A Carpe Diem Moment

Carpe diem, or seize the day, is one of my favorite expressions.  On Monday, the Ohio Department of Education (ODE) announced what may be a carpe diem moment for the Ohio Public School Advocacy Network to “seize the day” and provide citizens in the Buckeye state with a voice in shaping statewide education policy.  As I reported in a recent blog, President Obama late last year signed into law a bill which diminishes the role of the federal government in public education and returns virtually all control of standards, assessment and accountability to the state and local level.  The underlying assumption behind the newly signed Every Student Succeeds Act is that state and local education agencies are best positioned to make policy decisions for schools.  Under the terms of this new act, Ohio will be required to submit to the US Department of Education a state plan which, according to ODE, will likely include school improvement, accountability, assessments, standards and early childhood education.  April and June are targeted for completion of an initial draft plan with final revisions to the plan being made in July.  Full implementation of Ohio’s approved state plan begins July 1, 2017.  A grass roots initiative being led by Ohio’s public school superintendents to return local control to their public schools, the Ohio Public School Advocacy Network is ideally positioned to generate a frank and open public discussion about this proposed state plan.