In state after state, charter schools are proving that it is downright risky to turn public money over to deregulated corporations and unqualified individuals to run schools. The Detroit Free Press series on the scams, frauds, and corruption in many Michigan charters was an eye-opener for all those who are not part of the charter movement. The exposé of similar frauds in Florida by the League of Women Voters in Florida was enlightening to anyone other than free market ideologues. The same level of corruption–actually, even worse–exists in Ohio’s charter sector, where a small number of charter founders have become multi-millionaires, run low-performing schools, and are never held accountable.
One of the most colorful charter scandals occurred when a Cleveland charter operator was tried for funneling over $1million to his church and other businesses. The charter founder was a pastor, not an educator. His attorney said ““his client had good intentions when opening the school on East 55th Street but then got greedy when he saw easy opportunities to make money….”
The leader of California’s most celebrated charter school, with outstanding test scores, stepped down when an audit revealed that nearly $4 million had been diverted to his other businesses.
In Arizona, the Arizona Republic exposed charters that were family businesses, giving contracts to family members and board members.
In Chicago, the head of the city’s largest charter chain resigned after the media reported large contracts given to family members of school leaders and other conflicts of interest and misuse of public funds.
Last week, one of Connecticut’s most celebrated charter organizations was at the center of the latest scandal. Its CEO was revealed to have a criminal past and a falsified résumé. Two top executives immediately resigned, and legislators and journalists began to ask questions. No background checks? Accountability? Transparency?
Colin McEnroe wrote in the Hartford Courant’s blog that hustlers were cashing in on the charter school craze. Not just in Connecticut, but in Michigan, Pennsylvania, Minnesota, California, Ohio, Arizona, on and on.
McEnroe wrote:
“The message is always the same: The essential concept behind the charter school movement is that, freed from the three Rs — restraints, rules and regulations — these schools could innovate and get the kinds of results that calcified, logy public schools could only dream about. And they do … sometimes.
“But handing out uncountable millions to operators who would be given a free hand was also like putting a big sign out by the highway that says “Welcome Charlatans, Grifters, Credential-Fakers, Cherry-Pickers, Stat-Jukers, Cult of Personality Freaks and People Who Have No Business Running a Dairy Queen, Much Less a School.” And they’ve all showed up. This is the Promised Land: lots of cash and a mission statement that implicitly rejects the notion of oversight…..
“What else goes with those big bubbling pots of money? A new layer of lobbyists and donation-bundlers. The Free Press documented the way a lawmaker who dared to make a peep of protest against charter schools getting whatever they want suddenly found himself in a race against a challenger heavily funded by the Great Lakes Education Project, the “powerhouse lobby” of the Michigan charter movement. Jon Lender of The Courant recently showed how one family of charter school advocates had crammed $90,000 into Connecticut Democratic Party coffers.”
If there were more investigations, more charter scandals would be disclosed.
When will public officials call a halt to the scams, conflicts of interest, self-dealing, nepotism, and corruption?
There is one defensible role for charter schools and that is to do what public schools can’t do. There is no reason to create a dual school system, with one free to choose its students and to cherry pick the best students, while the other must take all students. There is no reason to give charters to non-educators. There is no reason to allow charter operators to pocket taxpayer dollars for their own enrichment while refusing to be fully accountable for how public money is spent. Where public money goes, public accountability must follow.
The charter school movement is DEFINITELY imploding in Connecticut and I couldn’t be more thrilled. Mr. Sharpe, the former CEO of Jumoke Charter Schools and FUSE, recently resigned because of his federal convictions for embezzlement / tax fraud and that he claimed to have a doctorate in education, which was patently false. Several days later, Northeast Charter Schools submitted proposed legislative changes to Commissioner Pryor to ensure charter school “transparency” and “accountability.” There are several areas of concerns with this absolute ruse. Mr. Sharpe co-founded Northeast Charter Schools, just resigned from it’s Board of Directors and FUSE and Northeast Charter Schools are both housed in the same office space. It is just so absolutely ridiculous that Northeast Charter Schools believes they are in a position to make recommendations to the legislature.
Maria, is it possible to see the Dunbar application? I know it’s for a Turnaround, not a charter, but it might have some useful info. I can’t seem to find it on the SDE website.
These people are so careless; just like in the Booker T. Washington charter, where Toni Harp’s and John deStefano’s letters of support are *identical*! and then there are 3 letters from people who received funds from the Buck foundation for “charter incubation”!
You never know what might be in the Dunbar application, or who signed off on it–some additional relatives of the Jumoke/FUSE family; the TFA-CT leader… etc, etc. TFA, by the way, gets millions from the Bucks. They’re a one-stop charter school foundation.
When all the reformers hear is Ka-ching, it becomes extremely convenient to ignore the facts. Never in my life did I hear about public school thievery, lock, stock and barrel, the likes of which happens in charter schools.
Why are not the Rhee-formers outraged by all the thievery that goes on in charter schools?
