Tom Mooney to White Hat: "Show us!"

Federation Goes After Charter Schools

Nov 3, 2005, 04:19 PM EST
Reported by Eric James

Just how profitable are Ohio charter schools? That's what the Ohio Federation of Teachers is trying to find out and they're going after a large group of charter schools.

State audit reports have been released for Life Skills Center of Columbus, but the Ohio Federation of Teachers says the reports don't go deep enough.

The centers were created for drop-out or at-risk students. They're run by White Hat management, which runs 31 Ohio charter schools. That makes it, technically, the state's ninth largest school system.

The company received $109 million of public money to run Life Skills Centers across the state, but the Federation of Teachers says only three percent of that is accounted for in the state audit report.

They want to know exactly how the company used the rest of your tax dollars, claiming company profits are higher than the test scores of the students attending the centers.

Tom Mooney with the Ohio Federation of Teachers says, "We don't know how it's being spent. We do know from last week that these kids aren't being tested so we don't know if the kids are even showing up."

White Hat Management Consultant Thomas Needles says, "He is misstating the facts. Our books are open and it's up to the auditor of the state, and it's up to them to take a closer look and they can review whatever they want."

White Hat has made a profit, but it is not required to say how much.

It is important to note that the federation is suing the state over the constitutionality of charter schools.