December 26, 2016

In Ohio, instead of directly funding charter schools, the state subtracts the money from the bottom line for traditional districts, depending on where a student lives.

For instance, when a student living in the Columbus City Schools district attends a charter school, the state subtracts nearly $7,800 on average from the district’s state funding, but the state is giving Columbus only an average of about $3,900 in basic aid per pupil. http://www.dispatch.com/content/stories/local/2015/09/09/ohios-charter-schools-essentially-get-local-property-tax-money.html

Columbus charters get $142.4 million from the state to teach 18,000 students, while the district is left with $154.4 million to teach the remaining 52,000 kids, many of whom rank among the poorest in the state.  http://www.dispatch.com/content/stories/local/2016/06/21/education_insider.html

Public school districts have the fiduciary responsibility to create public awareness and inform their taxpayers about charter school funding inequities.

Woodridge Local Schools sent a bill to the state of Ohio for reimbursement of $5 million given to charter schools. Supt. Walter Davis said, “What we are dealing with in Ohio is a system of charter schools that are failing, and the state continues to transfer local public funding from traditional public schools to support them.”

Davis continued, “We aren’t expecting a check, but we are doing it to call attention to how, year-in and year-out, money is being taken away from us to support these schools that traditionally have much lower academic achievement rates than we do.” http://wpo.st/aWyw0

An invoice in the amount of $4,729,901 was also submitted to the Ohio Department of Education for the amount deducted from the Logan-Hocking School District for charter school funding since 2000. http://www.logandaily.com/news/school-board-sends-invoice-to-state-department-of-education-for/article_b6264e6f-a47e-5435-ba10-b61dea179a6f.html

This frequently updated list of Ohio school systems have all passed resolutions to invoice ODE for their share of district funding that’s dispersed to the state’s failing charter school system.

1. Woodridge (Summit County)
2. Logan-Hocking (Hocking County)
3. Troy (Miami County)
4. Elyria (Lorain County)
5. Parma (Cuyahoga County)
6. West Clermont (Clermont County)
7. Cardinal (Geauga County)
8. Keystone (Lorain County)
9. Northmont (Montgomery County)
10. Jackson (Stark County)
11. Streetsboro (Portage County)
12. Firelands (Lorain County)
13. Lake Local (Wood County)
14. Bowling Green (Wood County)
15. Belpre (Washington County)
16. LaBrae (Trumbull County)
17. Southington (Trumbull County)
18. Beaver Local (Columbiana County)
19. Northridge (Montgomery County)
20. Claymont (Tuscarawas County)
21. Southern Local (Perry County)
22. Indian Creek (Jefferson County)
23. Green Local (Summit County)
24. Garaway Local (Tuscarawas County)
25. Xenia (Greene County)
26. Noble Local Schools (Noble County)
27. Adena Local Schools (Ross County)
28. Gallipolis (Gallia County)
29. Oak Hills (Jackson County)
30. Monroe Local (Butler County)
31. Liberty Union -Thurston Local Schools (Fairfield County)
32. Tuscarawas Valley Schools (Tuscarawas County)
33. Amherst Schools (Lorain County)
34. Huron City Schools (Erie County)
35. Fairborn City Schools (Greene County)
36. Champion Local Schools (Trumbull County)
37. Washington Local Schools (Lucas County)
38. Euclid City Schools (Cuyahoga County)
39. Sheffield-Sheffield Lake City Schools (Lorain County)
40. Dayton City Schools (Montgomery County)
41. Bristol Local Schools (Trumbull County)
42. North Ridgeville Local Schools (Lorain County)
43. Brecksville-Broadview Heights City Schools (Cuyahoga County)
44. Fairbanks Local Schools (Union County)
45. Plain Local Schools (Stark County)
46. Wellston City Schools (Jackson County)
47. Vandalia Butler City Schools (Montgomery County)
48. Twinsburg City Schools (Summit County)
49. Morgan Local Schools (Morgan County)
50. Vinton County Local Schools (Vinton County)
51. Beavercreek City Schools (Greene County)
52. Westlake City Schools (Cuyahoga County)
53. Tallmadge City Schools (Summit County)
54. Zane Trace Local Schools (Ross County)
55. Springboro City Schools (Warren County)
56. Berea City Schools (Cuyahoga County)
57. Adena Local Schools (Ross County)
58. Mathews Local Schools (Trumbull County)
59. Paint Valley Local Schools (Ross County)
60. Northwestern Local School District (Wayne County)
61. Cleveland Heights-University Heights (Cuyahoga County)
62. Loudonville-Perrysville Exempted Village School District (Ashland County)
63. Oberlin City Schools (Lorain County)
64. Geneva Area City Schools (Ashtabula County)
65. Little Miami Local Schools (Warren County)
66. Olmsted Falls School District (Cuyahoga County)
67. Centerville City Schools (Montgomery and Greene Counties)
68. Crooksville Exempted Village School District (Perry County)
69. Black River Local Schools (Ashland, Lorain, & Medina Counties)
70. Southwest Licking Local Schools (Licking and Fairfield Counties)
71. Gahanna Jefferson Schools (Franklin County)
72. Nordonia Hills Schools (Summit County)
73. Coventry Local Schools (Summit County)
74. Reynoldsburg City Schools (Franklin County)
75. Marietta City Schools (Washington County)
76. Goshen Local Schools (Clermont County)
77. Georgetown Exempted Village Schools (Brown County) – $683,082.26
78. Norton City Schools (Summit County) – $4,100,000
79. Elida Local Schools (Allen County) – $3,100,000

