Ohio charter school info found lacking
Payments withheld over 1,700 ‘flagged’ students in state.
A s the Ohio De partme nt ofEduc ation atte mpts to c lose the financ ial b ooks on last sc hool ye ar, one thing is c e rtain: M aking sure c harte r sc hools ge t the right amount ofmone y is no e asy task.
T he state is c ontinuing to withhold or re duc e payme nts to sc hools that e duc ate ab out 1,70 0 c harte r-sc hool stude nts b e - c ause the y have been “flagge d.” T hat me ans the state got c onflic ting c laims ab out whe re the stude nts live d or what sc hools the y atte nde d.
A lthough the numb e r is down from ab out 5,0 0 0 flagge d stude nts this spring — mainly b e - c ause a state c ompute r syste m that c harte rs and distric ts use to re solve e nrollme nt dispute s we nt down for mainte nanc e — the 1,70 0 flags are still more than triple the numb e r the state e nde d with last sc hool ye ar.
Out of385 c harte rs, 2 40 have b e e n paid for stude nts e ve n though it is unc e rtain whe the r the stude nts we re e nrolle d at those sc hools.Othe r c harte rs might have b e e n shortc hange d and are owe d mone y b y the state .T o le sse n the financ ial b low, the Ohio De - partme nt ofEduc ation has said it won’t re duc e a c harte r’s payme nts b y more than 5 pe rc e nt in a month.
But othe r e rrors have c ut funding b y more than 5 pe rc e nt for some c harte rs: Four c harte rs lost all ofthe ir monthly state payme nts in June , afte r the state que stione d how the y we re c alc ulating atte ndanc e or providing transportation or b e c ause ofothe r prob le ms.
One ofthe m — London A c ade my, sponsore d b y London City S c hools we st ofColumb us — agre e d to assume that e ve ry one of its stude nts atte nde d only halfa sc hool day afte r it de te rmine d it c ouldn’t ade quate ly trac k the numb e r ofhours stude nts had worke d from home ove r the Inte rne t, said London distric t T re asure r Kristine Blind.London A c ade my re c e ive d $117,50 0 in January, b ut b e c ause ofthe disc re panc ie s, re c e ive d no state mone y in M ay or June .
T he sc hools with the large st numb e r offlagge d stude nts are four ofthe state ’s large Inte rne t c harte r sc hools, whic h toge the r have more than 30 0 stude nts flagge d, worth an annual total ofab out $1.8 million in state e duc ation aid.T R ECA Digital A c ade my had the most flags — 117 stude nts, worth ab out $680 ,0 0 0 in state aid.
“W e have n’t b e e n ab le to re c onc ile our b udge t from January on,” said T im H ilb orn, c hie finstruc - tional offic e r ofM ET A S olutions, T R ECA ’s pare nt.