Bush, Bill and Smith Richards, Jennifer. “Popular ECOT Poor Performer.” Columbus Dispatch. January 4, 2015. http://www.dispatch.com/content/stories/local/2015/01/04/popular-ecot-poor-performer.html#
The article discusses ECOT’s failures as a school and also shines light on the owner’s vast profits and political donations.
The Newark schools superintendent accused it of committing fraud by “failing to meet even minimum standards of operation.”
…it’s astonishing that ECOT continues to escape the scrutiny of lawmakers despite meeting only three of the 24 possible state testing and graduation standards, receiving F grades in all but one category.
And growth came for ECOT despite its consistently low state report-card results: It ranks among the worst-performing schools in the state.
ECOT also spent another almost $11 million on communications last year. ECOT spokesman Ryan Crawford said he couldn’t immediately say why the communications budget was so large but said it might include advertising.
And ECOT’s founder, Lager, has spent at least $1.13 million on Ohio campaigns in the past five years alone. Lager could not be reached for comment, and his spokesman said he couldn’t reach him, either.
ECOT Exposed 