The Ohio 8 Coalition Letter to the Editor Calls for Increased Transparency and Accountability in Ohio’s Charter Schools

On March 27, 2015, The Columbus Dispatch published The Ohio 8 Coalition’s Letter to the Editor in response to the paper’s editorial “A big step forward” that called on members of the Ohio House to further support efforts to ensure financial transparency for public charter schools. That editorial noted the national ridicule the Ohio’s charter-school system has been attracting because of its accountability loopholes and steps that Ohio House Bill 2 should include to address charter school accountability and transparency. As also mentioned in the editorial, The Ohio 8 believes that the legislation is a good start but should go a few steps further by requiring chapter school operators to disclose how they spend millions of tax dollars to run their schools (as is also required of traditional public schools).

As House Bill 2 moves on to deliberation in the Ohio Senate without inclusion of components that The Ohio 8 Coalition recommended, ACS will continue to push this critical legislative reform and engage local media to keep such reform at the forefront.