Charter Schools Failing Ohio families and students

The 2005-2006 report cards are in and the results show that the Charter School experiment continues to be a dismal failure in Ohio as it has been since these schools first opened in Ohio in 1998.

Of the 295 charter schools statewide one of every two are either in academic watch or academic emergency compared with one of eleven for traditional public school buildings. According to the Akron Beacon Journal, nearly 32 percent of the 260 charter schools which received ratings this year met none of the state's 25 performance factors, which are based on state-mandated tests, along with attendance and graduation rates. That figure has actually increased from about 29 percent in the prior two school years.

Additionally, three of four traditional public schools are rated excellent or effective, while only one in six charter school perform in the top two categories. Also consider that of the 30 charter schools which rank as excellent, half are schools that were started by and answer to local boards of education.

We can no longer afford to stand by and allow the legislature in Ohio watch these charter schools fail Ohio's families and students on an ongoing basis. We must demand that our leaders in Columbus address this situation as Ohio's taxpayers deserve a better return on their investment than what we've been seeing since 1998.