New bill would ban charter schools from paying for ads with tax dollars
An ad for the Electronic Classroom of Tomorrow (ECOT), Ohio's largest charter school. A new bill from Senate Minority Leader Joe Schiavoni would prevent schools from spending tax dollars on ads like these. Note: We do not know how ECOT paid for this ad.
COLUMBUS, Ohio - The state would ban charter schools from using tax money to pay for advertising under a new bill introduced in the Ohio Senate today.
The proposal from Senate Minority Leader Joe Schiavoni, a Boardman Democrat, would prevent charter schools from using any tax dollars on "advertising, recruiting, or promotional materials."
Schiavoni said he regularly sees Youngstown-area charter schools having festivals, placing yard signs and advertising themselves as "tuition-free academies" to attract students.
"Public schools can't do this, so why should a charter school use tax dollars to do it?" he asked.
Schiavoni also pointed to a radio ad campaign just started by some charter schools seekinga new rating measure for schools to be used on state report cards.
Those ads, paid for by the Ohio Coalition for Quality Education, ask listeners to pressure legislators to adopt the so-called "Similar-Students Measure." The coalition wants the state to use the measure immediately, despite legislators voting just two months ago to study the plan before taking any vote.
Schiavoni's bill does not prevent charters from using donations or other money to promote themselves, just from using tax money the schools receive from the state on a per-student basis.
His proposal comes soon after school board members from across the state asked the legislature to restrict charter school ads, just in different ways.
The Ohio School Boards Association (OSBA) decided at its annual conference last month to ask the legislature to ban advertising for low-performing charter schools.
And it wants the legislature to require all charter schools to report their graduation rates and Performance Index in all ads. Performance Index is a catch-all calculation of student test scores for multiple grades and subjects.
Damon Asbury, OSBA's director of legislative services, said his members would New bill would ban charter schools from paying for ads with tax dollars | cleveland.com: