We like to think that judicial decisions are the result of a thoughtful perusal of case law and precedents.
Stephen Dyer, former legislator and current policy analyst, suggests there may be other issues involved.
Money.
“Today, the Ohio Supreme Court ruled that White Hat Management — the state’s worst performing large-scale charter school operator — gets to keep all the equipment it uses public money to buy, even if the school was shut down for being one of the state’s worst performing schools.
“White Hat — run by Republican mega donor David Brennan — can sell the equipment how it sees fit, even if it was its own incompetence and failure that led to the school’s closing.
“While this opinion may seem somewhat surprising, what isn’t surprising is that the Supreme Court Justice who wrote the opinion has taken $5,000 in campaign contributions from Brennan and his family. Justice Judith Lanzinger received that money in 2004.
“Chief Justice Maureen O’Connor — whose political career started in Brennan’s Summit County backyard — received money every year she was up for the court in 2002, 2008 and 2010 when she ran for the Chief Justice seat. She has received a total of $11,900. Surprised she signed onto Lanzinger’s opinion?
“Justice Judith French received $7,200 last year when she ran for the high court — as the White Hat lawsuit was pending. Any surprise she voted to uphold White Hat’s right to profit from their failed school management?
“I credit Justice Terrence O’Donnell for recusing himself from the case. He received more money than any other sitting Justice — $15,000.
“Justice Paul Pfeiffer took money from Brennan in the early 1990s, but hasn’t recently and dissented from the Lanzinger opinion.
“The opinions on this case are complex and complicated, with many of the Justices trying to seem like they are with White Hat on some things, but not others. Don’t let them fool you with their strained efforts. On the only thing that mattered — allowing Brennan to profit from his failed operations — they were lock step behind their benefactor.”
The other big charter operator in Ohio, William Lager, received $100 million last year from the state. All of his schools received Fs and Ds. He also gave to the campaigns of Lanzinger, French, O’Connor, and O’Donnell.
Money talks in a loud voice. What about the taxpayers’ dollars? What about the children?
Forget about it. A contract is a contract.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
Coming soon to Boston: Charters are an integral part of a quality education? http://www.masslive.com/news/index.ssf/2015/09/5_students_file_class_action_l.html
Who is bankrolling this one???
Justice Is Blind — In A Pig’s Eye
Some local coverage:
“Columbus: A reluctant and divided Ohio Supreme Court on Tuesday ruled that for-profit management companies are able to take possession of the assets of charter schools — assets purchased with public money — and then charge the public to buy them back.
Some of the justices expressed outrage at the concept, with one calling it “fraudulent conversion” of public property.
In opinions that were sometimes blistering attacks on Akron-based White Hat Management, the justices took issue with Ohio’s system of charter schools.”
“Chad Aldis, vice president for public policy at the Thomas B. Fordham Institute, said that the court was in a tough position regarding contract law. ”
Can we get someone besides lobbyists for the Fordham Institute quoted in Ohio news pieces about the Ohio public education system? Since when does the Fordham Institute speak for the people of this state? Where are the people we’re paying in state government? There’s a state director of charter schools and an entire charter school department at Ohio’s state education agency. Here are their names and contact information:
http://education.ohio.gov/Topics/Quality-School-Choice/Community-Schools/Forms-and-Program-Information-for-Community-School/Office-of-Community-Schools-Directory
Why do we never hear from anyone in state government on the charter schools they promote, fund and are supposedly regulating? If White Hat were a public school the superintendent would be named and contacted along with the school board. If it’s charter schools we get quotes from national charter school lobbyists who are wholly unaccountable.
I agree it’s puzzling, that all major Ohio newspaper reporters (except Doug Livingston), speed dial Fordham for comment on a vast number of education articles, while never quoting the opposition.
Under oath, in a people’s court, I’d like to hear, Chad Aldis, answer a “why” question.
I don’t know where the “state director of community schools” is, or her staff.
I don’t know why she wasn’t contacted in the authorizer score-rigging scandal either. They got rid of Hansen but what about the rest of that office? They’re listed on the ODE website. They work there. Why do I care what a national charter lobby thinks about charter operators converting public property to private ownership?
More experts from the Fordham Institute:
http://www.ohio.com/news/break-news/ohio-supreme-court-justices-deliver-blistering-attack-on-charter-schools-white-hat-management-1.624356
I don’t remember electing anyone at the Fordham Institute to run “public policy” for Ohio.
Perhaps one of the many, many charter school backers in government who are accountable to the electorate could come out of hiding and weigh in on White Hat and explain how it happened that a huge charter school political donor converted public property to private ownership on their watch. Why didn’t the state attorney general join this case? It’s public funding. Doesn’t someone in government have some duty to intervene at some point, particularly as they just privatized Youngstown city schools so will be handing over all those public schools to private management companies.
We “don’t remember electing Fordham.” Why would we? Democratic governance is atavistic.
Organizations like the Ohio Alliance of Charters and Fordham are the enemy within, pulling the strings by other means.
