No more charter schools without accountability

Charter school moratoriums are being discussed in several states as stories emerge from coast to coast about programs that have been inadequately overseen. But Ohio's lawmakers seem reluctant, even though Ohio has one of the biggest horror stories of all, the electronic classroom charter schools that stands to rake in millions for providing its students with a computer, a phone line, and to date, not much else.
While 37 states now have laws that permit charter schools of one form or another, Ohio's is one of the most loosely structured. The "community schools," as the charter schools are called here, receive considerable tax dollars to operate, but have minimal accountability -- either for the funds they receive or the academic success of the pupils who attend the schools.
Profit makers: In fact, a number of for-profit entities, notably David Brennan's White Hat Management Co. and Altair Learning.com, have been collecting huge administrative fees for running the schools while the children who attend their schools have not been showing promised achievement.
White Hat runs 13 charter schools in Akron, Cincinnati and Cleveland and is scheduled to open 18 more.
Charter school proponents, such as the Charter Friends National Network, argue that their facilities "are an opportunity to test new and more effective teaching and learning methods, financing and governance systems, employment arrangements and other components of public education."
Perhaps that's the experience in some states. But in Ohio, we have yet to see "new and effective teaching and learning methods" generated by the charter schools. And the innovative employment arrangements seem to involve underpaid teachers with more students than they can teach, and a financing system that takes from the poor and gives to the rich.
It's no wonder that the state's professional educators have filed suit to stop the state from chartering any more such marginal establishments.
What competition? We know there are many who believe that teachers unions and school board associations oppose charter schools because they fear competition. That point might be understandable if the charter schools were achieving exemplary results. But the fact of the matter is, they're not.
What we find amazing is that the folks who vote against school taxes aren't the ones screaming the loudest about their state tax dollars being funneled to outfits with no public oversight. At least if they're unhappy with how their local school board is spending its funds, they can vote them out of office.
They have no say whatsoever in how the charter schools spend tax dollars. And if that's not taxation without representation, we must have missed an important history lesson.