Ohio’s most expensive failing school is ECOT, the Electronic Classroom of Tomorrow. It has theoqesthfaduation rate of any school in the state, yet is never held accountable. It is financed by taking funds away from much more successful schools and districts.
“The Columbus Dispatch wrote recently of the academic failures of the Electronic Classroom of Tomorrow (ECOT) where the graduation rate of 38% is among the worst of any school in the state. Among Ohio’s 613 traditional public school districts , the lowest graduation rate is 60.9%. In addition, ECOT received all Fs and one D on the state’s most recent report card.
“Despite its abysmal performance record, ECOT continues to expand. More than 14,500 children are currently enrolled, making ECOT the equivalent of the 10th largest school district in the state. The Dispatch story noted that ECOT founder William Lager has donated more than $1 million to Ohio politicians in the last five years as his school has grown exponentially.
“Information at KnowYourCharter.com helps clarify the burden that local public schools must bear to cover the costs of students who chose to attend ECOT. Kids in all 88 Ohio counties are impacted. More than 95% of school districts – 586 of 613 districts – have students and money being transferred to ECOT. As one of the state’s 9 statewide e-schools and one of the country’s largest for-profit K-12 schools, ECOT’s poor performance is exacerbated by its extraordinary financial impact on children throughout the state.”
Diane Ravitch's blog 
Who are the parents who sign their children up for these electronic classrooms? Do they care about the caliber of education their children are receiving through these on-line schools?
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They don’t understand that these electronic classrooms are not good. The parents are NOT thinking. They are being marketed a bad product….typical of this country. Electronic classrooms are bascially digital workbooks.
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Why are they signing up for something they don’t understand? What is the responsibility of the parent?
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I don’t think I have ever been more aware of how money trumps the rule of law. Sad.
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All states should have to file an impact statement on how charter schools have affected the budgets of the public schools. The subtractive impact of constantly using public schools as a host is bound to result in some schools reaching a crisis level. Then, the states should be forced to examine the results of their “investment.” If the charters are failing, they should have to return the students public schools along with requisite funding. Why should many be forced to suffer for the benefit of a few in a democratic country?
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It was irresponsible and reckless of lawmakers to ignore this. How do you forget about 90% of public school students? How do you introduce a new system and show absolutely no regard for the effect on children in existing schools? I’m baffled by it. They think public schools are…what? Unaffected by changes in the system in which they exist? That’s insane. Of course they are.
They had to have started from a place where they assigned NO value to existing public schools. That had to be the starting point, because no one is THAT reckless. It’s more than a lack of “systems thinking”. It defies ordinary common sense.
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This would be an opportune time to try to get some media attention on the fact that the education of 90% of the students is being hampered by flushing taxpayers’ dollars down the drain of failed charters. The state needs to be reminded that 90% of their students count.
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Retired teacher – you state it perfectly.
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And yet, here is the largest newspaper in Utah, today, touting the Milwaukee “success” with vouchers. I’m trying to figure out how to convince all public employees to drop their subscriptions. The Deseret News is bought and paid for.
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Some hugely influential national ed reformers have promoted ECOT:
“The nation’s largest online public school with over 10,000 students, the Electronic Classroom of Tomorrow, (ECOT) will celebrate a decade of online learning in Ohio with its 10th annual commencement on Saturday, June 12 on the campus of Ohio State University.
“The success of our students has been amazing to witness for all teachers and staff of ECOT, and we see it on display every year at commencement time”
Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, a national leader in education reform, will be commencement speaker as he helps to recognize ECOT’s Class of 2010, the largest in the school’s history with nearly 2000 eligible students. Mr. Bush is founder and president of the Foundation for Excellence in Education and served as governor of Florida from 1999 to 2007.”
I wonder if politicians who want to be President will continue to do marketing for these schools now that Ohio’s charter sector is finally getting some public scrutiny inside the state. A lot has changed here since the heady days of 2010 when everything national ed reformers said was treated as The One Truth.
http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20100604005906/en/ECOT%E2%80%99s-10th-Anniversary-Graduation-Celebrate-Decade-Online#.VLKwC3vxeWg
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Reblogged this on onewomansjournal and commented:
Ohio and charters is not so great.
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“retired teacher
January 11, 2015 at 12:54 pm
This would be an opportune time to try to get some media attention on the fact that the education of 90% of the students is being hampered by flushing taxpayers’ dollars down the drain of failed charters.”
It’s hard to get them to cover public schools, quite frankly, other than “failing schools” stories. Honestly, the public system is the existing system and it’s just not that fascinating as a story.
I think this guy is really interesting – Toledo Public Schools- a local public school graduate, promoted from within, really optimistic and energetic, but he doesn’t seem to matter. Instead we get 5000 stories of the latest innovation in charter schools.
“TPS has not had a new levy approved by voters since 2000. Now their 5.8 mill levy that will cost a $100,000 home owner about $203 more a year in taxes has passed. It will bring the district $13.3 million a year for the next five years.
Superintendent Dr. Durant said on Monday if the levy passes all bus transportation that was cut in 2010 will be restored, including Kindergarten through eighth-graders living within two miles of school and all high school students.
Durant says TPS is the highest-performing urban school in the state, and the lowest-paid.”
http://www.toledonewsnow.com/story/27277528/tps-superintendent-durant-declares-victory-for-district-levy
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Knowing (and agreeing with) your desire to see public dollars spent well, I thought readers would be interested in this prominent Minnesota story: Thousands of dollars being spent by Minneapolis District officials without supplying any receipts.
http://www.startribune.com/local/minneapolis/288154331.html
This includes both the former and interim supt. The district agrees it needs to improve its reimbursement procedures.
Many rural educators have complained about the amount of money being spent in Minneapolis, which is well above the state average.
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‘Minneapolis schools credit card usage raises accountability questions’…. is the title of the piece in the local Minneapolis paper. Seems like a whole lot of speculation and much ado about nothing to me.
If there comes a time that there is solid evidence of wrong doing then I am sure that there will be legal action taken.
In the mean time, I have no idea what the political leanings of this particular news paper is. These could be false and specious allegations made by a paper with an agenda.
You keep posting this link to an article that is speculative at best. You do not help your cause by being disingenuous and annoying.
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Isn’t this where we hear from the rephormers about how we should consider the kinds of students ECOT is serving and how they deserve credit for taking on challenging students, or something like that?
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Anymore results do not matter. People buying the legislators make money and money, not people, are the bottom line. How much longer can this go on?
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