A few days ago, I wrote a post about California’s burgeoning charter industry and its lack of regulation or oversight. This is called a recipe for scandal, of which there have already been many in the Golden State. You might recall the charter operators who went to jail for misappropriating funds. Or the charter operator who paid a staff member to go to Africa and marry his brother so he could legally enter the U.S. Or the superintendent who set up a private consulting business to help charters grow where they aren’t wanted. Or…the list goes on and on.
Think of the opportunities when taxpayer money is handed out freely and left without oversight.
Now comes another scandal. The El Camino Real Charter High School’s principal moonlighted as a scout for the National Basketball Association, traveled across the country first class to basketball games, and charged his travel expenses to the school.
Fehte used the school card for expenses on two trips to Greensboro, N.C., during the March weekends of the 2014 and 2015 Atlantic Coast Conference Men’s Basketball Tournaments. In 2014 he charged $972 total at a luxury hotel 10 minutes from the Greensboro Coliseum Complex, the site of the tournament. Fehte, 55, signed a school form that stated one of the hotel charges was for a “Green initiative,” apparently a reference to the school’s environmental conservation efforts.
The Daily News obtained El Camino’s credit card statements and receipts for 2014 and 2015 under the California Public Records Act. The school is run by a nonprofit organization and receives about $32 million in government funds annually, accounting for 94 percent of its revenue. Officials at the Los Angeles Unified School District, which oversees charters in its boundaries, notified El Camino last fall that its administrators had violated the school’s own financial policies. Without naming him, the district criticized Fehte’s use of the card for personal expenses, and said he only reimbursed El Camino a handful of times.
This principal is the second highest paid executive director or principal of a public school in the state. He is paid $221,475.
Keep your seat belts buckled. This is the tip of the iceberg. More scandals ahead.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
This is a direct result of the poorly written California charter school law that favors charter schools over public schools and has no rigorous oversight. When he was made the czar of Oakland’s school system, Jerry Brown started two charter schools. He has been completely blind to the damage and cost charters have heaped upon the once great California public education system ever since. His father earned a lot of credit for fostering California’s system and Jerry is harming that legacy.
This school is chartered through the LAUSD, whose Charter School Division is run by a former staff member of the California Charter School Association. I have reported several violations of the California Ed Code by another large charter within the District and they have yet to take any action. My most recent report detailed how the school has taken several loans, including one for $600,000, from the Associated Student Body account. These loans were not reported in the Governing Board minutes and no minutes for the ASB were available through a Public Records Act request. http://thewire.k12newsnetwork.com/2016/05/18/a-charter-with-its-hand-in-the-cookie-jar/
The CCSA will claim that charter schools are accountable due to the required yearly audit. But, the auditor is picked by the school from an approved list and is paid by the school. So, it should be no surprise that these audits are not necessarily thorough or accurate.
None of the scandals that are listed in the first paragraph of this post were discovered by LAUSD’s Charter School Division during its yearly visit or through the yearly audit.
The first line of defense happens with the school’s governing board, who are most often hand-picked by the administration. El Camino recent became a CMO headed by the principal(CEO). At the same time, they eliminated present teachers and parents from the board. Instead, FORMER teachers and FORMER parents can apply. The present teachers and parents then vote. However, again, none of the prospective board members can be associated with the school.
So much for a democratic process!!!!!!
It’s very worthwhile to look over the receipts that are posted on the Daily News article. In May of 2015, ECR paid for a trip to Europe with costs of almost $6000. Apparently, this trip was made to recruit foreign students to attend the school. However, there are dozens of organizations authorized by the CA State Attorney’s Office to do just that.
So, the question has to be asked if and how ECR financially benefitted from these foreign students. Or, did someone from the school get a very nice week long vacation to Europe on the school’s dime while claiming to be recruiting foreign students? Did the ECR governing board approve this trip ahead of time? Or did they even know about it?
At the very least, the board was asleep at the wheel. But, that’s not unusual for charter boards. They too should be held liable for all these “questionable” expenses.
Last, how is it that no one is asking why the principal(or CEO now) didn’t just use his own credit card for the personal expenses? Hmm…….
I am confused — are you saying that charter schools in California “recruit foreign students” to attend their school?
While not formally confirmed, it was implied that the school was attempting to recruit foreign students.
This feels a lot like the “choice” schools created in our inner-city district with public money then recruiting kids from suburban districts (wealthier and whiter) to come in and take up the limited seats.
How is that even legal? Charter schools are paid for by taxpayers. Why would taxpayers be allowed to pay for foreign students to attend a charter school?
I’ve heard of private and parochial schools that are sports powerhouses and recruit athletes from overseas. Does this now happen at charters?
The school is not supposed to be collecting any state allocation for the foreign students. Instead, the students are charged tuition to cover the expense of educating them. However, a case came up in another charter that was accused of overcharging their foreign students.
http://www.eastbaytimes.com/breaking-news/ci_29347617/livermore-district-says-charter-school-illegally-charging-tuition
educator, I see you are correct, but after reading the story, I am utterly astonished.
So a charter school is allowed to reserve some of their seats for “paying” customers? So if the principal can recruit just one more “private pay” student per class, it’s a nice few hundred thousand dollars he can use to give himself a bonus?
Is that because they can’t find enough local students to fill their seats because the demand is just not there? Or is it because they prefer the “full pay” students to serving some of those local ones?
I guess if you include foreign students on your mythological wait lists, charters will soon be able to claim there are not just thousands, but millions of students begging for a seat in their school. Who would ever know?
Ohio lawmakers were recently lobbied heavily to adopt a measure for charter schools that was said to follow California’s model.
Does anyone know what that is? Does California have a special ranking system for charters? The lobbying effort seemed to be focused on protecting for-profit “cybercharters” in Ohio – they have absolutely terrible test scores yet they’re funded more and more every year.
Remember when “double dipping” was against the law? As a School Counselor, I couldn’t get reimbursed for mileage. And yet, the administrators did!
In my District we have a charter high school with an Executive Director who is paid over $200,000/year in a contract approved by a compliant Board. But he also apprently has time in between his official duties to run AT LEAST FOUR OTHER CHARTER SCHOOLS. Ka-ching!!!
But of course! You would never want to pay an educator that much money as what added value do educators give you? They probably want to teach every child and that hurts the bottom line.
But someone who can market and sell? That’s the secret to running a good charter school. Teachers and other educators have little value, but the ability to make sure the easiest to teach students come and the hardest to teach students stay away? That’s worth its weight in gold.
CVCHS?