A liberal think tank and the state's largest teachers union have launched a website that provides Ohioans comparisons of public school districts and public and private charter schools in an area.But a spokesman for the pro-charter school group My School, My Choice claims the site has false statements about charter schools so data can't be trusted.
Innovation Ohio and the Ohio Education Association say recent controversies and legal issues regarding charter schools stir up more questions about their effectiveness. That’s why they say they started KnowYourCharter.com, which breaks down state report card grades and shows how much money each school receives.Though Innovation Ohio has created a lot of reports opposing charter schools, president Keary McCarthy insisted that this website is not an attack on charters.“This website is intended for the data to speak for itself,” McCarthy said, “and we think it also provides a really valuable service to all those groups I just mentioned to help understand really what the value and their educational options are.”McCarthy says there are times when charters outperform their traditional public school counterparts but in most cases it’s the traditional public schools that do better.