This is an astonishing story from Michigan. There, a persistent blogger named “Miss Fortune” discovered that a charter manager was indicted on multiple charges, including tax evasion and bank fraud. His wife and brother plus a local contractor and his wife diverted nearly $1 million of a $1.8 million construction loan to his personal bank accounts. Miss Fortune began digging, as persistent bloggers sometimes do, and found that the indictment said he had used some of the money to “repay an indebtedness to the Grand Traverse Academy for money he’s advanced himself.” GTA is one of the charters he manages. It seems he owed the charter school the tidy sum of $2,338,980. He planned to repay this loan by taking deductions from his management fee.
Miss Fortune broke the news on her blog.
The local media didn’t find any of this interesting. After all, don’t school superintendents borrow a million or two from their district’s bank accounts? Isn’t that, like, routine? Miss Fortune wrote a follow-up post about the events. She is betting that federal officials will follow up on this most curious set of arrangements. We shall see if anyone cares.
In Michigan, nearly 90% of charter schools are managed by an EMO (education management organization). for-profit EMOs operate 79% of charter schools, and nonprofit EMOs operate 10%. Only 11% of Michigan’s charter schools are without an EMO.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
Say it ain’t so, Joe …
Jon Awbrey: touché!
😎
C’mon guys, you already know what he’ll say: “Public charter schools (sic) vary widely, and some public school superintendents have stolen money in the past.”
Do you disagree with those assertions, MIchael?
How do you feel about the recent NY leg audit that found NYC did not do a good job of supervising millions paid to private schools that work with the special need students NYC did not want to serve?
Joe, I came out of NYC during the first wave of the assault on public education, when they had to remove the veteran teachers who would never replace (with test-prep) their successful curricula geared to the NYS curricula standards (which all of us used when we began to teach in NYC, in order to meet common skills and knowledge objectives.)
I cannot begin to tell you the corruption that was rampant in NYC, but if you want the real story, go to one of the blogs of Betsy Combier.
here is onehttp://parentadvocates.org/index.cfm?fuseaction=article&articleID=7534
Here is another http://www.nycrubberroomreporter.blogspot.com/2011/12/alyce-barr-principal-from-hell-suspends.html
She is a journalist, not a teacher, devoted to education and she has chronicled the corruption… and IF you have never seen this film, which shows how they didi it in NYC—how they paved the way for charter schools, don’t miss it https://vimeo.com/41994760
And if you have never read my essays Bambloozle Themhttp://www.opednews.com/articles/BAMBOOZLE-THEM-where-tea-by-Susan-Lee-Schwartz-110524-511.html and Magic Elixir,http://www.opednews.com/articles/Magic-Elixir-No-Evidence-by-Susan-Lee-Schwartz-130312-433.html do go and take a look… all written years ago.
The only way they will ed the corruption in the schools is when the attorneys general send lawless administrators to jail. Accountability, not settlements will end the careers of banisters and educRATS8 ( Karen Horwitz’s appellation, from “White Chalk Crime.”
And while you are at it, take a look at her site http://www.endteacherabuse.org. Hundres of stories that show the corruption… it is nothing new, and will NEVER GO AWAY UNTIL A JAIL CELL AWAITS THOSE WHO COMMIT FRAUD!
Joe – do those private schools bear any responsibility for supervising those funds?
Absolutely yes, private schools have some responsibility. But don’t you think the school district has some responsibility too since it decided to contract and to entrust the students to the care of the private schools?
Spare us your red herrings, Joe: your question and implied points are non sequiturs.
And Joe almost had me convinced …
Reading exchange, are you saying the NY City public schools don’t have any responsibility for checking to see how $3 million that they subcontracted to private schools was spent?
Why do you deflect? It’s a strategy which doesn’t work, especially on this blog. My comment was a general one. Your organization is corporately driven. How much better would education be in this country if those rich folks and corporations that give you funds would funnel their money instead to help make sure that every neighborhood has a fully resourced public school based on student need? When I think about how the charter industry negatively affects innocent children in our public schools I am broken-hearted. The push for charter schools sickens me.
Ah yes, the “neighborhood school is the solution” strategy. And what would be the curriculum? Montessori? Core Knowledge? Spanish Immersion? French Immersion?
Are you a teacher? A parent? Do you live in an urban area? Do you have youngsters who attend a public school open to all?
Yes, to all your questions. Charters use public funds that should be spent to strengthen neighborhood public schools. This is causing an increase in school segregation and, in some cases, a decrease in the quality of education for our children.
I know time is money but the following clip is only a little over a minute. Do you really want to be in the business of increasing ignorance and want in our next generation? Isn’t it time to stop this tiered educational system which creates the “haves” and the “have nots”? It’s not too late, Joe …
The suburbs created a tiered situation. The quasi-private magnet schools with admissions tests created a tiered situation. The statewide schools with admissions tests created a tiered situation.
Strong Charters are part of the solution for millions of kids. So are strong district public schools (like the ones our kids attended).
Do you have kids? Are you a teacher?
I already answered yes to all your questions.
You are deflecting and stretching the topic with your comments.
“Strong Charters are part of the solution for millions of kids.”
