Yost says he’s “speechless at what I found.”

The report released today by State Auditor David Yost about head counts in Ohio charter schools displays frighteningly disturbing trends. The audit found numerous instances where far fewer kids were actually in these schools than the schools had reported as enrolled. In one charter school, there were zero kids, even though the school was being paid to educate more than 160 students.

This is of particular concern because charter schools are paid based on who they say attends the school, and that money comes out of the budgets of local school districts. State funds to these districts typically do not cover the full cost of sending students to charter schools, so local school districts must then subsidize that expense by providing locally-raised tax revenues.

While nearly 1/2 of the charters examined by the Auditor didn’t show any headcount problems, more than 1/2 did. The worst offenders were Life Skills Centers, which are run by David Brennan, who also has been the state’s largest individual political contributor since the charter school program began.

The report gives several policy recommendations to help ensure more accurate head counts at charter schools. The legislature must put in place a far better means for making sure that the students reportedly enrolled at these schools do in fact attend them. As it is, local taxpayers are subsidizing the educations of too many kids who aren’t even there.

Read the full report:

The State of Ohio, Auditor of State:
Report on Community School Student Attendance County