School choice. Doesn't that sound nice? It seems to ring of sounds we all hold dear: liberty, equality and the pursuit of excellence in education. The sad truth is, however, that Ohio's charter schools are a mess.
According to a study released late last year and commissioned by the pro-charter Fordham Institute, of the 68 criteria on which public and charter schools are compared, 56 of those criteria indicate that charter schools have a negative impact on students versus public schools. For example, the average Ohio charter school student completed 14 fewer days of learning in reading and 36 fewer days in math than the average public school student.
The results are so bad that a member of the pro-charter Hoover Institution told the City Club of Cleveland, "I am actually a pro-market kind of girl, but it doesn't seem to work in a choice environment for education."
Recent Ohio school report cards show charter schools receiving more Fs than As, Bs and Cs combined. Over 60 percent of the state's charter schools earned Ds or Fs last year, according to knowyourcharter.com, which gathers its information from the Ohio Department of Education.
Charter school performance is so bad that even Gov. Kasich has vowed to get tough with underperforming charter schools in 2015.
(Read more at the Sandusky Register)