Tag: Politics
Senator Schiavoni Condemns ECOT Lawsuit Against The Ohio Department Of Education
COLUMBUS – Today, Senate Minority Leader Joe Schiavoni condemned a lawsuit filed by the Electronic Classroom Of Tomorrow (ECOT) to block the Ohio Department of Education (ODE) from doing a full audit of the school’s attendance records. ECOT argues in the lawsuit that they are not required to “provide” education to their students. They assert that they are only required to “offer,” or place, the courses online.
“This lawsuit is ECOT’s Hail Mary. It is a desperate attempt to cover up the fraud they are perpetrating on the students and taxpayers of our state,” said Senator Schiavoni. “ECOT is required by law to provide a proper education to their students. With this lawsuit, ECOT is admitting that they have something to hide.”
ECOT is Ohio’s largest online charter school. It receives about $107 million from the state per year to educate over 15,000 students. According to a recent national report, ECOT currently has one of the worst graduation rates in the country. Last year, writes the New York Times, “the school’s graduation rate did not even reach 39 percent.”
“ECOT is actually asserting in their lawsuit that they are not required to teach any student anything. But they still demand the hundreds of millions in taxpayer dollars taken each year from our public schools,” said Senator Schiavoni. “They have now added high-priced lawyers to their army of high-priced lobbyists.”
Senator Schiavoni’s Senate Bill 298 would require e-schools to accurately track and report student attendance in order to ensure that students were logged on and learning. The bill has received four hearings in the Senate Finance Committee, but has yet to receive a vote.
ECOT’s owner, William Lager, donates over $210,000 to Ohio GOP
Below is a screen capture of a spreadsheet from the Ohio Secretary of State’s website. (I typed in “Lager” into the search field and changed the dates to 01/01/2015 to 12/31/2015.) I removed the columns that had irrelevant info, like addresses and such, so you could better view the important information. And it fits on the screen better.
In 2016, ECOT’s owner gave away $210,085 in political donations.
MUST. BE. NICE.
Actually he didn’t give it away. I’m sure he’s expecting something in return, like maybe stalling SB 298, to prevent him from being held accountable?
There has got to be an ethics violation in here somewhere. William Lager gave $210,000 this year in donations, is given millions in tax dollars, and runs the school with the lowest graduation rate in the country, and the politicians he supports celebrate his successes?
A post on the Facebook page of the chairman of the House Education Committee, Andrew Brenner
“I attended the ECOT graduation today. Cliff Rosenberger was the keynote speaker. It was impressive.”
Bill Lager, the ECOT man, certainly knows how to gain the favor of state officials. The June 5 ECOT graduation speaker was Cliff Rosenberger, the Speaker of the House. Senator Coley introduced the speaker. Senator Coley is on the Senate Finance Committee where SB 298 was blocked from passage this spring. This bill requires online charters to verify they are serving the students for which they receive funding.
Ohio Outrage: GOP Leader Celebrates Wor$t School in State
Education expert Diane Ravitch picks up on the corrupt ethics of Ohio’s legislative leaders and ECOT’s owner.
The online charter school has an on-time graduation rate of 20%. Students get credit for “participation” if they log in for only one minute.
Despite ECOT having the worst graduation rate in the country, Ohio’s devious leaders celebrate the school and the low percentage of students who do graduate.
Why is this? Follow the money…
From 2000-2013, William Lager, ECOT’s owner, has donated $1.4 million to Republican politicians in Ohio. Of course, he has given more since then.
What screams UNETHICAL more than this?
Ohio electronic schools get a pass with the help of a checkbook
WOW! This commentary by Toledo Blade Colomnist Marilou Johanek covers just about everything that’s wrong with ECOT and their “political powerhouse” owner, William Lager. The political payoffs, the David Hansen grade card scandal, the watered-down accountability, the students getting left behind; it’s all here…
It doesn’t matter how egregiously ECOT has been failing K-12 students who take classes from home on a computer. It doesn’t matter if ECOT students are even logged in let alone learning. It doesn’t matter if the online charter giant gets F grades in most state assessment categories.
The political will to right what’s wrong with electronic schools is nonexistent. When Ohio Republicans boarded Mr. Lager’s gravy train they left the educational welfare of thousands of students behind.
The plan to enrich for-profit businesses — if not students — can be summed up in two words: dilute and delay. Mr. Lager and friends got a legislative delay until after the November election to twist arms and derail charter school quality efforts — again.
Headline: Popular ECOT Poor Performer
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 