Here are your morning headlines for Thursday, December 14:
- State Auditor advises Cuyahoga Falls School District to cut jobs in face of budget deficit
- Sources claim Cuyahoga County Executive Armond Budish ousted former jail medical supervisor
- State regulators want funding to battle medical marijuana licensing suits
- Lawmakers consider changing how online charter school get funding
- Pro Football Hall of Fame Village gets new CEO
State Auditor advises Cuyahoga Falls School District to cut jobs in face of budget deficit
The state auditor's office has advised Cuyahoga Falls School district to cut teacher positions and reduce health care costs to help avoid a projected deficit. The Akron Beacon Journal Reports the district is facing a potential deficit of $25 million by 2023. Auditor Dave Yost called the district's financial situation "unsustainable" and advised the district to cut at least 20 teachers and limit employer health care costs to save $5.5 million per year. State auditors advised the school district to tap into money from a November 2017 emergency levy which had been earmarked for capital improvements and technology updates.
County Executive Armond Budish ousted former jail medical supervisor
Sources tell Cleveland.com the medical supervisor at the Cuyahoga County jail was fired because he publically criticized county executive Armond Budish’s jail director. At a public hearing in May, Dr. Gary Brack blamed the jail’s director for creating unsafe conditions. Cleveland.com reports that following the testimony, Budish personally demanded Brack be removed from oversite of healthcare at the jail. Seven inmates died within a four month period following Brack’s ouster. A U.S. Marshals report last month called conditions at the Cuyahoga County jail inhumane.
State regulators want funding to battle medical marijuana licensing suits
State regulators are seeking more than $2 million in additional money to cover legal costs tied to medical marijuana lawsuits filed against Ohio's Department of Commerce. The department is one of three state agencies overseeing Ohio's Medical Marijuana Control Program. A senior department official told the state's Medical Marijuana Advisory Committee in Columbus the agency needs the extra money to cover legal costs from lawsuits that were brought by companies denied medical marijuana cultivators' licenses. The Cincinnati Enquirer reports a department official told the committee that the $1 million budgeted for the legal costs wasn't enough. The official said the department has requested a loan from the state emergency fund for the additional $2.1 million. That request would have to be approved by the state Controlling Board.
Lawmakers consider how to change online charter school funding
As lawmakers consider changing how Ohio funds online charter schools, the state auditor has recommended they consider models factoring in student performance or testing. Ohio's traditional school funding is enrollment-based, but e-school funding in recent years has been calculated using documented student participation. In a report released Thursday, Republican Auditor Dave Yost's office said virtual schools and their information systems weren't equipped for that. The massive Electronic Classroom of Tomorrow is among e-schools that closed after the state found they didn't have participation data to justify their funding and moved to recoup some. Yost is now recommending clarifying how e-schools are evaluated for funding and having lawmakers review a manual that guides that process. Democrats criticize Yost for taking political donations from ECOT's founder and not pushing for more accountability sooner.
Pro Football Hall of Fame Village gets new CEO
The stalled Pro Football Hall of Fame project in Canton now has a new leader. The Canton Repository reports that the Johnson Controls Hall of Fame Village has hired former Disney executive Mike Crawford as its first CEO. The billion dollar Hall of Fame Village project has fallen short of construction deadlines and contractors have complained about delays in payments. Crawford helped Disney launch a $5.5 billion amusement park in Shanghai China.
