Stories featured in Ohio Charter News Weekly may require a paid subscription to read in full.
Columbus transportation concerns may escalate
A Columbus charter school this week asked a Franklin County judge to allow a class action lawsuit against Columbus City Schools for continued failure to properly transport charter (and private and STEM) school students, as required by state law. Franklinton High School’s petition states that the district is “refusing to comply” and “will continue to do so”. Until they are fully compliant, they are restricting family choices and negatively impacting the operations of charter and other schools. And while this issue had been largely forgotten by local media since October, kudos to the national trade publication School Transportation News for giving us an up-to-the-minute accounting of the fines racked up by Columbus and other Ohio districts for infractions of transportation law.
The view from West Virginia – pt. 1
It took nearly 13 months of drafting and redrafting and re-redrafting plans, but leaders of Wisdom Academy charter school in Morgantown can finally celebrate a win before the city’s planning commission. By a vote of 6-1, the school finally received site plan approval for its building, scheduled to open for students for the first time in August 2025. However, school leaders may not want to let their guard down just yet, as the city’s Development Services Director has threatened to institute an annual review as to whether the school is meeting its promises, especially in terms of traffic control, with the possibility of revoking their occupancy permit if they are found in violation—an unprecedented stricture for any such permit ever in the city’s history.
The view from West Virginia – pt. 2
While city fathers and mothers in Morgantown are using planning and zoning rules to try and stop or at least slow down charter school proliferation there, parents in other parts of West Virginia are looking at the possibility of more charter options for their children. To wit: Several school districts are looking to close school buildings due to falling enrollment. Parents who don’t want to see certain buildings in their neighborhoods go away have recently been inquiring of the state’s Professional Charter School Board about the processes by which traditional district schools can become charters. Best news of all: State law allows both conversion of district schools to charters and gives charter operators the right of first refusal to buy or lease closed district buildings.
Charter success in Michigan
The Livingston Post this week collected a raft of data showing that charters in Michigan operated by National Heritage Academies (NHA) have far outperformed their traditional district peers in recent years. This includes six National Blue Ribbon Schools and 12 of the top 50 middle schools in the entire state as ranked by U.S. News and World Report. NHA—which also operates schools in other states, including Ohio—were lauded as the “embodiment” of high achievement and strong accountability.
Food for thought
The executive director of the Delaware Charter Schools Network says in op-ed this week that students in her state have benefitted greatly from the flexibility offered to charter schools to innovate and diversify educational offerings. This is paired with strong and relevant accountability measures, which are scrutinized in detail every five years when charter contracts must be renewed. She muses whether such a model might be applicable to the “broader public education landscape” in Delaware. An interesting idea.
*****
Did you know you can have every edition of the Ohio Charter News Weekly sent directly to your Inbox? Subscribe by clicking here.
