The ESC of Central Ohio (ESCCO) has a contract with the Ohio Department of Education to sponsor community schools in the State of Ohio. "The state's education community experienced unprecedented impacts due the coronavirus pandemic. The Ohio General Assembly passed emergency legislation which excluded the Academic Performance component from the sponsor evaluation process for 2019-2020 and eliminated the rating requirement for the Compliance and Quality components" (Ohio Department of Education). The elimination of the academic component was extended for the 2020-2021 and 2021-2022 school years. Although there was no official rating available for sponsorship, the ESCCO still completed the sponsor evaluation for both quality and compliance. A seven was earned for 2019-2020 and an eight was earned for 2020-2021. An eight was the maximum score; therefore, the ESCCO fell in the sponsor exemplary category for both quality and compliance. Results for the 2021-2022 school year will be released in the fall of 2022. The ESC of Central Ohio is committed to the priority of quality sponsorship.
Although we are not currently accepting applications regarding the sponsorship of new schools, helpful information has been listed below, as well as contact information, should you have questions about receiving technical assistance and support services from the ESC of Central Ohio. If anything changes related to accepting new applicants, that information will be added to this page.
See Applicant Update for latest information. The application window is currently closed.
The Community School Department’s mission is to monitor each of its community schools through quality sponsorship for the benefit of students in each of the sponsored schools. Although sponsoring is a small part of the ESC’s portfolio, it is dedicated to best practices for effective school choice options for parents, as supported by the National Association of Charter School Authorizers (NACSA) and has the following goals*:- Education: To monitor and assess the goals of the Education Plan of the sponsorship agreement, aligning them with the Assessment and Accountability Plan.
- Governance: To monitor and assist with governance compliance.
- Finance: To monitor and provide feedback for fiscal viability and sustainability, providing intervention if needed.
- Accountability: To monitor and evaluate legal compliance as well as areas of the contract.
- Technical Assistance: To provide technical assistance in all aspects of successful school programming.
* Intervention provided in any goal area when needed.