Under the leadership of House Majority Leader Eric Cantor, the conservative-dominated House of Representatives is debating a bill today that would reauthorize federal support for the charter school industry and provide $300 million, some of which is for facilities.

 

The members of the House will ignore, of course, the report issued this week showing that charter schools–which are deregulated by design and usually unsupervised– were responsible for $100 million in corruption, fraud, and waste of taxpayer dollars in only 14 states. Obviously, a full accounting would show even more waste, fraud, corruption, and abuse.

 

An informant in Washington passed along the following information:

 

HR10 is the charter legislation now being debated in the House. It it supported by the GOP House leadership, which intends to make its support for charters the major plank of the GOP education platform this fall. The bill is co-sponsored by outgoing Democrat George Miller, who is a favorite of the hedge fund managers group Democrats for Education Reform.

 

The House Rules Committee would not permit debates on the floor on such issues as:

*state caps on charter schools
*whether charter boards are required to hold open meetings
*whether charters are subject to public audit requirements
*conflict of interest guidelines for charter schools (some states exempt charter schools from conflict of interest laws–too intrusive)

 

In short, what the charter industry is lobbying to prevent is any limitation on their growth, any requirements for open meetings, any requirements for public audits of their finances, and any amendments that would bar conflict of interest (only charter schools receiving federal assistance would be required to avoid conflicts of interest). The charter industry wants public money but no public accountability or transparency.

 

This is from Politico.Pro:

 

5/8/14 1:51 PM EDT

The House of Representatives began floor debate on a bill that would reauthorize charter school law in the U.S. this afternoon.

On Friday, after today’s floor debate, the House plans to consider 12 amendments and vote on the bill. There are three bipartisan amendments, three from Republicans and six from Democrats.

The National Education Association, which has maintained a neutral position on the bill, threw its weight behind several amendments today, including two that focus on charter school transparency: One, from Democratic Rep. Gwen Moore, would require charters to disclose private funding sources and another, from Democratic Rep. Kathy Castor, would establish conflict of interest guidelines.

— Maggie Severns

 

If you want to stop the privatization of American public education, if you believe that public dollars should go to public schools, not to corporate charter chains, contact your Congressman and your Senator and tell them to vote no on the charter legislation.