No matter how many scandals and frauds are exposed in the charter industry, the federal money keeps rolling in.
Open this link to see which of your favorite charter chains (the Walmarts of education) won millions from their friend Betsy DeVos.
Eva got $9.8 million from her friend Betsy.
KIPP will secure a total of $86 million over five years for its San Francisco operations.
IDEA in Texas scores $116 million over five years!
Despite the report from the Network for Public Education showing that 1/3 of the grants by the federal Charter Schools Program are awarded to schools that never open or that close soon after opening, the money keeps flowing.
No matter how many reports of charter fraud, waste, and malfeasance, the federal dollars keep flowing.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
Is there no way the House of Representatives can stop this budgeting debacle?
You see in the view of a certain political class, the only tax dollars truly “wasted” are those dollars that, against all odds, do not find their way into the pocket of someone who “needs” the money to buy another luxury condo, a yacht or another sports car.
Better yet, look at the site for the Department of Innovation:
https://innovation.ed.gov/
Sadly, very little for students in the unfashionable public schools.
Charters not only get grants that public schools aren’t eligible for, they have a whole section of the US Department of Education devoted to cheerleading for their continued growth.
Gosh I wish the 90% of kids who attend public schools had an advocate in government. Maybe we could hire one or two.
I would like to see all the faces and qualifications of those who work for temporary agencies grading short answer responses on those high stakes tests.
How in the world can this go on? People who have NO CLUE about teaching assessing students and teachers in a room with a rubric in one hand and some writing instrument or computer keyboard in another. Good gawd.
Sickening. I think parents should know about this. If parents met the people who have no knowledge maybe this nonsense will stop.
How about parents protest outside these places. There’s one in Longmont, CO.
And those graders can even get bonuses, too.
Wonder if those graders’ bonuses are linked to how many flunked the test.
Public schools need not apply for federal grants.
None of our schools or students are a “good investment”, according to the rigorous analysis of ed reformers, which consists wholly of “is this a quality charter school or a failing government school- also- do your teachers happen to belong to a labor union?”
They cannot find a single public school in the entire country who are doing even an adequate job. It’s all super-scientific, really.
“OII’s Charter Schools Program (CSP) provides funds to create promising new public charter schools, to replicate high-quality public charter schools, and to disseminate information about effective practices within charter schools. Federal funds are also available to help charter schools find suitable facilities; reward high-quality charter schools that form exemplary collaborations with traditional public schools; and invest in other national initiatives that support charter schools.”
Wouldn’t it be great if we had someone in the federal government who would do this for public schools?
Apparently that’s too big of a demand. No one should expect anyone in government to actually work on BEHALF of public schools, like this entire federal office does for charter schools. That’s a bridge too far for these thousands of public employees.
“reward high-quality charter schools that form exemplary collaborations with traditional public schools”
But the public school gets no “reward”. They’re just considered lucky and super-honored that a charter school would even associate with them. We pay them extra if they’ll lower themselves to share our bus or something. Just proximity to their excellence is its own reward.
Remember, Eva Moskowitz worked very hard for her Betsy DeVos when her confirmation was in doubt.
I apologizing for re-posting this again, but Moskowitz’ strong support of DeVos during the confirmation hearing is worth repeating. Moskowitz gave DeVos credibility with her over the top praise and endorsement. Moskowitz didn’t just say “I support DeVos”. Moskowitz made it a personal mission to get DeVos confirmed.
Some Eva Moskowitz tweets, quotes and writings:
“I believe Betsy DeVos has the talent, commitment and leadership capacity to revitalize our public schools and deliver the promise of opportunity that excellent education provides, and I support her nomination as U.S. Secretary of Education.”
“Thrilled to see such a passionate leader selected for such an important role. I know Betsy will continue to be an advocate for all children”
And Moskowitz even took time from her busy schedule to write her very own op ed excoriating the Democrats like Sen. Elizabeth Warren for not voting to confirm the woman that Moskowitz DEMANDED be confirmed.
https://nypost.com/2017/01/30/why-we-need-an-outsider-like-betsy-devos-as-education-secretary/
Oh yes, when DeVos turned out to be just as horrible as everyone knew she’d be, did Moskowitz apologize? Acknowledge her mistake? No, she is still a true believer!!!
Here is the “harshest” criticism Moskowitz has ever made about DeVos: “I believe her heart is in the right place,” but “she’s not ready for prime time”.
How nice that Eva Moskowitz is still so certain that DeVos’ heart is in the right place! DeVos’ heart is in exactly the same “right place” as Eva Moskowitz’ heart is!
Ten million is such a small reward for such hard work. No doubt DeVos is pleased to give the grant to a kindred spirit like Eva Moskowitz. Their hearts are in exactly the same place!
Moskowitz and DeVos. Kindred spirits. Why shouldn’t they help one another?
The US Department of Education deliberately excludes public schools, students and families from yet another forum on education:
“There were a few members of Kentucky’s Board of Education at the roundtable, however there were not any superintendents or other representatives from public school systems.”
Not permitted to weigh in on federal and state education policy. Limited to advocates for kids in charters and private schools.
This cheerleading event for private and charter schools probably cost the public at least 200k, given DeVos’ lavish travel costs:
https://www.wkyt.com/content/news/US-Secretary-of-Education-Betsy-Devos-holds-roundtable-discussion-in-Lexington-508700571.html
posted at https://www.opednews.com/Quicklink/Betsy-DeVos-and-Payday-for-in-Best_Web_OpEds-Charter-School-Failure_Charter-Schools_Diane-Ravitch_Education-190417-392.html#comment730911
The USDE link in this post also includes the reviewer comments on each application (far right-hand column). There you can see the how the fraud is perpetuated by the criteria, rating system and undisclosed process of selecting reviewers. Some applications are actually redacted because the applicants fear the information will circulate and benefit the competition.