From The Wall Street Journal Opinion page:

The concept of charter schools is popular enough that even most liberals won’t attack them openly. Yet the national political assault continues behind-the-scenes, most recently in Ohio, where unions have now been caught giving orders to Attorney General Marc Dann, who has duly saluted.

Last week the Columbus Dispatch published emails showing that Mr. Dann and the Ohio Education Association are in cahoots to close down certain charter schools in the state. Mr. Dann was elected last November in a Democratic sweep that included Governor Ted Strickland and was helped by Big Labor. As a token of his appreciation, Mr. Strickland earlier this year proposed placing a moratorium on new charter schools and restrictions on private-school vouchers, only to be rebuffed by the Legislature. Now it’s Mr. Dann’s turn to send a thank-you.

[…]

The union even advised a legal strategy for Mr. Dann, which was to use the charitable trust status of the schools to argue that they were failing in their mission to educate kids. “I know this is a long shot, but by any chance, are community schools registered as charitable trusts?” said a union lawyer in an email to the AG’s office. “If not, are they exempt from registration by regulation?”

[…]

In December Ohio’s Legislature put in place stronger quality controls, requiring chronically underperforming charters to shutter if they receive a failing grade from the state for three consecutive years. Mr. Dann is thus trying to pre-empt a legislative process already in place. And his decision to use the charitable trust status of these schools sets a dangerous precedent. If he’s successful, any nonprofit that the AG’s office considers a safe political target — from hospitals to the United Way — could be similarly vulnerable.

Isn’t it scary to think that Dann could just go after any unpopular nonprofit he wishes? What a tyrannical, unlawful Attorney general we have.

And if you doubt this lawsuit is political, then what about those 188 public schools in Ohio which are in “academic emergency”, which somehow don’t qualify for this lawsuit?

Atleast when charter schools do poorly, parents have the option to send their children elsewhere. Unfortunately, too many public school students in Ohio don’t have that option, and our Attorney General is too busy collecting campaign contributions, and pre-empting the legislative process, to care.