Gov. Mike DeWine Decides to Fund Failed Charter School System, not Public School Kids
DeWine cuts funding to the only 10 Ohio Charter Schools that score in the top 10 percent of Ohio School Districts on performance measures.
I gotta hand it to Mike DeWine. Despite decades of failure and scandal, he can’t quit Charter Schools. And he’s putting our money where his mouth is.
I swear to God I’m not making up these numbers. They are publicly available. And they are stunning.
Here they are:
Of the $101.7 million increase going to Ohio Charter Schools between this school year and the 2026-2027 school year under DeWine’s budget (and are rated under the state report card1), $100.4 million is going to Charter Schools that score below the statewide average performance index score2 for Ohio’s 613 public school districts. That’s 98.7% of the Charter School increase.
Of the $101.7 million increase going to Ohio Charter Schools between this school year and the 2026-2027 school year under DeWine’s budget (and are rated under the state report card), $101.9 million is going to charter schools that do not rate in the top 10 percent of all Ohio school districts on the performance Index score. Wait, you say. Isn’t that more than 100 percent? What gives, Dyer, can’t you math right? Here’s what gives: DeWine cuts money to the 10 Ohio charter schools than actually score in the top 10 % of all Ohio School Districts on the Performance Index Score. That’s right. He’s actually cutting money to the state’s few high-performing charters and massively investing your tax dollars in the state’s worst performing charters.
Of the $39.3 million increase going to Ohio’s Dropout Recovery Charter Schools3, a cool $34.9 million is going to schools who graduate students in 8 years at a lower rate than the worst-performing Ohio school district4 graduates students in 4 years. That’s right, fellow taxpayers.
Gov. Mike DeWine is giving 89 percent of the additional money he’s giving schools whose only job is graduating students to schools that can’t graduate students as well as the worst-performing public school district does … in half the time!
Look. I had very high hopes that House Bill 2 from 2015 would solve our state’s notorious charter school record. But what this budget proves beyond all doubt for me is that we’re not really better off than we were prior to House Bill 2. In fact, now we’re spending $1.4 billion on Ohio Charter Schools. In 2015, we were at $948 million. For about the same number of students. Which explains how in the 2026-2027 school year, we’ll be spending $11,432 per pupil — a $1,200 increase from this school year and a whopping 48 percent increase in 10 years.
That $11,432 is more than what 88 percent of Ohio public school districts would receive in the 2026-2027 school year from the state. Just for reference.
Remember that record, $71 million federal investment to grow high-performing Ohio Charter Schools that was gamed by the husband of former Gov. John Kasich’s Chief of Staff when he misled the Obama Administration about Ohio Charter School performance? You’re forgiven if you did because the state only gave out money to 5. That’s right. FIVE Ohio Charter Schools to actually expand a “quality” operation. And only $8 million was ever spent — the vast majority of which was to create new schools.
The documents that followed that program’s existence appear to have been scrubbed from the Ohio Department of Education’s5 website.
Ohio Charter Schools are just as poor performing as they’ve always been. And what’s amazing is they’ve been able to accumulate all this additional revenue without nearly the scrutiny they’ve gotten in the past. I’m guessing it’s primarily because of the state’s recent, historic and massive expansion of private school tuition subsidies for parents.
Maybe this budget will once again bring the focus in on Ohio Charter Schools, which still cost taxpayers significantly more money than Ohio’s voucher program and are still rife with scandal.
But I’m not holding out hope. For if there’s one thing I’ve learned in my 25+ years following Ohio education policy, it’s this: In Ohio, Charter Schools are — and always have been — King.
As for Ohio’s public school students? Well, let them eat cake.
Dropout Recovery Schools (which have their own evaluation system), STEM Schools and newly opened schools aren’t included in last year’s Report Card data
Ohio’s Performance Index Score is a rating that merges all your test score data into one number. In a nutshell, it’s then used to punish districts and schools or reward them.
Jefferson Township in Montgomery County, for those who are interested.
Sorry. It’ll always be ODE to me.