This is from June of this year so I guess no one in government in this state knows who owns these “public” schools at this point:
“Akron-based White Hat Management reportedly sold off management of 12 elementary charter schools Friday to an out-of-state, for-profit company that could acquire a third charter school company, an attorney for the charter schools’ public boards said.
The two deals would make Pansophic Learning the largest for-profit operator of Ohio charter schools, which has become a taxpayer-funded $1 billion private industry.
Pansophic is a Virginia company founded by Ron Packard.
Packard previously worked on mergers and acquisitions for Goldman Sachs and other large banks before getting into the for-profit education business by founding K12 Inc.”
I guess we’ll have to start figuring out who “Pansophic” is, now that we’re sending state public school funding to a Virginia company.
Ohio lawmakers couldn’t find anyone in the state of Ohio to run Ohio charter schools? They had to outsource it to the Goldman Sachs guy in Virginia? How much did White Hat clear on that deal?
http://www.ohio.com/news/break-news/white-hat-management-reportedly-selling-ohio-charter-school-operations-to-out-of-state-company-1.599723
A contract is a contract, except when you are union members. Then the contract about your pensions? Not so sacred.
“A contract is a contract”
A contract is a contract
Especially for a judge
Especially when it, in fact
Involves a campaign pledge
“Soiled White Hat”
When White hat turns to black
The world turns upside down
To get the justice back
We’ll have to wake the town
The case should be heard by the U.S. Supreme Court. When the majority confirms the ruling, it may be the decisive moment, in which Americans cower or, take up arms, to fulfill the nation’s destiny as a government of the people, by the people, and for the people. At that moment, the 99% may choose to add their sacrifices to those made before and, seize control. They may strike their own blow of justice against the current state and federal injustice system.
However, the fact the Ohio Supreme Court is regulating (or not regulating, as here) charter schools is itself a failure of the elected lawmakers in this state.
The Court says “operators” are completely unregulated in the Ohio charter scheme in the opinion. Judges can’t craft a regulation out of thin air.
This is 100% the responsibility of the Kasich Administration and the Ohio legislature. They utterly failed to do their jobs.
White Hat sold 12 charter schools to a national for-profit that is located in Virginia in June of this year. Was public property transferred with that sale ahead of this decision? No one one in government in Ohio knows or cares, apparently.
That is also the policy in AZ. The charter operator gets to keep the assets. Crazy isn’t it? Not when you consider that AZ is the most corrupt state in the US.
http://ethics.harvard.edu/blog/measuring-illegal-and-legal-corruption-american-states-some-results-safra
Arizona is an under-appreciated ed reform disaster, as are PA, FL and MI.
Ohio gets all the media, but there are a lot of “bad apples” in the ed reform barrel. You’ll get there. It took 17 years in this state to get any coverage.
Having lived in AZ, I don’t doubt your claim .
But what would anyone at Harvard know about ethics?
“Let Harvard judge the ethics”
Let Harvard judge the ethics
And criminals the crimes
Let Coleman judge aesthetics
And Broadies judge the Times
Isn’t Brennan the guy who pushed through the Ohio school voucher plan?
ED Doerr, yes, David Brennan was a leader in the voucher movement. Read this PBS interview with him. He insists he has no interest in making money, but his White Hat Management company has made millions while his schools have very low performance.
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/vouchers/interviews/brennan.html
Reblogged this on Politicians Are Poody Heads and commented:
If a charter school is run by a for-profit company, it should not be considered a charter school. It is a private school and should not receive any kind of money, aid, or equipment paid for by public money.
And if the charter is run by a non-profit, I would say that it can receive tax dollars, but it should still be under the supervision of, and answerable to, the Superintendant of Schools and the Board of Education. And it should not receive any more funding per pupil than the local public schools.
Here is a key quote from page 9 of the opinion — “Although legislation has been introduced to further amend the Community Schools Act and to provide enhanced oversight, there are currently no specific requirements for the content of the contracts between the governing authority and the operator.”
Because of this lack of guidance from the legislature, the court used concepts from contract law to conclude that the buy-back provision was enforceable. While I do not like the public policy ramifications of this decision, I do think the conclusion is legally defensible.
Charter school statutes can guard against this problem by clearly stipulating that materials and equipment bought pursuant to the contract remain the property of the charter school — and by extension — the public school system.
“White Hat — run by Republican mega donor David Brennan — can sell the equipment how it sees fit, even if it was its own incompetence and failure that led to the school’s closing.”
But what would be the impetus for being competent and having a successful school? These CMO’s make a profit whether or not the kids learn a damn thing. We don’t seriously believe these folks lie awake at night wondering how they can deliver a higher quality of schooling to our nation’s children, do we? If the school runs 2-3 years, fine. If it gets shut down, fine, too. They just open up a shinier, brighter, newer one a bit further down the street, hopefully with a differently constituted student body so there can be no continuity which would make it possible to “measure achievement” of the PARCC or SBAC, or whatever test is the flavor of the day. (Quotation marks are in deference to Señor Swacker and his sidekick, Noel Wilson.)
Quoting Diane, above: “He insists he has no interest in making money, but his White Hat Management company has made millions while his schools have very low performance.”