School reformers in Ohio have been struggling for more than a decade to make Ohio welcoming for charter schools. Charters have had to fight in the legislature, at the courthouse, and in the court of public opinion to protect and defend their mere existence. In both 2007 and 2009, Governor Strickland sought to cut charter funding, increase their regulatory burdens and ban outright for-profit charter school operators from the Buckeye State. Much political energy and goodwill had to be expended to defeat his efforts.
Ohio has some excellent schools that are managed by for-profit operators, including the National Heritage Academies, Connections Academy, and the Ohio Virtual Academy. The Thomas B. Fordham Foundation sponsors two schools in Dayton that are operated by for-profit EdisonLearning. We obviously believe in the right of quality for-profit operators to manage and operate charter schools, and district schools for that matter, just as we support the right of quality non-profits to operate schools here. However, all operators must be held accountable, as they work for the children, communities, and taxpayers where they run schools. They certainly do not work for themselves.
Enter into this debate Imagine Schools. The company, based in Florida, is apparently structured to neuter charter school governing boards (the non-profit entities accountable to authorizers and the state for school performance), photocopy applications for school operations, and run financial systems that direct as much money as possible to its corporate office with apparently little regard for student performance. Imagine operates 11 schools in Ohio and according to a new study from Cleveland-based Policy Matters Ohio it ???receives as much as 98 percent of its schools' funding to act as superintendent, central office, principal, workforce and landlord.???
Policy Matters Ohio has long been opposed to charter schools, but they have discovered an easy target in Imagine and are hitting the Ohio charter community over the head with it. Imagine Schools' weak performance and avarice management style has trashed the charter movement nationally and resulted in calls from some Congress to ban ???for-profit operators??? nationwide. Along with Ohio, the charter movements in Indiana, Florida, and Missouri have all been given a black eye by Imagine Schools.
Using Imagine Schools as the bad example, Policy Matters Ohio jumps to the conclusion that the state should bar for-profit operators and investigate the operations of all for-profit management companies currently working here. Punishing all for-profit operators in Ohio for the sins of one organization is over the top.
So far the state's charter school association and sponsorship organization have not spoken up, but it is clear that three things need to happen here:
- First, charter school supporters should speak out against operators that are hurting the movement and making it harder on good schools and good operators to function here.
- Second, the Ohio Department of Education should use its current authority under state law to hold the sponsor of the Imagine Schools accountable for their academic and fiscal results.
- Finally, if it is true ??? as Policy Matters Ohio alleges ??? that the current sponsor of the 11 Imagine Schools in Ohio also serves as de facto treasurer for these schools the Ohio Department of Education should be provided the authority they need to prevent these conflicts of interest from occurring.
As we testified to the Ohio State Board of Education earlier this week, Fordham ???does not believe it is appropriate for a sponsor to also be a vendor of additional fee-based services to the schools it sponsors. The role of the sponsor must be separate from that of the operator and/or supplemental service provider. Operators run the day-to-day operation of schools while sponsors hold schools while sponsors hold schools accountable for results. We see it as an inherent conflict of interest when a sponsor also functions as the (paid) purveyor of services to its schools, or blur the line between operator and sponsor in other ways.???
The charter movement must police itself. If not, then those who want to kill off charters will be given the fodder they need to do so.
- by Terry Ryan