I also want to share that ConnCan, Family Urban Schools of Excellence and Northeast Charter Schools are heavily funded by the Buck Foundation. The Bucks are the founders of Subway which is based in CT. I have started notifying every single person I know and am asking people to no longer patronize this business. I also refuse to shop in a single Walmart because of their significant funding of charter schools and I do not purchase Hallmark cards anymore because that company is owned by the Koch brothers. If anyone else knows of any other products/businesses that are produced or owned by charter school backers, please post it. I do not want a penny of my money to be utilized to help support charter schools.
I e-mailed the Buck Foundation and told them my family will no longer buy Subway sandwiches. I wrote to my local franchisors and told them why I’m no longer a customer. In the letter, I included the Ohio corruption newspaper articles and the Washington Post Common Core article. It provided a great opportunity to inform.
if we don’t publicize the need to keep Tom Torlakson, another privatizer will be in charge of California education. Please keep talking about this runoff!
Yes, Lauren.
Marshall Tuck, former head of Green Dot Charters, who left with a financial cloud over his head, and is allied with Ben Austin of Parent Revolution whom he had previously hired, now is gaining on long time teacher Tom Torlakson in California. This race for State Supt. has turned into a very close call. Tuck has the billionaires cash behind him.
If Tuck wins, so does Eli Broad, the Waltons, Gates, and all the other purveyors of privatized education. LAUSD is the second largest district, but in actuality, has the most students, in the nation. Broad’s boy, Supt. Deasy, and the BoE are giving licenses to new charters rapidly. There is no indication that I can ferret out that charters in California are any where near imploding.
If anyone has more verified info on California please let us know.
I fail to see any need for charter schools at all. I’m simply not buying the argument that got this whole, hot mess started, that charters would be free to innovate once restrictions were removed. Oh, and that as part of the deal, charters would be more accountable.
What an inconvenient fiction that turned out to be.
I wish the movement were imploding, unfortunately there is a seemingly endless supply of con men and willing political accomplices. Here in Nevada celebrity trumps knowledge. Our governor had stated among confidants that he would like to get the public out of public education. We have Andre Agassi offering investment bundles in his charter chain. Personally, I hope he goes broke. It seems they are able to pivot the argument away from quality education to the mythical power of choice. We all know who winds up with the choices that matter.
NPR interviewed and economist who had the same view and without presenting evidence pronounced charters were doing a great job.
In a 2012 Vanity Fair article about NPR, the author said, “There’s far more comforting the afflicted than afflicting the comfortable…(NPR) is prone to crumble when the slightest trickle of right-wing (my addition-and DINO’s) criticism starts flowing its way.”
The public schools are similar to a dead carcass. The money is sitting out in the open—unprotected—and the vultures are gathering and swooping in to get their fill of the rotting meat before the jackals, wolves, lions and coyotes arrive to fill their bank account.
Here is another spectular example, a NC charter school that is nothing more than a basketball factory, even recruiting students from overseas! The older article linked inside has even more detail.
http://pulse.ncpolicywatch.org/2014/04/22/qea-winston-salem-charter-school-continues-out-of-state-basketball-recruiting/
It may be imploding, but that doesn’t matter to the privatizers. When you believe in the neoliberal cult, you believe that anything that is public sector is illegitimate on its face.
That’s the problem, folks. These privatizers are simply anti-democracy and anti-American.
Don’t forget that students are the ones who are most hurt when charters are unregulated, unsupervised, and in this case, unaccredited: http://nbcmiami.com/news/local/Graduate-Told-Her-School-Is-Not-Accredited-275449431.hmtl .
One purpose of school privatization is to bring about “deregulation” of the education system. wherever and whenever deregulation has been permitted to proceed, the result, for public goods and services, has been disastrous. The financial collapse of 2008 was the direct outcome of deregulation. Deregulation was supposed to lead to greater efficiency in the provision of housing and in financial services. Instead it wiped out trillions in individual and social wealth; it nearly destroyed the American economy; and it created a deep, deep well of misery and suffering. The high priests of neoliberalism who called for deregulation should have been made to eat their hats. Their bogus theorizing did not lead to the paradise they promised; instead it put many people in hell. All deregulation of finance achieved was the enrichment of predators and parasites, who preyed on the vulnerable and the desperate by scams, deception and outright criminal acts.
The deregulation of public education, by leave of privatization, is creating similar opportunities for the unscrupulous and untrustworthy. Because there are no hard and fast criteria for opening a charter school (except a religious commitment to corporate education reform), it’s obvious that this wide open “wild west” frontier where public money is there for the taking was bound to attract venal and criminal types, who have no business at all being around children. Connecticut is notable, because the gap between rich and poor communities is extremely stark, and the State is under legal pressure to make school funding more equitable. But the powers that be in Connecticut are closely connected to the Wall St Hedge Fund Crowd (some of the very people who brought about the 2008 economic collapse), and it is this power which is strongly pushing school privatization. The Hedge Fund Predators don’t care who gets a charter school, just so long as charter schools are created. And the Democratic Governor Malloy is all too willing to oblige his patrons. Malloy is a low character with high ambitions. He would sell his mother to advance his career. But seeing as no one is interested in buying his mother, Malloy has decided to sell out minority children in Connecticut’s poorest cities.
