Archives for category: Ohio
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Ohio Releases School Grades: Richest Schools Get A’s, Charters Get More D’s and F’s than Public Schools

By dianeravitch
September 14, 2018 //
18

Let’s be clear on this point: Giving single letter grades to schools is a terrible, stupid, invalid idea. It has no scientific basis. It rewards affluent districts and stigmatizes poor schools.

Jan Resseger reports that the state’s letter grades performed as expected. The schools in the most affluent districts get the most A grades. The schools in the poorest districts get the lowest grades.

She concludes:

“Instead of branding Ohio’s poorest African American and Hispanic school districts with “F”s and punishing the state’s very poorest school districts with state takeover, the state should significantly increase its financial support for public schools in poor communities and encourage the development of full-service wraparound schools that provide medical and social services for families right at school. Ohio’s system of branding the state’s poorest schools with “F” grades and imposing sanctions like state takeover undermines support for public education in school districts that desperately need strong community institutions. The school district report cards also encourage segregation of the state’s metropolitan areas by race and family income.”

Stephen Dyer posts graphs showing that charter schools dominate the D and F grades. Of course, that will not sway the charter lobby in Ohio or cause them to rethink their devotion to the free market.

What fascinates Dyer is that ECOT—the virtual charter that collapsed in scandals a few months ago—somehow received an A in achievement because students were not chronically absent. Huh?

He writes:

“This year, ECOT got an A in the Achievement Component.

“How can this be when ECOT has historically been the worst performing school in the state? The answer lies in the fact that ECOT closed half way through the year. So the school did not get graded on several components that it traditionally bombed. The only Achievement category indicator it was graded on was meeting state indicators — raw test score information. Schools can be graded on up to 26 different indicators, depending on how many students the schools tested that are in each category. For example, if a school doesn’t have high school students, it won’t be graded on the performance of high school students.

“Last year, ECOT met 0 of the 23 indicators it was measured on. This year it met one indicator. And it was only measured based on one indicator. What was that indicator?

“I kid you not. It was chronic absenteeism.

“Last year, 13.5% of ECOT’s kids were listed as chronically absent. This year, it was 7.5%, which met the indicator and qualified as an A.

“That’s right. The school that ripped off taxpayers by at least $200 million because it charged for kids who were never there, or were absent for whole months and seasons of time got an A from the Ohio Department of Education because kids weren’t chronically absent.“

Proof positive that school grades are a hoax.

Categories Accountability, Charter Schools, Education Industry, Hoax, Ohio, Privatization

Bill Phillis: Who Should Be Held Accountable for the ECOT Fiasco?

By dianeravitch
September 13, 2018 //
9

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

Categories Accountability, Charter Schools, Education Industry, For-Profit, Fraud, Funding, Ohio, Privatization, Virtual Charter Schools

Denis Smith: Can You Identify the MISSING WORD in Ohio’s Online Charter School Commercials?

By dianeravitch
September 7, 2018 //
6

Denis Smith reminds us of the old Groucho Marx television shows. If you said the “magic word,” a duck would descend and you would win a prize.

He provides readers with commercials for “online public schools,” “tuition free” and invites you to guess which is the missing word?

In the wake of the great ECOT scandal, there is one word that dare not be mentioned.

There is no prize for the right guess.

Categories Accountability, Charter Schools, Education Industry, Ohio, Privatization, Virtual Charter Schools

Ohio & Florida: Charter Scam Rips Off Taxpayers in Both States

By dianeravitch
September 3, 2018 //
14

The Network for Public Education has a Twitter handle called #anotherdayanothercharterscandal, and it is hard to keep up with them. It used to be one or two a week, Carol Burris told me, now it is one or two every day.

Here is only one among many, involving a charter scam that stretched from Ohio to Florida, ripping off taxpayers in both states.

Ohio’s top public accountant is actively investigating the case of two businessmen accused of using charter schools to defraud Florida taxpayers, students and schools — and maybe here, too.

On Friday, Ohio Auditor Dave Yost acknowledged that a probe has been ongoing for a year. Meanwhile, court documents filed this month in Florida indicate 19 Ohio charter schools were overbilled nearly $600,000. Prosecutors and forensic accountants say the money was laundered through 150 bank accounts and shell companies then returned as “rebates” and “kickbacks” to Marcus May, who once ran more than 20 charter schools in Ohio.

