Ohio's charter school mess -- don't count on it being cleaned up

Ohio's charter schools are a mess. 

Here is what a study, commissioned by the pro-charter Fordham Institute, found out:

• Of 68 statistically significant differences between charters and regular public schools, 56 show a negative charter impact with only 12 showing a positive one;
• An average Ohio charter school student would have completed 14 fewer days of learning in reading and 36 fewer days in math.

The results are so bad that one official at the pro-charter Hoover Institution told the City Club of Cleveland, "I am actually a pro-market kind of girl, but it doesn't seem to work in a choice environment for education."

We already knew this. In the recent Ohio school report cards, charter schools received more Fs than As, Bs, and Cs combined. Over 60 percent of these schools earned Ds or Fs. (You can check all this out on Knowyourcharter.com.)

It is so bad that on Dec. 18, Gov. John Kasich pledged to get tough next year on underperforming charter schools.

I doubt it will happen.

The bottom line is that political donors will prevent any change.

Here is what is going on: The largest sector, and greatest failures, in the charter industry in Ohio are for-profit charters. Of the $920 million in public funding that goes to charter schools, $503 million went to schools managed by for-profit firms, according to an analysis by the Akron Beacon Journal. 

Two-thirds of this went to five, large, and very low-performing, charter companies. The biggest of these is the White Hat group, run by David Brennan. (In fact, of the 16 lowest-performing charter groups, for-profit companies run 14 of them.)

These companies give big dollars to politicians. For example, it seems that Mr. Brennan and family members have given over $4 million to Ohio Republican candidates. For this bribe, Mr. Brennan and his ilk (like Dennis Bakke of Imagine Schools that also operate, and fail, in Ohio and who also contributes heavily to pro-charter politicians) have received a charter law that allows them to conceal their finances, charge charter schools exorbitant rents for buildings they own and fail to provide an education to Ohio's kids.

(Read more at Cleveland.com)

Will tough talk turn into strong oversight of charter schools?

John Kasich promised “to fix the lack of regulation on charter schools.” The governor did so as part of an appearance before the Ohio Chamber of Commerce last week. His commitment comes none too soon, the state having expanded quickly the openings for the privately operated and publicly funded schools. Unfortunately, the expansion has not been accompanied by the necessary oversight and accountability.

The state spends roughly $900 million a year on charter schools. Imagine such a sum added to the funding of traditional public schools. Many state lawmakers, mostly the Republican variety, would apply the closest scrutiny. In the case of charter schools, they have appeared so swayed by the idea that they have neglected the task of ensuring that public dollars are well spent.

In his talk to the chamber, the governor made a curious observation, insisting that “there is no excuse for people coming in here and taking advantage of anything.” He seemed to have in mind Concept Schools, a charter operation based in Chicago with schools in Ohio that are the focus of investigators. Yet the problems are not limited to outsiders. Ohioans have tarnished the idea, in particular, White Hat and other for-profit managers of charter schools. Of the 16 lowest performing networks of charter schools in Ohio in 2013, 14 were run by such for-profit firms.

In addition, these for-profit operators receive more than half of the public money flowing to charter schools.

The governor’s comments arrived in the wake of two recent analyses. One by Stanford University found that Ohio charter students received 14 fewer days of learning in reading and 43 fewer days in math compared to those in traditional public schools. It reported that of the 26 states with charter schools, just three have a lower performance rate than Ohio.

(Read more at Ohio.com)

Another report calling for charter school accountability

The Fordham Institute commissioned Bellwether Education Partners to study Ohio's charter school law and to formulate state policy recommendations. The report-The Road to Redemption-made public December 17, provides ten policy recommendations that would correct some of the charter debacles that are embarrassing to charter advocates in Ohio and beyond.

All the persons interviewed for the study are involved in the charter school industry and/or are charter advocates.

Many of the recommendations regarding accountability have been made repeatedly by charter critics. Possibly this set of recommendations from charter apologists will attract the attention of some state officials. However, according to a December 17 article in the Akron Beacon Journal by Doug Livingston, Colleen Grady, education advisor for House Republicans, responded to the report, saying, "In all fairness, over the past three years, we've put a variety of [legislative] pieces in place." However, recent legislation has not increased accountability and transparency of charters. (Grady is a former lobbyist for White Hat Management, the company that has received $1 billion in tax dollars for its mostly failing charter schools.)

As one would expect from a study commissioned by charter advocates, the report calls for more money for charters such as:

• State and local dollars should follow students
• Transportation funding should be provided to charters independent from school districts
• Facility funds from the Ohio School Facilities Commission (OSFC) should be provided to charters

Charter schools don't have a local tax-base; hence, they should not be eligible for local revenue for operations or for OSFC funds. The notion of money following the child is diametrically opposed to the constitutional provision for a thorough and efficient system of public common schools. The Constitution requires a state system. The system, not the individual, is eligible for funding.

William Phillis
Ohio E & A

Kasich to revamp Ohio laws on charter schools?

Gov. John Kasich pledged yesterday to crack down on shady Ohio charter-school operators in his upcoming budget proposal.

