Ohio schools superintendent seeks to save $71M federal grant

COLUMBUS (AP) — Ohio’s schools superintendent has sent a letter to the head of the federal charter schools program in an attempt to save the state’s $71 million federal grant for charter schools.

The Columbus Dispatch reports that Ohio Schools Superintendent Richard Ross assures regulators in his 69-page letter that the state would use the grant to open high-quality public charter schools across the state.

Ross’s letter addresses the federal agency’s concerns that led it to place a hold on the funding.

Ross says legislative, operational and policy changes in Ohio that would bolster creation of high-quality public charter schools.

Evaluations of charter school sponsors should be completed by October 2016. That’s when the state intends to begin accepting applications for sub-grants by those seeking to open new schools.