A 2014 study by Stanford University’s Center for Research on Education Outcomes paid for by the conservative Thomas B. Fordham Institute found students in the state’s charter schools perform worse on average in reading and math than their peers in traditional public schools. An exception was Cleveland, where charter school students did better.
Critics also point to the fact that Ohio is one of 17 states and the District of Columbia that offer full-time online charter schools, including some run by for-profit companies, and they note that the online schools have historically performed poorly. Nina Rees, president of the charter schools group, said in Ohio poor performance by many of the virtual charters is overshadowing good work by brick-and-mortar counterparts in communities including Cleveland and Columbus.
A big player among Ohio online charters is the Electronic Classroom of Tomorrow, which enrolled 14,000 students last year and was founded by longtime GOP booster William Lager. Another longtime Ohio charter school backer is David Brennan, founder of White Hat Management, who has donated tens of thousands of dollars to Kasich over the years. Innovation Ohio has estimated that since charter schools first opened in Ohio in the late ‘90s, $1.8 billion of the $7.3 billion the state has spent on the sector has gone to schools run by Lager and Brennan — or $1 out of every $4 spent.
Then, there’s the 11,000-student Ohio Virtual Academy, run by K12 Inc., that donated $100,000 in 2014 to the Republican Governors Association.
