NEWS

After delay, Ohio charter school bill heads to Kasich

Jessie Balmert
Gannett Ohio

COLUMBUS -- After a summer of handwringing and years of abuse from irreputable actors, Ohio's overhaul of charter school oversight heads to Gov. John Kasich.

Lawmakers overwhelmingly passed changes Wednesday after intense pressure to reform how the state's publicly funded, sometimes privately run schools operate. Kasich, who is running for the Republican presidential nomination, and GOP lawmakers touted reform as a priority this spring. But the bill languished over the summer, leaving some questioning the influence of donations from powerful charter school owners.

Meanwhile, Ohio Department of Education charter school czar David Hansen resigned after omitting failing grades from groups that oversee certain charter schools. Records requested by reporters showed Hansen, who is married to Kasich's campaign manager, might have made decisions alone but several other employees were aware of his questionable ranking methods and zeal for charter schools. Those records have been forwarded to the state auditor and inspector general for review.

But the pace quickened when lawmakers returned to work this fall. A panel of legislators made tweaks Tuesday, clarifying that furniture, computers and books purchased with public money belong to the school not those operating it. That was in response to a recent Ohio Supreme Court ruling that allowed for-profit charter school operator White Hat Management to keep property after schools closed.

"I think the bill is stronger today for some of those changes," said Sen. Peggy Lehner, R-Kettering, who has championed the bill. "Could those changes have occurred in June? It's hard to say."

The oversight is important for a recently awarded $71 million grant over five years from the U.S. Department of Education to expand charter schools in Ohio. Democrats have questioned why federal officials would award the embattled system the large sum.

"We’ve arrived at this point, I think, a little bit later than many of us would have desired, but we are here nonetheless," said Rep. Mike Dovilla, R-Berea.

Another last-minute change was less welcome by the Ohio Federation of Teachers. New charter school teachers working for for-profit companies would be removed from the state pension plan. They had been paying double: once to the state pension plan and again to Social Security -- something teachers in traditional public schools don't do, Lehner said. The change would have charter teachers pay only Social Security, but the teachers' union said the panel had no authority to kill educator pensions.

Still, House members passed the changes 91-6 and the Senate passed the proposal unanimously Wednesday. Kasich is expected to sign the bill into law.

The overhaul also would:

  • Restrict "sponsor shopping" by prohibiting failing schools from switching to multiple new managers within five years unless they receive approval from the Ohio Department of Education. Denied requests could be appealed to the department.
  • Require most groups that sponsor schools to contract with the Ohio Department of Education. Those contracts can be revoked for poor academic performance or illegal activity.
  • Force board members to have criminal background checks, attend public records training and set their maximum pay to $125 per meeting — down from $425.
  • Require online schools to keep detailed records of students' hours.
  • Mandate detailed financial reports of certain operators.
  • Restrict conflicts of interest between schools and the groups that oversee them.  
  • Consider switching to the California school rating model, which predicts how students with disabilities or economic challenges will perform on a test and then compare that to actual performance. Lawmakers would study the model until December 2016 before deciding whether to make a switch. 

What's not being changed? The way taxpayers fund charter schools. A coalition of 43 Cincinnati-area school districts complained that money from local levies is being siphoned by charter schools because of the way state money flows through local public school districts.