As part of the recent school report card revamp, the legislature directed the Ohio Department of Education to rank and sort schools. If the goal was to shame traditional public schools, the release of that ranking has backfired spectacularly. The ranking can be downloaded here.
Out of the bottom 200 districts, just 21 are traditional public schools, the remaining 179 are charter schools!. Considering there are far more traditional public schools in Ohio than charters this is an incredible result.
In the bottom 100, only 3 are public districts (Dayton, East Cleveland, and Warrensville Heights) the remaining schools are all charters. The bottom 100 are all listed below.
In light of this stunning news of charter failure, Dick Ross, the state superintendent was asked about it
Mr. Ross said he visits a lot of high-quality charter schools. "When I hear people criticizing community schools, I say well, yeah, but you know I've been to some and seen some not so good traditional schools," he said.
When asked if Ohio's closure laws for charters are adequate, he said, "I think we probably need to do more with dealing with traditional brick and mortar schools and community schools."
"Right now poor-performing school districts, I'm able to start academic distress committees with them. I probably, to be honest, have more control over closing community schools than I do traditional schools..."
It is stunning that the State Superintendent, when faced with incontrovertible evidence of the the failure of charter schools instead points towards traditional public schools, of which only 3 districts appear in the bottom 100, as an area he wants to focus on. This should come as no surprise as Ross recently hired a tea party reactionary to oversee the charter school disaster in Ohio, even though that reactionary is more interested in bashing teachers unions that addressing charter school quality.
Make no mistake, Dick Ross is failing Ohio's students by the blindness caused by his ideological crusade.
| 2013 PI Ranking | District Name | District Org Type | 2013 Grade Span |
| 762 | Horizon Science Academy-Cincinnati | Community School | K-12 |
| 763 | Summit Academy Toledo Learning Center | Community School | K-12 |
| 764 | Southern Ohio Academy | Community School | 7-12 |
| 764 | Urbana Community School | Community School | K-12 |
| 766 | Lakeland Academy Community School | Community School | K-12 |
| 767 | Groveport Community School | Community School | K-8 |
| 768 | STEAM Academy of Warren | Community School | K-8 |
| 769 | Dayton City | Public District | K-12 |
| 770 | Arts and Science Preparatory Academy | Community School | K-12 |
| 771 | Summit Academy Transition High School-Columbus | Community School | 8-12,UNG |
| 772 | Hope Academy Cuyahoga Campus | Community School | K-8 |
| 773 | Hope Academy Chapelside Campus | Community School | K-8 |
| 774 | Hope Academy University | Community School | K-8 |
| 775 | Summit Academy Akron Middle School | Community School | 5-10,UNG |
| 776 | Summit Academy Akron Elementary School | Community School | K,1-10,UNG |
| 777 | East Cleveland City | Public District | K-12 |
| 778 | Imagine Hill Avenue | Community School | K-12 |
| 779 | Horizon Science Academy Dayton Downtown | Community School | K-12 |
| 780 | Knight Academy | Community School | 4-8 |
| 781 | South Scioto Academy | Community School | K-12 |
| 782 | Horizon Science Academy-Dayton | Community School | K-12 |
| 783 | City Day Community School | Community School | K-8 |
| 784 | North Central Academy | Community School | 6-12 |
| 785 | Constellation Schools: Mansfield Community Middle | Community School | 4-8 |
| 786 | Dayton Leadership Academies-Dayton Liberty Campus | Community School | K-8 |
| 787 | Ashland County Community Academy | Community School | 9-12 |
| 788 | Bella Academy of Excellence | Community School | K-8 |
| 789 | North Dayton School Of Science & Discovery | Community School | K-8 |
| 790 | Springfield Academy of Excellence | Community School | K-6 |
| 791 | A+ Children's Academy | Community School | K-12 |
| 792 | Midnimo Cross Cultural Community School | Community School | K-12 |
| 793 | Eagle Academy | Community School | K-12 |
| 794 | Pearl Academy | Community School | K-12 |
| 795 | Lakewood Digital Academy | Community School | K-12 |
| 796 | Northpointe Academy | Community School | K-12 |
| 797 | Cincinnati Speech & Reading Intervention Center | Community School | K-8 |
| 798 | C.M. Grant Leadership Academy | Community School | K-8 |
| 799 | Harvard Avenue Community School | Community School | K-8 |
