Label
Councilman Delaney
Title
Supporting the Toledo Public and Washington Local School District Boards of Education in their efforts to recover funds lost to ECOT's fraudulent practices.
Summary
WHEREAS, The Toledo Blade published a story on June 10, 2018 entitled, Report: Area school districts lost almost $16.5 million to defunct ECOT that stated Innovation Ohio "released a breakdown that shows how much each Ohio school district transferred to the Electronic Classroom of Tomorrow in the past six years, showing districts from Lucas and Wood counties transferred close to $16.5 million to the charter school since 2012"; and
WHEREAS, it is the statutory duty of the Ohio School District Boards of Education to deliver the educational programs and services to the school children of they serve; and
WHEREAS, the members of the Ohio School District Boards of Education are elected by each school community to ensure an effective, efficient, vibrant and productive system; and
WHEREAS, the elected members of the Ohio School District Boards of Education have a legal responsibility to the community, including taxpayers, parents, and other patrons, as well as the state; and
WHEREAS, the Ohio Department of Education has determined that the Electronic Classroom of Tomorrow (ECOT) overbilled the State of Ohio by at least $80 million for the previous two school years, and there is now a criminal investigation into potential fraud by the now-shuttered online charter school; and
WHEREAS, the non-partisan think tank Innovation Ohio has calculated that ECOT diverted $591 million from local school districts from 2012 through the present; and
WHEREAS, it is reported that the Toledo Public School District lost a total of $9,590,036.00 and the Washington Local School District lost a total of $1,913,354.00 in funding to ECOT since 2012; and
WHEREAS, a 2016 investigation found that ECOT had the worst four-year graduation rate in the natio...
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