During John Kasich’s governorship, charter schools have been the beneficiaries of political favoritism. The charter operators who give large sums to Republican candidates are never held accountable for their performance. In most states, this practice is called “pay to play.”

This article describes the corruption of the charter sector in Ohio. Some of the lowest performing charter schools in the state give the biggest political contributions. Certain for-profit charter chains have abysmal performance yet they will never be closed. Money talks.

Kasich appointed David Hansen as executive director of Ohio’s Office of Quality School Choice and Funding. “Kasich tasked Hansen with overseeing the expansion of the state’s charter schools and virtual schools, which are online charter schools typically used by homeschoolers.” Hansen had been a board member of a failed for-profit charter school. When Hansen was found rigging charter school grades, he had to resign.

“In July, Hansen resigned after admitting he had rigged evaluations of the state’s charter school sponsors—the nonprofits that authorize and oversee the schools in exchange for a fee—by not including the failing grades of certain F-rated schools in his assessment. Specifically, he omitted failing virtual schools operated by for-profit management companies that are owned by major Republican donors in the state.”

So Hansen is gone, gone, gone, but his wife is Kasich’s campaign manager and his former chief of staff.

And what of Ohio’s charter industry?

“Schools with D or F grades receive an estimated 90 percent of the state’s charter school funding. Virtual schools, which have an even worse academic track record and insufficient quality controls have been permitted to flourish….

“In the four years that Kasich has been in office, funding for traditional public schools has declined by almost half a billion dollars, while charter schools have seen a funding increase of more than 25 percent. Much of that funding appears to have been misspent.”

Ohio has so many low-performing charters, so many scandals, and so much corruption that the state has become “a national joke.”

John Kasich is portraying himself in the campaign as a moderate. Ha! He is no moderate. He tried to eliminate collective bargaining but the voters turned back his effort. He is as far right as Scott Walker. Don’t be fooled.

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