COLUMBUS, Ohio – The Democratic leader of the state Senate has put online charter schools in his crosshairs again this year, while Republicans in the state House are sorting out possible new ways of paying for the controversial e-schools.
Senate Minority Leader Joe Schiavoni, of Boardman, reintroduced this week a bill from last year that would require e-schools to track and report student participation in online classes, not just “offer” them online and not make sure students learn anything.
“It’s no longer acceptable for e-schools to simply place classes online and expect funding from the state,” Schiavoni said.
That distinction has been the center of an ongoing battle between the Ohio Department of Education and several online charter schools, most notably the Electronic Classroom of Tomorrow (ECOT), Ohio’s largest charter.
In an effort to make sure that students are being educated for the $267 million the state pays online schools each year, the department has been demanding log-in records of students to track activity. With schools unable to provide evidence of student activity, the state is seeking recovery of millions from several schools, more than $60 million from ECOT alone.
Though the Franklin County Common Pleas Court has backed the department’s efforts, ECOT continues to appeal, both in court and to the state school board.
Schiavoni’s bill would not affect previous years, but would make the law more clear for the future.
Multiple studies have shown that online schools regularly score well below students in other schools on state tests, even when accounting for poverty and other disadvantages students have.
Schiavoni said the state can’t keep paying millions to schools that are not serving students.
“That is not workable,” he said.
Republicans in the Ohio House are working on a few other bills that would change how online schools are paid, said State Rep. Andrew Brenner, chairman of the House Education Committee. The bills may also challenge many assumptions behind the funding of traditional schools that also have poor test results.
Details will be available later this month.
In the past, Ohio has paid all schools based on their enrollment, not results. But Brenner said that leaves lots of gray areas, both for e-schools and traditional school districts. Being enrolled is different from attending classes, for example, and even attending class doesn’t mean you are learning.
“Why are we paying Cleveland if the schools aren’t performing?” he asked.
The Cleveland school district had F grades in all major areas on its last state report card.
Brenner said the new bills later will look at how to balance enrollment, learning and participation in class.
“We haven’t had a proper discussion of what a full time student is,” Brenner said, since there are so many variables. “What is the approprioate amount of money for a particular student?”
Schiavoni’s bill adds a few other requirements for online schools:
– That they track student activity daily and report it to the Ohio Department of Education each month, not just make that information available to the state auditor if requested.
– Notify the state, the local school district and parents if a student fails to log in for 10 days.
– Broadcast all meetings of their school boards on the internet, so parents that live far away can watch. Many e-schools have statewide enrollment.
– Counts state test scores of students that spend 90 or more days at an e-school toward that school’s state report card, even if they leave. Schiavonni wants to avoid students falling behind at online schools, leaving before state tests and hurting district scores.
– That when the state auditor finds violations at an e-school, any money is returned to the local school districts.
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