Constitutional, but still a failure
School takeover law designed to ‘fix’ struggling public school districts hasn’t fixed anything. 
The Editorial Board
Sun, 24 May 2020 04:00:00 GMT
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Ohio’s dubious school-takeover law has survived a court challenge. The state Supreme Court ruled that lawmakers did not violate the constitution when they rammed the amendment through in a single day without any committee hearings or research.
That’s a ruling that speaks to the way the law was passed. It says nothing about the value of the law itself. And Ohio’s experience with school takeovers shows us that the substance of the law is poor public policy, even if it is constitutional.
In 2015, a quickie amendment was added to House Bill 70, an education bill, and rushed through the General Assembly. The measure allows the state to take over failing school districts and Toledo Public Schools, with its typically low marks on the state’s school report card, has been in jeopardy of being taken over so that state officials can “fix” the struggling district.
Toledo Public Schools has dodged the takeover bullet for now, thanks in part to a temporary takeover moratorium and the fact that the district raised its overall grade from an F to a D, avoiding the three straight Fs that could have triggered the takeover. Also, the coronavirus crisis prompted state officials to waive standardized testing requirements this year, which also will put a hold on school report cards this year.
But the supreme court’s ruling means the state takeover law still stands, and based on the experience of a few districts that have already fallen victim to the law, the state’s cure looks as if it would be worse than what ails TPS.
Schools in Youngstown, East Cleveland, and Lorain have been through state takeovers aimed at improving their poor performance. The interventions have not been welcomed by the local school boards, administrators, teachers, and citizens. They have not created synergy or collaboration. And there is no evidence of improvement in the districts where the commissions have been assigned.
Toledo doesn’t stand to fare any better if a state takeover of our schools ever happens. The district has enormous struggles — more homeless students than any other Ohio district, 40 percent of Toledo children living below the poverty line, one in four children suffering from hunger — none of which are solved by a takeover commission that is not accountable to local voters, taxpayers, or parents.
Local control is the cornerstone of U.S. public education. Taxes, hiring, curriculum, and policy for a community’s most important public institution — its schools — are meant to be decided by locally elected officials, not a commission appointed from outside.
Lawmakers in Columbus must look at the poor results from other takeovers and reconsider the idea, even if the high court has upheld the constitutionality of H.B. 70.
The state-takeover measure was a shady legislative deal, even if it managed to survive a court challenge. There is no question, however, that it is failed public policy that must go.