Article: Charter school hearing held

"But Ohio charter schools students have, as a whole, underperformed their public school counterparts on state tests."

Imagine if the charters forced all of thier students to take the state tests like the public schools do. Their ratings would be comparable to Governor Taft's popularity- in the single digits! John

11-30-05 Dayton Daily News

Charter school hearing held From Staff and Wire Reports COLUMBUS Opponents of the state's charter school law say it's possible to operate the alternative schools constitutionally as long as they stay under strict public control. Backers of the publicly funded, privately operated schools say such control is already present and they meet the Constitution's requirement of a common system of schools. Following a hearing Tuesday, the Ohio Supreme Court must decide whether or in what form the educational experiment begun in 1998 should continue. Ohio plans to spend $441 million this year on charter schools, which serve about 60,000 children but continue to struggle. "The key is public accountability," said Donald Mooney, an attorney representing teachers' unions and others opposed to charters. "I don't think that the state of Ohio can delegate to a private corporation the ability to operate what then is described in the legislation as a public school," he said. "It's not a public school if it's administered by private entities." Attorneys for charter schools and the state argued the schools follow the Constitution and are public in all respects. "They don't discriminate, they hire state-certified teachers, they're publicly funded, they don't charge tuition, there's no entrance exams," said Chad Readler, an attorney representing charters. Charter schools are free public schools that are privately run using tax dollars. Dayton is the state's hottest charter school market and a national leader in the charter movement with 33 charter schools enrolling about 6,400 kids, or about 22 percent of all the city's schoolchildren. Charter school are released from many state rules that govern public schools in return for the promise of better academic performance and innovation. But Ohio charter schools students have, as a whole, underperformed their public school counterparts on state tests. This month at a summit of charter school supporters in Columbus, the theme was a need to push for academic excellence and Ohio House speaker Jon Husted, a strong charter supporter, warned then that continued lagging scores likely would result in more state regulation and less freedom for the schools.