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Plan to close charter school loopholes proposed

TIFFANY L. PARKS
Special to the Legal News

Published: May 5, 2015

A plan to reform Ohio’s charter school regulations has been proposed in the state’s senate.

The charter school reform bill, similar to a pending House measure, is jointly sponsored by Sen. Tom Sawyer and Sen. Peggy Lehner, R-Kettering.

“This bill takes a significant step toward charter school regulatory reform by closing loopholes, eliminating conflicts of interest, increasing charter school sponsorship standards and most notably increasing charter school operator transparency,” Sawyer said.

“It is our belief that bad charter schools have a negative effect on the best and the brightest, and it is our intent to ensure that high-performing charter schools can continue to serve as examples of quality education.”

When lawmakers mull over charter school reform, Sawyer said he believes it’s important to first understand the history of charter school reform and education reform in general.

“Much of the reform movement dates back to 1974 and subsequently 1988, with the ideas of Ray Budde and Albert Shanker,” he said, adding that charter schools were to be legally and financially autonomous public schools, free of many of the regulatory requirements asked of traditional public schools and accountable primarily for student outcomes.

“But charter schools were also established with the intent to provide an avenue of high-quality education to students whose traditional public schools were failing and this is where Ohio has fallen short.”

Given piecemeal modifications over time, Sawyer, D-Akron, said the state’s regulations are full of loopholes that allow low-performing charter schools to remain in operation.

“The bottom line is many of our charter schools are not serving their original intent, and the academic environments that they provide are often level with or worse than the traditional school districts from which their students came,” he said.

“In the very worst cases, some charter schools have had a history of poor academic performance, financial mismanagement and even criminal activity.”

On the other hand, Sawyer said Ohio does boast many charter schools that serve not only as the best of the charter school bunch but as the “highest examples of academic achievement across all states.”

“It is with these examples that we remember the original intent of the charter school movement and present this bill,” he said of Senate Bill 148.

The bill, which had its first hearing last week before the Senate Finance/ Education Subcommittee, would require a management company that receives more than 20 percent of the annual gross revenues of a charter school to provide a detailed accounting using the accounting principles and standards set forth in all applicable pronouncements of the governmental accounting standards board.

SB 148 also would require all new and renewed agreements between the Ohio Department of Education and a sponsor to contain specific language addressing the parameters under which ODE can intervene and revoke sponsorship authority.

The bill would permit modification of the agreement under circumstances of poor fiscal management and lack of academic progress.

The measure would prohibit a person who has engaged in an act that would otherwise result in refusal, limitation or revocation of a license to teach from serving on the governing authority of a charter school and would prohibit a person who has been charged with or pleaded guilty to certain theft offenses from serving on the governing authority of a charter school.

SB 148 would remove all references to the charter school attendance policy requiring automatic withdrawal of a student if the student fails to participate in 105 consecutive hours of learning and instead clarifies that a charter school must adhere to the same attendance standard as traditional school districts.

With regard to transparency, the bill would require ODE to annually publish a directory of the names and identifying information of all charter school operators.

ODE would be charged with obtaining a copy of each contract between a governing authority and its operator every year.

The bill would require the governing authority of each charter school to adopt an annual budget by Oct. 31 of each year and specifies what information must be included.

Senate Minority Leader Joe Schiavoni, D-Boardman, who has been an advocate for charter school reform, lauded Sawyer and Lehner’s efforts to increase charter school accountability and transparency.

“I am glad to see the introduction of this bipartisan bill that will reveal more information to the public and have more accountability regarding taxpayers investments to the Ohio education system,” he said.

“While this legislation will not solve all the problems with Ohio’s charter schools, it is an important step in the right direction. As legislators, it is our job to create a quality education system that provides all children an opportunity to succeed.”

SB 148 is co-sponsored by Sens. Bill Beagle, Frank LaRose, Dave Burke, Shannon Jones, Joe Schiavoni and Kenny Yuko.

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