The state has put three charter schools in the city on notice that they could be shut down for poor academic performance -- Imagine Cleveland and the Villaview and Cleveland Community School partnership.

"The School's performance has generally been a failure," the Ohio Department of Education said in letters to each of the schools. "The school has completely failed to meet the student performance requirements of the contract and generally has a long history of poor academic performance."

All three are failing to manage their budgets properly, ODE also said in the letters, and the Villaview and Cleveland Community School partnership could face ethics charges.

"The Governing Authority and (Superintendent Lillian) Brown may have also violated state ethic and criminal laws related to Ms. Brown moving from the Board chairperson to the Superintendent's position at a salary," the letter to those two schools reads.