ECOT Exposed

Very well done!

A little more publicity

I was pleasantly surprised to see a letter to the editor in a recent Cincinnati Enquirer about the need for the Ohio legislature to get their hands around the lack of accountability of charter schools in Ohio.

The Columbus Dispatch also published a similar letter to the editor.

This is not to say that this publicity can compete with the marketing power of radio and television blitz of the charter schools (which never mention their resport card) but it is a start.

Some charter schools are well run and successful.  Others are just a conduit of incompetence to profit the sponsors, owners and administrators.

Oversight Needed

http://www.dispatch.com/content/stories/editorials/2014/07/18/oversight-is-needed.html

Some highlights:

Conflicts of interests
Weak Boards
Unqualified professionals
Accountability

"The allegations shed light on just how many things can go wrong in Ohio’s poorly structured and largely unmonitored charter-school system. If they prove true, that will be one more argument for overhauling the way charter schools are created and allowed to operate.

But traditional district schools typically operate under the scrutiny of taxpaying residents and publicly elected school-board members. The widespread data-tampering scheme that developed at the highest levels of Columbus City Schools is atypical; generally, if serious misconduct occurs in a district school, somebody is watching and will blow the whistle. Charter schools don’t have the same oversight.

Traditional school districts, in most cases, employ qualified professionals to manage finances, develop curriculum and ensure that applicable laws are followed. Charter schools are, by philosophy, less traditionally structured.

Ohio could do a lot to head off charter-school problems by reforming the process by which they are created.

A key weakness has been the lack of any way to hold accountable those charter-school sponsors who don’t act as watchdogs over the schools they sponsor. Weak Ohio law allows blatant conflicts of interest — for example, nothing bars sponsors, the supposed watchdogs, from selling services to the schools they are supposed to be holding accountable"

Always a potential conflict when you have poor structure and oversight with the potential for profits at the expense of results.

The sub priming of American education

Where there is profit to be made....

Good analogy!

Pretty soon you are talking about real money

As one senator used to say, pretty soon you are talking about real money.  With a little foresight and the right business plan you can become a millionaire.  That was pretty hard in the public schools with taxpayer elected school boards.

 

From William Phillis:

 

Ohio charter industry: $7.4 billion and counting

The second system of education, which feeds off the public common school system, started as a "harmless" $11 million experiment. This new system has parasitically extracted a total of $7.4 from the Ohio public common school system in 15 years as follows:

 

Deduction	Fiscal Year
$     10,985,021.93	1999
$     51,658,903.14	2000
$     91,199,488.07	2001
$   127,943,077.03	2002
$   203,733,491.59	2003
$   301,139,479.91	2004
$   421,736,138.00	2005
$   481,559,416.48	2006
$   530,582,458.73	2007
$   584,929,196.33	2008
$   646,504,550.76	2009
$   679,872,827.10	2010
$   721,951,119.83	2011
$   774,404,507.49	2012
$   824,032,968.42	2013
$   900,500,252.70	2014
$ 7,352,732,897.51	Total

 

 

Between 40 and 50 percent of the $7.4 billion is local tax money passed by local communities for the support of their local school districts. State officials attempt to argue that no local funds are involved in charter school operations. The fact is that charter school funds are taken from school district budgets via state deductions. On the average, nearly twice as much per pupil funding is deducted from school districts for charter schools as the districts receive in per pupil state funds. The difference does not magically appear.

 

William Phillis
Ohio E & A   

Why not use Ohio Ethics laws in cases of corruption of charter schools?  It is my understanding that this applies to school officials. Surely a job and or a green card has some value. 

(D) No public official or employee shall use or authorize the use of the authority or influence of office or employment to secure anything of value or the promise or offer of anything of value that is of such a character as to manifest a substantial and improper influence upon the public official or employee with respect to that person's duties.
(E) No public official or employee shall solicit or accept anything of value that is of such a character as to manifest a substantial and improper influence upon the public official or employee with respect to that person's duties.
(F) No person shall promise or give to a public official or employee anything of value that is of such a character as to manifest a substantial and improper influence upon the public official or employee with respect to that person's duties.

II. Conflict of Interest

Violations of R.C. sections 102.03, 102.04 and 102.07 are first-degree misdemeanor criminal offenses, punishable by a fine of up to $1000 and/or a maximum of 6 months in jail. See R.C. sections 102.99(B); 2929.21.

 

The profit motive in virtual schools

After digging deeper, the independent folks in Maine came to the right decision.

http://www.pressherald.com/2012/09/01/virtual-schools-in-maine_2012-09-02/