Yesterday I wrote about the for-profit Benjamin Franklin Charter Chain in Arizona, which is owned by a member of the legislature, Rep. Eddie Farnsworth. He is paid $18 million by the state for his four schools. Although Arizona law says that charter boards must have open public meetings, he has won an exemption from the law because he is the only member of the board. As a one-person Board, he holds no public meetings.
It turns out there is more to the story. Jim Hall of Arozonans for Charter Accountability documents that the Benjamin Franklin charters are the only ones in the state that spend more on administration and buildings than on instruction.
“Representative Farnsworth profits from charter ownership
“It is unclear how much Representative Farnsworth profits from his sole ownership of BFCS because for-profit corporations do not have to reveal salary information. We do know that Representative Farnsworth is a multi-millionaire – BFCS has over $3 million in stockholder equity and Farnsworth is the only stockholder. BFCD also has assets of $6.7 million in cash and another $35 million in real estate holdings.
“Farnsworth profits from the ownership of his real estate firm LBE Investments LTD (LBE) as well. LBE actually owns each of the BFCS campuses and leases the schools back to BFCS at substantially more than the mortgage payments and property taxes due.”
Why do taxpayers in Arizona put up with this misdirection of public funds?
Diane Ravitch's blog 
I don’t know that it’s fair to pick on the taxpayers of Arizona. Nearly every state in the union has similar charter scandals (not to mention, charters themselves are a scandal). It’s just that we’re so overwhelmed with scandals in all fields right now, I don’t think people know where to begin.
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While charter scandal is widespread and many states have representatives in the charter, few can rival the outrageous level of economic involvement as Representative Farnsworth. it is even more corrupt that nobody can know for sure how much he has earned from the Franklin charter chain because the laws are written to hide anyone from finding out the details of the money trail. They spend more on real estate and administration than instruction! You don’t have to be a forensic accountant to know there is “something rotten in Denmark.” It is time to measure Farnsworth for an orange jumpsuit.
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Another concerning issue at Rep. Farnsworth’s charter school
http://www.patheos.com/blogs/friendlyatheist/2014/08/06/charter-school-run-by-arizona-house-republican-eddie-farnsworth-accused-of-christian-bias-in-english-class/
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Farnsworth promotes Christian ideology in his charters while he ignores “Thou shalt not steal.” What a hypocrite!
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From the second paragraph of the posting:
[start]
Jim Hall of Arozonans [sic] for Charter Accountability documents that the Benjamin Franklin charters are the only ones in the state that spend more on administration and buildings than on instruction.
[end]
[brackets mine]
Pair this with an other posting today on this blog that contains the following resounding statement by Mr. Michael Petrilli on the wonders of non-union charter schools:
[start]
In fact, in most districts, union representation is the most significant difference between charter schools and traditional public schools. It’s hugely important. It’s why charter schools can and do fire ineffective teachers, why they can turn on a dime when an instructional approach isn’t working, why they can spend their money on the classroom instead of the bureaucracy, and why they can put the needs of students first, every day, all day.
[end]
So despite Mr. Petrilli’s declaration in that same posting of “the magic of competition” it appears that in reality charters can and do spend more on “administration and buildings” than they “do on instruction.”
Can it be that ideology and magical thinking can Rheeally Trump reality when it comes to protecting that pot of gold at the end of the corporate education reform rainbow called $tudent $ucce$$?
Or perhaps Mr. Petrilli’s unswerving loyalty to rheephorm group think is merely his way of leading us to Mark Twain’s pithy observation that:
“Loyalty to petrified opinion never yet broke a chain or freed a human soul.”
Hmmmmm…
😎
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“Benjamin Franklin Charters”
A penny saved
Is a penny earned
And a penny shaved
Is a public burned
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