The state’s largest online charter school could be in danger of closing in the near future with the news that the school is losing its sponsor. This is just the latest domino to fall for the Electronic Classroom of Tomorrow, which has been battling financial and regulatory issues for years now.
ECOT’s sponsor, the Educational Service Center of Lake Erie West, will suspend the school’s operation sometime next week.
ECOT has been locked in a funding dispute with the Ohio Department of Education. The state is currently collecting millions of dollars in monthly payments to recoup funding ECOT for thousands of students the school claimed were enrolled but couldn’t be accounted for with attendance.
ECOT’s dispute of this claim is now in the Ohio Supreme Court.
The school’s sponsor says the fact that the court did not suspend these monthly payments while the case carried played a role in its decision to drop out.
An ECOT spokesperson says the school is working with the sponsor to “remedy the suspension” to make sure their 10-thousand plus students still have a school to attend in the next semester.
