Our Work in Ohio

Wake up, Ohio!

Once known as the Mother of Presidents, Ohio is now getting poorer, older, and dumber - and making all the wrong moves to reverse the current economic meltdown, says Fordham president Checker Finn in the Wall Street Journal here.

Recent Dayton & Ohio Publications

March 12, 2008

Fund The Child: Bringing Equity, Autonomy, and Portability to Ohio School Finance

Ohio can boast of praiseworthy gains over the past decade in making school funding more equitable across districts, but there is more work to be done. To mitigate the school-finance inequities that remain within districts and gear school funding toward the realities of student mobility, school choice and effective school-based management, this report recommends that Ohio embrace Weighted Student Funding (WSF), which allocates resources based on the needs of individual students and by sending dollars directly to schools rather than lodging most spending decisions at the district level.

November 28, 2007

2007 Thomas B. Fordham Foundation Sponsorship Accountability Report

For information on Fordham's unique role as a charter school sponsor in Ohio, there's no better source than The Thomas B. Fordham Foundation Sponsorship Accountability Report 2006-07. The report offers a comprehensive account of Fordham's sponsorship policies and practices-as well as individual profiles of all Fordham-sponsored schools. Included in the profiles are descriptions of each school's educational program, school philosophy, and overall academic performance.

June 7, 2007

Golden Peaks and Perilous Cliffs: Rethinking Ohio's Teacher Pension System

Despite its long history and prodigious size, all is not well with Ohio's teacher pension system. In this Fordham Institute report, nationally renowned economists Robert Costrell and Mike Podgursky illuminate some of the serious challenges facing STRS.

May 24, 2007

Ohioans' Views on Education 2007

This survey covers such topics as school quality and funding, academic standards, school reforms, proposals to improve how the public schools are run, teacher quality, charter schools and school vouchers. It follows up a survey conducted in 2005 and many of the questions are repeated, allowing us to gauge whether attitudes have shifted over time.

November 30, 2006

2006 Thomas B. Fordham Foundation Sponsorship Accountability Report

For information on Fordham's unique role as a charter school sponsor in Ohio, there's no better source than The Thomas B. Fordham Foundation Sponsorship Accountability Report 2005-06. The report offers a comprehensive account of Fordham's sponsorship policies and practices-as well as individual profiles of all Fordham-sponsored schools. Included in the profiles are descriptions of each school's educational program, school philosophy, and overall academic performance based on state achievement data.

Recent Gadfly Articles

Fordham plus choice equals charters

November 28, 2007 Edition, Recommended Reading

The Thomas B. Fordham Foundation has issued its "Sponsorship Accountability Report 2006-07" for the nine charter schools it sponsors in Dayton, Cincinnati, and Springfield (see ... More

The last Achieve report's impact may temper expectations for the new one

October 4, 2007 Edition, Legislation Analysis

Buckeye state policymakers are currently mulling over recommendations from Achieve, Inc. to create a "world-class education system in Ohio" (see here). As we have a new governor ... More

On Making Lemonade: DPS Should See Levy Defeat as Opportunity

May 16, 2007 Edition, Editorial

The decisive recent levy defeat (by a margin of 58 to 42 percent) was indisputably a blow to the Dayton Public Schools (DPS), bringing grim fiscal realities that will force district leaders ... More

A Bargain for the Dayton Public Schools

May 2, 2007 Edition, Editorial

With the Dayton Public Schools (DPS) levy vote just a week away, there is still a fair amount of uncertainty surrounding its fate (despite ours and other organizations’ endorsements). ... More

Superintendent of Columbus Public Schools Testifies on the Ohio Core

June 7, 2006 Edition, Guest Editorial

Editor’s note: Eight states have implemented statewide rigorous core curriculum for their students. Gov. Taft believes it’s time that Ohio does the same. The Ohio General ... More

Featured Links & Resources

Parents Advancing Choice in Education (PACE)

"PACE" awards tuition scholarships to needy families in Montgomery County, Ohio, and runs the "Parent Network," which provides parents with comprehensive information on the county's public and private schools. PACE is a partner of the Children's Scholarship Fund.