Reminder: They Will Never Change

Another Case Study of How We All Pay for a Broken Statehouse

Before First Energy, it was ECOT.

Before ECOT, it was White Hat.

Both among the larger scandals in the history of Ohio, and part of a for-profit charter school industry that’s diverted billions from Ohio public schools and delivered paltry outcomes. Enriching private players who became big political donors to the politicians who made it all happen—while everyday Ohioans pay the cost of it all.

It got so bad, Ohio was called the Wild West because of this pay-to-play, for-profit system. It wasn’t a compliment.

And as always, Ohio taxpayers foot the bill, through underfunded public schools and higher property taxes at the local level to make up for the diverted dollars.

And the scandal continues to this day, with officials still trying to get back the millions lost in the ECOT scandal, where the company was paid millions in public funds for students it “claimed” but could not verify ever attended.

Reform? Nope!

And in case anyone thinks any of this will ever change with those in power, a story this week made clear it won’t. The headline says it all:

As a Cleveland.com story made clear, even the most basic reform to provide more transparency over how these for-profit schools are managed is something those in power will simply not allow.

The Ohio Ethics Commission had pushed to require that those on boards overseeing charter schools provide basic ethics and disclosure information, which might help all of us see what relationships and potential conflicts exist in the operation of these schools. After all the scandal, this is the bare minimum of the type of ethics and transparency reforms needed.

But it was still too much for the politicians from the statehouse considered the most corrupt in America. So the most important people in that statehouse—the Speaker and Senate President—directly and personally pressured the commission, both through a letter as well as through an in-person appearance, to back off from the change.

As education expert Steve Dyer said: “These folks now collect $1.6 billion a year in state money…We should know who’s running them. It’s pretty simple. I find it incredible that the speaker of the House and the president of the Senate are so concerned about keeping those names and their connections to money-making ventures secret.”

And under that political pressure, the Ohio Ethics Commission backed off.

And now those same politicians are threatening to restructure the Ohio Ethics Commission for having even attempted to clean up their mess.

Even worse, one of the two people doing this dirty work was the guy Vivek Ramaswamy chose as his running mate, State Senate President Rob McColley. Dyer, again: “It’s awfully interesting that the lieutenant governor candidate is trying to make sure that a $1.6 billion program can remain in the dark from Ohio taxpayers,” he said. “During an election year, that’s certainly a choice.”

So not only the long-infamous statehouse, but their likely ticket for Governor and Lt Governor, offer a clear guarantee of more of the same.

Bottom line: in this era of Ohio scandal and high costs, Ohio taxpayers need more transparency, not less.

And this is a reminder that it’s the people now in power who are costing everyday Ohioans.

If we want things to change, the corruption to end, and costs to go down, the folks currently raising them aren’t gonna do it.