3/10/09 

Columbus Dispatch Blog 

Simone Sebastian

Students at The Graham School have started a Facebook group called Save the Charter to counter Gov. Strickland‘s new school-funding proposal.

Advocates have blasted Strickland’s plan to cut funding to charter schools by as much as 20 percent. Now the students are taking aim.

America Harrison, 17, and her brother Cory Harrison, 14, fear their school won’t be able to survive with the reduced funding. So they started the Facebook group hoping to network with other Ohio charter school students and create a united force against the plan.

The goal, America said, is “for the governor to change his policies and for people to be aware that students go to charters and learn.”

According to estimates by the Ohio Alliance for Public Charter Schools, The Graham School would receive 14 percent less funding under Strickland’s proposal. Its sister school, The Charles School, stands to lose more than 18 percent of its revenue, the group says.

Both assume the funding formula would be enacted in fiscal 2010.

What do you think of Strickland’s new funding plan and its effect on charter schools?