Article: Charter schools under fire in court
Columbus - Ohio Supreme Court Justice Paul Pfeifer said Tuesday that the state's charter school system has aggravated problems with a school-funding system he and other justices found unconstitutional four times.
Pfeifer made his unusually feisty comments during oral arguments in a lawsuit challenging the legality of Ohio's $445 million charter-school system. Currently, 297 charter schools serve more than 66,000 Ohio students.
A decision is expected within six months.
Pfeifer is one of the last two remaining justices who was part of the majority opinion on school funding. Because public school districts lose money when students switch to charter schools, local property owners assume a greater burden to keep their schools afloat, he said.
During the funding case, the court repeatedly admonished lawmakers that Ohio relies too much on local property taxes to support its public education system. The first decision was issued in 1997 and the last in 2002.
"The state, from a constitutional standpoint, is already standing in a deep hole," Pfeifer intoned from the bench. "This court determined four times that the system is unconstitutional. The legislature's response has been to tweak it, but to basically ignore this court."
Pfeifer went so far as to ask Stephen Carney, a lawyer representing the state, whether the legislature would again ignore the court's order if justices reverse a lower court's ruling and find the charter-school system unconstitutional.
"Let me ask you this, Mr. Carney," Pfeifer snapped.
"If we were to determine the system does not comport with the constitution, would it make any difference to the legislature?"
The rapid-fire questions from Pfeifer and the other six justices indicated a high degree of interest in the lawsuit, which was filed in 2001 by a coalition of teachers unions and other groups representing public education.
The coalition contends the alternate system of publicly funded charter schools violates the constitutional requirement of a common system of schools because they are privately run - often by for-profit firms - and lack the oversight of an elected school board.
They want the court to declare the system unconstitutional and order more local control of charter schools.
They also maintain that charter schools are not truly public because private companies can organize the nonprofit boards that run the schools.
In turn, the board can hire the same for-profit company to manage school operations. They also say most charters perform far below traditional schools academically.
"I think the key is public accountability," said the coalition's lawyer, Donald Mooney. "I don't think the state can delegate that to a private company."
Carney and Chad Readler, a lawyer representing several charter schools, countered that charter schools are public schools in every sense of the word:
They are publicly funded and nonsectarian, they don't charge tuition, they don't discriminate, their teachers are state-certified and they administer state-required tests.
Although charter schools do not have locally elected boards, voters can hold state officeholders accountable if charter schools fail, they said. "The accountability is there because I get to vote for my state rep and my state senator," Carney said.
To reach this Plain Dealer reporter:
sstephens@plaind.com, 216-999-4827
posted by Kathie Bracy at 12:22 PM
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