Jessica Calefati of the San Jose Mercury-News wrote a shocking series about the online charter schools of K12 Inc., which have the lowest graduation rate in the state, and which counts students “present” if they log on for only one minute.
Millions of public dollars fund the California Virtual Academies (CAVA), which operates for profit and is listed on the New York Stock Exchange. The company, founded by Michael and Lowell Milken, delivers a substandard education. It should be closely supervised or shut down.
Unfortunately, as Calefati discovered, the legislature is moving at a snail’s pace to authorize an audit of CAVA. Nothing seems to be happening. Much clucking of tongues, but no action.
CAVA is the lowest performing school in the state. Why hasn’t it been shut down long ago? If you recall, K12’s online charter in Tennessee was the lowest performing school in the state, and not even the State Commissioner Kevin Huffman was able to get it closed. Why?
Governor Brown likes charters. When he was mayor of Oakland, he opened two charters. The legislature has been unwilling to stand up to the rich and powerful California Charter Schools Association. CCSA should be demanding close scrutiny of CAVA, whose tactics embarrasses all charter schools. Their silence is deafening.
When the legislature dared to pass a bill banning for-profit charters, Governor Brown vetoed it. He also vetoed a bill to require charter schools to ban conflicts of interest.
So California has a greedy, rapacious charter industry, whose growth will continue unchecked until public schools enroll only students the charters don’t want. Fraud, waste, and abuse in the charter industry will grow without oversight. Conflicts of interest and nepotism will proliferate. Charters will continue to be run by entrepreneurs and speculators.
Does anyone think these developments are “reform”? From a distance, they look like graft and corruption.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
And he’s endorsed Hillary Clinton. Coincidence? I don’t think so.
And who has endorsed Donald Trump? Russia’s Vladimir Putin and Kim Jong-un of North Korea, who urges U.S. voters to reject Hillary.
Also, Jerry’s younger sister, Kathleen Brown, is a partner in the firm used by Eli Broad and his cohorts, Manatt, Phelps, and Phillips. She was Treasurer of Ca. and ran for Guv, but lost.
She is a big supporter of privatizing and charterizing public schools.
From Wiki…but correct……….
“She currently serves as a partner in law firm Manatt, Phelps & Phillips.[2]
Prior to joining Manatt she was head of public finance for the Midwest region for Goldman Sachs, after taking positions as president of private banking for Bank of America from 1995 to 2000 and as head of public sector and infrastructure investment for Goldman Sachs from 2001 to 2010.[3] Staying in California for public sector banking would have likely posed a potential conflict of interest.[4]
Brown is a graduate of Stanford University and Fordham University School of Law.[1] She had three children with her first husband, George Rice, whom she later divorced. She is currently married to Van Gordon Sauter, at one time President of CBS News, and they have five grown children.[1] Her dog, named Sutter, was given to Jerry Brown and became California’s First Dog in 2011.[5]
Sempra Energy[edit]
Brown is a member of the Board of Directors for Sempra Energy, which owns the Southern California Gas Company, which was responsible for the Aliso Canyon gas leak.”
Ellen, that explains it. Thank you for the info.
Now, off topic, time to have a couple chuckles:
http://m.wimp.com/25-teachers-who-clearly-have-a-lot-of-fun-with-their-jobs/
Thanks to my mom for sending me the link.
Add this to this cauldron of deception…just came to my email.
President Obama’s first Deputy Secretary of Education, Tony Miller, is about to become, through a private equity takeover, the chairman of the Apollo Education Group, which operates the biggest for-profit college, the University of Phoenix.
http://www.truth-out.org/news/item/36290-trump-university-a-scam-but-a-familiar-one
Thanks for the link Ellen!
Ed reformers are pushing online learning into public schools very hard. The government/private sector sales pitch on this stuff is blatant.
I wonder if the reluctance to regulate the sector has to do with concerns that the whole burgeoning industry will be damaged by any real analysis or oversight.
It’ll be hard to break into the much larger public school market if the approach is discredited in the much smaller charter group.
It’s embarrassing to go from one of the premier states in education to this, greedy, selfish citizens, wealthy mostly, who are taking advantage of a wide open system of unlimited public dollars for personal profit. Nothing good or sustainable will come of this but they don’t care, take the money and run. And the children, useful pawns in the whole process.
More than embarrassing Paula.
When I was in public school in LA our state was second only to NY in academics…and now look at both states and what has occurred in the last 40 – 50 years, but mainly since the Reagan Revolution.
Of course the extreme influx of immigrants from all over the world changed the picture, and the budgets, and now over 100 languages are spoken in schools in both these most populace states in the Union.
