COLUMBUS – September 29, 2015 – The Ohio Education Association today called on the U.S. Department of Education to withhold an announced grant of some $32.5 million for FY 2015 to the Ohio Department of Education (ODE) for new charter schools until an independent investigation of ODE’s charter school data-scrubbing has been conducted.
“It’s very hard to have confidence in ODE’s ability to serve as a fair and impartial evaluator of charter school operations in light of what happened in the effort to mask the poor performance of online schools,” said Becky Higgins, president of the Ohio Education Association. “An independent investigation would help restore the public’s faith that ODE is capable of acting in the best interest of Ohio’s students.”
Ohio has drawn national attention for the dismal performance of many charter schools over the last 15 years.
OEA also urged the US Congress to include Ohio Senator Sherrod Brown’s Charter School Accountability Act in the reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA). The bill would strengthen charter school accountability and transparency, and increase community involvement.
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The Ohio Education Association (ohea.org) represents 121,000 teachers, faculty members and support professionals in Ohio’s public schools, colleges and universities.
CONTACT: Michele Prater
614-227-3071; cell 614-378-0469, praterm@ohea.org
