The collapse of ECOT is a major national scandal. William Lager collected over $1 Billion from Ohio taxpayers over 18 years, and he handed out relatively small contributions to politicians in exchange for their support.
Denis Smith shows how generous ECOT founder William Lager was in funding Ohio’s elected officials. Now he wonders whether they will return the money he gave them.
State Auditor David Yost was a Lager favorite. He was the commencement speaker at three ECOT graduations. Now he is leading the charge against Lager.
Other key officials are silent.
This story will get bigger.
“The Sunday, January 21 edition of the Dispatch will only fuel the demand for some type of repayment to the state. In a page one story, the paper again informed readers about the luxurious residences that were purchased by Lager in the last several years, including “a $433,500 waterfront home on Senecaville Lake in Noble County; a $995,000 house in Upper Arlington; a $3.7 million house in Key West, Florida, with a pool and two-story cabana.”
Shouldn’t politicians return Lager’s contributions?
Shouldnt Lager be held personally accountable and required to donate millions to districts that lost funding to him?
Diane Ravitch's blog 
Or will anyone ask any of the high profile ed reformers who promoted and sold the school to the public if they want to withdraw their endorsement?
“In June 2010, former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush traveled to Columbus, Ohio, to give the commencement speech for the Electronic Classroom of Tomorrow, the state’s largest virtual charter school. ECOT, which provides K-12 online education for kids who never set foot inside a classroom, was celebrating its 10th anniversary and its largest graduating class—nearly 2,000 kids. Naturally, the event, held on the campus of Ohio State University, was webcast for those who couldn’t make it.”
Why are none of them ever held accountable? Jeb Bush traveled to Ohio to sell a for-profit school he knew nothing about. ECOT was already in deep trouble in 2010. They knew Bush would lend them much-needed credibility since the business model was tanking and newspapers were starting to ask questions. Bush was happy to oblige.
Now we’ll just never again hear about this giant school they all promoted? They just move onto the next thing they’re selling and leave a huge mess in their wake?
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Ohio’s DARK $$$$$: http://plunderbund.com/2018/01/08/unraveling-ohios-dark-money-plexus/
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One word answer:
Guillotine
And then as his head plops into the bloody basket, everything he and his family owns, every bank account, is seized and all the money is returned to the community based democratic, transparent, non-profit, traditional public schools.
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Reblogged this on David R. Taylor-Thoughts on Education.
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ECOT has done one good thing. They’ve pretty much ensured we’ll get a real debate on ed reform in the upcoming state elections.
Ohio has to make some decisions. They can continue down this road where they shaft the public schools and promote schools like ECOT, or they can hire some new people in Columbus and recommit to the schools 90% of people use.
I think we may see far fewer elected ed reformers after 2018. When we look back on this we may realize privatization lobbyists hit their high-water mark in this state in 2010.
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