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Lawmakers Consider Defining a Full-Time Student Following the Battle over Millions in ECOT Funding

Some say the official definition would have prevented the ECOT lawsuit.
KAREN KASLER
/
STATEHOUSE NEWS BUREAU
Some say the official definition would have prevented the ECOT lawsuit.
Some say the official definition would have prevented the ECOT lawsuit.
Credit KAREN KASLER / STATEHOUSE NEWS BUREAU
/
STATEHOUSE NEWS BUREAU
Some say the official definition would have prevented the ECOT lawsuit.

The Ohio House’s Education Committee will consider a bill in the new year to clear-up the state’s definition of a full-time equivalent student. The bill comes as the Ohio Supreme Court continues to consider the appeal of an online school over the issue.

The Electronic Classroom of Tomorrow, or ECOT, filed an appeal with the court earlier this year after the state tried to recoup some of the school’s allotted funding. The state alleges it overpaid ECOT for the schooling of 9,000 more children than it could document.

Education and Career Readiness Committee Chair Andrew Brenner says that’s why his committee will look at a bill to clearly define a full-time equivalent student.

“I think had there been a proper definition, there wouldn’t have been a lawsuit filed."

Brenner says confusion over how student hours are documented isn’t just a problem for online charters like ECOT, but traditional public schools because they also offer some online classes for their students.

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Ashton Marra covers the Capitol for West Virginia Public Radio and can be heard weekdays on West Virginia Morning, the station’s daily radio news program. Ashton can also be heard Sunday evenings as she brings you state headlines during NPR’s weekend edition of All Things Considered. She joined the news team in October of 2012.