What about the millions that they hurt?
I haven’t seen an answer to any of my questions. Are you a teacher? a parent? Do you live in an urban area?
One way to think about choice is that it hurts those who are not chosen. Another way to think about it is that those not chosen can respond by improving what they offer.
Now – I strongly agree that some districts do not give district school educators the opportunity to control what is happening in the school.. That’s a big problem in American education.
But meanwhile – I’m waiting to hear if you have kids and if you sent them to an urban integrated public school, or like one of the regular charter critics who often posts here, live in a town that is 94% white, or …
Reading,
What curriculum do you see those fully resourced neighborhood schools following?
“I haven’t seen an answer to any of my questions. Are you a teacher? a parent? Do you live in an urban area?”
As I said twice before, my answer is yes to all of your questions.
Charter schools are hurting public education. Perhaps that is the sad point.
I will stop trying to appeal to your sense of fairness and concern for all students.
Ok, your answer is “yes” to all my questions.
So you agree that NYC schools should have done a better job of supervising millions that went to private schools. We agree.
You agree that there is no single best school for all kids. We agree.
You agree that teachers ought to have an opportunity to create a distinctive school. Great.
You might be interested in this story about how Maya Angelou helped a charter named for her: http://alj.am/1o5IOW3
The school served all youngsters with whom traditional schools had not succeeded. It was founded by the son of a long time civil rights legend.
He was willing to give his name on public expressions.
My answer is yes to your personal questions.
We have different values. You are okay with some children getting a fair shot at success. I am not okay with this. If I were in the charter school business, knowing what I know about its negative effects on so many innocent children, I wouldn’t be able to sleep at night.
I’ve devoted 43+ years to helping all youngsters, but especially those from low income and families of color, getting a “fair shot” – and a lot of encouragement and assistance to reaching their potential. Sadly, I’ve seen way too many young people – and adults who care passionately about them, be badly treated by the existing district public school system.
The shots being taken at charters are similar in some cases to those taken at those of us who created within district options in the late 1960’s and 1970’s. Some youngsters who had not succeeded in traditional district schools did very well in options. And in some places, traditional schools adopted some of the things that worked well with alternatives.
Yes, district schools have served some well. Those creating new charter options stand today with people like Maya Angelou and Rosa Parks, who also worked to support this effort.
Unquestionably there are some abuses and corruption in the charter movement (as noted earlier, same is true in district schools).
But on balance, I think all youngsters are better off having strong options.
Here’s the link to the $2.38 million dollar misappropriation/embezzlement story: http://www.glisteningquiveringunderbelly.blogspot.com/2014/04/breaking-news-miss-fortune-discovers.html
Crooked business deals and crooks masquarading as businessmen (& women) are the accepted norm in our country today.
It certainly isn’t true that crime doesn’t pay.
Really interesting piece on how Big National Charter is driving out Small Local Charter in NJ.
I think this was inevitable. It was inherent in the “scale-up!” business model.
“The Christie administration’s policies toward charter schools continued to stir debate this week, as a second school shuttered by the administration in the last month questioned whether it was being punished for – among other things — not being part of a large charter network.
It was announced this week that the Greater Newark Charter School, opened in 2000 and one of the state’s oldest charter schools, was not approved for its five-year renewal in April, ostensibly due to low achievement levels and a lack of plans to remedy them.
But its director said yesterday that the school is appealing the decision, contending that the state Department of Education did not follow its usual protocol in reviewing the school.
Christopher Pringle, the school’s director, said the school had fallen below set benchmarks in a single area for the first time in its 14 years. He questioned if the state was favoring schools that were part of large charter networks over the smaller independent schools. ”
Wouldn’t it be wild if public schools turned out to the small, local option compared to multi-state national charters? Just a complete 180 from the original premise, but did this not occur to anyone when they were talking about “scaling up” the CMO’s they prefer? That’s what “scaling up” means. It’s find a template and make it bigger.
http://mothercrusader.blogspot.com/2014/05/charter-school-growth-fund-creating-new.html?utm_content=buffer79017&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter.com&utm_campaign=buffer
I am checking facts about Michigan. Anonymous bloggers sometimes do, sometimes don’t have them. And often the story is more complex.
Really Joe Nathan? What is the score for the traditional press on fact checking? Have you seen any public school teachers interviewed lately?
Actually NJ Teacher, in my review of newspapers around the country, I often see teachers quoted. Generally they are in “features” also known as “puff pieces” which describe a nice program happening in public schools.
If you care to list a couple of newspapers in your area, I will be glad to offer examples.
I am not talking about puff pieces about my kids built a spaceship. I mean in depth interviews about Common Core, VAM, union busting, tenure protections. I will not bore you any further.
At least in my state, the press will always be one-sided, because teachers that support the testing and CC and all of that CAN speak to the press, and often do. Those of us who do NOT support all of this are not allowed to speak to ANYONE, on pain of losing our license; not only to the press, but to parents, students, even our own friends on our own time.
Step bald 30 years and what is now common process, the silencing of the voice of the classroom teacher, was unknown to me.
So lets get real, Mr .Nathan… this is not a bout a debate. The classroom teacher has no voice in what happens in the PRACTICE…. yes PROFESSIONAL PRACTICE.
