Mercedes Schneider tracked down the tax filings of the “charity” at the heart of the college admissions scam.
You will be interested to learn that the cover for the heist was a nonprofit dedicated to helping the “underpriviled.”
Well, you can’t open a charity for the “privileged,” now, can you?
I don’t know what this means, but I’ll take it.
I’m reminded of one of my favorite poems, by Edna St. Vincent Millay.
First Fig
My candle burns at both ends;
It will not last the night;
But ah, my foes, and oh, my friends— It gives a lovely light.
Little Rock is a poor and impoverished district with 48 schools. Six of its schools were low-performing so the state seized control of the entire district. The Walton family owns Arkansas, and they want to make it easier to open charter schools. Local elected boards tend to stand in the way of privatization.
Six legislators introduced a bill to restore local control.
Max Brantley of the Arkansas Times, one of the few journalists in the state who regularly stands up to the Walton oligarchs, writes:
Six Little Rock legislators have filed a bill that would provide a pathway to return of local control of the Little Rock School District, taken over by the state more than four years ago for low test scores in six of four dozen schools.
Under control of state Education Commissioner Johnny Key the district remains under state supervision and the state Board of Education has seemed unimpressed by improvements in the district, which is majority black and impoverished and has seen charter schools drain off many of its already successful students.
The legislation by Sens. Will Bond, Joyce Elliott and Linda Chesterfield and Reps. Charles Blake, Andrew Collins and Tippi McCullough makes a key change in a relatively new state law that opened the door to perpetual state control of the district — or parceling it out to private operators as forces aligned with the Walton Family Foundation school lobby have long desired.
The bill says that the state “may” rather than “shall” annex, consolidate or reconstitute a district that hasn’t met criteria for exiting Level 5 of the school distress rating. The expectation is that some Little Rock schools will likely have standardized test scores short of sufficiency at the end of five years of state control and thus be unable to exit Level 5.
The legislation says a district could regain local control if it has demonstrated any of the following criteria: “substantial improvement” in the district; the state Board of Education has approved a plan to address deficiencies; schools at Level 5 have demonstrated progress, or the number of schools that have been judged at Level 5 has INCREASED under state control. That list point is worth noting particularly. Though apples-to-apples comparisons are difficult because of several changes in tests used, the Little Rock School District had eight schools with an F grade in the 2017-18 school year where it had six schools judged as failing when the state took it over. Those eight must make passing scores on a single test given next month or else the district is sunk under current criteria.
Will Little Rock School District taxpayers see their democratically controlled school district taken away forever for Johnny Key’s failure to improve it? That is the question. The new legislation would give the state another path. The bill’s success may depend on just how badly other forces want to see the district (and its teachers’ union) permanently destroyed and its property tax riches and profit opportunities given to the mixed abilities of unaccountable and often secretive private school management corporations.
The Education Writers Association is pleased to announce that U.S. Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos will speak at EWA’s 2019 National Seminar in Baltimore in May. This will mark the first time she has appeared at an EWA event.
After opening remarks, Secretary DeVos plans to sit down with New York Times education reporter Erica Green for a conversation, and then field questions from attendees. The exact timing of this keynote session will be announced soon.
Last week, we unveiled the preliminary agenda for the May 6-8 seminar, which will be hosted by the Johns Hopkins University School of Education. The theme this year is “Student Success, Safety, and Well-Being.” The conference is designed to give participants the skills, understanding and inspiration to improve their coverage of education at all levels.
Please note: To attend the National Seminar, you must be a Supporting Community Member in good standing. If you’re not a Supporting Community Member or need to renew your membership, join or renew today!
See you in Baltimore!
This is great news! The Education Law Center and the Southern Poverty Law Center have joined to fight privatization.
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Arizona’s charter industry is riddled with fraud and corrruption, meticulously documented by a year-long investigation in the Arizona Republic and by Curtis Cardine of the Grand Canyon Institute.
The Republican-dominated felt that it needed to pass a “Reform” bill, even though it was full of loopholes that would protect charter fraudsters and grifters.
And so it did. The fake reform bill passed on a party line vote, supported by Republicans, opposed by every Democrat.
So meaningless was the bill that it won the vote of charter operator Sen. Eddie Farnsworth, who made $13.9 million last year when he converted his for-profit charter chain to a nonprofit. Farnsworth gave a speech about why no reform was necessary.
