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Big national news – pt 1
The biggest charter news of the week is the U.S. Supreme Court’s deadlock in the St. Isidore of Seville Catholic Virtual School v. Drummond case. The 4-4 tie was welcomed by national charter leaders. For the moment, it means that establishment of a religiously-affiliated online charter school remains banned in Oklahoma. In a wider sense, it means that charters remain public schools rather than private actors, as the plaintiffs argued. This issue could be revisited if a similar case comes to the court again from another state.
Big national news – pt 2
Also making news: The U.S. Department of Education announced last week that it would immediately increase funding for the Charter School Programs (CSP) grant to the tune of 60 million additional dollars. The money is part of President Trump’s promise to support school choice across the country, although the early availability of the funding (it is the same amount that he proposed adding to CSP in his 2026 budget) came as something of a surprise. National Alliance for Public Charter Schools CEO Starlee Coleman lauded the move, saying in a statement that it “demonstrates a real commitment to expanding high-quality public charter school options and supporting the innovators working to deliver them.”
The big picture
Brandon Brown, CEO of Indiana’s The Mind Trust, published a blog post this week laying out all the recent wins for charter school advocates in the Hoosier State as well as Tennessee, Iowa, Florida, and right here in Ohio. He also distills four important lessons from these stories that charter advocates in other states can learn from and, hopefully, bring to bear in their own efforts to establish more high-quality education options.
Not OK
The superintendent of Canton City Schools is the chief complainer in this coverage about a legislative proposal to tighten the rules around underused school facilities in Ohio, saying that efforts to redefine the term (and to widely publicize which school buildings fit the description of) “underutilized”, and to force districts to quickly sell those buildings to interested charter and private school operators for below market value are “not OK”. Despite that not being an accurate read of what the proposal does, we have noted many times in these clips how districts have found lots of creative loopholes to evade the existing rules in the past. But don’t take it from me: Governor DeWine himself says he knows many districts are holding on to unused properties “for no other reason than to stop…some competition” from getting a foothold. And it’s way past time for the loopholes to close.
Ohio can’t go soft on charter accountability
Speaking of state level actions here in Ohio, Fordham’s Aaron Churchill is bothered by reports of some behind-the-scenes efforts to roll back charter school accountability by weakening sponsor evaluation, eliminating sponsor hopping limits, and revising automatic closure provisions to create escape valves for low-performers. “Lawmakers should stop any such anti-accountability efforts dead in their tracks,” he writes.
Inroads
It is perhaps ironic that we are covering three student transportation stories when the school year is almost over, but they are likely instructive as to what occurred following the disastrous start in many Ohio districts last fall and indeed as to what awaits us next fall. First up, the folks at Cleveland.com are horrified that a number of districts were charged millions of dollars in fines for unsuccessful transportation of charter and private school students this year. However, in looking at the numbers provided (especially for Cleveland Metropolitan School District), they look downright parsimonious to me. (And history has shown us that these putative fines rarely stick, so it’s probably moot anyway.) In a similar vein, the superintendent of Youngstown City Schools is sure that if the state would just stop requiring him to transport those school-choice-using kids, he could fix up his troublesome busing sitch real nice. I don’t think he really understands the full implications of what he’s asking for (having charters and private and STEM school be responsible for their own busing), but when has that ever stopped anyone from opining? Apropos of all of this, the last clip of the week is a fascinating look at how private busing providers—including the traditionalish First Student and the more innovative HopSkipDrive—are already making inroads in serving school choice families in cities across the country. The wave of the future? Time will tell…
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