I was teaching in 1963, you see, and I know what administration’s role was… to support the professional.
Only by silencing the bottom, could the top-dopwn mandates that ended real learning take place.
Arguments that are in essence” What about MY opinion… don’t I count?” are not only beside the point, they are destructive.
The classroom practitioner gets blamed when kids CANNOT LEARN WITH THE CURRICULA THEY ARE FORCED TO USE.
IT WAS NEVER THIS WAY.
The assault on the classroom teacher removed over 100,000 voices who would have never allowed test-prep or core nonsense to replace successful best practice.
If you read THIS blog you see the reason… the fraud, the embezzlement, the secret lobbying by the Gates-Koch-Broad clones has worked because they know there are 15,880 districts in 52 states, and they will have firmly rooted their charters, their rules by the time the public wakes up and says, “HUH!”
Joe:
I assure you that the Michigan charter school story is completely factual. If you’re interested in receiving Steven Ingersoll’s federal indictment, links to the scant local media coverage and Grand Traverse Academy financials please visit my blog or send me an email at tcmissfortune@yahoo.com.
I hope you start digging around the Detroit charters too
DeeDee, I’m interested in what’s going on all over the country, including district schools.
I am interested , too. At Oped News, where the focus is on what’s happening to our democracy and truth is the rubric, the readers (general population but some very bright folks, too, there is very little interest in ed news. No matter how often I explain that democracy does away when the public schools disappear and what kids learn is distorted, and missing the crucial lessons and points of history, very few people follow my 52/15,880: (52 states, 15,880 districts…we are already divided and conquerable. Add to this the national attention deficit disorder and the circus / propaganda machine -television- and the American public does not realize that democracy is being undermined right under their noses.
Here is a link to my post from this blog, with my comment at the end:
http://www.opednews.com/Quicklink/Michigan-A-Very-Curious-S-in-Best_Web_OpEds-Blogger_Corruption_EVASION_Fraud-140605-854.html#comment493069
I wish that some of you would go and start a thread there, so that the publisher will see that there are INTERESTED PEOPLE who ARE CARRYING ON INTELLIGENT CONVERSATIONS ABOUT WHAT THEY ARE SEEING ON THIS BLOG WHICH COVERS THE NATIONAL NARRATIVE/SPECTACLE
I would love to see the comment that sjnorton4mipfs wrote to Chiara Duggan:
in response to Chiara Duggan, which I have copied below.:
“Well, they would reply that charters ARE “public” schools, because the law says that they are (literally). 😉 We, on the other hand, argue that it is difficult to call charters public when in fact the first elected official in their chain of control is the Governor. Having a captive board contract out all school functions to a management company does not constitute public governance.
“But, of course, if you have listened to policymakers in Lansing recently, you know that they feel that local school districts are dinosaurs which should be abolished or at most left as a last resort. Private management by for-profit firms IS their plan. Partly this is ideological (profit motive good, government bad), and partly it is political (break the teachers’ unions and you de-fund your main political opponent, the Democratic Party). In their minds, it’s a win-win situation.
“We have a long way to go to reframe the arguments and get citizens from all over the state to think of public schools as projects of their community which require care and investment.”
This hit the news in Michigan a few weeks ago, though it did not get too much press I’ll admit. The Federal indictment is totally real. What’s interesting is that this is a small for-profit – actually, a web of about 6 companies with just a few members of the same family as officers – rather than a chain.
Go read the latest audit report for the Grand Traverse Academy (the other charter run by the same company, not the one where the original fraud took place) and see what you think. I have never, ever, seen such strong language used by an accounting firm.
The main reason we know what we do is that at Grand Traverse Academy, Ingersoll’s firm (Smart Schools Management) works for an explicit management fee and does not own the main buildings. At their Bay City charter, the firm operates like many other for-profits do (including the giant National Heritage Academies) and simply takes the entire per-pupil funding as their management fee and provides all services. In schools like that, the charter school board is the only “public” part of the entity, and in the audit report the school’s entire expenditures are under “contracted services.” NHA, like the Bay City Academy (I think) usually also owns the buildings and rents them to the charter school at rather high rates.
While they comply with state requirements that they show how money is spent by functional category, they do not break out their fee or profit margin separately. As a private company, these firms are not subject to Michigan’s FOIA law. So we can only take their word for how the money was spent, and we can only speculate as to the margin they are making on operations.
In what possible way is this all “for the children”?
BTW – just a couple of years ago, Ingersoll was one of the charter founders recruited by the charter school lobby to testify in state legislative hearings in support of a bill which removed all caps from the number of charters in Michigan (which became law).
Steve:
While Ingersoll works for a “management fee” at the GTA, it’s hardly “explicit”. Some of the strongest language in the Academy’s 2012/2013 was directed at the Board, and exposed its lack of an objective measure to calculate the annual management fee owed to Steven J. Ingersoll’s Smart Schools Management, Inc. The minimum was set at $650,000 and maxed out at $2,000,000.
As its founder, Steven Ingersoll owns the Bay City Academy, and does take 100 percent of the revenue as his “management fee”. A litter of Ingersoll LLCs own the various Bay City buildings, and another shell corporation (GTAS LLC) was formed to provide “janitorial services” to the GTA.
