The Ohio Supreme Court has ruled against charter schools who argued they were entitled to equipment bought by their management company with taxpayer dollars without having to pay for the property.
At issue before the court were arguments by several schools formerly run by Akron-based White Hat Management that taxpayer dollars remain public when management companies use them for operating publicly funded charter schools.
The court ruled 5-2 Tuesday that the contract the schools signed with White Hat require them to purchase the equipment such as textbooks, computers and furniture from the company.
White Hat said in almost all circumstances it owns the property because the public money it receives for operating schools becomes private when it takes control of it.