When the idea of charters was first floated in the late 1980s, advocates offered a simple promise: Give us autonomy, and we will be accountable.
That was then, this is now.
The Pennsylvania School Boards Association estimates that public schools lose $1.3 billion each year to the state’s 177 charters. It filed a “Right to Know” request seeking information about how charters spend public money on such matters as salaries, consultants, advertising, rentals, etc.
A charter spokesman said the PSBA request was “frivolous.” Thus far, not a single charter has responded to the request for financial data.
“We get hammered over spending, but think about charter schools – there’s little if any fiscal accountability,” said Lawrence Feinberg, a Haverford School District board member who heads the Keystone State Education Coalition, a grassroots public education advocacy group made up of school board members and administrators.
“Feinberg cited the state’s largest charter school, the Chester Community Charter School in Delaware County, which has a management contract with a firm headed by wealthy Montgomery County lawyer and political donor Vahan Gureghian.
“You go find out and tell me how much teachers get paid and how much Mr. Gureghian makes in profit,” said Feinberg. He also raised questions over how much charters spend on the ad campaigns that attract students away from traditional public schools.”
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Diane Ravitch's blog 
“Demand for data is “frivolous”. I kind of like that. Maybe the Opt Out Movement can use it.
I look at my local school’s website and it literally 3 clicks I am at a list of financial documents. The proposed budget is even on the main page. I look at the website of our “local” cyber charter….NOTHING! No financial information. Maybe it is buried somewhere in Dept. of Ed. documents, but it is definitely not readily available to the average tax payer.
I could go to my local school board meetings in the evenings however the cyber school meetings are during the day. Hardly accessible to the majority of working people. .
Defund them. The PA House should cut off their funds until they comply. Can you imagine how bad this will be when they accomplish their goal of destroying all traditional public schools, replacing them with Charters, eliminating elected school boards and hiring TNTP and TFA teachers to replace traditional trained teachers? It is really time to rethink the Charter idea. I say it is time to put them out of business. Start repealing Charter law in every state that has Charters. I believe there are only a couple of states that have not bought the snake oil. I know Kentucky is one of them. I pray they don’t cave. We cannot take this lightly this WILL end up destroying local and parental control and when it is done it will not be reversed. Is this what you want. If parents don’t stand up now and demand Charters be repealed then the future is very bleak.
If these schools are organized as 501(c)(3) organizations, there must be an IRS 990 available from the IRS .
If they are incorporated under Pennsylvania law, there should be annual reports filed with the Secretary of State of Pennsylvania.
If they are not organized under either of those structures, they are likely illegal.
I regret the demise of investigative journalism that used to turn up these records, or turn up the heat on scofflaws and crooks who fail to make the records.
Gulen schools file their 990 reports; other charters in Pennsylvania can’t live up to the ethical standards of a shady, Islamic foreign organization working in US schools?
Al Capone was busted for such record keeping. We can hope.
If Al Capone were alive today, he would undoubtedly be running a “too big to fail or jail” bank.
She’s a spokesperson for government contractors. Of course she’s fighting disclosure.
Where are Pennsylvania lawmakers? Why aren’t they acting as prudent and responsible stewards of public funds?
If they’re just doling out public funds to contractors, I’m not clear why we need them at all. Any dope can disburse funds.
What is the possible justification for charter schools to not have the same financial reporting requirements as public schools?
Why is this so complicated? Just apply the exact same rules for the public system and the privatized system.
The “exact same rules….” Why? The idea is to provide alternatives to the system. I don’t see what is wrong with diversifying how we do public education.
On another note, people shouldn’t be so gullible. Of course charters have to track and report their financial activities. It is this reason why charter schools are audited!
I, like many people here, don’t want to see public schools destroyed but to bait already impassioned/frustrated individuals with false information is morally wrong.
If charter schools are financially transparent, they should have no trouble complying with PSBA’s request.
You may not know this, but in some states, charters have gone to court to block audits. In some states, for-profit charters cannot be audited.
Who said they are/should be transparent? I am in no position to challenge your experience with researching the down side of charters (and there are actual downside sides). But, what I can say is that all charter schools don’t qualify for this demonized portrayal. Some are willing to play by the same rules. It saddens me to see people baited into despising all charters when they are not all the same.
“Who said they are/should be transparent?”
Don’t you want to know how public dollars are spent? Do you think taxpayer funds should go to private groups who refuse to open their books for public audit? That way lies graft.
I actually have mixed feelings. I want transparency no doubt but am but sure spending formulas are airways beneficial for students.
“On another note, people shouldn’t be so gullible. Of course charters have to track and report their financial activities. It is this reason why charter schools are audited!”
People who actually think that charters (across the board) track & report their finances PLUS are also audited are the most gullible of all.
I didn’t say or suggest that ALL track and report. But, I would be more inclined to learn more about the percentage of those that don’t before engaging in a campaign to vilify charters in general.
PSBA has taken the first step to determine which charters are transparent about their use of public money. One Pennsylvania charter is infamous for the millions in profit collected by its sponsor. His finances have never been released.
When charters fight audits, they deserve to be vilified. Public money brings public accountability.
Fair enough. I can agree with this last point…public dollars demand public accountability.
So, Dr. Dye, when some charters refuse to be audited and when others are caught with all kinds of hands in all kinds of cookie jars, where are you and other charter supporters and the supposedly “good” charters advocating for stronger regulations to to prevent that kind of graft? Or are you just opposed to any regulations, because, well, some charters may cheat and pilfer, but others don’t, so it’s all good?
So, I see you looked through my website. Thank you for the visit
Yet again: Don’t confuse me with facts, my mind is already made up.
Education was once concerned with seeking “truth”. These people are concerned with money.
If only they had the insight to understand they are killing the goose that lays the golden eggs. Get off our backs and let us teach and they will make MORE money in the long run AND that does not even take into account saving what vestiges of democracy that still exist.
This blog alone has been host to many charter advocates that have asserted here, as they often assert elsewhere, that it is demeaning and insulting and a lie to pit charters against public schools because charters ARE public schools. Their terminology reflects this as well, as when they write “public charters” and “public charter schools.”
Although at one and the same time they assert that “public charter schools” are, on the whole, better than “traditional zoned public schools” aka “big gubmint monopoly schools” aka “factories of failure” aka “dropout factories.”
But when the rubber meets the road and it’s time to put up or shut up, charters act just like their critics have asserted they act: like private entities that put the bottom line first before the interests of public school staffs, students, parents and associated communities.
1), Transparency. 2), Accountability. 3), Fiscal responsibility.
“Cui bono”—to whose benefit does it accrue when their deeds write in large letters before the above three:
NO NEED FOR.
It’s about time to unearth investigative journalism and follow the money.
😎
I think for the Charter sector to act this way reveals that they are confident they can get away with it because they have powerful friends in high places who will protect from everyone else.
Charters are public schools,except when they’re not.
Charters are accountable to the public, except when they’re not.
Move along now, nothing to see here…