And the main reason we know what we do at Grand Traverse Academy?
It’s my blog, plain and simple.
He needs to be investigated by the attorney general. Only with real accountability will the fraud end.
Miss Fortune: You are right about the lack of oversight by the GTA board. What I mean is that the question of how the fee was calculated and so forth would never have come up if GTA worked like the Bay City Academy or other networks like National Heritage schools. Therefore, the disturbing findings of the audit report would not be possible, because all that moving of money would have happened inside the private firm and out of public view.
Which then raises the question of exactly what does happen inside the “black box” of CMOs which simply take the entire state aid as their fee. There could be just as much questionable activity going on, but it will never show up in any public audit report.
Whether or not this story is true, it will become the norm. It’s the Wal-Mart effect. Or, the Gilded Age version of Rockefeller’s integration.
With larger resources, national chains will have more financial flexibility. They will be able to use it to eliminate local charters. It’s almost a guarantee for the future. Look no further than Rocketship Academy’s scale up plans. Consider what online academies are already doing.
So, Joe, you can research it and it may not be true right now. But considering what happens in businesses in other goods and services (which charter schools have increasingly become, especially in my home state of Michigan), it is logical to assume that we could have charter chains competing with each other on a national level like fast food chains.
Set up franchisees, create the scripted curriculum and turn loose local investors who get the branding privileges.
Always interesting to be told the facts don’t matter.
We have twenty+ years of experience around the country. 2/3 of the charters are independent. In addition there are a number of small groups – 2 or 3 charters working together.
For me, a central question is what impact are they having on students.
Another key question is how are districts responding. In some places, it’s very constructive. In other places, not so.
In connection with Steve’s point, Edushyster has an interesting post – you might want to check it out, Joe: http://edushyster.com/?p=4988
Thanks Dienne, Yes, I’ve seen it. Lots going on in the charter public school sector, as there is in the district public school sector.
I keep waiting to read about district public school scandals here. LIke May 28 NY Times story of the $3 million of improper expense to a private NYC school serving students with special needs. Fascinating because it suggests that a district does not going a good job of supervising.
Also fascinating because it points out what some of us have been saying – that district public schools don’t work with all kids – they pay tuition for some to attend out of district public and private schools.
““Time and again, my office has uncovered special education contractors trying to evade the rules,” the comptroller, Thomas P. DiNapoli, said in a statement. “This taxpayer money, intended to help children with special education needs, was misused for inappropriate and noneducational purposes.”
Joe, I’m a history teacher and facts do matter. My statement was grounded in historical trends. Chains do push out local organizations. We all know what Wal-Mart does to upstarts. We know what Rockefeller did to competitors in the 19th century. This is the nature of business. And charters aren’t just schools, they are ALSO businesses.
I’m not saying that it’s true now. I’m saying that the trends suggest that it could be and likely will be true in the current policy environment.
Would you deny that these are historical realities in American history? It’s not beyond the imagination that by 2030 that 15 charter chains could comprise 80% or more of all charters (or possibly all schools) in America.
And the 20+ years argument doesn’t hold water. Here’s why: Charters were capped everywhere until a few years ago. This prevented the widespread activity of charter chains. Now, it’s uncapped in several states. This opens the floodgates.
Uncapped growth significantly changes the game. Now, chains can open their charters in an unlimited manner. The conditions for charter school growth are now different than they were from 1990-2010.
Try to avoid belittling my statement with such pithy statements.
Steve,there are a lot of historical trends (I also taught history)
One trend is for expanded opportunity. For many educators and families, that’s part of what charters represent. Rosa Parks spent part of last decade of life helping start charters. Maya Angelou often visited and helped a DC charter named for her. The AFrican Am author of the “doll study” used in the US Supreme Court case Brown v Board was so angry with district public schools that by 1968 he wrote an article for Harvard Ed Review urging creation of new public schools that operated outside the control of local school boards.
Are you intentionally missing the point, Joe? If you really believe in these independent charters you claim to support, you should really be concerned about charter chains. This really isn’t the time to be turning and attacking district schools.
As mentioned many times, our organization supports strong public schools, whether district or charter.
Clearly – more and more American families are sending their children to options, whether district or charter. That’s because the best schools, among other things, have faculty who believe they can make a big difference They convey that.
No I’m not missing the point. Some of you are opposed to charters. Some of you are opposed to families having options. Innovative educators have had to deal with this for more than 40 years – people who wanted low/moderate income families no options.
People who can afford the suburbs, or chose to live in 90% or more all white communities (like Bryan Ohio) find ways to do that.
Joe, you often repeat that 2/3 of charters are independent. But that does not mean that 2/3 of the students enrolled in charters are to be found in these independent charters. The other 1/3 of charters likely enroll much large numbers of kids. Thus, the proliferation of national charter chains means that a far greater number of kids will be enrolled in mega-charters.
Statistics – lies and damn lies.
Several things can be true. The majority of charters are independent. I pointed this out because there have been assertions that most or all charters are part of for profit corporations. Not true.
