![Attorneys representing ECOT and the Ohio Department of Education gather in Columbus to argue an appeal hearing. [photo: Andy Chow/ Statehouse News Bureau]](https://npr.brightspotcdn.com/dims4/default/1a55c55/2147483647/strip/true/crop/1000x628+0+0/resize/840x528!/format/webp/quality/90/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fnpr-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2Flegacy%2Fuploads%2F2016%2F12%2F06%2FECOT%20vs%20ODE%20Appeal%20Hearing%20-%20CHOW.jpg)
by Andy Chow
The state’s largest e-school is fighting to keep up to $60 million that it could lose because of an enrollment audit that the school says was improperly conducted by the state.
The state’s audit found that the Electronic Classroom of Tomorrow, or ECOT, only had about 40 percent of the amount of full time students enrolled than it reported.
But the online charter school is crying foul. Attorney Marion Little told a hearing officer that the Ohio Department of Education unfairly changed the way it determines who counts as full-time students.
“They effectively want a time watch, tracking literally every minute of what a student is doing, not every hour, not every day, every minute,” says Little.
The hearing is expected to take a few days. Meanwhile, ECOT has a similar argument in a court case against the state.