Bill Phillis is a retired deputy State Superintendent of Schools in Ohio and a passionate advocate of public schools, equity and accountability.
He launched the Ohio Coalition for Equity and Adequacy of School Funding. You should subscribe to his email list.
ECOT (Electronic Classroom of Tomorrow) wasted $1 billion of taxpayers’ money, diverted funding from real public schools, and was endorsed by Ohio’s most prominent Republican elected officials. Betsy Dezvos wants more virtual charters, which have an abysmal track record.
He writes:
The ECOT scandal could have been stopped many times since its beginning
After ECOT ripped off a billion dollars from Ohio school districts and collected a couple hundred million from the federal government during a 17-year run, the corrupt operation was finally exposed. How did this business enterprise feed illegally at the public tax trough in plain sight without being held accountable? That critical question is being debated in the final days before the November 2018 election. Candidates are debating who is to blame.
One person said; don’t blame Bill Lager-he is a businessman trying to make a buck. Lager used millions of tax dollars gobbled up from the public trough to buy political favors. Public officials turned a blind eye to the corruption.
Who should have been watching ECOT and other bad actors in the charter industry?
State Board of Education
Ohio Department of Education
State Superintendents
State Auditors
State Attorney Generals
Governors
Legislators
Private watchdog groups
Over the years state officials have shut down small charter operations-the kind that had meager political campaign budgets. But ECOT wasn’t on their radar.
The ECOT scandal should prompt state officials of all political stripes to put the spotlight on the other big time charter operators such as K12 Inc., Imagine Schools, Gulen Islamic charters, Accel, etc.
“The whole people must take upon themselves the education of the whole people and be willing to bear the expenses of it. There should not be a district of one mile square, without a school in it, not founded by a charitable individual, but maintained at the public expense of the people themselves.”
– John Adams, September 10, 1785
William L. Phillis | Ohio Coalition for Equity & Adequacy of School Funding | 614.228.6540 | ohioeanda@sbcglobal.net| http://www.ohiocoalition.org
Diane Ravitch's blog 
Ed reformers like Arne Duncan say over and over that people don’t care about public schools and don’t vote on those issues.
I don’t think that’s true anymore in Ohio, and that may not be good news for ed reformers:
“When running for the Ohio House at the same time the two main school districts in your area want voters to approve new levies, people really want to know your views on education funding.
Speaking Wednesday morning to the Rotary Club of Dublin-Worthington, the first and last questions to Democrat Beth Liston and Republican Stu Harris, candidates for the 21st Ohio House District, were about school funding and ECOT, the now-closed online charter school that overbilled the state $80 million for unverified students.”
Public schools are a big issue here this election. Lawmakers who have ignored or neglected or worked against public schools for decades are suddenly discovering them.
I’m not sure that’s good news for ed reform. They don’t seem to benefit from increased public attention to their agenda.
They’re being forced to talk about PUBLIC schools. Dragged, kicking and screaming 🙂
http://www.dispatch.com/news/20180912/in-21st-ohio-house-district-liston-harris-see-need-to-fix-ohio-school-funding
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Education is single biggest item in every state budget.
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I am not, based on what I see around me, optimistic that this will be a big issue in all parts of the state. Around here I rarely see education issues mentioned in political races. The recently resigned president of the U. of Akron touted how the successful Akron businessman Dave Brennen contributed more than a million dollars toward the construction of a law school building. No word on how those funds from the successful businessman were laundered public dollars. There seems to be a “if it doesn’t seem to affect me directly, I’m not exited about it” attitude prevailing. It changes when they feel affected, but then it’s usually far after the fact.
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I have recently seen lttle about ECOT beyond the heads up from William Phillis, but a one page summary of Ohio’s “Each Child, Our Future” plan appeared in the Cincinnati Enquirer, a lightly edited press release. There was not an ounce of investigative reporting on how this plan fits with the approved ESSA Plan. I get more insight about political issues from Ohio BATs.
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Yes, without this community I would be clueless. And when I wrote “rarely” about education issues above, I should have been more precise and written “never.”
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ECOT is the predictable symptom of the disease that Gates incubated.
Watchdogs are a layer of wasteful spending that is only made necessary by privatization.
The Rand study proves Gates’ schemes are a costly failure. But, as long as a 20% return is expected on Gates’ schools-in-a-box, he won’t put his tail between his legs and slink back to his palace in the state with the most regressive tax system in the nation.
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The Koch henchmen running in Ohio in November include Todd Smith, Tim Barhost, Mike Rasor, Jim Trakas, Kristina Roegner and Andrew Brenner. They grease the wheel of oligarchy and, as such, they are community turncoats.
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I was thinking about white collar crime earlier today. These guys who get a few years time at most if not just a fine. But if you are a nobody,… What happened to their moral compasses? The motto seems to be don’t get caught and have lots of people who don’t want you to get caught who have something to say about it.
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When the wealthiest and most powerful lack respect for human dignity and they prefer oligarchy, the stage is set. When U.S residents and their children are regarded as nothing more than targets for rip-off, the future may show, victimization re-directed 180 degrees.
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