Some (but not all) of the largest charters are part of groups. For me (and frankly for many families) the bigger issue is safety, program and the effectiveness of the school, whether district or charter.
There is a lot of concern within the charter community about some of the larger on-line (as well as other ) charters. The National Association of Charter Authorizers has a major, well funded effort to promote closing low performing charters.
Steve, thanks for being a teacher. Having been an urban public school teacher, having been married for 39+ years to an urban public school teacher, I do know that it’s a tough and often under-appreciated job.
A few more trends:
Charters (and district public schools) are NOT just businesses…although a lot of people make money from public education. That includes vendors, testing companies, bond salespeople, etc. etc. etc.
Patterns of for profit charter groups vary throughout the country. Some states with many, some states with just a few.
There is a big debate within the charter movement about how much support should be available independent, as well as groups of charters.
Opponents of charters have been predicting for 20 years that they would die out. That obviously didn’t happen.
Opponents also started off predicting that those attending charters would be most wealthy & white. That didn’t happen, so now opponents have shifted into criticizing some charters as being mostly one race. Opponents (including some who post here) equate being forced to attend an inferior school because of race and having options and selecting a charter.
The first African American elected to the St Paul, Mn City Council, who WAS forced to attend an inferior school because of his race, and I recently responded to that assertion in Mn’s largest daily paper.
http://www.startribune.com/opinion/commentaries/260479981.html
Joe,
Thanks for the response but I never said that charters were exclusively businesses. But they are definitely more focused on profit than traditional public schools. I have friends who work (or worked) in Michigan charters which are mostly for-profit. They say that money dominates the conversations post-February every year.
Secondly, you did actually dispute the argument that chains will become the vast majority of charters in the uncapped market.
I won’t argue the trend for expanded opportunity but I think you’re answering “around” my statement. I think you’re also looking at past charter trends when the rules were different than now. Now that charters are an established fact, they are slowly turning into traditionals. After an initial burst of improvement, most charters flatline. Now, they’re asking for equalized funding (even though few provide transportation and they have no legacy costs since they are so new). Why? More profit.
Joe, I think you have to at least acknowledge that the presence of wealthy participants isn’t pure altruism. It’s for profit too. Yet, as a public school teacher, I have to hear gripes about (it should be about kids, not adults.” Charter owners are often still about the adults. And as someone who was a teacher, you know that teachers aren’t in this business to get rich.
Agreed, teachers are not “in it” to get rich. You & others might enjoy this new book in which many classroom teachers have moving, brief essays describing what motivates them, and how they feel about working with youngsters:
http://hometownsource.com/2014/06/04/joe-nathan-column-teaching-with-heart-a-great-summer-book-for-educators-families/
Also agreed that some people involved in the charter world are strongly pursuing profits, and that some of the schools they have created stink.
However, just as creating new options in the 1960’s and 1970’s was attacked for deflecting attention and taking resources from the neighborhood school, some are criticizing the charter for the same kind of thing.
But as mentioned in a previous post, I think overall public education, students & families are better off with a district & charter sector.
I am not sure that being part of a chain is inherently a bad thing, but if so, states could make chains illegal. My state does this with alcohol sales, for example.
I’m fascinated with how the conservatives in the ed reform view Big Charter. There’s no public school in the country that can set up an outlet outside their state. I can’t open a public school in Pennsylvania.
If you’re driving out small charters with big national CMO’s, you’re kidding yourself that K-12 education remains a “state issue”. “Complying with each state’s law” doesn’t mean “local”, by any stretch of the imagination. PARTICULARLY because the US Congress are getting ready to fund a charter building spree that public schools will be excluded from.
I’m baffled why the multistate, national nature of some of these schools is never even mentioned, let alone “debated”.
“for-profit EMOs operate 79% of charter schools, and nonprofit EMOs operate 10%.”
Also, that’s a bad number. You’d want to ask how many SEATS are for-profit, not how many schools, because the schools vary in size.
It’s a more accurate measure.
Except, unless those local charters are enormous, 79% of charters will definitely mean that there are more students in for-profit chains that in local charters. Even if the ratio is smaller, those for-profit chains will have more students simply because there are WAY more schools using that model.
Right. It could work either way- fewer in for-profits or more in for-profits. I think it’s a better measure because in Ohio the percentage of seats in for-profits versus non-profits is higher than the percentage of for-profit schools to non-profit schools.
It’s just a better count no matter how it works out. It doesn’t matter in MI, you’re right, chances are most seats are also in for-profit schools but it probably matters in other places with a closer percentage of for-profits to non-profits.
The silence in the press/media regarding the endless list of abuses of public fund diverted for the financing of charter schools is deafening.
What happened to Freedom of the Press?
They’re exercising their freedom to suck up to their corporate masters.
Cross-posted http://www.opednews.com/Quicklink/Michigan-A-Very-Curious-S-in-Best_Web_OpEds-Blogger_Corruption_EVASION_Fraud-140605-854.html#comment493069 with this comment:
State by state, and district by district the charter schools, which in most cases. according to studies and statistics, do not do the job that local public schools do, are feasting on tax money meant to educate our next generation… WHILE THE PUBLIC IS UNAWARE OF THE ENORMITY OF THE SCAMS BECAUSE THERE ARE 52 STATES AND 15,880 DISTRICTS.