The bill now goes to the House, where Republicans hold a 31-29 advantage.
Republicans rejected amendments from Democrats “to crack down on conflicts of interest and to provide tighter financial transparency on how charters spend tax dollars.
“Sen. Kate Brophy McGee, R-Phoenix, pushed the bill. It had overwhelming support from Arizona’s $1 billion charter school industry, whose lobbyist helped co-write the bill.“
A lot was riding on the State Board of Education’s decision about whether to renew the Thrive Charter Schools of San Diego. The schools have a terrible record, which the district documented. The charter lobby was pushing hard for renewal, showing how little it cares about results or accountability or children’s welfare. It was Linda Darling-Hammond’s first meeting as chair of the State Board.
The Board voted to deny renewal. Facts still matter.
The Board voted 7-1 to renew a Gulen Magnolia Charter. A former member of the charter’s board, now on the State Board, declines to revise herself.
Thrive certainly did not lack funding; it received $575,000 from the U.S. Department of Education to open in 2014 and has received millions of dollars in “New Market Tax Credits” from the federal government since then.
To learn more about Thrive, here are some readings.
Thrive’s scores have dropped every year since it opened.
Christopher Rice-Wilson, a charter parent at another charter in San Diego, called for the closure of Thrive and laid out the facts of its poor performance.
He wrote:
“I did not feel safe… and I learned absolutely nothing.” That was the testimony heard from one former Thrive Public Schools student who is now doing well in fourth grade at a different school. A group of former students and parents have come forward to describe their experiences during their time at Thrive charter schools. Without a doubt, there are many more like them — the school has a 27 percent to 39 percent attrition rate — roughly one-third of the students leave the school each year. And with good reason, especially for San Diego’s most vulnerable students. Simply put, Thrive is failing low-income, black and Latino students.
Looking at the numbers, Thrive failed to demonstrate it meets the academic requirements to renew its charter, especially when compared to the 13 schools Thrive identified with similar grade and demographic data. For low-income students, Thrive had the worst academic outcomes in both English Language Arts and Math. For low-income students, more than 75 percent of Thrive students weren’t able to meet the state’s standards in math. At the middle school level, the situation is even worse: 80 percent of all of Thrive’s middle school students failed to meet the state achievement standards in math, and 90 percent of low-income students failed the same standard.
Similarly, for black students and Latino students, Thrive’s outcomes were worse than almost all other schools in ELA and math. Fewer than 10 percent of Thrive’s Latino students were meeting state standards in math. All of the comparison schools have a much higher low-income population than Thrive, and a higher percentage of English learners, yet still demonstrated better academic outcomes than Thrive. Thrive argues that it excels at serving students with disabilities. However, Thrive’s academic outcomes for these students are far lower than SDUSD’s outcomes, as well as the outcomes for these students countywide.
Our entire school system needs to do better by black students, and San Diego Unified is 42 points away from having all black students at grade-level proficiency on the California Schools Dashboard in English Language Arts. For these students, Thrive is a disaster. Thrive is more than double that number, at 106.5 points below grade-level proficiency for black students. Outcomes in math are similar. Thrive also has a larger achievement gap in math and ELA between black and white students than the district overall. Why renew the charter for a school that expands the achievement gap?
Thrive argues that parents are choosing Thrive because they were struggling in the schools they were attending. But there are over 130 charter schools in San Diego County, and 46 in SDUSD alone. Wouldn’t we see these same poor outcomes at all of those schools? Thrive argues that they are too new for us to look at state standards. Two other charters in the district opened at the same time as Thrive. They were renewed because they demonstrated improved academic performance. There should be one standard for these schools and Thrive should be held accountable.
Thrive has been given every advantage to show their school can succeed. They have benefited from the investment of millions of dollars from wealthy supporters and received $13 million in new market tax credits from Civic San Diego and another Los Angeles entity. All that and still couldn’t prove their ability to deliver achievement for students.
Schools like Thrive are a symptom of a system in much need of reform. Recent research has found that the dramatic growth of charter schools has cost San Diego Unified about $66 million annually. This cost is born by the students who remain in district managed schools — the overwhelming majority of students in our public school system. Given what’s at stake, we can’t continue to support schools that cost more to our system but do not deliver for our most vulnerable students. We need to ensure our scarce resources are invested in educational strategies that create student success, not expand student failure.
