A bill cracking down on low-performing charter schools and imposing a host of new accountability standards on sponsors has cleared the Ohio House Education Committee. The legislation requires additional financial, enrollment and attendance reporting and requires members of governing boards to file annual conflict-of-interest statements. The measure also prohibits low-performing schools from getting new sponsors. A recent study found Ohio charter school performance is mediocre and their students, on average, lag behind those in public schools. More from Ohio Public Radio's Andy Chow.
An amendment to the bill weakens the rules against what’s known as “sponsor hopping”—when a low-performing school switches over to another sponsor when the initial sponsor wants to pull support.
Chad Aldis is vice president of the Fordham Institute, a group that advocates for charter schools but pushes for heightened accountability. Aldis says this allows those schools to continue practicing their under-performing ways.
“We wanna make sure good schools are able to replicate and grow but we also want to make sure the bad schools—the mediocre ones are no longer serving students,” said Aldis.
The bill still prohibits sponsor hopping for any schools four years into operation or less—but pulls the requirement for the Ohio Department of Education to oversee sponsor changes for any older schools.