More important, as the charters rip-off the people of this country, our democracy which depends on SHARED KNOWLEDGE, is endangered,DEPENDS ON shared knowledge.
http://www.aft.org/pdfs/americaneducator/winter2009/hirsch.pdf and the road to opportunity — which PUBLIC EDUCATION MADE POSSIBLE– is closed, as charter schools fail to educate everyone, often special needs and minority kids
The media focus on charter schools is regional, so uneven. National media focus on media centers like NYC, DC and LA and to a lesser extent, Chicago.
National media has always been like this. They cover what happens in NYC and DC much more heavily than anywhere else in the country.
I think it’s part of the reason they are so relentlessly pro-charter. Most of these stories come out of places they pay absolutely no attention to – like FL, or MI, or OH.
If NYC and DC are the only two charter examples you ever cover, you’d think those charters are representative of charter schools all over the country. They’re not of course, but no one ever looks outside those two cities.
I say this all the time, but I don’t think the story is “charter schools”. The story is what is happening to PUBLIC schools in an ed reform, charter-promoting environment that either ignores public schools or actively undermines them. That’s the story, because MOST kids go to public schools, even in charter-heavy areas.
The long term damage in Michigan won’t be caused by charter schools. The long term damage in Michigan will be caused by Michigan lawmakers abandoning or undermining PUBLIC schools, because that’s where most of the kids are.
What bothers me beyond the statistics is the basic concept. It simply isn’t common sense to make public schools privately owned and operated. It’s an oxymoron. And one that is overlooked time and again by politicians everywhere. Over and over it has been shown that the cuts the budget cuts, the increasing poverty of Americans, the non native speakers, the closing of schools etc. have decimated American public education. The savior isn’t charter, this teachers’ know. The savior is people caring about education enough to seriously fund it, and caring enough about teaching to seriously fund hands on teacher training etc. To give it over to non educators, non teachers with literally weeks of training, and close existing schools is plainly stated non constitutional and makes no sense. How can we possible be doing this and getting away with it. Public is public not private. It’s very simple. I’m curious about how this had been allowed to creep past constitutional lawyers etc. How can we fund private schools with public funds and no oversight?
So, for example, one would ask Michigan lawmakers not what they plan to do about charter schools, but what they plan to do with PUBLIC schools.
That’s an absolutely fair question, and that way we can skip the politicians’ vows of love for charter schools and vouchers and all the nonsense about how they’re “agnostics” and how their personal ideology fits into ed reform. That’s all about charter schools and vouchers and it ISN’T responsive to the question asked.
The question is what are they doing to support and improve PUBLIC schools, in urban areas, in suburban areas, where ever, because there are public schools in ALL of these areas.
This is not a special request. It is their job.
Well, they would reply that charters ARE “public” schools, because the law says that they are (literally). 😉 We, on the other hand, argue that it is difficult to call charters public when in fact the first elected official in their chain of control is the Governor. Having a captive board contract out all school functions to a management company does not constitute public governance.
But, of course, if you have listened to policymakers in Lansing recently, you know that they feel that local school districts are dinosaurs which should be abolished or at most left as a last resort. Private management by for-profit firms IS their plan. Partly this is ideological (profit motive good, government bad), and partly it is political (break the teachers’ unions and you de-fund your main political opponent, the Democratic Party). In their minds, it’s a win-win situation.
We have a long way to go to reframe the arguments and get citizens from all over the state to think of public schools as projects of their community which require care and investment.
As someone who talks to hundreds of people a day, most know the public schools are under a sustained attack. They want the attacks to stop. Where people are confused, is what to do about it. Democrats have not been providing any leadership. See recent minimum wage debacle.
Why is it that, only in relation to charter schools, is no one ever arresreted, charged and/or indicted for fraud, corruption, conflict of interest and/or embezzlement? The obvious answer is that the web of corruption is incredibly intricate and deep. This has to be exposed, but no one even wants to report it!
People all over the country have been charged, convinced and fined for misusing $ via charters. This website is a great place to learn about this.
It’s not a good place to hear about district mismanagement of $, or union leaders stealing from their members. All of that happens. All of it is very sad.
I’ve been reading about the corruption here, but not about any punishment/consequences. Glad to hear this has happened!
Do you think that the people posting here did not understand the point that you were attempting to make the first time you made it? You just had to present the same point a second time, and then a third time, and then…. I stopped counting.
Do you really have such little respect for the intelligence of the people here?
Betsy, I have a lot of respect for the intelligence of people here. Also, their passion and commitment to young people.
What I often don’t see is a willingness to criticize corruption within districts or unions. Lots of criticism here of charters – some of which I agree with.
Talking to you Joe…
We do hear about district mismanagement here apone occasion. FLERP! Posted this not long ago: http://www.sbsun.com/social-affairs/20140330/exclusive-rialto-unified-shows-history-of-dysfunction
Agreed.
You want corruption in unions, dig a little into the cozy AFT/Weingarten/Gates relationship.
