CINCINNATI – Today, Auditor of State candidate and State Representative John Patrick Carney joined southwest Ohio leaders to voice concerns about local public tax dollars being lost to failing charter schools in Hamilton and Butler Counties.
The most recent Ohio Department of Education report card data shows thousands of dollars in school funding are being diverted from highly ranked public schools to lower ranked or failing charter schools.
John Patrick Carney said the data raises a host of questions concerning the funding and operation of charter schools in Ohio.
“All schools and administrators should be held to the same level of accountability, regardless of whether they are public schools or charter schools,” said Rep. Carney. “Families have the right that their tax dollars are going to schools that deserve it and that their children are being provided the best education possible to allow them to succeed.”
John Patrick Carney made two stops in southwest Ohio to share the facts and figures to ensure families are aware how the problem affects the problem affects their specific communities.
Ohio House District 28 State Representative Candidate Micah Kamrass and Rep. Denis Driehaus (D-District 31) joined in the conversation in Reading. Attorney General Candidate David Pepper joined for both the event in Reading and one in West Chester.
“This is a statewide problem,” said Pepper. “It’s a tragedy when it comes to dollars lost, but also when it comes to education lost.”
Dominick Lijoi, a parent whose children attended Lakota Local School District, agreed with John Patrick Carney’s sentiments that more needs to be done to stop the loss of tax payer money. “Good education enables the American Dream,” said Lijoi. “Taking money from higher performing public school districts and giving it to speculative marginal charter schools is hurting all our children’s chances at achieving their dreams. I’m out here supporting these candidates because they want to bring oversight back into the system.”
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BACKGROUND
$476,862,520.35 has been transferred to failing charter schools across the state of Ohio.**
$83,471,754.27 has been transferred from “A” rated public schools to “F” rated charter schools in Ohio.**
The Reading Community City School District Loses $337,451 to poorer performing charter schools, despite maintaining “A’s” and “B’s” on State Report Cards**
Reading Community City SD loses 9% of total state aid to pay for just 3% of students to receive a worse education, meaning $163 less per student who stay in Reading.**
Cincinnati Public Schools is #4 in losing money to poorer performing charters; losing $48-million or 30% of its state aid.**
Schools in HD 28 lose $5.6 million to charter schools.**
Lakota Local School District is an ‘A’ rated public school district yet it lost $2.3 million to poorer performing charters in 2012-2013. **
Also in Butler County, Hamilton City SD lost $2.8 million and Middletown City SD lost $2.3 million to poorer performing charter schools. **
Rep. John Patrick Carney Spoke out Against Expanding Charter Schools and Eliminating Accountability – According to the Columbus Dispatch, “Rep. John Patrick Carney, D-Clintonville, called it a charter school ‘operator’s bill of rights.’” [Columbus Dispatch, 5/3/11]
Rep. John Patrick Carney introduced HB 520 to mandate open records for charter schools.
Overview of the bill:
- Requires the Auditor of State to annually audit each community school operator and each community school sponsor, covering only public funds for nonpublic operators and sponsors.
- Requires each community school to establish a public records commission and public records retention schedule as is required of public school districts.
- Requires nonpublic operators and nonpublic sponsors of a community school to comply with public records pertaining to all records that deal with the management of sponsorship of the school.
** data compiled from ODE Performance Indicators from the 2012-2013 school year, designating a ‘grade’ based on the number of Performance Indicators met.