Lima TV Reports on Public Schools Survey

On Tuesday, WLIO-TV in Lima reported on the initial results of an online survey of citizens in 40 public school districts in northwest and west central Ohio.  The survey was initiated by the Northwest/West Central Ohio Public School Advocacy Network which is part of a statewide grass roots movement to restore local control of Ohio’s public schools.  Here is what was reported:

Results Are Out For West Central Ohio Public Schools Survey

The survey includes 40 area schools and about 47 hundred people answered.

From those, about 80 percent answered good or excellent when asked if their school district is preparing their kids well for the future. In the next question 43 percent said they believe their education has gotten worse over the part five years, comparing to 26 saying it has gotten better.

78 percent say they believe the local board of education should have control of the local school district.

“I think they realize that when things are being put in place, plans for education, that the best place to implement those things is at our local level,” said Don Horstman, Ottawa-Glandorf Schools Superintendent.

Superintendents are now waiting for an executive summary done by third party that will break down the results from the education survey.

“Sometimes, when you ask questions, the answers rise to more questions and so we will ask more question based on the results of this survey to drill down  to some of the reason why people answered the way they did,” said Dale Lewellen, superintendent at Bath Local Schools.

The summary will point out some limitations of the survey, and give superintendents an unbiased opinion on what the results really mean.

“I think that’s necessary as we look at it to have someone from the outside to look at these survey results, to give us a little bit of direction about where they think the issues lie, as opposed to us who are very close to the school,” said Keith Horner, superintendent at Wapakoneta Schools.

School officials say these results will give a voice to public schools when it comes to legislation..

“We wanted to have concrete answers for those elected officials to say this is what our public thinks,” Horstman said.

“What we’ve learned about the common core, to be very blunt, is that the public’s opinion does matter with legislators,” Horner said.

The executive summary is expected to be completed in one to two weeks.