In 2012, May used a parent company, Newpoint Education Partners LLC., to open Cambridge Education Group, a charter school operator based in Akron. To grow business in Florida, authorities say he “falsely represented” that his Ohio schools were well managed. By 2016, prosecutors say he allegedly defrauded Florida and its public schools of more than $1 million.

May has repeatedly declined to speak with the Beacon Journal.

The pattern in Florida seems to mirror transactions in Ohio.

One forensic document in the Florida case details how Ohio schools paid $1.1 million to Apex Learning, a Seattle-based company May used to bill the 19 Cambridge schools in Ohio and 15 Newpoint schools in Florida for online and hard-copy curriculum. Russ Edgar, the lead Florida prosecutor in the white collar criminal case against May, has produced invoices that show how Apex inflated pricing to siphon $229,756.57 from Florida’s education system and $456,551.92 from Ohio schools, including four in Akron.

“After the allegations in Florida came to light, Marcus May was immediately relieved of any managerial duties and later of his equity in Cambridge,” John Stack, co-owner of Cambridge, said in a written statement. He said Cambridge hired a forensic accountant to find out if Apex negatively impacted any Ohio schools. Once the schools were identified, the money was returned.

Stack said he no longer owns a stake in Cambridge. He did not say who does owns the company now.

Of the 18 Cambridge schools still open in Ohio, 13 signed new management contracts this summer with Oakmont Education. Stack founded the company with Marty Erbaugh, an investment banker from Hudson. Oakmont will take over Cambridge’s dropout recovery high schools for struggling teenagers and young adults.

“Oakmont doesn’t believe that any of the schools we manage were negatively affected by Marcus May’s actions or Cambridge’s management,” said Stack, who filed the paperwork to create Oakmont on March 20, four days after a Florida jury convicted one of May’s associates.

How reassuring to know that the charter schools are now in the hands of an investment banker. Don’t you feel better already?

Categories Accountability, Corruption, Florida, For-Profit, Fraud, Ohio, Scandals

Stephen Dyer: Ohio Charters Present a Picture of Incompetence, Ineffectiveness, and Malfeasance

By dianeravitch
September 1, 2018 //
11

Stephen Dyer writes on his blog about the utter haplessness of the charter industry in Ohio.

In 2015, Ohio won $71 Million from Arne Duncan’s Department of Education despite widespread reports of academic failure and corruption. In the past three years, only $1 Million has been allocated.

A study commissioned by the U.S. Department of Education reported that the state had no plans to improve the effectiveness of charter schools, no plans to be sure that were serving the neeediest kids.

Maybe from this mess might come some insight into the uselessness of running two parallel publicly funded school systems, one with oversight, the other without.

Taxpayers in Ohio are very patient. They don’t care what happens to their money.

Categories Charter Schools, Disruption, Education Industry, Failure, Ohio

Ohio: There is HOPE for a Governor Who Supports the Public Schools Attended by 85% of Students!

By dianeravitch
August 28, 2018 //
15

A reader sent these hopeful thoughts about the Democratic candidate for Governor in Ohio:

There is HOPE in Ohio. The Democratic candidate for Governor, Rich Cordray, actively sought out the endorsement of OH BATS. Not only that, he met with a group of us and allowed us to tape him replying to some of our questions. He emphatically supported an END to high stakes testing in Ohio – he said he supports reducing testing to the federal minimums which in Ohio means ending High School Exit testing and the “Third Grade Reading Guarantee” (guaranteed only to give your young child anxiety about reading and testing). OH BATS was leery about endorsing ANY candidate regardless of party because both parties have been complicit in “Reform” around the nation. However, Rich Cordray has actively sought to allay our fears – I believe he is sincere and genuine in wanting to turn things around in Ohio. He is well aware of the ECOT scandal and holds great disdain for charters (He accepted a $600 Lager contribution many years ago before the corruption was apparent – when he discovered this, he immediately donated that money to his local public school! This is way different from the tens of thousands Faber, Brenner, Husted, DeWine, and Yost took from Lager). He is THE person we need in Ohio to turn things around. I hope ALL educators rally around not only OEA and OFT’s endorsed candidate, but OH BATS endorsed candidate, Rich Cordray. Any help you can give us in spreading the word that Rich is PRO PUBLIC ED would be greatly appreciated!! I have been an avid reader and admirer of yours for several years – your pro public ed heroism is unmatched! With our current slate of candidates running for the legislature and Rich Cordray leading the ticket, I am hopeful for the first time in many, many years.

Imagine that! A potential governor in Ohio who sought out the views of OHIO BATS!

