The school board of Anaheim, California, asked for relief from charters. California has one of the most permissive charter laws in the nation. It also has one of the most powerful lobbies in the nation, the California Charter Schools Association.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
________________________
December 18, 2014
Contact: Pat Karlak
Public Information Officer
Phone: (714) 999-5662
Email: Karlak_p@auhsd.us
Anaheim Union High School District Calls for a Temporary Moratorium on Approval of Charter Schools
ANAHEIM—Board members of the Anaheim Union High School District and Superintendent Michael Matsuda on December 18 called for the state of California to implement a temporary moratorium on the approval of charter schools until legislators fix the overly permissive law that enables charters to operate on a business model whose main goal is to make money.
“Although there is nothing wrong with making money, when it comes to public education, our children should be our first priority,” Superintendent Matsuda said. “While charter school proponents may say they care about kids, many charters operate in the shadows with no transparency, no accountability, and no public review.”
The superintendent cited the example of Magnolia Science Academy, one of two charter applications recently submitted to AUHSD. Magnolia Science Academy is one of the largest charter operators in America, with 155 campuses and ambitious expansion plans. According to an expose on 60 Minutes, Magnolia Science Academy is overseen by Fethullah Gulen, a wealthy Turkish national who controls an international chain of Gulen schools.
The 60 Minutes piece exposed the fact that American taxpayer money—hundreds of millions of dollars nationwide—is being funneled into the pockets of Turkish foreign nationals in the form of contracts for building schools and hiring teachers. At the same time, Gulen’s financial health and practices have been called into question and investigated by local and state agencies. Fethullah Gulen, himself a Turkish national, is wanted by the government of Turkey and is in hiding in the United States.
“Because of lax charter laws that favor privatization, we are the only nation where taxpayer money is used to fund schools operated by foreign nationals,” Superintendent Matsuda said. “Although the Gulen officials insist there is no ill intent, enough questions have been raised about Magnolia’s charter school operations that it is a prime example of why we need an immediate temporary moratorium on charter schools until the laws are fixed and accountability is restored.”
Added Trustee Al Jabbar, “We respectfully ask the public to consider that if kids really come first, why are charter schools continuing to hide their funding, ownership, and financial relationships? Why don’t they allow open access to financials, including budgets and salaries, even though they spend taxpayer money, just like public schools do? Why not agree to the same accountability policies as public schools, policies that would build public trust?”
The entire AUHSD Board signed off on an opinion piece calling for the immediate moratorium, which was published December 18 in the Voice of OC. The day before, at a special school board meeting, AUHSD trustees unanimously rejected a petition by Vista Charter Middle School as educationally and financially unsound.
“It’s open season on neighborhood schools in Orange County, because the Orange County Board of Education, which, mind you, was elected to represent the public school children of the region, is now a 3-2 vote in favor of overturning virtually every local school board’s decision against a charter,” Mr. Jabbar noted. “The Orange County Board wants us to assume all the liability for failure. They want us to assume financial authority over charters when we just heard on Thursday night from a charter operator (Vista) who won’t have enough resources to make it through the first year. They want us to take back the special education and English learner students that they routinely ‘disenroll,’ or drop, to game the system and boost their academic reputation. Let the Orange County Board of Education assume that fiscal and moral risk. Don’t put it back on us as our responsibility. We don’t want it.”
The fact that the Orange County school board has the authority to grant charters without the consent of local school boards undermines the concept of local control and makes a mockery of the Local Control and Accountability Plan (LCAP), said AUHSD Board President Annemarie Randle-Trejo.
“The 27 school districts in Orange County have to ask themselves if they are OK with the Orange County Board of Education deciding the composition of each of our school systems,” Ms. Randle-Trejo said. “I’m not OK with that and you shouldn’t be, either.”
“If you look at donations to politicians, you will see a lot of money being funneled to them from charter school operators and special interests. These charter people are very smart,” Ms. Randle-Trejo added. “They have wined and dined politicians from the federal level down, providing junkets and campaign contributions. They stage openings of their schools and invite the local politicians. They certainly know how to play the political game.”
The submission of the petitions by Magnolia Science Academy and Vista are part of a coordinated strategy in Los Angeles and Orange counties by charter proponents to establish a stronghold in Southern California.