ARE YOU KIDDING/ READ MY COMMENT ABOVE TO JOE NATHAN
No one wants to report on corruption? In the last week, we’ve had two major newspapers report on corruption. One involved a Chicago newspaper reporting on corruption involving millions of dollars of a charter group in that city. The corruption has been covered extensively in Chicago and drew a lot of comment on this website.
The other involved corruption in New York City where a state audit found millions misspent under a subcontract from the NY City public schools. This had the added interest (to some of us) of pointing out that the district was not serving all students with special needs (a frequent topic here).
In both cases, major newspapers covered the corruption. In the first situation, charter critics here commented extensively. In the second case, a number of charter critics have been silent.
I have been reading your comments for a while now. I think you are sincere in your desire to show that there is culpability all around… but like I say here, all the time… I went to school in the forties and fifties, and taught in the sixties, seventies and eighties… and I know where and how it began. Until THE NATIoNAL NARRATIVE addresses the core problem, the assault on the LAW of Due Process, that allows the liars to control the media, nothing will change. Did you see this. This is what happened. It is absolute, verifiable reality… and we have to move forward knowing about this.
So watch it, and THEN we can talk….
also available at the Grassroots site “GRASSROOTS: AN INCONVENIENT TRUTH WAITING FOR SUPERMAN:
Ms Ravitch wrote…
“After all, don’t school superintendents borrow a million or two from their district’s bank accounts?”
Yes they and other district school administrators do. Stealing is human nature…
“Former Dayton Independent School District Superintendent William “Gary” Rye will learn his punishment Tuesday for embezzling nearly $200,000 in taxpayer money from the Northern Kentucky school district.”
“Former Clyde-Green Spring School District superintendent Todd Helms pleaded not guilty Thursday to 19 counts of crimes stemming from his alleged theft of almost $300,000 from the district.”
“The former Roslyn School District superintendent was convicted in 2006 of stealing more than $2 million from the district, which he paid back, as part of an $11-million embezzlement scheme of school district funds.”
“Officials say the money was stolen by the former superintendent. The auditor of public accounts for the commonwealth announced the settlement after conducting a special examination of the Dayton, Kentucky school district. An accounting firm that conducted annual audits failed to discover the fraud. Under the terms of the settlement, Rye will return 473,000 dollars to the district. The accounting firm of Rankin and Rankin will pay 38,000 dollars. ”
“The 1,400 children attending West Harvey-Dixmoor Elementary District 147 have long faced a public school system that struggles to teach them and pay the bills. Now the superintendent who ran the district for more than a decade and an elected board member face felony theft and official misconduct charges. Former Superintendent Alex Boyd appeared Tuesday in Cook County court for a bond hearing on charges he stole nearly $500,000 from the cash-strapped district, in part by padding his vacation and sick time and racking up unauthorized credit card bills.”
“Two top officials of a Southeast Texas school district have been indicted on charges accusing them of stealing more than $4 million from the district.”
“A former security manager for the Plano Independent School District pleaded guilty Tuesday morning to embezzling money from the district during a five-year period. Kris Gentz is accused of stealing an estimated $2.5 million from the district.”
“Former district accountant Judith Oakes, who stands accused of stealing $1.8 million in lunch money proceeds from the district’s Nutrition Services Department over the past eight years, was alleged to have had a personal relationship with the superintendent.”
“Six current and former San Francisco Unified School District employees, including an ex-associate superintendent, are facing a total of 205 felony charges for allegedly misappropriating $15 million in public funds, prosecutors said Tuesday.”
“Friday afternoon, the superintendent of Marion School District Two in Mullins turned himself into authorities. Police say he embezzled more than a half a million dollars from the district. According to arrest warrants, Nathaniel Miller, 59, started stealing money from the district two months after he got the job in 2006.”
“FormerPauls Valley (Okla.) schools superintendent Bobby Don Russell has been charged with embezzling more than $44,000 from the school district.”
“Joseph Palazzo, former technology director for the Cuyahoga Heights school district, has been charged in U.S. District Court with crimes related to the theft of more than $3.4 million from the district.”
Thanks for sharing. Do you have links? thanks also for being willing to give your name.
Cynthia, I am impressed that you went to so much trouble to argue that charter thieves can be forgiven for stealing millions because somewhere there are public school officials who stole money. You and I do not inhabit the same moral universe.
Diane I don’t see her as excusing the theft.
But I sure don’t.
What I am waiting for is an acknowledgement that
a. The NY public schools failed to oversee millions of dollars it shipped to private schools (as noted by the NY Times story I’ve posted)
b. That the NY public schools spent millions to ship out students of special needs whose parents felt they were not received an adequate education in the district.
Also – do you agree that theft of public funds is wrong, whether done by district or charter educators?
If you want to investigate questionable use of public school funds, check out Beverly Hall and Cami Anderson in Newark, New Jersey. That ought to keep you busy for awhile.
Ms. Ravitch,
I did not know we were on a first name basis.
It seems rude to accuse me of justifying stealing by anyone because I pointed out the inaccuracies in your statement, but then in the same paragraph you question my morality. Is this a site for name calling or to discuss better education for all?
Well, It is your playground and you are the master, so I guess will turn over my lunch money to you every time I post a dissenting opinion.
