Group Claims Preferential State Treatment Of Charter Operator

A progressive advocacy group is slamming the Kasich administration for handing out what it says is millions of dollars preferential treatment to a charter school operator. Statehouse correspondent Andy Chow reports.

The state once hired IQ Innovations to run a digital education tool known as iLearn.

But Sandy Theis with the liberal think tank, Progress Ohio, says that contract was awarded without a competitive process and the state had to spend another $1.2 million to fix problems.

Theis says IQ Innovations was run by big time Republican contributor William Lager, who has come under fire for his underperforming online charter school ECOT.

“How can you have a company that performs so poorly and you can have its poor performance so well-documented and its consequences for our kids so great and nobody does anything about it,” says Theis.

The state doesn’t agree with Theis’ accusations and says IQ Innovations did compete for the iLearn contract under the Strickland administration.