Ohio charter schools that misspent money still owe state $6 million
Dozens of Ohio charter schools collectively have failed to repay more than $6 million in misspent tax dollars, a first-time compilation of state audits reveals.
The improper spending involved about 40 of the tax-funded, privately operated schools and was uncovered by audits conducted between 2008 and 2014.
“A majority of the unresolved findings for recovery are against individuals who operated or worked at the schools, and many of these schools are now closed,” according to the report that Ohio Superintendent Richard A. Ross recently submitted to federal officials.
The biggest offender: former school treasurer Carl W. Shye Jr. of New Albany, who misspent a reported $2.1 million while handling finances for more than a dozen former charter schools in Columbus, Dayton and Youngstown, according to state Auditor Dave Yost.
Shye served a two-year prison sentence after pleading guilty in 2012 to embezzling nearly $500,000 from four charter schools, including the former George Washington Carver Preparatory Academy in Columbus, between 2005 and 2011.
The charter-school audit findings were compiled by the Ohio Department of Education at the request of federal regulators, who in November placed a hold on a $71 million grant awarded to the state.
The funds were to be used to open new charter schools in Ohio. But officials with the U.S. Department of Education said they were concerned about the state agency’s rigging of charter-school evaluations and wanted assurances that the grant money would be spent properly.
The federal review is ongoing, officials said on Friday.
The Dispatch reported in September that Ohio’s grant application had inaccuracies and questionable claims, including that the state had no “ poor-performing” charters in the 2012-13 school year, even though about a third failed to meet a single standard on state report cards that year.
The application also promised that only the “best-rated” charter-school sponsors would receive grant money for new schools. But former school-choice chief David Hansen, who drafted the state’s application, failed to mention he had left off grades of failing online schools from sponsor evaluations to boost their ratings.
Ohio currently spends about $1 billion a year to educate more than 120,000 students attending about 350 charter schools.
According to the report Ross submitted last week, the auditor’s office conducted 2,315 audits of charter schools between 2008 and 2014. Of those, 347 sought to recover misspent funds.
Most have been resolved or repaid. However, state officials are still seeking repayment of more than $6 million in misspent money uncovered in 99 audits of about 40 schools.
Much of the illegal spending involved undocumented or overpayments to school management companies, vendors and employees.
As Ross works to win back the federal grant, his report noted that Ohio charter schools that misspent money still owe state $6 million | The Columbus Dispatch:
