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Press Statement From The Ohio Education Association

Posted on: Wednesday, 11 October 2006, 18:00 CDT

COLUMBUS, Ohio, Oct. 11 /PRNewswire/ -- A report by the Fordham Institute, a pro-charter school think tank, acknowledged poor academic performance at many of Ohio charter schools and a failure of state oversight needed to close the poorest performing charter schools. The report promised increased accountability, but failed to recommend any new government authority to deal directly with poor charter operators, OEA said.

Moreover, a new Ohio Education Association report on charter school achievement and traditional school achievement finds a pattern of under- performing charter schools and a disruptive scramble for scarce education funds in the current unchecked expansion of charter schools. (See "Charter School Competition and Academic Achievement - October 2006" in the News and Communications section of http://www.ohea.org/.)

The Fordham Institute report, "Turning the Corner on Quality," was requested by Gov. Bob Taft, State Superintendent of Instruction Susan Zelman, House Speaker John Husted and Senate President Bill Harris. The report acknowledges the obvious charter school problems in Ohio:

* "A subset of Ohio charter schools is performing abysmally." * "Leaving 78 percent of Ohio's (charter school) sponsors out of a sponsor evaluation system seriously undermines the state's ability to hold charter sponsors accountable."

Despite acknowledging that "too many students attend charter schools that have not demonstrated their value over time," the report is really a wish-list for charter schools:

* Ending Ohio's moratorium on new charter schools * Tapping millions in new state funds for new charter school facilities * Reducing reporting and compliance regulations for charter schools * $180 million in new state funding

The report's No. 1 recommendation for "a 'house-cleaning' process to close the poorest performing charter schools" puts charter sponsors in charge of enforcement, not state or local public school officials. But non-profit sponsors frequently have close ties to for-profit charter operators, who would escape government regulation under the Fordham recommendations.

That means the policies would not apply to charter school operators like David Brennan's White Hat Management Co., the largest and most-criticized for- profit charter operator in Ohio. Brennan and his family have made substantial contributions to Ohio political campaigns, including those of all three political office holders who asked for the Fordham Institute study.

The Ohio Education Association, a member of the Coalition for Public Education, supports stronger monitoring and enforcement mechanisms at Ohio charter schools, including:

* An Ohio Board of Education evaluation tool to be used by the non-profit sponsors of all charter schools in order to determine whether or not to renew school contracts, with the results to be posted on the Ohio Department of Education web site. * Withholding funds for charter schools that willfully submit inaccurate or incomplete academic performance and fiscal data. * An end to the distorted reporting of charter school academic performance, which provides favorable ratings to charter schools that have failed to test students or provide performance data required by law. * A continuation of both the moratorium on new charter schools, and a closer study of the effects of the charter school experiment on students.

Ohio's charter schools are asking for more money, less regulation and preferential treatment, without a genuine commitment to accountability for their academic and fiscal performance, OEA concluded.

The Ohio Education Association represents 130,000 teachers, faculty members, and support professionals in Ohio's public schools, colleges and universities.

Ohio Education Association

CONTACT: Michele Prater of Ohio Education Association, +1-614-227-3071,or cell +1-614-378-0469

Web site: http://www.ohea.org/

Source: PRNewswire

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