Richard Cordray's gubernatorial running mate for Ohio Governor, Betty Sutton, was in Chillicothe on Wednesday to address the fallout related to the scandal involving the former online charter school, E-COT.
The online charter school was shuttered in January of this year after an audit of the school revealed that several million in taxpayer dollars had gone to the school without proof that the students in its count existed, or that students were completing the required amounts of class time.
Republican leaders in the state had for years praised the Electronic Classroom of Tomorrow as an online alternative to poorly performing public schools. But, now after the E-COT debacle, Democrats are hoping to capitalize on the scandal, and claim victory in November.
"Mike DeWine and Jon Husted for years enabled E-COT while they preyed on school children and stole millions of dollars from the state," said Sutton. "But now that it's time to run for higher office Mike DeWine and Jon Husted, and republicans in Columbus, are trying to whitewash their role this scandal."
Speaking at the Chillicothe Library's Main Annex, Sutton revealed just how much the E-COT scandal cost the local districts.
"Chillicothe Local Schools lost $2,166,176," said Sutton. "Huntington Local Schools: $930,069; Paint Valley: $597,524; Southeastern Local Schools: $476,000; Union-Scioto Schools: $989,277; Zane Trace Local Schools: $556,593."
Sutton says she and Cordray's challengers, having accepted large campaign contributions from E-COT, didn't do enough to stop the online charter school from wasting taxpayer money.