Betsy DeVos Champions For-Profit Schools That Are Deceiving Taxpayers and Vulnerable Students

Last school year, Ohio's cash-strapped education department paid Capital High $1.4 million in taxpayer dollars to teach students on the verge of dropping out. But on a Thursday in May, students' workstations in the storefront charter school run by for-profit EdisonLearning resembled place settings for a dinner party where most guests never arrived. In one room, empty chairs faced 25 blank computer monitors. Just three students sat in a science lab down the hall, and nine more in an unlit classroom, including one youth who sprawled out, head down, sleeping. Only three of the more than 170 students on Capital's rolls attended class the required five hours that day, records obtained by ProPublica show. Almost two-thirds of the school's students never showed up; others left early. Nearly a third of the roster failed to attend class all week. Some stay away even longer. ProPublica reviewed 38 days of Capital High's records from late March to late May and found six students skipped 22 or more days straight with no excused absences. Two were gone the entire 38-day period. Under state rules, Capital should have unenrolled them after 21 consecutive unexcused absences. Though the school is largely funded on a per-student basis, the no-shows didn't hurt the school's revenue stream.