This note of alarm comes from Denis Smith, a retired consultant in the Ohio Department of Education’s charter school office:
On Tuesday, September 23, the Ohio Supreme Court will hear arguments in the notorious White Hat Management case, where the boards of 10 charter schools operated by White Hat Management have sued the operator to assert their right to control the physical assets of the schools. White Hat says that since it is the operator, all tangible property (student and office furniture, equipment, books and supplies) belongs to the company, while the boards maintain that the assets belong to the individual schools.
If White Hat wins, this means that upon the closure of any of these charter schools, the operator can sell or auction off this property and maintain the proceeds rather than returning the funds to the state through the normal liquidation process for public proerty.
What is disgraceful is that Ohio’s chief legal officer, Attorney General Mike DeWine, has failed to file an amicus brief on behalf of the Ohio Department of Education, and therefore has decided not to join the argument that the property, bought with state funds, belongs to the public rather than the company.
But what is even more disgraceful is that only the Ohio School Boards Association has filed an amicus brief in the case, supporting the schools’ contention that the company has no right to these physical assets purchased with state tax funds.
So the questions are:
Where is the Ohio Education Association in this case?
Where is the Ohio Federation of Teachers in this case?
Where is the Buckeye Association of School Administrators?
Where is the Ohio Association of Elementary School Administrators?
Where is the Ohio Association of Secondary School Administrators?
Where is the Ohio Association of School Business Officials?
Where is Ohio ASCD?
If you belong to any of these organizations, would you consider calling them tomorrow or contacting them TODAY via email to find out why they are AWOL in this case that affects the very future of public education?
When I found out about all of these organizations being AWOL after being on the road for two weeks, I was outraged. I hope you might be as well. Needless to say, White Hat has the support of several charter school organizations in this case, but public education organizations, save the Ohio School Boards Association, are absent.
This is absolutely shameful.
What are professional dues for? What is the reason these organizations exist?
If you’re not outraged about this, you haven’t been paying attention. To sin by silence when we should protest makes cowards of all of us in the education community.
http://www.dispatch.com/content/blogs/the-daily-briefing/2014/08/08.25.2014-animus-about-amicus.html
http://www.dispatch.com/content/stories/local/2014/09/09/Pepper_on_charter_schools.html
Diane Ravitch's blog 
cross-posted at http://www.opednews.com/Quicklink/Ohio-Does-Public-Property-in-Best_Web_OpEds-Argument_Assets_Diane-Ravitch_Public-Disclosure-140921-440.html#comment512495
with this comment ( always WITH links)
15,880 DISTRICTS in 50 STATES…they count on you not knowing or caring about what is happening next door, let alone across the country!
BUT… anyone who has been following the charter schools knows the scams…like this one: When Kristen Buras read that the leaders of York City, Pennsylvania, were considering turning their schools into an all-charter district, she didn’t think it was a good idea. When she read that all the students in Muskegon Heights, Michigan, had been turned over to for-profit charter operator Mosaica, she thought it was necessary to issue a warning.This is the comment she left on the blog:
Hmm . . . Mosaica? I’ve been studying the corporate takeover of New Orleans public schools for the past decade. Let me share a story that community members in York City will find relevant to their battle. It comes from the Times-Picayune newspaper and reveals how the board of Lafayette Academy charter school in New Orleans terminated its contract with Mosaica, which was paid $773,000 for the first year of its five-year agreement. Nonetheless, Mosaica failed to arrange appropriate transportation for students; did not organize a repeatedly requested after-school program for students below grade level; and kept the school filthy. The school also lacked copy machines and insurance when the school year began. Through a legal arbitration process, a judgment of $350,000 was issued against Mosaica. Find the story here:
or read (at the Ravitch site) about Chicago’s Rahm Emanuel, who wants to privatize public education as much and as fast as he can. Aside from closing down 50 schools in one fell swoop, the mayor privatized custodial services to two companies for $340 million over three years, promising cleaner schools and cost savings.But, as reported by Catalyst, a respected journal that covers education in Chicago, principals complain that their schools are filthy and rodent-infested.
You may read about the case here, on the Ohio Supreme Court website, and you may also listen to the oral argument live online.
These are the issues:
“Are public funds paid to a private entity to operate a community school subject to public accountability after the entity is paid?
Is a private entity acting as a purchasing agent for a community school when it uses funds from the Ohio Department of Education to buy furniture, computers, software, equipment, and other personal property to operate the community school?
Does a private entity operating a community school have a fiduciary relationship with the school, and must the entity act primarily for the benefit of the school?”
These are huge questions, and should never have been pushed off onto a court. Instead, lawmakers should have had the courage to define these issues by clarifying the charter school laws. They weren’t willing to do that, because then they could be held politically accountable, so they are graciously allowing a court to make these decisions.
Relinquishment of a public good to to private entities is great for lawmakers. They don’t have to do their jobs. Not so great for citizens, however.
http://www.supremecourt.ohio.gov/PIO/oralArguments/14/0923/0923.asp#OA132050
I just sent a copy of this to OEA, OFT,and OSBA. I will send it to others now.
White Hat’s role as a charter school management company is not even the worst thing they do. The worst thing they do is run rip-off dropout schools for the most vulnerable teenagers.
“For 15 years, White Hat and its programs for high school dropouts have cornered an education market saturated with struggling students who often bounce from school to school.
White Hat’s model — what founder and owner David Brennan held up as the alternative to government schools’ failing “one-size-fits-all” approach — has spread to every major city in Ohio.
But the movement has produced more dropouts than graduates”
For 15 years, Ohio lawmakers and other adults in power passed the most vulnerable kids off to a private company where kids were plunked down in front of a computer screen because dispensing funds to a private company is much easier than accepting responsibility for their education in a public school.
http://www.ohio.com/news/local/successful-dropout-schools-are-turning-from-white-hat-computer-model-1.491112
I know in the Buffalo Public Schools, the property (and building) actually belongs to the city, not the school district. The items, however, belong to the Buffalo Schools. The warehouse of items from closed schools is incredible. Principals and even teachers can request items from this Mecca. I once was able to procure a curio for the library.
I don’t know the ins and outs of Charter Schools. I assume those which are connected to the BPS follow the same rules, but Charter Schools purchase or lease their own buildings and buy their own equipment and supplies. (Luckily Buffalo has lots of buildings available to renovate – some which are closed parochial schools – as compared to NYC which has to double or triple up.)
The question is who owns what. Technically the funds come from the public coffers, but often the private sector sponsors a school with additional monies for purchases or salaries. When a building closes, then what?
So many questions, so little thought put into the possible answers. It’s like the government throws a bunch of ideas towards a wall to see what sticks, then worries about the repercussions at a later date (if ever).
And these comments are assuming people’s actions are on the up and up.
With all the confusion there are sure to be those who take advantage. After all, it’s easy pickings. And there are always those who feel entitled to that which theoretically does not belong to them. “What’s mine is mine and what’s yours is mine, too.”
I suppose their permanent record from kindergarten says “Does not play well with others.”
Anyway, It will be interesting to see what the courts say.
(Keep in mind, a women who shoplifted at Dollar General got five months in prison, while a man who embezzled $200,000 got five years probation. (True story) So the bolder and more outrageous the “crime” the less the punishment.)