Public vs. Private: Ohio Law creates transparency gap for schools

Mahoning Valley - When it comes to public schools in Ohio, families and the general public have the right to access certain information, from safety policies to disciplinary actions against staff.

But getting that same information can be nearly impossible at private and parochial schools.

Under Ohio law, public schools are required to release records ranging from incident reports to internal emails if requested.

Private schools, however, are exempt and don’t face the same level of transparency.

Attorney Mark Weiker, an education law expert out of Columbus, said the gap is significant.

"There's really no way for a member of the general public to know whether they're enforcing the policies in the same way, whether they're disciplining employees in the same manner," Weiker said, "It is