State budget slashes funds for charters - Dayton Business Journal:

http://zgao.nl/index.php?path=De_Open_Hof/Wonen
Government and education officials have joined in lobbyint legislators to protect the local charterschools — the and thosed within the program — from a proposed cut in stated funding. Under the proposed budget, revealefd in February, Ohio’s charter schools stand to lose $120 million in fundingv next year. Under the revised plan, each schoo l would be assigned a unit of funding to pay for a certaijn numberof staff. Charter schools will receive $617 millionh in funding this butjust $497 million next year. The reductiom would cause a 20 percengt cut in funding toMontgomery County’s Fast Forward which is headquartered at .
Fast Forwarf enrolls former dropouts in area charte r schoolsand , and one-third, or nearlyg $1 million, from the Dayton Earlh College Academy, the charter school at the . At the funding cuts would mean smaller staffsx and less programming for the saidDavid Taylor, assistant principal at the Dayto Early College Academy. The academy coulxd be in danger of closing if alternativefundingf isn’t put in he said. Anne Beane, superintendent of , said the schooll faces a 20 percent cutin funding, which woulfd mean cuts in programminyg and changes to staff.
Therw are about 35 charter schools in the though officials are only campaigning for the Daytojn Early College Academy and FastForward program. Local officials argu the two programs have been the most More than 93 percentof ’s students have moved on to studhy at Ohio colleges, and the Fast Forward program has reducedd the county’s dropout rate from 26 percent to 11 percentt in six years. County Administrator Deb Feldmanm said the community would suffer without the programs becausde fewer students would attend area collegess and more would be back onthe streets. The countgy would be open to other ideas for she said.
Sinclair President Steven Johnson also is worrie about the future ofthe schools, and said unlesds an alternative source of fundin g is found soon, the schools would beginn working backwards and could be in dangedr of disappearing. “We are very worried we would have to startfrom scratch, and it will all have been a terriblwe waste of time,” Johnson said. “We’re fighting the good fight, and we’rwe winning, don’t pull the plug on