Feb. 1, 14: Early childcare boost
Case Western Reserve University's Center for Regional Economic Issues launches an initiative to make Northeast Ohio a world leader in Early Childhood Development. It kicks off with a forum about the connections between early child care and economic development at the Natural History Museum with a panel of philanthropic, educational, non-profit and business leaders. A follow-up session includes brainstorming ways to promote early child development as a regional economic development strategy and ways to expand coverage of childcare services in Northeast Ohio's 22 counties.  Ideas include developing a public awareness campaign, launching research projects, and identifying government and policy people who can become early child care advocates. REALNEO (Regional Economic Action Links North East Ohio) is sponsoring a free on-line network to continue the conversation and organize around early childcare issues. Go to http://www.realneo.us. 

Feb. 8: Facilities improvement project
The Bond Accountability Commission (BAC) grades the progress on the district's  $1.5 billion school renovations and construction project.  It finds that the district is adequately meeting the standards and gives these grades: making all schools warm, safe, and dry (B+); construction/renovation (B-); financial (B); and minority, female, and resident participation (C+). To date, the only completed projects have been the gym at East High and the remodeling of SuccessTech High. The reopening of John Hay High School, which closed for renovation in 2002, has been delayed another year.  Complications, including asbestos, forced the district to push back the school's much-anticipated opening to the fall of 2006.  At the February School Board meeting, district Chief Executive Officer Barbara Byrd-Bennett says the district could push to have the University Circle-area school ready by this fall at an additional cost of a few million dollars, but that seems unwise for the financially strapped district.

Feb. 17: Governor's education budget
    Gov. Bob Taft proposes his education budget, promising more money to low-income districts under a revised funding system.  Cleveland stands to get a 0.7 percent increase in 2006 and a 1.4 percent increase in 2007.  Taft also plans to increase base per-pupil aid by 3 percent to $5,328 in 2006.  But the budget also eliminates the cost-of-doing-business factor that previously garnered more money for schools in the Cuyahoga County area.  The governor's budget also sets aside $9 million to expand the voucher program, which can provide scholarships of up to $3,500 for elementary students at failing schools to attend private schools.  Meanwhile, an Ohio Department of Education report states that 246 of the state's 613 school districts either have or will have operational deficits in the next three years. On the February ballot, Ohio voters approve only 38 percent of 63 school-tax increases.

March 9: District says grad rates up
The Cleveland Municipal School District claims a 50.2 percent graduation rate for the 2003-04 school year.  That number is up 80 percent from 1998, when Cleveland—at 28 percent—was said to have the lowest gradation rate of all major U.S. cities. The Ohio Department of Education will not verify the numbers until August. Improving the rates is high on the state agenda.  In February, Gov. Bob Taft formed a coalition with 12 other governors at the fifth national summit meeting on education.  The state leaders vowed to adopt tougher standards for secondary students and publish more data on dropout and graduation rates. The summit echoes the federal focus on high school education, with President Bush calling for annual testing in math and reading for 9th, 10th and 11th grades.

March 14-18: Ohio Graduation Test
Sophomores take the Ohio Graduation Test as the first class that must pass all five exams — reading, writing, mathematics, science and social studies — to graduate. The state allows for some consideration of other factors, including gradepoint average, attendance and teacher recommendations. Those who fail to pass all or part of the exams get at least six more chances before graduation. But this year's 10th-graders may not know if they have passed until after the school year ends, possibly complicating summer school enrollment estimates.  Also of particular interest will be how the students fare on the writing, science and social studies sections.  No pilot-or practice-test was given in these subjects, and no scoring scale has been established.

April 5: School closings recommended
    The district recommends to the School board that 13 schools be closed at the end of the year and nine others be shut for renovation or to temporarily house students from other schools under construction.  Expected to save $15.8 million, the closings are one of four key areas in a deficit reduction plan totaling $36 million. The 2002 facilities master plan, based on an analysis of the condition of each district school, guides the proposal. Other criteria are neighborhood student enrollment, current building capacity, nearby schools and academic programs, student impact, cost savings, academic performance, and legal obligations.  Community forums are held throughout the month of April to discuss the proposed changes.  The Board votes on the proposal at its May 10 meeting. For more information, go to www.cmsdnet.net

April 20: OEA challenges NCLB over money
The Ohio Education Association joins the National Teacher Association (NEA) in a lawsuit against the federal  No Child Left Behind law. The plaintiffs contend that NCLB violates a part of the law that prohibits any requirement that states use their own money to carry out NCLB mandates. With 2.7 million members, the NEA is the largest teachers' union in the country.  Along with the Ohio affiliate, NEA chapters from nine other states have joined the suit, including school districts in Michigan, Texas and Vermont.  The suit says that the government has shortchanged schools by at least $27 billion.  The government cites historic levels of education spending in its defense, along with increases in student achievement.

