Charter schools need to be held
      to at least the same standards of accountability and transparency as are the state’s public schools. All are funded by state tax dollars.
      BY DR. ROBERT ZORN
      Superintendent
      Poland Local Schools
      Why are Ohio’s public schools in financial trouble?
      The economy? Yes. Levy failures? Yes. Cuts in school aid? Yes. Unfunded state mandates? Yes. Unconstitutional state funding of Ohio’s public schools? Yes.
      While all of the above are contributing factors why Ohio’s public schools are in financial trouble, there’s another reason contributing to Ohio’s public schools financial woes: the amount of state tax dollars being deducted each year to Ohio’s charter schools from the public schools districts’ budgets.
      For instance, let’s look at the state’s tax dollars being distributed to the charter schools in Mahoning County from the state foundation aid earmarked by state for the county’s pubic school systems this year:
      The $25.40 million charter school support deducted from Mahoning County’s public schools’ state aid is a significant loss in state revenue for these public school systems. This loss amounts to 15.59% of the state aid set aside for the public schools of Mahoning County per the state funding formula being diverted to charter schools.
      The financial impact of charter schools’ funds deducted from the county’s public schools is even more visible when one looks more closely at examples of how this impacts on several individual school districts:
      In Boardman Local Schools, total foundation state aid totals $6.64 million. Charter schools receive $726,611 of those funds, or a 10.85% loss in state revenue to Boardman’s public schools being sent to charter schools
      In the Youngstown City School District, total foundation state aid totals more than $76 million. Charter schools state receive close to $22 million; or a 28.49% loss in state revenue to Youngstown’s public schools being sent to charter schools.
      Keep in mind this loss in state aid taken from public school budgets to charter schools is a fairly new phenomenon in the history of state support to local public schools.
      The first charter school opened in Minnesota in 1991. Today 41 states have charter schools in place. More than 690,000 students are enrolled nationwide in 2,695 charter schools across the United States.
      In 1997 a law was passed enabling charter schools to open in Ohio. The law began as a ‘pilot’ in Lucas County allowing a maximum of 20 charter schools statewide in the ‘big 8 city districts.’
      Today there are over 300 (355 at last count) charter schools in Ohio with an enrollment of approximately 95,000 pupils out of Ohio’s 1.8 million students, and these charter schools receive more than a half a billion or $720 million in state tax dollars this fiscal year.
      Ohio law says charter schools must be non-profit, but these schools can hire for-profit companies to run them. It appears Ohio has little oversight of its more than 300 charter schools. The purpose of these schools is to provide an alternative to so-called failing public schools. The reality is most charter schools have poorer grades on state report cards than do the public school counterparts.
      Ohio is one of the top states in the nation in terms of the number of charter schools and students, which is why there are significant dollars flowing away from public schools to charter schools in Ohio.
      Most charter schools do not have unionized employees, and most charter schools teachers have fewer years of experience than those in public school districts, so costs are less by comparison. This is often overlooked when comparing costs.
      These charter schools do not appear to be accountable for taxpayer dollars as are the taxpayer dollars in public school districts. The state’s public funds being spent on charter schools run by for-profit companies do not have to publicly disclose profits or losses or disclose how the public’s tax dollars are spent. This leaves a lot of questions compared to all public school systems in the state that are accountable for every tax dollar.
      Those in favor of charter schools often cite parent choice as a key factor. (Editor’s note: This view decries a lesson of history---when Ohio lawmakers centralized school districts shorty after the turn of the 20th century). The question then becomes choice at what price – when involving tax dollars for charter schools that are failing to perform and at what price is the lack of state oversight of tax dollars and at what price is the state’s lack of fiscal responsibility for public tax dollars?
      The academic results of charter schools overall still lag behind Ohio’s largest school districts on state report card scores – many or most charter schools are receiving state ratings of academic watch or academic emergency.
      Only in 2006 did Ohio state lawmakers put into place a provision that forces poor-performing charter schools to close after three years of hitting the state’s lowest academic rating. However, charter schools considered as ‘drop out prevention’ are shielded from and exempt from this 2006 law.
