School Choice Ohio Blog

The latest annual report on charter schools is out. Published by the Ohio Department of Education, it gives a rundown on the year’s charter school trends and legislation.

Some interesting numbers:

• During the 2008-2009 school year, the number of students enrolled in charters grew 8% from more than 82,000 to 89,000.
• 91% of Ohio’s 323 charters have physical school buildings; 9% are virtual.
• About 50 of Ohio’s charters are run by traditional public school districts to have extra flexibility. As of this year, vocational schools are now also allowed to start charter schools.
• 180 charter schools are sponsored by groups that are not required to be approved by ODE because they were operating prior to April 2003.
• 10 of the state’s 134 “School of Promise” (schools that do notably well with low-income students) are charter schools. Of these 10 charter schools, 7 are located the Cleveland area.

The report also gives a 13-page legislative history of charter schools.

- Sarah Pechan

On Wednesday, the Thomas B. Fordham Institute hosted a simulcast panel discussion on the future of charter schools and vouchers. The panel featured national experts including Ohio’s own Dr. Susan Zelman, namesake of the famous Zelman v Simmons-Harris US Supreme Court case based on the Cleveland Scholarship.

Much of the discussion landed on questions of accountability for schools outside the local public school district. Those same questions have routinely been raised in Ohio.

Accountability can take lots of forms, but the greatest attention is given to academic accountability (testing). Charter schools take all the same state tests as district schools and face closure if they don’t show student achievement. And private schools are both accountable to paying customers (parents who are free to leave the school if they feel it fails to educate their child) and required to administer state tests to students who receive vouchers.

Still, the question has been raised: When a school accepts state vouchers, how much information should the public have about student achievement?

At School Choice Ohio, we believe the student achievement of a student using a voucher matters and these students’ test scores should be among the information made public.

That’s why we supported landmark legislation in the latest budget that requires the Ohio Department of Education to report test scores of the students who use the EdChoice Scholarship and the Cleveland Scholarship and Tutoring Program.

These recent changes to Ohio law will put our state on the forefront of voucher accountability nationwide. Parents will have more information about how their children are doing and the public will have information about the investment they’re making in scholarship programs with tax dollars.

- Sarah Pechan

Education reform discussions around the country have been focusing recently on President Obama’s $4 billion “Race to the Top” initiative. Essentially, it establishes a funding source for states that have created a positive environment for education reform.

Friday’s Wall Street Journal offered some thoughts on the way the program is shaping up. The WSJ editorial contains some interesting data related to the size and scope of education funding in the United States. It is definitely worth taking a quick look.

The editorial also pointed out that several states—Tennessee, Rhode Island, Louisiana, and Massachusetts—have passed legislation that could benefit charter schools. Here in Ohio, Senator Jon Husted sent a letter to Governor Strickland last week suggesting several changes that the state should consider to both improve education and position itself to compete for “Race to the Top” dollars.

The question now becomes—will federal education policy make Ohio friendlier to charter schools? Time will tell.

–Chad Aldis