Ohio Department of Education

Yeah.

And the student-- the, the school board used recently released school report card data from the Ohio Department of Education and Workforce to determine whether Murphy improved student outcomes on a list of, uh, predetermined goals of those markers.

M- Murphy fell short on meeting targets for the third-grade proficiency, algebra one proficiency, and, uh, closing reading gaps between economically disadvantaged and non-disadvantaged students.

So, the student performance goals account for 60% of Murphy's final evaluation score.

Courtney Hale's the one who put the board on notice of Mr. DeFabbo's suspicious pay raises, and then she soon found herself in the crosshairs of investigation because the board said, "Hey, wait a minute.

We're spending a whole lot more with Aon on our teacher insurance than we thought." So they did an investigation, the Ohio Department of Education and Workforce Did an investigation and the board wanted to fire Courtney Hale, but they can't because the investigation says that the board did not prove that she was guilty of intentional misconduct, any ethical violations, and so they can't fire her, and they have to reinstate her, and they have to give her back pay.

She has not been getting paid since January.

And they have to not put in her file that they tried to terminate her.

Well, I guess she could...

Theoretically, she, she could be incompetent, I guess.

But if a Ohio Department of Education and Workforce investigation finds out that, no, the board can't fire her, then I tend to think that pretty much tells you where the problem lies in this whole thing.

Uh, DiFabbo got overpaid $54,000, and his suspicious, shall we say, uh, contentious, disputed raises, uh, were forwarded to the Auditor of State and the Ohio Ethics Commission.

So from the 40s to the 20s at the end of this, wow, that's a big difference.

So Superintendent Murphy, the Ohio Department of Education and Workforce is requiring that CPS to submit a plan to the state to address what they're calling a projected $44 million deficit.

Can you explain to us these letters from the state the district received and how, I don't know if there's anything more to say about how CPS got into that financial position?

Yes.

Um, I think I can kind of speak to it from a little bit of an insider position, given that I am on a public school board.

Um, I've never been shy about saying that I think the Olentangy School District has, uh, many, many issues, uh, that, um, belie its, uh, lofty rating with the Ohio Department of Education.

But in the instance of this hazing incident, um, there's a limit to what a board can do.

I don't think the board went up to that limit after this was initially reported, but it appears they are determined to do better going forward, which would've been better if they had done better initially.

That's why the test scores are terrible, reading and math.

I know they made progress this year, and I'm glad they made progress, but they're a 2.5-star school in a 5-star, you know, metric by the Ohio Department of Education, and by every metric, they are underachieving.

It might be improving, but they're still underachieving.

And, uh, again, I don't blame the teachers for this.

Well, wait a minute, maybe she could be.

She said she purchased her home in Lewis Center in 2020 because she wanted to move into a district that was, uh, honored highly by the Ohio Department of Education.

And she goes on to laud her daughter's experience.

And maybe it's not even a daughter, maybe it's a- another child, uh, experience at Olentangy schools.

Well, under that plan, just let the counties set their own individual sales tax rate, but they would keep the entirety of that revenue they generate and use that to set up what they need as far as an office, county level office of education.

Or my idea would require eliminating the Ohio Department of Education altogether and just let it be the Ohio Department of Higher Education.

Use that to fund universities, to support them, let counties handle education themselves.

I don't think there's enough political will to make that happen.

Mike DeWine is amazing.

Steve Dakin, who runs the Ohio Department of Education and Workforce, Chancellor Duffy, who runs the Ohio Department of Higher Ed, they are all in.

So it's so much easier when the leadership is on board, but we work with them.

So once teachers and districts and systems understand the science.