Ohio Attorney General Dann Files Suit Against Third Failing Charter School

Asks Court To Close The Moraine Community School As A Failed Trust

September 21, 2007 -- DAYTON - Citing a continued failure to educate children, Ohio Attorney General Marc Dann asked the Montgomery County Common Pleas Court to declare the Moraine Community School to be a failed charitable trust and to enjoin its governing body from further operating a charter school.

The Attorney General filed similar suits against two other Dayton-area community schools, Colin Powell Leadership Academy, and New Choices Community School last week in a drive to hold the state’s publicly funded charter schools accountable for their performance.

In the complaint filed today, the Attorney General states that Moraine Community School, which has received $5,879,111 in public funds since opening five years ago, has failed to achieve its stated purpose of establishing a “high quality program” in which “all children will achieve success.” As evidence of that failure the complaint notes that over the past five years Moraine Community School has:

* Met only three of the 32 applicable indicators for school performance;
* Amassed persistently dismal Performance Index Scores, averaging 66.1 our a possible 120, giving it an institutional GPA or “F”;
* Failed to meet Adequate Yearly Progress standards for the past four school years;
* Consistently lagged behind the performance of the West Carrollton City School District on State tests.

“By any measure, this school, like those we filed suit against last week, is an utter failure,” Attorney General Dann said. “I am using my authority to regulate charitable trusts to protect the kids MCS is not educating and to protect the taxpayers whose money is being wasted. Hopefully, as a result of this suit and the others we’ve filed and may file in the future, that money will now be redirected to traditional public schools and community schools that will use it to prepare Ohio’s children to compete and succeed in the 21st Century.”

Source: Ohio Attorney General