Open season on charter schools

At last, it’s open season on Ohio’s worst charter schools. Even Ohio Gov. John Kasich, a strong supporter of charters, promised in December to get tough on the poor performers — and he’s not alone.

The charter-school reform proposal that Kasich presented as part of his state budget is a good start despite a few blind spots.

It ought to be more comprehensive, but it does make it harder for poorly performing charters to stay in business by focusing on sponsors and banning those that are rated poor by the Ohio Department of Education. Charter schools can’t operate without a sponsor.

The proposal to give the best charter schools — however that is defined — access to a new $25 million facilities fund sounds like a worthy idea as long as high-performing public schools have access to similar funds.

WEAK SPOTS

However, giving top charters the ability to ask voters for tax-levy money seems a step too far, especially since many charters in Ohio have for-profit operators with limited transparency and deficient oversight. Such a proposal also further jeopardizes the funding of public schools.

Kasich’s measure should also make it harder for unscrupulous operators to fudge attendance and their finances. House Bill 2, a recently proposed charter school reform bill, also falls short by not demanding that charter school finances be open to the public.

(See more at: Vindy.com)

Charter school problems persist

Gov. John Kasich said recently, “We are going to fix the lack of regulation of charter schools.” That is a good idea for a lot of reasons, but I suspect it will not be easy to do for two reasons. One is that legislators get campaign contributions from charter schools. The other is that many legislators seem unaware of the problems with charter schools.

The most recent problem to surface is attendance. The state auditor’s office went to 30 charter schools to check attendance. State Auditor David Yost said the results said the results left him “speechless” and added that what they found was “quite a morass.”

They found all 95 pupils supposedly enrolled in one school were not there. At six other schools they found between 34 percent and 85 percent of the pupils missing. These schools were receiving funding for these missing pupils. Charter schools were supposed to provide opportunity for pupils to go to a better school than their local public school.

An analysis by the Ohio Education Association and Innovation Ohio a year ago shows that is not happening.

(Read more at Athens Messenger)

10 Investigates: Convicted Felons On School Boards

Now - state Auditor Dave Yost reached out to 10 Investigates to say he's found criminals working as school board members.

School Boards manage the finances and operations of the places parents send their children to every weekday. It is a position of trust. But at charter schools, those board members may also have one thing public school boards members don't have: a felony conviction.

Michael Davie was a board member of Cleveland's Lion of Judah Academy. State Auditor Dave Yost found out about Davie's past breaking into apartments, "There was one old lady that didn't have anything to give him and said, ‘I don't have anything to give you.’ He poured boiling hot water into her lap."

Davie spent 13 years in prison for attempted murder. Lion of Judah Academy shut down after its leader was found guilty of misspending public money.

The former Notten STEM School on Brentnell Avenue had Jerry Pierce on its school board. Auditor Yost flagged Pierce for his 1989 felony forgery conviction. Pierce is now the bishop for the Miracle Cathedral on 5th Avenue.

(More at 10TV)

Former Charter School Director Charged With Theft Appears In Court

He's accused of stealing thousands of dollars in charter school money from taxpayers, and 10TV reported on Tuesday that he's also charged with breaking into a Columbus family's home.

Andre Rasheen Tucker was already charged with felony theft, accused of stealing thousands of dollars intended for education when a Columbus mother says she found him in her home.

On Wednesday, Tucker appeared in court on that burglary charge from January 19th.

Last year, he was charged with theft, accused of pocketing checks totaling some $7,500.

The money was to go to two charter schools he opened - the Talented Tenth Academies that were housed in the King Arts Complex in East Columbus.

The state closed both schools two months after they opened in the fall of 2013.

(Read more at 10TV)

Tougher rules for Ohio charter schools getting widespread support

A legislative hearing on charter-school law broke out yesterday, but a fight did not.

That’s a big change from the typical Statehouse charter-school debates over the past 15 years.

As opponents become more accepting of the role of charter schools in public education, and supporters face a blizzard of reports detailing bad charter schools and weak laws, both sides are largely coalescing around proposed upgrades in accountability and transparency.

House Republicans have proposed a slew of charter-school law changes in House Bill 2, and Gov. John Kasich has proposed even more in his two-year budget.

(Read more at the Dispatch)

HEARINGS BEGIN ON FAILING CHARTER SCHOOLS

The Ohio House has launched hearings on legislation to clamp down on failing charter schools.

House Bill 2 would block sponsors of poor-performing charters from contracting for new locations, increase public access to information about school performance and their backers and require more standards in charter agreements.

The legislation, which had its initial hearing before the House's Education Committee Wednesday, is one of several efforts under way to address charter school accountability. The head of the Ohio Senate's Education Committee has said her chamber also is working on the issue, and Gov. John Kasich included charter provisions in his biennial budget proposal.

Rep. Mike Dovilla, R-Berea, a primary co-sponsor of HB 2, said charter school enrollment has grown from about 2,200 students at 15 locations in 1999 to 120,000-plus students at 400 charters.

"Although community schools provide an important option for many Ohio students, there is an inconsistency with regard to the overall quality of community schools," he said. "Some of Ohio's community schools are among the highest performing schools in the state, having also received national recognition for outstanding academic performance. At the same time we have seen evidence of poor academic performance and fiscal mismanagement driven in part by poor oversight and a lack of clarity of roles and responsibilities, circumstances that HB 2 is designed to address."

Among other provisions, the legislation would block charter schools that receive failing performance index grades from entering contracts with new sponsors without approval from the Department of Education.

(Read more at Crescent-News