The GRAND TOTAL INVOICED TO THE STATE OF OHIO is $650,655,826.62, and that’s only for a little over 10% of the local school boards that fulfilled their fiduciary responsibility to the people that live within their school district boundaries.

MORE school boards need to highlight the charter school funding details in Ohio. Given that the charter school industry donates huge amounts of money to their campaigns, Governor Kasich and the General Assembly will not put an end to the charter debacle until the public becomes completely aware of this fraud on the taxpayers and reacts to it.

Boards of education can easily create public awareness by invoicing the state for past charter school deductions. How can you help make this happen?

Attend a local school board meeting, and ask to speak about the importance of these eye-opening resolutions and invoices from the SEVENTY-NINE school boards.

Use the Ohio Charter School Accountability Project as a resource to show how much money is currently being transferred out of your district to fund charter schools. http://knowyourcharter.com/

Urge your BOE to pass an official resolution asking the state to reimburse all of the money that has been hijacked from your school system and sent to charter schools during the last 10-15 years. The school treasurer can readily produce the figures needed to create an itemized bill for the funds that were diverted to charter schools each year.

Make it simple for your school board members and treasurer, and email Public Education Partners at ohiopep@gmail.com for a digital copy of the resolution and invoice from the Logan-Hocking School District and  a generic resolution template to use as examples.

Or, have them do what many of our legislators do when “creating” Ohio laws- your school board can use the following template to copy, paste, and personalize their resolution.

RESOLUTION TO Invoice ODE for Past Charter School Deductions from State Funding

WHEREAS, it is the statutory duty of the ________________________ School District Board of Education to deliver the educational programs and services to the school children of the _____________________ School District, and

WHEREAS, the members of the Board are elected by the school community to ensure an effective, efficient, vibrant and productive system, and

WHEREAS, the elected board of education has a legal responsibility to the community, including taxpayers, parents, and other patrons, as well as the state, and

WHEREAS, the charter school industry now extracts in the range of one billion dollars ($1,000,000,000) ANNUALLY from public school districts across the State of Ohio, and

WHEREAS, school district boards of education have no control of students, financing, educational programming, and student outcomes for those who enroll in charter schools, and

WHEREAS, charter schools as a group in Ohio demonstrate low academic performance compared to traditional public schools, and

WHEREAS, the fraud and corruption in charter schools, as reported repeatedly in the public media, has made Ohio the laughing stock throughout the nation, and

WHEREAS, Ohio has been dubbed the “Wild Wild West” in charter operations, and

WHEREAS, the ________________________ School District has lost a total of $_____________ in state AND local funding to charter schools over the period of FY 2000 to FY2015, and

WHEREAS, this deduction has reduced programs and services to ________________________ School District students, and

WHEREAS, the ________________________ School District Board of Education has a fiduciary responsibility to the students and taxpayers of the District, be it therefore

RESOLVED that the Board of Education direct the Treasurer of the District to invoice the State of Ohio for all the funds extracted from the ________________________ School District for charter school students.

Adopted______________

Once the resolution has passed, remember to send a copy to the Ohio Department of Education, the state of Ohio Board of Education members, and the Ohio House and Senate Education Committees. https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1G9TLm3H2Q7HPR6Ab5dA7Sej_CbVUNtrMrLLNHTy6nxo/edit?usp=sharing

Encourage your school board to also pass a resolution stating that Ohio must fund charter schools in a way that no longer penalizes local public schools. Once again, keep this simple by having them use the following template.  http://knowyourcharter.com/files/2015/11/CHARTER-FUNDING-RESOLUTION-Final.pdf

Help your public school district make a statement and call attention to how, year-in and year-out, money is being taken away from traditional public school systems to support charter schools that traditionally have much lower academic achievement rates than public schools.

Join the revolution, and pass a resolution!

We are many. There is power in our numbers. Together we will save PUBLIC EDUCATION.
~Diane Ravitch