Budget boosts private & charter schools at the expense of public schools

Innovation Ohio has taken a close look at the public education implications of the budget bill making its way through the legislature

In particular, we find that HB 59:

• sends more money to charters, regardless of performance
• lowers standards for charter schools, exempting them from accountability expected of Ohio’s traditional public schools
• continues the push to privatize our public schools by union-busting and outsourcing
• sends more taxpayer money to fund private schools, and
• forces traditional schools to do more with less

They further found that the senate budget

• Cut 3 in 4 school districts compared to 2010-2011 funding levels, to the tune of $532.7 million.
• Cut 1 in 4 school districts compared to 2012-2013 funding levels.
• Continued the need for an unprecedented $1.3 billion in new school levies for operations that have appeared on local ballots since Kasich took office, and causing 82 percent of school districts to cut staff positions last year.

You can download their report, here.

Why such inequity? Some reason it is because for-profit charter school operators such as David Brennan and William Lager are such huge contributors to the very politicians making these inequitable decisions

Brennan and Lager are the top individual contributors to the Republican leadership in the House and Senate (or close to it) . And they're no slouches when it comes to Gov. John Kasich either. They've given nearly $1 million to politicians since 2008.

It should come as little surprise then, that even though Brennan and Lager operate some of the worst charter schools in the state, they are receiving some of the largest increases in state spending - even more than some of their higher performing charter school peers.

Maureen Reedy, Ohio teacher running for office

Diane Ravitch, writing about 2002 teacher of the year and Ohio House candidate for distrcit 24, Maureen Reedy

Maureen Reedy, a teacher in Ohio for 29 years, was Ohio teacher of the year in 2002. Now she is running for the Ohio House of Representatives.

She deserves the support of every taxpayer, parent, and citizen in Ohio.

She is angry at the waste of taxpayer dollars for bad, deregulated charter schools. Forget what you read in The Economist about the miracle of privately managed charters. As she points out below, half the charter schools in the state are in academic emergency or academic watch, compared with only one in 11 public schools.

She is especially outraged by the rapacious cyber charters. As she points out in this article, two of Ohio’s major charter sponsors have collected nearly a billion dollars of Ohio taxpayer dollars since 1999:

Charter schools are a poor investment of Ohio’s education dollars and have a worse track record than public schools in our state; there are twice as many failing charter schools as successful ones, and one in two charter schools is either in academic emergency or academic watch, compared with only one in 11 traditional public-school buildings. Five of seven of Ohio’s largest electronic-charter-school districts’ graduation rates are lower than the state’s worst public-school system’s graduation rate, and six of seven of the electronic charter schools districts are rated less than effective.

And finally, the Electronic Classroom of Tomorrow has failed in every identified state category for eight years, a worse track record than the Cleveland City School system, which is under threat of being shut down by the state. The Electronic Classroom of Tomorrow is run by unlicensed administrators. Lager, in addition to his $3 million salary, earned an additional $12 million funneled through his software company, which sells products to his charter-school corporation. Just how much does the average teacher in the Electronic Classroom of Tomorrow earn you may ask? Approximately $34,000 per year.

Why do the Governor and the Legislature look the other way? Why are they quadrupling the number of vouchers and reducing oversight of the state’s troubled charter schools?

That’s easy:

I am appalled at the direct pipeline funneling vital state dollars for our children’s education directly into the pockets of millionaires like David L. Brennan, chief executive officer of White Hat Management ($6 million yearly salary) and William Lager, CEO of the state’s ninth-largest school district, the Electronic Classroom of Tomorrow ($3 million yearly salary).

Let’s follow the money trail of political contributions by these two for-profit charter-school CEOs to high-ranking GOP legislators. In the past decade, Brennan and Lager have donated a combined $5 million to high-ranking GOP legislators, including Gov. John Kasich, Lt. Gov. Mary Taylor, House Speaker William G. Batchelder and Sen. Kevin Bacon, chairman of the Senate Committee on Insurance, Commerce and Labor.

Why isn’t the U.S. Department of Education blowing the whistle on these scandals?

Is education reform about improving education or about lining the pockets of campaign contributors?

Not a hard question in Ohio.

You can find out more about Maureen Reedy by visiting her website, www.maureenreedy.com.

E-School Catastrophe in Ohio

The budget bill (HB153) currently being debated in the Ohio General Assembly contains provisions that would lock in the near monopoly a few E-School operators enjoy in Ohio, and remove some of the last vestigates of accountability. What is happening ot students in Ohio's E-schools is shocking.

Education Sector, who identify themselves as an independent think tank that challenges conventional thinking in education policy, recently ran a multipart series on E-Schools in Ohio

• Part I: Learning from Data on Ohio E-Schools
• Part II: Ohio’s ‘Statewide’ E-Schools
• Part III: Ohio’s ‘Regional’ Schools
• Part IV: Ohio’s ‘Local’ E-Schools
• Part V: Does Size Determine E-School Performance?
• http://www.quickanded.com/2011/05/part-vi-who-are-ohio-e-school-students.html
• Part VII: Student Mobility in Ohio E-Schools
• Five National Policy Implications from Ohio’s E-Schools

The entire series is worth a read, but I want to draw your attention to one of their conclusions

5. Ensure Transparency

I'll send a $25 Starbuck's gift card to the first commenter who can tell me how, from looking at the school's web site, they figured out who actually runs OHDELA, the Ohio Distance and Electronic Learning Academy.

Throughout our exploration of Ohio E-schools, we found numerous examples where it was almost impossible to figure out who actually governed and managed a school. When trying to determine whether another school was managed by a for-profit company, the school told us they were a state-run school, the Department of Education didn't know and referred us to the school's authorizer, who then referred us to an outside consultant who could finally give an answer. Many districts also appear to take a hands-off approach and can provide little information about the e-schools they sponsor. These relationships are new and lack clarity on both accountability, and utimately, who actually runs the school under the guise of these districts. For example, prior to enrollment, many parents would have no idea who was providing the curriculum for their district's e-school prior unless they knew to visit TRECA's web site.

These aren't isolated findings. Think Tank Innovation Ohio found similar problems, and worse.

• Of Ohio’s 7 state-wide E-schools (which account for 90% of all E-school enrollment), six are not even rated "effective" by the Ohio Department of Education.
• 5 of the 7 have graduation rates worse than Cleveland Municipal Schools, which has the lowest graduation rate of all traditional school districts.
• Far from “saving’ money, E-Schools actually cost the state twice as much per pupil as traditional public schools.
• Currently, E-schools are required to spend a minimum amount on per pupil instruction, or face a fine. In their respective budget proposals, both Gov. Kasich and House Republicans removed that provision. This would short-change students, and allow E-school operators to pocket even more taxpayer money.
• Ohio pays David Brennan nearly $12 million per year for operating the OHDELA E-school, which graduates just 36% of its students. Another operator, William Lager, rakes in $64 million per year for operating ECOT, the state’s largest E-school, which has a graduation rate of 35%.
• Together, Misters Brennan and Lager have made nearly $4 million in political donations since 2001, mostly to Republican candidates and party accounts.
• Though Gov. Kasich and General Assembly leaders say they believe in “accountability,” the legislature has still not adopted the E-school standards developed by the state Board of Education in 2003, while ever more taxpayer money is pumped into the failed schools operated by their financial contributors.

Their whole report can be read here, or below.

Ohio Eschools Funding Failure

There is something very seriously wrong with E-Schools in Ohio. These problems require immediate attention, both from the Auditor of State to ascertain where and how tax dollars are truly being spent, but also the Department of Education to determine why they have such abysmal academic performance.