April 25: Last social workers cut
The district lays off its 10 remaining social workers as it begins to tackle  a $36 million deficit in the school year that begins in the fall. Schools chief Barbara Byrd-Bennett recommends that students in need of help be referred to after-school programs.  Later in the week, the district learns that it must pay the state back $729,000 for over reporting the number of student bus riders.  The Ohio Department of Education found that the number of bus riders reported by the district was about 27 percent higher than it actually was. Now, money will be deducted from the next two months' of state aid — which usually averages $29 million a month — to make up for the mistake.  Byrd-Bennett fired the interim chief of transportation and a bus depot manager after the miscount became known.

May 17: School closings announced
At a special School Board meeting, the Board unanimously votes to permanently close 11 schools as part of a deficit reduction plan.  District officials say that students enrolled at the schools will be notified of reassignments by June 20th.  To select the schools, Board members considered neighborhood student enrollment, building capacity and input from residents who attended community meetings in April.  Elementary schools on the list are Alfred A. Benesch, Corlett, Cranwood, Kenneth Clement, Mount Auburn, and Stephen E. Howe, all from the east side, along with Douglas MacArthur and Valley View from the west. The others are Willson Middle School (east), Alexander Hamilton K-8 School (east), and Halle (west), a 4th-12th-grade option school.  Seven of the schools had been targeted for closing in the district's facilities master plan.

August 2: Levy defeated, CEO resigns
Voters reject a $46 million operating levy by a 30-point margin, the second failed attempt in less than a year. With the defeat, the Cleveland Municipal School District faces a projected $30 million budget deficit for next year. Over the last two years, the district has laid off some 1,400 employees and announced plans to close 11 schools. Three days after the vote, schools chief Barbara Byrd-Bennett announces her resignation, a decision she says was not related to the levy failure. Byrd-Bennett's contract expires Sept. 30, but she agrees to stay on until a replacement is found. Within a week, a search committee is formed to help pick the new CEO. Byrd-Bennett arrived in Nov. 1998; her 6 1/2-year tenure has been the longest in Cleveland since Paul Briggs served from 1964-1978. 

August 16: District back in Academic Emergency
After two years in Academic Watch, test results drop the district back into Academic Emergency, the lowest category for schools in Ohio's reporting system. The district meets only two of 23 indicators — 6th-grade writing and overall attendance — down from four the previous year. Only four other districts are in the same category. Additionally, 42 district schools did not meet yearly improvement goals required by the federal law known as No Child Left Behind, requiring them to implement specific reforms. The district as a whole didn't meet improvement goals for the second year in a row — if it misses goals next year, the state is required to take one of several steps, including replacing key district staff, instituting a new curriculum or appointing a receiver in place of the superintendent and School Board.

August 31: Nonprofit support group closes
The district's only support agency closes its doors. The nonprofit Cleveland Initiative for Education (CIE) helped train teachers and principals, provided support in literacy and standards and managed partnerships between businesses and schools. Two local foundations turn down requests for funding CIE and a successor organization. Schools chief Barbara Byrd-Bennett says the loss will have a "significant impact" on the district, especially as it struggles to balance its budget, improve student performance and find a new leader. The Cleveland Foundation and the George Gund Foundation rejected grant proposals of $500,000 and $200,000, respectively, to fund the development of a new support organization with an expanded role that would have absorbed much of CIE's programming. Gund Executive Director David Abbott says support for the schools will continue, but the district's needs must be carefully assessed.

Sept. 29: Bus miscount not intentional, district says
An attorney hired by the Cleveland municipal school district to investigate its overreporting of bus riders finds that the district did not intentionally attempt to defraud the state. The error forced the district to repay the state $729,000 and cost transportation managers Anita Crawford and Lucio Marcellino their jobs. The problem is partially due to confusing state rules, says former federal prosecutor James Wooley, who cites miscounts at other districts. The state has sent out letters to school districts explaining the rules and allowed for recounts last spring. An unresolved point of contention is whether the Cleveland municipal school district had been told to add a "buffer" of four students to each bus, in case students were absent on the day the bus count was taken.   

October 14: Attendance data misreported
The district admits that it had some 519,000 excused absences during the 2004-05 school year after initially reporting only 620. Chief of Staff Lisa Ruda tells the Cleveland Plain Dealer that it appears as though a change made to the computer system in 2002 counted excused absences as present. According to the article, Cleveland's attendance rate as initially reported to the state was 96.7 percent, good enough to reach one of 23 standards used to measure a district's performance. The district's revised attendance rate, estimated at 93 percent, would still meet the state benchmark. A spokesperson for the Ohio Department of Education says that it is unlikely the state will change the previously reported numbers, and the district will not owe money as a result of the misreported absence rate.

Oct. 20: More charter problems
Ohio Attorney General Jim Petro asks a judge to close the International Preparatory School, and the charter school agrees to repay illegally spent money to the state. The week before, State Auditor Betty Montgomery had ordered the closure  of the Cleveland area's largest charter school , citing poor academic performance and financial record keeping. Her announcement came after a court injunction preventing the school’s sponsor from  shutting  it  down.  Audits detailed nearly $30,000 in public funds that the school spent illegally, including hospitalization insurance payments for a non-employee and payments to employees with no record of being hired. The school was dropped by its original sponsor, the Lucas County Educational Service Center, in mid-October. A  local non-profit had considered sponsoring the school but was concerned  about  being held responsible for its debts.