"Public schools have completely failed," he says. "Something needs to be done to change the system."

A longtime Republican contributor in Ohio, Brennan was appointed in 1992 by then-Governor George Voinovich to serve as chairman of the state Commission on Educational Choice. Under Brennan's leadership, the commission recommended providing taxpayer-funded vouchers to students in private schools. The program was adopted by the state legislature, but last December the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals declared the plan unconstitutional since it favored religious schools for public funding. Supporters of the measure have appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court.

Brennan has meanwhile established a chain of nonprofit charter schools in Ohio that are run by his for-profit company, White Hat Management. He calls the charters, which receive tax dollars to educate students, a "compromise to vouchers," which are politically unpopular. The company has kept even the most basic information about its schools a secret. In a recent survey of for-profit school managers, researchers at the University of Wisconsin had to estimate the number of White Hat schools, since repeated requests for that information were denied. The survey noted that 15 of the first charter schools in Ohio had failed to provide evidence that they had met their educational goals, explain how they evaluated student performance, or send annual reports to parents, as required by law. Five of those schools were reportedly run by White Hat.

Defending his political and financial involvement in Ohio schools, Brennan told Salon that he had done nothing wrong. "No laws were broken, no charges have been filed, or even suggested to be filed," he said.