Ohio tells federal investigators that charter schools are getting better, but evidence isn’t convincing
As the Ohio Department of Education defends itself in a federal investigation of whether it can properly manage charter schools, reports at home raise questions as to whether the department is being truthful, let alone gaining control of a movement that has cost taxpayers millions of dollars and left thousands of children without adequate academic progress.
Case in point: Next Frontier Academy on Copley Road in Akron.
Potential losses at the school weren’t included in a report to federal investigators because records were so poorly kept the state can’t figure out how much was lost, according to a state audit.
The West Akron school received $530,858 in taxpayer funding over two years for more than 60 students.
An audit for the first year found that the charter school lacked student academic and enrollment information to justify that it should have received tax dollars transferred from Akron Public Schools. The school closed this summer and there is no audit yet of what happened to public assets.
That type of nuanced information was lost in the report to federal investigators.
In working with State Auditor Dave Yost and Attorney General Mike DeWine, Ohio School Superintendent Richard Ross added up the number of charter schools with audits that required a repayment of funds for the years between 2008 and 2014.
Next Frontier’s first year couldn’t be included in Ross’ report because missing records prevented auditors from forming an opinion or issuing a monetary finding for recovery.
Ross’ report to federal investigators touted a 71 percent decline in the number of schools with audits requiring repayment of funds since 2010 (after an especially troublesome year).
A Beacon Journal review of other charter-school audits suggests that there are more like Next Frontier: Not counted because records were in disarray.
Missing the dollars
Ross’ statement to the federal government also failed to make note of another fact: How much public money was misspent in charter schools.
Ross’ spokesperson, Kim Norris, said answers to the Beacon Journal’s questions on that matter are in the report. Speaking to the Columbus Dispatch, she could not tell whether misspending is up or down.
The answer is available on the state’s website.
Auditor Yost maintains a report on misspent dollars at the thousands of public agencies his office monitors. For example, this year his office said a defunct Dayton charter school must return $1.1 million to taxpayers after failing to produce records for 240 students.
A Beacon Journal investigation, which reviewed thousands more audits from 2000 to 2014, found charter schools were far more likely to misspend public dollars than any other government agency.
Charter schools accounted for at least 70 percent of all misused tax dollars in Ohio tells federal investigators that charter schools are getting better, but evidence isn’t convincing - Break News - Ohio:
