We learned recently that the Electronic Classroom of Tomorrow was losing its authorizer, which had made 3% on every student who enrolled. Will ECOT die? Is it really finished? Maybe some other authorizer will step in to claim the commission for running one of the lowest performing schools in the nation. Obviously, no one in state government was willing to close ECOT down.
Meanwhile, give the devil his due. Someone has profited, even if kids have not.
Stephen Dyer writes about the profits extracted by ECOT’s sponsor. More money goes to the profiteer investor than to the teachers.
https://10thperiod.blogspot.com/2018/01/ecot-in-receivership-ecot-paid-more-to.html
How do you spell S-C-A-M?
In Ohio, it seems, if you take care of politicians, they take care of you.
The kids don’t pay the legislators.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
“he Electronic Classroom of Tomorrow was losing its authorizer, which had made 3% on every student who enrolled.”
Wait, what? Don’t authorizers have a fiduciary responsibility to protect the state’s children, taxpayer dollars and the integrity of public education from fraudsters and swindlers? Which corrupt politicians built this conflict of interest into the job of authorizer? OMG
Diane, as a historian, do you have a unique name to describe this utterly appalling era of political corruption centered around public education? What do you call it when sooooo many politicians across the country, in both parties, have been involved in smoothing the way, at all levels, for crooks and liars to peddle their wares and get away with selling out America’s children, taxpayers and public education, in order to appease ideologues and enable corporations, entrepreneurs, donors, friends and relatives to make huge wads of cash? An era this sick needs a very special name so people will remember and not repeat it. (I think it needs to be something that encompasses the socio-economic dynamic of the New Guided Age, recurring Spoils System, Crony Capitalism and GERM, and which underscores the abhorrent ongoing disregard for the education of millions of other people’s children.) .
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Not Diane but to answer your question: Politics as usual. Just a lot more brazen these days.
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Do you think the governor will take any of the blame for this catastrophe? He certainly was willing to take the credit for instituting charter schools in Ohio when he was running for President.
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