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Ohio Constitution Created
During the latest Constitutional Convention, voters approved a new constitution that included provisions requiring a "thorough and efficient system of common schools throughout the State," leading to funding through property tax and state benefits. -
Zetzer Family Comes to America
At the age of 33, George Zetzer, along with his wife and two infant children, immigrate to the United States through Ellis Island. A farmer from Germany/White Russia (depending upon who controlled), George moved his family to Cleveland, OH -
House Bill 920
State bill which froze the revenue in the state from Property Tax, essentially not allowing property tax to raise with inflation --- forcing it to stay the same throughout the years. Over the next 30 years, Ohio districts would bring 3,000+ levies to ballot. This caused people to question, "why does my school keep asking for more money?" Questioning the business habits of the district, rather than the inadequecy of state law to provide for education -
My Mother Begins at Beaumont High School
From their website: "Beaumont Schools are committed to equipping students with the tools they need for academic, personal and social achievement. The school enables every student to reach their highest potential by establishing a curriculum that meets or exceeds government standards for education...and partnering with parents and the community to create an environment geared to the success of all students." -
My Father Begins at Shaker High School
From Shaker High School website: "The District will nurture, educate, and graduate students
who are civic-minded and prepared to make ethical decisions;
who are confident, competent communicators,
skillful in problem solving, capable of creative thinking;
who have a career motivation
and a knowledge of our global and multicultural society." -
My Father Transfers to Mayfield High School
After entering Mayfield High School, my father joined the technology/electronics portion of its EXCELTECH (or vocatational) school. Graduating in 1983, and joining the workforce. -
My Mother Transfers to Mayfield High School
After transfering to Mayfield High School, my mother completes her degree and heads to Kent State University to begin her bachelors degrees in architecture and interior design. -
Father offered Car to Drop-Out
Prior to my father's Senior year at Mayfield High School, my grandfather offers him a car if he drops out of high school. He declined. -
My Mother and Father Graduate from Mayfield High School
With vastly different educational experiences, my mother and father both graduate from Mayfield High School. -
Mother Begins College Education
My mother begins her college education just after high school, and doing so full-time, completes her degree in 1984. -
Father Begins College Education
After a year as a window installer, my father attends Kent State University on a part-time basis hoping to obtain a bachelors degree in architecture. He does this while continuing to work full-time. -
Creation of Ohio Coalition for Equity and Adequacy of School Funding
The OCEASF was founded in southeastern Ohio, inviting a number of districts to take on the state of Ohio to overheal the common school funding system as a fundementally unsound way of educating the state's adolescents. OCEASF brought suit in the DeRolph v. State case 3 years later, on behalf of Mr. DeRolph -
Nathan DeRolph files suit against the state
A coalition filed an appeal tothe Perry County Court of Common Pleas on December 19, 1991, on behalf of Nathan DeRolph, a 15-year-old freshman at Sheridan High School. The coalition named the state, the Ohio Board of Education, its superintendent, and the Ohio Department of Education as plaintiffs in the suit. -
Linton D. Lewis Ruling
Judge Lewis ruled that Ohioans had a fundamental right to an state-funded education and that the state’s system for providing that education was unconstitutional. In his ruling, Judge Lewis ordered that the board of education procure a means of eliminating wealth-based educational discrepency -
DeRolph v. State
The Ohio Supreme court upholds Justice Lewis's decision, in a 4-3 opinion, stated that the state funding system "fails to provide for a thorough and efficient system of common schools" as required by the Ohio Constitution and directed the state to find a remedy. -
Ohio Governor George Voinovich renounces Ruling
Ohio Govenor George Voinovich declared the ruling by the Ohio Supreme Court "judicial activism" and hinted that his admistration would not enforce the ruling. -
Ohio School Faculties Comission Created
The Ohio School Facilities Commission (OSFC) was instituted to help solve the growing dilapidation of ohio's public schools, an issue closely liked to the inability of under funded districts ability to keep up with maintenance. The OSFC webiste claims, “the Ohio School Facilities Commission (OSFC) administers the state’s comprehensive Kindergarten through 12th Grade public school construction program. The agency helps school districts fund, plan, design, and build or renovate schools” -
