ELIDA — Elida school board members sent a resonating message to both the Ohio Department of Education and the Ohio legislature Tuesday.
That message carried a price tag of $3.1 million.
The board voted unanimously to submit a resolution of invoice to the ODE to acquire that amount, which has been extracted and given to charter schools. The amount covered all money lost to charter schools between fiscal years 2002 and 2016.
Schools throughout the state have been issuing the invoices the last several years because of what they call inconsistencies with funding. Public school officials argue that money is taken from local schools that has been approved by voters for public schools, that low-performing charters are providing inferior education and are rigging data concerning enrollment size and attendance records to receive more money.
Those points were mentioned in the resolution, as well as stating that taxpayers unwittingly pay higher property taxes to fund underperforming charters, that Ohio ranks high in charter school fraud occurrences, and that charter schools are exempt from more than 150 state education laws that traditional public schools are forced to abide by.
The move is largely symbolic, and school officials did not expect to receive the money. However, they agreed that it is a message that needed to be communicated.
“It is a symbolic gesture,” said board president Pat Schymanski. “It is about creating transparency to taxpayers. We are trying to look out for their money. A lot of people are not aware that their tax money goes to schools where children are less likely to graduate.”
School treasurer Joel Parker said charter schools may get away with it because of political ties.
“They contribute to political campaigns,” Parker said. “In our world, we face a high level of scrutiny. I think that scrutiny should extend to anyone who gets” taxpayer money.
Superintendent Joel Mengerink said it was a message to educate taxpayers.
“These schools are receiving taxpayer money and they are doing a lot of things that public schools can’t do,” Mengerink said. “It is without taxpayer approval. Hopefully, they are educating themselves.”
The resolution also asks the Ohio legislature to pass legislation that demands accountability and transparency for the charter school industry and for special audits to be performed to recover lost taxpayer dollars. It also asks for the flow of public taxpayers to be eliminated to charter schools.
