State can tell ECOT to repay money
The state Board of Education could as soon as Monday order online school giant ECOT to repay $60 million in state aid for inflating its attendance figures.
A three-judge panel of the Franklin County Court of Appeals that was hearing the case unanimously denied ECOT’s emergency request
to block the board action on Wednesday. The court’s refusal, without comment, to grant an injunction means that the state board can make a final determination in the matter at its next monthly meeting, set for Monday, as planned.
Officials with the Electronic Classroom for Tomorrow blasted the court decision, singling out one of the three jurists, Judge Gary Tyack, as being biased against the school.
“He is desperate to destroy ECOT and unwilling to even wait for the judicial system to play out before advancing his vendetta,” ECOT spokesman Neil Clark said in a statement.
Earlier, ECOT sought to have Tyack removed from the case after the judge commented during a hearing about school founder Bill Lager’s political influence, likening him to a Russian oligarch. Ohio Supreme Court Chief Justice Maureen O’Connor said the remarks “were out of line,” but she refused to remove Tyack.
The state Department of Education declined to weigh in on Wednesday’s ruling, and board President Tess Elshoff did not respond to a request for comment.
In an expected showdown Monday, the 19-member board can accept, reject or modify the findings of state hearing officer Lawrence Pratt, who recommended that ECOT repay $60 million of roughly $108 million it received in state funding for the 2015-2016 school year.
Pratt concurred with a Department of Education attendance review that found, based on computer log-in durations and offline documentation, many ECOT students had failed to meet the minimum 920 hours of “learning opportunities” required by the state. ECOT reported 15,322 full-time students in the 2015-2016 school year; the education department verified 6,313, nearly 60 percent fewer.
School officials dispute the
finding, arguing that the state retroactively changed the way it verifies school enrollment and violated a 2003 agreement with the department. School officials say they will have to close ECOT if they are forced to repay the money.
In addition to an administrative appeal and an effort to block the school board from acting, ECOT has asked the courts to intervene and lobbied state legislators for help.
Franklin County Common Pleas Judge Jenifer French ruled in September in favor of the Education Department. That decision is under review by the Franklin County Court of Appeals — separately from ECOT’s request for an injunction — and a ruling is expected this summer. Regardless of the appeals court’s decision, the case is expected to end up before the Ohio Supreme Court.
Lager and hundreds of students, parents and teachers rallied outside the Statehouse on May 9 to “save our school.” School officials have been seeking changes to state law regarding how student academic growth is measured, how the minimum 920 hours of education is considered, and how schools are counted toward their sponsors’ evaluations.
Applauding the ruling, former U.S. Rep. Betty Sutton, a Democratic candidate for governor, said ECOT rips off taxpayers and fails to educate Ohio’s students, and she urged the state Board of Education to recover the $60 million in taxpayer money from ECOT.
“This sham, unaccountable school is a clear waste of taxpayer money and needs to be shut down,” she said in a statement minutes after the ruling.
Another Democratic gubernatorial hopeful, Sen. Joe Schiavoni of Boardman, said, “This latest court decision makes it clear that ECOT’s day of reckoning is near. As I’ve been saying for more than a year, it’s time for ECOT to be held accountable for wasting tax dollars and failing to educate its students. No longer should ECOT or any online charter school receive millions of taxpayer dollars for teaching to empty classrooms.”