| 800 | Educational Academy for Boys & Girls | Community School | K-12 |
| 801 | Foxfire Intermediate School | Community School | K-8 |
| 802 | Summit Academy Community School-Parma | Community School | K,1-12,UNG |
| 803 | Summit Academy Alternative LearnersWarren Middle & Secondary | Community School | 5-12,UNG |
| 804 | Focus Learning Academy of Northern Columbus | Community School | K-8 |
| 805 | Warrensville Heights City | Public District | K-12 |
| 806 | Lorain High School Digital | Community School | K-12 |
| 807 | Constellation Schools: Outreach Academy for Students with Di | Community School | K-12 |
| 808 | Summit Academy Community School - Painesville | Community School | K,1-10,UNG |
| 809 | Summit Academy Community School - Cincinnati | Community School | K,1-8,UNG |
| 810 | Autism Model School | Community School | K-12 |
| 811 | Southside Academy | Community School | K-12 |
| 812 | Lake Erie Academy | Community School | K-12 |
| 813 | Summit Academy Community School-Warren | Community School | K,1-10,UNG |
| 814 | Dayton Leadership Academies-Dayton View Campus | Community School | K-8 |
| 815 | Summit Acdy Comm Schl for Alternative Learners of Middletown | Community School | K,1-10,UNG |
| 816 | Garfield Academy | Community School | K-12 |
| 817 | Summit Academy Middle School - Lorain | Community School | 5-10,UNG |
| 818 | Star Academy of Toledo | Community School | K-12 |
| 819 | Summit Academy-Youngstown | Community School | K-12 |
| 820 | Columbus Bilingual Academy-North | Community School | K-8 |
| 821 | Summit Academy Community School - Dayton | Community School | K,1-12,UNG |
| 822 | Youngstown Academy of Excellence | Community School | K-12 |
| 823 | Academy of Educational Excellence | Community School | K-5 |
| 824 | V L T Academy | Community School | K-12 |
| 825 | Summit Academy Secondary School - Middletown | Community School | 8-12,UNG |
| 826 | Imagine Woodbury Academy | Community School | K-8 |
| 827 | Imagine Cleveland Academy | Community School | K-6 |
| 828 | Cesar Chavez College Preparatory School | Community School | K-5 |
| 829 | Klepinger Community School | Community School | K-8 |
| 830 | Renaissance Academy | Community School | K-12 |
| 831 | Premier Academy of Ohio | Community School | 6-12 |
| 832 | Summit Academy Community School Alternative Learners -Xenia | Community School | K,1-10,UNG |
| 833 | Cincinnati Leadership Academy | Community School | K-8 |
| 834 | Summit Academy Secondary - Canton | Community School | 8-12,UNG |
| 835 | Quest Community School | Community School | 9-12 |
| 836 | Summit Academy Middle School - Columbus | Community School | 5-12,UNG |
| 837 | Summit Academy Community School for Alternative Learn-Canton | Community School | K,1-10,UNG |
| 838 | Summit Academy Community School Alternative Learners-Lorain | Community School | K,1-10,UNG |
| 839 | Believe to Achieve-Canton | Community School | K-12 |
| 840 | Summit Academy Community School-Columbus | Community School | K,1-10,UNG |
| 841 | Imagine on Superior | Community School | K-6 |
| 842 | Summit Academy Community School-Toledo | Community School | K,1-10,UNG |
| 843 | Accelerated Achievement Academy of East Cincinnati | Community School | 9-12 |
| 844 | Cleveland Community School | Community School | K-12 |
| 845 | Villaview Community School | Community School | K-9 |
| 846 | Dow Leadership Institute, The | Community School | K-12 |
| 847 | Broadway Academy | Community School | K-8 |
| 848 | Young Scholars Prep School | Community School | K-12 |
| 849 | Woodland Academy | Community School | K-12 |
| 850 | Summit Academy Secondary - Youngstown | Community School | 8-12,UNG |
| 851 | Accelerated Achievement Academy of North Cincinnati | Community School | 9-12 |
| 852 | Brookwood Academy | Community School | 3-12 |
| 853 | College Hill Leadership Academy | Community School | K-8 |
| 854 | Mollie Kessler | Community School | 1-8 |
| 855 | Theodore Roosevelt Public Community School | Community School | K-12 |
| 856 | Mansfield Elective Academy | Community School | K-9 |
| 857 | Imagine Integrity Academy | Community School | K-8 |
| 858 | Hope Academy for Autism | Community School | K-12 |
| 859 | Believe To Achieve-Cleveland | Community School | K-12 |
| 860 | East End Comm Heritage School | Community School | K-12 |
| 861 | Virtual Schoolhouse, Inc. | Community School | K-12 |
| 862 | UBAH Math & Reading Academy | Community School | K-8 |
How can Dick Ross and the Governor look at that list and think that Ohio's charter school status quo is acceptable?