Yost told the House Education Committee on Tuesday that the state should require more accountability over how students spend online hours in blended-learning charter schools and only let highly ranked charter sponsors offer that model.
He also said the state should place liens on community school buildings so poor management doesn’t lead to a real estate windfall if the charter fails and closes quickly; change charter schools’ accounting model to match that used by traditional schools; bar the Ohio Department of Education from sponsoring charter schools since the department also oversees community schools; and require fiduciary duty of charter school treasurers so that they have a legal responsibility to act in the school’s best financial interest.
Yost also said the state needs to align charter school attendance laws to truancy laws followed by traditional schools where students can’t miss more than seven consecutive days unexcused, 10 days in a month or 15 days in a school year.
If a charter student misses more than 105 consecutive hours — nearly a month of school — the student must be withdrawn. But if the same student misses 104 hours then shows up for one day, he gets a new 105-hour clock and the charter school continues to receive funding for that child.
House Education Committee Chairman Bill Hayes, R-Granville, said his panel will make substantial changes to House Bill 2 and move it out of committee next week. The bill calls for restrictions on low-performing charters, safeguards against conflicts of interest and more oversight and disclosures.
The Ohio 8 — a coalition of the state’s eight largest school districts — said in written testimony that House Bill 2 needs more specifics on public auditing requirements for charters and on how a closed charter can re-open. The coalition suggested prohibiting closed charters from re-opening under a new name with the same players in charge.
In the Ohio Senate, Education Committee Chairwoman Peggy Lehner, R-Kettering, said she will introduce a comprehensive reform package this month that will include proposals from the Kasich administration, House and others.
In 1997, Ohio lawmakers authorized charter schools. Nearly 20 years later, 118,000 of Ohio’s 1.7 million public school students attend some 370 charter schools at a cost of almost $1 billion.
Ohio Department of Education spokesman John Charlton said ODE tightened charter oversight in the past year by focusing on the sponsors who apply to open schools. Those sponsors now have to go through a tougher evaluation process. They will be graded via the state’s report card system and their initial funding will depend on better accounting of anticipated enrollment.
Aaron Churchill, Ohio research director for the Fordham Institute, which sponsors 11 Ohio charter schools, said more scrutiny at the sponsor level is appropriate. Churchill said most people agree on language eliminating conflicts of interest in school contracting for charters, but added there are disagreements about the pace of change and how charters are funded.
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