And in 1978 Ca. was hit with the double whammy of the self serving Howard Jarvis legislation which killed the budgets of Ca. schools, and from which we have never recovered. This misused law must be changed and commercial real estate particularly must be taxed at fair market value upon sale. Homeowners too must pay a fair residential share since new buyers carry almost all the load of paying for schools and other public services.
On my block, in a middle class neighborhood, those who bought houses in 1978 pay only about $500 – $700 in property tax yearly, while those who purchased more recently pay from $5,600 – to over $6,000. I am one of the latter. And I drive less on the roads, use far less utilities, but pay for all the other people who gobble up the benefits. Neighbor on one side has 4 vehicles, another nearby has 3, and next to him is a builder with a large truck, a huge RV, and three cars…all using the roads. How can the city justify charging them less?
Check google on how Pat Brown, Moonbeam Brown of the 1970s, and Kathleen Brown were part of this problem. Jerry also promised two years ago, with Prop. 30, that he would direct the tax money to the inner city schools, and the Malibu moms and pops howled…but LAUSd still has over 100 problem inner city schools. Yet even with allocations of tax money (and bonds funds used by Deasy to buy the iPads), we still see it spent by the millions to hire middle ‘do-nothing’ administrators at Beardry, but not hiring back teachers, nurses, librarians, janitors. The nepotism in this district has always been overwhelming.
So where is Jerry Brown when we really need him to do the right thing…the moral thing? And if Villaraigosa is elected with Broad money funding him, it will be far worse. If you think Jerry loves charters, wait until you see what the kiss-butt Tony will do for his master, Eli.
Aaahnold Muscle-head and now Jerry “Zombie” Brown?
Have the people of CA lost their minds?
if so, they lost them many years ago, when they elected The Gipper as Governor of the state.
Ha! We had no minds to lose. Too much sunshine. That’s why Enron and Eli prey upon us.
Then again, the state I live in has elected Dan Malloy a couple times, so who am I to be asking about lost minds, right?
These politicians are enough to make you lose your mind if you have not already lost it.
No comment from Jersey. Everybody knows who we have. Hint: He is heading up the transition team for The Donald.
Reblogged this on Crazy Normal – the Classroom Exposé and commented:
If it walks, talks and looks like graft and corruption, it’s graft and corruption.
Incredible story out of Pennsylvania:
“Candace Roper called the saga “a painfully clear example of how badly we need to reform charter laws in PA,” adding “That is what people need to be outraged over — the fact that a poor urban school district’s only defense against these predators is going to court and draining our own precious resources.”
Pennsylvania is right behind Ohio in public realization they have a big,big problem. Ohio went the same way- there were years of isolated stories and then it reacheda tipping point and became commonly understood. It took 15 years.
After Pennsylvania you’ll see Michigan next but not until Snyder is out of office or there’s some turnover in the legislature.
Ohio is no outlier. This is a whole set of large states. It’ll become impossible to ignore at the national level.
http://www.pennlive.com/news/2016/06/charlatans_posing_as_educators.html
I loved Governor “Moon-Beam”; I detest Governor “Charter-School.” Politically knowledgeable people claim there will be no charter school reform in California as long as Brown is governor. Even a common sense fix like not allowing districts to authorize charter schools outside of their own boundaries was vetoed by Brown.
California is also full speed ahead on CCSS and is re-writing the disastrous NGSS science standards but keeping the name.
Apparently, California education policy is completely subservient to corporate and billionaire motivated ideology. Local citizens and educators are expected to shut-up and follow daddy’s orders.
I was told off the record that Governor Brown vetoed the bill to prohibit for-profit charters because he was not convinced that all for-profit charter schools are inherently bad. I disagree. All for-profit charters are inherently bad because their primary concern is profit, not children. How can they provide better education when they must pay shareholders from their allotment of public funds? Never in the history of public education in America have there been “public” schools that operated for profit.
He also vetoed a totally commonsense bill by Susan Bonilla which passed the Assembly about 4 years ago and would have removed some of the financial incentives for high schools to turn charter over and above what public high schools get, which at time the bill was introduced came out of the home district’s budget, so he has been a pretty staunch suporter. Here is a very interesting article on what has been happening in Oakland where he used to be mayor. I will give him credit for pushing for the supplementary funding for low income school districts but aside from that he has been a pretty big charter supporter. http://www.alternet.org/education/oakland-charter-school-expansion-plan
And Jerry also vetoed single payer universal health care which state senator, Sheila Kuehl, revised nine times until she termed out, and which the great SF state senator, Mark Leno, thereafter carried successfully…but the Jesuit power player, Jerry, decided not to sign it.
