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Ohio Auditor Wants Checks On Federal Money For Charter Schools

Ohio Auditor Dave Yost. (Photo: Ben Postlethwait)

Ohio’s charter schools recently received a $71 million grant from the federal government, and the state auditor wants to track where that money goes. Statehouse reporter Jo Ingles has more.

Just two months ago, an official at the Ohio Department of Education resigned after admitting he changed data to benefit charter schools. And Ohio lawmakers are trying to fix some problems with those schools. Yet the state received the federal money anyway.

Auditor Dave Yost says it hasn’t yet been determined how those schools will spend the dollars.

“There will be a contract between ODE and the sub-contractor and I think it would be appropriate not to rely on existing Ohio statutes but to look at additional protections within those contracts to insure that the money is spent transparently and to help those kids get educated.”

The application for the federal dollars showed the money was to be directed to help students in poor performing school districts.

This makes some nervous that the money might be used for future takeovers of public school districts, such as the recent controversial takeover in Youngstown.