Editorial Voices

The worm is turning...

Another pissed off superintendent

An opinion letter on charter school and the waste of tax dollars from Tom Dunn, Superintendent of Troy Schools

http://tdn-net.com/news/opinion_columns/150385462/You-really-want-to-know-about-this

In a previous article, I criticized state superintendent Dr. Richard Ross for his claim that the state’s quest for transparency is the driving force behind the Ohio Department of Education’s (ODE) School District Report Card. I suggested that his, the ODE’s, and the legislature’s quest for transparency seems to end where their pet project, the charter school movement, begins. I challenged readers to visit the independently created web site known as http://knowyourcharter.com/ to become better informed about the charter school debacle and how it impacts you.


Realizing that the percentage of readers who accepted my challenge would likely be small, I wanted to follow up by sharing some of the information contained on the site. My hope is that your interest will be piqued enough that you will visit it to learn what is really being done with your tax dollars. As a taxpayer, you should be very interested in both the financial and academic information contained there, and you should be outraged by it.
Before we even begin to discuss the complete academic failure of charter schools in Ohio, which you can see by clicking on each charter’s name on the web site, let’s start with the fact that $2.1 million were deducted from Miami County school districts last year and sent to charter schools, nearly two million of which went to for-profit entities operated by private corporations. You read that right — $2 million!


In other words, public funds that were approved for local districts, otherwise known as yours and my
tax dollars, are being sent to for-profit companies under the pretense that these schools are better than yours. Even worse, the money is often used to lobby our legislators to create the laws that further benefit charter schools.
Keep in mind that public dollars can’t be used to lobby for votes, but for-profit charter school operators, along with some of their lawmaker buddies, argue that it is perfectly acceptable for them to do so, because their company is private. So, to underscore the ridiculousness of this argument, charter schools, which the state champions as public schools, can be run by private companies that use public funds in ways that public funds can’t be used. That shouldn’t be acceptable to any of us.


The fact is that once these dollars enter the for-profit black hole, there is no oversight as to how they are being spent, and the folks at ODE, in the legislature, and in the governor’s office simply turn a blind eye to the practice as if it doesn’t occur. In fact, when State Auditor Dave Yost tried to increase the oversight on these kinds of activities, Governor Kasich and members of the legislature were less than pleased. After all, this money helps get them elected.


It should tell you something that the people who should care about this scam don’t care at all,
especially considering they tell us they are so enamored with keeping us informed. In fact, if not for independent researchers like those who created this web site and media outlets uncovering the shenanigans of these companies, we wouldn’t be any wiser about how our tax dollars are being inappropriately used.
To see one example, take a few minutes and read the article at http://dailycaller.com/2014/10/13/crony-capitalism-for-ohio-charter-schools-draws-criticism. If that doesn’t raise your ire, nothing will. A simple Google search can uncover many similar articles, all of which should interest you, since they are talking about your money.


It has become painfully obvious that the folks who should be providing the oversight have no intention of changing what they do, so apparently we must be the change agents for them. Learning what is happening is the first step. Putting a stop to it should follow.


Tom Dunn of Troy is superintendent of the Miami County Education Service Center. He may be reached at tom.dunn@mcapps.org

Compare and Contrast in Ohio

Results matter!

Some great information here.  Does not get into the whys or malfeasance.  Just the stats and the money being transferred.  An educated consumer is a smart consumer.  This probably is not mentioned in any of the marketing for the charter schools but could be if the charter can produce the results. 81% of Ohio’s rated charter schools fell in the bottom quarter.  Otherwise, pay no attention to the results.  Nothing to see here, please move along.

http://knowyourcharter.com