Here is the 60 Minutes piece on Gulan schools:
Here is the link to the Voice of OC piece:
http://voiceofoc.org/2015/12/auhsd-board-time-for-a-moratorium-on-charter-schools/
Voice of OC posts press releases to provide readers with information directly from organizations. We do not edit or rewrite press releases, and encourage readers to contact the originator of a given release for more information. To submit a press release email pressreleases@voiceofoc.org
Diane Ravitch's blog 
I hope Californians and everyone else for that matter will use this as an opportunity to contact your state legislator to let them know how destructive the current charter school law is. How to find your legislators? http://www.legislature.ca.gov/legislators_and_districts/legislators/your_legislator.html
In Los Angeles, we have more charter schools than anywhere in the country–and my LA neighborhood specifically. That giant sucking sound is the students fleeing for smaller class sizes and more homogeneous communities. The charters only survive at the expense of the district schools. It’s a zero sum game. How it’s legal is beyond me.
This article does not mention that former Ca. State Senator Gloria Romero from Orange County, wrote the “parent trigger” funded by the Waltons and Eli Broad and other billionaires to be able to rapidly turn mainly inner city public schools into charters with only a 50% plus one vote of parents…mainly uninformed non English speaking parents.
Ben Austin, who now works full time for Broad, was her mentor in writing this flawed legislation. When his former organization, Parent Revolution, was no longer making headway in LA, they made their focus Orange County. And this is the result.
It is one more case study in these privatizers pouring huge amounts of cash into BoE elections to vote in charter school supporters. In LAUSD they were able, through hook (Voteria) and crook (insert your own names) they got charter millionaire Refugio Rodriguez elected. This scheme will haunt American politics if not stopped by government edict and existing laws.
Karen, start by insisting that local school boards have control of decision about whether to grant a charter, and if they say no, it is no.
Remember when the California Charter Schools Association won a Prop 39 lawsuit in LA Superior Court forcing LA Unified to give charter schools relatively unfettered access to public school space? What a disaster for public education in our city! I’m rooting for Anaheim to follow a different path.
How did Prop 39 become law? On the left leaning coast of California, no less? It’s simple. The main parts of the ballot initiative had to do with facilitating school bonds by requiring 55% instead of a two thirds supermajority for passage. Our progressive state voted for it to try to lower class size, not realizing what the charter school subtext would do to us. Walmart tricked us with fine print.
I like the moratorium idea, but would take it further. We are still a very progressively governed state. I would like to see a constitutional amendment to regard charter schools as they are by the even more liberal Washington State Constitution: illegal.
Hi LC Teacher…good points you make. And we had/have been working for decades to get away from the 2/3 rule for a passage of these kinds of taxpayers financial measures. It would seem that many voters did not read the CCSA fine print in that Ballot Measure. There is a movement to do away with the 1994 charter school provision completely….which would be a boon. Yes, if Washington State could do this, why not California?
I’ll be contacting California State Senator Mark Leno. He seems to be instrumental in trying to get legislation passed to force greater transparency etc. with charter schools. I will also be contacting my local representatives in the Long Beach area. Please let me know if there is anyone else I can personally contact. I never understood why Gov. Brown approved this–big money??
Kim Toscas,
Anyone who wants greater transparency should also fight to allow local school boards to reject charters. What typically happens in California is that the local school board rejects a charter, but then the county school board overrides and grants the charter. Whatever happened to local control?
Kim…agree that we should all contact Mark Leno..he is one of the few Ca. State legislators who is consistently informed and is an asset to his constituents.
Governor Brown has two charter schools in Oakland. That’s why.
An article appeared in Forbes yesterday that gives a decent explanation of the Gulen Movement: “In Sunni ‘Cult’ Fight, Turkey Guns For America’s Richest And Most Politically Connected Cleric” http://www.forbes.com/sites/kenrapoza/2015/12/20/in-sunni-cult-fight-turkey-guns-for-americas-richest-and-most-politically-connected-cleric/print/
It quotes a former member of this peculiar group as saying the Gulen Movement is “a cross between Islam and Scientology.”
