After a recent exposé in the Columbus Dispatch, the Center for Education Reform and the Ohio Alliance for Public Charter Schools expressed concern over Attorney General Marc Dann’s coordination with the politically powerful Ohio Education Association (OEA) in shutting down charter schools.

From the Ohio Alliance for Public Charter Schools:

Ohio Alliance files public records request with Attorney General

October 4, 2007 - In response to the unwarranted attack on Ohio charter schools, the Ohio Alliance immediately filed a public records request seeking prompt inspection of all communications between Attorney General Marc Dann’s office and the Ohio Education Association from January 1, 2007 through September 18, 2007.

The Alliance also distributed a press release to media statewide announcing our intent to review the dialogue between the teachers union and the Attorney General that led to the settlement of an OEA lawsuit against the state (specifically, against the Ohio Department of Education for failing to adequately monitor charter schools) and the AG’s recent lawsuits against selected charter schools.

It appears that Cathy Candisky, an education reporter for The Columbus Dispatch, was intrigued by our response and filed a similar public records request that served as the basis for her story, “Teachers behind Dann’s strategy? E-mails with union show charter-school debate.”

Other reporters from major Ohio media outlets have requested copies of the records provided to the Ohio Alliance by the Attorney General’s office yesterday. Copies were hand-delivered by Ohio Alliance staff to two key Statehouse reporters on Oct. 3 and additional stories may be written and published.

Given the magnitude of the issue - likely to impact charter schools across the state and, potentially, the nation - the Ohio Alliance is dedicating significant resources in its response to the unwarranted attack on three Ohio charter schools. We are in close communication with key stakeholders and with legal counsel.

We will continue to question the Attorney General’s preemptive and unwarranted action and obvious bias against Ohio charter schools, and to stand up for the rights of those impacted and the legal principal of these cases. We’re committed to providing updates to the Ohio charter school community as our best courses of action are identified. In the meantime, be assured that we stand squarely behind the legal rights of charter schools dedicated to serving Ohio students.

From the Center for Education Reform:

Ohio Attorney General Takes Orders From Teachers’ Union

October 3, 2007 - Attorney General Mark Dann’s attack against three low-performing charter schools in impoverished neighborhoods was actually a crafty deal between Dann and Ohio’s largest teachers’ union according to press reports.

Public records obtained by the Columbus Dispatch indicate that Dann’s legal strategy of suing the charters under the state’s charitable-trust laws came at the suggestion of an attorney representing the teachers’ union.

The Ohio Education Association, which filed suit against the state in March in an attempt to close down charter schools, agreed to drop the suit as soon as Dann promised to aggressively pursue closing down charter schools. The settlement came just one day prior to Dann filing the first of his three lawsuits against the Dayton charters - saving the union a costly legal battle they were likely to lose, and advancing Dann’s political agenda on the taxpayers’ dime.

Jeanne Allen, nationally recognized education expert and president of The Center for Education Reform, is be available for comment at 1-800-521-2118.

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