WKSU News: Two Ohio charters close as the school year begins

Friday, August 28, 2015 Two Ohio charters close as the school year begins Some 300 students in Columbus are left trying to find another school by WKSU's MARK URYCKI	Reporter Mark Urycki

FCI had 5 years of decreasing academic performance earning a grade of F by the state.

Courtesy of Clemens V. Voglestang

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Columbus City Schools are getting plenty of calls from anxious parents after a charter school in Columbus closed. Some 300 students were left scrambling to find a place to land at the start of the school year. State Impact Ohio’s Mark Urycki reports FCI Academy had survived financial trouble a year ago but its sponsor has now pulled the plug.

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The authorizer or sponsor of FCI Academy is the Education Service Center of Lake Erie West or ESCLEW. Ohio Department of Education spokesman Kim Norris says the sponsor sent letters of warning two weeks ago to the academy that it was not in compliance.

“The school has failed to meet student-performance requirements; the school has failed to meet generally accepted standards of fiscal management; the school violated state or federal laws," Norris says.

The letter stated that FCI had five years of decreasing academic performance -- earning a grade of F by the state. Student files were even missing state test results.

FCI was managed by Bishop Edgar Posey and his wife Tracey at their church Living Faith Apostolic Church.

Each student at the school brings $6,000 in state funding and its sponsor, the Toledo based ESCLEW collected up to 3 percent of those state dollars for its management fees. ESCLEW sponsors more than 60 charter schools around the state.

The Columbus City schools have been getting calls from the parents of the children left without a school.