Author Bios
Daniel Downs
Journalist
Articles by this author:
From the 1930s through 1970s, a national school consolidation movement occurred that was inspired by educational reformers like Ellwood Cubberley and James Conant. Thousands of small schools across the state and nation were closed. Larger school districts were created and larger school buildings were built to accommodate the new students in smaller classes. The sales pitch for school consolidation was cost saving efficiency, more curricular choice, higher wages for teachers, and, consequently, a higher quality of education resulting in higher student achievement.
By: Daniel Downs
The newest on-line tax tool is Tax Foundation’s County Property Tax Lookup. Anyone can look their county’s median property tax payout for the past 5 years as compared to both state and national median tax payments.
By: Daniel Downs
Healthy Choices for Healthy Children legislation--SB 210--passed both Houses of the Ohio Legislator. The bi-partisan legislation aims to address childhood obesity. The Ohio Hospital Association also reports that more than one in three children (35.6 percent) in Ohio are overweight or obese. The bill specifically targets increased physical activity, improved nutritional options and body mass index (BMI) testing in Ohio schools. Commendable as this bill may be, its provisions like the following raise some questions:
By: Daniel Downs
A new state revenue report by the Tax Foundation came our yesterday. The report entitled “State Revenue Changes from 2008 to 2009” reveals Ohio tax revenues declined 8.7 percent the period assessed. Ohio ranked 28 which amounted to 2/10 of a percent below the national average of 8.9 percent.
By: Daniel Downs
