Dive Brief:

• Ohio Virtual Academy has been cleared of allegations that it collected per pupil dollars for hundreds of chronically truant students it kept on its books.

• The investigation — launched after Ohio State Rep. Teresa Fedor recieved an anonymous email with a spreadsheet tracking the names of 402 students who were allegedly truant for seven months — found that these numbers had been inflated and that only 12 had been enrolled beyond their "accurate withdrawal dates." 

• Investigators say that while data in the anonymous email may have been "manipulated," they still recommend that the school brush up on its truancy tracking systems.

Dive Insight:

All along, Ohio Virtual Academy maintained that it followed attendance-tracking guidelines and all state reporting laws. Though this story wasn't as a big of an ordeal as was initially implied, the Ohio legislature's prompt move to launch an investigation is worth noting.

Additionally, beyond the funding issues related to the truancy issues are the efforts virtual charters put into identifying the root of those absences. In nearby Pennsylvania, for example, lawmakers are pushing for stricter truancy accountability to save students from potentially hostile homes following the beating death of an 11-year-old boy.