Thank you Cynthia. I’m glad to see that these crooks were caught. But what is the point that you are trying to make?
That district administrators steal too. Ms Ravitch implied they do not.
There seems to be a better system for catching the crooks who are employed in the public school system than there is for crooks in the private charter system. Do you think that Is by design or just pure happenstance? Joe?
I am curious as to why you think there is a better system for catching crooks employed in traditional public schools than in charter schools. Typically we only hear about those that are caught, and have relatively little knowledge about how many crooks get away with it in either system.
There isn’t one “charter” or one “district” system. States, school districts and various individual charters vary widely in the provisions they have for financial oversight.
Recall the show Extreme Makeover for people’s homes? The show threw money at “the problem” and the crew would come in, renovate to the hilt, and the family would return, GRATEFUL.
Then, the house, having been overbuilt, caused the taxes on it to be raised, and the families could not afford the taxes, and would lose their home.
Reformers with the charters are like this. Its a “feel good” story – until it unravels. Some billionaire money is thrown at the start up, and the profiteers pocket it, and when it becomes unprofitable, they walk away, leaving a devastated neighborhood when there is no longer an alternative, having shuttered the public schools that had existed. Then, the kids are pushed off to the next charter school, perhaps across town or .. wherever. But, hey, who cares? The billionaires got their tax write off, the management company got its pockets lined, teachers lost their jobs, the union got fracked, and who really gives a crap about “those” kids anyhow? “Those” kids are not “their” kids. Their kids will never have to suffer at the hand of the reformers.
I don’t think this will be an issue with the Walton Rural Life Center Charter School.
Bravo. GFY – good for you.
What percentage of charter schools do you think your post applies to? I have no good way to know.
I’m sure you have all the answers, te, and I’m not interested in engaging in any arguments with you. Bait someone else and ignore me, thank you.
I don’t know how many charter schools are founded by “billionaires”. The only charter school I have ever stepped foot in was founded by a group of parents. The charter school in my town is run by the elected school board.
You spoke so authoritatively about charters and billionaires that I thought your post was based on some actual knowledge.
Donna, In 3 0f the last 4 schools where I worked in the late 80s and the 90’s,,the principal used the school ‘budget’ as his own personal ‘perk.’
I could read you chapter and verse about the deep corruption that is endemic in the schools… there are 15,880 DISTRICTS. They don’t have to divide and conquer… the sheer number of schools makes it impossible to monitor… UNLESS THE CLASSROOM PRACTITIONER CAN SPEAK OUT AND SAY: “Hold on, here…do you know what Mr. Principal was doing with the school credit card at COSTCO?”
I worked in NYC long enough to know how sick and thick the culture of deception is… and the local rags,, including the NY Times never said a word… the only education news was about the ‘dead wood’ and ‘perverts’ who cannot be removed from our schools because tenure protects them.
All this ‘debate’ makes me sick.
THE INSTITUTION OF EDUCATION ensured opportunity for all,and now it is the cash of the billionaire’s club, while you argue. Charter or public school, there needs to be SCRUTINY BYT THE ATTORNEY GENERAL that the LAW OF THE LAND WORKS THERE, TOO! PERIOD!
Some of the charter schools that were founded by parents have been taken over at various points by giant charter chains. That’s what happened to several charter schools in my area, which are now run by Academica. This is especially true with building and finance. Most parents have no idea what it takes to get a building built or modified for a school, and the financial concerns–supplies, salaries, benefits, etc. are enormous. These chains promise to take care of those things for the school–for a price, which is generally not disclosed to the public. So while parents may ostensibly run a charter school, in reality, the chain runs the school. The chain makes the decisions about hiring and firing, the application process, etc.
I am a big fan of the word some. I have no doubt that some charters founded by parents have been taken over by chains The rest have not.
There was a “scandal” recently in Tucson, when the new TUSD
Supt. hired some of his “friends” in a no-bid, consulting contract. It was a scandal because it was public and publicized. On the other hand, BASIS sends most of its funds through a private CMO. There could be misuse of funds but we aren’t allowed to know. I KNOW that Charters are allowed to skip the bidding process that Public Schools are required to follow. Why shouldn’t charters have to follow the same transparency rules Public District do? Lack of transparency leads to corruption; there is no benefit to students. Why are Charters allowed to limit enrollment to select grade levels and only accept incoming students at the beginning of the year? Why are Charters allowed to tell parents of Special Ed. students they don’t have the services they need? Why are Charters allowed to keep a year’s funding when they kick out kids mid-year? Why do Public Schools have to take students and their test scores when they have spent part of the year in a Charter? I wouldn’t object to choice if the playing field was leveled.
So what led to the corruption of the district administrators in my post above? Apparently there were not scared of that supposed transparency.
Read here about a school board member uncovered 3.4 million in an embezzlement scheme all the while other board members and the district leaders were telling her to shut up.
In this case that supposed transparency was working to hide the stealing.
http://eagnews.org/probing-school-board-member-says-concentrated-power-secrecy-led-to-massive-embezzlement/
So again Cynthia… I am not sure I understand your point of view. Charter school good… public school bad? What is your skin in the game?