Chris Balusik

Chillicothe Gazette

KINNIKINNICK - The Ohio Department of Education has taken nearly $1.5 million from the Zane Trace Local School District over the past seven years and given it to state charter schools, so the Zane Trace Board of Education sent a message to the state last week:

We want it back.

Zane Trace is one of a growing number of Ohio public school districts that have taken the symbolic step of sending an invoice to ODE, in essence billing the state agency for the amount of state aid money diverted to charter schools. Zane Trace's board dealt with a resolution last week to send an invoice for $1,499,672 to the state as the amount of money it has lost to charters since 2009, stating that privately run charter schools have "demonstrated an overall low academic performance compared to public schools."

The resolution also states the charter school industry "has created a climate of waste, fraud, abuse and corruption," that the state's inability to effectively police charter schools has cost the state a $71 million federal grant, and that the money lost to charters has "reduced educational programs and opportunities to Zane Trace" students. The allegations are similar to those levied by several districts across Ohio.

Zane Trace Superintendent Jerry Mowery said the dozens of districts who have sent invoices to the state have acted on recommendations from public school advocates and organizations in Ohio.

"Many schools across the state are invoicing the Ohio Department of Education or Governor (John) Kasich's office for the lack of accountability, both achievement-wise and fiscally, for the last few years," Mowery said. "The purpose is to implement the same accountability standards for charter schools as public schools."

While the districts sending the invoices don't expect to see the funds show up in their bank accounts, they do hope their concerns are taken seriously.

Paint Valley Superintendent Tim Winland said his district's board is considering a resolution similar to Zane Trace's and that the district loses around a quarter-million dollars annually — a significant amount for a smaller district like Paint Valley — to charters, primarily in the form of charter online academies.

"The charter school industry — I call it an industry because they are in the business of profit unlike the public school system — is basically the Wild West," Winland said. "This whole industry is unregulated, they do not have to play by the same rules as the public school system. The larger, or more alarming, issue is that our state legislature is funding charter schools with public tax dollars, and these schools go largely unchecked."

Winland said he thinks there are people in the legislature, governor's office and ODE who want education privatized and that the way charter schools are treated "is calculated and purposeful to bring about the systematic demise of public education."

The Adena Local Schools Board of Education had a similar resolution to invoice ODE on its Tuesday agenda.

Huntington Superintendent Keith Stevenson said while he supports a parent's right to choose a child's educational path, that path must offer a proper education with the same accountability as other methods. Diverting public money to charters is not the answer, he said, adding that the data has shown the current model of diverting public money to charters as being a "dismal failure."

Students who leave a public district for a charter, he noted, often are doing so because of problems at home or struggles with social skills that create difficulties at school. Those students usually do not fare any better in a charter situation and end up back in their home districts, he said, but by then are further behind in their educational progress.

In contrast, Stevenson pointed out that private schools as an alternative for parents, many of them formed around religious lines, are awarded little state funding and must rely on the thousands of dollars parents must pay in tuition. Those schools, he noted, typically have committed teachers and administrators making less money than their public counterparts and parents who are invested in their kids' education, yet they don't get the state support most charters do.

"Children are entitled to a free public education, not a free private education," he said.

Chillicothe Superintendent Jon Saxton said he supports the idea behind the invoice protests, but that the Chillicothe board has not discussed such a resolution. For Chillicothe, he said greater concerns involve the effect of open enrollment, the loss of tangible personal property tax dollars and having some districts such as Chillicothe limited in their financing by a cap in the foundation formula.

The Ohio Charter School Accountability Project has established a website at knowyourcharter.com to allow state residents to enter their home school district's name and find out what, based on ODE data, it is losing to charters and how those charters match up to the public district in terms of performance grade, teacher experience,

ODE, meanwhile, states that charter schools — which it refers to as community schools — are held accountable through performance rankings on their state school report cards and required annual assessments, with failure to show adequate yearly progress carrying similar consequences as public schools. It also notes charter schools can be suspended or have their contracts terminated if they fail to meet their contractual requirements, show problems with financial management or have conditions that present a safety hazard for children.

The Ohio Alliance for Public Charter Schools has said there are several myths about charters that are used by opponents in debates such as this. The organization states they are public schools since they are tuition-free and must accept anyone who wants to enroll. They are subject to state testing, financial audits and state academic standards, the organization says, must have licensed and certified teachers and are under the oversight of ODE.

The alliance also calls the accusation that they divert money from public education a myth, stating that charters operate with about two-thirds of traditional school per-pupil funding to cover facility and transportation costs, and in most cases do not see funds from local school levies.