Can’t trust Dems who rule like Repubs…as with Brown and Obama, who support charters/Duncan/RttT/John King/Rahm/etc….so sad to reaffirm in my dotage that devious Manchurian candidates/legislators abound in both political parties.
Brown and Warren both support policies that we believe are antithetical to the well-being of public education. What does it mean that relatively left-wing Democrats disagree with most of the folks who participate on this cite? Are the real defenders of public education “radical” by American standards nowadays? It seems so, which helps explain why the bad guys are doing so well in this fight.
If public education didn’t exist in America today, would the “public,” including Warren and Brown, favor creating such an institution? Is it really all that important to their understanding of democracy? Seems like the answer is, sadly, no.
This is the grim reality we face. American, even left-wingers, no longer really support the idea that underlies the institution. So the only issue left to talk about is power–do those who want to keep this unpopular institution alive have more power than those who want to get rid of it.
I wonder whether Brown and Warren would work to create Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, and the rest of the safety net if it didn’t already exist. I have real doubts that they would.
The public keeps falling for the same old watch my mouth and not my hands routine.
But hey, if it works, why change it, right?
Jerry’s legacy from great to odious. See money and power do corrupt. Wondering when the fracking wells will be outside the gov’s house. Oh, his Oakland Hills home is on the market for $2.5 million. Not bad for a life of public service and after the $hillary endorsement…more $$$ to come.
The K-12 Utah branch is one of the lowest scoring schools in the state. But when it came time to identify the “lowest 5% of schools,” K-12 was not on the list. But public schools who scored higher than K-12 were put into draconian requirements instead.
Wherever there are K12 virtual schools, they are the lowest scoring in the state, unless there is another virtual charter that is worse. But accountability is for public schools, not for K12.
As a native of CA and life longDemocrat, I’m totally disgusted with the Governor.
The complaint against Magnolia Charters (Gulen) was filed months and months ago. The only thing that has happened is Torklakson’s office sent out a letter stating that “due to the complexity of the issues” they would need more than the required 60 days to respond. Not a single other word about it. California is prime for the privatization of our schools. The California Charter Schools Association is pouring money into political races to further entrench charters everywhere.
OMG Tina…disgusting.
The FBI investigated Magnolia’s books almost two years ago and they, and LAUSD, wanted to shut them down for fraud/mismanagement of public funds, but a judge in LA folded to Broad and others demands that they stay open with Charter Queen Caprice Young cleaning up the Gulen mess.
About the same time the FBI (and SEC) went into Beaudry and took out 20 cases of Deasy files looking for fraud and insider bidding, but no resolution to any of this. It is clear that both Gulen and Deasy are being protected, probably by the cash and influence of Eli Broad, close friend and client of Hillary Clinton, and probably his billionaire, Federal prisoner. pal, Michael Milken of K12 junk schools (like the junk he sold at Lambert which got him indicted and convicted and sent to the Federal Pen)..
Is all hope lost for any fair resolution with all these crooks, or do they continue to win? Of course, with the Wall Street DoJ leader, Eric Holder appointed by Obama, as with the banks too big to fail, folks just do not get indicted…and the statute of limitations runs out of time to indict.
As plainfiff in the Magnolia filing, Tina, and as a many decades long high school teacher, you are at the top of my list of heroes.
Maybe someone here can offer insight or point me in the right direction, as I’m new at untangling this mess of charter schools. The school district my children will be entering is pretty good. It’s ranked in the top quartile in the state. I’ve visited a couple of schools, and they seem in good repair with happy students and happy teachers. The oh-so-important test scores aren’t bad. There’s one charter k-8 and one charter HS in town, and by numbers, they are the best schools in town, though they barely eke out the highest-by-numbers public schools, which aren’t that much higher than the rest of the schools, excepting one. I suspect the reason the charters are doing so well, score-wise, is because they essentially function as a college prep magnet. They admit by lottery, but white and Asians are ove-rrepresented in comparison with the district, and hispanics are under-represented
But as is common with charters, their finances seem to be a mess. The charter HS wants to move into a shiny new building (it’s currently in an old elementary school), but first needs to pave a parking lot, which will be used for the charter k-8. The charter HS is also in some weird relationship with a private, mostly international boarding HS, wherein they share a building and some facilities, but not instructional rooms or teachers. They apparently have a gentleman’s agreement that the private HS will pay the lion’s share of the $2.1M rent on the new building.
