Court: Ohio e-school can’t delay repayment of $60M to state

COLUMBUS (AP) — An appeals court has unanimously denied a request by Ohio’s largest online charter school seeking to block collection of $60 million in disputed state payments.

The ruling today by a three-judge panel of the Franklin County Court of Appeals leaves in force an Ohio Department of Education order demanding the money’s return by the Electronic Classroom of Tomorrow. The state school board takes up the issue next week.

In a statement, school spokesman Neil Clark characterized one of the judges, Gary Tyack, as biased toward ECOT, online learning and school choice. He called Judge Tyack “desperate to destroy ECOT.”

The school’s long-running legal dispute with the state centers on attendance-tracking practices used to determine state funding.

ECOT’s reported enrollment of 15,000 students is one of the largest in the United States.