Report: Ohio’s charter school crackdown on course after year

COLUMBUS (AP) — A nonpartisan think-tank in Ohio that advocates for quality charter schools says implementation of the 2015 law cracking down on the industry appears to be on the right track.

The Thomas B. Fordham Institute based its finding on an analysis released today that looked at state agencies’ efforts to enforce the new Ohio law, which had bipartisan support.

The review found that 49 of 50 provisions of the law have been implemented in a verifiable way 11 months after its enactment. The law established a new sponsor evaluation system, eliminated “sponsor hopping” that had allowed low-performing schools to escape accountability, tackled conflicts of interest and closed various loopholes.

Ohio’s 20-year-old charter school sector comprises 373 schools with roughly 120,000 students.