Postscript: Treasurer Cincinnati College Prepatory Academy

A follow up on the aftermath of  of the scandal at Cincinnati College Prepatory Academy.  Stephanie Millard, the treasurer of that school and of Ohio Connections Academy has plead guilty to two counts of unauthorized use of property.  Two years probation.  Not sure what other schools she served as treasurer, but I suspect that many charter schools were looking for a part-time accountant to bless their dealings.  I do know that this indictment and conviction did generate a taxpayer paid audit of Cincinnati College Prepatory Academy and Ohio Connections Academy and perhaps others.  Both audits found issues.

This is why reform is needed as to the finances of charter schools and their for profit management companies.  The loosie goosie fiefdoms paid by the taxpayers, with unelected weak school boards, are a tempting target for abuse.

From the court records:

SENTENCED COUNT 4: UNAUTHORIZED USE OF PROPERTY CONFINEMENT: 180 DAYS, SUSPENDED 180 DAYS HAMILTON COUNTY JUSTICE CENTER PROBATION: 2 YRS

SENTENCED COUNT 16: UNAUTHORIZED USE OF PROPERTY CONFINEMENT: 180 DAYS, SUSPENDED 180 DAYS HAMILTON COUNTY JUSTICE CENTER PROBATION: 2 YRS

10th Period: State Defines "High Performing" Charters

10th Period: State Defines "High Performing" Charters: One of the things most charter school reformers agree about is that whatever Ohio's charter school reform looks like, its few high-perfo...



Good blog.  It does not appear any of the virtual schools made the list

E-Shools in Ohio $224 million

The worm is turning

The Columbus Dispatch is finally getting on board.

Seems pretty reasonable.  It is the taxpayer’s money.  Campaign donors do not speak for the majority of taxpayers.  Despite the massive marketing please let the results (including the finances) speak for themselves.  Billions have been spent.  How much is enough?

“Ohio’s charter-school system has attracted national ridicule for its giant-sized accountability loopholes…

A significant gap, flagged by Yost, is that the bill fails to require school-operating companies to disclose how they spend the hundreds of thousands, sometimes millions of tax dollars they are paid to run the schools. Their status as private companies doesn’t change the fact that they are using public money to provide public education. Under current law, some operators refuse to show their books to the governing boards that hired them, let alone to the public.

This lack of accountability is unacceptable, and lawmakers should fix that before they sign off on H.B. 2.”

http://www.dispatch.com/content/stories/editorials/2015/03/22/1-a-big-step-forward.html

10th Period: National Charter School Advocates: Ohio's the Wors...

10th Period: National Charter School Advocates: Ohio's the Wors...: For years now, I've been saying Ohio is unique among the 50 states for its crazy charter school system. And last week, many prominent ch...

Ohio Charters ridiculed. At least we are not Nevada

http://www.cleveland.com/metro/index.ssf/2015/03/ohios_charter_schools_ridicule.html#incart_m-rpt-1

More analysis on charters from Minnesota

Students in most Minnesota charter schools are failing to hit learning targets and are not achieving adequate academic growth, according to a Star Tribune analysis of school performance data.

The analysis of 128 of the state’s 157 charter schools show that the gulf between the academic success of its white and minority students widened at nearly two-thirds of those schools last year. Slightly more than half of charter schools students were proficient in reading, dramatically worse than traditional public schools, where 72 percent were proficient.

Between 2011 and 2014, 20 charter schools failed every year to meet the state’s expectations for academic growth each year, signaling that some of Minnesota’s most vulnerable students had stagnated academically.

A top official with the Minnesota Department of Education says she is troubled by the data, which runs counter to “the public narrative” that charter schools are generally superior to public schools.

More than half of schools analyzed from 2011 to 2014 were also failing to meet the department’s expectations for academic growth, the gains made from year to year in reading and math.

Of the 20 schools that failed to meet the state goals for improvement every year, Pillsbury United Communities is the authorizer for six of those schools: Dugsi Academy, LoveWorks Academy for Visual and Performing Arts, Connections Academy, Learning for Leadership Charter School, and the Minnesota Transitions Charter School’s elementary, Connections Academy and Virtual High School. Those schools also missed annual achievement gap targets.