The article’s companion piece mentions the Anaheim school district’s move: “Schools Banned In Russia Now Under Fire In Two U.S. Cities” http://www.forbes.com/sites/kenrapoza/2015/12/20/schools-banned-in-russia-now-under-fire-in-two-u-s-cities/print/
Here is an article I wrote for City Watch Today in July, 2014 on Gulen. Now he has 155 charter schools and it angling for more in California, and across the Nation. Suggest you also read the comments to my article by Turkish men in the US and in Turkey. This article was reprinted by the Turkish News Agency.
Also suggest everyone read Sharon Higgins many exposes at her site of the Gulen Movement. She is an excellent researcher and a prime source for information on Fethullah Gulen.
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Fetullah Gulen: The Phantom of the Poconos … Paid for by Your Tax Dollars
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11 Jul 2014
Written by Ellen Lubic
EXPOSED-The Gulen Movement is advertised by its’ leader and his PR advisors as a “transformational and social movement led by Turkish Imam, scholar and preacher, Fetullah Gulen.”
This highly secretive movement is often compared to the Catholic secret society, Opus Dei. Their goal is to be the world’s leading Muslim network, and although it advertises that “it is funded by its ‘own members” it is actually funded by American tax payers.
In the real light of day, Fetullah Gulen, who is the single largest charter school operator in the U.S., was chased out of Turkey by current Prime Minister Erdogan and his forces in 1999 and was given refuge in the United States, first by Bill Clinton, then by George Bush, and now by Barak Obama.
He lives in a large compound with a fortress-like surrounding and many armed guards in the Pocono Mountains in Pennsylvania. From this protected enclave, and with the further protection of our government, he is fomenting revolution in Turkey to turn his homeland from a secular nation into an Islamist state ruled by strict Sharia law.
Even though the Turkish regime wants him extradited to stand trial for promoting insurrection and various other scandals, he is safe in America, calling the shots for extremists in Turkey. He sends huge amounts of money to the Middle East and Turkey to promote his cause.
And this prodigious donation to influence Turkish/Sharia politics is all paid for by We the People, the American taxpayers.
Gulen is the largest owner of charter schools in the U.S. He owns over 147 active charter schools with dozens more awaiting approval in many states including California, with tens of thousands of students who are taken out of public schools to attend his Islamic based charters which teach Turkish language as their prime language and their main focus on Turkish history.
He used to also teach Sharia law in these gender segregated schools, but when that became a problem he focused on math and science instead, and now teaches Sharia law on weekend outings for his students. His plan is to educate all students to follow him as their religious and political leader of Turkey, and all of them to return to his homeland with him as his supporters.
Most of his teachers, and all of his principals and other organizational leaders, are Middle Eastern men who are allowed into the U.S. on green cards to run this multibillion dollar operation. According to the tax research done by Sharon Higgins who is the best reporter on his activities, he nets about $500 million a year, all on the back of the American taxpayer.
Each student gets ADA money, average daily attendance, which the school district is mandated to release since the money for education follows the student. Each school has between 300 – 800 students financed by American tax money at about $7,000 per student, which represents a huge fortune over the past 15 years.
It is this money that is paying for fomenting revolution in Turkey where Gulen plans to return soon to become the nation’s leader and make his country a true Sharia ruled state. This means that girls no longer will be going to school, and all will be forced to wear purdah. Boys will be studying mainly Koran as in madrassas world wide.
In an addition to American charter schools, Gulen runs about 1,000 other schools world wide. His goal it would appear is to establish a second Ottoman Empire and all under rigid Sharia law.
Erdogan and his government see Gulen as a danger to their secular nation. He is pressing criminal charges against Gulen for a wire tapping scandal, and he feels that this is not only a religious movement, but it is also political and illegal. He accuses the U.S. of sheltering and supporting Gulen, and he wants him extradited to Turkey to face criminal charges.
All of this is factual and further information can be found online.
So the questions are why would three consecutive American administrations let Gulen operate under the aegis of American protection? Also, why is there so little media attention paid to this secret group which, like leeches, is bleeding American public schools and filching the money for their own religious/political purposes, from the pockets of American tax payers?
