Ohio's charter-closure law is touted as one of the toughest in the nation because it requires the automatic closure of charter schools that consistently fail to meet academic standards. Ohio's charter-closure law, which became effective in 2008 and was revised in 2011, calls for automatic closure of schools rated in Academic Emergency for at least…

Forty-two states and the District of Columbia have enacted charter school legislation. The Education Commission of the States (ECS) analysts reviewed laws in the 50 states in creating an online database that highlights how state charter school laws vary, particularly in how states establish standards and accountability for charter school…

Ohio's charter-closure law is touted as one of the toughest in the nation because it requires the automatic closure of charter schools that consistently fail to meet academic standards. Ohio's charter-closure law, which became effective in 2008 and was revised in 2011, calls for automatic closure of schools rated in Academic Emergency for at least…

This paper builds upon prior research attempting to answer the question "Does money matter?" in public education by offering some insight into the potential advantages of charter schools over their district counterparts. In order to develop an accurate model of the true relationship between resources and performance, Adkins and Moomaw…

This report, the first in the series, points out that, while urban families increasingly have access to a variety of school options--including charter schools--many rural families have just a single school option. There are numerous examples of rural charter schools that have done great things for students while also benefiting the larger…

When the Cleveland, Ohio, school board had to make radical cuts in its budget last spring, it was forced to eliminate 540 teaching jobs. There wasn't a whole lot of mystery about "which" teachers among Cleveland's 3,500-member teaching force would be the ones to lose their jobs. The state's hard-and-fast seniority rule--last hired, first…

As a professor of law and higher education, Lake compares the April 2007 shootings to those at Kent State nearly 40 years earlier. The mishandling of the Kent State crisis brought heavy criticism of higher education, and a culture of rules, procedures, and policies arose to replace old patterns of using force and violence to manage conflicts. …

Depending on who's talking, the Bush administration's signature education law either imposes an onerous financial burden on schools or provides enough aid for states and schools to administer it. This article discusses the study released by the Ohio Department of Education estimating that the state will spend about $1.5 billion a year to meet the…

Discusses Ohio's experience with public employee collective negotiation in the absence of comprehensive statutes governing such negotiation. (JF)

During the last 12 months, the highest courts in 5 states have issued opinions on the constitutionality of their public school funding systems. Briefly reviews decisions and discusses possible future directions of this litigation based on an analysis of the 3 decades of litigation since "Serrano v. Priest" (1971). (Contains 11…

This study was undertaken in an attempt to document the perceptions of the legal literacy of educators and to discuss the implications for teacher preparation programs. The research further attempted to study the impact and fear of legal issues on the educational practices of teachers, principals, and university professors and to determine the…

The Project PRIMES (Progress Research in Meeting Elementary Standards) System examines elementary schools in light of minimum standards set by the Ohio State Department of Education. This evaluation instrument is divided into the following five sections: (1) Policies and Procedures, (2) School Records and Reports, (3) Instruction, (4) Statements…

This document on the Civil Rights of Students, perpared by the Educational Opportunities Planning Center, provides a synthesis of presentations made by the author and of the three discussion and answer sessions that followed at the three meetings of the School Law Conferences. Opening remarks emphasize the need for educators to respond to…

Describes legal problems and issues and reviews court cases involving noninstructional school personnel that have arisen in Ohio, which has no state law governing collective bargaining for public employees. (JG)

A new Ohio statute, similar to other statutes nationwide, affords probationary teachers facing nonrenewal of their contracts many procedural protections, while at the same time increasing the administrative burden. The line of demarcation between legal protections for novice teachers and those for their experienced colleagues is becoming…