Recently, the superintendent of Ohio’s largest online charter school, ECOT, wrote a misleading and factually inaccurate letter to The Blade defending his failing e-school. I feel it is important to set the record straight.

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Here are the facts: According to a recent New York Times investigation, the Electronic Classroom of Tomorrow has the lowest graduation rate in the country. Only 38.8 percent of ECOT high school students graduate in four years. Only 44.1 percent graduate in five years. Those numbers alone prove that something needs to change.

The superintendent also brags in his letter that ECOT spends less money per student than certain public schools. Perhaps we should be asking why ECOT still spends almost $10,000 per student when they — as an online school — don’t need buses, school buildings, meal programs, or anywhere near the staff required to provide a traditional education.

ECOT receives over $100 million from taxpayers every year. Since that money would have gone to your local school district, it’s fair to ask ECOT to prove students are actually learning — especially when evidence says they aren’t.

Sadly, a recent initial audit of ECOT’s attendance found that “most” students only log in for 1/​5 of their required time. Since e-schools are paid per full-time student, that could mean ECOT owes tens of millions of dollars back to the state for 2015 alone. It could also explain ECOT’s shockingly low graduation rates.

I will not give up the fight for accountability. Ohio taxpayers and students deserve better than excuses from an e-school that refuses to admit it needs to improve.

STATE SEN. JOE SCHIAVONI (D., Boardman)

First Published September 11, 2016, 4:00 a.m.