G.f. Brandenburg read the court documents in the case against officials at Options Charter School in D.C.
The school was created to serve students with disabilities.
Brandenburg points out that the charter was very profitable for its leaders.
The court documents how charter officials–deregulated and lightly supervised by their collaborators in the D.C. charter School Board–allegedly transferred large sums of money to themselves.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
Of course, it is a separate matter as to why a charter was set up to segregate children with disabilities from non-disabled children, a practice that has no educational merit. In Wisconsin, legislators are considering expanding charters in a way that would harm children with disabilities as I point out here. http://systemschangeconsulting.wordpress.com/2013/12/18/wisconsin-charter-school-bill-exacerbates-failure-to-serve-students-with-disabilities/
“Brandenburg points out that the charter was very profitable for its leaders.”
That right there should have raised red flags from the get-go. A for-profit charter for disabled students? Might as well start a for-profit business focusing exclusively on transporting packages to and from isolated small towns. If you plan to serve the only most challenging needs, it should be expected that your costs will be high and your profits, if any, will be low. Why anyone would want to go into such a business should be examined thoroughly, along with how they plan to finance it. Even a cursory review of this place would probably have shown that they planned all along to gyp the students and skim the money.
on posts here I have given comments about how John Barranco siphoned off the funds from special education to feather his own nest and his family and his girlfriend and his staff he chose to work with him. They did it through “collaborative” legislation … so charter legislation, “collaborative” or “Cooperative” agreements need to be regulated; in RI they are setting up “Mayor’s ” schools and a lot of this “end run” to get around legislation of school committee authorizations. Once John Barranco started his steamrolling through the funds, the state commissioner and secretary of education just blamed the legislature for not tightening the rules but no one was supervising. Please see the Boston Globe and google John Barranco for the entire story. Only one person paid a $5,000 fine for “ethics” violations … DiMasi went to jail for the larger computer contracts/schemes but the people who have not received jail sentences are still promoting schemes….
as the “Mayor’s” schools in RI are offered, I think back to Governor Sununu who wanted a legacy in a “gifted school” but , I think wisely, the state of NH didn’t let him do that…. he wanted a “Governor’s showcase”… the motive for these “schools” is sometimes self indulging, or financial but not the best interests of students.
Meanwhile in NYC:
City Study Tracks Transfers by Charter School Students
As has been pointed out in other instances, the data analysis seems to lack rigor in drawing its conclusions.
This is why I object to the “non profit” talking point:
“About two months later, in February 2013, Options PCS contracted to pay the
same amount as the projected increase in District public school funding – $2.8 million – for
management services to be provided by EEMC, a for-profit company controlled and run by the three individuals who were serving simultaneously as Options PCS’s (i) president and/or CEO (Defendant Dr. Donna D. Montgomery, who created EEMC), (ii) clinical director and/or chief operating officer (Defendant Dr. David Cranford), and (iii) general counsel and/or provost (Defendant Paul S. Dalton). By July 2013, these three executives had resigned from Options PCS and were serving as the management team of EEMC and EES.”
I realize that the charter is organized as a non profit legal entity, but I don’t think the general public cares about their tax status.
Why not use plain language when selling these schools to the public, instead of repeating “non profit, non profit, non profit!” (which here is nothing more than a legal term of art) over and over again?
This is a non profit shell encompassing a group of for profit contractors. That’s what it IS, as a practical matter. It makes me laugh how we’re all relying on this narrow legal definition to define these schools.
What is “non profit” about this school other than the tax status? Obviously, they’re setting these up as non profits to comply with state statutes (or DC regs, in this instance). Can we just drop the “non profit” charade and stop hiding behind it?
Yes!
I completely agree.
Too few folks have caught on that non profit does NOT equal charity.
The NFL, for example.
“The top of the NFL — Roger Goodell, the commissioner — his $30-million-a-year paycheck comes from what looks on paper to be a tax-exempt philanthropy.”
http://www.npr.org/2013/09/24/225775287/nfls-a-nonprofit-author-says-its-time-for-football-reform
“Non profit” doesn’t mean “public” either.
I’m not aware of any public school that holds “investor” meetings in the home of the directors or managers or CEOs or whatever they’re calling themselves, as was done here.
DC is supposed to be this national model for charter schools that we’re all following. Why are they re-inventing the wheel on oversight and governance issues, and pretending this is different than any other use of public money? Why don’t they just follow the transparency, accountability and public meeting requirements that public schools have to follow? They’re really going to come up with something measurably better than existing law as applied to public schools?
When it comes to charter schools, it takes a pillage.
(Apologies to Nomi Prins)
Excellent book. Another required reading.
All these stories make me ill. I am having a hard time understanding how people justify such an amazing level of greed at the expense of disadvantaged children. How do they sleep at night?
They don’t. They are out sucking blood.
TY! So sad that none of this is surprising. It’s open season….
OMG! Thank you for posting this.
When and not if they are found guilty, this case should be the poster from stringent regulation at the state and Federal level of charters. This industry must be regulated because the future lives of our children are at stake.
I agree. My child went to one of those disgusting Charter schools for one year while we lived in NC because I heard such horror stories about the public schools. He had just gotten an IEP and the Charter gave him an IEP with only his name on it. They are really DISGUSTING!!!! Only greed and money motivates those people. The teachers just want a job. The system is turning into a circus.
It also harms them when they are expelled in the middle of the year (or at the beginning of the year) and the charter school retains the state money allotted for them for the entire school year. This is another form of stealing.