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Ellen Belcher is the Dayton Daily News opinion pages editor. She writes about state government, education, the environment, higher education and all things Dayton.
Martin Gottlieb is an editorial writer and columnist for the Dayton Daily News opinion pages. He focuses on the political process itself and does such national issues as war, the economy, taxes and Social Security, as well as a hodge-podge of local and state issues.Home > Blogs > A Matter of Opinion > Archives > 2010 > March > 07
Sunday, March 7, 2010
Editorial: Real change can get Ohio more Race to the Top cash
Ohio got lucky Thursday when it was named a finalist for $400 million in federal grant money for schools. But the state has work to do if it truly wants big bucks or, more important, if it wants to try to make President Barack Obama’s reforms work.
Meanwhile, Dayton might still get a second chance at up to $5 million, after a potentially disastrous fumble while applying for a piece of the aid. Thankfully, the teachers union has done the right thing by reversing course and removing the costly roadblock it tossed in the district’s way in January. (The union refused to endorse Dayton’s application, saying it had concerns about strings attached to the federal money.)
Ohio’s selection among 15 states and the District of Columbia as finalists to compete for a share of $4 billion in Race to the Top grant money raised a few eyebrows. The state is not among those most commonly mentioned as likely contenders to be showcased as poster children for reform.
The Thomas B. Fordham Foundation’s Dayton-based Vice President Terry Ryan called Ohio’s application a “B-minus” effort.
U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan repeatedly promised only the very best applicants would be chosen, and politics would not be a factor. But critics have already taken note that Ohio was one of five politically important “swing states” (with Florida, Pennsylvania, Colorado and North Carolina) in the 2008 election to make the list, while only five deeply conservative states (Tennessee, Kentucky, Louisiana, Georgia and South Carolina) were picked. The other six (New York, Illinois, Rhode Island, Massachusetts, the District of Columbia and Delaware) would have to be considered liberal.
That’s not to say that Ohio didn’t have a good case for federal funds. Some of Gov. Ted Strickland’s initiatives approved by the state legislature last year match well with President Obama’s priorities. But the state was much less aggressive than others which, in many cases, changed their laws to better fit the grant requirements.
In fact, state Sen. Jon Husted’s Senate Bill 180, which sought to improve the state’s chances, went nowhere.
The U.S. Department of Education isn’t saying how many states will win first-round funding next month or how much money they will get. But the signals have been strong that just a few states will be picked and that they will share a large pot of money.
It’s probably too late for Ohio to improve its case for the first round. Sen. Husted’s bill deserves a second look if the state gets a second chance to apply later this year.
Weirdly, Dayton would actually be better off if the state doesn’t get money in the first round. If Ohio is an early winner, none of it will come to Dayton because of the teachers union’s refusal initially to sign the grant application. If Ohio is picked in the second round, however, Dayton might be included because the union is now on board. Dayton certainly isn’t the only local district that blew it the first time around. Statewide, just 40 percent of school districts sought the millions available in district-level grants. Among those who took an ill-advised pass were Northmont, West Carrollton and Trotwood-Madison — all districts that are on the May ballot asking voters for new money.
Any district with financial needs shouldn’t be turning down a shot at federal aid. In this state, schools need money.
Permalink | Comments (10) | Post your comment | Categories: Editorials, Education, Scott Elliott
Ellen Belcher: County’s Feldman will weather SCLC storm
If you just landed in Dayton and read about the scandal involving the Rev. Raleigh Trammell and the local Southern Christian Leadership, you might ask whose head is going to roll.
Lax monitoring of groups being paid tens of thousands of dollars to deliver services to the poor. Reimbursements for helping people who weren’t being helped.
Lesser embarrassments have cost people their jobs. But no one in high places is pointing a finger at Deborah Feldman, Montgomery County administrator. In fact, quite the opposite, they defend her fiercely and say they’re heartsick that she’s had to do most of the explaining publicly for the SCLC debacle.
The support for her stems from history, relationships and capital built up over almost 30 years.
Feldman’s entire professional career has been in Montgomery County. She was hired by former County Administrator Claude Malone, promoted by his successor, Don Vermillion, and has been at the helm since 1997.
Over the years, there have been times when elected officials have been so weak, many people have worried how things would have gone without her influence.
The fact that she’s stayed in her position and at Montgomery County counts for more than a little. Yes, her husband’s commercial laundry business is here, but she could have sought and gotten a different job locally.
Charged with managing an $851 million budget, she knows something about running a complicated enterprise.
Almost four years ago, Feldman’s name came up when Riverside City Manager James Onello was suspended for misusing his city credit card. He put in for reimbursement for taking her, among a cast of other local officials, to lunches at the The Living Room, a seedy gentleman’s club on North Dixie Drive.
Everyone denied having dined with Onello at the club, but Feldman’s quote was memorable for its emphasis.
“If you know me, you know the Living Room isn’t someplace I’d ever, ever, ever, ever, ever set foot in,” Feldman said.
Feldman, 52, is as protective of the county’s name as her own. Montgomery County, in the 1970s, had some certified crooks in elective office. But, after they were booted out or indicted, it has earned a reputation in state and national circles as progressive and clean.
(Trammell was central to one of the scandals in the 1970s; he worked at the welfare department and served time in prison for welfare fraud charges.)
The petite, deftly commanding Feldman is widely seen as the force that keeps independently elected officials from the prosecutor to the coroner to the engineer in general lock-step about the county’s priorities and how it’s going to spend its money. Her shuttle diplomacy when there’s a riff is always behind the scenes, and her discretion in mopping up after someone else’s mistake — the sheriff’s mishandling of the emergency dispatch center, for instance — has made her a trusted official with both Democrats and Republicans.
Especially close to former County Commissioner Vicki Pegg, she and Pegg are unabashed defenders of the county’s responsibility to the poor. Specifically, Feldman has gotten her hands dirty — not just chaired committees — with initiatives to help reduce homelessness and get high-school drop-outs back in school.
In this work, she’s among the people who has compellingly connected the dots, insisting that if the community doesn’t help drop-outs, it’s going to be paying for them when it has to build a bigger jail; that if homeless people are wandering the streets, eventually they’ll show up in emergency rooms or courtrooms, and their doctors or lawyers will be paid with tax dollars.
The major instrument that has allowed Montgomery County to show a sense of locally-supported compassion is its Human Services Levy.
Unlike so much other county money, it’s a tax that voters have a direct say about.
Feldman is not alone in worrying that, come renewal time within the next year and a half, voters might pause about it or even vote no if their confidence in the county has been shaken.
It’s that fear — not that she could be fired — that has Feldman angry at herself and her subordinates for not having a tighter rein on the SCLC and also the Interdenominational Ministerial Alliance, which Trammell is linked to and which also received substantial county money.
Feldman has to take her share of the blame. But, clearly, she is not the bad guy.
Permalink | Comments (39) | Post your comment | Categories: Columns, Ellen Belcher, Montgomery County, Social Services