If you live in Ohio, let me know what you think of Rich Cordray. Is he the anti-Kasich? Will he restore good government and support for public schools?

Categories Ohio, Supporting public schools

Ohio: Four Radioactive Politicians Who Helped ECOT Milk $1 Billion from Taxpayers

By dianeravitch
August 24, 2018 //
7

Denis Smith writes here about four elected officials, now standing for re-election, who stood by and watched (or helped) the Electronic Classroom of Tomorrow (ECOT) as it drained money from the state’s public schools and its taxpayers. $1 billion since 2000!

If you vote in Ohio, watch out for these four:

As damaging as the charter school’s implosion was on the viability of Republican pols, the corresponding explosion ECOT’s demise is causing in state political circles continues to reverberate, particularly for four GOP ECOT stalwarts named Dave Yost, Mike DeWine, Keith Faber and Andrew Brenner.

They are not your friends. They are not friends of public education. They are not stewards of the public trust and treasury.

Rep. Keith Faber is the first case in point. [When the subject is term-limits and running yet again for some other office, you might want to get a scorecard to follow the runs, hits, and mostly errors of this Republican team.] The former Senate president and now House member is currently running for Auditor, seeking to replace current Auditor Dave Yost, who is, you guessed it, term-limited and running for Attorney General.

Faber’s way to brush off the radioactive fallout is to distribute more than $36,000 collected from ECOT to “high quality” charter schools.

Based upon past history, that’s an oxymoron, isn’t it?

Then comes Mike DeWine, a candidate for governor:

Then there’s the curious case of Mike DeWine. The term-limited Attorney General, who is now running for Governor, has decided to go after ECOT founder William Lager, his companies, and several others in high ECOT circles, including its former superintendent, treasurer, and accounting administrator.

Voodoo economics begets voodoo public policy begets voodoo charter schools begets voodoo accounting.

In DeWine’s case, his lawsuit seeks to recover from the ECOT hierarchy a portion of the $62 million ECOT is accused of over-billing the state in voodoo student attendance data.

Worst of all is Andrew Brenner, who called public schools “socialism.”

The third usual GOP suspect is House Education Committee Chair Andrew Brenner who is, you guessed it, term-limited and running for the Senate. Brenner has apparently learned the use of pejoratives from his idol, Donald Trump, the undisputed king for crafting pejoratives as a tactic to demean opponents.

Louise Valentine, Brenner’s Democratic challenger for the Senate seat asked in May if Brenner was considering returning the ECOT donations he’s received over the years. In his usual attack mode characterized by splitting hairs and deflecting the subject, Brenner said he never received any money directly from the school.

No, of course, Brenner didn’t get any money from ECOT. He got money from ECOT’s owner, William Lager!

His opponent calls him #ECOTAndy.

Last is the Auditor who claims to have brought ECOT to justice!

The final figure of the fast and furious foursome is Auditor Dave Yost who, like his colleagues memorialized here, served ECOT well as a commencement speaker, endorser, and proponent of the corrupt online charter school. In addition to scooping up more than $29,000 in campaign cash from ECOT, Yost is remembered for bestowing not just one but three awards for the school’s financial reporting.

According to a 2016 press release on the Auditor’s website, “The school’s excellent record keeping has qualified it for the Auditor of State Award with Distinction.”

There is something Orwellian in the fact that a public official offers praise for an entity which does not operate in the public interest, convenience, and necessity. Such an award demonstrates once again that voodoo economics begets voodoo public policy begets voodoo charter schools which begets voodoo accounting. Which begets an Auditor’s Award for Voodoo Accounting. With Distinction, no less.

Wow. You can’t make that one up.

Vote. Sweep out the scoundrels who stood by and applauded the raid on the state’s treasury.

Categories Accountability, Education Industry, Fraud, Ohio, Privatization

Bill Phillis: Those Poor, Poor, and Very Few Bad For-Profit Charters in Ohio

By dianeravitch
August 23, 2018 //
5

Bill Phillis, retired for many years as deputy state superintendent of education in Ohio and now the state’s most outspoken critic of charter fraud, writes on his blog about the Thomas B. Fordham Institute’s lame defense of for-profit charters:

“The myth of Ohio’s ‘for-profit’ charter school system”: A Fordham Institute’s damage control effort

An August 20 Fordham article suggests the charter industry is getting a bad rap because of the cronyism of a few charter operators. The article also attempts to justify the use of for-profit management companies by charter schools.

