Kasich signs charter school reform bill
COLUMBUS – Ohio now has new tools to dramatically increase oversight and accountability for all charter schools and their sponsors, thanks to House Bill 2 signed today by Governor John R. Kasich.
“While we are proud of Ohio’s high-performing charter schools, there are too many that haven’t been serving our kids with the quality they deserve,” Kasich said. “Making sure that our kids aren’t stuck in failing schools has been a priority and this bill will profoundly benefit our children.”
At a meeting of the Ohio Chamber of Commerce last December, Kasich called for charter school reform and asked lawmakers for their help to get tough on poor-performing charter schools.
The governor’s biennial budget introduced in February included new, stronger efforts to ban poor performing sponsors from authorizing new charter schools. The legislation signed today includes a wide range of reforms, including:
• Holding charter sponsors to a strong set of consequences based on quality practices and whether their schools help students grow academically and comply with state law.
• Revoking the right of the poorest-rated sponsors to authorize and oversee schools.
• Clamping down on low-performing schools and making it harder to move from sponsor to sponsor.
• Ensuring that equipment purchased with public funds remains a public asset and not the charter school operator’s property.
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“I commend our legislative leaders and members of both parties for their work to ensure that this bill has the teeth needed to hold charter schools accountable,” Kasich said.
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Kasich also signed the following pieces of legislation into law:
• Am. Sub. HB 2 (Dovilla, Roegner) makes changes regarding the governance, sponsorship, and management of community schools and community school employee membership in the School Employees Retirement System and State Teachers Retirement System; requires the Department of Education to study a regression formula for measuring student academic performance; limits the total annual amount of compensation that a school district or educational service center board member may receive; and revises the conditions of enrollment status for high school students.
• Sub. HB 39 (Duffey, DeVitis) permits schools and camps to procure and use inhalers for alleviating asthmatic symptoms and exempts the schools and camps from licensing requirements related to possession of inhalers.
• SB 117 (Yuko, Hughes) designates October as "Rett Syndrome Awareness Month."