      The future of Ohio’s charter schools is still up in the air and in need of review. Charter schools were to offer students who weren’t succeeding in traditional public schools – either because of the school or the student – an alternative to a good education. These schools were to be an application of the principle that competition in an open market place of charter school versus public schools would be good for all schools and all taxpayers. It hasn’t proven to be so.
      In today’s times, charter schools need to be held to at least the same standards of accountability and transparency as are the state’s public schools. All are funded by state tax dollars. Ohio taxpayers have the right to expect no less.
     

     CLEVELAND---Isiah ‘Speedy’ Taylor III, 43, 231 East Philadelphia and 732 Fairmont, Youngstown, whom police say was married and also had a girlfriend (with whom he has a child), faces up to life in prison following his convictions on Hobbs Act conspiracy and brandishing a firearm during a crime for his roles in more than 40 robberies in Ohio and Pennsylvania between 2001 and 2009, Steven M. Dettelbach, United States Attorney for the Northern District of Ohio said last Friday.
      Police sources indicate that Taylor held gainful employment as a fork-lift operator at Ply Trim, 550 North Meridian Rd. in Youngstown, and in addition to his criminal activity and would split time between his wife and a girlfriend, frequently telling one woman he had to work overtime; and then spend time with the ‘other’ woman.
      “This defendant had a long run spreading mayhem throughout our region but he was finally brought to justice,” Dettelbach said.
      Taylor was convicted on four counts of Hobbs Act conspiracy and one count of brandishing a firearm during a crime following a jury trial before U.S. District Judge James Gwin. He is scheduled to be sentenced on Apr. 10.
      The U.S. Attorney’s Office said that Taylor conducted detailed surveillance of businesses and locations to be robbed. He then recruited co-conspirators and provided them tools for the robbery, including ski masks, two-way radios and firearms, among other items. He also monitored police scanners during the robberies, according to court documents and trial testimony.
      Taylor also facilitated the robberies by stealing cars to be used in the crime, setting up traffic cones to divert traffic and instructed co-conspirators how to use chemical spray to subdue victims, according to court documents and trial testimony.
      Already convicted and sent to jail for their parts in the conspiracy with Taylor are Shane Tisdale, Jawalyn Hudson, Charles Queener, Sean Queener and Deshawn Hayden, all of the south side of Youngstown.
      On Feb. 20, 2009, the Fairlawn Police Department made a field report on Taylor and Charles Queener.
      According to Fairlawn PD, Taylor and Queener claimed they had left Cleveland en route to Youngstown, but had to stop in Fairlawn when a check-engine light came on in the 2001 Cadillac DeVille they were driving. The Fairlawn PD said both men said they were stopping along the way to visit Taylor’s girlfriend, “but did not know where she lived, or what city she lived in.”
      Taylor then told the Fairlawn PD he walked to a nearby Wal-Mart to look for a public telephone.
      A Fairlawn PD officer reported there were three cell phones in the DeVille.
      On Mar. 26, 2009, Boardman police officer Ptl. Stephen Dubos, observed a car driven by Taylor driving around the parking lot of the Southern Park Mall. At that time, Taylor said he was on his way home from work.
      Taylor was originally charged in the conspiracy on April Fool’s Day, 2009, when he was busted for a parole violation. (He had been convicted of a robbery-related charge in Pennsylvania prior to his parole). Authorities indicated Taylor’s and his co-conspirators netted upwards of $80,000 during their eight-year string of robberies.
      According to reports sculled from a variety of police agencies, Taylor and his co-conspirators terrorized their victims.
      For example, on Nov. 11, 2006, a Fuel Mart in Austintown was robbed.
      At 2:27 a.m., a man entered the business and jumped over the counter brandishing a handgun demanding a female clerk put ‘all the money’ into a small duffel bag. After the woman complied, she was taken to a restroom and her hands were tied behind her back, then she was pepper-sprayed in the face.
      According to police records, on Jan. 17, 2007, Austintown Police informed the Boardman PD that Shane Tisdale had admitted he took part in several robberies, including some in Boardman.