The notion proffered is that ECOT and the White Hat Management Company are the only bad actors in the charter industry. What about the 250 or so charter schools that took state and federal money and closed or never opened leaving kids in an education lurch? What about the other charter operations that have been reported as fostering gross irregularities, such as the Gulen charters, but not appropriately investigated by state officials? What about the Imagine Schools Inc. charter school chain that requires the charter schools to pay absurdly high rent to a real estate company allied with Imagine?

Corruption in the charter industry in Ohio and elsewhere is not confined to just a few bad actors. The industry is rife with low performance, cronyism and corruption.

In the article, the author equates a charter board hiring a management company to operate its school to a school district purchasing buses, books, etc. from the private sector. An absurd stretch!

A management company that operates charter schools performs a governmental fiduciary function and thus should be subjected to the same accountability and transparency measures as school district officials. Bus and book companies don’t operate the schools to which they sell products.

The Ohio charter industry seems beyond repair but Fordham keeps defending it.

Be it noted that the NAACP report on charter schools not only called for a moratorium on them, but called for the elimination of all for-profit charters and the for-profit management organizations that manage charters.

Categories Accountability, Charter Schools, Education Industry, For-Profit, Fraud, Ohio, Privatization

NEPC: What Does Research Say About LeBron’s New School in Akron?

By dianeravitch
August 21, 2018 //
25

The National Education Policy Center reviews plans for LeBron James’s new public school in Akron, Ohio.

Overall it gets good marks.

So are the approaches of I Promise in line with research? For the most part, yes: Practices such as providing additional resources, reducing class size, offering wraparound services like food pantries, extending learning time, and offering free college tuition to graduates are all associated with positive outcomes. But the school may face challenges in educating a large population of struggling students rather than creating heterogenous classes of children with higher and lower levels of performance. And the school’s STEM focus could end up shortchanging other important subjects such as social studies and the arts.

The school can tinker with its model. On the whole, what is most encouraging is that it is a good model for public education. No harsh disciplinary practices. A cap on class size. Wraparound services. Free college for those who persist. Extra supports where needed. Best of all, it was not created to put public education out of business, but to make it better.

The National Education Policy Center (NEPC), housed at the University of Colorado Boul-der School of Education, produces and disseminates high-quality, peer-reviewed research to inform education policy discussions. Visit us at: http://nepc.colorado.eduNEPC Resources on School Reform and Restructuringhttp://nepc.colorado.edu/publication/newsletter-LeBron3 of 3

Categories Class size, Innovation, Ohio, Supporting public schools

This is What Privatization Looks Like: Schools Bought and Sold

By dianeravitch
August 10, 2018 //
16

Why should taxpayers subsidize corporations that buy and sell schools to one another as one fails and the other picks up the offloaded franchise?

Vote them all out of office in November!

Reader Chiara wrote:

“By June of this year, White Hat’s once prolific presence in Ohio had shriveled to a single online school — Ohio Distance and Electronic Learning Academy (OHDELA) — and 10 “Life Skills” centers, which deliver computer-based GED courses to academically faltering teens and young adults.

Virginia-based Accel Schools, which is amassing an education empire the likes of which hasn’t been seen since White Hat dominated the Ohio landscape, has bought out the contract for OHDELA.

Utah-based Fusion Education Group (FusionED) is taking over contracts for seven of the Life Skills centers, including the North Akron branch in a Chapel Hill storefront at 1458 Brittain Road.

Life Skills Northeast Ohio on Larchmere Boulevard in Cleveland has hired Oakmont Education LLC, a company associated with Cambridge Education Group. White Hat could find no buyer for the last two centers, which will close at 4600 Carnegie Ave. in Cleveland and 3405 Market St. in Youngstown.

Information on White Hat’s off-loading of assets came via the schools’ sponsors: the Ohio Council of Community Schools, which oversaw OHDELA and two Life Skills schools, and St. Aloysius Orphanage, a Cincinnati social service provider. ”

This is what privatization looks like. These schools are 100% taxpayer-funded yet they’re being bought and sold by private entities.

All they’re doing is replacing one garbage contractor with others.

Ohio needs to clean house of state-level politicians and get some new people in there.

This situation will not improve until we break the stranglehold these contractors and their lobbyists have on state government.

Old wine, new bottles.

https://www.ohio.com/akron/news/local/schools-out-for-white-hat-david-brennans-pioneering-for-profit-company-exits-ohio-charter-scene

Categories Accountability, Charter Schools, Education Industry, Failure, For-Profit, Ohio, Privatization, Virtual Charter Schools
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