ECOT trying to keep Auditor Yost out of closure case

Electronic Classroom of Tomorrow attorneys are asking a Franklin County judge to block state Auditor Dave Yost’s attempt to intervene in the case overseeing the dismantling of what was formally the state’s largest charter school.

Nearly three weeks ago, not long after releasing an audit that included a referral for possible criminal prosecution against some ECOT officials, Yost’s office asked Judge Michael Holbrook to intervene in the case to ensure it can access data in order to conduct an investigation.

In conjunction with the interim master that is overseeing the school’s closure, the auditor’s office has already acquired data from ECOT to ensure it is preserved while school assets are auctioned off. The auditor’s office is not permitted to examine the data without permission from the judge.

“Since the ability to access this data now depends upon an agreement of the parties and a ruling from this court, the auditor may be deprived from appropriately weighing in on this process and accessing the data if it is not made a party,” the auditor’s counsel wrote in its motion.

Currently, the only two parties in the case are ECOT and its sponsor, the Educational Service Center of Lake Erie West, which took action to shut down the school in January as it ran out of money. The state had ordered the online school to repay $80 million for unverified enrollment and was in the process of making deductions out of the school’s monthly payments.

ECOT attorney Christopher Hogan filed an objection to Yost’s office getting involved in the matter, citing political motives and arguing “there is no formal role for the auditor to play in this case.”