Ohio’s charter schools recently received a $71 million dollar grant from the federal government. Some of those schools are known to have issues with student performance. And because of that record, the state’s auditor wants to track how the money is spent.
Just two months ago, an official at the Ohio Department of Education resigned after admitting he changed data to benefit charter schools. And Ohio lawmakers are trying to fix some problems with those schools. Yet the state received the federal money anyway. Auditor Dave Yost says it hasn’t yet been determined how those schools will spend the dollars.
“I think it would be appropriate not to rely on existing Ohio statutes, but to look at additional protections within those contracts to insure that the money is spent transparently and to help those kids get educated,” he said.
The application for the federal dollars showed the money was to be directed to help students in poor performing school districts. This makes some nervous that the money might be used for future takeovers of public school districts, such as the recent controversial takeover in Youngstown.
