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Charter school reform tops state board members’ agenda
By Denise Dick
COLUMBUS
A coalition of seven state school-board members, including Youngstown’s Bob Hagan, plans to address the lack of accountability — both financially and academically — of Ohio’s charter schools.
Board member Stephanie Dodd of Hebron said the coalition, which includes newly elected as well as seated board members, is committed to a unified agenda.
“It’s essential that every child in the state has the opportunity to receive the best education,” she said in a telephone conference with reporters.
That agenda includes improving charter-school accountability, examining the use of high-stakes testing and school funding.
Hagan, a longtime state legislator who was elected in November to the state board of education, represents District 8, which includes the counties along Ohio’s eastern border, from Mahoning to Meigs.
“Public education seems to have taken a back seat to charter-school education,” he said. “That has to be turned around. We’ve let the charter-school system be emphasized by too many members.”
Hagan said the board members intend to work with state legislators to try to accomplish that.
Nineteen members make up the state board, 11 elected by voters in respective districts and eight appointed by the governor.
Besides Hagan, Pat Bruns and Roslyn Painter-Goffi are the other new members who are part of the coalition.
Bruns, of Cincinnati, a former art teacher, plans to seek the board presidency. Painter-Goffi, of Strongsville, is a retired school librarian.
The other coalition members are Michael Collins of Westerville, who plans to seek the board vice president’s seat; Ann Jacobs of Lima; and Mary Rose Oakar of Cleveland.
Collins said it’s time for the board and others across the state to examine the reforms implemented to gauge their effects and make changes if needed. Legislation regarding charter schools must be rewritten to provide transparency and accountability, he said.
Painter-Goffi agreed.
Many charter schools don’t perform well academically yet are “bleeding tax dollars away from public districts,” she said.
Collins said others share the opinion in the need for charter-school reform. Gov. John Kasich said he wants to fix charter schools, and the state Senate also has acknowledged a need for change.
“The funding issue needs to drive what we do because at the core, that’s what’s going to help our public schools reclaim a lot of the resources that have been diverted more and more to charters,” Bruns said.