In a year-end speech to the Ohio Chamber of Commerce, the governor also threw out broad hints of possible tax changes, called for greater regulation on fracking wellheads and defended religious involvement in a new state-funded program with public schools.

“We are going to fix the lack of regulation on charter schools,” he said. “There is no excuse for people coming in here and taking advantage of anything. So we will be putting some tough rules into our budget.”

Two studies released this month blasted state laws and regulations that allow poor-performing Ohio charter schools to flourish and management companies to profit off the tax-funded privately operated schools. The studies showed that charter-school students receive fewer days of learning than youngsters at traditional public schools. Both reports were commissioned by the Thomas B. Fordham Foundation, a pro-charter-school organization urging more accountability of charter schools.

Richard A. Ross, state schools superintendent, said court actions and “persuasiveness” have failed to fix problems with some charter-school operators.

The changes will seek to exert more state control over charter-school sponsors — “operationally, financially and educationally” — to ensure high-quality educations for charter students, Ross said.

“We know we have a lot of room for improvement, but one thing to remember as we work on those reforms is that for a lot of parents, community schools are their last chance for choice,” he said.

(Read more at the Dispatch)

Stanford CREDO Director: Free Market Doesn't Work in Education

I was all prepared to summarize what Dr. Margaret Raymond had to say about Stanford's latest study from its Center for Research on Educational Outcomes (CREDO), which Raymond heads, at today's City Club of Cleveland event.

How only in Cleveland does it appear that Ohio's charter school sector is providing meaningful, positive benefits to kids. Or how CREDO's methodology works (averaging kids in traditional public school buildings and comparing these "virtual" kids' performance with real charter kids). Or how Ohio's charter school sector has been making very minimal improvements over the years. Or that the state's charter reform initiatives over the last few years haven't had much impact on charter school performance. Or that Cleveland charters are doing a good job educating poor, minority kids. Or that 93% of Ohio charter schools' proficiency scores are below the 50th percentile in the state. Or that 44% of charter school kids are seeing low growth and performance.

But then, in response to a question from the audience nearly at the end of the event, Dr. Raymond dropped this on the crowd: She said she's a "free market kinda girl", but after decades of looking at the nation's charter school sector, she has come to the conclusion that the "market mechanism just doesn't work" in education. Here;s the podcast from the City Club. Her market comments start at 50:18. Here is the remarkable commentary:

I actually am kind of a pro-market kinda girl. But it doesn’t seem to work in a choice environment for education. I’ve studied competitive markets for much of my career. That’s my academic focus for my work. And (education) is the only industry/sector where the market mechanism just doesn’t work. I think it’s not helpful to expect parents to be the agents of quality assurance throughout the state. I think there are other supports that are needed… The policy environment really needs to focus on creating much more information and transparency about performance than we’ve had for the 20 years of the charter school movement. We need to have a greater degree of oversight of charter schools. But I also think we have to have some oversight of the overseers.

Considering that the pro-market reform Thomas B. Fordham Foundation paid for this study and Raymond works at the Hoover Institution at Stanford -- a free market bastion, I was frankly floored, as were most of the folks at my table.

(Read more at 10th Period)

Report details changes needed to improve Ohio’s charter schools

A report released this morning recommends several changes in state law and policies aimed at improving the performance of students attending tax-funded, privately operated charter schools.

“Past changes to Ohio’s community school law haven’t been able to rein in low-performing sponsors and schools, grow high-performing schools, rehabilitate the sector’s reputation, or provide enough disadvantaged students with the high-quality schools they deserve,” the report said.

“In order to preserve the promise of high-quality public school choice, Ohio policymakers must re-examine the community school law.”

The analysis, done by the nonprofit Bellwether Education Partners in conjunction with the Thomas B. Fordham Foundation, a pro-charter-school group pushing for improved governance and accountability of charter schools.

Ohio lawmakers are expected to debate such measures next year.

The report recommends: clearly defining the powers and responsibilities of charter-school authorizers, governing boards and management companies; eliminating the ability of such groups to gain financially at students’ expense; and boosting state aid to charter schools.

Some specific suggestions include:

Prohibiting a school authorizer – the entity that regulates a charter school – from selling its services to that school. Ensuring charter-school boards have final say on terminating a management contract. Under current law, management companies can terminate board members which critics say undermines efforts to hold the companies accountable. Allowing only schools in good standing to seek new sponsors. Currently, if a board decides to close a poor performing school, the operator simply finds a new sponsor. Holding online schools to charter-school operating standards. In addition, the report recommends boosting charter-school funding in several ways. It calls for locally generated tax revenues to follow a student to the charter school of their choice. Currently, state aid goes to charter schools. Charters also should get funding for facilities and transporation.

“This report does a good job of pointing out where Ohio’s governance of community schools doesn’t work,” said state Auditor Dave Yost. “We can do a lot of good for our kids by seriously considering many of these ideas and best practices. I hope they will be among the General Assembly’s priorities in its next session.”

Yost has audited many of the charter schools and found, “lax oversight by boards, conflicts of interest, improper spending and even criminal conduct by some rogue schools and operators,” according to a release.

Ohio lawmakers approved the creation of charter schools in 1997 and currently about 124,000 students – 7 percent of those statewide – attend 390 schools statewide.