Earlier this year, Ohio’s infamous Electronic Classroom of Tomorrow (ECOT) went into bankruptcy rather than pay the state money owed for “ghost” students. ECOT has collected over $1 billion since its opening nearly 20 years ago. It had the lowest graduation rate of any high school in the nation. Its owner regularly gave campaign contributions to state officials, which shielded him from accountability until a state court ordered ECOT to pay back state money for students who never showed up.
ECOT is gone, so here comes a new virtual K12 Inc. charter school.
K12 is a for-profit management corporation listed on the New York Stock Exchange. It has high attrition, low test scores, poor educational quality, but it is profitable.
Charter schools in Ohio are called “community schools,” which is a joke, since they suck money away from public schools, which are real community schools. Even corporate charter chains, like the 40 owned by entrepreneur Ron Packard (ex-Goldman Sachs), are called “community schools.” Ha-ha.
The Ohio Digital Learning School (ODLS), authorized by the Ohio Council of Community Schools, will serve students ages 16 to 21 in grades 9-12. It is tuition-free.
Behind the scenes, K12 Inc. is serving as an online management provider, supplying curriculum and the online platform that the school will use, along with other services. The company already is involved in two other virtual high school charters in the state, Ohio Virtual Academy (K-12) and Destinations Career Academy at OHVA (9-12).
Is there any scam too odious for Ohio?
Diane Ravitch's blog 
The people who are responsible are the Kettering residents who elected Peggy Lehner, Warren County residents who elected Scott Lipps, etc. and, of course, Bill Gates whose dollars and squeaky clean PR, legitimized privatization’s fully-anticipated grifting.
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No scam is too odious for Ohio ….. to think of what $1 billion could have done for Ohio’s children in public schools ….
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“Is there any scam too odious for Ohio?”
No. It’s a matter of faith for a lot of these legislators that any charter school is better than any public school.
Remember- this is the state that put a lawmaker who brags about his opposition to every public school in the state in charge of the education committee in one chamber. We were paying him to weaken and eventually eradicate the schools our children attend, and, perhaps unsurprisingly, that’s exactly what he worked on every day.
It’s nuts, but political capture never makes sense looking at it from the outside.
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I don’t know about other public schools in the state but ed reformers pitched “online learning” hard in Ohio public schools, backed by lobbyists like Jeb Bush, and our public school tried some of the gimmicks and fads they sold and has since dialed it back.
So sanity can return, once the salespeople decamp and head off to the next state. Public schools themselves can do a lot to mitigate the damage from some of these “experiments”. It means saying “no” occasionally and risking being called names by national lobbyists, but it’s worth it. If we’re the experts, and I’m willing to give my local school that, let’s start acting like it. There’s no reason in the world to take direction from Jeb Bush’s lobbying group even if state lawmakers do. Don’t buy everything they’re selling. The (local) public will love you for it.
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As long as SETDA, an association of public employees from all 50 states e.g. Ohio’s paid public servants, promote digital learning, help ed tech companies to scale up, offer pitch fests for ed tech company products and fashion public-private partnerships for the association’s ‘Gold, Silver, Event and Strategic” private partners, it can be anticipated that districts will be inundated with trash, trinkets and dog and pony shows. Of course, SETDA’s funding is from Gates.
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too odious? Here is the pitch for chaters schools in Ohio from one of the worst promaters and authorizers. The wishful thinking is a lie told over and over again by shills for the Fordham Institute. also note that Ohio is still using an invalid “VAM” (Value-Added measure.
https://fordhaminstitute.org/ohio/commentary/ohio-fast-becoming-great-place-quality-charter-schools
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Most charter schools in Ohio “perform” worse than urban public schools.
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Fordham-linked charter schools see nothing wrong with misleading Ohioans by calling themselves “public” even after the Ohio Supreme Court said they are not.
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