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Our Accomplishments

OCQE has addressed a broad range of issues facing Ohio charter schools:

• Biennium Budget Bill 66: The original draft of the 2006-2007 biennium budget bill proposed severe 'caps' on both charter schools and sponsors. OCQE organized community school leaders and developed an alternative proposal which was presented to members of the leadership in the 126th General Assembly. The legislative leadership accepted many of the recommendations and included them in the final bill.

• Parity Aid: Senate Bill 108 was drafted to deny Parity Aid for charter schools. OCQE organized efforts that helped defeat that bill.

• Expected Gains: As a result of HB-66, the Ohio Department of Education (ODE) organized major sponsors, test and assessment specialists from charter schools and the lead researcher from NWEA testing company.

  OCQE traveled throughout Ohio meeting with members of the State Board of Education to explain both proposals. At the January 2006 State Board of Education meeting, a majority of the state board members rejected the ODE proposal, clearly showing a preference for the OCQE recommendations. As a result, the ODE reformulated a more acceptable proposal and presented it to the State Board of Education at the February meeting. OCQE did not state opposition.

• Ohio Core vs. Dropout Recovery schools: This legislation was designed to raise academic standards for "traditional" high school students. Dropout recovery schools specialize in working with out-of-school youth who have dropped out of their high school. This population of students is by no means 'traditional'. Placing additional barriers in the path of these students who are working to earn a high school diploma and a positive work placement would defeat the mission of these specialized schools.

  OCQE worked with legislators in both the House and the Senate to obtain an alternative pathway for these students allowing the existing standards to be maintained for re-entry schools.

• Biennium Budget Bill 119: The governor's proposed 2008-2009 biennium budget was so punitive that, if adopted, it would severely damage most 'brick & mortar' charter schools and immediately 'close the doors' of all E-schools.

  After meeting with legislative leadership in both the House and Senate, OCQE reached out to its member schools. School leaders, parents and students were called upon to organize a letter writing campaign, attend community school rallies and provide testimony to both the House and Senate. The turnout was unprecedented. Thousands of parents, students and school leaders wrote letters, attended rallies and ascended onto the Statehouse in Columbus to fight for their children's community school and defend Ohio's promise of 'educational choice'.

• Calamity Days:  State statute requires that charter schools provide a minimum of 920 instructional hours annually.   In April, 2008 the ODE announced a new ruling requiring that charter schools make up all instructional hours projected in the school profile.  OCQE organized a meeting with the ODE and legislature and negotiated a charter school waiver for that school year.

• HB-1 Biennium Budget:  OCQE began working on biennium budget issues immediately after Governor Strickland delivered his State of the State speech.  Left unchecked, his education plan would call for massive cuts in charter school funding.   For over six months OCQE attended every education committee hearing in the House and Senate working to arrange testimony from charter school operators, parents and students.  

  OCQE also played a central role in organizing thousands of charter school supporters to attend the May 13, 2009 Statehouse rally.
  Members of the House and Senate leadership reached out to OCQE to help draft education policy ideas.  By the time HB-1 reached the Senate OCQE had developed the framework for an alternative education plan.  Much of the OCQE plan was embraced and included in the Senate version of HB-1.

• Race to the Top:  After Secretary of Education Arne Duncan launched the $4.35 billion Race to the Top federal program Senator Husted quickly drafted SB-180 intended to modify state law to make our Ohio better able to compete with other states for a portion of those federal funds.   Rep. Morgan followed with the House version when he announced HB-312.  OCQE worked closely with both legislators on their Race to the Top legislation.

• OCQE Fiscal Roundtable:   Recognizing the need for a charter school fiscal stakeholder group for OCQE organized the Fiscal Roundtable.  Designed to address a range of fiscal issues such as school funding, EMIS,Federal Programs, Calamity Days and many others the directors of the Fiscal Roundtable meet with department heads from the Department of Education on a regular basis

  The Fiscal Roundtable provides charter school fiscal agents a voice to work toward solutions to broad ranged financial issues facing charter schools.