Arizona is a swamp of charter corruption.
Earlier this year, the Arizona Republic won the distinguished George Polk Award for its coverage of charter school corruption.
Now star reporter Craig Harris has another blockbuster story.
American Leadership Academy, an East Valley charter school chain, paid this past fiscal year at least $46.8 million to companies owned or co-owned by founder Glenn Way or his relatives, newly released financial records show.
The payouts include more than $30 million to the management company that employs the schools’ teachers and staff, millions to another firm for operational services, and almost half a million to an apparel firm for school or athletic uniforms. Way or one of his relatives is a co-owner in all of those businesses.
In total, the payments to so-called related parties made up more than half of ALA’s annual $79 million budget.
An Arizona Republic investigation last year found that businesses owned by or tied to Way resulted in profits of about $37 million in real estate deals associated with the expansion of ALA schools, a figure Way said at the time was closer to $18 million because of other costs.
Arizona is fortunate to have the Arizona Republic looking out for frauds and corruption because the state doesn’t care.
Arizona also has Curtis Cardine of the Grand Canyon Institute, a former superintendent of both public and charter schools. Cardine became so incensed about endemic corruption that he has studied the finances of every charter school in the state (except those that keep their book secret). He reported in a book called Carpetbagging America’s Public Schools that nearly 3/4 of the state’s charter schools do business with “related” companies, companies connected or owned by the charter owner.
The hard-right Governor Doug Ducey is a stand-in for the Koch Foundation. His elections were funded by the Koch brothers, the DeVos family, and other billionaires who hope to eliminate public education.
Parents and teachers managed to defeat their last attempt to expand vouchers by fighting for a referendum, in which vouchers were overwhelmingly rejected by voters.
Someone needs to demand accountability and transparency for charters.
Arizona is the only state that openly endorses for-profit charters. The other states ban for-profits, but allow for-profit management companies to operate nonprofit charters, which is a shell game.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
“It’s a debate that comes during a period of rapid expansion for charter schools, aided by increased per-student funding from Arizona lawmakers, even as they’ve cut dollars to traditional public schools since the recession. Tension over education funding has become a hot-button issue, prompting tens of thousands of public school teachers to stage a six-day walkout this spring. ”
Great job advocating on behalf of public school students, ed reformers. Super work.
The public school students were sacrificed so Mr. Way could pay himself and his relatives millions of dollars.
Arizona public school students could really use an adult advocate. Why don’t they matter? Why are they constantly thrown under the bus by ed reformers promoting charters and vouchers?
Are public school students disfavored in Arizona? Their schools don’t matter? They’re the collateral damage that must be incurred on the path to privatization?
If this “movement” exists solely to promote charter and private schools the members of the movement have a duty to tell the public that. Then we’ll know not to hire any of them.
Excellent article!
Anyone interested in what kind of swamp The Kremlin’s Agent Orange Donald Trump and his GOP/Republican totally corrupt, political mob wants to build in the United States as they drain the lake (they call a swamp) that was once the U.S. Constitution, look no further than Arizona
As someone who has been a top administrator of private for-profit and non-profit child care centers that received public funding for children from low income families, it seems to me that those involved in supporting and running charter schools invented this shell game BECAUSE they could and BECAUSE they knew that people there were very likely to get away with playing it.
I say this because there has long been a model out there for subsidizing students in private settings that does not promote corruption which those in power who support charters have chosen to ignore. In fact, there is so much regulatory oversight of government funds going to private child care centers that this shell game does not exist there because it’s just not doable. In other words, for charters, corruption seems to be a feature that was created by and for politicians and entrepreneurs, not a bug.