Behind Act that President Barack Obama announced last week will lead to positive outcomes.

Bawn and other Ohio education officials have withheld judgment on the president’s plans to overhaul the law and are waiting for more specifics.

“I view the president’s plan as a natural and positive move if it means we are moving toward more accurate ways of measuring what students know and are able to do,” Bawn said.

Obama called for a 7.5 percent increase in education spending in the budget plan he released Feb. 1. He also suggested the government scrap the law’s 2014 deadline that all students be proficient at basic skills.

Differing rules of the road

Jan. 23, 2010, Newark Advocate

BY JESSICA ALAIMO

CentralOhio.com

NEWARK — When teenagers taught by the Neff family take their road test, some are more likely to fail than others.

It’s not how they are taught, it’s where they take the test.

Don Neff, and his daughter, Angie Winmayer, teach in Chillicothe and Circleville. Both cities have exam stations — but Circleville flunks almost twice as many applicants as Chillicothe.

There are similar trends in Licking County and across Ohio. The Bureau of Motor Vehicles’ Newark examination station failed drivers 8 percent of the time in 2009, while Knox and Coshocton counties had much lower rates. Fairfield and Pickaway counties were much higher.

Driving instructors cite a number of causes for this disparity. The ease of the course is a factor, as are the socioeconomics of the area.

Applicants younger than 18 must take a driver education class, which costs about $300. If they wait, they don’t have to pay for the course, but they also go into the test with no formal training.

Pleasant only local district to apply for ‘Race to the Top’ grant money

Jan. 13, 2010, Marion Star

By JESSICA ALAIMO

Central Ohio.com

The federal government is poised to give Ohio school districts up to $400 million to improve education, but 60 percent of them said no thanks.

The “Race to the Top” grant money is intended to create programs that will help students participate in the global economy, find innovative ways to track student success, reward teachers who are most effective and improve the lowest-achieving schools.

While state officials touted the grant program as positive in all aspects, local school officials had mixed reactions. Grant language is vague, and as a result officials had different interpretations of what it meant.

In Richland County, Clear Fork Valley Superintendent Daniel Freund said he’d like to use grant money to find ways to make quarterly assessments of both teacher and student performance. He also supports provisions in the grant that allow expansion of technology in the classroom.

“It’s an opportunity for school districts to look at and formally assess our evaluations of student programs, and teacher impact,” Freund said.