Even with support for Jim Tressel and other high profile supporters, South-Western's school levy failed for a third time in August of this year, leaving the district with no extracurricular activites or coaches, including their marching band and sports.

For the fourth levy try OSU's Gordon Gee and Columbus Mayor Michael Coleman endorsed the November levy, and national media started covering the story:

• HBO's Real Sports with Bryant Gumbel covered the impacts felt from the August levy's failure to pass (Video: part 1 and part 2). 
• Sports Illustrated's 'The impact of an Ohio school district's decision to cut sports'

Since then the November levy narrowly passed and now  ESPN has produced an excellent expose on Columbus' South-Western School District levy. 

High school students in the South-Western City School District, part of which is in Columbus, Ohio, lost the chance to play team sports and participate in other extracurricular activities when voters defeated a levy in August. On Nov. 3, though, voters approved another levy to fund district activities, including sports. Julie Foudy traveled to Grove City High School to follow students through this controversial election.

Watch

Ohio's school funding structure is unconstitutional. The Ohio Supreme Court has made that clear time and again. So why does Ohio's legislature continue to not fix it? And why do we as a society have such a negative view of how school's operate, how much teachers and administrators are paid? Why do we not see that everything begins with how well our school's are doing? Why don't we understand that communities that are economically well-developed and strong are the ones that have excellent school districts (Home sales and property values could be affected in South-Western School District)?

Meet

Governor Ted Strickland

and

US Secretary of Education Arne Duncan

this Friday at a rally for education reform in Ohio.

Friday, May 8th at 11:45 AM

The West Lawn of the Schottenstein Center

The Ohio State University

555 Borror Rd

Columbus, OH 43210 [directions]

Please RSV here.

Governor Strickland's Education Agenda is at the forefront of his administration right now.  He's asking supporters to send out postcards to people in their zip code with a personal note asking them to support his Education Plan.
 
Jan Davis is coordinating this effort for the 43221 and 43220 zip codes.  All you have to do is send Jan an email with your name and address at eyendavis@aol.com, and she will bring you a pack of postcards, addresses and sample notes that you can use. The packets are in groups of 25.  There are thousands of these to be mailed in the next few weeks.  You would be responsible for the postage.

Help get Ohio moving forward with the Governor's plan!
 

Progressives should be alert to the race for the Ohio School Board, where the issue of creationism is unfortunately is being overlooked by many.

In District 6 (Columbus metro), candidate Kristen McKinley can be counted on to fight against efforts to put "intelligent design" aka creationism into the statewide science curriculum. Schools are obligated to follow state standards, so our votes for state school board candidates do count!

In her letter to voters, McKinley says,

"I am aware of the time spent by the current Board debating curriculum issues such as creationism versus evolution. Because the current state of the law is a separation between church and state, debating this subject is whittling away public funds over an issue that has no current place in public schools. I believe that there are far more pressing issues that this Board must address."

McKinley is endorsed by the Franklin County Democrative Party, the Ohio Education Association, Ohio Association of Public School Employees, Ohio Federation of Teachers, and Ohio AFL-CIO.

The I-35W Mississippi River bridge catastrophically failed during the evening rush hour on August 1, 2007, collapsing to the river and riverbanks beneath. Thirteen people were killed and approximately one hundred more were injured. The average age of American bridges is 43 years, approaching the normal lifespan of 50 years. One fourth have a problem.

The U.S. has built 810 schools, 4800 water and sewage projects, 1047 roads and bridges.

Not in America. In Iraq.

Al Franken has an excellent video about this called 'Invest Here'.

Now the LATimes is reporting today that after the I-35W bridge collapse killing 13 and injuring 100 last year, 'Urgency has buckled since Minneapolis bridge collapse' due to lack of state funds for infrastructure projects.

From an AP story 'Little progress made in bridge repairs across US':

"An Associated Press review of repairs on each state's 20 most-traveled bridges with structural deficiencies found just 12 percent have been fixed. In most states, the most common approach was to plan for repairs later rather than fix problems now."

Of the 20 deficient bridges studied in Ohio, 40% have not been fixed or improved.

With $10 billion a month spent in Iraq we're short money for bridges and roads, tin-cupping to fund American schools, underfunding our water systems. And now President Bush is predicted to leave a record $482 billion deficit to his successor.

Update (Aug 6, 2008): NYTimes is reporting ('As Iraq Surplus Rises, Little Goes Into Rebuilding') that

Soaring oil prices will leave the Iraqi government with a cumulative budget surplus of as much as $79 billion by year’s end, according to an American federal oversight agency. But Iraq has spent only a minute fraction of that on reconstruction costs, which are now largely borne by the United States.

What makes this invitation so chilling is all the jargon that makes the event sound like a reasoned presentation when it is actually so far off the charts.

Here's the text of the original invitation:

Please come with your friends, family and neighbors:

Where: Upper Arlington High School Cafeteria (near the front entrance/gym)

When: Monday, February 11, 7:30-9p

Who: Dr. Paul Nelson, PhD (U. of Chicago--see attached bio)

Why: Dr. Nelson is coming from Chicago to UAHS specifically to lead a discussion centered on the scientific evidence surrounding the origin of life and the subsequent probabilities of a random versus an intentional origin. (Due to no eye-witnesses of origin, the debate must be based on probability resulting from the facts.)

He'll also touch on the probability of universal physical laws perfectly but randomly blending to allow life.

The group will be challenged to consider and discuss the ramifications on the value of life of each of origin's theories. Additionally, Dr. Nelson will offer potential curriculum for public schools to use in order to better address this topic via encouraging more critical thinking in the classroom.

Cost/Attendance: Free (unless you want to help fund it--if so, please contact me). Simply attend--no need to register. Bring your friends, family, small groups.... Should be an interesting evening.

Questions/Comments: Bryce Kurfees (519-1287c or email)

A "young earth" creationist, intelligent design (ID) advocate and philosophy professor Paul Nelson, will be speaking at Upper Arlington High School on Feb 11th.

A UA Library Board of Trustees member, Bryce Kurfees, is listed as the contact on the event's invitiation. Mr. Kurfees owns an investment business in Dublin. Interestingly, there is a link to "Biblical Money Management" on his website (http://www.kurfeescapital.com/).

Many ID advocates are classic creationists, arguing that the geologic ages are an illusion, and the world is less than 10,000 years old. Dr. Nelson is no exception:

"It's no secret that I hold a young earth view."
---- Dr. Paul Nelson at the Skeptics Society Annual Meeting, Los Angeles (June 22, 2002)

For anyone planning to attend the event, here are some links to help you brush up on the both sides of the argument: