A troubled online charter school that has butted heads with state regulators for years abruptly closed its doors on Friday, leaving thousands of students and their families desperate to find a new way to get their education.
On Thursday, the agency that provides oversight of Electronic Classroom of Tomorrow (ECOT), one of the largest charter schools in the country, pulled its sponsorship, effectively ending the online school.
At one time, ECOT had a student enrolled in its program from more than 90 percent of the more than 600 school districts across Ohio. However, its enrollment figures were repeatedly challenged, leading the state to attempt to claw back roughly $80 million from the now-shuttered online school.
State Senator Joe Schiavoni, the gubernatorial candidate and Democrat representing the state’s 33rd district, has been critical of ECOT for years.
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“I think [ECOT closing] been a long time coming. They didn’t follow the rule that the state set forward,” Sen. Schiavoni said.
In regards to ECOT, two main questions were the points of contention for state officials: how many students did ECOT actually enroll and how much instruction did those students actually receive?
Funding for charter schools is based on FTE or full-time equivalent. In essence, the more full-time students a school has the more money it receives. Currently, each school, whether solely online or brick-and-mortar, receives $5900 per pupil.
According to ECOT’s financial records, the online school had an enrollment of 7,165 in 2007. Year after year enrollment continued to climb, topping 15,300 in 2016, according to financial records. Consequently, ECOT’s funding more than doubled from $44 million in 2007 to $109 million in 2016.
State officials then began to conduct audits of ECOT, determining that ECOT only had proper documentation for roughly a third of its reported 15,000 students, according to state records. Additionally, another state audit uncovered many of the students who were enrolled weren’t receiving the required daily five hours of instruction, which is required by law for a student to be considered full-time. The audit also found many of the students were online for instruction for an hour or less.
State Sen. Schiavoni said ECOT also sought to slow down the review process by canceling scheduled portions of the review, filing for a temporary restraining order against the ODE and failing to provide records. In July 2016, ECOT eventually sued the state.
ECOT contends the state violated a 2003 agreement with the state, in addition to state law which says the hours students spent online as determined by their login data cannot be used in order to calculate state funding.
“I think there’s been years and years in the state of Ohio of loose laws that have allowed for-profit charter schools to come into our state and let a few people make a lot of money off our kids,” State Sen. Schiavoni said.
Further concerning to state officials was ECOT’s less than stellar graduation rate. Roughly 38 percent of students graduated in four years, State Sen. Schiavoni said in 2016 op-ed.
State Sen. Schiavoni said ECOT’s fall can serve as an example to other online schools.
“I think there is room for electronic learning in certain situations. But you just have to show what the kid is doing all day and you have to measure some sort of growth,” he said. “You have to measure how long they’re online and how long they’re offline and turn it into the state if you want a check. That check is taxpayer dollars.”
According to a court filing submitted by ECOT, officials conservatively estimate the school to be in possession of 300,000 student files. With job losses expected, school officials worry about the “monumental task” of distributing those student records to the appropriate party.
State officials said resources will be available for those displaced students.
"The (Ohio Department of Education) stands ready to assist the school's sponsor, families and educators in the event of a suspension," spokesperson Brittany Halpin said.