2/3rds rule
The "2/3rds rule" was created to determine if a common school house could be renovated, or if it needed to be replaced. Initiated by the OSFC, if the school district deemed the renovations to cost greater than 2/3rds the cost of buidling a new school, than a waiver submitted to the OSFC allowed cofunding from the state. This increase in state funding hoped to raise the level of education in all parts of Ohio, rather than only some. -
Successful School District Method
This program identified school districts meeting state standards for education and used the mean of their annual expenditures to access the necessary amont of funding for each school district. This methodology led to state-standardized teseting, and further, the NCLB act, to judge where school districts stand in their ability to reach state standards. -
DeRolph II
Ohio State Supreme Court ruled that the state has made progress in fondational funding, that is, providing more state funding for shcools which were underperforming and delapitated buildings, but it did not provide for an adequate means of funding the common school system. The court provided the state with another year to reach the court's goals. -
DeRolph III - Court Renounces Juristiction
Ohio Supreme Court renounced it's call for a complete overhaul of the state educational system. Instead, it changed the ways in which an "effective" district was judged, essentially lowering the bar depending upon funding. Further, the court ruled that they no longer held juristiction over their ruling, and would not enforce its advancement into law unless another suit was brought, again -
Ohio Supreme Court Barrs Judge Lewis from Proceedings
While the Ohio Supreme Court still deems the Ohio system of funding unconstitutional, they barred Judge Lewis, the original ruler upon the DeRolph v. State case, from any other proceedings regarding this case. Essentially, stopping any further action. -
My High School Education
I began my high school education in August 2003, at Mayfield High School. -
Graduation from High School
Graduating from Mayfield High School, I begin at Miami University in the Fall of 2007. -
Help Johnny Walk to School
The National Trust for Historic Preservation lauched a project to save and promote the interests of schools residing in the center of the community. This project implied an interest by a school's community to renovate and use old school buidlings, built during the 1950s, for a number of reasons, The most important being, old school buildings, located a the center of the community, promote an interest in the school by the community rather than one on the outskirts of town. -
Dover City Schools Rejects Bond Issue to Build New School
In a 71/29 decision, the Dover School district (In Cleveland Heights) rejected a $6.9 million bond issue to build a new schools. All this while they were promised matching funds by OSFC. In a poll, 75% of the district favored a renovation of the old school house, located as the neighborhood school district, and a focal point for the community's development. -
Rural Policy Matters
Study finds that Ohio is among the bottom 5 states in per pupil revenue among rural districts. Instructional spending per pupil is below the national average due to the inequality of property tax relating to school populations. -
Evidence-based School Funding Model
Former Govenor Ted Strickland adopts an "evidence-based school funding model" for the state of Ohio, which had previously been adopted in Arkansas and Kentucky. This model was a state mandate, unfunded and unsupervised and was never implimented. -
Kasich Misses Self Imposed Deadline for Funding System
Gov. Kasich, after vowing to eliminate Fmr. Govenor Strickland's evidence-based school funding plan, misses a self appointed deadline for a new system of school funding. And while the "bridge plan" set up by Strickland is gone, another one is yet to take its place. -
Senate Bill 316 - The Third Grade Reading Provision
John Kasich signs Senate Bill 316 into effect, creating a standardized test at the 3rd grade to insure property reading levels. Allows schools to hold back children for two years if they do not meet proper reading levels. -
The Cleveland Plan
The Republican governor Kasich the Democratic mayor Frank Jackson of Cleveland and the local teachers union agreed to overhaul how teachers are hired, fired and paid. Allowing teachers jobs to be based upon performance, and after two-years of poor performance, allow the city to fire them. -
Ohio Schools Facilities Commission Approves Funding
The OSFCA approved $471 million dollars for new school construction in the state of Ohio. They have 13-months to spend the money before it is distributed into different projects.
