Ball State University responded swiftly and decisively to news that local school board members for university-sponsored charter schools are acting as little more than a rubber stamp for the for-profit company operating the schools.

Ball State deserves credit for owning up to the weak link in oversight and immediately making changes.

The university’s Teachers College put Dennis Bakke, president of Imagine Schools Inc., on notice that his company must change its ways. “We have made clear our expectations that Imagine Schools Inc. will not interfere with the independence and autonomy of the local boards governing its charter schools,” writes John Jacobson, dean of the Teachers College, in a commentary published today on Page 15A.

The university has also notified members of each of the Imagine Schools that they must participate in board training conducted by experts in charter school governance. A review of the school bylaws will be done to emphasize the importance of complying with Indiana’s Open Door Law.

Board members routinely approved measures outside public meetings, by signed resolutions. Among those was a measure that created two entities in Texas, where Imagine Schools was trying to establish charters but met with resistance from Texas board members.

The dean’s strongest point is the subtle reminder that Ball State has the authority to revoke charters – a warning to the school board that failure to comply is not an option.

The local Imagine charter schools are not a philanthropist-funded project saving children from bad public schools, as some supporters would like everyone to believe. Taxpayers foot the bill, and they have the right to know how the money is spent.

As sponsor of the schools, Ball State holds most of the responsibility to protect taxpayers – a task the university now seems to have embraced.