Officials with Educational Service Center did not immediately return calls and emails seeking comment. They receive 3 percent of the tax revenues given to a specific charter school. These nonprofit organizations officially open a charter school and oversee its operation. Sponsors or 'authorizers' are required for Ohio charter schools. The Horizon Science Academy in Cincinnati is sponsored by the Educational Service Center of Lake Erie West, a Toledo nonprofit that consults with public schools and sponsors 65 charter schools throughout Ohio. 'We're going to do what we can within the limits of the law to make sure the schools are being held accountable,' Charlton said, adding that he was not aware if the department had reached out to the Horizon schools' sponsor. The state can pressure a charter school's sponsor to oversee changes to a school and, if the sponsor doesn't comply, can find the school a new sponsor. The department lacks the authority to close a charter school, except in the case of a serious health violation, Charlton said.

But the department is waiting for the results of the federal investigation before taking any action on that matter, Charlton said. The Ohio Department of Education is investigating the allegations in Dayton, spokesman John Charlton said, and could broaden that to look at other Horizon schools statewide, depending on the results. The Cleveland office also convened the grand jury there last month. The Cleveland office requested the search warrants here, in suburban Chicago and for other Horizon schools in Ohio, Indiana and Illinois.

attorney's office in Cleveland and Cincinnati declined comment on the investigation. The schools run in large part on taxpayer money, but are operated privately as an alternative to traditional public education.įBI agents raided Concept Schools in suburban Chicago on the same day as the Cincinnati search. According to state records, it enrolled about 470 students last school year in Cincinnati - one of nearly three dozen charter schools in Southwest Ohio. Horizon specializes in teaching math and science. Such arrangements are typical with other charter schools and their management companies Concept took in similar amounts from its other Horizon Academies in Ohio and elsewhere. Horizon Cincinnati's 2012 tax return shows it sent $224,000 to Concept Schools, the nonprofit that runs dozens of schools in the Midwest. That included $3.1 million in funds funneled through Cincinnati Public Schools, as the majority of Horizon's local students came from the CPS district. The Cincinnati school received nearly $3.3 million in government grants last school year, according to state education records.

Both the Department of Education and Ohio Auditor Dave Yost launched investigations after former teachers and a student at the Horizon Dayton school made complaints to the State Board of Education about alleged sexual misconduct and tampering with test and attendance records. The news of the local search comes as 19 Ohio charter schools managed by Chicago-based Concept Schools are under investigation by state officials. The evidence log from the June 4 search indicates that at least 11 FBI agents took part. The search came days before officials from the local school were scheduled to appear before a federal grand jury in Cleveland, according to documents obtained by The Enquirer through an Ohio public records request. FBI agents raided a Bond Hill charter school in June as part of an ongoing federal investigation into whether Horizon Science Academy Cincinnati, its sister schools in Ohio and two other states, and its management company outside Chicago had improper relationships with several technology vendors.

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