The New York Times published a searing account of the charter schools operated by Southwest Key.
“At East Austin College Prep in Texas, raccoons and rats invade offices and classrooms. When it rains, the roof of the main building leaks. Room 106 was so rickety a chair leg fell through the floor. Yet for all this, the secondary school pays almost $900,000 in annual rent.
“It has little choice: Its landlord is also its founder, Southwest Key Programs, a charity that is the nation’s largest provider of shelters for migrant children. The nonprofit says it formed the charter school and three others to help disadvantaged students get to college, but Southwest Key has financially benefited from the schools. Not only does it collect rent, but it has forced them to hire its for-profit companies, which have charged high fees for everything from maintenance to school lunches.
“We don’t even have a cafeteria — we eat in our gym,” said Yamilet Perez, 18, the student council president at the Austin secondary school. “You’re sitting there eating your lunch, and you can still smell the sweat of the class before.”
”The operations of the charter schools, serving about 1,000 students, show how Southwest Key profits off public money, boosting compensation for charity leaders and stockpiling tens of millions of dollars.
”The charity has been awarded almost $1.8 billion to run migrant shelters over the last decade, but is now under federal investigation for possible financial improprieties, prompted by an article last December in The New York Times. Two top officials, including the founder, Juan Sanchez, have stepped down. And a complaint about mismanagement at the schools, which have received more than $65 million in government money over the last decade, is under review by the Texas Education Agency.
“A spokesman for Southwest Key, Neil Nowlin, disputed that the charity had unfairly taken money from the schools. In a statement, the new superintendent, Salvador Cavazos, said that “our teachers and administrators come to work every day dedicated to supporting students and families….”
”A dozen years ago, Southwest Key decided to open charter schools and for-profit companies, including a florist, that ended up funneling money into the charity. The charters, called Promesa Public Schools, pay almost $1.4 million in rent annually to Southwest Key….
”Money from the schools and for-profits helped raise salaries for charity officials, letting them collect pay far beyond the federal cap for migrant shelter grants — $187,000 in 2017. Mr. Sanchez was paid $1.5 million that year, the most recent tax return available. His wife, Jennifer Nelson, earned $500,000 as a vice president, and Melody Chung, the chief financial officer, was paid $1 million.
“Mr. Sanchez resigned on Monday. Neither he nor Ms. Chung, who left Southwest Key last month, would comment for this article.
“As of last month, the charters were almost $3 million in debt, largely because of a decision last year to add schools in Brownsville and Corpus Christi. The schools — and students — have felt the squeeze.
“Teachers have left and not been replaced, forcing others to take on new roles. A Spanish instructor is teaching world history; a special-education instructor is teaching photography. Sports teams do not have enough equipment or any practice fields. Officials also cited problems from leaks, including mold and structural and electrical issues, according to an October 2017 email….
”Southwest Key Maintenance would charge about $192,000 for janitorial work at the Austin secondary school. But an outside company, Vanguard Cleaning, would charge about $93,000, records show.
“I was shot down,” said Mr. De Los Santos, who soon quit. The schools were finally allowed to hire in-house maintenance workers in 2017.
“Southwest Key’s for-profit food company, Café del Sol, drew many complaints about high prices, poor quality and limited offerings. Students staged at least one hunger strike. Yet the vendor collected almost $3 million from the schools, records show.”
Texas public schools are underfunded but there’s lots of money for Southwest Keys.
As Betsy DeVos would say, as long as parents make these choices, who cares about the kids and the money and the mold?
John Merrow asks, who makes the rules? Who decides? He describes the many elementary classrooms he has visited over the course of his four decade career. Usually there is a posted set of rules for behavior. Not at all complicated. Some classrooms, however, have rules that the children devise, which end up looking very similar to the rules posted in other classrooms. It seems everyone wants an atmosphere of respect and good behavior in which to learn and play.
But then, he says, there are the “no excuses” charter schools, which have long lists of offenses that can bring suspension, even expulsion. He uses Eva Moskowitz’s Success Academy as a leading example of a punitive environment where children learn to follow orders without question.
