Dayton Daily News education reporter Scott Elliott writes about schools, kids, teaching and learning.
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Monday, April 7, 2008
Charter schools: Benefit or bane?
Jon Husted and Clayton Luckie
Two local legislators, two points of view about charter schools.
On Monday, Ohio House Speaker, R-Kettering, visited Pathway School of Discovery, along the city’s border with Huber Heights off State Route 202, to accept an achievement award from a charter school organization whose president called Husted the group’s “best friend.”
A couple hours earlier, state Rep. Clayton Luckie, D-Dayton, held press conference at the Kleinger Road site of a new charter school arguing that the school does not deserve to open next fall and complaining that it will hurt the city school district.
Virginia-based Imagine Schools wants to open a 300-student charter school for grades K-3 in the former Northwood Nursing Home next fall. Luckie said two of Imagine’s six Ohio charter schools are rated in “academic watch” and “academic emergency” for poor test performance.
Luckie, a former Dayton school board member, said he intends to introduce a bill in the legislature that would block charter school companies from opening more schools if they have any schools in those bottom rating categories.
“Here we go bringing another non-performing charter school into Dayton,” Luckie said.
Dayton, with more than 6,500 kids attending 35 charter schools, has the highest percentage of students attending charters in the state and the second highest percentage in the nation.
At Pathway, Husted was given the “Putting Kids First” award from the Ohio Coalition for Quality Education, an association of more than 100 Ohio charter schools. He said he would oppose the bill Luckie suggested because it could block good charter school companies from coming to the state.
“It would keep quality schools out of Ohio,” he said. “We have standards — tougher standards for charter schools than for traditional public schools. If a charter school doesn’t perform it gets closed down.”
Luckie said that has not happened — low scoring charters have remained open except where Ohio Attorney General Marc Dann, has sued them to force their closure.
“The only person closing schools in Ohio is Marc Dann,” Luckie said. “The Department of Education has not done it.”
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