Jonathan Pelto writes about this curious conundrum: Connecticut’s charter schools want more public money, but they object to public accountability. Their motto seems to be: give us money and get out of our way. In other states, like Néw York, charter operators have gone to court to block public audits of public funds (“trust us”).
In Connecticut, as Sarah Darer Littman wrote in a column Pelto quotes, charters testify before the Legislature that they should be excused from complying with Freedom of Information requests because it is burdensome. And their spokesman testified that they should not have to complete background tests on employees. They are in a hurry and can’t be expected to wait to find out if their new hires have criminal backgrounds.
Charter schools are special. Rules and regulations and state laws are for public schools, not for charter schools.
Didn’t Leona Helmsley, the billionaire queen of mean, sat that taxes are for the “little people?”
Diane Ravitch's blog 
Charter Schools have caused much havoc. This is the goal of the DEFORMERS.
“Klepto Mania”
Iraq and school “reform”
Are really just the same
A klepto desert storm
With different POTUS name
Here’s a link to Jon Pelto’s article… the subject of this thread:
http://jonathanpelto.com/2015/06/23/charter-school-operators-want-taxpayer-funds-just-dont-want-to-explain-how-they-spend-it/
“And their spokesman testified that (charter school administrations) should not have to complete background tests on employees. They are in a hurry and can’t be expected to wait to find out if their new hires have criminal backgrounds.”
That’s not even a smart move business-wise.
This way, sure, you get the unchecked teacher in the class a few days, or a couple weeks earlier, but you’re simultaneously putting children at risk, and opening the school up to millions in lawsuits liability if.. god forbid… the unchecked teacher commits some heinous act of abuse or molestation.
Is it really worth taking that risk, just get the teacher teaching a little earlier?
The do a background check for people applying to work at CVS! I guess at CVS; it’s about the drugs, not children.
I bet if the topic were something like, should food stamp recipients be subject to restrictions on what sorts of foods they can buy, these same people wanting no accountability for charters would be the first to say, “well, yes, of course, if you’re going to take the government’s money, you have to accept the government’s terms.
If you look at them as government contractors rather than a “public” entity their stance makes more sense. Government contracts for services all the time and the public isn’t privy to what actually goes on in the private entity outside the terms of the government-to-private sector contract (the charter, in this case).
Remember how shocked DC was when they found out the contractor they use to serve them meals pays poverty wages?
“We have people who work for the Senate cafeteria who literally are impoverished,” said Sen. Brian Schatz, D-Hawaii, the Legislative Branch Appropriations Subcommittee’s ranking member. ”
Of course “contract for education services” is not as appealing politically as this hybrid rhetoric they adopt, where they are “public” where that benefits them and “private” where it doesn’t 🙂
http://blogs.rollcall.com/hill-blotter/senators-working-to-address-food-service-worker-issue/
Unbelievable! Who do these people think they are? They are risking children’s lives and mind by not doing background checks, and demonstrating profound arrogance by not willingly agreeing to a public audit. They SHOULD be subject to the same rules for using public funding that the rest of us have to follow.
Don’t you understand? It’s hard to steal and mispend tax payer money if you have to account for it. You have to hire a smart accountant t o cook the books. Please, don’t stand in the way of progress.
Why not? They know where the money is.
The best way to rob a “bank” is to own one.
AND they want no accountability?
Silly me. I thought that was what the “reform” movement was all about.
Reform or deform?
To proudly quote Jonathan–“wait, what?!”
The conservatives at the America Enterprise Institute–the likely source of many cabinet members if the Republicans win the presidency–have a bunch of policy recommendations for education ready to use by presidential candidates. You can find a full pdf on line.
An Education Agenda for 2016: Conservative Solutions for Expanding Opportunity
Contributors are a mix of old-timers and newbies.
Chester E. Finn Jr., Michael Q. McShane, John Bailey, Frederick M. Hess, Katharine B. Stevens, Diane Auer Jones, Kevin J. James, Andrew P. Kelly
Edited by Frederick M. Hess and Max Eden June 2015
You can tell from the chapters that charters and choice are on the agenda, but with even more deregulation, money follows the child. A rhetorical focus on “lousy schools” and money wasted in addition to federal overreach, envisioning NAEP tests scores as measures of “high quality” education, also high tech as better than face-to-face teaching in schools. Add the agenda for educational research, curiously all “basic” for the federal funding, with a love affair evident for “brain-based studies of efficient learning.” Three of the chapters target higher education with “return on investment,” unregulated choices, and “diverse” certifications of quality and competence treated as innovative and cost-effective.
Chapter titles: (92 pages full report)
1. Bully Only From the Pulpit, Please 5 Chester E. Finn Jr.
2. Choosing a Path Forward on School Choice, Michael Q. McShane
3. Leveraging an Innovation Agenda to Help Every Child Succeed, John Bailey
4. Moving Beyond No Child Left Behind, Frederick M. Hess
5. Advancing Opportunity through Early Learning, Katharine B. Stevens
6. Tearing Down Barriers to Expand Postsecondary Education Choices, Diane Auer Jones
7. Addressing the Challenges of Student Debt, Kevin J. James
8. College Innovation and Quality Assurance , Andrew P. Kelly
I am sure that savvy people are working on other briefing documents, one-liners, memes and so on to push public opinion, inform staffers, and please funders. I just wonder if ONLY conservatives are doing this work.
Same thing in Georgia. The schools authorized by the Georgia Charter Commission (after being turned down by local school boards) have decided they are not subject to the Georgia Transparency Act that requires school district audits to be placed on a state website and all teacher and administrator salaries to be posted online. Exempt!