Spot checks find pupils missing from Ohio charter schools

COLUMBUS (AP) - Ohio's auditor says unannounced attendance checks at 30 Ohio charter schools uncovered significant under-attendance in about a quarter of cases.

Republican Dave Yost said today that he's referring those seven schools, and another nine with less-severe attendance variations, to state education officials for review.

In one case, none of the 95 enrolled students were in attendance during the visit. Six other schools with significant variations were missing between 34 percent and 83 percent of the students the state paid them to teach. Those schools were in Youngstown, Cleveland, Columbus, Cincinnati and Dayton.

Yost, a charter school supporter, said his findings were not systematic and so can't be extrapolated. He is recommending policy changes to address what he found.

Fourteen of the schools visited showed acceptable attendance levels.