In yet another legal blow, the Ohio Supreme Court last week rejected online school giant Electronic Classroom of Tomorrow’s requests to block the state from collecting $60.4 million in overpayments for inflating its attendance.
On the same day, July 12, a common-pleas judge rejected ECOT’s argument that the state board of education violated Ohio’s open-meetings law during a meeting in which the repayment issue was discussed.
The decision by the supreme court means the Ohio education department can start deducting $2.5 million each month from ECOT’s state aid beginning with this month’s payment.
In June, the state school board ordered restitution after education department investigators used computer log-in durations and offline documentation to verify 6,313 full-time ECOT students, about 60 percent less than the students ECOT claimed.
