STATE LAW FORCING MANSFIELD TAXPAYERS TO SUBSIDIZE POOR-PERFORMING CHARTERS
Mansfield schools lost $7.9 million to charters last year

COLUMBUS – Local taxpayers in Mansfield are being forced to subsidize payments for students who attend charter schools, many of them with poor academic records, according to data compiled by the Ohio Charter School Accountability Project.

The data, which can be found at KnowYourCharter.com, shows that Mansfield schools lost $7.9 million to charter schools in the last school year and local tax dollars are being used to subsidize a portion of the cost of sending students to charter schools.

“State law is supposed to prevent local tax dollars from going to charter schools, but a loophole is forcing school districts to subsidize charter schools often at a higher per-pupil rate,” said Innovation Ohio Policy Fellow Stephen Dyer. “It’s time to re-examine state law, particularly given the burden on local taxpayers and the poor performance of so many charter schools in Ohio.”

The data shows that the Mansfield schools lost $7.9 million to charter schools in the last school year. This means that Mansfield school students received $280 less per student as a result. Local taxpayers also had to come up with $1.1 million to make up for the insufficient amount of state revenue that went to charter schools, none of which received a performance grade on the state report card higher than a C.

“Being able to understand the impact on local communities is one of the reasons we launched the Know Your Charter website,” said Ohio Education Association President Becky Higgins. “In this case, we are shedding light on part of the state mandate for funding charter schools that has received too little attention – namely, the unfair financial burden it places on local communities.”

The Ohio Charter School Accountability Project is a joint venture of the Ohio Education Association and Innovation Ohio. The Ohio Education Association represents more than 121,000 teachers, faculty members and support professionals in Ohio’s public schools, colleges and universities. Innovation Ohio is a progressive think tank headquartered in Columbus. For more information, please visit: www.KnowYourCharter.com.

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Media Contact: Keary McCarthy, 614-425-9163