Stephen Dyer, a former legislator, explains here why charters in Ohio are very different from those in some other states.
The question he does not address is whether charters in other states operate as secretively and non-transparently as those in Ohio. Don’t expect to get an answer from the Obama administrations’ Department of Education, which loves the charter industry. We will have to wait for an enterprising researcher or journalist to dig deep and investigate.
Charters in Ohio collect $900 million yearly from taxpayers, but there are important questions they will not answer.
Dyer writes:
“Now it is true that sometimes it’s tough to get information out of traditional public schools. As a former reporter, I remember many rounds I’d go with districts about whether I could get information. But I never remember failing to receive this kind of information:
“Who runs the building?
“Who is that person’s supervisor?
“Who is the management company in charge?
“How does one contact the school board?
“When does the board meet?
“Only 1 in 4 Ohio Charter Schools answered these five basic questions. That’s right. Only 1 in 4 Charters told members of the public, who pay $900 million a year for these schools, when the school board meets. And these schools are called “public schools” throughout the Ohio Revised Code. Perhaps this is why courts around the country are finding that Charter Schools aren’t actually public schools? Because they act like private schools?
“Look, Ohio taxpayers fork over $900 million a year for Charter Schools. They deserve to know how that money is being spent. Because they would be able to find the answers to these five questions on every single traditional public school website. You wouldn’t have to set up phone banks to find out the answers to these basic five questions, the way the Akron Beacon Journal did for Charters.
“Can you imagine if the Beacon called Akron Public Schools and they refused to tell them who the Superintendent was, or when the board met, or how to contact the board? I mean, that is just beyond imagination, right? But Charters, we are told, are just as public a school as APS. So why do they operate under such a shadow?
“Ohio’s Charter School system is a disaster. It needs serious overhaul.
“Ohio’s Charter Schools take far more kids from school districts that outperform the Charter than the other way round. They spend nearly 3 times as much on administration than the average school district. They spend more per pupil overall than traditional school districts. And because the state pays about twice as much per pupil for the typical Charter School kid than the typical traditional public school kid, kids not in Charters get several hundred dollars less in state revenue than the state says they need. So what’s the bottom line for Ohio’s Charter Schools in comparison with traditional public schools, overall?
“They perform far worse academically
“They cost the state far more
“They spend more per pupil
“They spend far more on administration
“They are far less transparent”
Why is this situation possible? Two reasons: charter lobbyists make large campaign contributions to politicians, especially Republicans. They are not public schools, and need not be transparent or accountable.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
Reblogged this on Middletown Voice.
How do these schools get studnets to sign up?
Tax- payer funded advertising
I would argue Michigan charter schools are as poorly regulated as Ohio charter schools.
Michigan just doesn’t know it yet, because Ohio had a 10 year head start in undermining public schools and promoting charter schools.
You’ll see the same things there as you do here, and it probably won’t take long, either.
It’s a poor governance model. They outsource responsibility for the schools to “sponsors” (who are paid 3% of “revenue”) and the only government oversight is at the STATE level, which charter lobbyists pushed for and got.
It’s ridiculous to monitor a school in Cleveland or Akron or Toledo from Columbus.
This method of governance isn’t used for any other Ohio public entity (child support, law enforcement, public schools, taxing authority, public health). Every other public entity in Ohio has a monitor close to the entity, either at the county level or at the city or political subdivision level.
Except charter schools. They’re monitored at the state level. It doesn’t work and no one should be surprised it doesn’t work. It’s a lousy governance model. I would submit that it will NEVER work. Profoundly dumb idea, and one that applies to no school EXCEPT charter schools.
I would also respectfully suggest that Governor Cuomo just did very nearly the same thing in NY as was done in Ohio.
He pushed charter school oversight up to the state level. This is inevitably and predictably DEregulatory, because the regulator is too far from the school. You’re about to find out that it doesn’t work.
People in other states might want to look at what’s happened in Ohio the next time ed reformers launch a huge political campaign to deregulate, remove all local level control or governance and turn it over to the state. It ain’t pretty. It’s a terrible governance model, and they’ve know it for a decade in Ohio yet they do it in every state.
How can they possibly regulate a school in NYC from Albany? They can’t, and they won’t, anymore than they’ve successfully regulated Toledo charter schools from Columbus. It’s an idiotic idea. We already know it doesn’t work, which is why every other public entity has a local governance structure, IN ADDITION to state oversight.
Except charter schools. They’re unique and special for some reason. They’re not, and you’ll soon find out they’re not.
Outrageous. There must be transparency. They sound as bad as Obama’s IRS, State Department, NSA, and the Federal Reserve.