Get the facts on Ohio charter schools

I am a taxpayer who is concerned about the many charter school scandals reported in the news. One story revealed that no sector misspends tax dollars more than charter schools in Ohio. Others informed of ethics charges, inappropriate spending practices, and even criminal violations.

They were created as exemplars of innovation in publicly-funded schools, but that doesn’t seem to be the case. It’s time to put a stop to the waste of our precious tax dollars.

The Ohio Charter School Accountability Project, at KnowYourCharter.com, was designed to help Ohioans understand how publicly-funded charter schools compare to traditional public schools. The data comes from ODE and tells how schools perform and how much money is spent in the classroom. KnowYourCharter.com provides easy access to Ohio’s recent report card.

The site reveals the amount of money deducted from state aid to public schools, and also the indirect costs, such as transportation, shifted to charter schools. Charter school funding has a negative impact on local school district resources.

The Ohio Charter School Accountability Project is an asset that should be used regularly by public school districts in their communication with families.

Any district that doesn’t publicize this data is wasting statistical evidence about the cost of charters to their schools.

We taxpayers have a right to know.

Jeanne Melvin, Columbus