By Andrew Welsh-Huggins
The Associated Press

COLUMBUS - Many of Ohio's charter schools say they were unaware of problems with data reporting identified in a legislative report.

In many cases, schools said they were told their data was fine when they reported it.

"We believe 100 percent in adhering to our legal responsibility to report all the information required of us. We do that," Greg Brown, principal of the Graham School, a 200-student high school in Columbus, said Friday.

The state should figure out why some charter schools are reporting bad data, and the schools' sponsors should punish schools for late, incomplete or wrong data, according to a report presented Thursday by the Legislative Office of Education Oversight, a nonpartisan state agency that researches education issues for lawmakers.

The report said 23 of 59 schools it reviewed either didn't report data or reported data that couldn't be used on attendance, parent satisfaction and test scores.

The Ohio Charter Schools Association said Friday that a data problem exists but there's no evidence schools are trying to hide it.

Neither the report "nor any other source has shown that any charter school is trying to avoid scrutiny," Stephen Ramsey, association president, said in a statement. "No one is sure why some charter schools are reported improperly, even though their data has been approved for submission to the state."

Ramsey sent a letter to the oversight office Friday expressing some concerns over the report.

In some cases, charter schools said state report cards showed different, poorer proficiency results than the schools reported, said Clint Satow, the charter schools association vice president.

The Department of Education said it's up to districts or charter schools to verify data.

Nancy Zajano, director of the Legislative Office of Education Oversight said even if the state isn't telling schools of a problem, it's still their responsibility to check their numbers.