Here we go again. Another day, another charter scandal. With Trump and DeVos in charge, expect to read more stories like this one.
The FBI and the Department of Homeland Security raided the offices of the Celerity charter chain in Los Angeles.
Celerity currently manages seven charter schools in Southern California and four more in Louisiana.
“The first signs that Celerity and its Los Angeles schools might be in trouble came in 2015. The organization had petitioned L.A. Unified to allow it to open two new charter schools, an application process it had gone through successfully several times before.
“But this time, L.A. Unified’s school board said no.
“School district officials raised new concerns over the charter school organization’s finances and its complex governance structure. In their final report, in which they advised board members to reject the group’s charter petition, they accused Celerity’s leaders of unorthodox fiscal practices, such as borrowing money from one school in order to pay another schools’ bills, spending money on expenses unrelated to the school and commingling the organization’s finances with those of separate legal entities.
“Celerity’s leaders denied any wrongdoing. Ultimately, the state Board of Education voted to allow the new schools to open.
“While all of this played out in the foreground, L.A. Unified’s inspector general opened an investigation into Celerity and McFarlane.
“The charter school organization’s battle with L.A. Unified continued. In October of last year, Celerity asked the school board to renew two of its schools’ charters — Celerity Dyad in South Los Angeles and Celerity Troika in Eagle Rock — for another five-year term.
“Renewals typically sail through LAUSD’s review process, but Celerity’s did not. Although district officials said the schools’ academic performance had met their standards, they reiterated their concerns about the organization’s fiscal management and potential conflicts of interest.”
Why does the state board override local charter denials? Perhaps federal agents should raid the offices of the State Board of Education to determine its ties to corrupt charter organizations and Eli Broad.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
Reblogged this on David R. Taylor-Thoughts on Education.
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Re: With Trump and DeVos in charge, expect to read more stories like this one.
With Trump and DeVos in charge, they are more likely to reign in the cops than the robbers.
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Voucher up! How’s that bond rating y’all?
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Why does the State Board override districts? Why do you think? The committee that analyzes petitions as well as the State Board itself is packed with Charter advocates and former Charter school officials. Plus they are totally unaccountable for results once these schools are approved
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And the president has the power of the pardon. Will President Littlefingers Donald Trump, of Trump University Fraud Fame, pardon all of these Corporate Charter School con-men, who are in business to make money just like him?
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Last October, the CA Advisory Commission for Charter Schools voted to recommend approval of 2 new Celerity Charters that were denied by both Los Angeles Unified and Los Angeles County BoE. The next month, the CA State BoE gave their final okay based on the recommendation from the Advisory Commission. Please note that the Advisory Commission is almost totally populated by charter operators. One member who represents teachers had given a very serious warning about the possibility of future law suits as a result and was the only one to vote “no”. Sadly, we now know that this charter chain is indeed in major trouble. Too bad this was not made public before these schools were approved.
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PLEASE be reminded that Celerity schools are non profits. If there is so much fraud and waste and mismanagement in non profits, can you just imagine what is going on in the for profit schools like the ones in DeVos’s state of Michigan??? Well, we already know.
Secondly, Los Angeles Unified has a gigantic charter school division that is very capable of doing any research necessary into wayward charters. However, even if they had the will to do this job, they don’t have the money to hire enough people to keep close track of what charters are doing in the five years between renewals. The reports the charter division receives are generated by the charter school itself. See a problem here?????
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