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The Ohio Department of Education will have to send the federal government several corrections to its application for $71 million in charter school expansion grants.
(Patrick O'Donnell, The Plain Dealer)
COLUMBUS, Ohio - The state has a lot of questions to answer before it can start receiving any of the $71 million in charter school expansion grants the federal government awarded Ohio this fall.
The U.S. Department of Education awarded Ohio the largest grant of any state in September to help create new charter schools in the state. That grant award immediately drew complaints from charter school critics who questioned the state's ability to use the money properly, given the state's failure this year to follow the law in charter school oversight evaluations.
The state's entire Democratic Congressional delegation was among the critics calling for a review of the grant.
And a partnership between the Ohio Education Association and Innovation Ohio, a left-leaning advocacy group,has also compiled by former state representative Steve Dyer of items in Ohio's grant application that he considers false or misleading.
After a conference call with the Ohio Department of Education last week, Stefan Huh, director of the federal charter schools program, gave the state a new list of requirements before it can receive the grants.
"Since awarding the grant to ODE, the Department has received additional information that raises continuing concerns regarding ODE's ability to administer its CSP SEA grant properly, particularly in the areas of oversight and accountability with respect to Ohio's charter schools," Huh wrote.
Huh said he was adding new conditions "to safeguard public funds in order to enable the Department to review these matters further."
See his full letter below.
U.S. Rep. Tim Ryan praised the department for putting a "hold" on the money.
"It is difficult to ask the federal government to withhold money that could--in theory--be put to good use, but the U.S. Department of Education did the right thing to slow down the process and ensure that these funds go to the children who need them the most," Ryan said.
Sen. Sherrod Brown was also glad the department is taking a closer look at Ohio's grant.
"I'm grateful the U.S. Department of Education is taking steps to address this scandal and ensure that Ohio's charter schools spend taxpayer dollars on students, not fraud and abuse," he said.
ODE must now provide the following materials, among others, before receiving any of the money:
- A explanation of "the extent to which any information in the application (for the grants) is out-of-date, inaccurate, incomplete, or misleading."
- A summary of the last seven years of charter school audits by the state, and actions taken by the state in response.
- An explanation of all changes to the state's method of evaluating charter school oversight agencies, known as "sponsors" or "authorizers." These evaluations were the center of a controversy this summer at the Ohio Department of Education that is still being resolved, and likely won't be until December.
Ohio's application for the grants in July was inaccurate and incomplete even as it went out the door. School choice chief David Hansen resigned over rigging data on the sponsor evaluations within days of finishing the grant application that boasted of the strong evaluation system.
Hansen deliberately left out the F grades of online schools -- some of which were created by large Republican donors -- from those evaluations, in violation of state law.
ODE spokesperson Kim Norris stressed that the department informed the federal governement of issues with Hansen and the evaluations while the grant application was under consideration.
"Even before receiving word of the awarding of the grant, ODE reached out to the USDOE to provide information about the status of the charter school evaluation process in Ohio," Norris said today. "We are in ongoing conversations with the USDOE to ensure that our revised evaluation process and other accountability measures fully align with grant requirements and state laws."