The Coalition for Public Education of which ORTA is a member has been asked to testify at Rep. Dyer's charter school hearings. A Coalition representative will testify today (Thurs June 3 at 3 pm).

The following is a draft prepared by the lobbyists. The structure of this testimony takes into consideration the needs of individual organizations in the Coalition.

This is an opportunity to really make some of the things we have been working toward come to fruition.

ORTA Executive Director Ann Hanning will be attending as one of the other (non-testifying) coalition representatives. 

Good afternoon Chairman Dyer, committee members.

Thank you for the opportunity to speak to you this afternoon on behalf of the Coalition for Public Education (CPE). My name is Barbara Shaner from the Ohio Association of School Business Officials (OASBO), and I serve as chairperson of the Coalition. We are a statewide alliance of education, parent and civic organizations interested in improving public education for Ohio’s children and increasing accountability to taxpayers. With me today to deliver testimony is Michelle Francis with the Ohio School Boards Association; Tom Ash, Buckeye Association of School Administrators; Matt Dotson, Ohio Education Association; Darold Johnson, Ohio Federation of Teachers; Sandy Nekoloff, Ohio Parent Teacher Association; and Joan Platz, League of Women Voters of Ohio. The other representatives will be on hand to help answer your questions following our prepared remarks.

We are here today to speak to you about Ohio's charter school system. Our organizations have suggestions for making the system better and charter schools more accountable. We are not opposed to the charter school concept under certain conditions and when held transparent and accountable, but we are very concerned that those choices be good options for the success of students. We believe today's system does not ensure success.

As we look at the performance of charter schools over the past decade, it is clear that traditional public school students who opt to attend charter schools often leave better performing traditional public school buildings for failing charter schools. Yet public dollars continue to be diverted to choices that have not demonstrated an appropriate level of success. In particular, the performance is dismal in many dropout recovery charters that are exempt from much of the accountability criteria for other charters. Steps must be taken to improve this situation.

We realize that the demographics of students attending dropout recovery schools are not typical and exceptions to standards and expectations for success may be reasonable. However, we contend that a certain measure of success must be reached -- not the least of which should be graduation rates.

For the most recent reported year, traditional public schools posted an aggregate graduation rate of 90.9 percent.  The graduation rate among Ohio’s big eight urban school districts was 72.5 percent.  For charter schools the graduation rate was 25.5 percent. Charter schools identified as dropout recovery and prevention schools had a graduation rate of 16.1 percent.  For some dropout recovery programs, the percentage is even lower.

It seems reasonable that a program funded by public tax dollars meant to help meet graduation requirements, must meet a higher standard of success. Yet Ohio law allows for the operators of these unsuccessful schools to continue to open new schools.

The Coalition for Public Education urges the governor and the legislature to adopt more comprehensive laws and rules to make these charter schools more accountable. Unsuccessful programs cannot be allowed to continue with business as usual. We suggest the following changes.

Legislative Recommendations

Opening Additional Charter Schools

Under current law, in-state sponsors and operators of charter schools are allowed to sponsor or operate additional schools if only a single charter school sponsored or operated by an entity performs at a level of continuous improvement or better on the most recent local report card (that’s a C).  Out-of-state entities may sponsor or operate charter schools in Ohio if only a single charter school sponsored or operated by the entity performs at a level comparable to continuous improvement or better (again, that’s a C).

It is recommended that an in-state entity cannot sponsor or operate additional charter schools unless a majority of the schools sponsored or operated by the entity perform at a level of continuous improvement or better.  Likewise, an out-of-state entity should be unable to sponsor or operate charter schools in Ohio unless a majority of the schools sponsored or operated by the entity perform at a level comparable to continuous improvement or better.

Closure Provision and Improvement Requirements for Dropout Recovery and Prevention Charter Schools

Under current law, charter schools deemed to be dropout recovery and prevention schools are exempt from the automatic closure provisions that are applicable to charter schools that serve a general student population.

It is recommended that the closure exemption for dropout recovery and prevention charter schools be removed from the charter school statute.  ODE should be required to develop performance thresholds for dropout recovery charter schools such as minimum graduation rates.

The State Board of Education should be given the authority to adopt the performance thresholds as closing criteria for these schools; and charter schools that are persistently unable to graduate a majority of students should be closed.

Dropout recovery and prevention charter schools in academic watch or academic emergency should be required to submit a continuous improvement plan to the department of education to identify strategies for improving student performance.

Fiscal Transparency

As private entities, some charter school operators refuse to make public the financial records of the charter schools that they operate.  Financial data that is available for review is of the most general nature.

It is recommended that a full and detailed disclosure of financial records be required of any charter school operator that receives at least 25 percent of a charter school’s state foundation payments.

Additionally, payment to charter schools (payments that are deducted from traditional public schools) should be prorated/reduced if a student attends the school for less than the required number of hours that constitute a school year.

Summary

To conclude, we believe that amending Ohio’s charter school laws by adding our recommended changes will make our charter school system better and more accountable to the students and parents they serve as well as to the taxpayers that have funded this multi-billion dollar enterprise for over a decade.

Thank you again for your time and we would be happy to answer any questions you may have.