Baker Mitchell opened a new K-2 for-profit charter in North Carolina that projected enrollment of 225. Only 33 students are enrolled. The law requires that any school enrolling less than 65 must close.
The state’s charter advisory board unanimously gave the school a waiver so it can have more time to find students. Baker Mitchell is a member of that board. He recused himself from the decision but didn’t leave the room.
“Helen Nance, chair of the Charter School Advisory Board, observed the fact that with the waiver, Douglass would essentially be allowed to operate for two full school years while not having to comply with the statutory 65 student minimum.
“If they don’t have that many students by the end of October, the process takes several months…and in essence you’re saying they can stay open a second year,” said Nance.
“Joel Medley, director of the Office of Charter Schools, cautioned against setting this kind of precedent going forward for future applicants, noting that waivers granted in the past only involved geographically isolated schools and schools serving students with special needs.”
…….
“Mitchell, who has collected in the neighborhood of $16 million in taxpayer funds over the past five years for managing two other charter schools in southeastern North Carolina, is under investigation by the U.S. Department of Education’s Office of Inspector General. Details of the case have not been made public.
“Edward Pruden, Superintendent for Brunswick County Schools, theorizes that the investigation has to do with improper enrollment practices. Boosting enrollment numbers would direct more state funding to Mitchell’s charter schools.”
The state charter advisory board has 11 members. Nine of the 11 are charter school founders, administrators, or board members. The 10th operates five Sylvan Learning Centers. The 11th is a lawyer.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
“Mitchell, who has collected in the neighborhood of $16 million in taxpayer funds over the past five years for managing two other charter schools in southeastern North Carolina, is under investigation by the U.S. Department of Education’s Office of Inspector General. Details of the case have not been made public.”
I don’t have a whole lot of faith that the federal inquiry is going anywhere. The US DOE have done an absolutely terrible job regulating the rip off for-profit colleges.They’re lobbied heavily by both Democrats and Republicans in DC. I think they’re completely captured:
“When Hannah Benbow ran into problems with the for-profit college she attended, she turned to the federal government for help.
Benbow, 24, wrote to the U.S. Department of Education when the Art Institute of Washington in Arlington, Va.—one of more than 50 for-profit Art Institute campuses across the country—told her unexpectedly that she would need to apply for yet another student loan, on top of the nearly $120,000 she’d already borrowed, to cover $7,000 in fees she said were not disclosed to her before she signed up.
“Since my parents and family have already co-signed my other ridiculous amount of loans, they were denied on this one,” Benbow wrote in her letter to the agency, whose responsibilities include regulating higher education.
She never got an answer.”
“Oversight of for-profit colleges and universities by the U.S. Department of Education has been mired in political quicksand and thwarted by the colleges’ effective lobbying and legal challenges. But now, states and other federal agencies are stepping in and cracking down.
Attorneys general across the country are investigating for-profit colleges accused of leaving students with overwhelming loan debt and without marketable job skills. At least 32 states are working together to investigate the schools, and 14 of those have already filed subpoenas for information, while several more are working independently on similar cases.
In cooperation with several of these states, the new federal Consumer Financial Protection Bureau—the agency set up after the financial downturn to regulate financial institutions—has sued ITT Education Services for predatory lending practices, the CFPB’s first such lawsuit.”
The CFPB is run by Richard Cordray. He was a wonderful state AG in Ohio. He’s a scary-smart lawyer and also fearless.
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What a crook. Maybe he can force the closure of some neighborhood public schools to force local students to attend his for-profit school.
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#CharterRaiseTheBar “Authorizers establish expectations for charter schools to serve all kids.” Authorizers critical to equity & quality
That’s from the Broad Twitter feed, which is all charter cheerleading and pom pom waving, all the time. It’s deceptive advertising for Broad to claim he’s pro-public schools. You will not find a mention of a public school by any of his hired flacks, ever. It’s 100% charters.
Eli Broad is going to ask charters, nicely, to “serve all kids”.
Because as we all know, deregulation and then asking people nicely to come up with their own industry-written regulations always works. Ask the people whose drinking water was poisoned in West Virginia. They know.
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http://www.tennessean.com/article/20140312/NEWS0201/303120132/1972/NEWS02
For-profits moving fast in Tennessee:
Legislation that would let for-profit charter management organizations operate in Tennessee was advanced by the House Education Subcommittee by a voice vote on Tuesday.
It will now move on to the full House Education Committee.
Under existing law, charter operators must be nonprofit groups in Tennessee. Senate Education chair Dolores Gresham, R-Somerville, has sponsored the Senate bill.
Rep. Joe Pitts, D-Clarkville, voiced concerns over for-profit charter groups, pointing to the dismal performance marks of the Tennessee Virtual Academy, an online schooloperated by the for-profit K-12 Inc. The bill passed, anyways.
Two for-profit charter groups, Charter Schools USA, based in Florida, and National Heritage Academies, based in Michigan, are pushing the bill in Tennessee.
And this:
“Out-of-state companies that bring in millions in revenue by managing charter schools have their eyes set on Tennessee, an epicenter of education reform.
After steadily loosening the state law over publicly financed, privately operated charter schools in recent years, the Tennessee General Assembly is weighing another big step: allowing a charter school’s board of directors to hire a for-profit entity to run it.”
If you know anyone in Tennessee ask them if they want their K-12 education dollars shipped out of state to national charter school for-profits, because it looks like they bought the legislature.
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How on earth has this guy gotten 16 million dollars from the government with only 33 students? That’s over half a million dollars per student!
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Oh. I reread. Reading is fundamental! So he has two other charters as well. That’s STILL a ridiculous amount of money.
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Funny how some “waivers” are easily approved than others. It must depend on who’s doing the asking, because the purpose is not important.
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