The flip side, the draconian opposite that gives children no say in the process, can be found in charter schools that subscribe to the ‘no excuses’ approach. The poster child is Eva Moskowitz and her Success Academies, a chain of charter schools in New York City. A few years ago on my blog I published Success Academies’ draconian list of offenses that can lead to suspension, about 65 of them in all. Here are three that can get a child as young as five a suspension that can last as long as five days: “Slouching/failing to be in ‘Ready to Succeed’ position” more than once, “Getting out of one’s seat without permission at any point during the school day,” and “Making noise in the hallways, in the auditorium, or any general building space without permission.” Her code includes a catch-all, vague offense that all of us are guilty of at times, “Being off-task.” You can find the entire list here.
(Side note: the federal penitentiary that I taught in had fewer rules.)
Does being able to help decide, when you are young, the rules that govern you determine what sort of person you become? Schools are famously undemocratic, so could a little bit of democracy make a difference? Too many schools, school districts, and states treat children as objects–usually scores on some state test–and children absorb that lesson.
Fast forward to adulthood: Why do many adults just fall in line and do pretty much what they are told to do? I am convinced that undemocratic schools–that quench curiosity and punish skepticism–are partially responsible for the mess we are in, with millions of American adults accepting without skepticism or questioning the lies and distortions of Donald Trump, Fox News, Alex Jones, Briebart, and some wild-eyed lefties as well.
The question, I suppose, is whether a democratic society wants “discipline” or “self-discipline.”
Go to The Merrow Report to find this article. I could not create a link for some reason.
The Toledo Blade wrote a commonsense editorial calling for repeal of HB 70, which allows the Ohio State Department of Education to take over and privatize the management of low-scoring school districts. Takeover has been tried and failed in Lorain and Youngstown. Now Toledo and other impoverished districts are threatened.
Frankly, it is shocking to see such sound logic and reasoning, but it is also gratifying. Privatization is not the answer to poverty.
Here is a demonstration of what a thoughtful editorial writer can produce:
All in one day, back in 2015, a quickie amendment was added to an education bill in Columbus and rushed through the General Assembly with no hearings and no committee research. The measure allows the state to take over failing school districts — and Toledo Public Schools is in real jeopardy of being taken over so that state officials can “fix” the struggling district.
The problem is that the state’s cure looks as if it would be worse than what ails TPS.
Under House Bill 70, signed and defended by former Gov. John Kasich, the state can take over if a school district receives an overall “F” grade on its state report card for three consecutive years.
TPS earned an overall “F” last year. Many experts rightly point out that failing grade is a more accurate measure of a community’s extraordinary poverty than it is the quality of education children are receiving.
And because Toledo probably cannot quickly fix systemic poverty problems — more homeless students than any other Ohio district, 40 percent of Toledo children living below the poverty line, one in four children suffering from hunger — the district’s state report card is not likely to miraculously look like an honor roll contender this year or next.
The idea of a state takeover for truly failing school districts mightbe a good idea. Schools cannot be allowed to fail year after year. Districts cannot be allowed to fail their children and their communities.
But the standardized tests used to determine which schools are failing are recognized by more and more experts, parents, and communities as failed measuring tools.
And in the districts that have already endured state takeover — Youngstown, Lorain, and East Cleveland — the process has been revealed as a sham. Youngstown, the first district targeted for takeover, actually posted worse standardized test scores after an outside CEO took over, dropping from 602nd in the state to 606th.
It is not as if state authorities can point to a failing management team or negligent school board. Under the leadership of Superintendent Romules Durant, TPS has increased its graduation rate from 63 percent to 78 percent in the last three years. It has created successful themed magnet schools to let students focus on art, aeronautics, and business. The district has passed a series of levies in the last three years and has a stable financial forecast.
What, exactly, would state officials expect a privatized management team do differently? There is no magic wand to be waved over poor, urban school districts. If a quick fix were possible, the TPS officials would have used it years ago.
Last year, then-State Rep. Teresa Fedor sponsored a bill to halt state takeovers. The moratorium bill was blocked by Republicans and by Mr. Kasich, who promised to veto it. But the General Assembly did agree to study the effect of takeovers on school districts.
Local control is the cornerstone of American public education. Taxes, hiring, curriculum, and policy for a community’s most important public institution — its schools — are meant to be decided by locally elected officials, not hired guns with zero accountability to parents and taxpayers.
The General Assembly must pass — and Gov. Mike DeWine must sign — a bill that halts state takeovers of school districts.
Schools cannot fail their communities and failing schools must be accountable. But the current school takeover process in Ohio does nothing to make failing schools accountable or successful.
Diane Ravitch's blog 