98.2 SUPERINTENDENTS SPEAK OUT

New from the Fordham Institute: Survey of Ohio School District Superintendents 3/3/11

Yearning To Break Free: Ohio Superintendents Speak Out

An important new survey of Ohio school leaders shows a growing disconnect of opinion between the people who teach in our public schools and those who lead them. While many teachers and other school employees resist changes to collective bargaining law and education reform measures, superintendents recognize the need for such changes and in fact are hungry for them.

Read The Report Now:
http://support.edexcellence.net/site/R?i=hvRhcQ3oAlb5pZ4qgYp6RA..

Among the survey’s many findings:

  • 65 percent of Ohio school district superintendents say the state’s collective bargaining process needs fundamental overhaul,
  • 72 percent say that greater managerial authority would result not only in better management of resources but in improved student achievement as well,
  • 82 percent support the idea of combining state revenue streams while giving them more flexibility over how the money is spent,
  • When asked to rank the importance of six hypothetical changes to state law, 82 percent place priority on making it easier to terminate unmotivated or incompetent teachers, even if they are tenured. 
  • Percent of district superintendents who believe that the following are serious obstacles to improving public education:
    • Local union chapters that can count on statewide or even national support during negotiations or litigation, while a district’s leadership is on its own. 84%
    • School boards that are often reluctant to stand firm during collective bargaining because they want to avoid political battles and discord. 76%

 Yearning to Break Free: Ohio Superintendents Speak Out is the result of a statewide survey of Ohio district superintendents and other education leaders on the most critical issues facing K-12 education in the Buckeye State in 2011, including budgets, school effectiveness, and laws that make schools harder to manage. The survey was conducted by the respected, nonpartisan public opinion research firm, FDR Group, and commissioned and underwritten by the Thomas B. Fordham Institute. The findings come as policy makers struggle to solve the state’s massive budget deficit while ramping up pupil achievement.
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A survey of Ohio Superintendents and other school leaders …. indicates they want to do away with automatic step raises and the “last-in, first-out” approach to layoffs.
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Source: Jessica Brown If senate bill 5 becomes law… Its ultimate impact may be hard to gauge. THE ENQUIRER, 3/13/11  B4

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