COLUMBUS, Ohio – Governing authorities over charter schools, which serve similar roles as boards of education in traditional public schools, will be required to file financial disclosures beginning in 2026, the Ohio Ethics Commission recently decided.
Financial disclosures require officeholders to disclose any businesses they and their spouses own and the companies they work for. They must also disclose the gifts they receive and who gave them, and travel expenses and who reimbursed or paid for the travel.
The commission is communicating the new requirement to the boards, said Paul Nick, executive director of the Ohio Ethics Commission. Disclosures for finances in are due May 15, although Nick said the commission may extend that date for the charter school boards because it’s a new requirement.
Any governing board member who has served on or after Feb. 15, 2026, would have to submit a disclosure, an Ethics Commission bulletin says.
“There’s not like a precipitating matter that said, ‘Because of this, we’re doing that,’” Nick said. “It’s more, over the years, we’ve had a number of cases. We’ve worked with the Auditor of State’s office as well. For example, most recently the Dohn academy down in Cincinnati… and also some others across the country, even the ECOT/William Lager case that has been going on for a while in the courts” have raised questions.
Dohn and ECOT
The Dohn Community High School, which closed its doors March 31, was being investigated by the Ohio State Auditor’s Office.
A lawsuit alleges a former superintendent used school money to award construction contracts to his business partner, including on a building that the school didn’t own. There are allegations the work was never completed. The spending may be responsible for the school’s poor finances and closure, according to the Cincinnati Enquirer.
The Electronic Classroom of Tomorrow, or ECOT, closed in 2018. The founder of the school, William Lager, owned three companies that did business with the online school. The state has been in yearslong litigation with Lager, trying to claw back over $100 million in public funds. The school and state dispute how the school should have been paid to educate students.
On Oct. 27, 2023, a Franklin County magistrate ordered that the assets of Lager and his companies be frozen, except for a monthly budget for Lager of reasonable and ordinary living expenses, while the case continues. Lager appealed the decision.
On Thursday, the Ohio 10th District Court of Appeals dismissed the appeal, which means his and his company’s assets remain frozen.
Operators and sponsors
There are three tiers of control over charter schools in Ohio: governing authorities, operators and sponsors.
Operators, sometimes called management companies, include superintendents and treasurers and handle the day-to-day running of the school.
Sponsors are state-approved entities that have charters, or contracts, with a school’s governing authorities and monitor the school.
For now, the new ethics rule only focuses on governing authorities, which means the requirement wouldn’t likely have applied to the former Dohn Community High School superintendent had it been in place when the school was open.
It also likely wouldn’t have applied to Lager, because his companies provided operator and education management services.
“We may look at those (other charter school tiers) closer later,” Nick said. “But right now we’re focused on the governing authorities.”
Transparency gains
Aaron Churchill, the Ohio research director for the Thomas B. Fordham Institute, a school choice think tank as well as a charter school sponsor, believes the requirement will provide more transparency, which is generally good for the public.
“These governing board members are overseeing public schools that are receiving taxpayer dollars,” he said. “It’s a very important job that they do to make sure that the schools are operating responsibly, and student achievement is going up.”
At the same time, the disclosures may discourage some potential boards members from serving, he said.
“I think that would be the trade off.”