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Un-Accountable Charters

There's so many things wrong with the elements of this story its hard to know where to begin, and even harder to understand why Republican lawmakers want to reduce an already weakened oversight system for charter schools

State payments to two charter schools will resume later this week, now that the state auditor's office has finally been able to complete audits.

The Auditors reports are due in a few weeks and we'll be sure to bring news of those findings to you. But back to the story of charter schools so messed up (and that's the best case scenario) that they can't perform basic accounting functions. The cost of such incompetence?

Teachers and other employees have gone without paychecks since the funds were cut off. Charter schools, which are public but run independent of districts, get most of their money from the state.

They may be public right now, but if HB153 passes, we'll see a proliferation of private schools receiving public money, with their accounts hidden from public view.

All three schools are sponsored by the Cleveland-based Ashe Culture Center, which is responsible for monitoring academics and finances.

Rainbow said the Arts Academies' relationship with Ashe had become "very strained" and they gave notice in January that they would seek a new sponsor.
[...]
The Education Department has been trying to take away Ashe's sponsorship authority since December 2009, mainly because of financial issues. The final decision will be up to the state school board after an independent hearing officer rules.

Audits are still under way at two other Ashe-sponsored schools -- Elite Academy of the Arts and Lion of Judah Academy, both in Cleveland -- that also were declared unauditable in November.

Ohio already has too many sponsors, and soon if changes are not made to HB153, even more - with the accounts hidden from public view inside of for-profit corporations. Only those who seek to profit from this undemocratic scheme are supporting it. As the Ohio Senate debates the budget bill, we'll have a clear view of just how many legislators the vampire squid tentacles have gripped.

The Columbus Dispatch has already been ensnared by the lobbyist for White Hat Management, the very person who helped the GOP House Majority write the current HB153 charter school wild west provisions.

Lots of SB5 news from around the state

Yesterday, police from all around the state held mass efforts to protest SB5. It garnered a lot of local press coverage. Here's a sampler of some of those stories;

In related SB5 news, businesses seem to want to either back away form supporting the collective bargaining busting measure, or wholly support its repeal

We should start seeing some petition signature counts in the next week or so. Don't forget to return your petition books once you are done, so the signatures you have collected can be verified and counted. There's only about 50 days left until the June 30th deadline!

Dublin SB5 Referendum Petition Signing

Invite you to sign the
SB5 Referendum Petition
WEDNESDAY MAY 11 5:30-6:45 p.m
.
at COFFMAN PARK
on Coffman Park Drive
(the corner of Coffman Rd and Emerald Pkwy)

Please also consider attending the
Dublin Schools Town Hall Meeting at
Coffman High School
regarding the State Budget
at 7:00 p.m.

We send letters

We just sent the following letter to each of the 33 Ohio State Senators. We'll report their answers as we receive them.

Dear State Senator,

With the Ohio House of Representatives passing HB153 and the debate moving to the Senate, I am writing you to enquire what your position is on a number of items in this bill. Specifically

(1) Do you support or oppose the expansion of charter school provisions and the easing or oversight?

(2) Do you support or oppose the teacher merit pay provisions that eliminate the current framework of compensation and contracts and replace it with an untried evaluation system?

(3) Do you support or oppose the cuts in over all funding levels for K-12 public education?

I would be very interested to learn your thoughts on these important issues.

Many thanks,
Join the Future