A Miami newspaper reports that Chinese investors are pouring millions of dollars into Florida charter schools. By investing, they get a green card under a federal program that rewards investors who put up large sums.
So far, according to the article, at least $30 million has been invested in charters.
What will they think of next?
Diane Ravitch's blog 
Really, wow! So while they pay tens of thousands to send their kids to our failing high schools, they also want to fund the destruction of our public school system.
Pretty soon there will be cyber charters set up in the electronics department at Wal Mart. You can send your kids to school while you shop for dog food, toilet paper and tampons.
How will Students Last and Ed Shyster spoof this one? It is only 6:13 am and I am already sickened.
The satirical, dystopian sci-fi movie “Idiocracy” features a character who got his law degree at Costco. It is a hilarious movie, but increasingly less fictional.
The satirical, dystopian sci-fi comedy movie “Idiocracy” features a character who went to law school at Costco. This movie is hilarious, but increasingly less fictional.
A character in “Idiocracy” went to law school at Costco:
http://m.youtube.com/#/watch?v=Z8zNsUTWsOc&desktop_uri=%2Fwatch%3Fv%3DZ8zNsUTWsOc
http://m.youtube.com/#/watch?v=Z8zNsUTWsOc&desktop_uri=%2Fwatch%3Fv%3DZ8zNsUTWsOc
Sorry for the technical glitch and excessive posts, folks.
Well, it would be nice if the state could take $30 million out of charter funding to account for that. Like that will ever happen…
Ouch. Sounds like an opportunity for foreign access to our homeland, and a potential security concern. Are we still using that “drum up the paranoia” color wheel?
Interesting take..except the Chinese still need us to keep buying their cheap crap. Ruining our school system is to their benefit.
That’s a really good point, Dan, especially when you consider that Condileeza Rice, et.al. some years ago pointed at public education
(read: teachers) a threat to our national security! And, of course, the Chinese buy-in isn’t the only one: Turkey and Libya have been mentioned here, as well.
I bet the green card investors won’t be sending their kids there.
I cannot believe this is permitted.
Of course not..there are a few KIPP’s in DC. Are the Obama girls attending? The most and the shiniest for the children of the “best and the brightest”. Testing, TFA and crumbs for the rest!
Why not? The Gulen Charter School chain is permitted to import teachers and administrators from Turkey.
A Chinese investor gets a green card for investing $1million in a project that will “create” ten jobs. The publicly funded charter fraud industry, however, doesn’t create new jobs. It converts well paying public sector jobs, with reasonable benefits, into low paying jobs without benefits. Let’s follow the money through this profit-generating machine.
The investors get 30 green cards, and their profits are guaranteed by the free services of well connected edubusiness lobbyists, working through organizations like ALEC, Students First, and Stand for Children. The US DOE cooperates, through RttT, by requiring states to legally compel local districts to hand over their American tax dollars to private charter operators.
It’s all for the kids, as Jeb Bush likes to say.
Lewis Carroll had a line about believing six impossible things before breakfast. That’s why I read this blog first thing in the morning. Of course, I don’t think these are the kinds of impossible things Carroll had in mind….
Lewis Carroll wrote about impossible things I write about what is happening.
Diane
Yes, and don’t you feel like you’ve fallen down the rabbit hole? The things that are happening are impossible. Except that they’re happening.
Hey, Mitt: let’s cancel Big Bird so we don’t borrow from China, but then let’s have them fund our schools. I think I may be going crazy…
I wonder if the 10 full time jobs have to be well paid jobs or if they can be minimum wage jobs? It is sad how the education of our children is being sold to the highest bidder. And the reformers say that this will result in improving the quality of education. Hm. To me it seems like profit comes first.
Just remember, this is all happening under Obama’s administration. Do you really think he is going to do anything? He is not a Bill Clinton who learns from his mistakes. If you take a good look at his biography, you will see a man who makes an effort at altruism, then when the going gets to tough he moves on to something else to boost his profile. Have any of you seen any increase in his political savvy? Do you really think he will back down from his position based on what he said during the debate? I am deeply saddened and disappointed in him, even more deeply troubled by the fact that we have all been taken in by him.
I have to have faith. I believe if Obama is re-elected, he will take responsibility and do the right thing. I know that if Romney were elected it will be the end of public schools. He even wants to end Sesame Street and kill Big Bird and let Wall Street run rampant.
This has to end. Citizenship for $ale. Not good.
I also forgot to mention that this is a great way for members of various criminal organizations such as: drug cartels, mobsters from Eastern Europe and Russia, the Tongs and Triads, and the Yakuza to not only invest, but also launder money. What a brilliant situation we’ve unknowingly set up. I can just see the spin from the charter operators, “It was a win-win situation” and “We did it for the children.”.
They are certainly giving new meaning to watching your investment portfolio closely! I can envision a wide range of student exchanges too. I would agree with Urbanlad, the convoluted money trail of international investment, currency exchange, and reinvesting sets up perfectly for money laundering. Having had some experience following terrorist activities for a living, this is how it is done. Paranoia may be healthy in this regard. It is not a good idea.
Public education has become a financial bonanza for ALEC and groups like it. It’s all about the money. Diane, I appreciate your exposing so many of the hypocritical things that are being done in the name of public education. John Trotter.