Deregulation of financial services led to the destruction of many poor neighborhoods, as people were given mortgages they could not manage. The mortgages were given because they were ultimately insured by the Federal government. Private investors got stinking rich by fraud and deception. Homeowners got foreclosed. And the general public picked up the tab for unethical and criminal profiteering. As the Charter school movement continues to grow, you can see the same sorry pattern. Charters are given to crooks, incompetents and charlatans. Some of them make out like bandits. Children in the charters are often given a dreadful education. Neighborhood schools are ruined. Profiteering is at the public expense, as hardly any charter school could survive without public funding. I would not say that the Charter school movement is imploding, but this prospect can’t be ruled out in the future, as deregulation is just another name for ongoing and deepening chaos.
Excellent comments jrp…and spot on analogy to the world wide crash of 2007 – 8 due to the greed of Wall Streeters…and to Deregulation. We saw a Dem prez, Clinton, collude with the deregulators to bring down the economies of the nation and of the world, and now we see a Dem prez, Obama, do the same with public education.
Hellary, oops, Hillary, would be the final coffin nail in this onslaught of the free market to desert American free universal education in favor of enriching the super rich. Hope either Bernie Sanders or Elizabeth Warren runs for prez so We the People have some viable choice for representation, but the oligarchs have the upper hand.
One of our major societal problems is that we seem to have an implied sense of impunity if a school is involved, whether it be a publlc school, a charter school, a parochial school, an independent school, or even a home schooling.
Those in charge should be held accountable, and the appropriate prosecutors should indict those who take egregious actions.
We have seen far too many cases of miscreant principals and superintendents who have
created conspiracies to alter testing results to inflate student progress impressions.
This is sheer fraud and these individuals should be both imprisoned and barred for life from association with any form of schooling. This is in no way a victim-less crime.
Agreed! These scammers have no place anywhere near children, much less, educational institutions. They are white-collar criminals cloaked as altruistic “reformers”. If we do not already have laws on the books to protect children and our public school system from this fraud, then new legislation must be developed immediately. We must demand action from our local, state, and federal government officials. I believe our only recourse is a combination of media exposure and the utilization of our legal system.
Good point reading ex…”white collar criminals” indeed. Many of them are, but their supporters such as Rupert Murdoch own the media. No one out there is telling the stories we tell each other. As to demanding action from government, as Santa says HO HO HO. Look at NY and how De Blasio has folded. Never trust a politician. I write and call my governor and legislators almost daily…but where is the change?
Maybe we need to elect the billionaire who told us all to get out into the streets with pitchforks. Senator Boxer is with us…Senator Feinstein, not so much…and her billionaire husband appointed by the last few governors sits on the UC Board of Regents and supports charters and ed reform. Say what? Who do Californians complain to?
It is only we, the educators and supporters of public ed, who can inform the public. We all must spend large parts of every day as ambassadors of truth and speak out everywhere. There are parents who are finally joining in…but we DO NOT have the upper hand.
It appears that in this comment string, there is a great deal of heat and not a great deal of light.
One thing that the the string of comments is silent about is where are the organizations that are sustainably and continually getting students properly prepared for college and for the workforce?
I suggest that the key to success is the quality of the management, as opposed to the legal format of the school organization.
I submit that you will find both successes and utter failures in independent schools.
I submit that you will find both successes and utter failures in parochial schools. ( and our family had experience with the latter in a school which had been outstanding under a previous principal, who was summarily dismissed, like a thief in the night just before our
chlld registered at this school with an incredibly strong track record, where daughters of my friends had gotten superb educations and thrived in college. )
I submit that you will find both successes and utter failures in public schools. ( Hey, I live in Dallas, home of the greatest declines in civilization in both our ISD and in our Dallas Cowboys, both in approximately the same time frame. Each proves the point that success or failure is largely dependent upon the quality of the management, whatever the mission of the organization. )
Finally, I submit that you will find both successes and utter failures in home schooling.
We hear a lot of success stories about students thriving who had been home schooled.
It seems that those who failed at home schooling are not very adept at gaining publicity
about their classic failures.
What is needed is for a respected organization with integrity beyond reproach to do a
scientific study to examine which organizational type of school has been the most successful at actually preparing students for college and for the workplace.
The only criteria that matters is whether the students are accepted for regular classes at the colleges instead of being remanded to developmental or remedial courses to learn what should have been learned in secondary schools.
It appears that virtually none of the famous tests are reliable and effective ( other than the SAT II tests, which I grant are valid )
One key thing that every student should have mastered completely is how to develop and write a concise and effective one page paper before attending the first day of college.
If you cannot write a paper, you may have a degree, but you do not have an education.
http://web1.calbaptist.edu/dskubik/college.htm “The College Payoff Illusion”
I just want to take this opportunity to thank all the people who sent words of encouragement and support for my article on “My Worst Evaluation In 29 Years of Teaching”. Thank all of you so much!
Cathy
Add Indianapolis to the list of cities where the charters are starting to crumble:http://www.indystar.com/story/news/education/2014/07/19/state-takeover-working-failing-schools/12868663/
Thanks, Michele. Posted.