Charter schools need more accountability, expert panel agrees
State education funding better, needs improvement
CINCINNATI - Ohio’s rapidly expanding voucher and charter schools funding lacks critical accountability testing and consequences for poorly performing schools, a bipartisan panel of educators and state legislators involved in education agreed Thursday.
The five-member panel was convened by the University of Cincinnati’s Economics Center to discuss the recently passed biennial state education budget. A standing-room-only crowd of mostly superintendents, principals and other educators listened intently.
The budget, which was proposed by Gov. John Kasich and modified by the Republican-dominated legislature, increases funding to traditional public schools by 4 percent to more than $15 billion compared to the previous year. The state’s 370-plus charter schools will also see a 4 percent increase in funding.
The five-member panel was convened by the University of Cincinnati’s Economics Center to discuss the recently passed biennial state education budget. A standing-room-only crowd of mostly superintendents, principals and other educators listened intently.
The budget, which was proposed by Gov. John Kasich and modified by the Republican-dominated legislature, increases funding to traditional public schools by 4 percent to more than $15 billion compared to the previous year. The state’s 370-plus charter schools will also see a 4 percent increase in funding.
Charter school funding has ballooned from a $10 million pilot program in Toledo a decade ago to $900 million, according to Dr. Carlee Escue, an assistant professor in UC’s college of education. She said charters have been plagued by high teacher turnover, exorbitant salaries among for-profit charter owners and poor academic performances.
“I have a hard time accepting those types of funding level when I’m trying to educate my children in public schools,” Escue said.
Ohio Senator Peggy Lehner, a Republican who serves on the education finance subcommittee who
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