Expanding educational choice in Ohio by increasing state aid to charter schools and voucher programs -- often at the expense of traditional public schools -- is a priority of Gov. John Kasich's administration and many state lawmakers. But if higher subsidies for such options, especially for-profit schools, are not accompanied by tougher standards for oversight and transparency, both students and taxpayers could be harmed rather than helped.

This year's state budget includes provisions aimed at strengthening charter-school accountability. Advocates say Ohio already had one of the nation's toughest laws to force charter schools that perform poorly to close.

But the Ohio Alliance for Public Charter Schools notes that a charter school that gets enough failing grades on its annual state report cards to trigger the closure law can stay open for a full school year after the state orders its shutdown. Trapping students in "zombie" schools hardly advances their education.

The alliance sensibly proposes that state education officials accelerate their review of student test scores in charter schools that are in imminent danger of failing, and the calculation of the schools' grades based on those scores. That would give parents enough time to remove their children from schools required to close before a new school year begins.

Meanwhile, horror stories about mismanaged charter schools continue to emerge. A new state audit of a for-profit charter school in Cleveland that closed in 2009 identifies $2.8 million in public money that reportedly was misspent or remains missing. State Auditor Dave Yost seeks more than $266,000 in repayments from the school's founder and sponsor.

The audit says school officials failed to produce even the most basic records of its daily operations. It's hard to imagine that the state Department of Education would have permitted a traditional public school to operate with such impunity.

State education officials say they did not have the legal authority at the time to close the school because of its operating lapses. Even today, its regulatory powers in such a situation are questionable.

The new budget requires closer collaboration between charter school operators and sponsors. But it still does not give state regulators enough oversight of charter schools that take taxpayers' money and deliver an inadequate product.

In the Toledo area, charter schools continue to attract students -- and the state aid that accompanies them -- from traditional public schools, especially in the city.

A major national operator of for-profit charter schools is negotiating to open a third school in Toledo. Its two current schools have grown rapidly; even though they got the equivalent of "D" grades on their most recent state report cards, state officials say their students are making adequate academic progress.

Some local charter schools, such as the Toledo School for the Arts, are models of outstanding instruction. But of 35 charter schools in Lucas County included in the most recent assignment of state report cards, 29 got grades of "C" or worse.

The best charter schools are centers of excellence that can nudge competing public schools to improve as well. The best way the state can promote high-quality charter schools, public and private, is to refuse to tolerate schools that are so badly planned and operated, they don't meet their duties to their students.

When the state makes these distinctions more clearly, and applies the same standards to charter schools that it does to traditional public schools, the case for higher funding will be more compelling.

First Published December 2, 2011, 5:00 a.m.