3/14/2011 4:35:00 AMLet charters bid on closed schools: editorial

March 14, 2011, 4:35 AM

By The Plain Dealer Editorial Board

In a fruitful move to let a handful of quality charter schools save costs by operating in some Cleveland public school buildings, school district officials propose to put unneeded structures off-limits to charters.

That would be contrary to state law, which gives charter schools first dibs on buying such buildings.

The Cleveland school board should keep that in mind when it votes this month on the administration plan to demolish five closed buildings, use nine for storage and reserve 16 for a range of uses from storage space to administrative functions. All are actions that would preclude their sale to charter school operators.

Yes, some Cleveland school buildings will be used by three high-achieving charter schools that the district will be sponsoring. And two proposed charter schools have preliminary approval for district sponsorship.

But Ron Adler, president of the Ohio Coalition for Quality Education, a charter advocacy group, is right to be concerned about the Cleveland schools' failure to make buildings available to charters to buy. By putting most of the district's recently closed buildings on the demolition or reserve list, the district would throw away an opportunity to sell taxpayer-owned buildings at fair market value -- a move that could whittle its $47.5 million deficit.

Of course, Chief Operating Officer Patrick Zohn has some good reasons for keeping some of those schools. If John Marshall High School on Cleveland's West Side is demolished, the district will need temporary facilities for about 1,800 students.

But it's hard to believe that a shrinking city, whose school enrollment has plummeted from 150,000 in the 1960s to roughly 50,000 now, needs so many closed buildings on its books.

Rather than letting unoccupied buildings attract graffiti artists and vandals, why not let more of them continue the work for which they were built?

Zohn said he's open to negotiations with charter schools and others who are interested in leasing buildings.

That's good to hear. But the board has to send the right signals. If marketable buildings on the reserve list aren't needed, they should be put up for sale.