Charter schools fail superintendent’s test
By JOSEPH KOZIOL JR.
NEWBURY — Newbury School Superintendent Richard Wagner is mad as hell and is not going to take it anymore.
Mr. Wagner fired what he called the “first salvo” Monday in what could be a war of words with state politicians who have diverted public dollars to charter schools.
Charter schools, also known in Ohio as community schools, are publicly funded primary and second schools. They are considered public schools, so tuition is free. However, they have more flexibility in how they operate than traditional public schools do. In Ohio, charter schools are operated under contract with sponsoring entities.
Approximately 95,000 of Ohio’s 1.8 million students were enrolled in charter schools in the 2010-11 school year, when 326 of them were operating.
Referring to an email from the Lorain County Superintendents Association, Mr. Wagner noted that nearly $777 million of taxpayers’ money has been diverted
