By Liz Sidoti
The Associated Press

COLUMBUS - The state school board has given the go-ahead to renew contracts for seven of nine of Ohio's original charter schools after their first five-year evaluations.

The board postponed votes Tuesday on two schools until next month to allow administrators time to answer questions raised during visits to the schools, said J.C. Benton, an Education Department spokesman.

Under the law that created charter schools, each school has to pass an evaluation before the state will agree to negotiate new contracts.

The board, which sponsors all nine of the schools whose contracts are up, delayed authorizing the renewal of Oak Tree Montessori in Cincinnati and City Day Community School in Dayton.

Created by a 1997 law, charter schools are publicly funded but privately run schools that are eligible for some startup costs but no construction money.

Charter schools are supported by GOP lawmakers who see them as an alternative to traditional public schools, which they say have been allowed to fail long enough without other options for students.

Most Democrats and teachers unions oppose charter schools, saying they drain state funding from public schools. They also criticize charter schools for having low proficiency test scores and point out that several schools have closed because of financial problems.

The Education Department now will begin negotiating new contracts with the seven schools' governing boards. They are the four Hope Academy schools in Akron and Cleveland, Old Brooklyn Montessori School in Cleveland, Eagle Heights Academy in Youngstown and Youngstown Community School.

Mr. Benton said the comprehensive evaluation included one- to two-day visits to each school and interviews with governing board members, parents and teachers. The department also analyzed hundreds of pages of paperwork from each school.

The state paid Boston education consulting group SchoolWorks $72,000 to help develop the process.

Tom Mooney, president of the Ohio Federation of Teachers, criticized the board's authorization of the renewals.

"They renewed charters for a bunch of schools that have dismal academic records," Mr. Mooney said.

Plus, he said, evaluations of each school should have been widely disseminated, and public hearings should have been held to determine whether renewals were warranted.

More than 120 charter schools are to be open this year, enrolling more than 28,000 students. The state is expected to provide charter schools more than $180 million this year, or about 2 percent of Ohio's annual school budget.