The LA Times published a front page story on Gulen some months ago, but they did not print a single letter to the editor written by the many teachers in Joining Forces for Education, nor other members of the general reading public which asked these questions. When they got complaints and questions as to why they dropped the whole issue, they were totally and completely silent.
Why is the mainstream media avoiding reporting on all this public information?
Are they colluding with our leaders to keep this man in a protected shell while he continues to be a main player in shaping the politics of the Middle East?
(Ellen Lubic is Director of Joining Forces for Education and a public policy educator in Los Angeles. She is an occasional contributor to CityWatch. Her views are her own.)
That the government would underwrite the efforts of some cabal is shameful, but that’ s what we get when we pass laws without any accountability. Citizens should contact their local representatives to complain about spending taxpayer funds on this failing, questionable network of schools.
Diane, Here is the bigger part of the story. I teach in Santa Ana Unified, a school near Anaheim. The Gulen schools, calling themselves “Magnolia Academy” in Southern California, petitioned our district to open a charter. They were denied by our BOE. They then went to the county who also denied them (the county rarely ever denies any charter), then they went to the state and were APPROVED. Not only were they approved but the state handed them a grant of 17.4 million dollars to build the school within the Santa Ana Unified School District’s border. They broke ground for construction in August with a ceremony attended by Loretta Sanchez and other high profile Orange County, CA politicians in attendance. They have a record of political contributions and this stinks to high heaven. I have never heard of a charter receiving that type of money to build a school in CA. Someone needs to investigate this whole thing. How does a school district and a county deny a charter only to have the state allow them to open in the same district that denied them AND hand them millions of dollars to do it?
The various Gulen charters seem to have enormous political clout, and it isn’t just California- it’s Ohio and Illnois, too.
I think it would be a great story if someone, somewhere investigated why politicians seem to be completely captured by these charter operators.
What is it? Why are US politicians funneling public funding to Turkey? The US doesn’t issue that many visas for foreign workers. Why would they bring in Turkish teachers?
There’s a reason. There is some quid pro quo or larger “cause” behind this, because it stinks to high heaven.
The surface reason for Gulen political power is that they give “free” trips to Turkey to key state legislators, where they are wined and dined. Google the names of key politicians and Gulen in Ohio, Illinois, Texas, and the odds are that they took the trip. According to this story in the Chicago Sun-Times, Michael Madigan, speaker of the Illinois House, has taken four trips to Turkey, courtesy of Gulenists. http://chicago.suntimes.com/politics/7/71/169717/cps-says-no-to-charter-schools-madigan-says-yes
Tina- You should send this information to ’60 Minutes’ and ask them to do an update to their story.
It stretches credulity to think politicians can be bought with a few international trips. But, if they are, indeed, bought that cheaply, it would be worthwhile to start a gofundme page to raise money for congressional junkets. It is more likely that congress is doing what it wants to do and the trips are icing on the cake.
More to the point, I don’t understand why congresses, state and federal, are so dismissive of the American interest. Tax money spent on schools and Medicare drugs, should obviously be domestically spent. The clear answer is that Congress has been captured by multinational corporations.
Thanks for this info, Tina. We in California must not forget that Loretta Sanchez is also running for Senator Barbara Boxer’s seat in DC. Sanchez, with the help of Voteria, could well steal this vital seat from the well respected Attorney General of Ca., Kamala Harris.
Sanchez is the Congress person who sent that puerile and highly sexual Xmas card to her constituents a few years ago….and recently made bigoted statements about Muslim citizens which was in the headlines nationwide. It would seem that she has no ability to monitor her frontal lobes and she has limited ability to do her current job, and MUST not win this important Senatorial election. Please vote for Kamala Harris.
Thanks Diane for posting this. Your support means a lot to all of us in the Anaheim Union High School District. Despite the charter nonsense, we are doing great things led by a critical mass of teachers who are focused on literacy (speaking, writing, listening, reading),and the 5 Cs across the curriculum. see https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=twjiQZJfCBE
Thank YOU, Mike, for being the first Superintendent in Orange County in my memory to stand up to the stealing of our public schools. I am hoping other Superintendents and BOE’s follow your lead. It is appalling that a local board could deny a charter for valid, documented reasons only to find that they open up in their city anyway with millions of dollars in taxpayer money.