Another online school owes millions
While the state Department of Education battled publicly with ECOT to recover money, it quietly informed another online charter last September that it had overbilled taxpayers by almost triple.
Virtual Community School of Ohio has announced that it won’t open as scheduled Tuesday for the upcoming school year. On the school’s Facebook page, parents were told they should consider enrolling in another school for the upcoming year.
During an emergency meeting July 31, the VCS board agreed to a “temporary suspension by our sponsor while a financial investigation is conducted,”
As Saturday fell apart in Charlottesville, Virginia, Ohio Gov. John Kasich added his voice to the growing disgust and outrage over a day that began with shouts and Nazi salutes and soon reached a lethal fever pitch.
“There is no place in America for this violence and vicious hatred coming from white nationalist, KKK, & neo-Nazi groups,” Kasich tweeted shortly after 2 p.m. “These groups are corrupting our country’s greatness. America can and must be better. This violence and hate must stop.”
U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown had weighed in a few hours earlier, tweeting “Hatred and bigotry have no place in America.”
About the same time, Brown’s colleague, U.S. Sen. Rob Portman, shared about the same statement.
“Hate and bigotry have no place in our society,” Portman tweeted.
“Racism and hate have no place here,” added former Vice President Joe Biden.
Saturday should confirm to them, and to all of us who share that sentiment, that there are
$29,377 in unpaid bills — as of June 30. It appears to have only recently started digital advertising in support of Husted, Ohio’s two-term secretary of state and a former House speaker whose district spanned suburban Dayton.
Noting that the Husted campaign does not collaborate with Ohio Conservatives for a Change, campaign spokesman Josh Eck declined to comment.
Ohio Conservatives for a Change, which touts Husted as a “conservative” who can keep the American dream alive for Ohioans, was created on April 25. Super PACs are allowed to raise and spend unlimited amounts advocating for, or opposing, political candidates.
The group’s treasurer is Joel Riter, a Statehouse lobbyist for Ohio’s concrete industry and a former aide to Republican Treasurer Josh Mandel, a U.S. Senate candidate in 2018.
Riter is involved with other super PACs, including the Government Integrity Fund, a dark-money group that spent $1.3 million in support of Mandel’s unsuccessful 2012 bid to unseat Democrat U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown. Riter did not respond Monday to a request for comment.
In addition to Mathile’s big check, Karen Buchwald Wright and Thomas Rastin, the wife and husband behind Ariel Corp. in Mount Vernon, gave $125,000 each. Cleveland-based health insurer Medical Mutual gave $50,000 to the super PAC.
Three of the four candidates seeking the GOP nomination next May are sitting on sizeable campaign account balances — $4.7 million for Attorney General Mike DeWine, $4.3 million for Husted and $4 million for U.S. Rep. Jim Renacci, R-Wadsworth, who loaned his campaign $4 million. DeWine loaned $1 million to his campaign. Lt. Gov. Mary Taylor reported a balance of $436,884 in her campaign account as of June 30.