Source
One of the relevant quotes: “Some parents at a recent TVLC [Tri-Valley Learning Corporation] meeting expressed caution about becoming involved with any enterprise with CPA [California Preparatory Academy]. They said they might be better off going on their own to create facilities. If CPA were to fail, TVLC would be next in line to pick up obligations for paying all the rent at 3090 Independence Drive, an annual debt of $2.1 million.”
Is this par for the course for charters, or possibly duplicitous, or both (or other)?
Why do parents continue to send their children to these schools. The only answer is to have parents know what is going on, and it is their responsibility to stop sending their children there.
A link to Gov. Brown’s veto statement regarding for profit charter schools in CA:
Click to access AB_787_Veto_Message.pdf
Don’t tremble. Yes, public education is for sale. Who’s surprised that education was the next valuable oasis for the same sort of entrepreneurs who created Big Banks, Big Pharma, and Big Oil?
The lure of the schools … with the ever-repeating money stream via taxes … was just too, too luscious not to attract these flies. And now, at the same moment they are creating charter school kingdoms, they are fattening their odds and slimming their risks by ruining the long-standing public school system.
These charters are ostensible saviors of the last resort for children stuck in failing educational mills … mostly found in cities for now. But the inner cities are only the starting block for their designs. They see education in an entirely new structure and with an outcome never before considered … profit.
To cull some schools from the system … a few at a time for now … sets the pattern. These charter school operators can then manipulate the “success” story, chest-beat their efforts, entice other disenchanted sub-groups, and then grow their movement … and do so by siphoning off public school dollars that further cripple the remaining public schools not yet gathered up by these long-range education hoodlums.
It’s a build and destroy mission.
Dismantle pubic schools through inadequate funding and through skewered assessment results … think Common Core! … that shine an unhappy light on school and teacher performances. This, of course, stirs up the emotions and allows for charter operators to bully their way into new situations … which, in turn, allow others to come forward to reap profits from arming these new schools with all of the most modern accoutrements … computers, software, learning materials, infrastructures of all sorts all provided by … guess who? … fellow entrepreneurs who have, in all likelihood, struck a mutually profitable agreement with lots of others.
So the spigots are open … and the tax monies formerly designed to fund one of the most successful public education systems ever … now drain into the pockets of entrepreneurs who are more about flash than about substance. Classroom performance is now superseded by the bottom line.
These charter/privatized schools will come to dominate the scene … and then the schools will become more and more like race cars … covered with product logos and insignias of all sorts.
We’re likely to see high school sport scoreboards with product info flashing all game long. Many a campus will be decorated by signage that speaks to the generosity of business X and Y. And … are you ready for this? Schools will actually be named … perhaps stealthily … after business interests. We might not get a Whopper High School, but that doesn’t mean we won’t get something called the MicroSoft Magnet School for Technology. You know … something extra sexy that would awe the ordinary taxpayer into a state of gratefulness. I know. I know. It sounds awful … and it is … but that’s how the game will play out.
Sports’ uniforms will look like those patchy outfits race drivers wear … with logos all over the place. Cafeteria foods will be franchised out … even transportation will be “Uberized” in some fashion because … well … if there’s money to be made, they’ll make it.
Teachers will be company men and women. Orientated just as other workers are … and rah-rahed into embracing the company spirit and well-being. Students are the product … spit and polish the product just well enough to get by quality control and … and you’ll be a-okay.
All of the older teachers will have been retired or run out of the system by these magnificent evaluation devices no one really understands, but they get the job done. And those too young to retire will simply quit because they will not have the intestines for what is unfolding.
So, there you have it. Schools will have new ownership, but the same funding … your tax dollars. The faculties will have been rinsed clean of old blood and new, conforming folks will be installed because they do exactly as they’re told … and read from the curriculum scripts exactly as they are written.
The schools will purchase equipment and vast materials from fellow entrepreneurs who are in on the “share”. They’ll receive “donations” … actually advertising fees … from phony civic-minded entities that wish to maximize their exposure in order to maximize their advertising clout.
Politicians will undoubtedly share in the looting of the public schools by getting loot from the looters. I’m sure you can follow that.
And the two most screwed-over interest groups will be the parents and the children. The parents and others in society will have zero control over their tax dollars and their children’s education. And their children will be short-changed not for a few years … but for as long as they might live.
So, there’s the future. More and more control by fewer and fewer powerful people who control powerful mechanisms to become more powerful every day. And as their power grows, our power shrinks.
Don’t bother with the blame. It’s too late. Bother with the solution. Otherwise this nation is looking at very dark days.
Denis Ian