      During one of the robberies, Tisdale told authorities he had dumped his car and then was picked-up by a man named ‘Speedy.’
      On Jan. 18, 2007, Tisdale was interviewed by Ptl. Michael Sweeney of the Boardman PD.
      “Tisdale said he was high on crack cocaine and heroin when he committed the robberies that were set up by a guy named Speedy,” Officer Sweeney reported.
      Tisdale then identified Isiah ‘Speedy’ Taylor through mug shot photos, Sweeney said.
      According to the interview with Officer Sweeney, Tisdale told police that Taylor would set-up the robberies, then help to steal a car and then provide Tisdale with a ski mask, airsoft pistol and two-way radio that would be used during the robberies.
      Tisdale identified Taylor as setting-up a robbery at the Southern Park Mall on Oct. 30, 2006, saying after he and Taylor split the money, Taylor took him into Youngstown to buy crack cocaine and heroin.
      Officer Sweeney also asked Tisdale about an attempted robbery at Wendy’s on South Ave. in Sept., 2006. Tisdale told police he and Taylor were involved in that effort.
      Of note, and unrelated to the Hobbs Act conviction, Officer Sweeney also quizzed Tisdale about a robbery at Kentucky Fried Chicken, 6636 South Ave., on Feb. 19, 2001.
      “Tisdale advised me that Taylor bragged about robbing KFC and raping a female employee,” Ptl. Sweeney said, adding he had inerviewed the female from KFC who denied being raped, and instead was “put in a cooler and told not to scream or she would be killed.”
      Among the some of the robberies:
       •Sept. 14, 2006, Wendy’s, 8541 South Ave., nothing reported stolen (a clerk ran from the drive-thru window when someone pulled-up in a stolen car and drew a gun on the clerk);
       •Oct. 11, 2006, $900 from Dollar Tree, 1150 Doral Dr.;
       •Oct. 19, 2006, $1340 from Rondinelli Tuxedo, 845 Boardman-Poland Rd.;
       •Oct. 30, 2006, unspecified amount of money from a night deposit of Easy Spirit Shoes, Southern Park Mall, Boardman;
       •Oct. 20, 2007, $2119 from Sbarro Pizza, 7401 Market St.;
       •Jan. 14, 2008, $508 from the Dollar Tree at 1150 Doral Dr.;
       •Jan. 23, 2008, $335 from Harbor Pet Center, 7338 Market St.;
       •April 24, 2008, $154, Catherine’s, 1260 Boardman Poland Rd.;
       •May 10, 2008, took money from Pizza Hut at 8535 South Ave., while using a firearm;
       •Apr. 1, 2009, purse snatching ($40 in the purse), Purpose Money, 66 Boardman-Poland Rd,; and
       •Another robbery was on Dec. 26, 2008, $3255, Belleria Pizza, 1010 Youngstown Poland Road, Struthers; (the robbery took place at the night deposit of Cortland Bank, 6538 South Ave., Boardman).
      Taylor was originally charged in 2009, and the case took more than two years to prosecute. Investigation into the robberies was made more difficult because the robbers would use one car to speed away from the scene, then switch cars a short time later. Most of the getaway cars were stolen, Det. Glenn Patton, of the Boardman Police Department said.
      The case began to unravel when some of Taylor’s associates were squeezed by law enforcement. Investigating one of the crimes, authorities found a receipt for an air gun and that receipt helped lead to Taylor’s arrest.
      The case was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorneys Daniel J. Riedl and Christos N. Georgalis following an investigation by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Boardman Police Department and Youngstown Police Department.
      Det. Glenn Patton of the Boardman PD and Sgt. Mike Lambert of the Youngstown PD worked the case for the local departments.
      In addition to the robberies in Boardman. Taylor and his co-conspirators have been linked to robberies in Niles, Kent, Liberty, Girard, Youngstown, Austintown, Niles, Alliance, Campbell, Hubbard, Akron, Warren, Canton, Struthers and Hermitage, Pa.