Ohio’s charter schools owe state over $2 million in unpaid audit fees

According to documents obtained from the Auditor of State’s office, Ohio’s charter schools currently owe a total of $2,044,392 in unpaid auditor fees. Over $1.7 million of these fees are at least 120 days late.

A quick review of some of the top offenders reveals some not-so-surprising results to anyone familiar with Ohio’s disastrous charter school system.

A 2011 audit of The Legacy Academy for Leaders and the Arts (#2 in our list) resulted in unpaid fees totaling $148,029.32. The audit revealed a long list of violations including $483,923 in checks written by the school treasurer, Carl Shye, to HIMSELF. Results of this audit were sent to the Mahoning County prosecutor.

It turns out Shye’s charter school shenanigans are not new. An audit back in 2009 of the Nu Bethel Center of Excellence (#7, outstanding audit fees: $68,492) revealed that the school “illegally spent nearly $28,000 in fiscal 2006 and 2007, withheld taxes from employees but didn’t pay the government and failed to properly document thousands of dollars in expenditures.” Shye was the treasure and one of the school’s founders.

The Harte Crossroads Academy (#8 with $64,352 in fees) and Harte Crossroads High school (#9, $66,372) owed the state over $3 million when they closed, leaving employees unpaid, owing cash to hundreds of creditors and throwing students out into the streets.

The Weems school (#10, $62,043 in unpaid fees). The Marcus Garvey Academy (#11, $53,535 in unpaid fees). The list goes on – and we’ve only addressed the top 11 so far.

I’m tempted to go off on a long rant about the massive failures of Ohio’s charter school system, but you’ve read it all here before.

So instead I’ll leave you with the list of delinquent charter schools, their total unpaid audit fees and a simple question: why are we still giving millions of dollars to charter schools that fail our kids and steal our money?